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  I laughed as the southside came right on up outta my mama.

  She laughed as well, continuing, “And that’s where you come in.”

  Tempest Murphy

  Tears fell from my face onto my suitcase as I zipped it up. It was over. Dame was gone forever. That pain felt like death.

  The first leg of my trip to Ghana was leaving at ten that evening. I had chosen Ghana for my “honeymoon” destination because my father had always wanted to visit there but had never gotten the chance. I needed to be at the airport within the next hour. Therefore, even though my shoulders were heavy, I pushed past my distress so that I could make it to the airport.

  The only light at the end of this emotionally wrenching tunnel was this trip to Ghana. I needed peace and tranquility desperately.

  I looked at my phone at the time. Noticing that it was nearly six, I hurriedly zipped the suitcase and raced out of my bedroom, towards the front door, dragging my suitcase behind me. Along the way, I saw my reception dress still sprawled across the back of the couch. My heart went out to the memories of the day. I gritted, hating that me and Dame’s time in one another’s lives was over.

  Yet, I had no time to dwell, so I snatched my pea coat off of the hook by the door and threw it on.

  Rushing, I tore the door open, totally prepared to bolt out of it. My face was in my Uber app. Just as I was getting ready to request it, I realized that there was a tall, dark shadow in front of my doorway.

  “Oh!” I gasped in fear, clutching my chest.

  However, my fear quickly swam away and was replaced with love but concern as I realized that it was Dame… with a suitcase alongside him.

  “Wh-what are you doing here?”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “What? Huh?” I rambled.

  “I’m going with my wife to Ghana.”

  I nervously chuckled. “What are you talking about, Dame?”

  “I’ve been letting you run from me for nearly a year. I’m not letting you run anymore. As a matter of fact, I’m running this.”

  “This?”

  “Us.” He closed the space between us, causing my breasts to brush against his stomach. He looked down on me. I flinched when his hand raised, but all he’d done was brush it softly against my cheek.

  “I love you.”

  I inhaled sharply as I stared up into that sparkle in his boy-like expression. He was no longer cold. He was no longer angry. He was loving and genuine.

  His words lingered in the air, waiting for a response. Yet, I was too busy marinating in his confession. Those words were true and real. The charade was over. He no longer needed to act. Yet, there he was, confessing his love for me.

  Dame smiled into my eyes, and when he said, “I am so in love with you,” I was made anew. Standing in his space, in his shadow, with those words raining down on me, I felt like I did when I was ten years old and my father was telling me that he loved me, that I was most precious woman in the world. In that moment, there had been no fire. There were no imperfections to hide. My body was being reborn in its most perfect form.

  “And I know you love me, too.”

  I was scared to admit it. I chewed the inside of my jaw, wondering why Dame insisted on making this happen. He could have had any other perfect woman in the world. Why me? Why choose this embarrassment to love?

  Thinking of it all, tears came to my eyes. I softly beat his chest, wanting to push him away, hating that he was pushing me to be in this vulnerable position with him.

  He held my wrists, holding me captive with his eyes. “Tell me you love me.”

  I inhaled sharply, unable to take the tension.

  Kissing the top of my head, he told me, “Tell me—”

  “I love you,” I cried. “I love you too much. It’s so whole that my missing pieces have appeared. I’m whole again. I’m brand new, and I want to be all yours.”

  He grinned from ear to ear. It felt like sweet relief to have him smiling down on me again finally.

  He took my tiny hand into his massive one. With his other hand, he grabbed the handle of his suitcase. “Good. Then let’s go.”

  I was giddy, hiding my wide smile behind my scarf as he led me towards the stairs.

  Once downstairs, we stood in the lobby, waiting for the Uber I had requested. It was still ten minutes away, so we stayed warm inside.

  “You sure about this? About being with me?” he asked.

  Staring up at him, there was no way that I could resist him now. I couldn’t run, even if I wanted to.

  Oddly, as I stood there holding both of his hands, I didn’t want to, however. After feeling what I thought was losing him permanently, I feared losing him for good more than I feared what others would think.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “No more running.”

