27

“How’s the gumbo, Katia?” Alicia asked as she hovered over me at the table, both of her hands resting on her protruding belly.

There was no denying that my cousin was “with child.”

“Delicious as always,” I said, eating another big spoonful of the treat I only got to eat when I visited my family in the

Gulf region. I’d been in Prichard four days, and today Alicia felt well enough to make gumbo. I helped as much as I could,

cleaning the shrimp and stirring the roux according to her specifications, but making gumbo was not my forte. I was a glorified

sous chef and that was fine with me. “Come sit down, Lish. I don’t want Curtis mad at me when he gets home from work.”

Alicia lowered herself into the chair beside me. “Girl, that man works so hard, I’m in bed when he goes to work in the morning

and usually in bed when he comes home in the evening. I wish he’d let go of that second job at the hospital. Garbageman by

day and janitor by night. He works way too hard, but he said he doesn’t want me or this baby to lack for anything.”

I reached out and squeezed her hand. “Curtis is a good man, and I’m thankful he takes care of you the way he does. You deserve it.”

“You deserve someone like Curtis too,” Alicia said.

I groaned. Any chance Alicia had to bring up my love life, or lack thereof, she did. “Lish, I don’t want to talk about that.

Can’t we get through one day without me being the topic of discussion?”

“Nope,” she said and grinned. “It’s not often that I have my sister-cousin with me, so I plan on teasing you every chance

I get.”

“You are too much,” I said, but I laughed. It was hard not to laugh around Alicia. She was my favorite cousin for a reason.

As serious as I tended to be about everything, she’d always been able to help me see humor in almost any situation.

“Hey, cousin, are you tired?” she asked.

I didn’t know what she was up to, but I could tell it was something. “No, not really. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason,” she said, glancing at her watch. “I think I’m going to take a nap. If anyone knocks or rings the doorbell,

will you answer it?”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll clean up here, then go into the living room and read. You rest up. Thank you for dinner.”

She stood and kissed my cheek. “Anything for my sister-cousin.” She waddled out of the kitchen, and I couldn’t believe how

pregnant she looked. I was grateful that this pregnancy seemed to be going well.

I started collecting the dishes from the table, taking everything to the kitchen. While the sink filled with dishwater, I turned on the radio. The DJ was on fire, and I sang along with every hit song. I thought about when my brothers were young and I used to teach them all the latest dances, like the jitterbug, the twist, and the stroll. We’d have Mama falling out laughing as they tried to keep up with me and my moves. Aaron was the better dancer of the two. I could almost see him now.

“Please be okay, little brother,” I said, wiping away a tear as “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Ray Charles came on. I was drying

the last of the dishes when the doorbell rang. I wiped my hands with the dish towel. It was probably some of the relatives,

coming over to get Lish’s gumbo.

I opened the door, and I was shocked when I saw who was standing there.

“Seth,” I said.

“It’s me,” he said, handing me a bouquet of red roses.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as I accepted the flowers.

“I came to see you. May I come in?”

I wasn’t dressed for company, as Mama would have scolded me. My housedress was splotched with dishwater. I didn’t even remember

picking out my hair today, but he was eyeing me like he didn’t see any of those things.

“Yes,” I said, moving aside. “Come in. I... just... Come in. How did... How?” I was speaking like a dithering idiot.

“I got your cousin’s number from your mother, and then I spoke to Alicia on the phone and she gave me her address,” he said.

I should have known Mama and Alicia masterminded this plot. I was going to get both of them when I got the chance.

I led Seth to the living room and offered him a seat on the couch. I sat in the chair across from him, still holding the bouquet

of roses.

“Not to be rude, but why are you here? Why did you want to come see me?”

“I came to see you and take you on a date, Kat.” He was definitely dressed to go out, and as always he smelled amazing. I

truly felt underdressed and unprepared to have him sitting this close to me, looking this good.

I shook my head. “Seth, no. Nothing has changed. I can’t go on a date with you. We said we’d be friends. That’s all.”

“Maybe you should hear where I’m taking you to first,” he said with a smile. “You just might change your mind.”

“I won’t,” I said in a firm voice, gently laying the flowers on the coffee table. “I’m sorry you came all this way. Mama and

Alicia shouldn’t have helped you with this.”

“So you’re telling me you won’t break your ‘no dating’ rule to go see the Nina Simone in concert?”

“Who did you say?” I must have heard him wrong.

“Nina Simone,” he repeated, reaching into his pocket. I shifted the roses to the side and took the tickets from his outstretched

hand. Printed right on the tickets it said, “Nina Simone, in concert at the Mobile Municipal Auditorium.”

“We’re on the front row,” he said as I remained speechless. “You’ll be so close it will be like she’s singing just for you.

She is your favorite singer, right? I didn’t just imagine you’d told me that, did I?”

“Oh my goodness, Seth,” I said, shaking my head with disbelief. “How did you... ? When did you... ?”

“I figured she’d go on tour after she released those three albums this year, and sure enough, I was looking in the papers

right after you left on Tuesday and saw that she’d be performing down here in Mobile,” he said, looking extremely pleased

with himself. “I got them to hold two tickets for me at the box office, and I picked them up before coming over here. Now

you know the whole story.”

