“I don’t know how I got caught up in this. I wasn’t even at bowling that night.”
“According to Savvy, when she made the bet, it was for all of y’all to participate and Josh agreed.”
“I may not be able to beat him in a straight up fight, but I am going to shoot his big ass,” he says grumpily as he goes to get dressed.
When we get to the party house, my mouth drops open and I double check that I am not on a Hollywood movie set. There are actual props and decorations, lights and cameras to record this momentous occasion. There is a stage with seats for the women to watch the men in this production. Solo goes backstage with the other brothers, and I go have a seat and wait for the shenanigans to begin. The other women start filing in and taking a seat next to me.
“I cannot wait to see this!” Savvy says, bouncing in her seat like Bubba does when he’s excited.
“You know you wrong for this one,” True says as she takes a seat with a tub of popcorn, and I look around to notice for the first time the concession stand on the other side of the room.
“You really went all out for this,” I say in amazement
“This is going to be epic!” Skai says while eating the nachos she got from the concession stand. I go to the stand and grab some snacks and a drink and wait impatiently for the show to begin.
All of a sudden, the lights turn down and music begins to play. Next thing I know Peter walks out dressed as the queen complete with a crown on his head and begins talking to the magic mirror that talks back, and I know that’s some hi-tech stuff Jabarri put together. Next scene is Josh with his hair in a chignon wearing a raggedy dress as he scrubs the floor, and he starts singing and talking to the real live animals! Where did they get trained live animals for this production? I almost choke on my Icee. What the hell am I watching? I look over to Savvy and the other women and they are laughing so hard tears are running down their faces. OMG! He is singing into the well about how he’s wishing for the one he loves to find him today. Then Saint comes over dressed as the prince, and I am so glad we are recording this. A few minutes later Josh sings about whistling while you work and my stomach hurts from laughing so hard. That man loves his wife because how else can you explain what would motivate him to do this, and he doesn’t have a bad singing voice at all. But I just cannot take him seriously right now. I do not think anything can beat this, until the prop change and the other brothers are on stage as dwarves singing Hi Ho and I literally cannot breathe I am laughing so hard. Jaasiel is Happy, Aryan is Doc, Atlas is Grumpy, that’s appropriate, Anson is Dopey, Jabarri is Bashful, Joseph is Sleepy, and Asher is Sneezy. Everyone has given up on trying to not laugh out loud and are doubled over in laughter, but by some miracle the brothers never break character. By the end of the play, I feel like I have been to the best Broadway production ever! We eat the 1937 inspired meal featuring foods that were popular during that time, since that was when Snow White was released. This was the best night ever.
2 weeks later
Joyce
We are back at the hospital this morning waiting for Lennox to come and walk with Joseph to the operating room. His brothers are not taking any chances this time around; someone will be with Joseph at all times, and as soon as he is cleared from recovery, he will be transported via ambulance back to the compound to recover. I am in the room right next to his bed gripping his hand as hard as I can.
“Don’t worry, baby. Nothing is going to happen this time. We’re prepared this time.”
“Promise me,” I say, nibbling my lip worriedly
“I promise, baby,” he says eyes blazing. “We have a wedding and honeymoon coming up. You know I am not going to miss either of them.”
“OK.” I barely get it out of my mouth when Lennox walks in to walk with Solo back to the operating room. Aryan walks with them, and I head to the waiting room they gave us to sit down and pray for not just Solo to make it back to me but that this surgery gives him back the one thing I know he wants most in this world, his mobility. Savvy and True come and sit with me to offer support and strength. T went to work at my insistence, and she fought me every step of the way, but in the end, she finally went to the office so I could concentrate on Solo today and not work.
“If he can survive being taken minutes after surgery, being held captive, and swimming to freedom to get back to us, he will be fine making it through this surgery with Lennox at the helm,” True says. “When are the dresses going to be ready?” I recognize she is trying to distract me, and I love her for it. Solo and I decided to have a small ceremony with just the family and take a mini-moon aka a short honeymoon. The only thing we are still waiting on is the custom-made gowns for me and the girls.
“In a few weeks. We’ll have to have one last fitting to make sure no one gained or lost any weight, and the dresses should be finished shortly after that,” I tell her as I keep my eyes on the door. “Luckily we do not have to worry about keeping to a specific date and we can reschedule if necessary.” True shakes her head in agreement. We continue to talk about the wedding and honeymoon and the new line T is working on. Another hour or so goes by and I am about to come out of my skin. Just as I am about to get up to pace the floor, I hear Solo’s mom’s voice.
“My son will defy death itself to get back to you, tamahine,” Bria, Joseph’s mother, says to me. I met his dad Hemi and his mom Bria at Peter’s wedding, and they came back for this surgery. I know they are just as worried as I am, but they just hide it better, or maybe the truth is they are used to this. It had to take a special strength for her to know all her sons could be killed in the line of duty and still be able to function. His mother is an amazing and warm woman; she treated me like a daughter from the moment Solo introduced me to her. She treats me, Savvy and True like the little girls she never had, and we let her, all for different reasons. Savvy had a good relationship with her mother and misses her terribly since she passed away. True never got the chance to have a relationship with her mother, since her dad took her from her mother who died shortly after that, and me, well I knew my mother, but she was never interested in being a mother. So, in one way or another, she fills a gap in our lives, and I think we fill one for her too. She never had any daughters, and her sons took a long ass time to get married and none of them have children, so I think she’s been missing spoiling someone. And she takes her job as our mother seriously. She calls us daughter or tamahine and we call her Momma B.
“I hope you are right, but I won’t be able to breathe until I can lay my eyes on him again.”
“I know but have faith you’ll see him again in just a little while.”
“I know, Momma B.”