A week later I was standing in the corner of the ring, in a suit, watching their wedding. It was on Raw, very clever of them. Their relatives had floor seats, all the fans were in their seats that they'd bought on the other levels, and all the wrestlers were gathered on the ramp and stage. It was fun. I was Raven's best man. Amber was the maid of honor. There wasn't much to it, just like any other wedding except that it was in a ring. And Saph threw her flowers into the crowd. It was funny. I thought it was anyway.
For a couple weeks it was just Amber, Claudette, Jake and I. Raven and Saphrin were busy honeymooning and stuff. It wasn't very exciting. I can't think of any little funny or dramatic stories to tell you in that time. It was just normal. Kinda boring. And when they came back there was no big change in them except that. Oh yeah, and they got back a few days after Saphrin's birthday. Me and Amber had made for her all like dishes and stuff…they were cool. I won't go into describing all of it. And also we let her take care of Jake for a couple weeks. She was always begging to do that so we finally let her. I wanted to buy her a duck of her own, then her duck and our duck could be homies, but considering Raven's "phobia" I didn't think it was very nice.
For a little bit we considered giving Jake to her…but the Raven thing was thought of and we went against it. Not to mention that once the idea passed, me and Amber both slapped ourselves in the head with how wrong it was. See, it wasn't that we didn't want him. No, we loved Jake. But we were always with Saphrin, and she loved him, we thought, even more. It would've been a sign of true friendship if for her birthday we tied a mariner turquoise ribbon around Jake's neck and handed him to her. Just to show that we loved Jake and Saph alike. And now we'd see him all the time but not take care of him. But then we realized that we couldn't. For one, we loved Jake… two, because for a moment we'd forgotten the reason why we had Jake at all and when we remembered it would've been insane to just give him away.
I think he may have liked living with Saphrin though. He seemed to enjoy the time he spent with her. I think it frightened him when Claudette would cry. So with Saph and Raven at least he wouldn't have to put up with crying babies. Not for a while anyway. ;)
So lemmie skip to Valentine's Day. That's when important things started happening, something worth telling you about.
We were at the house in Vermont, going through fan's presents for a few hours. They all remembered Claudette's birthday and sent her presents. Amber and I didn't really get her a present. She wouldn't have understood it. But for the record, and the thought, we bought her some new blankets. So for the morning and early afternoon we were just spending time with each other and our daughter. And as an anniversary thing I bought her a necklace. She loved it. She bought me a watch. It was funny though. I thought it was. She did too. I don't know why. Haha.
Mid afternoon rolled along. Claudette had fallen asleep on me and I was cradling her in my arms. She was a year old. I was beside myself with shock and happiness. It was as I've said so many times, something I never will get over. Such a powerful feeling. And here I'd known her for a year, more than that even if you count the months of pregnancy, and still I was in shock from it all. A daughter. It was so…crazy. But anyway, as I was busy being beside myself, Amber was in the kitchen making dinner. Raven and Saphrin were going to come for dinner that night. They were late. I wasn't surprised. Well for Saphrin it was strange to be late, she was always on time, but Raven…eh. I could just picture him stopping on the way because he saw a playground that he wanted to spend his time in.
No big deal though. I was occupied with my daughter. Her eyes had changed from blue. They were green now. Dark green, very beautiful. Amber's mother had green eyes. I think my father may have also but I don't really remember. Mark had green eyes so maybe. Whatever.
Amber came into the room then and sat down on the couch with me. She smiled. Her hair was tied back, revealing the purity of just her face. I felt intoxicated from it, between her beauty and the beauty I saw in our daughter. Amber's features were so soft, so pretty as she smiled and began to take Claudette from me.
"What are you doing?" I asked her softly.
"I'm going to put her in bed if she's sleeping."
"No…let me hold her…" I said. Amber laughed a little.
"You're going to be the death of me."
"What?"
She kissed me on the cheek. "You're just so fuckin' cute."
"Hey. I try."
She played with my hair and then settled next to me, laying on my arm. "I love you."
I smiled. "I love you, too."
"No…you don't even know. I just…" she laughed. "I love you so much it just makes me want to hurt you! Like smack you or something." She pulled on my goatee.
"Ahh!! Don't do that!" I said to her, as loudly as I dared without waking Claudette.
She hugged me. "I'm sorry!!! I didn't mean it!" then we kissed and that took like…I don't know how long it was but we were interrupted by a knock at the door.
