Hi there☺️ Yes, I know ,? but I promise you would enjoy this last bit. Thanks for the time, thanks so much, everybody. I hope in the last month or less I made your evening quite an interesting one? You can re-read it again if you miss any of my characters. Incomparable; the final episode…enjoy?

 

Jesus, You’re Beautiful

At the dawn of my white wedding my mother woke me up, I was very tired from the traditional wedding that I wanted to get as much sleep as I could possibly get.

“ Nana Afia please wake up,” she said

I yawned and stretched. I rubbed my eyes and looked at her.

“ I am sorry for waking you this early” she apologized

“ Is everything okay?” I asked and smiled

“ Yeah everything is fine,” she said and smiled.

She had an envelope in her hand. I looked at her

“ What do you have in your hand?” I asked

She looked down at it and smiled

“It’s a gift from Daddy, me, and your parents-in-law. They wanted to be here this morning but Daddy is still asleep and Kwaku’s parents are with him now giving him his gift too”  she said

“ What is it?” I asked

She gave me the envelope and I opened it.

I couldn’t drop my jaw, I looked up at her and started to cry.

“ Are you serious? All this for me?” I asked her through my tears.

She nodded and hugged me.

“ We love you Nana Afia and we thank God for how far He has brought you. God bless you and your husband” my mother said

I hadn’t planned to cry that much that morning I was so grateful to them. When I got out of the shower, I got a message from Kwaku he was telling me the pleasant surprise my parents and his parents had given him. I replied to his message telling him I had also gotten a surprise gift from his parents too.

My day continued, the makeup artist came to my room and did an amazing job on my face again. I have never liked the idea of adding kids to my bridal party because of how very troublesome some can be but that decision changed when I saw Awuraba’s little girl Zoey.

The most beautiful and outspoken four-year-old I have ever seen. I didn’t know she had a daughter but when Kwaku and I saw them at the airport the morning they arrived in Ghana a week before our wedding, I just knew I wanted her to be a part of it.

Convincing her parents was hard because Awuraba especially wasn’t sure her daughter would be able to do it since it would be her first time but they agreed and we quickly had to go find her a cute little dress and shoes. Awuraba and Julia helped in teaching Zoey constantly what to do and how to do it.

I was posing and taking photos in my room when Zoey walked in. I almost screamed, she looked so adorable. She run and came to me.

“Wow! Zoey. You look beautiful” I said

She giggled

“Thank you!” she said in her sweet, little voice

I took her hand and sat her next to me. We took some photos together and we played a little.

Maame Ama brought my white gown to the room and helped me change. When I was ready I took some more photos and videos and then later I settled down for my mother to bless my veil and place it over my head. Her prayer brought tears to my eyes, she hugged me tightly when she placed it on my head and prayed for me again.

By mid-morning, we were on our way to the event center. I was nervous but very happy.

Maame Ama did an excellent job to calm me down, I made the best decision by choosing her to be my maid of honor.

I was shocked at how the decorators had transformed the garden. I wasn’t sure they could pull it off but Kwaku trusted that they would and he was right.

From my car I caught a quick glimpse of Kwaku, he was smiling and talking to Baffour.

“ My man,” I thought and smiled to myself

Maame Ama got down and opened my door

“ It’s time. Are you ready?” she asked

I looked at her and nodded.

I chose Cece Winans’s song  Jesus, You’re beautiful as the song to walk down the aisle with.

When it started to play my other bridesmaids were ushered to walk slowly down the aisle.

Their groomsmen met them halfway on the aisle and took them to the front.

Zoey smiled at me when it was her turn to go and I smiled back at her.

She walked gracefully on the aisle as she dropped the white rose petals. I smiled, she looked so cute. Baffour took her by the hand when she got to the front.

I had butterflies when Maame Ama went behind me and grabbed my gown.

“ Nice and slow Nana. Relax, you are okay” she whispered to me as I started walking.

My father met me and we walked to Kwaku.

Kwaku had a broad grin on his face as he watched me walk down the aisle.

“Herh! Won’t this man cry dramatically like most grooms do when they see their bride walking down the aisle?” I thought to myself and smiled.

When I got closer to him tears filled my eyes but I fought them. He squeezed my hand gently and whispered I love you, I read his lips and smiled.

My father shook his hand and walked to his seat.

“Who gives this lovely woman out to this man?” Pastor Prempeh asked

“ We do,” my parents said in unison. The guest clapped and cheered.

Kwaku finally shed a few tears while reading his personal vows to me on his phone.

He chose the perfect words, they were very thoughtful, and watching him read them I could see the sincerity in his eyes. After we had tearfully finished reading our personal vows to each other. Pastor Prempeh prayed for us and officially pronounced us as man and wife.

