My Soul Cries Out (32 page)

I
t was still dark outside when I woke up to Alaysia tapping me on my forehead. “Time to get up.”

I peeked one eye open. “What time is it?”

“Six o'clock. On the news, it said sunrise is at six thirty-eight.”

I knew there was no sense in asking for fifteen more minutes. Alaysia was acting like a kid waking her parents on Christmas morning, ready to open her presents.

After she seemed satisfied that I wasn't going back to sleep, she went knocking on the other doors. Nakia took the room next to us. David and Kevin were in the room across the hall, and Khalil in the room next to them. We agreed that no one would get the master bedroom because it wasn't fair to the rest of us for someone to have a king-sized bed and a Jacuzzi while the rest of us had twin beds and bathtubs.

I put on my white, one-piece bathing suit with the white sarong and cover-all. Alaysia already had her white linen dress on. Nakia came out of her room looking half asleep in an outfit that matched mine. We waited down in the living room until Khalil and David came out in their white trunks and T-shirts. Alaysia pulled the calla lilies out of the refrigerator and gave them to me and Nakia.

“Where's Kevin?” I didn't know why I was whispering.

“He's on his way down.” David wiped the sleep out of his eyes. “We'll be outside. Why don't you wait for him to make sure he didn't go back to bed?”

The others filed out the door and walked down to the beach.

I heard a door open and Kevin walked out. Instead of his outfit matching Khalil's and David's, it was more like Alaysia's. He had on a white linen shirt with white linen pants.

“How come you got a special outfit?”

“I'm getting baptized again. I was gonna get an outfit like the other guys, but Miss Alaysia insisted that I wear this. Something about a wedding ceremony and being the bride of Christ.”

“I don't understand.”

He took my hand. “I want to celebrate being a completely new man in Christ. These last few months have been life changing, and even though I know I still have a ways to go, I feel like I'm finally becoming the man God originally intended me to be. At the risk of sounding like Alaysia, I want to let God wash the old man away into the ocean and solidify the new creature I've become.”

“Kevin, that's wonderful.” I kissed him. “What a beautiful surprise.”

He looked past me out the glass door to the beach. “We better go. If the sun comes all the way up and we're not outside, Alaysia will kill us.”

 

 

It was the most beautiful baptismal I had ever seen. Khalil officiated and David assisted. The sky glowed with the dazzling colors of the sunrise, and the cool breeze off the water kissed each of us awake. We gathered in a circle with Alaysia in the middle. She shivered, and I didn't know if she was cold or nervous.

Khalil held his hand up to heaven. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

He took Alaysia down under the water and I swear when she came up, she radiated like the woman on
Touched By An Angel
. She cried and said, “Jesus, thank you for making me new.”

Her tears and glowing were contagious. As she hugged each one of us, she said, “I love you guys so much. I finally have a family.”

When she was finished hugging everybody, Khalil held out his hand then pulled her to him. He cupped her face in his hands and said, “Alaysia, I love you with all my heart. I may not be able to give you the life you're used to, but I promise I can love you better than you've ever been loved. I want to protect you, take care of you and be with you . . . for the rest of my life.” Out of nowhere, he pulled out a beautiful engagement ring. He slipped it onto her finger. “Alaysia Zaid, will you be my wife?”

If Khalil hadn't been holding on to Alaysia, I think she would have fallen over. She stared at him with her mouth wide open, then looked at me as if to say “Did he really say what I think he said?” I nodded and smiled and she turned back to Khalil. Fresh tears fell down her face as she put her arms around him and kissed him.

He pulled back. “I take that as a yes?”

She nodded. They kissed and held each other for a while.

Alaysia collected herself and we refocused. Kevin took his place in the middle of the circle.

Khalil held his hand up again and said, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

It took both David and Khalil to take Kevin down in the water and bring him up again. When he came up, he held his hands up to heaven as his tears mixed with the salt water streaming down his face. Khalil and David hugged him, and the three of them held on to each other for a while. Alaysia and Nakia joined in the group hug then stepped back as Kevin walked over to hug me. As we held each other, I felt Kevin's heart pounding against my chest. He brought his lips to my ear.

