Taye smiled. Victor Senior, her father’s youngest brother, and his son, Victor Junior, owned Bennett’s Nursery. Since Macon was a good hour away, there was no way her father could have just dropped by. It had to have been a planned trip.
“Besides,” he was saying, “I promised Cousin Agnes I’d get this to you.” He pulled a folded letter out of his pocket.
“What is it?” she asked, taking the letter from him.
“Something about the family reunion.”
Taye’s head snapped up. “The Bennetts are having a family reunion?” At her father’s nod, she asked, “When?”
“Sometime this summer. Agnes is running things, so I expect the gathering will take place come hell or high water. You know what a meticulous planner she is, never leaving anything out.”
Taye nodded as she read the letter. The Bennetts were having a family reunion. It would be the first one in fifteen years. The first one since Mama Idella had died. “What gave Cousin Agnes this idea?”
“Pop did.”
“Poppa Ethan? Why?”
“Probably because he knows he’s getting older and wants to spend as much time with his family while he can. The Bennetts are so spread out now, I don’t know the last time we were all in the same place at the same time.”
Taye nodded in agreement.
“Well, I’d better go wash my hands and head back toward Macon.”
Taye wasn’t ready for him to leave yet. He may have spent some time with the girls before she arrived, but he hadn’t spent any time with her. “Dad, the girls and I are going out for pizza. Would you like to come with us before heading back?”
“Yeah, Grampa, come with us. Pleeze,” Sebrina and Monica pleaded with enthusiasm while jumping up and down and grabbing hold of his hand.
Taye watched as he smiled warmly at her and his granddaughters. “I think I will. Thanks for asking.”
It was Monday and the salon was closed; however, it was a study day at Morris Brown University for Taye. She and Sharon made it a point to take time out of their busy Monday schedules to have lunch together at the Pizza Hut that was located not far from campus. Sharon was a pizza junkie and had been for as long as Taye had known her.
“Guess what?” Taye said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.
Sharon’s brows lifted. “What?”
“The Bennetts are having a family reunion. It will be the first since Mama Idella died.”
Sharon nodded. “You’re going, aren’t you?”
Taye took another bite of her pizza before answering, “I haven’t decided yet.”
“What’s there to decide? You’re a Bennett. Why wouldn’t you go?”
Taye shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Sharon looked up in time to catch the brief flicker of pain that crossed Taye’s features. She’d been her best friend long enough to know how she was thinking. “You should go, Taye. I bet when you get there, you’ll find that you aren’t the only Bennett who’s a single mom. Mrs. Otha Mae has brainwashed you into believing you’re an isolated case.”
“There may be a few others, but I’m probably the only one the family had high hopes of making it to the top.”
“And you still can and you will. It’s not easy holding down a job, taking care of two kids, while pursuing a college degree. You should be proud of your achievements, and I bet once your family hears about all of them, they will be, too.”
A smile touched Taye’s lips. Sharon always took the liberty to toot Taye’s horn and knew just the right words to get her out of the slump at times.
“Besides,” Sharon continued. “If for no other reason, I think you should go just to see if your cousin Michael looks as good as he used to.”
Taye met her best friend’s gaze. She had thought that very same thing a few times herself since her father had handed her the letter. “You remember Michael?”
“Remember him? Who can forget him? Even back then he was a good-looking brother. The only reason I never went after him myself was because I knew you were interested.”
“He was my cousin.”
“So? That didn’t stop you from having the hots for him, and I know for a fact you did because you told me so. Besides, it’s not like he’s your first cousin or even a second. What is he, a fourth or fifth? And him being your actual cousin is a moot point now anyway, since we found out a few years ago that he’d been adopted. So the two of you aren’t even related.”
Taye shook her head, smiling. “It may be a moot point but as far as the family is concerned Michael is still very much a Bennett. From what I understand, he’s the one who had problems dealing with the fact that he’d been adopted, not the family.”
Sharon looked at her pointedly. “I really think you should go, Taye. It will be good for the girls, especially for Monica. Sebrina already has another large family, thanks to Gary and his folks. Monica needs to know she has a large family as well.”
Taye took a sip of her soda. “I’ll think about it.”
Two days later and Taye was still thinking about it. During the little spare time she’d had, she’d gone through numerous photo albums looking at pictures she’d taken as a teenager after getting a Polaroid camera one Christmas. Most of the photos had been of Michael. Sharon was right. Michael had always been a good-looking brother. Tall, dark, handsome, and well built was the only way Taye knew to describe him.
She shook her head. Although biologically he wasn’t her cousin, technically he was. She could understand and accept having thoughts and dreams about him as a wide-eyed fifteen-year-old, but now as a thirty-year-old woman having those same thoughts about him just couldn’t be normal. Could it?
As she closed the photo album, she couldn’t help but wonder how he looked now. Sharon was right. It just might be worth it to go to the reunion to find out.