  And though I knew that hadn’t been a question, I still replied, agreeing, “No more running.”

  “I have two things that I need you to do then.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t divorce me.” My heart melted as each word enlarged my love for him tenfold.

  He went on, “Even though the ceremony wasn’t real, I want us to stay married. Because, if we stay together forever, like I feel that we will, I want today to be our wedding day. It may have been planned with fraud intentions, but it’s our story and our vows were genuine.”

  Cheesing into his eyes, I nodded. “I agree.”

  His mouth dropped dramatically as his eyes bucked and he stepped back a bit.

  “What?” I giggled.

  “You really aren’t running,” he realized.

  “Nope,” I smiled. “I told you that I love you… too much.”

  His eyes narrowed with lust as he sucked in the corner of his bottom lip. Blushing, I grabbed them hem of his coat and brought him closer to me.

  Looking up at him, I asked, “What’s the second thing?”

  “Don’t take Amaechi’s money.” My brows furrowed, but he immediately answered my confusion. “I got us. We don’t need it. Jeffery left me his company.”

  My mouth fell agape. “What?! That’s amazing!”

  I had felt so bad for him when I heard Darcel speaking of Jeffrey’s passing at the reception. I had even had to speak through the tension and give him my condolences. I knew that that man had been like a father to him. I was touched that Jeffery had obviously felt the same.

  Dame blushed sheepishly. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Congratulations, babe!” I gushed.

  “Thank you. So, fuck Amaechi’s money.”

  “Well, can I at least take it and give it to my mother? She needs it.”

  Now, his forehead was wrinkled with confusion.

  “At the reception, she told me that she was leaving him.”

  His eyes slightly bucked. “Wow, really?”

  “Yea. She said that she wasn’t in love and had just been holding on so that I could get my inheritance. She said that she wants a love like her and my father’s, what she saw between us at the altar.”

  “Wow.”

  “But she gets nothing when she leaves him.”

  He wrapped his arms around my neck, bending down and kissing my forehead.

  “Okay,” he said. “Give it to her then. It’s the least that she deserves for putting up with that asshole for all these years.”

  I nodded. “I agree.”

  There we were again, stargazing into one another’s eyes, blushing, as if it were our first time realizing our attraction for one another.

  “I love you, Mrs. Coleman,” Dame spoke through his grin.

  “I love you too… too much.”

  Once again, we smiled into one another’s eyes, relief leaving our shoulders and evaporating between us. He grabbed the back of my curly mane. He brought me towards him. I stood on the tip of my boots. Our lips crushed together. Our kiss stole the loving words remaining in my throat that I wanted to say but clearly didn’t need to. It was just as sweet as the one we
had shared earlier that day at the altar. Only this time, this was not acting.

  Finally, this…we were real.

  Nearly twenty-four hours later, we were in Ghana.

  The first few days of the trip, I had arranged to spend in a beautiful estate with a pool in Akosombo. I had planned to bathe in the sun, eat the local cuisine, and unravel from the year I had spent in this world wind. Then, for the next seven days, I would visit the dungeon at Cape Coast Castle, which served as an essential holding station for slaves bound for America, where the “door of no return” was. Then I would shop the local markets in Accra, cross the Canopy Walkway at Kakum National Park, take a safari at Mole National Park, the country’s largest wildlife park, where I would see buffalo, rare roan antelope, elephants, and hyenas, and even meet the king in Kumasi. These were all the things that my father had fantasized about doing once he’d made it to Ghana. I planned to do it all in his honor, knowing that he was there with me in spirit.

  However, once Dame and I had finally gotten to our Airbnb, there was no sunbathing in the pool. Instead, Dame and I consummated finally being in a true commitment with one another.

  We had had a twenty-plus-hour flight to talk about it. Though we were already legally married, we were finally in a relationship.

  We knew that once we returned home from our honeymoon, we would need to take some time to actually date. Yet, we felt like we already knew each other. We had spent a year getting to know each other. Though it was for different reasons, I was secure that I knew the man that I had finally set aside my insecurities for and submitted to.