I was told from my girls tonight that I needed to dress formal, but to also make it a little sexy. When I hear formal, and sexy, the color black just always comes to mind. Black was a statement color to me, so I opted on a sleek black halter gown. I purchased the dress yesterday and when I tried it on, it sucked me in, just how I needed it to, showing off this sexy body that I was working with.
Although the dress was simple, there were small details about it that stood out. The high neckline, but the drama was in the back of the dress. My entire back was exposed, exposing my spine, shoulders, and it stopped just before it could reach my ass.
I slipped the dress on, and it fit just as beautifully on me as it did yesterday evening when I tried it on. My dress was long, so you wouldn’t be able to tell the kind of heels that I was wearing, but I still chose to pull out a beautiful heel from Manolo Blahnik. That was one of my favorite brands. This kind of dress was too powerful to overshadow it with too much jewelry, so I was simple, just wearing big rocks in both ears from Tiffany.
For my scent, I was mixing a few things tonight. I loved to layer my perfume. I decided to mix Billie Eilish (No.1) as my base, and then I added Baccarat Rouge 540, and Jo Malone London as the final finish. This triple combo would have people stopping me all night, wanting to know what I was wearing.
I grabbed my clutch from the bed, and I went over to the floor length mirror that was in the bedroom, and I snapped a couple of pictures, and videos, just so that I could send them to my man. In the middle of me doing that, Brooklyn walked into the room, and she was fully dressed.
“I hope you not about to post those pictures on Instagram,” she voiced, and I laughed, while turning around to look at her, and seeing how beautiful she looked in her black gown.
“No. I’m about to send them to my man. You look so pretty,” I complimented her, walking over, so that I could fully take her in.
Brooklyn offered the compliment right back to me, telling me how much she loved my dress, hair, and makeup.
We eventually made it downstairs, where I locked up the house, and our driver was already standing outside, waiting for us. He was pushing a nice Cadillac Escalade truck, and he stood there in a black suit, with a smile on his face, greeting us. Brooklyn stepped in first with his assistance, and I stepped in after her, thanking him, and I set my phone, and clutch in my lap.
I put my seatbelt on, and once he came around, hopped inside, and started driving, that’s when I went ahead, and sentthe pictures and videos that I took of myself to Steel. Literally, within two seconds of the pictures, and videos delivering to him, he started face timing me. I laughed, knowing that he was going to call, and when the call connected, he was sitting his handsome self there, being dramatic, having his tongue hang out of his mouth like a dog, as he used a napkin to dab at his forehead. I chuckled at his antics while looking at him.
“And watch what you say because I have ears,” I had to let him know.
“Damn baby. Shit! Fuck! I can’t say what I want to say!” I really had his ass fighting for his life to not say anything vulgar to me.
Steel’s mouth was reckless. He would literally say some of the filthiest, outright craziest shit to me, but I think it made me crazy as well because I loved it. I just didn’t like when he slipped up and talked crazy to me in front of the kids. With us filming our reality show, he was often fighting for his life, trying to keep his words PG with me, while we were filming.
Speaking of filming, we had the night off from filming tonight. I never wanted to overwhelm myself with it, and some events in my life, I wanted it to be personal, without the camera crew there, and tonight just happened to be one of those nights.
“Aight. I’ll just say what I gotta say to you when you get home then. Damn. What time you think you going to be home?” he asked, and I laughed again.
“Baby, I don’t know. I haven’t even got there yet,” I responded.
“Aight. You look beautiful though baby. Enjoy yourself. Where Brook at?” he wanted to know, and I turned the phone, so that he could see Brooklyn, and she smiled, while waving at him.
It warmed my heart to hear Steel let Brooklyn know how pretty she was. Little things like that were just a constantreminder to me that I picked right. I picked the right man for me.
Brooklyn had the worst father in the world. Wop was literally the worst and because of his actions, that man would spend the rest of his life in prison for killing Rhythm. Brooklyn didn’t have any contact with her dad. He never called her from prison, and I hope that he continued to do that because he was linked to too much trauma in her life. Although she didn’t have a father in her life, she had Steel, and I loved the way that he loved her, and was there for her in any way that she needed him.
I eventually wrapped up my call with Steel, and Brooklyn and I talked the entire way to the restaurant. The girls wouldn’t tell me the name of the restaurant that we were going to tonight. They wanted it to be a surprise. When we pulled up, and I saw that it was a restaurant that I was telling Karina about a couple of months ago, letting her know that it was on my bucket list, I smiled because I had people in my life that really listened to me when I spoke. It was called Casadona Miami. They specialized in Italian food, and it had waterfront views, which was right up my alley.
Our driver came around, assisting me with getting out of the truck, and he assisted Brooklyn as well. I thanked him, and he let me know that he was going to park and wait for us.
The moment we walked inside, it’s as if the hostess knew that I was the woman of the hour because she quickly smiled, and had Brooklyn and I follow her, so that she could lead me to my family, and friends. She took us out back, by the water, where there was a long, rectangular table, with all the women in my life sitting down, and they were so happy, standing up to hug me, carrying on as if I haven’t just seen most of them this week.
“Toni, you look so beautiful girl!” Shawntae, one of my best friends started it off, getting to me first.
I squeezed my girl, letting her know how good she looked as well, and I went around the table, getting hugs, accepting the compliments, and pouring them right back into the ladies.
I found myself getting a little choked up because God had really blessed me with a good group of women in my life. The way my mom and grandma hugged me, and held onto me, telling me how happy they were for me, you could tell how genuine it was. The way the women in Steel’s life, like his mom, grandma, and god mother held onto me, thanking me for coming into Steel’s life, and being for him what he needed, was enough to send me into tears, but I held back, not wanting to ruin my makeup.
My girls, my aunt, even Alecia, who I haven’t known for longer than two years, were all here, pouring into me, and I couldn’t be happier.
The women had me sit at the head of the table. Now that I was here, we had a couple of waitresses come around, so that they could start taking drink orders. Keep in mind, that I was sitting at a table filled with boss women. The women in my life ran businesses, or they worked high salary careers, so when drink orders were put in, expensive bottles of wine were being ordered, without flinching about the cost, or even asking for that matter how much the bottle was in the first place. Little things like that made me smile, especially seeing that we were all black women.
Once all the drinks and appetizers were put in, Karina, my cousin, who was sitting right next to me cleared her throat, as she held a piece of paper in her hands. Karina was my maid of honor. It was only right. This was my blood cousin. We’ve been through a lot in life together. She was the closest thing that I had to a sister right now on the outside, as Temperance finished serving her time. She’s been super involved in my wedding, stepping in wherever I needed her, and years from now, I’llnever forget the way she’s been here for me, helping me in preparation for this wedding.
“Okay ladies, I don’t want to just sit here, and be bored, playing on our phones and stuff, so I decided that I would draft up a couple of games for the wife to be. Nothing too crazy though. The first game that I have is called ‘How well do you know your man’. I have the questions and answers in my phone from a conversation that I had with Steel a couple of days ago. You ready to play?” Karina asked me, and I was super competitive, never wanting to lose, or be wrong in anything, so I was ready.
“Oh baby, you can’t ask me nothing about that man that I don’t know. Let’s go,” I replied, and when I said that, the women started clapping, and saying things like, ‘I know that’s right’ or ‘I love it’. I breathed for that man, so I was confidant in not getting anything wrong.