“Thanks for loving me and believing in me, Monnie. It was your love and God's love together that made me a new man.”

I kissed him until David tapped him on the shoulder. “Yo, man, this is a baptism, not a wedding.”

We all laughed and headed inside.

After we showered and changed, we came downstairs to cook breakfast together. We had a huge feast of fresh berries, pancakes, scrambled tofu, tofu sausage, wheat biscuits, leftover salmon, and steak and fried potatoes and onions. When we spread everything out on the table, Alaysia clapped her hands together. “Now this is what I call a wedding feast.”

We sat down and heaped our plates.

David looked around at everybody. “How would you guys feel about coming back in a few months and doing this whole beach weekend thing again?”

“Why? You wanna get baptized?” Kevin asked.

David took Nakia's hand. “No, we're gonna go ahead and elope. We don't want to do it at the courthouse. We want to do it here at the beach, with the family God has given us.”

“Aaaawww,” Alaysia and I sing-songed together.

Nakia smiled. “We're gonna invite Pastor Ramsey and his wife down for the weekend so he can marry us. I'll tell my family after we get back. They'll be mad, but they'll get over it.”

Alaysia clapped her hands together. “Shoot, girl, we might make it a double wedding. I'd love to get married here.”

Khalil looked surprised. “You mean you don't want a big, fancy, downtown, expensive wedding and invite the whole city of Atlanta?”

Alaysia kissed Khalil's cheek. “I don't need all that stuff, baby. All I need to make me happy is you.”

Khalil kissed her on the lips. “I love you.”

David laughed. “Yeah, man, maybe y'all better get married in a few months with us.”

When we finished eating, Khalil patted his belly and said, “After that kind of meal, I think we all need a run on the beach.”

Alaysia said, “Yeah, I could use a few miles.”

David nodded. “Yeah, man. Then after that, we can go back to that market. We're gonna need some more steaks for lunch.”

“No more animal flesh.” Alaysia made a face as she and Khalil went to get their running shoes.

Nakia shook her head. “I ain't runnin' on no beach. I'm going back out on the deck to read my book.”

“Don't you mean read the back of your eyelids?” I teased.

Nakia threw her napkin at me.

“How 'bout we take a walk instead of a run on the beach?” David said to Nakia.

“I don't feel like that either.” Nakia wrinkled up her nose. David elbowed her and she jumped. “Oh, yeah. A walk on the beach sounds good.”

“Let me get these dishes and I'll change into my running clothes.” I got up to take the dishes to the kitchen.

I put the fruit in a container and put it in the fridge. Kevin helped load the dishwasher. The others trooped back downstairs and walked to the patio door.

I wiped my hands. “Oh, shoot, you guys are ready. Let me get my shoes.”

Kevin took my hand and said, “Why don't you stay here with me?” He kissed my fingers then took the keys out of his pocket and threw them to David. “Make sure y'all get plenty of steak, man. Take your time and pick out some good ones.”

David caught them. “Yeah, man. We might drive back to Atlanta for the steaks. You know ain't nothing like steak from Atlanta.”

Nakia popped his arm. “Shut up, boy. Come on here.”

They closed the patio door behind them.

“Why do I feel like I've been set up?”

Kevin answered me with a kiss.

And then another.

And then another.

And then all the kisses ran together into one long kiss until I couldn't breathe. The intense look in his eyes was full of desire. “I told you I wanted to celebrate being a new man.”

He scooped me up and carried me back to the master bedroom, the whole time kissing my face, my neck, my lips. I thought I would melt. He lay me down on the bed, covered with lavender rose petals, and slowly undressed me, kissing me the whole time. Everywhere.

My body was singing. And so were the birds, and the ocean, and the sun, and the trees and all of creation it seemed.

And heaven and earth moved.

All . . . day . . . long.