Our mother chimed in. “Yes, they do.” The seriousness of her tone was evidence of the fact that she, herself, had changed. After having four daughters by four different men, she was now in a stable and loving marriage to a man who was able to look beyond her past.
Perkins bucked right down.
“And like I said before, I haven’t heard Jones’ name attached to any shenanigans in a minute. Now when people mention him in the salon, they’re talking about how smoothly that Humanity for Community project is running under his guidance,” Collins continued.
“I don’t care about all that.” Perkins waved her off. “Your name is your brand while you’re getting your hair care line off the ground, Church. Do you really want your name attached to his, if his biggest claim to fame is having sex in public outside of some barn?”
“Now Collins just told you that was dead,” Bailey finally spoke. “Nobody’s talking about that anymore. Most people don’t have anything bad to say about Jones at this point. People are constantly stopping Bright to tell him how good Jones is doing on the project. It’s not that many decent black men in JacksonFalls, Perk. I mean, if he’s working to turn it around, and Church is interested in him, . . . let her have this.”
That was one of the things about being the youngest. Entire conversations about me went on as if I wasn’t even standing there.
“Are you interested in him, Churchy?” Collins questioned.
Before I could speak, our mom chimed in. “Because he’s definitely interested in you. Bayliss said you have his nose so wide open that he could see Jones’ brain.”
That made me chuckle. Was I interested in him? I thought about my interactions with Jones since I’d met him. How he was nice enough to drive me when I didn’t feel confident enough to make my delivery. How proud he was to show me my finished production room. How he’d given me a heads-up about Bright inviting him to Sunday dinner so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable. How he brought me dinner, even after I turned down the invite to the drive-in movie, just because I didn’t want to be seen in public with him.
I looked my mother in the eyes. “He’s a really nice guy, Ma.”
She nodded.
“I’m interested.”
Mrs. Strong smiled big and clapped her hands together once. “I can feel it. This is going to be another family connection. A Sumners and Kingsley connection.” She looked at my mother. “One of your girls connected to my family tree.”
“Oh my gosh!” I threw my hands up. “All I said was that I’m interested in the man, and y’all are marrying me off to him.”
“Stranger things have happened,” Bailey commented.
“Where is my Strong or Sumners man?” Perkins asked.
“Girl, just marry Brewer, and be done with it.” Bailey laughed at herself.
“No offense, Mrs. Beverly, but your sons, . . . with the exception of Bright, are a littlevanillafor my tastes. They’re kinda . . . boring. And in my opinion, Brewer is the dullest one.”
“Did you just call my man boring?” Collins asked with fake outrage.
“Glad she left my man off that list,” Bailey bragged.
“But she included mine,” our mother said.
“Collins, Beckham spends his days taking people on hikes and observing nature. Sorry, boo. That’s a snooze fest. And, Mama, your man spends his day doctoring on sick horses. Come on. That isn’t exciting.”
Our mother gave her the finger, and the rest of us cracked up with laughter.
“Can we go in now?” I asked. “Sunday dinner isn’t gonna cook itself.”
We all moved into the house. Bayliss caught me by the hand in the foyer. “Let me talk to you, Steppy.”
Bayliss called me and my sisters “Steppy.” It was his shortened version of the word stepdaughter.
He pulled me into the family room. All of my brothers-in-law, along with the elder Mr. Strong, and Jones were in there.
“I just want you to know,” he began, “that, while your mama had you out there on the front porch, I had this knucklehead in here, letting him know that you are not to be played with. I don’t care how he ran through those other young ladies. I don’t care about the shenanigans tied to his name in town. All I care about is you. And he had better not do anything that has your name dragged through the mud, or he’ll have to see me.”
“And me,” Bright added.
“And me,” Beckham said.