Wives, Fiancees, and Side-Chicks of Hotlanta(94)

“I love you too, husband,” Sasha said. It sounded like love.

Terrance kissed his new bride again; this time they devoured each other’s tongues. It tasted like love.

Sasha inhaled the cologne that wafted from Terrance’s neck into her nostrils. It was a bottle he’d had flown from Spain when he couldn’t find it anywhere in the States. Hell, it even smelled like love.

Terrance looked down at the broom that lay on the ground. “Before we jump this thing, we have to agree to one thing,” Terrance said.

“What’s that?” Sasha asked.

“That for the sake of our child, divorce is never an option.”

Terrance was wasting his breath on that one right there. Sasha had grown into a whole different woman since moving to Atlanta. But one thing that was not going to change about her was the fact of who she’d end up being. Never mind who she was now, but being a single momma donning the title of baby momma was not in the cards for her.

When she’d told Terrance she was pregnant, he displayed no mixed emotions at all. He jumped up with excitement and immediately began deciding which guest room would soon become the nursery. He looked more like a football player than a basketball player as he did the touchdown dance. The same you-are-not-the-father-dance Sasha had seen men do on talk shows was the one Terrance was doing upon finding out he was the father. He’d looked as though he’d been playing the lotto for years and finally hit. Once he was able to calm himself down, he looked to Sasha.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” he’d asked Sasha. “It means I have to make an honest woman out of you.” Terrance had then told her to hold on, that he’d be right back.

He zipped off and out of that house but was back in an hour. He raced up to Sasha with sweat on his forehead as he got down on one knee. “Sasha Wellington, the mother of my child, will you marry me? Will you be more than just my friend, more than just my confidante and way, way, much more than just my baby momma?” He chuckled while Sasha stood there in pure awe.

“Will you be the woman who I take care of for the rest of my life? Will you be the woman of my dreams and let me help to make all your dreams come true?”

In that moment Sasha was reminded that she had dreams. Just like she’d told Norman, she wasn’t giving them up. But she was putting them on hold while life, love, and family happened.

Terrance opened the ring box he’d had balled in his hand. Staring at Sasha was not only Terrance, but a flawless seven-carat diamond ring. “Will you? Will you marry me, Sasha?” He put his other hand on her belly. “And will you marry me, too, little one?”

Either way it went, how could Sasha say no to that . . . How could she say no to him? She didn’t say no, and now just a week and a half later they were married. Sasha was now a wife.

So the blueprint, at least the one Sasha had spent her entire life planning out, had been crumpled up and tossed into the wind. It had been blown away the same way Terrance had blown Sasha away. Right now, finding another job didn’t matter, finding a space for a boutique didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered, as Sasha’s mother had said, was the fact that Sasha was happy. And in this moment she could honestly, one hundred percent say that she was happy.

Guests threw rice at the newlyweds and cheered as the couple made their way down the church aisle toward the doors.

“Well, I guess she’s off to live her happily ever after,” Paris said to Casey. “And just to think, that could have been me once upon a time had I let the fairy tale play out.”

“Shhh.” Casey was quick to elbow Paris and look around to make sure the handful of people hadn’t heard her. “That’s all water under the bridge now. This isn’t about Terrance’s past with you, but his future with Sasha. Now just stand there, clap, and be happy for her.”

Paris rolled her eyes up in her head as she began to clap.

“Good girl,” Casey said to her. “Besides, don’t get too jealous. What looks like happily ever after is only part-time bliss. There’s a lot of work that goes into being a baller’s wife.” Casey looked on as the couple made their way over the threshold. “And unless Sasha can get with the rules of the game quick, fast, and in a hurry, Terrance will be a free agent again before you know it. And who knows, maybe you’ll get a second shot.”

Paris took in Casey’s words as a mischievous grin spread across her lips. “Humph, then I guess I better work on my free throws, huh?”

The two women laughed.

Terrance and Sasha disappeared from the doorway, headed to the waiting limousine to start their life together. Hopefully, prayerfully, as Sasha had cried out, Jesus would take the wheel, because unbeknownst to her, she and Terrance were headed in two different directions, which was going to make for one hell of a ride.