This sounded like something I’d read in one of my romantic novels. I couldn’t believe he’d done all of this for me.

“Seth, I can’t go with you,” I said, handing the tickets back to him. The sorrow I felt wasn’t about missing the concert—it

was about the reality that I couldn’t lead him on.

“Why not, Kat? You’ve been skirting around seeing me from the first day I walked into the group home. What is it? Why won’t

you even consider dating me? Is it my leg? Is it because I have a leg missing?” He looked genuinely hurt. All I wanted to

do was kiss away his pain and confusion, but I remained still.

“No. That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?” he demanded. “Because I can’t figure out what it is. Sometimes you act like you’re interested in me; then

other times you seem as if you wish I’d just disappear. What is it?”

“I can’t have children,” I blurted out. “Last year I had to have a hysterectomy. It’s not fair for me to get involved with

someone who hasn’t had children of his own. I won’t do that to you. I just won’t.”

I had to look away. I couldn’t bear to see pity or disgust on his face, or worse, both.

“Kat,” he said softly. “Kat, look at me.”

I shook my head as silent tears rolled down my cheeks. I was so focused on not having a breakdown that I didn’t notice he’d

stood up until he was directly in front of me.

“Get up, please,” he said, his hand outstretched. I didn’t take his hand at first. “Please, Kat.”

I hesitated for a moment, and then I reached out and allowed him to help me up. Once I was standing, he tilted my chin until

I was staring into his eyes. His expression was more tender than I’d ever seen on anyone’s face. He reached into his pocket,

took out a handkerchief, and dabbed around my eyes.

“Miss Katia Daniels, I have been working very hard not to fall in love with you because you didn’t seem to want it, but in

spite of my efforts, I fell hard.”

“But, Seth, I—”

He held up his hand. “Shhh. Let me finish. I love you, and I want to tell you why. You are kind and generous and unselfish

and beautiful and sexy and thoughtful and the list goes on and on. I’m so sorry you had to have a hysterectomy. I wish I could

have been in your life then to take care of you. If you’ll have me, we’ll figure out together if we want to be parents. I

learned from watching you with those boys at the group home that there are many ways to create a family. But the first person

I want to create a family with is you.”

I searched his face for some sign that he was lying, but I only saw a man whose eyes were just for me. Only for me. My daddy

and brothers were the only men who’d ever looked at me with such unconditional love.

“Seth, you say all of this now, but what if tomorrow you wake up and decide you really do want your own children? I can’t fix what’s broken inside of me. I can never give you your own babies.” I tried to turn away, but he wouldn’t let me. Instead, he kissed me. The more I tried to talk, the more he kissed me, until I had no words. I didn’t realize how much I’d wanted to share a kiss with this amazing man. We were behaving like teenagers, and I should’ve been concerned about Alicia walking in on us, but I was lost in his embrace and those incredible, soft lips of his on mine.

After what seemed like hours later but was probably only a minute, he pulled away, his breathing almost as ragged as mine.

“Miss Daniels, will you allow me to escort you to the Nina Simone concert tonight?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

He kissed me again but abruptly stopped. “And, Miss Daniels, will you allow me to continue to properly court you and treat

you like the queen that you are?”

“Yes,” I whispered again.

He groaned and went back to kissing me, and there we stayed until we heard a loud cough. We both turned and saw Alicia with

a huge grin on her face.

“About time,” she said. “Come on, girl. You can’t wear a housedress to go see Miss Nina Simone. Let’s get you all prettified.”

Before I could leave, Seth kissed me one more time. Then he bent down and whispered, “If you aren’t careful, we might not

make it to the concert.”

“I heard that,” Alicia said with a giggle. “Come on, Katia.”

I hurried over to her and we linked arms. She then guided me down the hallway to the guest room.

“You know I should be angry with you,” I said as we entered the room and she closed the door behind us.

“But are you?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

I shook my head. “No, I’m not—I’m grateful. Thank you.”

She hugged me. “You don’t ever have to thank me for loving you, Sister-Cousin. Now, go take a quick shower while I figure

out what you’re going to wear. I have a cute purple cocktail dress I wore to a party a couple of years ago. I think it will

look perfect on you.”

In less than an hour, I was dressed, fully made up, and beyond shy about returning to the living room. But the way Seth gazed

at me melted away all of my shyness.

“My God,” he said, walking over to me. “You’re breathtaking.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you ready to go?” he asked.

I nodded, and he offered me his arm. I turned and smiled once more at Alicia, then followed Seth out the door.

***

The lights dimmed in the auditorium and the announcer’s voice came over the speakers: “Ladies and gentlemen, the city of Mobile,

Alabama, would like to welcome none other than the High Priestess of Soul herself, Miss Nina Simone.”

I almost clapped my hands raw when she sat down at the piano and began to play and sing “I Put a Spell on You.” I could have died happy in that moment.

For over two hours, Nina Simone performed her greatest hits as well as new music from her three recently released albums.

She ended the night by singing “Do What You Gotta Do,” and Seth held me and sang along with her. When the concert ended, he

and I stayed in each other’s arms. I didn’t want the night to end.

“Happy?” he said in my ear.

I nodded. “Very happy. Thank you.”

“This is only the beginning,” he said, and looking into his eyes, seeing the love shining from them, I knew that what he said

was true.