Your Love Is King (8 page)

When we reached the living room and I saw Mr. King sitting in a recliner, I realized why Mrs. King had looked so familiar. I’d seen their faces on the front of the church bulletin. Mr.—or should I say
Reverend
—and Mrs. King were the pastor and first lady of the church.

“Old man, how’d y’all get here so quick?” Chris quipped as he approached his father.

Rev. King stood from his chair and embraced Chris. “Chris! I wasn’t expecting you.” He smiled at me. “Who we got here?”

“Dad, this is Marli. She’s new in town. I told her this is the best place to eat in St. Louis.”

Rev. King shook my hand. “Well, you won’t be disappointed. My Lizzie can sure enough cook.”

I smiled. “Thanks for having me.”

“No problem. Any friend of Chris’s is welcome here. He’s my special boy, you know,” he said as he looked proudly up at Chris, who stood a couple of inches taller than his father.

I smiled and took a seat on the sofa. Chris sat next to me and engaged his father in warm conversation as we waited for dinner. I could tell that they really shared a special bond.

I glanced around the room and eyed the photographs that decorated the various tables as well as the top of a piano. There were a few family portraits which included Rev. and Mrs. King, Chris and three young ladies. Chris was the only white person in any of the photos. There were pictures of him and the girls as children, teenagers, all the way up to adulthood.

This really was his family, and I was itching to know how it all came to be, but I dared not ask him and sound even more race-obsessed than he already thought I was. I turned my attention back to his and his father’s conversation and tried to push the questions out of my head.

“So Marli, how long have you been here in town?” Rev. King asked.

“Um, a little over a month,” I replied.

“Marli’s a nurse, like Ava,” Chris offered.

“Really? You working over at University, too?” Rev. King queried.

“Um, yes, sir. I’m on a three-month assignment there. I’m from Arkansas.”

“Arkansas. Got some relatives in Arkansas. Never can remember the name of the town, though. How’s your stay here been so far?”

“Good. I like it here.”

“Good, then maybe you’ll decide to stay,” Chris said
with a wide grin.

Ten

“I Never Thought I’d See the Day”

Dinner was nice,
really
nice. Mrs. King lived up to her reputation, and I thoroughly enjoyed her chicken and dressing, green beans, and homemade macaroni and cheese. After dinner, two of Chris’s sisters, Ava and Lana, showed up and shared chocolate pie with us. They were both beautiful, short, and round, just like their mother.

During my visit, I learned that Chris was the oldest child and that Ava was the baby. Ava, of course, was a nurse, and Lana was a teacher. A third sister, Jayne, lived in Chicago and was a pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mom.

Being there with them felt nice. They were a very close-knit family, and the love they shared was infectious. Chris was the adored big-brother, and he took his role as the protector of his sisters very seriously. He was both comfortable with and accepted by his family, two things that were never true of me and my family.

We’d been at his parents’ house for hours, and I really wouldn’t have minded staying longer, but right before nightfall, Chris decided to take me home. As we rode along in his Mercedes, I peered out the side window with a faint smile on my face.

“Did you enjoy yourself?” he asked.

I turned to him and nodded. “Yeah, I did. Your family is wonderful. You’re very lucky.”

“I am,” he agreed. “I thank God for them every day.”

“You should.”

A few minutes later, Chris parked his car on the lot in front of my building. He turned to me and smiled. “So, when are you gonna ask me why I’m a white man with a black family?”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t gonna ask.”

“Really? You’re not curious at all?”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t curious. I just figured if you wanted me to know, you’d tell me sooner or later.”

He raised his eyebrows. “So you plan on there being a later for us, huh?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Anything’s possible.”

“It sure is.” He paused. “Okay, so my mama, Mrs. King, was really good friends with my biological mother; they grew up together. They were more like sisters, really. When she and my father, Rev. King, were newlyweds, they would babysit me all of the time. Mama didn’t know until after my biological parents died in a car accident that they’d put it in their will for her and my dad to raise me if anything happened to them, since neither of them had any family left. I was only a year old when they died. I’ve been a King ever since.”

“Wow, so they adopted you, officially?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but they let me keep my original last name, Russell. When I turned twelve, I told them I wanted it changed. That’s when I became a King.”

“That’s beautiful, Chris. It’s plain to see how loved you are. Your parents are some good people.”

“Yeah, they sure are.”

“Was it odd, you know, being the only white person in a black family?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. I don’t even remember my biological parents. This is the only family I’ve ever known, and my parents never treated me any different than they did my sisters. I was praised when I did good and punished when I misbehaved just like Lana, Ava, and Jayne. I didn’t even realize there was anything different about me until I got a lot older, like seven or eight.”

“Really? What happened then?”

