Road To The Alter
Weeks went by and with time I quit mentioning or even bringing up Brandi, It was best for both of us that way. Besides there was more to worry about now that the wedding was so close. Aaron never really understood why I still wanted to marry his brother after that night and to be honest I wasn’t either. All I knew was that it was best for Nathaniel to have both of us in the picture. No matter what. I was not going to leave Justin. I couldn’t even if I had wanted too. I was in way to deep now. All that was left to do was get this planning for the wedding over with and hope to God that things got better along the way.
I rarely had time to do anything outside of Nathaniel and the planning anymore and within time, I had lost a number of friends but I never complained and I still to this day won’t complain about them. If they wanted to be around they would have been. Justin had stopped staying out so late and well, I wouldn’t say that he helped with the planning and getting stuff together much, it was more of him hiding in the room and playing videogames. I didn’t mind though. I don’t think any of us did. It was best that he stay in there. We had bought my dress at a Good Will store that was right in town. 99 dollars is all that Wayne and Jana spent on it, but it was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. It didn’t come with a veil so me and Jana spent countless hours with Nathaniel and Aaron, hot glue gun in hand, on the floor of her bedroom trying to hot glue every individual fake flower to a blank tiara so that we could incorporate my veil. By the time my dress was finish it looked like a million dollars. The only problem was that if I was to gain or lose any weight at all I wouldn’t fit in it. That was how perfect this dress was.
The dress hid in Jana’s closet away from curious eyes. I liked it that way. I was always being told by Jana and my mom that if Justin saw the dress before the wedding it would be nothing but bad luck. So we tried our best to hide this dress from sight. My mom had yet to see the dress so one night while Justin was at work, Jana had called my mom to see if she wanted to come over and see it, and within fifteen minutes my mom was there. I had never seen her so excited. Usually when your daughter gets married, you are the one that does the planning and the helping but with my family it was the other way around, Jana never complain. Not once. Well to me anyway. She had never had a daughter. This was the only time that she would be able to do this with anybody. So my mom just let her bask in it. I went to put the dress on when my mom got there and Jana was just steps behind me, to be honest I think that she was happier than I was to show off what we had created. I slipped out of my clothes and into the dress, knowing that Jana saw the bruises, she said nothing. She went to zip it.
“It’s stuck” she said.
“Seriously?” I asked, highly upset.
Jana started to laugh. “No silly.”
With that the dress was on and we were walking into the living room where my mom and Wayne were sitting.
“You look amazing” Wayne said, half eyeing the dress.
Wayne didn’t like the fact that mom wasn’t helping with anything, that it was just me and Jana doing it. Even though she explained it to him a million times, he could not stand it.
“Oh my god.” my mom said
“What?” me and Jana asked together
“That dress looks like it is from the 90’s. It looks like the dress I married Louis in.” she said with a giggle, causing Jana to laugh right along with her. I could feel my cheeks turning red, all I wanted to do was cry. How could they be making fun of my dress. I loved it so much. I looked over at wayne and he was turning red too. I could tell that they were upsetting him as well.
“Um.. Guys I’m going to go take this off. Justin is here.” I said, and hurried down the hall. I ran quick because if it was Justin who I thought I saw, I was not going to curse us. There was only three weeks left until the wedding and we had been doing so good. I refuse to ruin it now.
It took me all but two seconds to get myself changed and get the dress I had come to love stashed away in that bad in Jana’s closet. I was in and out of that room like the flash. When I got back into the living room I was relieved. Thank god. My suspicions were correct and Justin was sitting on the couch with Nathaniel.
“He’s got teeth, Mommy!” Justin said to me, the excitement in his eyes was unshakeable.
“Your lying, I just checked this morning and there were none.” I said.
“Bet with me” He said.
“I will.” I replied as I walked over to the couch and stuck my finger in Nathaniel’s mouth. And there they were. Two teeth, he bit down and I didn’t think that the child would ever let go. Everybody laughed.
“I don’t know what you guys are laughing at, that hurt!” I said.
“You’re the only one stupid enough to stick your finger in his mouth.” Wayne said with a laugh.
“Thanks Wayne.” I said.
“Anytime He said as he turned back to whatever he was doing on the computer. I swear that man, no matter how much you hated him, you couldn’t help but to love him.
