I absolutely hated taking the expressway anywhere, but the last thing I wanted was to be in traffic all day, especially since I was trying to get from the city to the suburbs. So I merged onto the expressway immediately. It was moving, which meant it would cut the thirty-minute trip ahead into like fifteen or twenty at the most. For most of the ride I was in my head. Being married to Reminisce these last few days had me thinking about a lot I hadn’t considered at first. I was used to seeing everyone around me settling down, becoming parents and merging their lives with their soulmates. Never in a million years did I think it would ever be me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want it, but I never knew how I’d do it…not until I was doing it and it felt natural.Loving and being there for Reminisce and Romance felt natural, like it was all a part of a bigger plan I wasn’t privy to.
I pulled into my mother’s driveway seventeen minutes later, parking behind Aroyal’s Range Rover. He never parkedcorrectly, even though she fussed him out about it often. I cut the engine and got out.
“Where are we, Rim?” Romance asked when I had her out and we walked up the three stairs to my mother’s front door.
“My mom’s house. We’re stopping here, then we’ll go get food, okay?”
“Yes.” She reached for my hand at the same time the front door opened. In the doorway stood the last person I expected to see. The sight of this bitch had me rolling my eyes to the ceiling.
“Hello, sister,” Ariya greeted. She stepped on the porch, lit a cigarette, and leaned against the tall pillar built into the porch. She looked like age was catching up to her, even though she wasn’t that old. She had raccoon eyes, beady with dark rings, and her hair was pulled up in a messy bun atop her head. It wasn’t the cute type messy, but instead the nappy, dirty type of messy. She had also put on some weight, a shell of the sister I knew before she packed up and jumped town like our bastard of a father.
Ariya and I had never been that close seeing as how she was always either chasing after a nigga or hanging with those messy ass chicks she called friends. We were just into different things. Plus I was a tomboy, so I was also more into the things Aro got into until I found my own lane.
“’Sup,” I greeted, stepping right past her into the house.
“I don’t even understand why you keep letting her stray ass come back. She stops through when she needs money.” Aroyal’s irritated tone let me know they were in the kitchen.
“Aroyal, language,” my mother scolded as I entered the kitchen. The moment I entered her eyes were on me, then my little shadow who looked around as we walked. I didn’t miss the smile that settled into my mother’s features.
“When did you go to the pound?” I leaned over and hugged my brother, then approached my mama.
Aro laughed. “Same thing I said.”
“Stepmother duty, I see.” Kay walked into the kitchen holding a bowl, setting it down in front of my mother.
I waved her off. “Romance, this is my mama, my brother Aro, and my sister Kay. Y’all this is Romance, Reminisce’s daughter.”
“So, y’all are serious like that?” Aro asked, eyes traveling from me to Ro.
“Apparently. You’re asking questions that you already know the answer to. Her name is so pretty,” my ma commented.
“She’s so cute.” Kay walked up to her with a smile. Of course she kneeled in front of her. “You wanna get some snacks with me?” Kay was always the one to break the ice with a kid who was nervous. It was her thing, kids loved her. She had a spirit like Jade’s.
Romance looked up at me to ask for permission and I nodded. She then took Kay’s hand and allowed her to lead her into the living room that had been turned into a kid’s haven. Yep, my mama took her grandmotherly duties very seriously.
“You real comfortable, huh?” Aro asked. I felt his eyes as I looked at my mother.
“So comfortable that two days ago we got married. Next question?” I didn’t mean to blurt that part out, but the look on my mama’s face was priceless. I didn’t keep things from them, never had, so this was a normal course for me.
“You did what?” Aroyal asked, now standing up straight.
“We went to City Hall.” I shrugged.
Aro waved me off. “Yeah, you just got a license. That’s gonna expire if you don?—”
“Yeah, that too. But we went back the next day. I’m serious about him and he’s serious about me. And before either of you start, I’ve been engaged before, so I know how that feels. With me and Reminisce things are different. I know he’s my person and I need y’all to be on board with that. I love him and he lovesme. What we did was for us, so at some point there will be a wedding, but right now it’s me and him.”
I expected Aroyal to go toe to toe with me, but he threw his hands up in surrender. For the first time in our lives, he waved the fucking white flag and I didn’t know whether to hug him or take a photo of the moment.
My eyes immediately went to my mother. She had still yet to speak, which meant she had a lot to say.
“Say something, Ma.” I leaned back against the counter, staring at her.
“I’m happy,” she quipped simply.
I was about to ask her about what, but she held her index finger up to pause me.
“From the day I met him in your home, I knew he was somebody special to you. Call it a hunch, but I kind of knew something like this would happen. It was in the way you both looked at one another in a room full of people, all intense and eternal-like. Just tell my son-in-law I’ma need a wedding. I absolutely refuse to let the two of you rob me of this moment.”
