Chapter Nineteen
“Come on, Momma!” Mia called from the door as she bounced with glee.
“Okay, let me get my keys. Am I forgetting anything?” Kat mumbled as she picked up her dessert and followed Mia out the door.
She’d made something called Orange Dessert, a type of ambrosia from Jell-O mix, Cool Whip, cottage cheese, and canned peaches. She never made it before, but it tasted spectacular when she’d licked the spatula.
It was already twelve-thirty. They were running behind because she’d changed her outfit three times. As they approached Tyson’s yard she could hear music and voices and her palms began to sweat. Mia raced toward the back gate as Kat fought a tingle of apprehension.
Her steps faltered as she approached the gate. How silly to think her outfit might help her blend. She was going to stick out like a sore thumb. Everyone was black.
Well, duh!
She swallowed. Sometimes people were weird about mixed race couples. Funny, that was the first time she actually thought to classify their relationship under such a label.
Once she’d caught an older couple staring at them in the grocery store, but Tyson didn’t seem to notice, or if he did notice, he didn’t acknowledge it. She’d experienced plenty of judgment in her life, but never for something as superficial as racism. What if his family didn’t want him to date a woman of a different race?
Her hands tightened on the dessert and her knees grew stiff. There was no hiding that she was different. Shrinking back, her gaze scanned the crowd for Tyson. He was at the grill with his back toward them.
Checkered tablecloths were covered with food, paper plates, and napkins as guests, ranging in age from babies to senior citizens, mingled. Trixie lay in the shade of her doghouse while kids played tag in the back of the yard.
“Come on, Momma!” Mia called, pulling on Kat’s skirt.
Kat looked at her daughter, dauntless with unclassified courage. She didn’t see the difference between them and the others. To her, they were all just people.
Maybe you’re making a big deal out of nothing.
Mia unhooked the gate and ran to Tyson. When he heard her call his name he turned and scooped her up in his arms. He whispered something in Mia’s ear and she pointed to Kat, where she still stood on the other side of the opened gate. He met her eyes and walked toward her, Mia perched on his hip.
When he was about four feet away he said, “Well, come on now. Don’t be shy. I’ve been waiting all week to taste that dessert.”
He held out his hand and took another step. She swallowed and reached for his fingers.
“You said a small picnic. You said just family,” she whispered, shuffling closer.
His brow creased with confusion. “Kat, this is my family.” He eased Mia to the ground and took the dessert from her hands. “Come on, baby. Don’t be scared. I’ll introduce you.”
He led her to the closest table where four women sat chatting. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet Kat. Kat, this is Gramma Tessa.”
He pointed to a small woman whose skin was the color of molasses and her hair the color of white soapstone. Kat nodded and mumbled a shy hello.
“This is my mother, Celia.” She looked to be around sixty. Her eyes were the same almond shape as Tyson’s.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Adams,” Kat nervously said.
He pointed to another woman who Kat immediately recalled by her long, thick dreadlocks. This was his sister, Gloria. “You probably recognize my sister, Gloria,” Tyson said, laughter crinkling his eyes.
She nodded a hello.
“This is my cousin, Stasia. And that little guy is Malcolm.” She was a teenager and held a newborn baby in her arms.
He threw out their names in one solid breath as she quickly tried to commit each face to memory. When he finished, they fell silent for a beat, appraising her, and then everyone started talking at once.
“Well, we finally get to meet the girl Ty’s talked so much about.”
“Ooh, child, aren’t you adorable!”
“I can see what he sees in you.”
“Come on, now, and have a seat.”
“And who’s this little angel?”
Overwhelmed, Kat took a seat and simply said thank you. Tyson picked up Mia and said, “This little angel is Mia, Kat’s daughter.”
All the women fawned over Mia at once. She giggled and announced, “I’m three!”
Tyson’s sister Gloria chimed in, “Oh, that’s the same age as my Davis. You see that boy over there pettin’ Trixie?” She pointed with a long nail. “That’s him. Why don’t you go on and say hi?”
Tyson put Mia down and she ran over to the other little boy. “Okay, I got to go check the grill. Will you be all right here for a few minutes?”
She nodded—a total lie—and he kissed her forehead. Turning to the women, he sternly said, “No embarrassing stories.”
The women laughed and as he walked away. His sister yelled, “No promises, Ty! I still owe you from when I brought Darrel home.” She grinned at Kat. “Darrel’s my husband, and when I first brought him around, Ty told him I sleep with my mouth open and snore.”
“Oh, please,” her mother scoffed, “There was no surprise there. Darrel already knew how you slept!”
Stasia giggled.
“You shush it.” Gloria poked her mother and laughed. She turned back to Kat with a conspirator’s smile. “Now tell us, Kat, have you seen the pictures of Ty when he was a six foot bean pole?”
She laughed, feeling a bit of her tension ease.
The women welcomed her into the fold, telling animated stories of Tyson as a boy that had her laughing to the point of tears. Gloria was hysterical, and from what she could tell, she got a good part of her humor from her mother. Gramma Tessa didn’t say much, but when she did it was obvious she was sharp as a tack and didn’t miss a beat.
She shared an immediate camaraderie with Stasia, who also got pregnant in high school and had Malcolm a week before graduation. She was raising the baby on her own because, according to Gramma Tessa, Malcolm’s father was a ‘no good fool’. It seemed the only difference between Stasia’s situation and hers was that Stasia had the love and support of her family.
