Royce (36 page)

Joy heard the garage door going up in the middle of the afternoon.  Royce came through the door, “Royce what are you doing home so early?”   “We need to talk Joy,” and she could see the intensity in him, and she followed him to their bedroom.  He stood there and so did she, he began to undress.  She watched him taking off his clothes, his eyes held hers, she followed suit and began to undress.  They stood facing each other naked, their clothes strewn around them. 

“Look at me, at all of me,” and her eyes went from his head to his toes, he followed her eyes as they scanned his body and when she came back to his eyes hers were soft and questioning.  He held his hands out turning them over then back again, “It’s just outside covering Joy, it’s not all of me, it’s just a part of me,” he looked at her up and down her body, “And you Joy, it’s just your outside covering, it’s not all of you and yes I see it, as I know you see mine,” and he pulled her towards him, and held her and looked deeper into her eyes as if he wanted her to see the inside of him and not the outside.

“Your outside Joy is brown, a beautiful warm brown and it covers the most beautiful girl in the world to me and I love her. Love her so much in all her sweet, warm brown glory,” he kissed her, “I love you Joy and I don’t care about the color of your skin as I hope you won’t care about mine, it’s just covering, my outside, yours is warm golden brown and I’m plain vanilla that’s all.”

She smiled and kissed him, sensually kissed him.  “Oh Royce,” she looked deeply in his eyes, “There may be lots of things about you, but plain and vanilla is not one of them, your outside is fine as hell,” she said and he laughed. “You think I’m fine Joy?”  She smiled up at him, “Yes, yes I do, let me tell you about your outside,” she looked softly into his eyes. 

Joy ran her fingers through his hair, “I love your hair, the color, the soft feel to it, I love to run my fingers through it,” she looked deeply into his eyes, “And your eyes, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost myself in their deep blue depths,” she ran her fingers down his face, across his jaw line to his lips.  “And your mouth Royce, those lips of yours, I love to kiss them and feel them anywhere on my body and seeing that easy Royce smile makes my heart flutter,” she kissed his lips and ran her hands across his broad shoulders and down his arms looking at his body, “And all of this Royce, all of you, your arms, your chest, that patch of dark hair on your chest, it’s you Royce and I love all of you,” and she kissed the dark patch, and entwined her fingers in his, “I love these hands and everything they touch.  I love every inch of you Royce and none of it is plain and vanilla.”

“Oh baby,” he picked her up into his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist, he kissed her sweet lips. “Speaking of inches,” he was hard now, she laughed, “Oh he’s in there too, every inch of his loveliness.”  He walked her to the bed, “Oh baby,” he laid her down, “What you said, it means so much to me and I love you so much Joy words could never describe how I feel, but your words baby, your words touch my soul baby,” he kissed her and looked in her eyes. 
Louie, Louie when you taste brown sugar,
“Warm brown sugar that’s what you are,” he continued caressing her down her body and looking playfully in her eyes, “…and I like my sugar brown.”  Joy laughed and laughed, “Oh Royce the things you say baby, I don’t know how you come up with some of the stuff you say ,” he laughed and thought,
Louie, Louie had a taste of brown sugar and fell in love overnight,
and
he deeply and sweetly kissed her.

“Let’s get married,” Joy said, and the next day she went back to looking in the bride magazines and by the next week she had a date, “September fifteenth babe, that’s our big day.”

But by the next week Royce was happy with everything except September, it seemed so far away and he’d already had that scare with the color thing and he found out it wasn’t Joy thinking that way, and in the back of his mind he knew that anyway, it came up all of sudden and it had never been an issue between them and he found out it was her mother.  But the one good thing that came from them talking about color was that Joy thought he was
fine as hell
, and he smiled.  He loved knowing she thought he was as handsome as he thought she was beautiful.  And now he wanted September to hurry up and get here. 

The second weekend of April rolled around and Joy’s divorce was final and it was their weekend with all the children and Royce said, “Let’s get out of here, let’s go somewhere.”  “Alright, let’s go,” Joy replied without hesitation and Friday they took the children out of school early and packed them up.  He rented a private plane, and when they were all seated he said, “Let’s go to Vegas!  We all want to see David Copperfield right?  Well he’s there, we can go there, let’s go!”  And they all cheered with excitement.  Joy snuggled up against him, “This is wonderful Royce to just up and go like this,” Joy said and kissed his cheek. 

