Him & I

Glorious

I feel glorious, glorious
Got a chance to start again
I was born for this, born for this
It's who I am, how could I forget?
I made it through the darkest part of the night
And now I see the sunrise
——Glorious, Macklemore ft. Skylar Grey

June 21, 2018

The room felt like it could explode, the nerves evident. Grayson greeted players he knew, listened to his agent giving last minute details and generally tried, and failed, to relax.

His family finally arrived, but before he could get to his fiancée, she was grabbed by someone else. "Mama!" Wendell Carter wrapped his long arms around her. "How are you? We miss you. Haven't seen you since the big news. Where's the ring? When's the wedding? Can we-"

"Whoa, Wendell," Cait smiled at him. "That's a lot of questions."

Marvin, Gary and Tre arrived on the scene now and offered their own hugs. Grayson finally elbowed his way past them, frowning at them, and kissed her cheek. When he did, Cait's left hand came up to caress his jaw and then rest on his shoulder.

"Holy shit," Tre exclaimed. "That's some rock you got, Mama."

Marvin reached for her hand and the four of them examined the ring as Grayson rolled his eyes. "Did you guys think I'd get the ring out of Cracker Jack box or something?" He shook his head at them.

"You ain't always slick, Cap," Gary grinned at him.  "But good work.  Glad you makin' an honest woman outta her."

"Okay, but when?" Wendell pouted.  "You gotta let us come to the wedding."

"No date yet, guys," Cait told them.  "Once we get through this next week, we'll sort it out, okay?"

"Y'all been engaged for weeks," Marvin frowned. "What's the hold up?"

"There's no hold up," Grayson snapped. "We've just been busy. When we have something to tell you, we'll tell you."

"Chillax, Dad," Tre shook his head at him. "Didn't mean to hit no nerve. If you ain't ready-"

"We're ready," Grayson growled. "But we've had some stuff going on."

"Boys," Cait decided to intercede before Grayson lost it on them in front of the entire basketball world.  "We're fine. Everything is fine. Gray's had a lot of workouts and meetings.  He's been traveling a lot.  I've been in Durham finishing my classes and we already had a wedding to contend with. My dad got married over Memorial Day weekend. I promise, it's all good and after tonight, we'll get cracking on wedding plans."

"And we get to come to the big event?" Wendell looked hopeful.

"We will make sure you guys are included," Cait told them, ignoring Grayson's frown. "But tonight is a big night for all of you, so let's focus on that."

They chatted for a few more minutes, but eventually everyone got pulled away and Grayson managed about thirty seconds to admire his fiancée.  "I like the dress," he whispered.  "With you in that dress, we could knock this wedding thing out too and be done with it."

Cait laughed.  The dress was off white, a sleek, sophisticated style, but with crystal shoulder caps.  "I've been asked at least ten times who I'm wearing.  For the record, it's Reem Acra.  But I don't think this is my wedding dress.  You're just desperate to get out of wearing a tie again, aren't you?"