Chapter 6

• A week later.
• “You look so beautiful, sweetheart,” Tapiwa’s mother crooned with a warm smile as she looked Tapiwa up and down. “That young man won’t be able to take his eyes off you.”
• Tapiwa looked away from her reflection in the large mirror attached to her closet door and stared at the woman behind her. Miranda Mvula was a beautiful woman enjoying the last year of her forties. Despite her age, not a strand on her head had turned gray. Although, it was hard to tell since the woman almost always had her hair braided. It always looked amazing.
• Even now, Tapiwa admired the elaborate way her mother had braided her hair around her scalp in an intricate pattern before it all collected at the top of her head before it fell in a ponytail. Her darker skin was flawless, with few wrinkles giving away her age.
• Even though Miranda was a former nurse who had retired early to take care of her family and run a small restaurant, she still had the form of a woman who spent most of her time on her feet, busy. Tapiwa often found herself hoping she had gotten most of her mother’s good genes.
• Tapiwa’s lighter skin was from her father’s side of the family, but she had her mother’s height and eyes. Eyes that stared at her now and expected a response.
• Swallowing hard, Tapiwa took in the dress her mother had chosen again for this dinner. Tapiwa had tried to turn Asher down. She really had. She had almost thought she’d succeeded. Unfortunately, she had underestimated Asher’s determination to get his way. She hadn’t expected the man would drive to her mother’s small restaurant and ask for permission to take Tapiwa out to dinner to meet the family.
• And just like that, the choice had been ripped out of her hands. Just like the choice of what to wear. She gave the dress a critical look.
• All things considered, the dress was beautiful. Tapiwa just thought her mother had gone a little overboard in trying to impress Asher’s family.
• The dress was made from African patterned material. The pattern was a pretty design of yellow, orange, and brown. The patterned material made up the top part of the sleeveless dress, covering Tapiwa’s small bust and shoulders. The middle was a figure-hugging black matter just reaching mid-thigh. Then the dress finished off with the patterned material in a flare that covered her feet even in six-inch heels and would probably sweep the floor of the restaurant when she walked. Simply put, it was too much. But no one was going to tell Miranda Mvula that.
• “Alright. Enough of drooling over the dress,” she announced, chuckled, and clapped her hands twice. “Come sit down. I need to finish with your hair. Your boyfriend will be here soon.” Miranda then firmly grabbed Tapiwa’s arm and led her to the edge of the bed.
• “Are you nervous?” her mother asked after a beat, showing the first sign that she wasn’t so oblivious to Tapiwa’s demeanor.
• Feeling as though she had an elephant seated on her shoulders, Tapiwa sighed and closed her eyes. “I think it’s too soon to meet the parents,” she hedged. Of course, what she really wanted to say was she didn’t want to go to this dinner because she planned on dumping Asher as soon as it was convenient. But those words couldn’t leave her lips.
• “Nonsense,” Miranda scoffed. “There is no such thing as too soon when things feel right. You guys are perfect for each other. Everything is just right. Besides, we already know his parents. You have met Angela Paterson.”
• “I met her a handful of times as your friend, Mom. This is totally different.”
• “I don’t believe that,” Miranda countered and went about removing the flexible, soft, twisted hair rollers from Tapiwa’s hair as she spoke. “Stop worrying. The dinner will be fine. They will love you. I just know it.”
• “What’s not to love?” Tapiwa couldn’t help firing back sarcastically. She looked down at her hands clasped together on her lap and the fingernails that had been buffed, filled, and painted within an inch of their lives to match the dress.
• Suddenly, her mother’s hands pulled out of her hair and Miranda stood with her hands braced on her hips, a look of disapproval in her narrowed eyes. “What is your problem? I thought you liked the guy.”
• Tapiwa pressed her lips together to hold back her retort. This conversation only proved what she had already known. She couldn’t just end the relationship with Asher and expect not to get grilled for it. Her mother had invested herself into the whole relationship more than Tapiwa who had actually been dating the man. It was a disaster. One she needed to rectify fast. But not tonight.
• Releasing a silent sigh, Tapiwa gave her mother a small smile. “You were right. I’m just nervous.”
• “Anyone would be nervous about meeting the in-laws,” a new voice said as Tapiwa’s sister, Amy, entered the room with a cheeky smile.
• Amy stopped in the doorway, looked Tapiwa up and down, and then released a whistle. “Damn.”
• In an instant, as Tapiwa expected, Miranda turned and scowled at her youngest child. “Do not whistle in your father’s house! Have some manners! How many times should I tell you this?”
• Also as expected, Amy rolled her eyes and turned her attention back on Tapiwa, throwing a mumbled apology in their mother’s direction. Tapiwa pressed her lips together to stop herself from chuckling and attracting her mother’s anger on herself.
• Being the middle child, Tapiwa was used to being both ignored and somehow held responsible for all her sibling's wrongdoing. It was a confusing concept but she had stopped trying to understand it many years ago.
• Thankfully, Amy wisely stopped pushing their mother’s button and the two helped Tapiwa to look as perfect as she ever would as fast as they could. This happened to be fast enough because just as Amy stood back with a tube of lipstick and declared Tapiwa was perfect, there was a knock at the door, and Lute, her brother, announced Aher was in the house waiting for her.
• Any sense of calm that had slowly begun to creep in on her as her mother and sister worked in sync to make her perfect, vanished. In its place was apprehension and a sense of dread. Oh God.