Page 59 of Quiet as Kept

“Look at him with them.” I thought aloud, a smile so big on my face that my cheeks started to ache.I’m in love with this man.

The thought was so loud and so clear that, for a second, I actually thought somebody spoke it. I mean, I had known for a while that I loved him and that I was in love with him. But I never allowed myself to linger there. It wasn’t safe. It wasn’t safe for me to give my heart to anybody. My family had taught me that. I’d given my heart and the best of me to them time and time again only to have them use my heart and my feelings as a tennis ball—whacking it as hard as they could to see how far it would fly.

Kept was different though. He understood fragility. He knew how to be gentle and tender.

They made it back over to me. Kept plopped down in the beach chair next to mine then pulled two yogurt parfaits and twospoons from the cooler we’d brought with us. Once he had the girls settled with their dessert, he sat back in the chair.

“Kept,” I said.

“What’s up?” His eyes were on the choppy water.

“I love you."

His head turned to face me. “Just casually like that, huh? While we’re sitting on the beach eating frozen yogurt?” He lowered his voice to add, “Not while I’m deep inside you, tattooing my name on your womb?”

I pushed his arm playfully. “No. Not while you have me distracted and talking outside of myself.”

He laughed and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close to him. He kissed my temple. “I love you too. Been loving you. And I appreciate you too.”

“Same.”

I floated back to the house on Cloud Nine at the end of the night. My phone rang as I chose pajamas for the girls while Kept bathed them.

“Hello?” I laid nightgowns and panties on each girl’s bed for them to sleep in.

“Bestie!”

I grinned, although she couldn’t see me.

“Hey, boo,” I said to Yahirah. “How was Vegas?”

She, Ayden, Nehemiah, and Cecily had taken Mama Reese to Las Vegas for her fiftieth birthday.

“It was good. Mama had a blast. She was the only one to win money. She won five hundred dollars on the slot machine.”

“Clock it!” I shrieked quietly. “Yes! I love that for her.”

“And…” She hesitated. “Don’t get mad, Xari. Nothing was planned. Everything happened in a whirlwind, but it was perfect.”

“What?”

“Me and Ayden got married in Las Vegas.”

“I know you’re fuckin’ lyin’,” I said before I could stop myself.

Her tone was contrite. “I’m not. Of course we weren’t planning to get married, but everything came together so perfectly. And now, we don’t have to worry about invitations, a venue, a caterer, seating arrangements, flowers . . . all of the stuff that costs thousands of dollars.”

When she put it that way, I couldn’t stay in my feelings. Weddings were super expensive.

“Full disclosure, we decided about two months ago not to have a wedding. We were just gonna go to the courthouse in Atlanta because we found a house that we love. We felt the money we were saving for the wedding would be better spent on some place for us to live than on what was essentially a party for our friends and family. We put a contract on the house, and we close the day after tomorrow.”

“First of all, congratulations! I’m super excited for you and Ayden. Secondly, I think using the money on a house is smart as hell.”

“Especially because I’m pregnant.”

I shrieked in my regular tone. “What?”

Kept, Dakota, and Destin all came out of the bathroom in a hurry.