“Some kids at school teased me about my family being black and me being white, called me some weird names. I ran home and told my mama what they said and she explained to me that I was different, but that there was nothing wrong with me. I never forgot that.”

“Well, you
are
different, but in a good way.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Aw, thanks, Ms. Marli. I’m glad you think so.”

We sat there in silence for a few moments and then I said, “Well, I guess I’d better be heading on up there.” I gestured toward the apartment building.

Chris smiled. “Yeah, let me walk you.”

“I can take care of myself, you know? I don’t have to have an escort.”

“Aw, now.  I’m just getting to know you. I can’t let anything happen to you.”

He grabbed my hand and we walked silently through the building to my floor. Once we reached my door, he leaned over and kissed me softly on the cheek.

“Thanks for having dinner with me and my family, Ms. Marli,” he whispered.

His breath felt warm against my ear, and the warmth seemed to travel down my body. I looked up at his face and smiled. For some reason he seemed to grow more and more handsome as the hours passed.

“No. Thank
you
. I really enjoyed it,” I said softly.

He stood close to me and looked me in the eye. “Um, Marli? You think maybe I’ve earned a little favor from you?”

My gaze was fixed on his blue eyes. “Earned?”

He leaned in closer to me. “Yeah. Well, I
did
rescue you the other day when you were stranded at the hospital, right?”

I nodded. “That’s right.”

“And I dazzled you with my voice in church today...”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And you’ve already met almost my entire family.”

“That’s true.”

“So, you think maybe you could give me your number?”

“My number?”

He nodded and clasped his hands together. “Pretty please?”

I tried not to smile. “Well, what if I told you I already have a man and that he’s back home waiting for me and he doesn’t like me giving my phone number out to other guys?”

“Then I’d say that what he doesn’t like doesn’t matter to me since he was fool enough to let you come all the way to St. Louis without him.”

“Really, now?” I said with a raised eyebrow.

“
Really
. And I’d also say that it is my privilege and my duty to take you off his hands.”

“Off his hands? You make me sound like I’m some unattended land or something.”

“I meant to make you sound like an unguarded treasure.”

I rolled my eyes. “Mm-hmm.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Have a man?”

“No, I don’t. Do you have a woman?”

“That depends on whether or not you give me your number.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“No, I don’t…
yet
.”

I smiled despite myself. “Yet?”

“
Yet
. Now, may I please have your number?”

I sighed. “Okay, but if I give you my number, it doesn’t mean we’re anything more than friends.”

He leaned in until his lips nearly touched mine, looked me dead in the eye, and said, “Then I’ll just have to take what I can get until I can change your mind.”

I felt his breath against my lips and my pulse quickened. “Uh, w… what makes you think you can make me change my mind?” I asked as his eyes pierced mine.

He backed away from me and smiled. “The fact that you wanted me to kiss you right then.”

I put my hands on my hips. “How can you know what I want, sir? You think you can read my mind or something?”

He kept his eyes on mine and gave me a lopsided grin. “Nope, but I can read your body. That gorgeous body of yours cannot lie. You like me—you just don’t wanna admit it.”

I cleared my throat and rubbed my hand across my afro. I was all out of witty responses because, truthfully, I
did
want him to kiss me.
Did he just say I had a gorgeous body?

His eyes sparkled as his grin widened. “Number?”

I rattled off my number to him and watched as he programmed it into his cell phone. I unlocked the front door then turned and wished Chris a good night.

“Good night, Marli Meadows. I’ma call you. Oh, and I
love
a challenge.”

“I bet you do,” I said. I entered the apartment and shut the door behind me.

There was no sign of Carla.
That’s odd. I thought I saw her car in the lot outside.
I shrugged and decided that maybe she was still out somewhere with Carolyn and Ronda. After I showered and changed into my night clothes, I headed straight to bed and had no trouble falling asleep.

~*~

I wasn’t sure what time Carla made it home, but when I arose the next day, she was already up and in the shower. She told me that she and the other ladies had spent the evening drinking and watching movies at Carolyn’s apartment, and when it started getting late, she’d decided to spend the night at her place. I knew she was probably lying but I didn’t want to get into another argument with her. So instead, I filled her in on my visit with Chris and his family.

“He’s really nice. They all are. But you know, I’ve just never thought about dating outside my race,” I said.

“Well, it’s really not as different as you think. A man is a man. Black, white, or orange,” Carla replied.

“How would you know there’s no difference?”

Carla smiled. “Oh, that’s right. I never told you.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Told me what?”

“About Steve. I messed around with him that summer I had that internship in Denver.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember, that was the summer after your sophomore year in college.”

She nodded. “Right.”

“So Steve was white?”

“Nope, Asian.”

“Asian? You dated an Asian guy?”

“Oh, we did more than date, my dear. A
whole
lot more.”

“What?! Ooo, Carla!”