Page 47 of Fallynn West

“Exactly my point.” Colony cosigned.

My parents and Aunt Faith came over to talk to Demetria. Once I told them I’d agreed to give Demetria a second chance, they wanted to sit down and talk to her as well. To my surprise, it went very well. Like me, they expressed their concerns about Demetria’s actions and how it would affect Kehlani. By the end of it, the women were hugging and in tears while Dad and I stood back. Later that night, he told me how proud of me he was for making such a detrimental decision and how he felt it was the right one.

So far, I believed so too.

It wasn’t long before Kehlani whisked Colony and Demetria away to play with her friends and cousins while we finished cooking. About an hour later, the food was done. My father and Mr. Martin blessed the food, and the place was silent as everyone cleaned their plates.

After that, the party was on. The music was loud, and everyone was dancing, drinking, and simply having a good time. If that was what life with Colony would look like, peaceful and lively, I couldn’t wait to live more years with her.

The alcohol was flowing well, and somehow, all the adults ended up on the patio while the kids wildly ran around the yard.

“So,” Dawson started, wrapping his arm around his wife and pointing his beer toward Martin. “How did the two of you fall in love?”

“Oh, that’s a story he loves to tell.” Serenity giggled, melting into her husband.

Colony agreed. “It sure is, but it’s beautiful.”

All eyes were on Martin as he grabbed Satin’s hand. “Well, I fell in love with Satin when I first laid eyes on her. It was over thirty years ago when I walked into the diner and saw her. I was on my lunch break and decided to go eat with a few of my work buddies. After seeing her, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. My eyes were locked in on the beauty working the room with ease.

“My buddies teased me when I asked if we could switch servers. I didn’t care. All I wanted was to be close to her. She must’ve known I’d been watching her from the way she came switching over.”

Satin pinched his arm, and everyone laughed.

“I did not, Martin,” she defended.

“Oh, you did, baby. You think I don’t remember how that thang was moving? It almost had me in a trance the way it does now.”

“Daddy!” Colony and Serenity simultaneously yelled, causing everyone to laugh harder.

Martin hunched his shoulders. “I’m just being honest. Anyway, as I was saying, Satin came switching over there, and she smelled so sweet that I wanted to take a bite out of her. She spoke, making eye contact with me and only me. Since then, we’ve been locked in. Before we left, I gave her a hefty tip and gave her my pager number. She hit me up that night, and when I called her, we talked on the phone for hours. I went to sleep that night and dreamed we got married. Everything in my dream came true. It was no question for me that she was the one from that very moment, but we took the time to get to know one another. We got married six months after meeting one another, and here we are, almost forty years later. I love you, Satin.”

“And I love you, Martin.”

They kissed. Everyone cheered them on. That started a round of all the couples talking about how they met and fell in love. Their stories were inspiring, making me realize that Colony and I weren’t moving fast. We were simply moving at the pace that worked best for us.

I pulled Colony in closer and whispered in her ear, “So, we’re not crazy for falling in love so fast, huh?”

“Nope. I never thought we were. Timing is everything. Ours just so happened to work a little faster from the time we met.”

“If it keeps going any faster, you’ll have my last name before you know it.”

She turned to face me and beamed. “I’d love nothing more than that too, Keondra.”

“Give me some time, babe. It’ll happen.”

One year later. . .

I couldn’t stop crying as I watched Kehlani walk across the stage. It was her kindergarten graduation, and I’d been a wreck all week preparing for it. Demetria and I had taken her on a pampering day. Our girl looked so pretty with her cap sitting on her fresh twist-out, her purple names she insisted on having, and her kitten heels her father fussed at me about.

When they called her name, our section was the loudest. Leave it to the Black people to cause an uproar, but we couldn’t help it. That girl was loved by so many. We made sure to show up and show out for her.

My gaze went to Keondra who had silent tears soaking into his beard. I handed him a few tissues and giggled. He swore upand down that he wasn’t going to cry, but I knew he was. That was his baby, and she’d just completed a milestone.

Once the ceremony was over, we all went to find Kehlani who was giddy. She skipped over to us with her diploma and jumped into her daddy’s arms, who peppered kisses all over her little face.

“Look! I’m a big girl now.” Kehlani squealed, showing off her diploma.

“You are.” Demetria smiled. “I’m so proud of you.”