Tegyn held me a little tighter than normal. “I believe you,” she whispered. Then she looked up at me with her chin on my chest. “I need to make dinner. Is there anything in particular you’d like?”
I shook my head. “I’m just happy to have a cooking woman in my house,” I joked.
“Now you make me want to up my game. Okay, how about steak, parmesan mushroom risotto, and some roasted asparagus?” She smiled.
“Are you serious right now?” My brows shot up.
Taking a step back, Tegyn nodded. “We have five ribeye steaks, so that should be perfect. And I’ll double the risotto.”
“Just when I think I can’t possibly love you more,” I murmured.
Her eyes sparkled. “Well, you haven’t tried it yet. It could suck.” Then she turned on her heels and disappeared into the kitchen.
I stood there staring after her, partly because I could watch her walk all day, but mostly because I was in awe of the woman. This was a lot for any one person to handle, and she was holding up like a champ. I glanced at Tommy on the couch. He’d obviously noticed her ass too. He looked away quickly when he knew I’d caught him. I glared and rolled up my sleeves. Before I could confront him, however, the doorbell rang. I walked to answer it, but in the short time it took, there was a series of impatient knocks on the door. It could only be one person. I opened the door with a smirk. “Hello, Mama.”
“Don’t you ‘hello, Mama’ me. I know what you got going on up in here, DeSean. And I’m not happy about it.” She glared at me as she pushed her way into the house.
“Come talk to me in the office,” I suggested gently, even as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and directed her into the room. I closed the French doors behind us and turned to face her. “So, the house feeling small already? Arionna could make the Biltmore feel tiny. That woman takes up a lot of space.” I chuckled.
“I’m not here to talk about your sister. I’m here to discuss the white woman you got living wit you,” she snapped. “How you gonna choose a white woman over your family?”
“You need to stop with that, you hear?” I could feel my blood beginning to boil. “That woman is my family. She has my whole heart. And she’d never try to make me pick her over you.” I crossed my arms over my chest angrily.
“Oh, that’s what they all say. Then they got you whipped and wrapped around they little finger.” She waved her pinky around for emphasis. “Next thing you know, you abandoning yo’ family.”
I took a deep breath and walked over to my mother. Carefully, I laid my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “I’m not Daddy. I’m not going to leave my family, and I’m not going to lose the best thing to ever happen to me.”
Her eyes widened. “How dare you!”
I sighed. “I dare. Not all white women are bad, Mama, just like not all black women are good.”
“Speaking of black women, Camilla dropped by the other day,” my mother announced.
“Case in point,” I muttered under my breath.
She glared at me. “Camilla told me how she try to make this work with you. She did everything to make you happy. You dumped her for this white woman!”
“Camilla lies,” I retorted. “And that’s all I’m saying about that.”
A second later there was a tap on the glass doors and when I glanced up and saw Tegyn there, I didn’t know whether to feel better or worse. Really, I wanted her to go before my mother could spit any more venom and hurt her feelings. Instead she opened the door and marched right in. “Hi, I’m Tegyn. I thought I’d see if you wanted to stay for dinner. We have plenty of food.”
My mother sniffed the air. “I don’t know what you cooking, but it doesn’t smell like any fried chicken to me.”
“That’s because I didn’t make any.” Tegyn laughed.
Closing the distance my mother challenged her. “That because it’s black food?”
Tegyn snickered. “No, it’s because it’s a southern food and I grew up in the north. Maybe you could teach me to make it sometime. Personally, I love it. And I make a mean potato salad to go with it.” She clapped her hands together. “You decide if you want to join us. In the meantime, I’m setting a place for you at the table.”
“I didn’t say I was staying,” my mother snapped.
Tegyn was halfway out the door. “I know, but just think of all the things you could say about me if you got to know me better.” There was a sparkle in her eye as she blew me a kiss and sauntered back to the kitchen.
My mother stood silent a moment, probably trying to process what had just happened. Me, I wanted to yank Tegyn into my arms. She handled my mother perfectly.
“I see she got curves like a sistah,” Mama mumbled.
“Umhm.” I grinned.
“And that girl got a fire in her.” This happened to be my mother’s idea of a compliment. Could she be softening already?
“She’s the perfect combination of sass and class.” I sighed. “She makes me happy, Mama. Stay for dinner.”
“Is she making greens?” My mother wrinkled up her nose.
I chuckled. “Asparagus is green.”
“Probably not the way she cooks it,” Mama grumbled as she made her way to the door. “Come on. I don’t like a cold dinner.”