Chapter 2
Rae’jean
Feeling warm and freshly showered, Rae’jean Bennett walked out of her kitchen with a cup of hot chocolate in her hand and curled her body in an armchair. For what had to be the hundredth time that morning, she mentally asked herself whether or not she had made the right decision by agreeing last night to marry Grady Fitzgerald.
She tightened her hand on her cup. Yes, she had made the right decision. They had done all the normal things couples did that led up to this point. They had dated exclusively for almost a year and had become best friends before they had become lovers. All through college and medical school she had avoided any type of serious relationships. After she met Grady things had changed.
He had joined the staff of Boston University Medical Center the same time she had, and instantly they had become good friends. That friendship deepened, mainly from the mutual respect and admiration they had for each other. She’d been moved by the care and concern he showed while taking care of his patients as well as his dedication to the medical field. At first they’d end up leaving the hospital around the same time each night and join each other at the hospital staff’s favorite watering hole for beer and chips before heading home. After they had been doing that routine for almost a year it became apparent to the both of them that they felt something for each other that was stronger than friendship and wanted an exclusive relationship. The issue of his being white and her being black had not once been taken into consideration, nor had it entered into their decision.
Rae’jean took a sip of hot chocolate. There was no reason not to have said yes to his proposal last night. None whatsoever.
Then why was she plagued with a fit of nervous tension about it?
She tried convincing herself that it had nothing to do with everyone’s reaction at the hospital last year when word had first gotten out they were dating, not that they’d tried to hide it. But until that time she had never known so many people had a problem with interracial couples.
“It really shouldn’t matter,” one nurse had whispered in confidence to her during lunch one day. “It’s not like you’re really black anyway.”
Rae�
�jean’s jaw had literally dropped at the insinuation that she wasn’t a sistah. So what if she was light-skinned with straight hair? Being born a Bennett meant she had just as many roots in Africa as Alex Haley. Together she and Grady had somehow weathered the storm, and now most of the hospital staff saw them for what they were—another couple in love.
Then what’s the problem?
Rae’jean slumped down deeper into her chair and gazed at the huge diamond engagement ring on her finger. One of the problems, she inwardly admitted, was the fact that they hadn’t had to deal with their families yet. In other words, after a year of dating neither had taken the other home for dinner. For Grady it was excusable, since both his parents were deceased and the closest relatives he had were an older sister and brother-in-law who spent more time out of the country than they did in. But for Rae’jean the situation was an altogether different matter. There were more Bennetts living in Macon, Georgia, and the surrounding counties than you could count. The letter she had received in the mail yesterday from her grandfather’s cousin Agnes announcing the family reunion planned for that summer only served as a reminder of that fact.
Would the family see her choice of Grady for a future husband as some sort of radical statement on her part? It was evident that she was mixed with something, and just what that something was had always been a closely guarded secret in the Bennett family, a secret her mother had taken to the grave with her. It irked Rae’jean to no end that to this day she still didn’t know a thing about the man who had fathered her and for the past thirty years no one in the family had given her even a hint or a clue. Even Cuzin Sophie, who was the known gossip in the family, for once had miraculously zipped her lips.
Letting her head fall against the back of the chair, Rae’jean couldn’t help but wonder just what was the big deal. All she had to do was take a look at herself in the mirror and take note of her coloring and hair texture to know that her father must have been white. But just who that white man was she had no idea. What she intended to do was attend the reunion and get one of her closemouthed relatives who knew something to finally talk. She would get some answers even if she had to go straight to Poppa Ethan for them. It was time she knew the truth about her parentage once and for all.
A knock at the door shattered her thoughts. She slowly got up and crossed the room to the door. “Yes?”
“It’s me: Grady.”
Rae’jean immediately placed a smile on her face. She didn’t want Grady to know she was nervous about agreeing to be his wife or that she needed to see him to reaffirm she had made the right decision. She opened the door and he stood before her with a huge bouquet of flowers in his hand.
“These are for the woman who has agreed to be my wife,” he said in a voice that was sweet as warm honey.
Suddenly and inexplicably, Rae’jean felt every nervous tension she’d experienced before he’d arrived dissolve. There was no way she could not marry this man, this wonderful, giving man who was also her best friend. Tears began forming in her eyes.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Oh, I’m acting ridiculous,” she said, swiping at her tears.
He smiled as he entered her apartment and handed the flowers to her. “No, you’re not. You’re acting just like a blushing bride-to-be. Speaking of which, don’t you think we should move ahead and set a date?”
Rae’jean’s heart lurched sharply in response to his question, and she was grateful that her head was bent over the flowers, inhaling their fragrance. That way he could not see the look of sheer panic in her eyes. She willed the look away before lifting her gaze and meeting his. “Do we have to do it right away?”
“Not as long as you know what the wait is doing to me,” he said, grinning.
Rae’jean returned his grin, knowing he didn’t need to elaborate. His eyes told her everything. Although they had already slept together a number of times over the past year, last night after saying yes to his proposal, she had requested that they hold out and not sleep together again until their wedding night to make the physical consummation of becoming husband and wife that much more anticipated and special. Grady had reluctantly agreed to do so but had unashamedly warned her that he wasn’t averse to applying a little pressure if he thought it would break her resolve and make her regret making the request. The look he now slanted her from his gleaming blue eyes let her know this would be one of those times.
