Page 59 of Krash & Bern

While I showered, I thought about the future. Would Krash and I get married and have kids? I hoped so. I wanted this to be the endgame. I wanted to grow old with him, watch our children become adults, and continue to be loved unconditionally. We’d come a long way. This was decades in the making. We deserved each other.

The entire drive to my parents’ house, my stomach was in knots. I felt the breakfast from earlier threatening to come up as my throat burned. I’d taken several sips of water to keep my stomach contents out of Krash’s pristine SUV.

“What’s wrong?” Krash asked as he placed his right hand on my thigh and adjusted his left hand on the steering wheel.

“My parents didn’t know about Rodney… They found out in the media like most of the world. It wasn’t something I was proud of, so I kept them in the dark. Unfortunately, everything in the dark comes to the light, and I have to face them. I’m afraid of what they’re going to say.”

He rubbed his fingers on my inner thigh and glanced at me briefly before he returned his gaze to the road. “They aren’t my parents, but Mr. and Mrs. James always seem to be kind and gentle toward you. As their daughter, I doubt they’ll attack you for being in a tough situation and not telling them.”

I took his words with a grain of salt. I loved my parents, but they had their moments like most parents. I hoped they would approach me with grace, but I really couldn’t tell anyone how to react to finding out someone they loved had been abused and didn’t come to them for help.

We pulled into the driveway, and Krash helped me out the car. He held my hand as we walked up the stone path to the front door. I noticed the leaves and seasonal flowers had started to wither away. Summer was transitioning to autumn… quickly. Soon, I’d have to exchange my sundresses for jeans and hoodies—though Texas weather was still bipolar when it came to the seasons.

The front door opened before we could even knock. Mama pulled me into a tight hug before she kissed my forehead. “Look at my baby. I almost forgot what you looked like.”

I laughed. “You’re so dramatic, Mama.”

She hugged me again. The nerves I felt dissolved into warmth the longer she held me in her arms. When we finally pulled out of the hug, my eyes had become glossy from unshed tears.

“I missed you, baby girl.”

“I missed you too, Mama.”

She turned to look at Krash, who had been patiently waiting for his turn.

“Krash! Boy, let me look at you!” Mama wrapped her hands around his arms and examined him with joy in her eyes.

“Hey, Mrs. James. It’s been a minute.”

“It’s been more than a damn minute. Over eight years! You broke up with Bernice and dropped me and Trent like we were old bread.”

He laughed. “It wasn’t even like that. I figured it would have been weird to keep in contact with y’all when me and Bern didn’t work out at the time.”

“You’ll always be family, Krash. We love you like you’re our son.”

“Wait… Don’t do that. Love him like a son-in-law,” I interjected.

“Don’t make it weird, Bernie.”

“Well, y’all the ones making it weird.”

“Come on in this house and stop playing,” Mama ordered.

“I have to go get a couple things out the car.” Krash turned on his heels and went to grab the flowers and bottles of red wine and top shelf bourbon he’d stopped and picked up on our way over here. When Krash returned, he held out the flowers for my mother to take. She took them with a bright smile as she ushered us inside. One by one, we walked into the house. The smell of gumbo filled the air, making my mouth water and stomach grumble.

“Dang, Mama! You got it smelling like New Orleans in here,” I joked.

“Girl, you know I try to keep it authentically Louisiana in here,” she replied.

“Bernie,” Daddy called out to me from the den.

“Here I come,” I replied.

I walked down the hall, covered in family pictures, awards, and religious figures, to the den to see my Daddy sitting on the couch, watching something on ESPN I didn’t care to tune in to.

“Hey, Dad!” I greeted him with a bright smile.

He stood up and opened his arms for me. I walked into his embrace and felt peace as he held me. We stood like this for a long moment, a father and daughter communicating with their actions what their mouths couldn’t.

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