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Channing moonwalked onto the dancefloor and did a hard turn and pointed to Tameka.
Then, I took over dancing smoothly, now holding the mic the DJ had sneaked into my hand. “Pretty brown eyes…you know…” I began singing my version of the lyrics from the pit of my soul. Instead of singing this song as a song of heartbreak, I changed the words to tell Tameka how much she meant to me.
“You’re saving my heart…Yeah. You’re saving my heart….sugar. Yeah…Yeah.” I went on and on singing to her with Channing, Xander and Bruiser as my backup dancers. It took a whole hell of a lot of bribing to get Bruiser to stand back there with his stiff dance moves, but he eventually signed on for the fun of it.
Our guests were going wild with “ohs, aws,” and “OMG look at Jeb!” or “Go Bruise!” The kids were giggling their hearts out because I hadn’t even told them about this surprise performance. The cheers and chatter was relentless, but I only had one person in my crosshairs and that was Tameka as I sang to her.
Midway through the song, I stopped serenading her and took her into my arms. I continued the rest of the song dancing with her, and the guys eased back to their seats.
I was ready to ditch the reception so that I could have my wife to myself, but I could see no way out. We would surely be recognized since there was no door to sneak out. We would have to wade through hundreds of guests and someone would definitely spot us trekking across the grassy field heading to our car.
As I thought about our inability to escape the party, I also remembered the times Tameka had slipped through my fingers when we danced. Now, I had her right where I wanted her.
“You can’t run from me now. You’re mine,” I said against her ear as the song was coming to an end.
“And I don’t want to run from you. Ever,” she said close to my ear as the song ended, and we remained glued to that spot, exchanging souls as we would from this day forward.
THE END
Epilogue
Tameka
“Rodney, where are the kids?” I asked again.
I’d just pulled up to pick Kevin and Eva up after my weeklong honeymoon. Instead of going to get them, their father stood in the doorway looking at me as if he had something deep going on inside of his mind. His rugged brown skin looked to be of a man in his sixties, instead of the forty year old man he was. He looked beat up by life.
I knew he was still dealing with on again and off again memory loss and all the stress that comes along with it. Yet all I wanted to do was have a peaceful pick up of my children. He must have picked up on my mood. He snapped out of the trance he was in and said, “Stay right here, and I’ll go get them.”
I was taken aback by the quiver in his voice and the weird way he was acting, but again, this was Rodney. His constantly changing behavior was something I’d gotten used to over the years. Who knew who he would be tomorrow, or what he would be up to? I shook my head and waited for him to return.
A few minutes later, two people could be heard arguing. I was able to make out Melody’s voice. Wow, she’s back, I thought. Maybe that’s what Rodney was trying to hide. He was so full of it, and so was Melody who was barging toward the door with pressured speech and looking like she was high on something.
“Rodney, I’m not going to be rude to her. I’m just going to tell her about the baby,” Melody yelled as she stormed toward me.
“You don’t have to say anything to her. Mel—” Rodney
said.
Melody stared me in the eye, assessing me as if I were her competition. If only she knew, I was the last person she had to worry about wanting Rodney.
“Well, hello again, Tameka,” she said nastily. “I just wanted to let you know I decided not to go through with the adoption, so my child is going to grow up with Kevin and Eva like you wanted him to.”
So it’s a boy? “That’s good news,” I said softly. Still trying to figure out what was going on with Rodney and this woman.
“The first family I chose decided not to adopt, and thankfully so because Rodney has gotten his full memory back, and now he can take care of me and the baby,” she said with a smirk.
I looked at Rodney, and he had a sad look in his eyes. “I wanted to be the one to tell you,” he said.
“Well, now she’s told,” Melody said, and she stepped up beside Rodney and entangled her hand into his.
Same ole Melody different lyrics, I thought as she and Rodney stood side by side bombarding me with their business, and at this point, all I wanted was my kids.
Melody was in it for the money, and Rodney got what he bargained for when he left our home looking for something more.
“She’s right, Tameka. I have my memory back, but I didn’t want to tell you like this. Can I speak to my children’s mother for a moment?” he asked Melody with a pleading look.
Melody stood there as if hell would freeze over before she abandoned her post beside Rodney again. The sound of a baby caused her to glance to a room toward the back of the house, and she reluctantly walked away.
