Love Knows No Color Pt. 11

The end result was that, in order to get out of jail, she'd had to post bail. The bail wasn't much. But since Barbara had refused to put her house up as collateral, the only thing left was Rose's car. She was financially so far in the hole I knew we'd never see any of the restitution money she'd been ordered to pay. Her criminal case was coming up in 3 weeks, just before Mother's Day, and I think everybody knew she was going to be convicted of SOMEthing. After all, she was charged with almost 70 individual counts, and the evidence was strong on the most serious ones.

In a way, I felt sorry for her. Her blind hatred of Shavonda had cost her everything. But she still had one card she could play on us, and I prayed she didn't use it. We were one the verge of marriage, and assault with intent to commit bodily injury would wreck everything. Barbara had promised Rose wouldn't press charges against us, as long as we paid her medical expenses. So far, the deal was holding, but I was still uneasy.

We did get some good news. On the advice of our attorney from the child support case, we got a personal injury lawyer on Ethan's behalf, and filed suit against the day care for gross negligence causing Ethan's injuries. On the advice of our attorney, we asked for $250K total. This included $100k for pain and suffering, the cost of Ethan's medical care, plus attorney's fees and damages. Also included in the total was money for us for mental anguish caused by an employee of the facility, Rose, enticing Ethan to make a false statement to the treating physician, knowing full well it would precipitate an investigation of me and shift blame away from the school itself.

After some negotiations, the day care agreed to settle the case out of court for $25K for Ethan, $10k for us, plus attorney's fees. They didn't want the publicity of a trial, and the state investigation it would trigger. We happily accepted, and immediately set up a trust fund for Ethan so his money would still be there when he turned 21.

It turned out that the trip to Titusville was our last road trip before the wedding. Shavonda had understood that we were running out of time and wanted to do something special with me while we still could. It was our last trip before our lives changed forever.

Brian and Tamika had fallen in love with my old house, and were ready to move in after the wedding. Brian also started coming around to run trains, and volunteered to host the train nights after the wedding until we could move the railroad. We gave them good terms on the deal. Most of the furniture would stay in the house, included in the sale price. Until they could get financing, we would rent them the house for the cost of the mortgage. They would pay for utilities themselves. Upon approval of their financing, we would sell them the house for the cost of the outstanding balance of the mortgage. Shavonda's house, now ours, would remain mortgage free.

One evening, when I got home, Shaunice was there. She was Shavonda's older sister, in her mid 30s several years older than we were. The family resemblance was uncanny. Shaunice, though, loved getting her hair done, while Shavonda preferred natural, low maintenance styles. Other than that, they had the same build and facial features. One could tell they were sisters.

Shaunice had often shown up for the card games, and was at all the family functions, so I knew her in passing. Tonight, however, she came to visit me specifically. At her request, Shavonda left us alone in the kitchen while she tended to the kids in the rest of the house.

"You're marrying my sister next month," she said, "so I wanted to get inside your head. I need to know where you're at. I need to know you'll take good care of her'"

We talked for awhile. I told her where I came from, about my family, who she'd meet soon. I explained the Rose situation that had put so much strain on us. I also told her about my love for Shavonda.

"Did you know," she said, "That every time you say her name or talk about her your eyes light up?" I didn't. Nobody had ever told me that before. "You do know she worships the ground you walk on. She's a special lady. You're the first person who she's ever dated I feel good about. I like you, Jason. The whole family does. You're good for her. She's been sad since she lost the baby. You're the first person who's made her truly happy. We all believe in you. Please don't fuck it up. Please don't let us down. Take good care of my sister or you'll have to deal with me."

"I'll do my best. Whatever she feels for me, I feel for her. You don't have to worry. Thanks to your sister I know what love is. For the first time in my life I have somebody I can't bear to be away from." I spoke with sincerity. Shaunice seemed satisfied. She found the rum bottle in the cabinet and poured us each a glass, and one for Shavonda too. She yelled out into the living room, "Von! Git your ass in here!"

