“Wait. I don’t have a ring for Russell,” I said.
Russell shrugged. “I don’t need a ring right now, baby. We can get one later.”
“Or you can use this one,” Papa Rush said.
He leaned forward and gave me a ring he’d retrieved from his pocket.
“Is this yours?” I asked, inspecting it before giving it to Russell to do the same.
“No. It was my father’s ring. I planned to give it to my firstborn son, but we couldn’t have any more children after having Russell’s mother, so I held onto it.”
“Why didn’t you give it to Rocky? He’s the oldest grandson,” Russell asked.
“I tried, but he wanted you to have it,” Papa Rush told him.
“Why?”
“He didn’t say. You’ll have to ask him.”
Russell studied the ring for a bit longer before giving it back to me.
“I guess we have everything we need,” he said before we all exited the car.
Once we made it through security, we were directed to the appropriate area to complete our paperwork and pay for our marriage license. The process took about twenty minutes, and luck was on our side. Typically, an appointment had to be made, but one of the magistrates had a cancellation and was willing to perform our ceremony.
“That’s not luck, baby. It just proves we were meant to do this today,” Russell said after we were told.
As we were led to where the ceremony would be held, I suddenly felt something was missing. A wave of sadness overwhelmed me, and I stopped walking. We were holding hands, so Russell stopped as well.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I . . . I don’t think I can do this without my sisters.”
“And you don’t have to because we’re right here!” Rue shouted as they appeared from around the corner with Rocky, Rowdy, and Noelani right behind them.
My sisters rushed toward me, and they engulfed me in a group hug. Although I was surprised to see them, their attire told me I was the only one surprised.
“Oh my God. They knew all along?” I asked Russell, holding back tears.
He took my hands and looked into my eyes.
“Baby, I know how much your sisters mean to you. I would never ask you to do something so monumental without them. My brothers mean just as much to me, and I wanted them here too.”
He kissed my forehead, then my lips.
“We were nice enough to forgive him for not telling us about the proposal, so he knew better than to try and pull this without us,” Daisy said, causing us all to laugh.
“Tell him again, Sis.” Blossom agreed.
“Is someone getting married today?” the magistrate asked.
“We are!” Russell and I shouted.
It had been a little over two weeks since Rose and I had gotten married at the courthouse. When I asked Rocky why he wanted me to have our great-grandfather’s ring, he said he thought I deserved it. He reminded me of how I was neglected at times when we were growing up. He was the big brother, and Roman was the baby, and he noticed how I was sometimes forgotten in the mix and overlooked.
Those were some hard times and the reason I was often quiet and kept to myself a lot. I didn’t realize he’d noticed, and it meant a lot that he thought enough of me to allow me to have something so special.
We postponed our honeymoon for a few months because Rose wanted to visit a Black-owned resort and wanted to dosome research. Our family was planning a reception for us and refused to let us help or share any details.