Time was growing closer and closer. Our list of things to do was like a whirl wind in my head. We had picked the location of the wedding, managed to get through the meetings with my pastor without fighting and even convinced him to do an outside wedding. I wasn’t having any luck with the writing of the vows like I had hoped for but everything else was just a mess. There were still center pieces to make a cake to buy, a honeymoon to plan. I was losing my mind. I could literally feel it packing it’s bags and walking out the door with it’s middle finger in the air at me as I stood and watched it run down the street. Nathaniel spent most his days at home while I did my running around for the wedding. There was still just so much to do that I felt myself snapping under the pressure of the perfectly imperfect wedding for the most dysfunctional couple I knew, me and Justin.
The only sign of relief I got was when I would get home and Justin would be gone. I was told that it was normal to feel like this but that didn’t stop me from wanting something to give and the stress to just all go away.
That is when I got the call.
“Ali, It’s Keisha.” Wayne said
Keisha was Jana’s niece. It was amazing that the girl even wanted to talk to me because she had gone out of her way to ignore me up until this point. I walked over and took the phone.
“Hey.” She said. “I figured sense the wedding is the day after tomorrow that tomorrow night you could come over for your bachelorette party that I am throwing.”
“You are throwing me a bachlorette party?” I asked
“Yeah, silly. that’s what best friends do.” She said, “I figured sense you asked me to be in your wedding party I would throw you this party.”
I never asked her to be part of my wedding party. I was just going to have my sisters. I looked around and quickly found the culprit. Jana.
“I was told that I what the maid of honor did.” She continued talking.
“sure.” I said. “I will see you at the rehearsal tomorrow.”
With that I hung up the phone. Sense when was this Jana’s wedding and why was she telling somebody else that the can have a spot in my party that was already taken. I had to play this cool with my family. They would never understand. Besides tomorrow night I was having a bachlorette party, what ever that entitled I was stoked. This was turning out to be a job in half but tomorrow night it would make it worth it. After all it was my last night as a free woman, why not cut loose for once in my life? Why not be normal? When I told Justin, he was over excited, “That means I can have my bachelor party!” he screamed. “I’ll see if mom will watch Nathan.”
He ran out of the room.
If the past few months have been anything, they have shown me that Justin has changed. that he does love me. Maybe I’m not making as big a mistake as I thought. Everything is going to work out. I thought to myself. My marriage was going to be fairytale, sure there were a couple bad days leading to it but it was going to be magical. I am going to show them all. I may have only been 18 for seven days but I have never been more sure about what I wanted in my entire life. This was the making of something great, I could feel it.
I rarely had time to do anything outside of Nathaniel and the planning anymore and within time, I had lost a number of friends but I never complained and I still to this day won’t complain about them. If they wanted to be around they would have been. Justin had stopped staying out so late and well, I wouldn’t say that he helped with the planning and getting stuff together much, it was more of him hiding in the room and playing videogames. I didn’t mind though. I don’t think any of us did. It was best that he stay in there. We had bought my dress at a Good Will store that was right in town. 99 dollars is all that Wayne and Jana spent on it, but it was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. It didn’t come with a veil so me and Jana spent countless hours with Nathaniel and Aaron, hot glue gun in hand, on the floor of her bedroom trying to hot glue every individual fake flower to a blank tiara so that we could incorporate my veil. By the time my dress was finish it looked like a million dollars. The only problem was that if I was to gain or lose any weight at all I wouldn’t fit in it. That was how perfect this dress was.
The dress hid in Jana’s closet away from curious eyes. I liked it that way. I was always being told by Jana and my mom that if Justin saw the dress before the wedding it would be nothing but bad luck. So we tried our best to hide this dress from sight. My mom had yet to see the dress so one night while Justin was at work, Jana had called my mom to see if she wanted to come over and see it, and within fifteen minutes my mom was there. I had never seen her so excited. Usually when your daughter gets married, you are the one that does the planning and the helping but with my family it was the other way around, Jana never complain. Not once. Well to me anyway. She had never had a daughter. This was the only time that she would be able to do this with anybody. So my mom just let her bask in it. I went to put the dress on when my mom got there and Jana was just steps behind me, to be honest I think that she was happier than I was to show off what we had created. I slipped out of my clothes and into the dress, knowing that Jana saw the bruises, she said nothing. She went to zip it.
“It’s stuck” she said.
“Seriously?” I asked, highly upset.
Jana started to laugh. “No silly.”
With that the dress was on and we were walking into the living room where my mom and Wayne were sitting.
