by Nia Arthurs
“What about her father?” Yong Chung challenged. “Or her uncles. Her cousins. Her friends. There might be a few exceptions, but it is better to be cautious than sorry.”
Luke fisted his hands and pounded it against the table. “I was hoping, so badly, that there was a better reason. Maybe it wouldn’t excuse what you believe, but it could explain it. I was a fool to hope. There really is no chance you’ll change your mind, is there?”
“Luke, I beg you.” His father leaned over the table. “Don’t even worry about your mother and me. Think about yourself. About your future.”
“Dad, Ashanti is a big part of my future.”
His father glanced from side to side. “I know what the men whisper in the bars, about the sexual experience a black woman offers. I understand if you’re curious. Go ahead and date her as long as you want, but marriage—”
Luke stood and raised his voice, standing up to his father for the first time in his entire life. “Don’t you ever talk about Ashanti that way again.”
“Luke…”
“Ashanti is my best friend. My girlfriend. The love of my life and the future mother of my half-black children. You might not like her, but you will respect her.”
“Don’t get upset,” Yong Chung pleaded. “I’m only trying to protect you. Protect our family.”
Luke shook his head. “You should go back home, Dad. Thanks for coming out today, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing each other again for a while.”
It was considered disrespectful to leave a room before an elder unless dismissed, but Luke was too livid to take his traditions into account.
The war had been bitter and long, but it was over. When the dust settled, he’d have to see how much of his relationship with his parents could be salvaged but, as of this moment, Luke would be fine if he didn’t see them again.
He stepped into the bright sunshine and headed for his car. Just as he slid in, he got a call from Ashanti.
“Hey,” he picked up, smiling in spite of the disappointing conversation.
“Luke,” Ashanti said, her voice bright and perky, “I need you.”
His pulse quickened. “Where are you? At home?” He threw his car into drive. “I’m coming.”
“No, I’m not at home.”
Luke slammed on the brakes and adjusted the phone against his cheek. “Then where are you?”
He heard someone shout in the background. Ashanti lowered her voice and said, “At the market with your grandmother.”
“What?”
“Yeye was supposed to pick us up, but his car broke down and we have all these grocery bags. Can you help us?”
“Give me ten minutes.” Luke hung up and sped to the market.
Traffic thickened as he neared the gated lots filled with wooden stalls. The market was cut in half by a bus station and, even though it was Sunday, the streets were filled with travellers and customers buying the fresh farm produce.
By some miracle, Luke managed to find a parking spot and hopped out.
As he walked into the gates and scanned the crowd for Nai Nai and Ashanti, he noticed the vendors eyeing him.
Most of the farmers were Hispanic with tan skin, deep wrinkles and shiny black hair. There were a few Mennonites in dirty overalls and straw hats, their eyes bluer than the sky.
Luke quickened his pace as he travelled deeper into the lot. The dust rose and surrounded him like a mist. Colorful produce lay on wooden planks—bananas, papayas, green plantains, green peppers, carrots and tomatoes.
Luke noticed someone waving in the distance and sighed with relief when he recognized Ashanti. She wore blue jeans and a plain T-shirt. Her hair had been braided into two thick plaits that dangled over her shoulders.
Her eyes sparkled when he neared them. “Were you speeding? You got here in less than ten minutes.”
“You said you needed me,” Luke replied simply.
“How cute.” Nai Nai grinned at him. “Here are our bags, Luke. Please take them to the car and come back.”
“Come back? Aren’t you ready to leave?”
“No,” Ashanti explained. “We just needed somewhere to put the groceries we already purchased.”
His jaw dropped. “You’ve been here for an hour.”
“And we’ll be here for another. You can wait in the car, dear.” His grandmother waved.
Ashanti smiled.
Shocked, Luke balanced all the plastic bag handles on his arms until his veins popped out. He waddled to the car and carefully placed the bags in the trunk.
Since waiting in the car would be like sitting in a barbeque grill for an hour, he headed back into the market to find his grandmother and girlfriend.
He turned a corner and spotted them haggling over the price of a mamey fruit. A grin climbed his face as he watched Ashanti and Nai Nai tag-team the poor vendor who ended up lowering her price by fifty cents.
The high five the women exchanged was jubilant.
Small pebbles crunched under his feet as Luke approached them. Ashanti spotted him first and beamed, looking more beautiful than any woman he’d ever seen. Including Michelle.
She leaned over and whispered, “Nai Nai is a legend, Luke. I have mad respect.”
“Ashanti’s not so bad either,” his grandmother said with a chuckle. “Why didn’t you stay in the car?”
Luke nudged Ashanti’s arm. “I figured you two would want some company.”
“Is that so?” Ashanti cooed.
“What?” Luke snorted. “You thought I came just so I could spend time with you?”
“Didn’t you?”
Nai Nai laughed. “Thank you so much for coming, Luke. Your grandfather is dealing with the mechanic so he’ll be out for a few hours.”
“Don’t worry, Nai Nai. I’m all yours.”
As Luke followed his grandmother and Ashanti around the market, he observed the way people responded when they realized the black woman and the Asian elder were together. There was a lot of staring, narrowing eyes, and rapid blinking.
