Page 21 of Pulse of True Soulmates

SOME TIME LATER . . .

It took Aeon and Declan a little over a year to plan an intimate, destination wedding that was set on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa.

The only people in attendance were Aeon and Declan’s circle of friends, Midnite, Mr. Vernon, and Declan’s parents.

The backdrop of the wedding was completely breathtaking.

They captured pictures and video of their union of love that was to die for.

The videographer and team they hired utilized drones to get an amazing announcement that made front page news in Charlotte as well as was talked about on local news networks.

It was a big deal that the fire chief’s daughter got married in Africa of all places.

“Baby, you’re going to keep trying when I’m sitting right here? Look at Midnite. He even thinks this is crazy,” Declan said with annoyance.

They were on their way to a doctor’s appointment to check on their little bean. They waited a year after they were married to try for a baby. Declan’s liquid babies said, “why try when we can just do.” Six months after they started trying, Aeon found out she was two months pregnant.

Here they were, four months after the notification, and Aeon was sitting on the couch with a big belly, bent over the best she could, trying to tie her sneakers. Declan had bought her plenty of slip-in types of shoes, but she wanted to wear lace sneakers.

She sat straight up with a tight face. “Deck, I can tie my shoe. I am not incapable just because I’m pregnant.”

Midnite climbed from his pillow, went over to his buttons, then pressed one then another. “No. Stop.”

He didn’t mean to laugh but it was inevitable. “See, told you. Now I’m helping.”

She conceded and sat back. Declan lowered himself in front of her and tied her shoes. After he finished, he lifted his body to kiss her lips.

Aeon’s pregnancy had been an up and down roller coaster.

Toward the end of her first and the beginning of her second trimester, her symptoms worsened.

She could barely walk from the front door to the kitchen of their house without dizziness.

Her doctor put her on bedrest during that time which was almost a waste.

Her husband’s skin was where she decided she wanted to rest. If he was in the shop servicing a client, she was right there in her recliner, reading, watching television, eating, or sleeping.

He didn’t mind, though, because Declan relished living in her skin.

“Mama is cooking dinner,” he told her. He knew that would perk her ass right up. Between his parents and her father, Declan and Aeon never had to cook if they didn’t want to.

The sparkle quickly popped into her eyes. “Is she making collard greens with ham hocks? I hope she is.”

“You just had that a few days ago, but yeah, she is. My dad is putting something on the grill, so your father, I think, is coming over after work. Fatima and Georgie are also coming.” Declan was tired of collard greens, and everyone knew it. His mother made cabbage for him.

Fatima and Georgie went from exclusively dating to a monogamous relationship to parenthood to an engagement where they still were. The wedding was six months away. She was considerate enough to plan the wedding for after Aeon had her baby.

While in the car on their way to Aeon’s doctor’s office, she received a text message from Ariel.

Ariel texted her every once in a blue moon to ask her how she was.

Sometimes Aeon answered the texts, sometimes she didn’t.

She had yet to meet her little sister. There was still a lot of bitterness when it came to that relationship.

Like her father told her, she would only interact with Ariel if she wanted to. Aeon didn’t want to.

When Aeon and Declan announced their engagement, Ariel reached out to congratulate her daughter.

She was excited when Aeon responded back with a thank you.

It wasn’t much, but in Ariel’s mind, it was something.

Closer to the wedding, she called Aeon and left a message expressing that she wanted to attend her wedding.

The response to that voicemail was a text message that said two words: absolutely not.

Ariel was upset, but her husband brought her back down to reality.

He had to make her realize that she had no right to feel entitled to be in a child’s life that she abandoned.

After the hospital situation, Marcus sat back to really evaluate the situation.

They’d been married for years, but he only found out about his wife’s older daughter when she needed a large chunk of money for her.

He recalled on their first date that he asked Ariel if she had any children, and she told him no.

Would she have ever told him if that didn’t come up?

The come down to earth conversation that Ariel had with her husband set her straight for some time. Now she only reached out to check on her. Marcus questioned whether it was genuine, because it was scheduled in her calendar. It wasn’t something that she just did.

To God’s praise, Princetta provided all the nurturing that Aeon needed as a mother. Also, to Princetta’s credit, she found Ariel’s phone number in Aeon’s phone, called her, and cursed her flat the fuck out. Princetta didn’t play about her daughter-in-law.

POTS had made Aeon’s life more difficult but not unlivable, nor did it stop those around her from loving her.

Troy made her feel as if she was unlovable, but Declan’s love quashed that theory completely.

Troy had proven himself to be a loser that she should have left long before she did, but Aeon knew that everything was necessary.

Troy’s father was caught in the middle of a horrible sex scandal almost a year ago that caused Senator Givings to step down from his position and his wife to divorce him.

It came out that he in fact did like the boys.

The overarching problem with that was one, he was married, and secondly, those boys were on the cusp of being legal.

In the court of public opinion, that was a big no-no.

He would mess with boys who turned legal age, the day before, which brough up the question of whether he groomed the boys.

Troy distanced himself from his father amidst the allegations that he knew.

There was no way he could remain close and his coke turned meth habit be uncovered.

Life wasn’t lifing for the Givings; hell was helling!

Declan found the one that God had placed on the Earth just for him, his soulmate. Aeon was honored to be that for him and felt blessed that he was that for her. It was a universal truth that they needed each other because standing alone, they had no pulse.

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