Tyson followed her inside. Soon they were climbing up side by side on a wall set up for racing. As he glanced over at her, Tyson just about lost his grip. His wife was stunning.
Her sleeves had been rolled up so he could see the muscles moving in her arms as she pulled herself up. That entire body of hers was covered in a faint sheen of sweat as she climbed.
Tyson beat her, but barely. She was good. As she hauled herself up to the top and sat next to him to catch her breath she swore, “Damn, you won.” There was a sparkle in her eyes that made him feel awesome.
“Only barely.” His own body was beginning to sweat as well. “You are really good at this.” He ges-tured over to the repelling wall. “Do you repel as well?”
“Sure, not the Aussie way, though. I haven’t learned how to do that yet,” she said with a shrug.
“Would you like to learn?” Tyson offered.
“Will you teach me?” She sounded like a kid at Christmas.
“If you’re up to it. We can do it right now.” I will teach you whatever you wish to learn, my little rose, just as long as you never leave me.
Before the words were fully out his mouth, Jayde was repelling back down to the ground. That time she did beat him. As his feet hit the ground, she was already unbuckling her safety harness and going to the repelling tower.
Tyson strode over to the tower slowly, his eyes on his wife as she spoke to one of the men there. When she laughed and hugged the good-looking man, he quickened his pace.
“Jayde?” Tyson’s tone caused her to pull back from the man and smile at him.
“Tyson.” She stepped out of the other man’s arms and moved back beside him.
Tyson did his best to swallow the intense jealousy he felt. “Who is this?” He nodded in the direction of the tall, muscular black man she’d been hugging.
“Tyson, I would like you to meet Cole Grant. We went to school together.” She turned back to the man named Cole. “Cole, I’d like you to meet Tyson Kincade.”
“Her husband,” Tyson added, shaking the hand of a very surprised Cole.
“Husband?” Cole asked.
“Yep, husband,” Tyson reiterated.
“We are here to repel, Cole,” Jayde said quickly, giving Tyson a reproachful look.
Cole turned his dark eyes onto his friend. “Cool. Congratulations. I have to ask, though, what do your parents think?” Jayde avoided his gaze. “They don’t know yet?” He let loose a loud laugh. “Damn, I don’t envy being in your shoes. Well, come on, then, might as well let you get one more bit of fun before you tell them.” Cole looked at Tyson and just laughed again.
“Something you want to tell me?” Tyson asked as they walked to the tower.
“Man,” Cole said, “there ain’t nothing I can tell you that will prepare you for her family. Jayde and I were forbidden to see each other when I first introduced her to rock climbing and repelling back in middle school.”
Jayde laughed. “And we have been rebelling and repelling together against them ever since!”
“Ah, yes,” Cole said. “You don’t find true friends like Jayde every day, and so when you do, you keep ’em.” He hugged her and placed a kiss on her cheek. At Tyson’s glare, he laughed again. “Man, don’t worry. I’m not after your woman!”
Tyson looked at Jayde and she kissed him full on the lips. “Don’t worry so much. He is happily married. Cole is the brother I never had but always wanted.”
Tyson relaxed as Jayde placed her head on his chest while Cole went through the safety spiel. When he finished Tyson asked, “Can I climb up and then repel back down?”
“Military man?” Cole asked in response.
“Yes, sir.” Tyson said, still holding onto his wife.
“Go on wit’ your bad self, man!” Cole granted.
“Thanks.” Tyson kissed Jayde once more, and then began the climb to the top using solely a rope. When he reached the top, people erupted in applause. He had gotten to the top in a very short amount of time. He gave them a short, yet slightly embarrassed, grateful nod.
For the rest of the afternoon, Tyson spent teaching his wife the Australian way of repelling—going down face first. A quick study, Jayde grasped the concept in an impressively short amount of time. Tyson even got her to climb the rope up to reach the top of the tower. He showed her how to use her feet on the rope so she didn’t have to use so much arm strength.
It was seven at night when Jayde finally called it quits. “I can’t do anymore. I’m exhausted.”
Tyson agreed; besides, they still had to have dinner. “Okay. Let’s go then.” They said goodbye to Cole and headed out into the warm evening.
When they reached the car, Jayde went to the driver’s side and waited. “What?” Tyson asked as he kissed her.
“I want to drive. There’s somewhere I want to take you.” Jayde said as she trailed one hand down his hard chest.