Luke was bemused by the public’s expressions and, secretly, thrilled when no one made any racist statements. He’d heard a few—more than that really—growing up in a Caribbean country.
When someone from school couldn’t remember his name, he was Chino, Chini, Ching Chong Chang, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li. When someone needed an answer during a math test, nine times out of ten his was the paper they snuck peeks at.
His parents discriminated but, the truth was, the prejudice ran both ways.
Nai Nai and Ashanti’s amicable relationship was a breath of fresh air and, by the time he’d left the market loaded with plastic bags, he was more optimistic that people like his parents were the minority. At least in Belize.
“This was so much fun,” Ashanti said as he drove his grandmother home. She glanced over her shoulder to where Nai Nai was sitting in the backseat.
Before entering the car, the two women had been locked in a perpetual war of ‘you take the front seat’, ‘no, you take the front seat’. Luke had to strong arm Ashanti into the passenger side before they stopped.
Nai Nai smiled. “We should definitely do this again.”
A few minutes later, Luke parked in front of his grandparents’ colorful bungalow in a quiet, upper class neighborhood. He helped Nai Nai separate her groceries from Ashanti’s and then carried them inside.
On his way back to her place, Ashanti sighed. “Thank you so much.”
He glanced at her and then focused on the road. “For what?”
“Introducing me to your family. Nai Nai reminds me so much of Grandma Flora. It’s like a part of her is back with me. It… means a lot.”
Luke reached over and took Ashanti’s hand. “You’re welcome.” Her gaze turned mischievous and Luke narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“Have you always been this handsome or am I just starting to notice?”
What was he supposed to say to that? “Uh…”
Ashanti brought his hand to her lips a
nd kissed the back of it, keeping her gaze on his so he had no doubt to her intentions. “You’re extremely handsome, Luke Zhang.”
“And you’re distracting. Keep that up and I might get into an accident.”
Since Ashanti gloried in pushing the limits, she kissed his hand one more time and then settled into her chair. “Alright. I’ll wait until we get inside then.”
Ashanti barely allowed him to bring in the groceries before she pounced on him. Luke dropped the bags he was holding and caught her soundly, enjoying the feel of her soft body against him.
The seconds stretched as they stared at each other. Luke marveled at how happy he was. His fingers gently brushed her dark brown skin that glowed beneath his touch.
Ashanti’s skin loved the sunlight and, to be honest, Luke loved her skin. What was wrong with his parents that they couldn’t see how stunning she was?
Man, he adored her.
As Luke leaned up to kiss her, he felt a fire sweep through his body. Their touches turned frantic, rushed, as if the moment would slip away if they didn’t fight to keep it.
He carried Ashanti to the couch and gently lowered her, all without separating their lips once. His pulse quickened, drowning out every thought that didn’t revolve around the softness of her skin, the texture of her lips or the pulsing, quaking need to be closer to her.
Ashanti accepted him, doing nothing to slow his finger’s slow perusal of her body.
Then a key rattled in the background.
And the front door swung open.
Luke froze, suspended over Ashanti’s body, and glanced up. Through the fringe of hair that had fallen over his forehead thanks to Ashanti’s frisky fingers, he saw a pair of familiar brown eyes.
Mr. Lane had come home.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Dad!” Ashanti shrieked, smoothing her shirt down. “You’re home!”
Randal Lane stepped deeper into the room and slammed the door behind him. “Ashanti, what’s going on?”
She jumped at the bang the door made and nudged Luke off her. He scrambled to his feet and she soon joined him, holding her hands nervously together and staring at the ground.
Ashanti felt like a little kid again, one who’d been caught stealing a delicious cookie from the jar.
The adrenaline that had pumped through her veins thanks to Luke’s kisses now burned like fire because of her shame. If her dad had walked in a few minutes later…
She shuddered at the thought.
“Mr. Lane,” Luke’s voice trembled, “how have you been?”
Ashanti’s dad slanted him a look. “Obviously not as good as you.”
Luke’s cheeks turned pink.
Ashanti jumped in front of him. “Dad, you weren’t supposed to be home for another few weeks. Why did you cut your cruise short?”
“I read an article about my baby girl being attacked by a lunatic drug dealer. Did you think I wouldn’t drop everything and run right over?”
Ashanti winced. “You heard about that?”
“Yes.” Her dad took one step forward. “And it wasn’t even from my daughter. I had to read it online like a stranger. Ashanti, how could you keep something like that from me?”
“I’m sorry.” Her gaze wafted to the floor again.
Luke glanced between them. “I’ll give you two some privacy.”
“Hold it!”
Luke froze, one leg drawn far in front of the other. She saw his Adam’s apple bob before he said, “Yes, sir?”
“You’re not getting away that easy. Both of you, sit down.”
Ashanti automatically lowered herself to the couch. Luke joined her. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest.
Would her dad disapprove of their relationship too? She knew he trusted Luke, but that was because—in his mind—they were nothing but good friends.
She was so tired of fighting. Ashanti had to earn his approval.
