“Well, you don’t seem to carry any of the colorism in you.” People always thought it was funny when I could speak Spanish, as though all biracial people had to be lighter skinned. Like there isn’t such a thing as being Afro-Latino.
“My father would’ve disowned me if I did. He got a lot of grief when he still lived there about how he looked. Faced a lot of discrimination from everyone because of it but he was smart so they had no choice but to respect him in some ways. They weren’t willing to and sometimes accused him of plagiarism or cheating but he always could prove he was just that smart. He was able to go to university at INTEC- it’s the technological institution in Santo Domingo, which is a huge deal. When he graduated the family thought he was going to be their ticket to social acceptance.” I recounted his accomplishments with pride and knew one day I would tell Ami all about my father.
“It’s sounding like that didn’t happen.” Her breath was steady over my skin and again I was being comforted to sleep.
“It didn’t.”
“And why not?”
“Because of Sonya Mungo.”
I felt her face break into a grin as I said my mother’s name. “Ah. Love came in and messed up all their plans.”
“It did and they weren’t happy about it. My father was thrown off because he had no plans to leave the DominicanRepublic. But he vacationed in Miami while my mother was there on spring break and he refused to do life without her. Within a year they were engaged and he was in school in California right along with my mom. She was finishing up nursing school and going into her nurse practitioner program as he got a master’s degree.”
“Sounds idyllic.”
“Was but then she got knocked up with me and had to put things on hold for a while. But she got right back to it after I was in school so that she could focus on her goals. My father made good money but he always wanted her to reach her fullest potential.”
She shifted her head and I looked down to look in her face. “Is that why you’re constantly making sure I’m fine with where I am?”
I threaded my fingers through her hair knowing I was fucking her braid up but I would help her redo it before we fell asleep. “Yeah. You’re a nurse just like she is so I understand that you worked hard for your licenses. I’m never going to discount that fact or make it seem like your entire life should only revolve around us.”
“I mean it does because y’all are spoiled but there’s nothing you can do about that. Besides, this is my line of work. At least before things changed.”
“For the better, right?” I don’t know but I felt desperate for her reassurance that we were good.
She kissed my chest as she snuggled back against it. “Yes, for the better.”
“Did you miss out on a lot of money by working for your cousin this summer?”
She shook her head snuggling deeper into my side. “I only work six months out of the year most years.”
“Why so limited?”
She sighed and I could tell the conversation was taking a turn that irritated her. “Because we are expected to report to the Hamptons by April and stay until September.”
My brows furrowed because I couldn’t understand what she meant by report. “Report? So why did you go?”
The sigh cut through the silence again. “That’s so hard to explain.”
“Is it? I mean if you’re wealthy independent of your people, why even fuck with them like that?”
“I can tell you haven’t been rich long.”
I bust out laughing because she said that shit so bluntly I knew she had to mean it. “Well shit, Ling, that was snobby as fuck.”
She pushed my side playfully making me laugh harder. “You know I don’t mean it like that.”
“Nah, I’m sure you don’t. But that still doesn’t answer my question about why you would go.”
“Acceptance.” A one-word response that was heavy and carried a lot of weight.
“You don’t even like them!” I wanted to make light of the situation because I wanted her to remember that she had no reason to stay around those people.
“I know but it’s hard when you feel as though your family doesn’t like you. Can’t tolerate you? Only look at you with interest in order to find a way to put you down or find a weak point they can exploit.”
I sighed because I was getting pissed off hearing her describe her interactions with her family. I was sure I was just supposed to lay here and listen or something like that, but I wanted to do something about them treating her the way they did. “Damn, it’s like that?”