“You look amazing” Wayne said, half eyeing the dress.
Wayne didn’t like the fact that mom wasn’t helping with anything, that it was just me and Jana doing it. Even though she explained it to him a million times, he could not stand it.
“Oh my god.” my mom said
“What?” me and Jana asked together
“That dress looks like it is from the 90’s. It looks like the dress I married Louis in.” she said with a giggle, causing Jana to laugh right along with her. I could feel my cheeks turning red, all I wanted to do was cry. How could they be making fun of my dress. I loved it so much. I looked over at wayne and he was turning red too. I could tell that they were upsetting him as well.
“Um.. Guys I’m going to go take this off. Justin is here.” I said, and hurried down the hall. I ran quick because if it was Justin who I thought I saw, I was not going to curse us. There was only three weeks left until the wedding and we had been doing so good. I refuse to ruin it now.
It took me all but two seconds to get myself changed and get the dress I had come to love stashed away in that bad in Jana’s closet. I was in and out of that room like the flash. When I got back into the living room I was relieved. Thank god. My suspicions were correct and Justin was sitting on the couch with Nathaniel.
“He’s got teeth, Mommy!” Justin said to me, the excitement in his eyes was unshakeable.
“Your lying, I just checked this morning and there were none.” I said.
“Bet with me” He said.
“I will.” I replied as I walked over to the couch and stuck my finger in Nathaniel’s mouth. And there they were. Two teeth, he bit down and I didn’t think that the child would ever let go. Everybody laughed.
“I don’t know what you guys are laughing at, that hurt!” I said.
“You’re the only one stupid enough to stick your finger in his mouth.” Wayne said with a laugh.
“Thanks Wayne.” I said.
“Anytime He said as he turned back to whatever he was doing on the computer. I swear that man, no matter how much you hated him, you couldn’t help but to love him.
Time was growing closer and closer. Our list of things to do was like a whirl wind in my head. We had picked the location of the wedding, managed to get through the meetings with my pastor without fighting and even convinced him to do an outside wedding. I wasn’t having any luck with the writing of the vows like I had hoped for but everything else was just a mess. There were still center pieces to make a cake to buy, a honeymoon to plan. I was losing my mind. I could literally feel it packing it’s bags and walking out the door with it’s middle finger in the air at me as I stood and watched it run down the street. Nathaniel spent most his days at home while I did my running around for the wedding. There was still just so much to do that I felt myself snapping under the pressure of the perfectly imperfect wedding for the most dysfunctional couple I knew, me and Justin.
The only sign of relief I got was when I would get home and Justin would be gone. I was told that it was normal to feel like this but that didn’t stop me from wanting something to give and the stress to just all go away.
That is when I got the call.
“Ali, It’s Keisha.” Wayne said
Keisha was Jana’s niece. It was amazing that the girl even wanted to talk to me because she had gone out of her way to ignore me up until this point. I walked over and took the phone.
“Hey.” She said. “I figured sense the wedding is the day after tomorrow that tomorrow night you could come over for your bachelorette party that I am throwing.”
“You are throwing me a bachlorette party?” I asked
“Yeah, silly. that’s what best friends do.” She said, “I figured sense you asked me to be in your wedding party I would throw you this party.”
I never asked her to be part of my wedding party. I was just going to have my sisters. I looked around and quickly found the culprit. Jana.
“I was told that I what the maid of honor did.” She continued talking.
“sure.” I said. “I will see you at the rehearsal tomorrow.”
With that I hung up the phone. Sense when was this Jana’s wedding and why was she telling somebody else that the can have a spot in my party that was already taken. I had to play this cool with my family. They would never understand. Besides tomorrow night I was having a bachlorette party, what ever that entitled I was stoked. This was turning out to be a job in half but tomorrow night it would make it worth it. After all it was my last night as a free woman, why not cut loose for once in my life? Why not be normal? When I told Justin, he was over excited, “That means I can have my bachelor party!” he screamed. “I’ll see if mom will watch Nathan.”
He ran out of the room.
If the past few months have been anything, they have shown me that Justin has changed. that he does love me. Maybe I’m not making as big a mistake as I thought. Everything is going to work out. I thought to myself. My marriage was going to be fairytale, sure there were a couple bad days leading to it but it was going to be magical. I am going to show them all. I may have only been 18 for seven days but I have never been more sure about what I wanted in my entire life. This was the making of something great, I could feel it.
