A Miami Wedding: Christmas Edition

By Diamond Johnson

It’s Christmas time in the Wiggins family, but everything isn’t all joyful the way it should be. In fact, over the course of one month, this family is thrown so many curveballs as they prepare themselves for Christmas Day. This is the season for joy, laughter, and giving, but for the Wiggin’s family, it’s more like turmoil, anger, and sadness. The goal is for everyone to make it to Christmas Day in one piece, but that seemed almost impossible.

This is a holiday read that will take you through the wild journey of love, hate, family, and forgiveness. The Wiggins family may not be perfect, or at times they may even seem like they’ll crumble, but weathering storms just happens to be one thing that they're good at.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leo Sullivan Presents
• Release date: Dec 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781648543807

Book preview

1

Eva Wiggins

T his dress did not fit like this a month ago when I tried it on. Wha… Whattt am I going to do? This is my wedding day, I cried as I stood in front of the floor length mirror and peered back at myself and my best friend, Latoya, of many years as she struggled to put the beautiful, custom-made Vera Wang dress on me.

We’d been in the mirror for almost ten minutes, and we’d done just about every trick in the book to get this dress to fit, but the zipper wouldn’t go past the middle of my back. My makeup had just been applied a little over thirty minutes ago, and because I was in there, doing all of this crying, the make-up would have to touch up on everything that she had already done. So many different emotions had me crying right now. The fact that Rodney and I had been planning this wedding for months, just for it to almost be show time, and I couldn’t even get the dress to fit.

I think the day before a wedding, us women, we stay up late at night, and we pretty much think of every terrible thing that can happen, but we don’t expect for any of those thoughts to be our reality. I wanted today to be perfect, so I’d followed all the rules, like not seeing Rodney since two days ago because I didn’t want to put that type of bad luck on me.

You are so damn in denial, Eva. I’ve been telling you for the past month that your ass is pregnant! You keep screaming that you’re the same size that you’ve always been, but sweetheart, that is a lie! Why is it that everybody else around you has noticed the weight that you’ve gained except for you? Point, blank, period, your ass is pregnant, and that’s the reason why you can’t fit into this dress, chubby! Latoya said, making every woman in the room chuckle, and that didn’t do anything but make me cry even harder.

Deja, Denise, and Dana, which were Rodney’s sisters, were trying to turn their heads and laugh, but it was too late because I’d already seen them. My mom was cracking up something seriously because she had been telling me for the longest that I was pregnant. I looked at my beautiful daughter, Riley, who was only three months old, and that made me even more denial because I just couldn’t. It just wouldn’t be right.

Alright now, Latoya. You better leave my damn granddaughter alone, my grandma said, standing up from the couch in the executive hotel suite that we were in and walking over to me.

Like the big cry baby that I was, I turned into the little girl, who felt like my grandmother would always make all of my problems okay, and I held her even tighter as she wrapped her arms around me. My head was crashed into the crook of her neck, and I released it all on her while she held the back of my head, letting me know that everything was going to be okay.

I wondered if the dress not fitting was a sign that God was already dishing out to let me know that the marriage was already about to have its fair share of problems. In the middle of my crying, I heard my phone ringing on the table. From the ringtone, I knew exactly who it was. Crazy how he was on a whole other floor from me, getting ready himself, yet he’d managed to call me at a time when I felt like I needed him most. Nothing anyone in this room was saying or doing was enough to get me to calm down, but I knew that if he were there, I would have calmed down moments ago.

Can you answer it for me, Alex? I asked her since she was sitting closest to my cell phone.

She was another one who had been telling me for months that she believed that I was pregnant, but just like I’d been ignoring everyone else, I’d been ignoring her as well. I loved Alex. Like, really, genuinely loved her, and you couldn’t tell me that she wasn’t my blood. I was so thankful to have gained her in my life when God sent Rodney my way.