Amber pulled away from me and got up to answer. As she did that I went into Claudette's room and laid her down in her crib, a bit sad as her warmth left me. I walked back into the other room to see Raven beaming, Saphrin clinging to his arm. There was snow in both of their hair, melting as they walked in and closed the door and took off their coats. Amber was laughing.
"What's so happy with you two?"
I walked up to them and gave Saph a hug, gave Raven a pat on the shoulder. "Yeah and why are you late?"
Saphrin giggled and threw her arms around Raven's neck and kissed him on the cheek. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the couch to sit down. "Good answer…"
She laughed and pulled away from him, kicking off her sneakers and walking in and sitting down on the other side of the couch. She sat on her knees, eyes bright and sparkling. Raven came and sat next to her, also obviously and visibly happy.
"I'm pregnant!" she said. Raven took her in his arms and kissed to top of her head as she laughed. My jaw dropped. Amber and I looked at each other. She looked as shocked as I was. After a moment that shock wore off and was replaced with incomparable happiness.
Me and Amber were on a roll…Valentine's Day was definitely looking good for us. First, we meet, then we have a daughter, then we found that our best friends in the whole world were going to have a child also. It was so perfect.
For about an hour we just hung around in the living room, talking, laughing…we were all automatically happy because of Saphrin's pregnancy. Halfway through that hour Jake decided to waddle into the room and as soon as she saw him Saphrin let out a squeak and walked over to him, then sat down and played with him on the floor. He was happy to see her, too. They were like…better friends than me and her, or Amber and her. The whole time we were…you know, chillin', Amber kept walking in and out of the room to make sure whatever she was cooking was doing fine. Finally we all went into the dining room to eat. Just as I was sitting down there came a knock at the door. Seeing that everyone else was sitting down already I walked over out of the room to answer the door.
When I opened it I felt my heart speed up a little. I turned around to see if anyone else saw who was there, and seeing an empty living room and stepped out onto the porch to talk so that they wouldn't hear his voice.
I frowned. "What do you want, Mark?"
He shrugged and sniffled. I couldn't tell if it was from it being cold or because he was getting emotional. His breath hung in the air in front of him as he shoved his hands in his pockets. His hair was tied back, out of his face as he looked at me. His eyes glazed over. "We uhh…haven't talked in a while…"
I felt my heart ache a bit. Standing before me, talking to me, was a person who was definitely one of the most important figures in my life. And as much as I could push him out of my head when I needed to, I loved him as my brother. I had missed him. I took in a deep breath and leaned against the side of the house. "I'm aware of that."
His face twisted a little, like he was trying not to cry. "Listen, man…I'm really sorry…I just…it's your chosen anniversary and my niece's birthday, and I'm sorry. I feel terrible about what happened. I'm ready to be your brother again."
My eyes burned a little as I looked at him. I had a sudden flash of memory in my mind of when we were kids, in the basement of Paul's house…when he'd come down to be with me. I thought of all the times we'd fought and how much it had hurt. All the times I'd begged him to be friends again. And now he was actually coming to me with some form of remorse.
I realized then…it was the first time in our lives that I had more than he did. That was why he apologized. Perhaps I didn't need him…but it was true. What did he have? A successful career. What did I have? I successful career, a wife, a daughter, a pet duck, and friends. What did it matter if I had a brother.
But I did need him. I wanted him as a brother.
"Aww, Mark," I said to him, and pulled him into a hug. He hugged me back and we stood there for a moment like that. When we pulled away from each other I saw a bit of shame in his eyes. I knew that it hurt him not to have the upper hand, to be at someone else's mercy. That was why I promised myself then that I'd never mention it again to him. I knew that it would be embarrassing to him and make him hurt on the inside.
I guess that made me a nice person.
"C'mon, dude," I said to him, and invited him into the house. Just as I was opening the door, Amber was walking into the room looking a little worried.
"Who's here, hun?" she asked. When she saw Mark she froze and scowled a little bit. "Oh. Hello, Mark."
"Amber, everything's cool. Can you get Mark's coat. I'll set another place at the table," I said to her. I walked into the kitchen and got out another plate and fork and knife and all that, and then sat down to eat. My heart was swelling, and nearly burst as it seemed that Mark and I had picked up where we left off as we all told jokes and laughed.
Yes, Valentine's Days were definitely looking good for me.