"What Am I Gonna Do" Conclusion

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

[glow=red,2,300]"It’s easier to breathe when you meet somebody/Who makes you laugh/Who makes you glad/Glad that you didn’t just give it up/Somebody that you're comfortable to live it up with" --Tyrese: Somebody Special[/glow]

It’s amazing what has taken place within the last two years since the day that Boris died and Cee Cee was born; it’s a nickname Momma came up with for her.

And a year has passed since I decided to be in a relationship with Tyrese. He is so good to me at times that I can’t believe it. He and I are due to get married several months from now. Oh yeah, did I mention that he and I are expecting our own lil’ one in about 7 more months? Yup, we have talked about it in the past after we hooked up and it’s finally happened. However, this will be my last one. Once our baby is born, I’m not getting off of that table until they tie a few thangs up.

Anyway, quite a few other things have happened: Stanley asked me to take over his shop after he moved back home to South Carolina with his mother so she could take care of him; Cookie has been permanently placed in a state mental hospital after suffering a major nervous breakdown while in jail awaiting her trial for Stanley’s assault; Shondra and Steel have gotten married and now have a daughter who’s almost a year old named Tianna; and now Momma and David are finally getting married on next weekend after he traveled out here to Cali several months ago to ask her to come back to him. They have even decided to stay out here permanently after he made the choice to turn over his nightclub to his son that he already had before he met Momma. As far as my relationship with Boris’ parents, Charles and I still get along very well and I’ve noticed how Lorraine has changed for the better. And just like I used to do with Boris, I let them keep the girls every other weekend. However, only Chastity is with them this weekend because Cee-Cee is cranky due to an ear infection.

I have been so busy traveling down memory lane thinking back to the day that Tyrese and I met as I hold Cee-Cee who is napping in my arms in my new bedroom that I hadn’t heard Tyrese come in to join us as I sat on the floor in a corner. He, steel, and David just finished moving the last of everything into our new home that Tyrese picked out for us.

“You aight?”, he smiled as he sat down next to me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve juss been thinkin’; that’s all.”, I smiled back while placing a small peck on my baby’s chubby cheek as she continued to sleep. It’s scary at times when I notice how much she resembles Boris who will continue to hold a special place in my heart. I couldn’t help from grinning while watching her place her thumb in her mouth as she cuddled up closer to me without opening her eyes. It’s also hard to believe that when she’s awake she goes from being a lil’ angel to a lil’ Miss Busy Body now that she is going through her “terrible two’s”.

“You sure you don’t wanna try for at least five more of these with me?”, Tyrese joked as he placed his arm around my shoulder.

“Don’t kill the moment, okay?”, I giggled with a roll of my eyes.

“Aight, my bad.”, he grinned before we shared a brief kiss. Afterwards, I laid my head on his shoulder as we listened to the peaceful silence of our new home.
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[Sweet Meat aka CC]

Well the day for Momma’s wedding has finally arrived and I’m a nervous wreck trying to make sure everything is in place. I don’t know what possessed me to be in charge of it while also having to be the Matron of Honor.

At the moment I’m in Gran’ma’s bedroom finishing up her hair and make-up. Suddenly Chastity comes running inside while holding Tianna. I couldn’t help from smiling when I looked at her; I’m not saying this because Chastity’s my baby, but she’s absolutely adorable dressed in her lavender flower girl’s floor-length gown complete with her very first pair of white low-heeled pumps. I have her individual braids pulled up into a high ponytail which is tied in place with lavender and white ribbons.

“Mommy! Cee Cee and Lil’ Mike are fighting over his toy that she won’t give back to him!”

Gran’ma began to chuckle while I took a deep sigh. “Chastity…you’re a big girl now and Mommy needs you to handle the situation for me until I can get downstairs. Okay?”

“I tried to, but Cee Cee screams her head off every time I try to take it away from her!”, she huffed.

“Lawd! Gran’ma, I’ll be back in a minute. And when Ma comes out the bathroom tell her I’ll help her get ready.”, I sighed as Chastity and I headed downstairs.

“I’m glad to see you! Your lil’ terror is about to give us a fit!”, Shondra joked after finally being able to take Lil’ Mike’s toy away from Cee Cee who was laid out in the middle of the floor in her white dress having the temper tantrum of all temper tantrums.

“See?!”, Chastity sighed as she headed out the backdoor to join the other children who are playing and running around.

“Don’t yall mess up nothin’ out there!”, I yelled after her as I walked over to my baby. I had put too much time in decorating the backyard for the ceremony earlier just for those “Bad A” kids to mess it up. Anyway, I proceeded to bend down and pull Cee Cee up by her arm while whacking her on the behind. “Hush up all that fuss! Ain’t nothin’ wrong with you!” She really began to wail and scream like I had killed her. The guests who were scattered throughout the living room began to laugh while I went off.