“ You may kiss your bride” Pastor Prempeh said

I had already planned with Kwaku early on in the week that our kiss would be a quick kiss because I knew I would be shy.

He agreed so I was expecting our kiss to be short and sweet when Pastor Prempeh asked him to kiss me but Kwaku had a mind of his own.

The guest clapped, cheered, and some even whistled when they saw the long passionate kiss Kwaku and I shared.

It was a pretty good kiss and I got even shyer when we broke it off. I wiped my lipstick stain off his lips with my finger and we hugged.

At the reception, Kwaku told our story about how we met but he added some parts I wasn’t sure I ever knew.

“So one of my favorite cousins Kesewaa; she’s here somewhere. Kesewaa show yourself?” Kwaku playfully said.

Kesewaa shyly got up and waved. I laughed and shook my head

‘Yes, there she is. Thank you Kesewaa” Kwaku said and laughed.

He cleared his throat jokingly and the guest laughed some more.

“Okay so now to the good part. Kesewaa had food poisoning and was rushed to the hospital. I was going to the hospital with my little sister Julia, I am sure you all know Julia. She suggested we get Kesewaa some fruits and snacks from Stretford Mall. I was grabbing some snacks when I saw Nana Afia. I knew absolutely nothing about her. I was really checking her out when I suddenly noticed she was in quite an uncomfortable situation. A situation some of you know but I can’t say out loud. I quickly went to her rescue. I felt like a hero but not “macho” enough to ask for her number. I had to go see my cousin so instead of talking to her, I just rushed out of the mall with so much regret. Only God knows how much I thought about her and prayed I get to see her again and probably not chicken out and ask for a number and a name. Months went by and I didn’t meet her, I went to Stretford Mall any chance I got hoping to see her there. I was almost giving up until one afternoon I saw her. I had planned with some friends and family to go on vacation for the Christmas holiday. And one of my very good friends Nana Yaw invited his family and it happened that my beautiful mystery crush is the little sister of that friend. I wasn’t sure at first because I didn’t want to believe God was answering my prayer but I mustered courage and asked her if she was the same girl I helped at the mall and she confirmed it. Just like that, I saw her again. After the trip, I made sure to take her number. I asked her out to lunch and she said no” Kwaku said and turned to look at me.

I laughed hysterically and covered my face. The guest laughed and some clapped.

“Yes. She said no and broke my heart but she called later and accepted to go out to dinner with me. After the evening of our first date. I knew I was going to marry Nana Afia, I just knew. As I got to know her the love grew stronger. I thought I was alright on my own after a tragic loss of an ex-girlfriend. I thought I knew how my heart could handle love; the love that I thought I knew. But after I met Nana Afia I have come to the realization that everything and anyone before her only came to stretch out my heart walls so that it would be big enough to handle the enormous love that I have for her” Kwaku added

He turned to face me.

“You have no idea how happy I am that I get to spend the rest of my life with someone as kind, thoughtful as you. I can’t wait to do life with you, my love. Words would never be enough to describe what I feel for you. I love you now and I am going to love you tomorrow and the day after until God tears us apart only through death. So you are stuck with me baby” he said and chuckled.

I smiled and nodded at him.

“I am making this promise in front of everyone and that is to let God lead us in the marriage and make sure He is the only third person in our marriage. I promise to never hurt you on purpose and love you more every day. I love you and thanks for saying Yes” he said and walked toward me. We hugged and kissed.

“I love you, Babe,” I said in his arms

That evening, we wined, dined, and danced a lot.

We went to Bali again for our honeymoon a couple of days later. The room was decorated with rose petals and balloons as part of the honeymoon package.

There was champagne, chocolate, and strawberries on the table. We drank some champagne and ate chocolate and strawberries. We stayed talking about the wedding and how incredible it had turned out.

We were very tired from all the running around we had done over the weekend so before we knew it we had drifted off to sleep still in our clothes.

In the middle of the night I woke up to freshen up, I didn’t want to wake Kwaku, he looked so peaceful. I kissed him on the head and made my way to the bathroom.

My eyes were closed as I showered but suddenly I felt his hands wrapping my waist from behind. I smiled when I felt him and touched his hands.

“ I thought you were asleep? ” I said.

“ I was but I felt you leave the bed,” he said in a whisper.

He got under the shower with me and he started to kiss me slowly and passionately. A lot more passionately than I have ever experienced with him. He left my lips and made his way down to my neck and my breasts.

It was our first time seeing each other completely naked. We got out of the shower and made our way to the room still kissing, we were soaking wet but we didn’t care.

