Love Knows No Color Pt. 17

"Serves you right," I said. "Saves me the trouble of kicking your ass like I did in high school. Just remember, if you'd so much as touched my wife, you'd be going out of here in a body bag."

We walked out the door to the Jeep, ignoring the calls from the store security. We got in the car, and I was about to pull out when the guard stepped in front of the Jeep. "You can't leave," he said. "The police are on the way."

"You have no right to keep us," I said. "We've done nothing wrong"

Edie, bless her soul, had thought fast. Leaning out the window, she video recorded the guard. "Could you repeat that," she yelled, "I don't think I recorded it."

"You can't take pictures on store property!" the guard was pissed and started alongside the car towards Edie. "Give me that phone!"

"No way!" Edie exclaimed. "I paid good money for this phone." She pulled her head back inside the vehicle as I put it in gear and drove away leaving a stunned security guard standing there wondering how he could have been so stupid.

"Won't they come looking for us?" Shavonda asked.

"Probably," I replied. "He probably got our license number, and will give it to the police when they arrive. But since it's a Pennsylvania plate, if they do look for us it will be at the motels or along the interstate. The last place they'll think to look is on a back road heading deep into the mountains."

"But won't they run the plate and find out who you are?" Edie asked.

"I'm sure they will. But by the time they figure that out we'll be over the state line into West Virginia." I was pretty sure what I said was true, but that didn't keep me from looking in my mirror to see if we were being followed. "Remember, there is no cell phone service where we're headed. Eventually, they'll track me down and call, but by that we'll be where they won't do anything to us. They'll see the security video and see we didn't do anything wrong. I'm not hanging around there only to have some cop show up with an "arrest everybody and sort it all out while they sit in jail" mentality. Even if they wanted to charge us with something, they won't extradite us from Pennsylvania over something minor."

"So, what happened back there?" Edie sounded worried.

"One of my old schoolmates saw us and called Von a nigger," I replied. "He took a swing at me. I ducked and he hit the metal door frame instead. From the sound of it, he did some serious damage to his hand. Evidently, they think we hurt him, but their video camera will show otherwise."

"Oh, shit!" Edie exclaimed. "Von are you alright?"

"I've been called worse," she said. "I agree with Jason, though. We needed to get out of there. On our first road trip, we were pulled over in a little town like this, and accused of running drugs. Just because we were a mixed-race couple from out of state. I don't know if the police here have the same mentality, but we can't take that chance. That man is going to have to go to the hospital, and if we stayed. We could have been facing assault charges, even though neither of us hit him. But we both wanted to."

We continued up the valley, deeper into the mountains. I nervously looked in the mirror the whole way, and didn't slow down until we crossed the state line outside of Waiteville. Soon we pulled ducked under the railroad tracks, and turned up the dirt road leading to the farm. The porch was empty, evidently Mom and Grandma weren't expecting us this early.

I knocked on the door. "Come on in." I heard Mom call from the living room. We entered, to find Mom and Grandma watching the television. She arose and gave us all hugs. She stepped back and admired the leopard print dress. "Von, you always dress so well," she said. "Every time you come here you are wearing something beautiful."

"Jason loves animal print," Shavonda replied. "But I don't normally wear it. I bought this especially for this trip."

"You just missed your Dad," Mom said to me. I had figured as much. Even though we hadn't seen him, I was sure we'd probably passed him just outside of Covington, on his way to work. "I wasn't sure when you'd get here, so I don't have breakfast ready for you."

"Don't worry, Mom," I said. "We stopped at a diner on the way here. We're good." I pulled Mom to the side, and we went into the kitchen to talk. "Edie doesn't know about Kenny, so don't say anything please." She nodded. Whatever was about to happen between Kenny and Edie would be a surprise to Edie. I thought I knew what was going to happen, but I wasn't sure. Shavonda and I had been on the phone with him several times in the past week. We'd done our part by getting Edie down here. The rest was up to him. In the meantime, I was going to celebrate Mother's Day with Mom for the first time in years.

We told Mom about the incident at the grocery store this morning, and she shook her head in disgust. "One of the Patton boys," she said. "Why am I not surprised. They always were trash. You'd think people would try to get their own life right, before they tried to mess up somebody else's. Serves him right. But I'm a little concerned you threatened to kill him. Jason, that's not like you. We didn't raise you like that."

She was right. Here I was, the kid who grew up in prime hunting and fishing country, an unspoiled national forest. The kid who didn't hunt or fish, because he couldn't bear to hurt the animals. The kid who befriended the cows on the farm, when we still had them, and refused to eat the meat when one was sent off to be butchered. No matter what punishment was threatened or given out, I refused to eat a friend.

Shavonda had somehow changed that. Not that I was suddenly a violent person. I was still a pacifist at heart. But now I had something to fight for. And Shavonda was worth defending at any cost. Without her, I was incomplete.

Back in the living room, we sat and chatted. I asked about Aunt Nora and the rest of the Duncan clan,

"Nothing has changed there," Mom said. "They still refuse to accept Von as your wife. And to them you no longer exist. I think they're dead wrong, but their mind is made up. Nora went back and told them about Von, I am dismayed that even after meeting her, Nora still thinks she's beneath you. That said, we all enjoyed how you two messed with her head the whole time she was here. You two kept us all entertained."

A part of me was hurt by the actions of my aunt and maternal grandparents, but I accepted that I'd been ostracized. It was their loss more than mine. They'd never know the joy of our miracle baby. They'd never hear Shavonda do justice to any Macy Gray or Rihanna song she chose to sing. And they'd never get to witness their grandson being truly happy for the first time in his life.

Shavonda was my world. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, and she was mine to have and cherish. Never mind that the baby had taken a toll on her body, that her stomach was no longer flat, that she had stretch marks and her breasts now sagged a bit. Those supposed "flaws" only made her more beautiful to me. She'd come into my life unexpectedly, and somehow got past my defenses and inside me. And there she would stay. I wanted her there, needed her there. This goddess, who had taken over my heart, mind and soul, had changed my life for the better. I was no longer the person I was two years ago, when we met. I was whole now, thanks to her. She'd accepted me for who I was, loved my children as her own. Her family embraced me as one of their own. And on top of that, she had presented me with the most beautiful baby girl, that we had made together. I had watched in awe as she brought Miracle into the world. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

If the Duncan side of the family didn't want to accept us, then screw them. The Waites and the MacFarlands had accepted us without question. We still had family here, and I had gained the Jenkins family in Pittsburgh as well.

Miracle was alert and playful, and Shavonda had set her on the floor with her toys, and the baby had grabbed her rattle and was shaking it, laughing at the noise it made. "I started her on baby cereal last week," Shavonda told the other ladies. "She's also been trying to crawl. Next time you see her, we'll have to bring a play pen."

Mom was impressed with Miracle's development so far. She'd only become cuter as she grew. Her hair had come in nicely, and she now sported a head full of thick, dark brown curls. Miracle had already shown a curiosity about the world around her, and I had a feeling our baby was going to be as smart as her mother. I could see her in a couple of years, asking a million questions and embarrassing the hell out of us. I couldn't wait.

It was great being with my family once again. But it was also tempered with apprehension. Because none of knew how Edie was going to react when Kenny finally got here.

To be continued....