Page 41 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

I waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it.”

Unconvinced, she eyed me, her lips pursed, but she didn’t say anything else. All I could do was laugh.

“How about we stick with Ms. Miller for now, and when the time feels right, we discuss something else?”

“That sounds like a plan,” she agreed with a nod.

“Good. Now let’s introduce you to my family so we can get inside. Thank God I told everyone to be here a half hour early.”

We walked over to the group to find Kiana and D’Niesha having an animated conversation while everyone else looked on. Apparently they knew each other from the magnet high school for performing arts that they’d both attended.

“Oh, Mama!” D’Vaughn exclaimed as soon as she caught sight of us. “I am so sorry; I didn’t mean to abandon you like that.”

Mami stepped forward, her hand at D’Vaughn’s back, a sheepish smile on her face. “It’s my fault entirely. I sort of swallowed her up and brought her over here. I take full responsibility. I’m Kayla.” She extended a hand, which Ms. Miller took graciously.

“I’m Deidre, and it’s no problem.” Glancing down at their joined hands, she gave me an amused look before turning her attention back to Mami. “You know, I was just telling your daughter that she didn’t have to be so formal and call me Ms. Miller, and now you’re shaking my hand. I see she gets it honestly.”

Mami let off a stuttered laugh and pulled her hand back to prop it on her hip.

“You know what’s funny? I’m usually a hugger, but Reynaldo insisted that I shake your hand. He said it would be too much to hug you the first time we met.” Cutting her eyes at Papi, she clucked her tongue. “It’s what I get for listening to him, eh?”

Papi chuckled lightly. “What do you want me to say, mi amor? Me equivoqué. Perdóname.”

Mami smiled sweetly at him. “That’s a start.” Turning back to Ms. Miller, she spread her arms. “Shall we hug?”

Ms. Miller nodded. “We’re going to be family soon; it’s only right.”

With a squeal of laughter, the two embraced, rocking from side to side the way Mami had with D’Vaughn. When they separated, I could see that much of the uncertainty in Ms. Miller’s eyes had disappeared, replaced with a spark of happiness that made me grin widely.

“Aww,” D’Vaughn murmured, coming to my side and resting her head on my shoulder, “look at them!”

“They look like fast friends.”

“I know! I love it!”

“It’s a good sign.”

D’Vaughn lifted her head and looked at me. “You think so?”

I nodded, sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her closer to my side, using our proximity to speak directly into her ear. “The next few weeks will go by much more smoothly if they are on the same side. With them as friends, they’ll probably want to take over planning of the wedding, which pretty much eliminates the possibility of anyone else questioning whether this is real or not. It’s foolproof.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, and I tilted my head to find her staring off in the distance, chewing on her bottom lip contemplatively.

“What’s on your mind?”

Shaking her head, she stepped away from me, putting a few inches of space between us. It was a negligible amount of space, but for some reason it felt significant.

“Nothing important,” she answered.

It would have been a fine response, but her voice was flatter than usual. Or, at least flatter than I was used to hearing. I eyed her in confusion, wanting to press the issue, sure that something was suddenly off, but not sure if I was just imagining things since we’d really only known each other for less than a week. It was possible that I was seeing something that wasn’t there, even though that’s not what it felt like. I watched as she walked over to our siblings without giving me a second glance before trailing behind her.

What the hell had happened to make her mood shift so quickly?

When I reached the group, I dapped up Ray, Josue, and Rhea and then hugged Kiana from the side.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked Kiana after rubbing her belly and murmuring a greeting to my nibling.

She gestured to Josue, who stood next to Ray with his eyes on us. “We’re taking notes.”