“Dad, I can explain,” Ashanti said. “Luke and I—”
“We’re together,” Luke blurted. His head bowed. “I care deeply about your daughter, Mr. Lane. Please accept us.”
There was a long beat of silence during which Ashanti felt like she would die from the tension.
At last, her dad cleared his throat and pointed at Luke. “First, wipe your mouth. I can’t take you seriously with lipstick smeared all over your face.”
Ashanti’s quick gasp of horror echoed in the room. She glanced at Luke’s stricken face and realized evidence of their kissing was stamped in proud red lip-shaped stains all over his pale skin.
Her eyes widened and she grabbed her purse, offering him a couple of wet wipes to clean it off. He arched his neck and she saw another red blot there. Ashanti pounced on it, scraping it off with her hands before her dad could see.
“That’s enough.” Her dad marched in front of them. “I can’t believe this, Zhang. I leave for a couple of months and you move in on my daughter? You understand how shady that looks.”
“That’s not what happened, Dad,” Ashanti hissed.
Luke held a hand out so he could explain. “It wasn’t planned, sir. But I’ve cared about Ashanti for a long time. I just recently realized those feelings went deeper than friendship.”
“I see.” Randal arched an eyebrow. “And what are your intentions now that you’ve discovered these ‘feelings’?”
“I want to date her, sir, with the intention of marrying her.”
Ashanti sucked in a breath. It was one thing to talk about marriage between them, and another to say that to her dad.
“Luke…” She nudged him.
“What?” he whispered. “It’s true.”
“Marriage?” His father chuckled darkly. “You’re threatening to take away my baby girl?”
Luke winced. “That’s not…”
“I fed her, clothed her, read her bed time stories, took her to and from school for years and now you think you can waltz in here and care for her half the way I did?”
“Dad, I’m not a little girl anymore.”
“You’re my little girl,” Randall snapped. “And I am your father. Apparently, not a good one if you chose not to mention that you’d gotten assaulted and had a new boyfriend while I was away.”
“It’s not like that,” Ashanti pleaded. “Luke was there for me through everything. He took care of me afterwards too. I’m fine.”
“So what you’re saying is… you don’t need me?”
“I’ll always need you.” Ashanti rose and went to hug her father. “But I’m an adult now and I want to make my own choices.”
Luke stood as well. “I love Ashanti, sir. I will make it my mission to treat her with the same respect and care that you do.”
“That’s a tall order, Luke.”
He nodded determinedly. “In my family, we don’t make promises we can’t keep.”
Randal narrowed his eyes and studied him. Luke didn’t flinch.
Ashanti cleared her throat when the silence grew overwhelming. “Dad, have you eaten? Nai Nai and I bought a ton of vegetables from the market today.”
“Nai Nai?”
“My grandmother,” Luke said.
“Your grandmother? You met his family?” Randal’s eyes widened with understanding. “That story you told me about. The one with the disapproving Indian family and the black girl, it wasn’t from a novel, was it?”
“Well…”
“What is he talking about?” Luke asked, staring at her.
Ashanti grabbed the nearest bag, rummaged inside and pulled out a bunch of plantains. “How about stew beans with beef and fried plantains?”
Luke lowered her hand. “How about you tell me about that Indian guy you were seeing?”
“I wasn’t seeing an Indian guy,” Ashanti said.
“You were crying and fussing over this guy?” Randal pointed to Luke, his face creased with bewilderment.
“Wait, you were crying? When?”
“I wasn’t crying!” Ashanti shrieked.
R
andal turned to Luke, his eyes glistening. “She was moaning and bawling about some girl not being accepted by her friend’s parents. I told her the girl must have feelings for the guy if she took those racist stereotypes personally.” Randal rubbed his chin. “I wondered why you never recommended the book.”
Luke smirked. “Your dad was the one who pointed out that you might like me?”
“I don’t want to talk about this.” Ashanti ran around the island counter to the fridge.
Luke and Randal exchanged smiles.
She buried her head in the freezer and let the cool air hide her own grin. When she was calm, Ashanti shut the door and whirled on her father. “Fine, two can play that game.”
“What are you talking about?” Randal asked.
“You said you met someone on the cruise and then the phone mysteriously cut off right after.”
Randal stared at his watch. “Would you look at the time? I need to visit some friends before it gets too late.”
“Not so fast, mister.” Ashanti held out her hand to stop him.
Luke laughed.
She glanced at him and winked. “It looks like I’m not the only one who fell in love while you were away.”
Her dad ducked his head and babbled something about privacy and respecting her elders, but Ashanti just laughed away his excuses until he told her all about the women he’d met on the cruise.
Luke ended up staying for dinner and it was like old times. Except it wasn’t.
Because Luke held her hand underneath the table, rubbing his thumb over the back of her knuckles. And when her dad conked out after their big lunch, she and Luke stole kisses in the hallway until it was time for him to go home.
Ashanti saw him to the door, whispering so she didn’t disturb her dad who was snoring on the couch. “I forgot to ask. Did you meet with your dad today?”
He nodded.
Ashanti saw his tightening lips and darkening eyes and took an educated guess. “It didn’t go well.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Luke caressed her cheek. “I choose you.”