I watched as she answered the phone for him. She answered a few of the simple questions that he asked her, and I even picked up on how she’d turned her back to me and started whispering. Knowing her, she was on the phone telling Rodney how I was in there crying and carrying on. Seconds later, she came over to me with the phone in her hand, letting me know that he wanted to speak to me. If I knew anything about Rodney, I knew that he hated to see me cry. He told me that every chance he got, so before I took the phone from Alex, I wiped my face, cleared my throat, and pretended to be fine as I placed the phone to my ear.

Hey, baby, I said, sounding alright, even though everything was all wrong.

I was pretty sure that he was in a good mood, and I didn’t want my negative energy to rub off on him, so I was going to pretend that everything was fine, even though it wasn’t.

How long it took you to put that fake ass voice on, Eva? his deep voice boomed through the phone.

I couldn’t lie to him. It was damn near impossible because this man knew me inside and out. I could picture him now, with his eyebrows all raised and those three lines in the middle of his forehead protruding as he tried to figure me out. I didn’t answer his question. I just stayed silent and prepared myself for whatever he was going to say next.

Alex told me that you in the room crying and acting like a brat. What’s wrong with you, beautiful? You nervous or some shit? he asked, firing off question after question.

I shot Alex a look from across the room, and she threw her hands up in surrender as if she hadn’t done anything. I honestly didn’t know why I expected Alex to not say anything. I swear she told that man every damn thing.

Noo… it’s my dress. It won’t fit, I said, putting on my baby voice that I only use for him, as I sat down at the nearest chair.

Latoya looked me dead in my eyes and playfully rolled her eyes at me then shook her head. I quickly gave her the finger and then focused my attention back on the call because I knew that he was getting ready to tell me something that was going to make the day all better.

When the last time you tried the dress on? he asked me.

A month ago, when I went to pick it up, and it fit perfectly. Baby, how are we supposed to have our wedding if I can’t fit in the dress? It won’t zip up or anything, I whined.

With a face like yours, Eva, you can walk down that damn aisle in a tank and some jeans, and you’ll still be the most beautiful woman in attendance today. You don’t need a fancy ass dress to make me attracted to you, and you know that—

I know, Rodney, but it’s our wedding! You know how much this day means to me. Hell, you know how much it means to us, I let him know.

Technically, Rodney and I were already married. We’d went ahead to the courthouse and got married months ago, but today was just the day for him to give me the wedding that he felt I deserved. Of course, I deserved this day! Not to sound entitled or anything like that, but two years ago around this time, I wasn’t happy. That’s when I was still in a relationship with Maurice. I was with someone who I thought loved me, and because, at the time, I so desperately wanted children, I stayed and took all the fucked up things that he continued to dish out to me. I was disrespected by him on multiple occasions, his disrespectful ass children, and his ghetto ass baby mama, Ivory.

It took a man like Rodney to come into my life for me to realize what I had deserved all along. I knew what I had been through in the past, which was why I said that I deserved this day. I deserved to have some type of happiness.

I get all of that, baby. I just don’t want you to feel like the dress is what makes the wedding because you know that I’ll marry you in anything. I don’t care what you put on, Eva, just as long as I see your fine ass walk down that aisle in the next half hour. Stop crying too. You are far too beautiful to be crying, yo. I tell you all the time to leave all that crying for the ugly bitches, he said.

I laughed through my tears. Leave it to Rodney to have me laughing at a time like this.

Okay. I love you, baby.

I swear, each time I expressed my love to him, so much passion come from those three simple words.

I love you more, he replied, and then the phone call ended.

I knew that there was literally no way I would be able to get into the wedding dress, so I wasn’t even going to attempt it anymore because the only thing that I would do was further upset myself and possibly break the zipper on the gown. I closed my eyes for a second, giving myself a minute to think on my feet, and I remembered the other beautiful gown that I had hanging up in the clothes bag, which I was originally supposed to wear to the wedding reception. Although it was a beautiful gown, it was nowhere near my wedding dress. Obviously, I didn’t have much of a choice, so I would just go with that one.