When Shavonda came through the doorway, Shaunice handed her the glass of rum. She raised her glass. "To Von and Jason, may your happiness never end." We clinked glasses and downed the rum, without the usual Dr. Pepper. Shaunice found the Uno cards in a cabinet drawer and we played Uno for hours before I had to go to bed. Shavonda and Shaunice talked into the wee hours of the morning. She was just climbing into bed when my alarm went off.

The business was doing very well overall. We'd had a couple of slow weeks at Ellsworth, but Carson Street sales were through the roof. It had overtaken the Ellsworth in total sales the last week in March, and had led ever since. Where we were constrained now was in volume. We simply couldn't make the pendants fast enough to keep up with demand. If this pace kept up, we'd have none to sell at the Ren fests in August and September. The necklaces and bracelets were much easier to make, so we were good there. Shavonda raised the price of a pendant by 25 percent, in an effort to slow demand so we could catch up with orders. In addition, to the shortage, wedding planning was taking Shavonda away from the stores often, further aggravating the situation. We decided to cross train Nykole in management, and let the others try their hand at making pendants. Beth, the white girl, seemed to be the most talented, and Shavonda tutored her personally. Pendants were exacting work, requiring extreme attention to detail and precise cuts to the raw materials. Beth took to that precision like a duck took to water.

All the same, with business booming, we decided to hire an eighth employee. We needed somebody who could fill in when Shavonda's absence left the operation shorthanded. Beth passed the word around the Pitt campus, and we also put an ad up on Craigslist.

When May rolled around, we were ready for Rose's criminal trial. The first two days were devoted to jury selection. After running through several rooms of potential jurors, the lawyers finally settled on twelve jurors plus two alternates. The jury's makeup reflected Pittsburgh as a whole. There were 9 white jurors and 3 blacks, plus a white and black alternate. Rose's attorney had tried unsuccessfully to have an all-white jury, but ran out of reasons to reject the black people from the jury pool. With the jury selected, we were sent home on the second day.

Arriving in the courthouse the following morning, we were informed that the district attorney and Rose's attorney were working out a plea deal. The DA informed us personally, telling us that it would save the hassle of the trial if she'd plead now. There would be no need for testimony if she pled.

"Just don't bargain away the ethnic intimidation charges," Shavonda warned. The DA assured us he wouldn't. In the end, he kept his word.

The plea ended up being that Rose admitted guilt on the vandalism and breaking and entering charges, as well as the false statement and harassment charges from Valentine's Day. The 3 counts of ethnic intimidation that covered those incidents also stood. In exchange, the 16 other phony phone calls to 9-1-1 were withdrawn, as were the harassment charges pertaining to the September and November vandalism incidents. In other words, the Da informed us, Rose plead guilty to the charges where they had her dead to rights, while the harder to prove charges were dropped. Shavonda and I were satisfied with the deal, though I still felt sorry for Rose for throwing her life away. She would be sentenced at a hearing in early August. We would be permitted as victims to make statements to the court then.

We'd won. The only question now was how much time Rose was going to do.

We celebrated with an early lunch at Villa Reale, then headed for the Ellsworth store. Velma greeted us when we arrived. "Glad to hear she got hers," Velma said. "God don't like ugly."

Shavonda had been having trouble keeping food down. Not every day, but often enough I was a little worried about her. "Don't mind me," she said. "It's just nerves. Now that the trial is over, and the wedding is almost here, things should calm down."

With all the wedding planning pretty much done, Mother's Day weekend was a time to relax. A defeated Rose came by to pick up the kids for the weekend. That left us until Sunday night to relax. We went out to spend the Friday evening at karaoke with Darren and Minnie.

Shavonda was in fine form. I'd noticed now that she tended to choose more risqué songs to perform, and came over and sang them directly to me as though no one else was in the room. The old love songs were gone, replaced with songs with blatant sexual content. She sang a lot of Macy Gray and Jill Scott tunes now. Tonight she really dug back, performing Sheena Easton's Sugar Walls. Looking directly into my eyes with her smoldering coals, mike in hand. Asking me to spend the night inside her sugar walls. It was like there was nobody but us two, the bar and the crowd didn't exist. Of course, they ate it up. Word was getting around about the black lady who could sing her ass off, and the passion with which she sang her songs, to the white man she obviously adored more than anything else in the world. She'd sing her songs until the bar closed, then we'd walk across the street to our motel room where she'd do all the things she sang about. Tonight was no different. We made love in the motel room until dawn, slept until the motel woke us for check out.

