Page 6 of Desire
“If this doesn’t win me the votes I need, you’re fired.”
She laughed heartily. “I guess we’ll be unemployed together.”
“Don’t you have some work to do?”
“Yep, since my work here is done.”
As soon as she left, I called my parents. I could not proceed without telling them, and I didn’t want to discuss this while at work or on the phone. They lived two hours south of Onyx City on several acres of land that my father had inherited from my grandfather when he passed away. It was perfect for my retired parents, who were tired of city life. The only thing they didn’t like was not being able to see Azaria more frequently.
“A call from my baby boy in the middle of the day. Something must be up,” my mother, Aliza, teased when she answered.
“You know your middle child well. How are you?”
“I’m good but a little worried now. Is Ria okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine, but how you gon’ bypass asking about me and skip right over to Ria?”
“You sound fine. What’s going on?”
“Are you and Pops busy this weekend?”
“No.”
“Ria and I are coming to visit.”
“Are you sure everything’s okay? You were just here last weekend, and we visited you the weekend before that.”
“Everything is fine, Ma, but there is something I want to discuss. It’s nothing life-threatening, so don’t worry. You might actually be excited about it.”
“Oh damn! Alexander, your son got another woman pregnant,” she shouted to my father.
“What! Mama, why would you tell him that?” I fussed.
“Boy, didn’t you learn from Ria’s mother?” my father asked.
“Pops, I don’t know what your wife is talking about. Nobody is carrying my seed. Ria and I will be there on Saturday morning. I gotta take this call,” I lied and quickly ended the call.
When I entered my parents’ home, I wasn’t expecting to see my older brother and younger sister, their spouses, and my nieces and nephews.
“What are y’all doing here?” I questioned, greeting everyone with hugs, kisses, and high-fives while I waited for someone to answer me.
“Mama told us you had an announcement, and we needed to be here,” my brother, Alexander Jr., better known as AJ, told me.
“Ma, I didn’t tell you to invite the whole family,” I fussed at her, keeping my tone light because neither of my parents played that disrespectful shit.
“Boy, this is my house. I don’t need your permission to invite my kids and grandkids over.” She snapped back.
I sighed and shook my head. I hadn’t planned on sharing my news with my siblings until I’d heard back from Arranged Hearts about a match, but I guessed my plans had changed.
“What’s the tea?” my sister Alaina asked.
I had two nieces and three nephews, ages six to sixteen, and I didn’t necessarily want them to hear this news just yet. I asked the older ones to take the little ones outside, giving the adults some privacy.
“Let’s go into the family room,” I suggested.
Everyone followed me and found an empty seat, leaving the recliner for my father and the sofa chair for my mother. Once everyone was situated, I took a deep breath. There was no easy way to say it, so I just said it.
“I’m getting married.”