Part One - A Simple Wedding
They kept it real simple. No bouquet of roses. No reception hall deposit that would take six months to pay off. No three-hundred-person guest list full of people who barely knew their names.
Just them two. Just this.
Tracy Coffman — twenty-eight years old, standing in a cream wrap dress she found at a thrift store on Third Street for sixty-two dollars — held Tyson’s hands inside the small government office on a Tuesday afternoon.
The walls were beige. The carpet was industrial gray. The justice of the peace had a coffee stain on his tie.
None of that mattered.
Tyson Webb — forty-one, broad-shouldered, wearing a charcoal blazer Tracy had picked out for him because his taste in fashion was questionable.
Four years they had been together. Four years of family saying “y’all sure about the age gap?” And from people who weren’t invited to the wedding.
Four years of navigating his world and her world until it just became their world — kids, bills, late nights, early mornings, disagreements that turned agreements, and love that kept choosing us every single day.
Their two witnesses — his boy Marcus and her girl Danielle — stood a few feet back. Danielle was already crying. Marcus was trying not to laugh at Danielle crying.
The JP kept it short and sweet.
Do you take this woman…
Do you take this man…
By the power vested in me…
And just like that, Tracy Coffman became Tracy Webb.
She laughed when he kissed her — not a little giggle, a real laugh, the kind that was genuine, that she was completely happy — Tyson pulled back just enough to look at her face and smiled that corky smile she had fallen for back when she wasn’t even trying to fall for anybody.
Outside on the steps, the late afternoon sun hit the city sidewalk right where Ms. Coffman was already there waiting — Tracy’s mama, a beautiful woman in her mid-fifties with edges laid better than women in their twenties with not a minute to waste.
She hugged her daughter first. Long. Tight. The kind of hug that said I see you, baby. I’m proud of you. Then she pulled Tyson in too, because as far as she was concerned, he had been her son-in-law for year two.
She pulled back and looked between the two of them, already reaching into her purse for her keys.
Ms. Coffman: “I’ll keep the kids tonight, you newlyweds go and celebrate.”
Tracy blinked.
Tracy: “Mama, you sure? Because Jaylen been acting up lately and Destiny—”
Ms. Coffman: “Tracy.”
Tracy: “…Yes ma’am.”
Ms. Coffman: “Girl. Go do what married couples do after they just got married. I think I babysit children before. I know what I’m doing.”
Danielle snorted. Marcus fist bump Tyson up. That sealed the deal.
Tracy turned to her husband — husband, that word was still warm and new in her mouth — and tilted her head.
Tracy: “Okay, thanks Mom.”
She slipped her hand into Tyson’s.
Tracy: “So where we going my husband?”
Tyson didn’t even hesitate. That slow smile again.
Tyson: “Well I was thinking we should go check out unc club you know the drinks are free Just Married.”
Tracy: “Club Webb?”
Tyson: “That’s it’s all day baby.”
She looked down at her cream dress, then back up at him.
Tracy: “I’m in a wedding dress, Ty.”
He put his arm around her shoulder walking towards the car.
Tyson: “I know. Then unc can see that we just married. Plus you gon’ be the finest thing in the building.”
Danielle grabbed Marcus by the sleeve.
Danielle: “We invited, right?”
Tyson glanced back without breaking stride.
Tyson: “Y’all coming or not?”
That was all they needed to hear.
The four of them moved down the sidewalk together — laughing, talking over each other, somebody’s heels clicking on the concrete — feeling unbothered, alive.
The night was just getting started.
To be continued…
Part Two on the way inside Uncle’s club! 🎶