When Tyson announced that it was time to eat, Kat found Mia and made her a plate. Fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, fruit salad, collard greens, baked macaroni and cheese, burgers, hot dogs, and a ton of desserts—the selection was overwhelming. She’d never seen so much mouth-watering food.
She tried a bit of everything. She’d never had collard greens before. They weren’t what she expected, but they were very good, like a cross between spinach and broccoli rabe, but not bitter as she’d expected. She didn’t know what Tyson’s mom put in the macaroni and cheese, but it was amazing.
Her Orange Dessert was a big hit. Tyson loved it and went back for several helpings. She was beyond flattered when several women asked her for the recipe.
After they ate, Tyson introduced her to the rest of his family. His father was even funnier than his mother. The entire family seemed to love to laugh.
Jade finally showed up around six and showed no hesitation when it came to making new friends. Sitting back, Kat smiled at her best friend’s gift for telling anecdotes.
“I can top that! I can top that!” Jade called as Gloria finished an embarrassing story about accidentally getting into the wrong car at the mall last Christmas.
“You go on, girl. Let’s hear what you got. Because I gotta tell ya, I don’t think nothin’ will ever be as embarrassing as me yelling at that poor old man to start the car, thinkin’ he was Darrel.”
Breathing through cramping laughter, Kat pressed at a stitch in her side. Gloria was hilarious.
“Okay.” Jade took a sip of her wine. “So I’m a nurse, right? Well, at work, when a patient comes in, an orderly usually wheels them back to me. When they drop off the patient the orderly says the name, like Adams or Jones or Smith.”
“Sure,” Gloria agreed, nodding along with the story.
“Well, a few years ago, when the pope passed away, I don’t get the news back at my station so I had no idea. My orderly wheels back this sweet old man and says, ‘Pope’s dead’. Well, don’t I go through the entire hour calling him Mr. Popestead! ‘Sit on the table, Mr. Popestead.’ ‘I’m going to take your blood pressure now, Mr. Popestead.’ He must have thought I was insane!”
Everyone burst into peals of laughter, leaning far back in their chairs and slapping their knees. Kat was so glad Jade had come. Her presence and support was invaluable.
“I never lived that one down,” Jade giggled, never afraid to laugh at life’s little faux pas.
When it started getting dark, Kat helped Tyson wrap up the leftovers. As they stood in the kitchen she sighed, thinking it was a good thing she came.
“Having fun?”
She grinned as she poured the remaining potato salad into some Tupperware. “Yes. Your family’s amazing.”
“Thank you. I like to think so. They all seem to like you. I knew they would.”
She walked around the island in the center of the kitchen and placed the leftovers on the lower shelf in the fridge. When she stood up Tyson was behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his face into the back of her neck.
“I like you,” he said, as they swayed in place.
“I like you, too,” she said, remembering his words from the other day.
“I’m glad you came today.” He placed a kiss on top of her head.
“Me too.”
“Do you think if we went to bed anyone would notice?”
“Mr. Adams!” she said in mock outrage. “A host does not rest until the last guest has gone.”
“Who said we’d be resting?”
She laughed and playfully smacked him in the arm.
As the guests thinned and said their goodbyes she continued to tidy up the mess of the party. They were surprised by local fireworks and all the kids gathered on the grass watching as the grown ups collected their dishes and said their goodbyes.
Jade spoke to Tyson while Kat folded up the tablecloths. She couldn’t hear what Jade was saying, but her stance was severe, as she poked Tyson in the chest a couple times. Alarmed, Kat took a step closer, but paused as Tyson nodded and Jade gave him an affectionate hug.
When the last guest left it was close to midnight. Mia was asleep on Tyson’s couch. Kat covered her with an afghan and removed the glow bracelet twisted around her wrist.
The backdoor squeaked as she slipped outside and waited for Tyson on one of the lawn chairs. Settling under a sky full of stars she sighed. The door squeaked again and he appeared, holding a sweatshirt and two Coronas.
“I figured it might get chilly.” He handed her the shirt and she slipped it over her head.
“Ooh, this is soft.” She inhaled his scent, which clung to the sweatshirt. “Yeah, you’re not getting this back.”
He handed her a beer and they clanked them together. “Happy Fourth of July, baby.”
It was a happy Fourth of July. Probably the happiest she’d ever had. “Happy Fourth of July, Ty,” she said in a hoarse whisper as she took a sip.
They talked until she could no longer keep her eyes open. When it was time to head home, Ty wrapped Mia in the blanket from his couch and carried her to the cottage. Placing her in her bed, he kissed her forehead, slipped off her Crocs, and tucked her little body under the covers.
Kat’s heart fluttered at the sight of such paternal sweetness. She forced herself to take a deep, shaky breath.
Don’t look at him like that. He isn’t her father.
She was entering some really dangerous, emotional territory.
He walked Kat to her room, helped her undress, and watched as she slipped into pajamas. Pulling the covers back, he tucked her into bed and kissed her forehead, much like he’d kissed Mia’s. “Goodnight, Kat.”
The tender way he cared for her took her breath away. It seemed impossible for someone to be so gentle and strong at the same time. “Goodnight, Ty.”
His fingers brushed softly over her cheek as he sat on the edge of the bed. “I love you.”
Pressure built in her chest as her throat tightened. He’d been an unexpected part of her life she now believed she couldn’t live without. Hopefully those words carried as much weight for him as they did for her, because she rarely heard them and hearing them from him dismantled the last of her protective barriers. “I love you, too,” she croaked.
His soft grin showed immense relief. Leaning in, he brushed his lips over hers. “I’ll lock up behind me. Sweet dreams.”