Damn, he was real, he was home. Cev laughed low against my shoulder. “Damn, nigga. You missed me that much?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
He pounded my back twice before we stepped apart. I kept one hand on his shoulder, looking him over as if I could find an explanation written somewhere on him. “When they let you out?”
“This morning.”
I raised a brow. “This morning?”
“A few hours ago.”
“And you ain’t call me?”
“Man, I would’ve ruined the surprise.”
I looked at him for another second, then shoved the side of his head. “You still on that hardheaded shit.”
He caught my wrist and pushed it away, grinning. “Learned from you.”
The room erupted around us then. Mike came charging over, cursing and laughing loud enough to have all the attentionfrom every corner of the ballroom on us. BJ reached Cev before anybody else could, wrapping both arms around him and pressing her face against his chest. Whatever smart remark had been on his tongue disappeared. He bent over her without hesitation, closing his arms around her while she cried into his suit.
“You could’ve told me,” she fussed, pulling back only far enough to slap his chest. “Had me sitting in here not knowing my grandbaby was on his way home.”
“You would’ve told everybody BJ.”
“I would not.”
“Grandma.”
She wiped beneath her eyes. “I might’ve told one or two people.” She smiled.
“Exactly.”
BJ was just crying, and Cev wrapped her in another hug. More family crowded around, touching him, asking questions, pulling him into embraces before he could answer the last person. I stepped back and watched it for a moment.
Cev had always moved through our family like he belonged to everybody. My brother was Grandma’s baby, Mike’s day-one, the cousin people called when they needed something handled. Prison had taken years from him, but it hadn’t erased his place. The second he walked into that room, everybody shifted to make space like he had only been gone for a weekend.
Then I remembered the one person he hadn’t met yet was Navy. She had risen from her chair and stood a few feet away, watching the reunion with a soft smile. She didn’t interrupt or push her way into the crowd. She simply waited, with one hand resting against the side of her dress, giving me the time to have my brother back before asking for any part of me.
Cev noticed her before I could call her over. His gaze moved from her face to the ring on her hand, then came back to me. He smiled. “So that’s her.”
The way he said it told me he already knew exactly who she was. I looked at Navy and held out my hand. “Come here, baby.”
She moved toward us, and the skirt of her dress slid over the floor with every step. Cev watched her approach, and I felt something proud rise in my chest. I had introduced women to my brother before. None of them had ever mattered enough for the moment to feel like this. Navy placed her hand in mine, and I pulled her beside me.
“This my wife,” I said, not bothering to hide the satisfaction in my voice. “Navy, this my brother, Cevyn. Everybody call him Cev.”
His eyes shifted to the prosthetic leg, which was visible through the slit in her gown, but he didn’t linger there or let his expression change. He looked at her the same way he looked at everybody else… directly, taking in what mattered before deciding what to say.
“It took me long enough to meet you,” he told her, extending his hand. “My brother had me thinking you might not be real.”
Navy shook his hand, smiling. “I’ve heard a lot about you too.”
Cev glanced at me. “Hopefully not everything.” He replied and I knew he was serious.
Navy looked between us, as her eyes moved over our faces as if she was comparing features. I already knew what she was seeing. People had been telling us we looked alike since we were kids, though Cev had always claimed he got the better version of everything.
“Y’all really do resemble each other,” she said. “Same eyes, same smile when you’re trying not to smile. The only real difference is you’re darker,” she said to Cev.
