Page 94 of Rebooked For Us
We were a family. Out loud. In public. No more hiding.
Cars lined up, waiting to drop their passengers. Cadence pressed her face to the window. “More princesses.”
We pulled up and prepared to step out when Skye stopped me, pulled my face closer, and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to my lips.
Kareem opening the door was the only thing that stopped me from chasing that kiss for another ten minutes. I was so fucking happy she was back in my life.
I stepped out first, and cameras flashed. I extended my hand and helped Skye out, and she, in turn, helped Cadence. I anchored them on either side of me, arm around Skye’s waist, Cadence’s hand in mine, and she walked with a bounce in every step.
We headed straight in, not stopping for pictures on the red carpet.
I spotted my mother before we made it through the doors, standing off to the side of the entrance like she’d been watching that exact spot for an hour. The second her eyes landed on the three of us, her hand flew to her mouth, and she just stood there, tears sliding down her face. She looked between me, Skye, and Cadence like she couldn’t decide who to look at first.
“Mama, don’t start before we even get inside.” I tried to keep my voice light, but my own throat was tight. I pressed a kiss on her cheek.
“I can’t help it.” She wiped under her eyes, careful of her makeup, and failed anyway. “Look at you. Look at all of you. She’s so beautiful. Oh, my Lord, I’m a Gigi.”
Skye squeezed my hand once, a silent go ahead. I crouched down next to Cadence.
I turned to my daughter. “Sugar, this is your grandmother. My mom. Her name’s Dena. You can call her Gigi.”
Cadence studied her for a second, the way she studied everything, dead serious, before her whole face lit up.
“You have Daddy’s eyebrows.” She pointed between the two of us like she’d cracked a code. “Twins. Like us.”
Dena made a sound that was half laugh, half sob, and dropped to her knees right there in the entryway, gala dress and all.
“I do, don’t I?” She touched her own eyebrow, then reached out slowly, like she was asking permission, and tucked a curl behind Cadence’s ear. “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. A doll baby.”
“I know,” Cadence said, so matter-of-factly that Skye laughed out loud behind me.
“That’s her favorite response. She knows everything,” I said.
Dena looked up at Skye, and for a second, her face said what she’d never managed to.Forgive me.
“Thank you,” Dena said, just to her. “For bringing her tonight. I hope we can speak before you guys go back to Coupeville.”
“I’d like that.”
“Okay, enough crying, let’s get to our table. Ruben is going to have a heart attack, you know.”
I stopped her. “Does he know about her?”
“No, you think?” She said it too fast, like the question was easier to swat away than to sit with.
“Ma?”
“Ducane. I left your father a year ago.” She said it plainly like she hadn’t just dropped a bomb on me. “I didn't want to tell you like this, but I need you to know I would never willingly keep something like that from you. Skye, no offense, sweetheart.”
“None taken.”
She looked back at me and cupped my cheek. “I watched you be unhappy for a long time. Whatever is driving this, keep it. It’s time for a reckoning. I stand behind you and with you. Both of you.”
“You should’ve told me sooner.”
“I know how you feel about me smoothing things over for that man. I heard you say it yourself, more than once.” She didn’t flinch from it. “I’m not doing that tonight. I’m not going to stand here and explain away thirty years of choosing peace over myself. I know what the past says about me. But my present is this. I’m done. Done with him, done with his hatred, done pretending things were fine in that house.” Her eyes went glassy again, but her voice held steady. “I turned fifty and realized I’d been asking permission to be happy since I was younger than you are now. I’m not doing it anymore.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that. Not because I didn’t believe her. Because I did. Completely. I’d waited years to hear her say those words.
