The whole backyard exploded in joy.
When I finally got my feet back on the ground, I ran straight back to Toni.
She was cryin’…Hard.
Her hands was over her face and the tears kept fallin’ even while she tried to wipe them away. She looked overwhelmed and beautiful and soft in a way that made my chest ache. I slowed down when I got near her ‘cause somethin’ inside me got real calm all of a sudden.
Everything I ever cared about was standin’ right in front of me, and feelin’ my family, my daughter, and my wife all tiedtogether in this moment hit me so hard I had to breathe through it.
I picked Toni up slow and gentle and lifted her off the ground, kissin’ her while the pink dust floated around us like we was standin’ in a dream. She wrapped her arms around my neck and held on tight while the family cheered and hollered behind us. When I put her back down, I stayed close and dropped to my knees in front of her.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pearly white box I been keepin’ on me for weeks now. My hands ain’t shake but my heart damn sure felt too big for my chest.
Toni covered her mouth again when she saw it.
Then I opened the box.
The diamond ring sat inside, big as hell, bright, flawless, and costin’ me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ‘cause my wife deserved nothin’ less.
“Toni,” I said while lookin’ up at her, “I love you more than I ever been able to explain, and I know I been hell in a lot of ways, but my love for you never changed. When I was locked up and away from you, that shit broke me in ways I ain’t wanna admit, and it made me think about everything I wanted with you. We already married… but we ain’t never do it the right way. We ain’t never give you the moment you deserved. So, I wanna propose to you again. I want you to have a big weddin’. I want you to walk toward me dressed like a queen while everybody I love watch me take you in.”
Toni started cryin’ harder. Her shoulders shook. Her chest rose fast, and her lips trembled. She looked overwhelmed and loved and shook at the same time.
“Marry me again, baby,” I whispered. “For real this time.”
She nodded fast through her tears and choked out, “Yes… yes, ‘Lo…”
I took her old ring off real slow, placed it in the box, then slid the new one on her finger. It looked perfect on her hand.
Everybody clapped and screamed and cried.
I went right back to Toni’s stomach, settin’ my hands on her and kissin’ her soft, then lookin’ up at her with a smirk.
“I already got a name picked out,” I said.
Toni blinked through her tears. “When you do that?”
“I been thinkin’,” I said as I kissed her belly again. “My’Love Toni Mensah. I’m callin’ her Lo’Lo.”
Toni covered her face. “You really wanna name her My’Love?” she whispered.
“Yeah. She my love, baby,” I said. “She my whole heart. I’m namin’ her after what you been to me. And I feel like she should have your name ‘cause it’s you givin’ her a part of yourself you ain’t get to have when you was a lil’ girl.”
Toni covered her face and broke all the way down, her shoulders shakin’ hard while her tears rushed out like she been holdin’ ‘em for years. I stood and pulled her straight into my chest, wrappin’ my arms around her while she shook against me. I held her close and rubbed her back slow while she tried to breathe through all that emotion hittin’ her at once.
That’s when my mama pushed through the crowd with tears runnin’ down her cheeks, like she couldn’t stay where she was no more. She wrapped her arms around Toni and held her tight, rockin’ her like she been waitin’ to love on her in this moment. Toni turned into her and cried even harder, and seein’ both of them like that damn near knocked the breath outta me.
I swallowed hard, tryna keep my own tears from fallin’ ‘cause I could feel them hoes sittin’ right there. My whole family was cryin’, the air was full of pink dust, Toni was in my mama’s arms, and my daughter had a name that felt like heaven.
Before I could let myself get swept up in it, I took a deep breath and yelled across the yard, loud as hell, “Say! I need another drink and somethin’ to smoke!”
Everybody hollered and laughed, and the moment stayed perfect.
A nigga had his baby girl, and everything in the world felt right.
The day turned to night, and me and people was still goin’ strong as hell.
The whole yard still smelled like rose petals, liquor and gunpowder from where I shot them targets up, and my body still felt warm from Toni cryin’ in my arms while I put that new ring on her finger. It was supposed to be a gender reveal, but the shit turned into a celebration for everything, from my baby, my proposal, my mama cryin’, Pluto and Sha’Nelle cryin’, and me drunk as hell tryna act like I wasn’t two minutes away from cryin’ too.
