Page 38 of Mitch

Mitch didn’t hide the smirk. “Hungry for me, honey?”

Autumn squinted at him, trying to look mad and failing. “Don’t be a jerk.”

“Sorry, babe, but we both know it’s true and I’m just as desperate to feel and taste you. Maybe next weekend we can stay over at the Estate. Some of the rooms are linked, and we could make sure Maggie was within listening distance for us.”

“What about after?”

“After, we figure it out, see how this is gonna work for us. Maggie comes first, must always be first in your life, but I want a place in it too.”

“I can’t believe we’re really doing this.”

He pushed her hair off her face. “Never met a woman like you before, Autumn. Never thought about settling down but when I saw you it was like looking at my future. The second I met you, I knew you’d change my life.”

“Is it wrong that I feel the same? It feels almost like a betrayal. Terrell wasn’t always bad. He was a good man in the beginning, he just got lost.”

His heart sped up at her words. “He must’ve been a good man once because I refuse to believe that a woman like you could love anyone not worthy of her. Let me ask you something. If he were still alive, would you be with him now?”

Autumn looked up, giving his words thought, which he respected. “No, I wouldn’t. He made his choice, and I’d never allow him to put me and Maggie second. I don’t want my daughter to ever feel like she’s second best. It already hurts my heart to know that one day I’ll have to explain to her why people judge her for how she looks, for the colour of her skin.”

Mitch had suffered his fair share of racism, it was impossible not too and the scars it left where always with him, would still be with him when he was old and grey. This town had very few people of colour, plenty of people from Eastern Europe but to see a black man or woman was rare here. Yet he didn’t receive the same hostility from some that he’d had in London.

Furtive looks, and even some ignorance, but not once since living here had he been called nigger. The worst he’d had was Mrs Mullins asking if he knew the lovely coloured family that lived on West Street.

He’d told her no and asked if she knew the people that lived in Sommerset House. She’d blinked and said no, and then understanding had dawned in the canny older woman’s eyes and she’d apologised.

That he could live with, ignorance from people who were willing to learn and change was okay with him. He didn’t profess to know about every different culture, but he’d always try and learn, and if others did the same, understanding his struggle as a black man, then he was happy with that.

As he saw the fear in Autumn’s eyes, he remembered the times he’d seen it in his mother’s eyes. “We’ll make sure Maggie is strong enough to deal with whatever she may face, and she’ll know we’re behind her whatever that may be.”

“I haven’t been subjected to any racism here yet.”

“No, I haven’t had a lot either. Hereford isn’t London, thank goodness. Yes, you get some people who are stuck up their own ass and look at you differently but not in my circle of friends.”

“I’m glad I ended up here.”

“Me too, beautiful, me too.”

Mitch stayed the night, lying on the bed next to her on top of the covers so he wasn’t tempted to break his own rules. Autumn was too important to rush, she and Maggie were his happy ever after, even though he’d be a fool to believe in that after the horrors he’d seen, he’d also seen the best of people and it gave him hope.