Page 319 of When a Soul Cries

“I was already gonna be beside you.”

“No.” I shook my head and reached for her hand. “I mean beside me.”

Her expression changed before I even finished.

“My mama can't be here.”

Zari's lips pressed together.

I felt my throat close, but I kept going.

“And after she died... after everything else...” I swallowed hard. “You became the closest thing I had to a sister. You took me in when you didn't have to. You helped me when I couldn't help myself. You loved my baby before she was even born.”

“Sol...” Her voice cracked.

“You were there when I got to Crestmont. You were there when I found out about Halo. You were there when I had her. You've been there through everything.”

I squeezed her hand as tears slipped down my cheeks again.

“So I want you to give me away.”

Zari stared at me.

For once in her life, A'Zaria Banks had absolutely nothing to say.

Then her face crumbled.

“Bitch.”

A watery laugh burst out of me. “Is that a yes?”

She pulled me into her arms so quickly I barely had time to protect the front of my dress.

“You know damn well that's a yes.”

I held her tightly, closing my eyes.

There was an ache in that moment because my mother should have been there. There was no pretending otherwise. Nothing could replace her.

But there was love there too.

Different love.

The kind life had given me after taking so much away.

Halo began fussing between us, apparently offended that the attention had been off her for too long, and Zari pulled away laughing.

“Okay, damn. Let me put this dress on before both of us look crazy.”

I wiped beneath my eyes. “Please. Because you look a mess.”

“Bitch, I've been riding with Kai doing a hundred miles an hour while Sugga screamed the whole way here. Be grateful I made it alive.”

That laugh was exactly what I needed.

---

By the time Zari came back dressed and somebody announced that it was almost time, the sun had begun its slow descent behind the Georgia mountains.