With one more kiss, he gave her the keys and jumped into the car without opening the door. “I’m all yours; do with me what you will,” he said as he put on his seatbelt.
Forcing her thoughts up from the gutter, Jayde climbed into the car and drove off, the top down again. As the air lowered her body temperature a small bit, she glanced over at the man sitting silently beside her. He was eagerly looking around at the city as they rode.
“Thank you,” she said over the wind and music.
“You are most welcome. Thank you,” he responded with a grin.
“For what?”
“Being you.” He reached for her hand to intertwine their fingers on the shift stick. “Where are we go-ing?”
“Hang on, you’ll find out soon enough,” Jayde answered. She pulled into an old neighborhood with large, spacious homes. They were all pre–Civil War era in style. She shut off the engine and touched her hair before getting out. At the steps, Jayde turned to find Tyson still in the car. “Well, come on,” she said and headed up to press the doorbell.
As his lean body was getting out of the car, the front door opened. A short woman squealed and threw her arms around Jayde.
“Baby,” the woman said. “It has been so long!”
“I know, Mey-maw. I’m sorry.” Jayde pulled away and looked into her grandmother’s shrewd eyes. She didn’t look a day over sixty.
“And who is this?” the older woman asked.
“Mey-maw, this is Tyson, Tyson Kincade.” Jayde paused for half a second. “My husband.”
It was like the whole town had fallen silent. There were no car noises, no people talking, nothing. Just dead silence. The old woman looked at Tyson in the fading light. “What do your parents think of this?”
Jayde declined to answer.
The woman chuckled slightly and waved them in the house, shutting the door behind them. The home, like always, was immaculate. Around a corner came an old man who asked, “Who is it, Regina?”
“Jayde, Ben. Jayde and her husband Tyson,” Regina said.
“Jayde?” the man asked with a voice full of love.
“Hello, Pey-paw.” Jayde walked into his open arms.
“A husband?” The man stepped away from his granddaughter and looked at the man standing in his foyer. “He’s white,” the man stated bluntly.
“Yes, Pey-paw, he is.” Jayde stepped back to stand by Tyson.
“Humph,” was all her grandfather said.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Tyson replied.
Regina laughed. “Come into the kitchen. We will eat and talk.”
Jayde smiled at and looped her arm into Tyson’s, following her grandparents. On the kitchen’s break-fast bar was a tray of finger foods.
“Sit down and help yourselves,” Regina said, gesturing to two of the chairs that were on one side of the bar. “I’d gone to the store earlier today and saw this in the display; just couldn’t help myself!”
Jayde did and Tyson followed suit, taking some nibbles from the tray. After they’d eaten for about five minutes, with Tyson under extreme scrutiny from her grandparents, Ben spoke. “Where did you meet?”
“I met him in—” Jayde began.
“No, Jayde. I am asking him,” her grandfather admonished.
“I met Jayde in Belize,” Tyson said, around a bite of spicy chicken wing.
“And how long have y’all been married?” her grandfather asked.
“Just about five months, sir,” Tyson said as his eyes began to water from the spice. He took a drink and wished to hell his mouth would stop burning.
“Five months.”
Regina took over. “What did your parents say?” The look in her eyes dared Jayde to ignore her question a second time.
“They don’t know, Mey-maw,” Jayde confessed.
“Well,” Regina said as she put another hot wing on Tyson’s plate. “You know they ain’t gonna like this a-tall.”
“Yes, ma’am, I know,” Jayde responded.
“And you two are ready to weather the crap they are going to throw at you?” Regina wondered skepti-cally.
Tyson slid his arm around Jayde. “Yes, ma’am.” His strong voice filled the large kitchen , making sure everyone understood his conviction.
The grandparents looked at each other and broke into wide grins. “Works for us. Welcome to the fami-ly, Son.”
Jayde smile and Tyson nodded. “Thank you,” he said before kissing his wife.
****
“So,” Ben asked, lighting up a pipe as he and Tyson sat alone outside on the veranda. “How long did you know each other before you got married?”
“Almost a day.” Tyson sat with his feet propped up on the stool as he watched darkness fall around them.
“Almost a day. And what is it that you do, Mr. Kincade, that makes you think you can take care of my granddaughter?”
“I am in the Navy, sir.” Tyson stared directly at his new in-law. “I will do what I can to give her the life that she deserves.”
Ben didn’t respond, just sat there puffing on his pipe. So Tyson sat with him and after a while, he found himself enjoying the relaxation.