Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I’d also learned, after we’d moved our carloads of stuff to Darius’s that day, and Liam was relaxing with a video game, and Darius and I were upstairs, cuddling after an afternoon quickie, that he’d put them through school and put up the money for them to start their business.
I also wondered if he’d given them the money for those spiffy cars.
For sure he bought Dorothea her house (something else he told me), which was a tidy bungalow in Washington Park, one of the most coveted neighborhoods in Denver, so it had to cost a fortune.
The front door opened before we were fully out of the truck, and Miss Dorothea was standing in it.
While her sister, Shirleen, was a tall, curvy, proud Black woman with a gorgeous, full Afro, tawny eyes and mocha skin, Dorothea was a less tall, but still curvy, bundle of femininity with a becoming hairstyle of flips and curls and subdued makeup. And I didn’t think I’d ever seen her in anything but a stylish dress and heels, flats or classy sandals. Some were more casual than others, but she always turned herself out in subtle, impeccable ways.
And now was no exception.
Liam forged ahead swiftly, and I knew why when her arms opened up before he got there. They closed around him, and she swung him side to side, saying, “My boy. My boy.”
“Hey, Grams,” he greeted.
She let him go and he stepped inside. Darius pushed me forward, and I, too, walked into her open arms.
“Malia, the first time of many to have you back home,” she whispered in my ear. “A celebration.”
I relaxed into her even as I hugged her back.
We let go and she gave the same treatment to Darius, her eyes closing, love washing through her face, and I wondered if she noticed in him the things Mister Morris had left behind like I did.
Then again, she couldn’t miss them.
She shuffled us in and there they were. I couldn’t help but smile. Pinned precisely, framed and artfully arranged on a gallery wall, somehow looking cool rather than old-fashioned and dated, were Miss Dorothea’s doilies.
Yes, it felt like I came home.
Danni and Gabby wandered in from the kitchen.
“Get over here, kid,” Danni said to Liam.
He loped over.
She gave him a hug.
Gabby stared blazes at me.
Uh-oh.
Liam moved for a hug from Gabby, and she wiped her face clean when he did.
But then Danni stared blazes at me.
One could hope Darius had fallen into a perusal of the doilies, but he was Darius. Not only had he seen them before, and probably didn’t give a damn about them, he was Darius.
And I was me.
“Wipe that shit off your face,” he growled to Danni.
Yep.
He wasn’t in perusal of the doilies.
Dorothea came abreast of us, asking, “What?”
“Nothing, Ma,” he said, scowling at Danni.
“Yeah, nothing,” Danni said then cried a fake happy, “Malia! So good to see you!”
I endured two fake-happy hugs from Darius’s sisters, with Gabby adding, “What can I get you to drink? Wine? Beer? Sweet tea?”
“Wine, if you have it,” I replied.
“I live to serve,” she said, whirling and making no bones about escaping my presence by going to the kitchen.
“I’ll help!” Danni called and followed her sister.
“Sit down, darlin’,” Dorothea ordered. “But first, let me get a good look at you.” She took my hands and held them out to the sides. “You always were such a pretty thing, with such great style.”
Considering I’d had some nerves about this dinner, like most women when something important was going down, I’d worried about what to wear.
I was glad I got it right.
I’d worn a midi-dress in tiny yellow, purple and green flowers, sleeveless with a ruffled shoulder and a v-ruffle on the full shirt. The mock turtleneck was smocked, as was the waist. I was wearing a cropped jeans jacket over it and fawn-suede, peep-toe, sandal-back, stack-heeled booties. And I’d smoothed my hair into a fluffy-bunched topknot.
Darius, by the way, was in one of his new shirts.
Which was what Dorothea commented on next. “Son, that shirt looks fine on you.” Her gaze coasted between us. “Such a handsome couple.”
Darius draped an arm along my shoulders.
“Family,” Liam corrected, sliding up next to us and popping his collar. “Handsome family. What do you say Grams? Are the girls gonna fall at my feet in this new button-down Mom got me?”
Okay, so Toni and I got a bit carried away at the mall. We were in the men’s department at Nordstrom.
Sue us.
“Liam Edward, I hope you’re more worried about your studies than girls,” she chided.
“Get on this planet, Grams, and get ready, ’cause Dad bought me new wheels, so it’s date night every Friday and Saturday night for Liam Edward Clark Tucker.”
Yes, we had the conversation with Liam that morning over breakfast.
And yes, he was all the way down with taking his father’s name.