Once home, we set about getting ready for our busy evening. We had separate bachelor and bachelorette parties to go to. Shavonda and her friends were having a toy party, which hopefully wouldn't get too rowdy. The boys took me out to a strip club where we watched naked women dance around a pole. I was bored. The only dancer who even slightly interested me was a small black girl with big ass, tiny waist and fake titties. They bought me a lap dance. It was nice but I couldn't really enjoy it. She reminded me too much of my queen. Had they done this a year earlier, I would have been all over her.

"It isn't that you're not beautiful. It's just that I have the woman I want waiting at home for me," I said.

"Well she must be special if you're not into me tonight," she said. I showed her Shavonda's photo in my wallet.

"She is special to me. A year ago I would have jumped at the chance to be with you. Tonight, all I want is her. I hope someday you find the love I have right now," I said.

After the bar closed, they drove me home where Shavonda was waiting with an assortment of lubes and jellies, all flavored. She was almost mad with desire, and we tried the different favors on each other, The one I enjoyed the most was a cinnamon jelly that heated when you blew on it. Not only did it taste good, it also provided an intense pleasurable heat for the person being licked. There was also a tube of anal lube. Shavonda absolutely insisted on trying that one. It was only the third time we'd done anal, and by far the most pleasurable for her. And because she finally enjoyed it, I did too. I know I'm big, and my going in that tight hole had to hurt like hell. But she was relaxed enough and I was lubed enough that, by taking it nice and easy, she was able to get into it. Afterward, we showered together and I took her again. She was the perfect height for me to penetrate her standing up, bent over in the shower.

Exhausted, we fell back on the bed and curled up against each other spoon style. I think she really enjoyed feeling me ride up her ass crack as we slept. We slept like this so often it seemed natural now.

The next day was Mother's Day. I awoke early and made Shavonda pancakes and eggs for breakfast. I set up a folding tray beside the bed, and brought her the food along with a large glass of ghetto Kool aid. I kissed her on the lips until she awoke, then said "Happy Mother's day, Mommy."

"But I'm not a mommy," she protested.

"To Brittany and Ethan, you are. They're not here, so I'm letting you know that I appreciate you being their mommy. We all love you," I said, sitting down on the bed beside her. We ate our breakfast in bed, then she helped me do the dishes. We took a long bubble bath before getting dressed.

Around lunch time we went to Shavonda's parents' house. I had bought steaks for the grill, and we had a cookout in Althea's honor. Shaunice was there as well. She smiled at me when Shavonda told her about my breakfast. I think maybe she was a little jealous.

Later that afternoon, we called Mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day, talking to her for awhile. I passed my cell phone to Shavonda, who carried on an excited conversation about the upcoming wedding. Then I got back on the phone and told Mom, "There's somebody else here who would love to talk to you." I handed the phone to Althea, telling her, "It's my Mom."

The two ladies talked for a long while. Not wanting to eavesdrop, I only heard bits and pieces of the conversation. One thing I did hear was Althea congratulating Mom on raising such a fine son. And with Althea's reaction to the reply, I assumed Mom had told her how beautiful Shavonda was.

The week before the wedding, Shavonda was a bundle of nerves. She barely ate, and when she did it was usually ice cream. I tried to make her dinner during the week after I came home from work, but food didn't really agree with her. I prayed she didn't take sick during the wedding.

The days passed quickly, and soon it was Thursday evening. I worked my usual central Pennsylvania run, and didn't get home until after 7:30 PM. Shavonda had left early from the store to be there for my family when they arrived. Everybody was already settled in when I finally arrived, and we all sat on the front porch, watching the sun set. The Zucchero's came over to visit, and I introduced them to my family.

We put up Mom, Dad, Sally and her husband, and Grandma at my house. Kenny slept on the couch. Calvin and his family and Uncle Walt and Aunt Penny opted for a motel, which I gladly paid for. My other cousins Matthew and Steven also showed up, and they slept on Shavonda's couch and an air mattress on the floor.