“Where is Tyrese?! The least he could do is help out a LIL’ bit! Geez!”, I angrily huffed as I placed her on my hip while she continued to scream, cry, and kick.

“Here he comes now!”, one of my friends and co-workers from the shop named Joyce chuckled while pointing towards the front door.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s the matta with my girl?”, he cooed as he quickly headed in my direction while watching Cee Cee. He immediately took her out of my arms. Now she has quieted down as if nothing is wrong.

“Thank you! I’m tryna get Ma and Gran’ma ready but I can’t do everything all at once!”, I snapped as I turned around to march back upstairs. However, I felt him grab up to my hand.

“Awwwwwwwww, I’m sorry, ma.”, he grinned before giving me a series of playful kisses. When I heard everyone around us chuckling, I blushed and told him to stop.

“Yall get on my nerves doin’ that mess!”, Steel laughed as he walked out of the kitchen while looking at Tyrese.

“Man, forget you.”, he laughed back as he toted Cee Cee outside to see what the rest of the children were doing.

By the time I was back upstairs, Gran’ma had already helped Momma into her off-white gown.

“Awwwwwwwww, looky dur!”, I giggled as I headed in her direction to give her a hug.

“Stop!”, she blushed as I led her over to the chair in front of the dresser so I could fix her hair and makeup before placing the veil on her head.

“This is crazy!”, she blurted out of nowhere. Gran’ma and I gave each other a puzzled look.

“Why is it crazy?”, Gran’ma asked while standing behind us.

“I’m a first-time bride at 48-years-old! Who woulda thought?!”

I couldn’t help from laughing. “Hey, betta late than neva!”

“How true!”, Gran’ma chuckled with a nod of her head. Just then, we heard a light knock on the bedroom door.

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

“Who is it?!”, I asked.

“It’s Shondra…there’s somethin’ that you need to see downstairs!”, she slyly grinned as she opened the door.

“I told Tyrese to handle things for me until I’m done! Now what is it?!”, I angrily huffed with a shrug of my shoulders.

“It’s a surprise.”, she winked.

“Ooh! He’s here already?!”, Momma exclaimed before I noticed Gran’ma nudging her to be quiet.

“What’s goin’ on around here?!”, I asked as I turned around to look at them.

“C’mon. You’ll see in a minute if you bring your butt on!”, Shondra laughed while pulling on my hand.

“Aight! I’m comin’!”, I huffed with a shake of my head. I then proceeded to tell Ma and Gran’ma that I would call for them when things were ready which would be in under a half-hour.

Shondra and I were half-way down the stairs when I recognized a familiar male voice joking around which was making everyone laugh. I stopped in my tracks and looked at Shondra before zooming down the rest of the steps. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“Stanley?!”, I happily squealed as I stood in front of him. He was handsome as ever dressed in a white three piece suit with a crème colored shirt on underneath along with a pair of dark glasses. But that’s not EVEN the half of it…he is back on his feet although he’s using a cane. The last time I had seen him before he left town, he was in a wheelchair.

“The one and only!”, he grinned with a wink as he began to head in my direction while walking with a noticeable limp.

The only thing I can do is stand frozen in place while looking at him. And now I feel tears of happiness running down my face as I outstretch my arms towards him in order for us to share a big hug. “Oh my God! I’m so happy to see you!”, I sobbed as we held onto each other tightly.

“I’m happy to see you too, Trout.”, he chuckled although I could hear him becoming choked up. After we were done with our hug, I stood back to look at him.

“You look great!”, I grinned as I reached out and placed my hand on the side of his face.

“Thanks, Miss Thing. But there’s a reason for that.”, he winked.

“Stanley, you didn’t?!”, I giggled.

“Yeah, girl! I finally got one! He couldn’t come out with me though due to his work schedule, but he told me to say hello.”, he grinned.

“Awwwwwwwww…well how long have yall been togetha?”

“Mmmmmm…about six months or so now. We met at the rehab facility where I go for therapy. And yes…Stanley’s already done his investigation to make sure that Mr. Man ain’t carryin’ any baggage. Stanley can’t deal with no mo’ drama!”

“So what made you come out here, maing?!”

“It’s a surprise from Gran’ma and Momma Casey, but I think you’ll like it.”, he winked.

“You neva cease to amaze me!”, I giggled as I placed a kiss on top of his bald head just like old times.

Afterwards, everyone began to gather outside for the service.