Kwaku carried me to the bed and we made love for the first time. Kwaku was indeed worth the wait.

We cuddled in each other’s arms when we got tired. Kwaku passed his fingers around my eyes, down to my nose and my lips. I smiled and closed my eyes.

Then he whispered warmly into my ear “Tu es l’amour de ma vie” .

I opened my eyes and asked him what he has just said. He chuckled and kissed me on my forehead.

He pulled me closer to his chest and before I knew it, he was asleep. I watched him sleep for a while until I drifted off slowly to sleep too.

We couldn’t get a lot of activities done in Bali, even though we had already paid as part of the honeymoon package, all we wanted to do half of the time we were on our honeymoon was to make love.

Our traditional wedding and white wedding were far beyond and above our wildest thoughts and expectations.

God came through, God showed off yet again. I couldn’t believe it was my wedding day. God did a great thing and it was marvelous in our eyes.

Days went by and we noticed that our wedding was everywhere on social media from the traditional wedding to the white wedding, I had no idea how the white wedding got out because it was very private. The calls and messages flooded my phone and Kwaku’s phone.

Kwaku and I had to beg some bloggers to pull it down. I didn’t like that much exposure, I was on the journey of becoming a renowned filmmaker and I didn’t want my life out there just yet.

In two years, my career had kicked off and I was rubbing shoulders with some big names in the movie industry in Ghana, Nigeria, the UK, and the USA.

God blessed Kwaku and me with a set of twins. A very handsome boy and a very beautiful girl; who decided to look more like Kwaku than me.

We lived in the UK to raise the kids because our families were there and it takes a village to raise kids.

I was working on a story in my study when Kwaku came in with our daughter on his arm. She had an envelope in her hand

“ What have you got in your hand love?” I asked and tickled her.

She giggled and Kwaku smiled

“ This just came in for you,” he said

I opened it, and I had been invited to give a TED talk on marriage, filmmaking, and building confidence.

I showed the invitation to Kwaku and he was over the moon

“ You are definitely doing something right then my love,” he said and kissed me

The talk was in a month’s time so it gave me some time to prepare for it.

I told my family and my friends and they couldn’t wait to watch me.

I was a little nervous when I walked up to the stage the day of the talk. The claps and cheers got louder, I didn’t know I was loved that much.

When the cheers and claps died down, I searched for my husband in the crowd. It was dark to make him out but knowing he was seated there somewhere in the crowd was all the strength I needed.

I smiled and adjusted my microphone.

“ Hello everyone,” I said to my audience.

“ My name is Nana Afia Peprah- Danquah and I am a filmmaker” I added and smiled.

My talk was spot on and I got a standing ovation. Standing on that stage and seeing all the love that was coming my way, I couldn’t help but thank my Heavenly Father.

The Bible scripture Jeremiah 29:11 kept ringing in my head.

“ For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”

“ Thank you, God!” I said to myself as I walked off the stage.

Kwaku met me backstage with a bouquet of flowers.

“ Well done my love. You were amazing” he said and hugged me.

A week after my talk, Julia called me and told me she was getting married to Baffour. Kwaku’s best friend.

I was so happy for her.

They had really hit it off at our wedding but I didn’t know it would turn into something beautiful in the years ahead. They had been dating privately for two years.

Knowing how much of a talkative Julia was but got the discipline to keep her relationship a secret from her brother and even from me meant she really loved Baffour and was happy.

Baffour was a real gentleman just like Kwaku and I certainly knew Julia was indeed blessed to have him. They had a very private wedding in the UK some months later. They were blessed with a cute daughter that Kwaku and I spoil very much.

I met the love of my entire life when I wasn’t looking. God knew what I needed when he created Kwaku, his love, attention and great care for me brought the very best out of me. I have blossomed into an amazingly strong woman.

Any woman, that says she doesn’t need a man in her life hasn’t met a man, we were not programmed to live this life alone. So when you get blessed to have a great man in your corner, get out of your own way and let God bless you. There are still great and amazing men out there. Sometimes when God asks us to wait for a blessing, He knows why. He needs us to grow and learn certain things in order to be able to carry the big blessing He is throwing our way, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I know God isn’t done with me yet and I am ready for the great and amazing things He has planned for me, my entire family, and my friends.

The End.

 

Thank you for coming this far? This story means so much to me and it’s such an honor that I got to share it with you all? To all my girlfriends; thank God we don’t look like what we have been through. But thank Goodness that there is a God who is capable of changing stories? I hoped you loved this story because I absolutely loved writing it?… Until my next story, it’s Goodbye from your favorite writer xx