The very next summer, Keyshia, Clyde, Christina, and Clyde, Jr. attended the Simmons family reunion once again. Hundreds of family members attended that day, even more than Keyshia remembered from the last time. The day was festive as the family danced, hugged, and filled their stomachs with food. Then suddenly the music was halted as Keyshia’s mother got up to speak into the microphone.
“Could I have everyone’s attention for a moment, can I have your attention?”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention toward Mrs. Simmons. “I’d like to thank everyone for coming to this year’s Simmons family reunion, and I hope everyone is having a good time.” Everyone responded by clapping and whistling as she continued, “At this time, I’s like to ask my eldest daughter, Keyshia, to come to the front and announce some good news. Where is Keyshia?” she said as she surveyed the yard. “Where you at, baby? Come on up,” she repeated.
Everyone started clapping again as they looked around for Keyshia. Clyde and both the children escorted her to the front as the clapping grew louder. A little embarrassed, Keyshia walked up to her mother, who gave her a hug and a kiss and handed her the microphone. Clyde was smiling widely as he nodded approval.
“Thank you, everyone, thank you.” Keyshia blushed and continued as everyone grew silent, “I would like to let everyone know that as of last week, I passed the New York State Bar exam and I am now a lawyer.” Everyone’s eyes and mouths opened wider as they gave her a huge round of applause. Keyshia nodded and thanked everyone and continued, “At this time, I’d like to thank a few people. First, I’d like to thank my two children, Christina and Clyde.” She beamed down upon them. “You two are my absolute joy and happiness. You are the reason that I strived to become who I am.” Keyshia stared into Christina’s eyes. “Mommy hasn’t always been in your life, but I promise you, from this day on, that there is not a power, an entity, a force on this earth . . .” Keyshia paused as if she were losing her breath and then continued, “that will ever, ever keep you apart from me again.” She nodded and smiled at her children, then turned her attention to Clyde. “And to the love of my life, my boyfriend, Clyde.” Keyshia paused again as she searched the heavens for the right words. “You are the air that I breathe, the light of my life, and the reason I’m still living.” Her lips began to quiver as she fought back the tears. “You picked me up when I was nothing and loved me when I never knew how to love myself. You made feel like I was beautiful when I thought I had no beauty at all. You saved me, and I love you to death, boy.”
Clyde was at a loss for words as he tried to fight back his tears. Keyshia blew him a kiss, then turned her attention to her mother. “And to my mother.” It was so unexpected, her mother put her head down as her palms began to sweat. “I learned that a mother was supposed to do everything in her power to protect her child.” She paused and stared at her mother for a moment and then continued, “A mother is supposed to never let her child go no matter what happens. But my mother did. For a long time I used to ask God, why did He allow me to be taken from my family, and I cursed Him when He never gave me an answer, I resented Him and my mother for a long time.”
Her mother put her head down until Keyshia said, “I thought like that for a long time, until the same thing happened to me.” It was so silent at that moment, one could hear the gnats flying. “See, I realize that a real mother is someone who is so strong that she is willing to do anything to ensure that her baby is safe. A real mother is someone who would sacrifice everything just so her baby would have a chance in life, even if it means giving them to someone who can do a better job at the time.” Keyshia looked at her daughter. “See, I could have come to Charleston a long time ago and gotten custody of my daughter, ’cause I knew the law and that’s what I do, but I never did, because just like my own mother, I’m a real mother and I was willing to sacrifice everything, even if it meant not having her, to ensure that she was happy, safe, and had a chance in life.” Mother and daughter stared deep into each other’s eyes for a moment. “Mommy, I love you.”
Her mother was speechless as she tried to say I love you back, but she couldn’t find the words, so they just embraced and cried in each other’s arms.