Like Stanley predicted, I like…no LOVE his surprise. He’s singing “Beautiful Girl” by Kenny Lattimore acapella-style as Momma marches up to the gazebo I have rented where David, our pastor, and the rest of the bridal party are waiting. I would later find out that David and Momma had asked Stanley to sing for the ceremony after Gran’ma made the arrangements for him to fly into town. And I gotta hand it to Stanley…he’s singing this song just as good if not better than Kenny.

During one point of the service, I glanced over at Tyrese who was holding Cee Cee on his lap and smiled at him. He smiled back along with giving me a wink.

Later on at the reception, Stanley surprised me again when he sang along with one of Gran’ma’s oldies but goodies records, Al Wilson’s “Show and Tell” which happens to be Momma and David’s song since it just happened to be playing the night she met him at a party back in the day. But not only was it their song; it used to be Gran’ma and Gran’pa’s song too when I was a lil’ kid. I still remember like it was yesterday: I used to hold onto Gran’pa’s legs as he and Gran’ma held each other every time he would put that record on.

By the time Stanley was half-way through the song, Gran’ma had started “The Hustle” going across the back yard with all of the older people in attendance. The rest of us younger folks decided to do our trusty “Electric Slide” directly across from them.

It’s funny how for the rest of the reception it was the young folks against the old ones when it came to dancing until things finally came to an end around 9:00.
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[Sweet Meat aka CC]

I’m in the bathroom trying to get ready for bed while listening to Tyrese trying to play referee between Chastity and Cee-Cee. At the moment, all I can hear is Cee-Cee yelling her new favorite word “no” above Chastity while fighting over what they’re going to watch on tv in our bedroom.

“Yo, G! Hurry up and get outta there!”, Tyrese yelled out of a tone of desperation.

I couldn’t help from giggling while rinsing out my mouth after brushing my teeth. “I’m comin’!”, I sighed as I stuck my head into our bedroom from the bathroom. That’s when I saw Cee-Cee haul off and hit Chastity as hard as she could when the remote was taken away from her.

“Ouch! I’ma hurt you!”, Chastity angrily yelped while hitting her baby sister back. Tyrese immediately grabbed the girls and sat them on either side of him while I came walking back into the bedroom.

“Cee-Cee…it’s time for you to go to sleep!”, I huffed as I scooped her up as she whined and cried.

“Oh shut up, you big cry baby!”, Chastity grumbled as she walked alongside me so I could tuck them both in.

“Chastity, cut it out!”, I sighed while cutting my eyes at her.

“She started it! Now we gotta go to bed on the count of her!”, she pouted while folding her arms.

“C’mon, here boo.”, I smiled as I held out my hand for her to take until we reached her bedroom first.

As soon as she was under her covers and I had kissed her goodnight on the forehead, Cee-Cee crawled up to her and did the same. It’s so cute how one second, they’re fighting like cats and dogs and the next they’re all lovey dovey with each other.

As soon as I reached Cee-Cee’s room and sat down in the rocking chair to rock her to sleep, she was out like a light. I ever so quietly stood up and placed her in her crib.

“Okay, I’m tired!”, I wearily sighed once I was back in my own bedroom. I leaned up against the door after closing it while watching Tyrese standing at the sink in our bedroom dressing in a pair of sweatpants after taking a quick shower.

“Awwwwwwww, my poor baby.”, he joked with a wink as he watched me walking over to our bed where I collapsed as soon as I pulled the covers back on my side.

“Whateva.”, I giggled as I used the remote on the nightstand to turn the tv off and the stereo on. Listening to music each night is the ONLY way I can still fall asleep. And I did just that within two minutes after my head had hit the pillow. However, I was awakened several minutes later when I felt Tyrese wrapping his arms around me from the back. He leaned forward and gave me a soft peck on the cheek.

“You’re missin’ our song.”, he smiled as he snuggled up close to me.

“No, I’m not.”, I smiled back without opening my eyes as we listened to Raphael Saadiq’s “Still Ray” before I heard Tyrese faintly snoring as soon as I had answered him. We both had experienced quite a busy day.

I chuckled and then opened my eyes for a brief moment to look out of our window at the night sky while silently thanking God for sending Tyrese into my life. I then closed my eyes and drifted back off to sleep.
--The End

[glow=red,2,300]"I'll do whatever puts a smile on my baby's face/Girl you're my best friend and you can never be replaced/There's nothing in this world that I wouldn't do/Do for you/You were one of my favorite dreams and I'm so glad that it came true."--Tyrese: What Am I Gonna Do[/glow]

[~Batgurl~]

awwwwww. that was beautiful. this story was soooooo good! great job.

[Tanee78]

::claps:: Very good!!!