Page 33 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

“This was planned and yet you never mentioned one word of this to me. How could you keep something so important from me?”

My eyebrows shot through the roof at her audacity. D’Vaughn stiffened in front of me, her shoulders straightening as she lifted her chin.

“You wouldn’t even look at me once you saw us holding hands. It didn’t occur to me then, but now I see it for what it is. You already knew. I mean, why else would you react that way? Cinta and I hold hands all the time and you’ve never batted an eye, but this morning, your entire demeanor changed.”

Her voice was steady, words sure and purposeful. She hadn’t asked a question aloud but she definitely left it open for her mother to explain herself. Ms. Miller dropped her gaze to her lap and took a deep breath, and then another. After the third, she lifted her head, opened her mouth, and then quickly shot a look at me before snapping her mouth shut. They needed to talk, and it was obvious that Ms. Miller wasn’t comfortable speaking in front of me. I wanted to support D’Vaughn, but it was more important for her to get the answers she deserved than it was for me to be standing next to her. Squeezing D’Vaughn’s hand, I leaned over to speak into her ear.

“I’m going to go outside and let y’all speak.” I started to pull away, but she gripped my hand tightly, preventing me from getting too far. I turned back to meet her pleading eyes.

“Stay?” The please was silent yet I’d heard it loud and clear. Nodding, I rubbed my thumb over her wrist. Her pulse was jumping like crazy. I’d bet if she’d been sitting down, her leg would be bouncing the way it had the night before at my parents’ house. She gestured to the couch.

“Can we sit down?”

Narrowing her eyes, Ms. Miller sucked her teeth. “When have you ever had to ask to make a move in this house, D’Vaughn? Don’t start acting like you’re a stranger in your own home all of a sudden.”

I waited for D’Vaughn to sit down before sitting next to her, leaving a few inches of space between us so not to make her mother uncomfortable. My effort was rendered moot when D’Vaughn promptly scooted closer to me, eating up space until our sides were flush against each other. I, of course, had no complaint, and draped my arm behind her over the back of the couch. The way she sort of sank into my side made my entire body flush with warmth. Since we were no longer holding hands, she placed her hand on my knee as she spoke. With her eyes on her mother, she shrugged.

“I don’t know, Mama. The way you looked at me this morning definitely made me feel like a stranger.”

Ms. Miller blew out a labored breath. “I’m sorry, baby. I... Well, I was ashamed. I couldn’t face you.”

I could feel D’Vaughn’s shock reverberating through our connection mirroring the pure disbelief that I felt.

“Ashamed of what? Of me?!”

“No! Absolutely not!” Her hard eyes and firm set of her mouth made her impassioned words believable, but I didn’t really know this woman, and I wondered if D’Vaughn saw the same thing. “That was personal shame for me and no one else.” She paused, her eyes flickering from D’Vaughn to her folded hands in her lap and back to D’Vaughn. “I’ve always prided myself on being a good mother. I might have been a terrible wife, but I was the bomb at raising you all. But if I had to find out that you were engaged...like that, then maybe I’m not as good as I thought I was.”

Disgusted, I dropped my chin to my chest to hide my reaction to her words. Her ability to skirt the true issue at hand so that she could martyr herself and gain sympathy both astounded me and pissed me off. Blowing a breath through my nose, I reminded myself once again that this wasn’t about me, and covered D’Vaughn’s hand with my own, rubbing the soft skin with my thumb. If I had to sit and listen to her kowtow to her emotionally manipulative mother to give Ms. Miller the impression that I was a supportive fiancée, then that’s what I would do.

After several moments of silence stretched on, I looked to D’Vaughn to see her jaw clenched as she stared at her lap and shook her head. The disappointment was evident in the slump of her shoulders. Lifting her hand from my leg, I linked our fingers and squeezed. I couldn’t make the moment less painful, but I could remind her that she wasn’t here alone at least.

Ms. Miller cleared her throat awkwardly. “Since this is the first time I’m seeing a ring, I’m going to assume this is a recent engagement.”

Sighing, D’Vaughn nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And have you picked a date?”

“Um...” D’Vaughn slid her gaze back to me. Raising my eyebrows, I nodded. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. She’d figure it out as soon as we started planning. “We have. We were thinking in a few weeks.”

Ms. Miller sat up straight. “A few weeks?!”

“Mmhm. Six to be exact.”

Her jaw hit the floor, rolled back up, and then dropped back down to the floor. “A month and a half?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When she lowered her gaze to D’Vaughn’s stomach before flicking it over to me and pursing her lips, I almost busted out laughing. Not again.

“Well, I’d ask if you were pregnant, but I guess that’s not likely in this scenario.”

D’Vaughn snorted. “Seriously, Mama?”

“It just seems so sudden.”

“Sudden to you, maybe.”

“Sudden to anybody, D’Vaughn,” she huffed. “I just met her today and now you’re telling me that you’re marrying her in a handful of Saturdays. Who is she? I don’t even know her people. What if they’re racist?”