The next day, we led them all in a procession to Shavonda's parents' house for the pre-wedding cookout. Althea was out on the front porch to greet us as we all pulled up. It was hard to find parking in the neighborhood because so many people were at the cookout. Althea immediately spotted Mom and Dad, and came down the steps to give them each a hug. "Welcome to the family," she said. It was pure Althea, always welcoming people to the family.

Once inside, Mom, Dad and Grandma sat on the porch with James and Althea, talking like they'd known each other for years. Shavonda and I sat at a table with Kenny, Sally, Shaunice, and the bridesmaids. We all cut up, swapping stories about each other. Soon Brian also showed up. He'd had to work half a day.

Eventually, as I knew it would, Kenny brought up the now legendary incident at the family farm. "You should have seen it," he said. "Grandma made a comment about race mixing, and Jason read her the riot act then stormed off dragging Von with him. We all went out on the back porch, and they started up in his bedroom. They were so loud Grandma had to get up and leave. She was dying of embarrassment. I swear they were going to knock the bed to pieces. When they were done, Von made him promise to lick her chocolate tootsie pop." The group howled with laughter.

"Wait, it gets better," he continued, "They came out on the porch like nothing happened. Von told us she'd calmed Jason down. Ed told her, we know, we heard you. I asked about the chocolate tootsie pop. Jason was turning beet red, but Von just said he'd gotten his chocolate bunny a day early." Even I was laughing now.

"Jason asked where Grandma was," Kenny added. "Sally told him, I guess you showed her a thing or two about race mixing. And Von just said, long live the swirl. Just like that. Jason is dying, but Von was like, so what. So, Jason, did you lick that chocolate tootsie pop?"

"Many times," I replied. "And it was good." They all laughed some more. It was good to see everybody having a blast, even if it was at my expense, but that was Kenny, always trying to embarrass me, with no malice intended.

"All I know is, one weekend They rented a suite with a hot tub and invited us to stay with them," Tamika spoke up. I knew where this was going. "Brian and me wanted to use the hot tub, and we walked in on Jason licking her lollypop. And Von was doing a sword swallowing act on him too. Ladies, Jason NOT small. I was impressed."

"When you get a man can lick like he do," Von replied without a hint of discomfort, "you take care of him. That's why we getting married tomorrow."

"Well, it sounds like Kenny's mad he didn't get a tootsie pop," Edie said. "And I ain't had mine licked in a while. Kenny, you interested?" Kenny turned beet red. We all laughed. One day I will ask Edie if he took her up on her offer.

And so it went, everybody ripping on the guests of honor, while Shavonda responded bluntly to all the stories.

After everybody ate, the cousin who loved to DJ fired up the music, and I joined Shavonda on the patio. We danced the afternoon away. I was having the time of my life. All the people who mattered in my life were nearby, and they were all getting along like old friends.

The party continued well into the night, though the music stopped about ten. We didn't want to disturb the neighbors. Shavonda and I cut out shortly thereafter. We told Matthew and Steven we'd leave the door unlocked for them. We had a big day tomorrow, and we wanted to get some alone time before then.

Arriving home to an empty house, we quickly stripped out of our clothes, and made love one last time as singles. Afterward, I went down on Shavonda until she begged me to stop. She tasted so good I never wanted it to end. We snuggled naked under the blankets in case anybody walked in on us.

We woke up bright and early and started to get ready for the wedding. We'd dress at the church, so we wore casual clothing as we left the house. Shavonda wanted a bite to eat, so we grabbed some donuts on the way in.

Once at the church, I got dressed into my rented tux, along with my side of the wedding party. They didn't let me see Shavonda before the ceremony, saying it was bad luck. No matter, I would see her every day for the rest of my life.

At the appointed time, I stood at the altar before a packed church, single red rose in hand, with my best man and party. The music started, and soon Ethan and Brittany walked slowly down the aisle, Brittany throwing rose petals along the way. They were followed by bridesmaids Edie and Patty, then Maid of Honor Tamika. All stood at the altar, side by side.

Shavonda appeared, in her white wedding gown, on her father James' arm, they slowly walked down the aisle, and she took her place beside me. I handed her the long-stemmed rose. She broke the flower off the stem, and put it in her hair. She handed the broken stem to Tamika.