Ducane
Carter: Damn nigga what she say about the ring?
Me: Tonight.
It had to be tonight. Our time together had been special, the most relaxed I had felt in years, but it was ending. Eventually, we’d have to get real and figure out what came next. Life was always snatching us from the clouds, but I wasn’t going for it this time.
I shrugged because the only thing I could do was move forward and make my intentions clear.
I showered, got dressed, and checked the ring twice before I put it in my pocket. Then I checked it again because I was that nigga apparently.
My phone rang on the counter. I looked at the screen and picked up.
“Hey, Ma.”
“Cane, you’ve been MIA.”
“I told you I’d be on vacation.”
“How is she, son?”
“She?” I asked because, as far as anyone knew, I was here alone.
“Ducane.” She said my name the way that meant stop playing with me. “I know you better than you think. And surely you know I know Skye is back in your life.”
“And how do you know that, Ma?”
“Well, first, you haven’t taken a vacation since Skye. And it’s in the blogs.” A small laugh, warm and real. “Son, you must be enjoying yourself if you don’t know the streets are talking about the beautiful flight attendant occupying your time at Infinity Island.”
I shrugged, not giving a damn, as if she could see me.
“Good,” she said, reading it anyway. “You shouldn’t care. But you should be careful. Bianca is about to receive a cease and desist. I’ve had enough of her making you out to be a heartless fuck boy. When you’ve been nothing but generous by giving her ass some time.”
“I don’t care about Bianca. Let her talk. I’m cool with being the fuck boy in her story so long as I’m not that in Skye’s. Fuck Bianca.”
She was quiet for a second. I could hear her settling into whatever she actually called to say.
“Bring her to see me when you’re back and settled. I’m back in Coupeville for a little while.” She had been sitting on this for a long time, and I could hear it. “I owe Skye an apology, and I’ve owed it for a long time.”
“Ma.”
“I mean it, Duke. I should have done more. Said more. I knew what your father was up to. I told myself staying neutral was keeping the peace and he had a way of convincing me that he knew best There was no reasoning with him.” A breath. “It wasn’t keeping anything. It was cowardice.”
I leaned against the dresser and looked at the floor.
“I hear you,” I said.
“But?”
“But not yet. I failed to protect her back then, so I’m not about to put her in a position before she’s ready. When the time is right, I’ll make it happen. But that’s on her timeline, not anybody else’s.”
I was a grown man and didn’t need apologies. The damage was done. I was standing on my ten toes to clean it up. I didn’t need any help. I had given them seven years of what they wanted. It was time for everyone to fall back or get laid out about Skye.
“If Skye ain’t fucking with it, neither am I.”
Silence. Then she made a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle.
“There he is,” she said quietly. “I’m proud of you. I mean that. The Mudd case, the firm, all of it. But this right here.” Another breath. “This is what I’m most proud of.”
I didn’t say anything because there wasn’t much to say.
“She and I will meet again,” my mother said with certainty. “So help it along when you can.”
“I will.”
“Good. Now go enjoy your vacation. And Cane?”
“Yeah.”
“Love you, baby. You earned every good thing coming to you.”
“Love you too, Ma.”
I hung up and stood there for a second with the phone in my hand. Then I put it down, touched the ring in my pocket one more time, and went to find the love of my life.
Skye was already on the deck when I came out, standing at the railing with her back to me. Burnt-orange tiger-print dress, off-the-shoulder, split up the thigh. Her hair was in curly ponytail, her favorite way to wear it.
I put my hands in my pockets because it was that or grab her ass and cancel dinner.
“You never miss,” I said. “Turn around and let me see you.”
She turned around with a wide smile. The gold that adorned her body made it hard to breathe. Earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets. Her mahogany skin sparkled. She was radiant.
“Neither do you, Sugar Cane.”
“You good?”
“Yeah.” She looked back at the water. “I’m really good, actually. Considering.”
“Considering what?”
The look on her face stressed me for a second. She handed me her phone and I read the headlines.
Defense Attorney Ducane Simmons Spotted Cozying Up To Mystery Woman In Infinity Island While Ex-Fiancée Bianca Speaks Out.
Bianca Claims Simmons Was Emotionally Checked Out For Years — Sources Say He’s Already Moved On.
Who Is The Flight Attendant Turning Heads With High-Profile Attorney Ducane Simmons?
I looked up from the phone.
“You upset?”
She took the phone back and set it on the railing face down.