“Can I at least get a kiss out of you?”
Placing the bouquet of flowers on the table, she turned and willingly walked into his arms and held her face up to his. His lips were cold from the icy weather outside, but even that thought was erased from her mind as his mouth crushed hers in an urgent demand for her lips to part under his.
“Umm, you taste good,” Grady murmured against her hair when their kiss ended. “And you feel good, too. Are you sure you don’t want to—”
“Grady, you promised,” Rae’jean said, smiling up at him.
“And you plan to hold me to it?”
“Most definitely.”
He pulled back and smiled down at her. “In that case, I suggest we set a date for our wedding over something to eat.” He placed another kiss on her lips. “Go on and get dressed. I’m taking you to Riley’s for breakfast.”
“OK. Have you heard from your sister?”
Grady smiled. “Yes, I spoke with her last night. Candace and Ron are back in the States for a while. I told them about our engagement. They’re dying to meet you and have invited us to drive up to Maine to visit with them for the weekend. What about it? Can you get the time off at the hospital?”
Rae’jean’s smile widened. From what Grady had told her, there was a five-year difference between him and his sister. Since he was thirty-two, that meant his sister was thirty-seven. “Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll ask Lori to cover for me.”
“Good. I’ll let them know we’re coming.”
“All right.”
They never made it to breakfast. Grady’s beeper went off moments before they were ready to leave. Rae’jean braved the cold to walk to the sandwich shop on the corner for bagels and coffee. No longer filled with nervous tension or doubts about her decision to marry Grady, she decided to make full use of her day off from the hospital by staying busy.
After writing out bills and putting a few things in order around the apartment, she glanced out the window and saw a large moving van out front. Evidently another tenant was moving in, she thought as she watched the movers unload furniture. Her upscale apartment complex was in a ritzy area of Boston, and most of the tenants were professionals. With her busy schedule she was only acquainted with the couple who lived in the apartment directly across from hers.
She was about to turn from the window when a movement next to the moving van caught her eye. A man stood talking to the driver of the truck, apparently giving him instructions. Rae’jean could only assume he was the new tenant. As she continued to watch him from her second-floor window, she couldn’t help but notice how well his body fitted into a pair of jeans. He was by far one of the most well built men she had ever seen, except for the men on that calendar her cousin Alexia had sent her for Christmas. But still, seeing a well-built man on a calendar was one thing and seeing him in the flesh was another.
She took a long, deep sigh and reminded herself that she was now an engaged woman. However, she concluded, some things deserved to be appreciated, and this fine specimen of a man was one of them. Besides, she was engaged, but she wasn’t blind, and the brother standing below in the parking lot was pretty good on the eyes. So she continued to stare, unable to help herself…until she noticed he had turned and had seen her at the window and had begun staring back.
Deep. His stare, Rae’jean thought, was deep. It was deeper than any stare had a right to be. His gaze seemed to swallow her whole, and the heat of it was definitely doing unimaginable things to her body parts. He was staring at her like a wild animal surveying his prey, and the thought of that m
ade shivers race up and down her body and started a heated flutter in the pit of her stomach. Amazing. She had never gotten this sort of intense reaction when Grady stared at her.
Grady!
Rae’jean drew up short, appalled at the fact that for the past two to three minutes she had been standing at the window openly ogling a man. A very good-looking man who had seen her and who was still looking at her with intense dark eyes. She hoped she had not sent the wrong message to him, that she was available or anything like that, because she wasn’t. She was engaged to be married. Reacting quickly to put an end to her foolishness, she pulled the curtains closed and placed a hand over her fluttering heart.
She released a deep sigh and then on impulse sneaked a peek through the curtain to see if he had gone. Her heart did a somersault when she saw he was still below, standing in the same place, looking up at her with a heart-stopping smile on his lips. She dropped the curtain back in place and took a step back. She had played with fire more than she needed to today.
“I must admit that you’re quite different from any woman Grady has brought here for us to meet before.”
That simple statement coming from Grady’s sister’s lips should have offended Rae’jean. After all, it went along with everything else that had been said to make her feel unwelcome since entering the Stanhopes’ home. To say she had totally surprised the couple would be an understatement.
“Then it’s good to know I’m in a class by myself,” Rae’jean responded, smiling, although she was steaming inside. She was determined not to lose her cool and had forced herself to “chill” a number of times. She was reminded of what Gramma Idella had told her once: “Even people with money can have bad manners.”
Rae’jean had felt the couple’s coldness as soon as they opened the door to greet her and Grady. At first she had decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and be patient; after all, it was evident she was a surprise to them, which indicated Grady had not mentioned anything beforehand about their being an interracial couple. Then later, when their attitudes hadn’t thawed, she’d resigned herself to the fact that there was no way Candace and Ron Stanhope would give them their blessings.
A Family Reunion Page 3