I’ll just wear the reception dress, I said aloud to really no one in particular.

I was pretty sure that each woman in that room was sick of me. I’d been bitching and complaining all day because I wanted everything to be perfect. My mom and I had been going back and forth with each other since early this morning, and I had lost count of the number of times that she told me she couldn’t wait until the day was over. Rodney’s mother, Tomorrow, who had pretty much been the only woman on my side all day, stood up from her chair and grabbed the dress for me.

I loved Tomorrow. She had a certain aura about her that just made her so easy to love and to get along with. She was such a sweet and loving lady that one would have never guessed that she was the same woman who left her very own son at the hospital after giving birth years ago. I would never judge her for it because I had no room to judge anyone, but at the same time, I couldn’t see how she could make such a drastic decision like that. At the end of the day, the only thing that mattered was the fact that Rodney had been able to forgive her, and the two of them were continuing to work on their relationship as the days went by.

This one fits you perfectly, Tomorrow said after she finished zipping up the dress.

She stood behind me, and I noticed that there were tears in her eyes. Her tears were different from the tears that I was just crying though. If anything, her tears looked to be tears of joy or as if she’d finally overcome something.

Look at me, crying on your wedding day. She laughed through her tears as she used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes. "This just feels so surreal to me, you know? A year ago, I was still living with the lie that I never even had a son. My daughters, not even my own husband knew about Rodney. I was depressed because as the years went by, I began to feel guiltier and guiltier about what I’d done. I guess it had a lot to do with me getting older, knowing that my days were somewhat numbered, and I still hadn’t come clean. I never in a million years thought that Rodney would be able to forgive me because he was forced to find all of this out when he was in his thirties. One of the things that I was most afraid of was him feeling as if he wasn’t good enough since I decided to keep the girls and not him.

Now, look. Years later, and the truth is out, and my baby boy forgives me, even though I don’t feel like I’m worthy enough to be in his life. I get the chance to have a relationship with my son, my grandchildren, and I also get to be here today and witness this special day of seeing my only son get married. I promise that this is better than any Christmas gift that I could ever receive, she let me know.

I turned around and faced her, placing my hands in hers. Tomorrow was such a beautiful woman, but it was so obvious in her eyes that she was still living with a lot of guilt.

You are more than worthy of being in Rodney’s life. I know that you’ll probably never be able to forgive yourself for the past, but Rodney has. That man loves and adores you. I swear, all he talks about is the mother, father, sisters, and brothers that he gained from all of this. Rodney is happy, Tomorrow. It’s you who has to find your happiness, I said.

She smiled while nodding her head up and down. Our little moment was cut short by the make-up artist coming over and grabbing me, so she could touch up my make-up. In the middle of me getting my makeup done, my daughter started hollering at the top of her lungs, and my mom quickly brought her over so I could nurse her. As I held her, I kissed all over her little face, just in such awe at how much she looked like her father.

Alright. It’s showtime, my mom said, coming back into the room after being gone for thirty minutes.

There were so many butterflies in my stomach as I stood up and took one last look in the mirror. As beautiful as I was, with my hair pinned up, showing off my pretty face, and dressed in this nice gown, nothing could take away the queasiness in my stomach. As nervous as I was, I was finally able to pull myself away from the mirror.

I joined the rest of my family and friends out in the hallway, and just like that, we were all heading for the elevators to go downstairs where the wedding was taking place. For You by Kenny Lattimore began to play, and my heart sped up even faster because I knew that it was starting. I had no idea why the hell I was so scared because this wedding was so intimate. There weren’t even fifty people in attendance because Rodney and I both wanted something small. We just wanted the people we cared about to witness our love for each other.

After minutes of watching everyone else walk down the aisle, it was finally my turn. The double doors to the room had finally opened, and