“No.” She said it with conviction. “I’m really not.” She looked at me. “This is just new. We’re just new. Again.”
I looked at her.
“And the shit with Bianca?”
“Nobody can tell me anything about your character, Ducane. I know who you are. And Bianca knows not to fuck with me. I saw her once, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know that. You’re just full of secrets, huh?”
She laughed and shrugged. “On a flight. She just had to show me that ugly ass ring you bought her. I laughed in her face and told her to enjoy her time and send me an invite.”
“Spot, be for real. Bianca can say what she wants, but I never lied to her about you or who you were to me. Her ass was picking because she bought herself that ugly ass cluster ring.”
“And now that bitch is plucked like an annoying chin hair.” She cackled. “Buh bye.”
“Goofball, I swear.”
“But mystery woman,” she said, almost to herself, and then laughed, short and private, like she was the only one in on the joke.
“You want me to clear it up?” I asked.
“Tonight? No.” She smoothed the front of her dress. “Let’s just eat and maybe go dancing after. We can figure out the rest later.”
I pulled her chair out. She sat. And I took the seat across from her.
The chef appeared right on time. The hibachi setup went between us, and the flames went up shortly after. Skye’s eyes lit. She clapped and danced in her seat.
“Ducane, I’ve had such a good time with you. Dinners, swimming, watching movies, all of it has been exactly what I needed.”
“What’s been going on with you? Why do you keep saying that?”
She picked up her chopsticks and looked at the grill for a second, jaw tight, eyes wet, before she blinked it away.
“I’ve just been tired,” she said. “Doing a lot alone for a long time. This felt like permission to breathe.”
She wasn’t lying. But she wasn’t telling me everything either, we both knew it.
“And?”
“And I started school again. I want to… no, I’m going to finish this time.”
“I support that. I got you. Let me help.”
“I’ll try,” she said.
I left it at that. I knew Skye well enough to know that when she was ready to tell me what was really going on, she’d tell me.
The chef plated our food, and we ate in silence. The only sounds were the crackle of the candles and the water.
I refilled her glass and looked at her across the table.
“What happens when we go home, Skye?”
She set her glass down and looked at me.
“Our time is coming to an end,” I said. “And I don’t want that.
I need you to know that before we get on a plane and go back to our separate lives.
This was more than just a trip to me.” I leaned forward.
“Fuck the family obligations. Fuck the distance, the time, all of it. I want you in your rightful spot. In my life. In my name.” I held her gaze.
“My wife. My forever. You said yes before. I need you to say it again.”
I reached into my pocket and set the ring on the table between us.
It caught the candlelight immediately.
Skye looked at it.
“Are you asking me to marry you, Ducane?”
She reached out and touched the stone with one finger, turned it slightly so it caught the light from a different angle. “It has a flaw,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”
“Inclusion,” I said. “It makes it one of a kind.”
She looked up at me.
“Ducane, how do you say yes to getting married when you’re already married?”
“I don’t know.” I held her gaze with steady eyes. “It’s a ring saying whatever you need it to say. I want to give this another shot for real. I think we can make it Skye.”
Her eyes went glassy. She blinked it back fast, chin up.
“You deserve the ring. You deserved it the day we stood in that courthouse with ring pops and an old couple you charmed off the street. I owe you that.”
I stood and kneeled beside her with her hands in mine.
“You want me to be your wife for real?”
“Yes. More than anything in the world. I need you back in my life, Skye. I want you. I never stopped wanting to be your everything. Come home.”
“Oh, Ducane, I need to tel—”
“Shh, nah. You said no clearing shit up tonight. We can do that tomorrow. We got forever.”
I kissed her lips softly, and she moaned into my mouth.
“I love you, Ducane.”
“I love you too, Skye. Is that another yes?”
“Yes.”
I slid the ring on her finger and reached back into my pocket.
“I got one for me too,” I said, holding out the band. “If I’m doing this, I’m doing it all the way. Put it on me.”
“See, this is how you got the name, Sugar Cane. You are so romantic.” Her voice cracked, and her hands shook as she reached for it.
Skye Campbell was rarely rattled. I had her completely undone.
Watching her hands shake over a ring felt like winning the biggest case of my life, except this one I actually cared about.
She slid the ring onto my finger.
“I’ll always be sweet to you, Skye.”
Then I reached into my wallet and pulled out the one thing I’d kept close. The little strip of photos from homecoming, the two of us crammed in, young and stupid and happy. The edges were worn from handling.