Janet
"Dunk, breathe." LaToya held my shoulders as I tried to take deep breaths.
"I'm scared of Toya. No. No. I'm terrified. I've never been married."
"Janet, you've been married three times."
"Yes, but before I was just someone's womb keeper, cleaner, something to hunch on. Now I am someone's wife. Someone's partner. What if I can do it?"
"You can." LaToya held both sides of my face. "You are an amazing woman. I watched you grow into an amazing person. You have things about you that others would kill to have. You are the kindest and sweetest soul that I know. How else would I have been able to escape my abusive marriage?"
"What do you mean?"
"I thought of you. I left because of you. Because I knew if you had known what was happening, you would have told me to get my shit together and hit his ass back." I laughed. "Is that not what you did with Wissam?"
"It is."
"Exactly. Your strength and courage is powerful. Idris knows that. Your beauty and personality is what drew him in and it is what made him want to marry you. It is what he will think of when he looks over at you in forty years; his beautiful wife who was able to overcome every single hurdle, no matter how big it was, that has come into her life." LaToya got tears in her eyes. "You...." She took a shaky breath. "......are the woman I always hoped you'd become. You're a queen, Janet and I love you." Her voice cracked. "So much. I love you so much, Janet." I looked at her.
"Toy Toy." She chuckled. "I love you too." I hugged her and she squeezed me. I pulled away and looked at her. "Are you okay, Toya?"
"Oh yes, I'm fine. Let's get back to you." She sat me down and fixed my hair. "We can't have raccoon eyes on your wedding day." We laughed.
Idris
I stood in front of the mirror and brushed the sides of my suit. Looking myself over, I took a deep breath. I was getting married to my soul mate. There was no question, she was definitely my soul mate and I would cherish her for the remainder of time. Knock knock. "Come in."
"Hey." I looked and saw Tito come in.
"Hey, Tito."
"How you coming?"
"Pretty good."
"Good. I want to have a talk with you." He sat on the small couch. I sat across from him.
"What's up?"
"Now, I'm going to be honest here. I didn't trust you at first."
"Really?"
"Yeah. In fact, I was the last one to fully trust you."
"Why?"
"Because my baby sister is everything to us. By the time our parents got to having her, Joseph was a heartless tyrant. He had officially stopped seeing us as children and we were purely workers. We all agreed to protect her. There are things we've and lengths we have gone to for her. Nothing was off limits for us, especially Mike." He let out a breath. "I say all of that to say this." He turned to look at me. "She is yours now."
"What?"
"Today, on this very day, we officially give our sister to you. We give her to you to love, protect and support. Our jobs are not done, however it is time for someone else to become the top person in her life."
"What do you mean?"
"We have been her safety net. All forty-two years of her life, we have been there to catch her. We still will be, but it's time for us to take an overdue step back. She is fully yours. Our approval on things will no longer be needed after today." I could tell he was uneasy.
