Tuesday Tales - With This Heart: Part 4

I have to say a quick thank you for those of you following my tale.  I also have to say a quick thank you to the authors at Tuseday Tales for allowing me to join their little group.  Be sure to stop back here to read the rest of contributors.  This week's prompt was the word "LIFE".  With that being said, lets resume where our story left off....

Missed the previous parts? Click HERE

"With This Heart: Part Four"

Hefting his duffle over his shoulder, Kaleb slowly followed the person in front of him down the ramp.  It had been a long flight home – nearly twenty hours in the air but more than that with his layovers.  He’d been traveling for over a day and was in desperate need of a hot shower, a home cooked meal, and his Paisley.  And I don’t care which order I get them in either.  It bothered him he hadn’t been able to get a hold of his girl, but after talking to his ma, he knew exactly what had happened. Paisley was hiding somewhere thinking that he no longer wanted her, more than likely.

Heaven help Sandy if that’s the case. I don’t care if she’s my brother’s wife or not – I’ll never forgive her.

He was still pissed she’d cornered Paisley. He’d known his family wasn’t happy about his relationship with a white girl, but this was ridiculous and totally unnecessary. We’re living in the twenty-first century now, not the eighteenth.  For Christ’s sake we’ve got gay marriage in some states and my folks were acting like it’s a mortal sin that I’m dating a white girl. 

He hadn’t been able to resist her though. The first time in his life, he understood what love at first sight was.  He’d taken one look into her deep blue eyes and had fallen.  It had been all he could to waituntil Dr. Sanders had returned from her maternity leave to pursue the shy slightly awkward girl who sat in the front of his class every day, hanging on to his every word.  If it had been lust, he’d probably have been fine, but it wasn’t.  Not only was he struggling with an unruly cock each time he got within a twenty foot radius of Paisley Dawson, but with unfamiliar emotions.  She’d snuck into his heart without even trying.  

While he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he’d been ecstatic when he’d felt the fragile barrier of her innocence the first and only time they’d made love. He’d thought about it during the long nights he’d spent staring up at the dark starry sky in that god-forsaken country. The memory of her trusting eyes as she’d opened for him and expected him to not hurt her had touched his soul. He’d never felt so humble in his life. With that acceptance, she’d become his very reason for staying safe.  He had to return to her. She was his. There was no other option, which was why he was determined to fight his whole family if need be to keep her.

He sighed, looking around.  His brother was supposed to pick him up. The last thing he wanted was to alienate his twin but dammit – he wasn’t giving up her or their child because of prejudice or plotting of a few narrow-minded fools.

“Kaleb!”  The sound of his name jerked Kaleb out of his dismal thoughts.  Swinging around, he saw his spitting image waving and shoving aside people to reach him.  Within seconds, Malachi had an arm wrapped around him in homecoming. “Thank God you’re home! These women are going to drive me crazy. Sandy says you lost your fool mind and are dating a white chick now.” His brother leaned back. “I told her she was out of her mind. You’d never do that. Not my brother.…”

Kaleb snapped. “Yes, your brother.”  He shrugged off Malachi’s hold.  “What is it with this family?  I thought we’d moved beyond on this race crap.  You don’t even know her.”

Malachi’s eyes widened, his hands came up in a gesture as old as time. “Whoa, I hit a nerve, didn’t I?”  He took a step back as Kaleb pushed by him to leave.   “Evidently so.  Wait! Let’s sit down and talk about this.” 

Sighing, he decided to hear him out. Allowing Malachi to lead him a table set up close to a nearby pizza vendor, he set his bag down before sitting.

Malachi leaned forward propping his elbows on the small table. “Okay, tell me what I did or didn’t do to piss you off this time.”

Kaleb’s jaw clenched with disbelief. Was this how his brother was going to play this? “You let your wife…”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Malachi interrupted. “I don’t let my wife do anything – you know that. She’d take a scalpel to my black ass if I tried. Besides she’s our best friend. When has she ever listened to either of us?” When he didn’t get the laugh he expected from Kaleb, he sighed. “Look, she was doing what she thought was best. You remember what happened to Uncle Ray. He fell for that white girl up in Clarksville and she tore his heart out when she left. You know most whites can’t handle being with us. Sandy was trying to stop that from happening to you. We don’t want you hurt. So of course I didn’t stop her.”

Gritting his teeth, Kaleb’s shoulders sank in defeat as his eyes burned from lack of sleep. Why was Paisley being compared to the bitch that his uncle had the misfortunate to shake up with?  Paisley was nothing like the woman. She was sweet, innocent, not a slumming skank who was out for the bragging rights sleeping with a black man would get her.  “This is not the same thing. I’m not Uncle Ray.  How many girls have I ever gotten serious with? Our uncle falls in love with every woman he dates.”

Malachi shrugged but looked away.  “Well…there’s a first time for everything. I swear I never expected it out of you, but…”

“But nothing!” Kaleb’s fist hit the table. When his brother jumped, he took a few deep breaths. He didn’t have time for this crap.  “Listen, I’m not going to fight with you – as much as I want to. I have more important issues to deal with than trying to convince my stubborn-ass twin that I’m more than old enough to know my own mind.”  He shoved his chair back and hefted his duffle over his shoulder.

His brother scrambled after him. “Where are you going?” 

“To find the mother of my child.”  He stalked towards the glass doors.

“Child?”  Malachi grabbed his arm. “What child?” 

Kaleb glared at him. “Oh, didn’t Sandy tell you? Paisley is pregnant.” When his brother’s jaw dropped, he had his answer. “Evidently not…and before you protest that she couldn’t have known, Paisley is almost seven months pregnant. It would’ve hard to miss.”  He shrugged off his brother’s hand.

“But I didn’t know….” His brother continued to look bewildered.  

TO BE CONTINUED...