When they arrived a limo was there to take them to their hotel.  He’d decided on The Bellagio he thought Joy might like that, watching the dancing waters from her hotel suite and he’d selected the largest suite they had.  It was a three bedroom private villa with eight thousand square feet and twenty-hour hour butler and limo service, its own private entrance, formal living and dining room, fireplaces, marble foyer and full kitchen, a private pool and barber and salon services, it was just want he needed.

The limo pulled up and the butler waited for them and led them to their villa, “Oh wow!  Wow!”  Joy and the children exclaimed as they ran in and saw the swanky beautiful décor and spacious villa, “Oh Royce, baby you didn’t have to do all this, it’s just a weekend baby,” she said awed by the place.  They ran around looking at all the amenities, the private gardens and pool, a full size kitchen. “Don’t worry baby I don’t want you cooking this weekend.” “But Royce it’s here it’s so wonderful.” “No, not this weekend,” he said holding her.  “Okay girls in one room, boys in the other, you make the selection,” he told the older kids and they ran to the rooms to decide, and then the butler came in, “Pardon me sir but they have arrived.” “Thank you,” he led Joy to the foyer.  “You have your instructions,” he asked them, “Yes sir.”  There were about five ladies and two men standing there all professional looking, a couple with roll-away bags, “Your luggage has been placed in the rooms sir,” the butler said, “Shall we get started?”

“Right this way madam,” one of the ladies said and Joy smiled. She was led her to the master suite, three of the ladies came with her and Royce went with the others, and after that she was bathed and shaved, waxed and exfoliated, massaged and oiled down with a fine soft sheen glow.  “Ummm,” she said numerous times throughout, she loved it,
Royce is really spoiling me
this weekend. 
One of the ladies with the roll-away bag opened it and revealed it was makeup.  She sat Joy at the vanity in the bathroom and applied makeup expertly to her face,
all this for David Copperfield? 
After she applied her makeup she left and another lady came in and her bag looked like a mini hair salon.  Joy saw products galore, curling irons, blow dryers, an assortment of combs, rollers, brushes, “I will make you more beautiful than you already are madam,” she said and Joy smiled, and she wondered what all this was costing Royce?  She let her style her hair, she was a white woman with a foreign accent but she pulled her hair to the side and gave her a nice wave on each side, then she styled it in a beautiful chignon.  It twisted and coiled along the side of her neck,
I am beautiful
Joy thought surveying the finished look turning her head one way then the other,
I look like a Hollywood actress readying for the red carpet, my hair and makeup perfect.
Hmmm what am I going to wear to match this, I didn’t bring anything this glamorous? 

They led her to her room, and there hanging from the wardrobe high enough so it didn’t touch the floor was her wedding gown, “Oh my god, oh my god,” and she began to cry, “Oh Royce, oh Royce.” “No madam, no your makeup, your makeup,” the ladies in the room went to the bathroom and brought out tissues and pat at her face.  “Sorry, sorry but I’m surprised that’s all, really surprised.” 
How did he pull this off?
  The bridal shop said it would be months before her order would be ready. “Call Bert, tell her we need repairs,” one of the ladies said, and one of them ran out the room and soon came back with the makeup lady, “Oh my madam, no problem, it’s minor, it’s not a concern,” she said soothingly, “Many a bride cry off their makeup,” and Joy cried harder. 

Royce too had been preened and pampered and the kids too, all bathed and the boys hair cut, “Not too much on the little one, his mother likes his hair long,” Royce told the barber, his hair was cut shorter and styled, still in his signature style.  He didn’t want to change too much either. 

The boys were dressed and waiting when he walked out, “You look very handsome,” he told them, even Justin had on his little tux.   Joy had chosen champagne cumber buns for the boys and red for him.  The girls came out next in champagne colored dresses.  “You look beautiful girls, I’m sure Joy will be pleased,” they beamed at him, “Thank you daddy I feel so pretty and grown up,” Karen said.  No one wanted to mess anything up, so they all behaved, and a few minutes later Joy came down the hall. 

