Page 30 of Daddy’s Little Secret

“Yes, please, Daddy.”

I gave him a kiss. “Then so it shall be.”

“Yay!” Tae cheered. I swear, my brother was an excitable chihuahua at times.

“I’ll handle all the arrangements.” Chuck smiled. “You guys just focus on wedding stuff. Come on, Tae.” Why did I get the feeling those two were up to something?

“So much for helping us with the playground!” I shouted after them. All I got was a handwave. “You know what, screw this. Let’s clean up and go into town. We can pick up our rings and have lunch. What do you think, Angel?”

“Sounds good, Daddy.”

We cleaned up then hopped into the truck. “Why do the trick-or-treaters bother you so much, Daddy?”

I thought about it for a minute as we turned onto the main road. “I don’t know, really. Maybe because that was supposed to be our day. Ignore me, I’m being dumb.”

“Having feelings isn’t dumb, thinking they’re dumb is. If you don’t want to have them out, then we won’t.”

“I’m not sure the boy is supposed to be smarter than the Daddy. Remind me to check the handbook when we get home.” I winked so he knew I was kidding. “What makes it sound like a good idea to you?”

“I dunno.” He shrugged. “I’ve never had a party before or friends to come over and hang out. It sounds like fun to have a real Halloween party. Like, making the whole wedding day even better. We could run and play on the playground and bob for apples and do Halloween games.”

That settled it, I was being dumb. A Halloween party was perfect for Trey and Tae, and my dumbass wasn’t ruining it. “Then that’s what we’ll do, Angel. Did I tell you Samian’s bringing a date?”

“Oh. My. Gosh. I mean, I guess I figured one day he’d date, but he’s never reacted to any male or female that I’ve ever noticed.”

“Same. I was surprised by that myself, and to be honest, he didn’t mention gender during our conversation. They’ll be up the day before in time for the family dinner.” I was very interested to see who’d caught the eye of our stoic, goal-driven brother.

“I’m excited to see the design the jeweler came up with.” Neither Trey nor I were enthralled with the rings he’d had on hand. They were beautiful but didn’t jump up at us. Paul, the jeweler, asked us for a list of things we liked and asked if he could design a bespoke set of bands for us. How could we say no to that?

“Oscar, Trey, it’s wonderful to see you both,” Paul greeted us with a smile on his face the moment we stepped inside his store. “I can’t wait for you to see your rings. Please, have a seat.”

He wandered into the back room, returning a few moments later. “I’d started to sketch out a design when this wonderful woman came into my shop. She told me the story of her parents and how in love they’d been since the first time they met in grade school. Shortly after they graduated high school, they were married. Life wasn’t easy for them, two young Black people in the days of segregation. They worked hard, didn’t have much to their name, but what they did have a lot of was love. When they married, they couldn’t afford expensive rings and instead opted for simple silver bands. The husband saved and saved, determined to one day present his wife with the engagement ring she should’ve had all along. The ring she deserved. When the wife passed away some years later, the husband gave her rings to their daughter, and not long after, he passed away too. The daughter believes the man was of good health, but it was a broken heart that took him away. That woman brought those rings to me and asked for me to create something wonderful for her grandson and his husband-to-be.”

“Trey,” I gasped, tears streamed down both our faces.

“Grandma,” was all he could get out.

“Yes,” Paul replied. “What a wonderful woman who loves you both dearly. I hope you don’t mind, but I did show her your rings before you. I wanted to make sure I did right by her but at the same time created the perfect rings to encompass the love you two share.”

Jesus, if the man said anything more I’d curl up in the fetal position and bawl my eyes out.

Paul opened the box, and we both gasped. “You each have half of the diamond from your great grandmother’s engagement ring in your bands. The infinity symbol it’s set in summarizes the love your family brings to the culmination of your love. Where one ends, the other begins, therefore, the circle is never broken. The cycle of love continues on in the next generation.”

We couldn’t have spoken if we had to. Paul handed us each our ring to try on and check for any flaws, which if there were any, we couldn’t see through our tears. Besides, imperfections had a way of making something all that more perfect.

“Perfect.” I held my hand next to Trey’s, our rings mirror images and absolutely… “Perfect.”

“Oh, Daddy.” Trey trembled. My arms automatically reached out to comfort him. Paul didn’t bat an eye at hearing Trey’s words, just smiled kindly.

“I know, Angel. Paul, you and Grandma have outdone yourselves.” I pulled my wallet out, but he held his hands up.

“These are paid for. Her wedding gift to you.”

13

Who knew there was so much to do before our big day.

“There,” Tae said as we hung the last strand of lights. With the trick-or-treaters coming we had to triple what we’d initially planned to do. Basically, from the front of our cabins to the main street, the trees were covered in purple, orange, and white twinkle lights. Streamers and spooky décor was everywhere. We had the Halloweeniest Halloween set-up in town.