The entire family began clapping as the two pulled away and wiped their eyes. Clyde was right beside Keyshia and gave her a loving tight hug. Clyde pulled away and took her by the hand and walked her to the middle of the crowd and said, “My beloved Keyshia, you brought me to Charleston, South Carolina, to meet your family, and your little sister, Kenya, asked me at the dinner table was I ever going to marry her sister. You remember?” Keyshia nodded as Clyde continued, “I told her that when the time is right, I was gonna bring her back to Charleston.” Clyde looked around the yard and said, “Well, we in Charleston. I also told her that when I did, I was going to give you the biggest diamond ring I could find.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a ring box and opened it. Keyshia’s hands flew to her mouth in shock. “I said that when that time come, I’m gonna ask you in front of your entire family”—he fanned his hand around the entire yard and continued—“then I said I was gonna get down on one knee.” Clyde got down on one knee. “And ask the loveliest, most beautiful woman on the face of the earth, will she marry me?” Clyde stared deeply in her eyes and asked, “Keyshia Simmons, will you marry me?”
Everyone held their breath until Keyshia nodded and and said, “Yes, I will marry you.”
There was a loud eruption of jubilation as Clyde put the ring on her finger and stood up and gave her a long kiss. They looked into each other’s eyes, and Clyde said, “I love you, girl.”
Keyshia returned the favor and said, “I love you more, boy.”
Epilogue
_______________
Keyshia and Clyde got married that fall in Charleston, with over two hundred family members and friends in attendance, including Clyde’s mother. Ceasar was Clyde’s best man, Clyde, Jr. was the ring boy, and Christina was the flower girl. Keyshia went on to become a successful attorney with the same company she’d started with, which eventually became Hemmingway, Adorno, Shaw, and Barker. Clyde landed a job with the Department of Sanitation and is currently a supervisor in Brooklyn, and both Clyde and Keyshia have been happily married ever since, devoting all their off time to their two children.
Clyde’s father was released from prison almost immediately after T. Bernard Williams had him exonerated from his prison sentence. Three years later, he settled with the city for a huge lawsuit for unlawful imprisonment. He was represented by his daughter-in-law’s firm, of course, and he and his wife bought a one-family house in Long Island. Every Sunday without fail, all the brothers and their families meet up at their parents’ house for Sunday dinner.
Ceasar got into corporate banking and married one of his coworkers, and they now have five kids and counting.
Sonny got out of prison two years after Clyde was released and went on to become a devout Muslim and is happily married to his longtime girlfriend, Cheryl, and they also have two kids.
Martha Woods was sentenced to five years in prison for her crimes. A year into her sentencing, she had a heart attack and died in her sleep.
Clyde once again needed a favor from his good friend Mike, only this time he had to go see him in person. He was doing a two-year sentence in Green Haven for a parole violation. They talked for nearly two hours, and then Clyde wished him luck and departed. Before Clyde left he filled up Mike’s commissary account and promised to keep it filled until he got out. When Mike got back to his yard, he made several inquiries about an inmate named Omar Jackson. It didn’t take him long to find him and put out the word that they had a rapist in the house. Two months after that, he was given the name Omara, after he was gang-raped by over eight inmates. He is now the property of a Spanish inmate named Alito and regularly walks around wearing tight prison greens and cherry Kool-Aid as lipstick.
About the Author
TREASURE E. BLUE was born and raised in Harlem. H
e formerly worked with the New York Fire Department as a supervising fire inspector in the Bronx. He now devotes himself full-time to writing and promoting his novels.
[email protected]
Also by Treasure E. Blue
A Street Girl Named Desire
Harlem Girl Lost
Keyshia and Clyde is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A One World Books Trade Paperback Original
Copyright © 2008 by Treasure E. Blue
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by One World Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
ONE WORLD is a registered trademark and the One World colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Blue, Treasure E.
Keyshia and Clyde : a novel / Treasure E. Blue.
p. cm.
1. African Americans—New York (State)—New York—Fiction.
2. Street life—Fiction. I.Title.
PS3602.L85K49 2008
813’.6—dc22 2008008557
www.oneworldbooks.net
eISBN: 978-0-345-50989-5
v3.0
Keyshia and Clyde Page 30