Royce stood rooted to his spot staring at her.  She was absolutely gorgeous she took his breath away.  Joy had chosen an ivory colored silk gown with a halter top that cut deep for a woman and it hugged her curves to perfection, it flowed down her body and flared at the bottom and ended in a short train.  Her hair in the side chignon gave her an elegance and showed off her inner and outer beauty.  She smiled at him, and then she looked at the rest her family, “Oh my, don’t you all look so beautiful.” “Mommy!”  Lindsey went to her, “You look pretty mommy.” 

“Thanks baby and look at you, perfect just perfect,” she looked at all of them, “You all are just perfect I couldn’t have planned it better myself,” she looked over at Royce and went to him, “Oh love, love. This is so special I can’t begin to describe how I feel.”  Royce took her in his arms, “Oh baby, I want to kiss you but I don’t know if I should,” “Kiss me, we’ll fix it,” and he kissed her sweet perfect lips, “I love you baby, I love you.” 

When they released she turned to receive her bouquet from one of the ladies and Royce saw the back of her dress, the row of little pearl buttons that led down and how the silk cupped her behind perfectly and nearly dropped to his knees.  He came up behind her, “Oh baby, what are you doing to me?”  He said standing close enough that their bodies touched his hands on the side of her hips, “What?”  She said and looked at him, and he looked down, she laughed, “I knew you’d appreciate that.” “Oh I do, I do,” he teased, “Let me fix your lipstick madam,” and then out the door they went.

They walked through the lobby to the waiting limo, people stopped and stared like they were famous as they made their way out.

Joy had asked him one time if he thought about what he wanted and he’d said, “I’m the guy we just show up,” but seeing her going crazy planning and pulling everything together, the scare from her mother, and the family and friends list growing longer and longer and he hadn’t even told his parents yet.  He was going to wait until the invitation was in the mail knowing his parents were like her mother, a bit racist, and with all that Royce
had
thought of what he wanted.   He wanted her, he wanted their children to be together like they were now, happy, loving and sharing with each other and he wanted her to know how much he loved her, that’s what he wanted. 

Ms. Severs was the only one who knew what he was up too and found the perfect wedding spot outside the strip in a garden set up for weddings and other special occasions.  Everything was real, the flowers, the arch was made of a twisting wood covered in a flowering vine.  Royce had tried to think of everything and he was only sure of one thing and that was he wanted it to be special for Joy.  He wanted it to be just him, her and their children.  They were the ones marrying, no one else mattered, just them. 

They walked in and Joy saw the beauty of the garden, flowing over with flowers and trees, the flowered arch and the pastor waiting for them.  Joy loved Mariah Carey so for her he had Mariah Carey’s beautiful voice piping effortlessly through the speakers.  

Royce stood at the altar, the children on either side of him and waited for Joy.  Two attendants dressed in  white tuxedos with tails and white gloves stood at the edge of the aisle.  "Vision of Love" piped through the speakers and the two attendants rolled out the white carpet as Joy made her way down in her ivory dress with her beautiful red rose bouquet.  As she made her way to,
I had a vision of love and you were all that it turned out to be, I had a vision of love…,
he smiled and waited and loved her so much.  She smiled at him, and this was his song to her.  She was what love was supposed to be.  Royce saw her wipe a tear. 

When she was by his side, he stood and stared at her, and she smiled lovingly up at him, “I love you Royce, I can’t believe what you’ve done, it’s beautiful,” and he couldn’t help it, he pulled her to him and held her, “I love you baby, I love you so much,” he whispered in her ear, but it was loud enough for all to hear.  They held on to each other until the pastor began, “We are gathered here today…,” and Royce married Joy.

Then it was Mr. Caruthers, the photographers show.  He came compliments of Ms. Severs too, so with Mariah Carey songs in the background they took rolls of pictures all over the picturesque grounds, and Joy was beside herself.  The sound system covered the entire garden and they heard Endless Love, Loves Takes Time, When you Believe, I’ll Be There, I Want to Know What Love Is, Anytime you need a Friend and Joy, him and the kids danced and sang along as they posed or waited to be set up.  And they were happy and he always wanted it to be like this, and they posed and smiled and did what Mr. Caruthers asked until he said, “I think that’s a wrap.”