Zuri Day - Silken Embrace

“So tell me about your family, Aliyah.”

“It’s not like yours, that’s for sure.”

“Few are.” This answer got a raised brow. “I don’t say that arrogantly, but honestly. It’s a lifestyle that is not commonly experienced, one I’m grateful to have. But nothing was handed to us on a silver platter. My family’s achievements come from a combination of luck, good timing and lots of hard work.”

Aliyah nodded, her mind awhirl with how to respond to his question. She wasn’t ashamed of her family, nor the struggles they all endured growing up in a vibrant but gritty section of Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights. The drive, resilience and determination to succeed arose from the notorious neighborhood activities she sometimes witnessed, events that left some childhood friends and acquaintances incarcerated too long, pregnant too young or dead too early. Those experiences helped make her who she was today. But she knew all too well how the upper two percent sometimes viewed the working class, since she’d spent twelve years—high school, undergrad and graduate school—surrounded by students of privilege and families of wealth. While dating Ernest, she had a bird’s-eye view of how high society operated—the judgments, condescension and exclusivity, and how friends were chosen less by personality and more by zip code and pedigree. Not even her becoming a doctor was good enough to gain entry. “A charity case to fulfill quotas” was how her attending the same Ivy League college as Ernest was described by his parents. As if her high SAT scores and 4.0 grade average—an average maintained even after the baby and while working part-time—had nothing to do with it.

Terrell mistook her silence. “Listen, Aliyah, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Oh, no. It’s not that.” She took a sip of champagne and gazed out the window a moment before turning back to him. “Kyle’s father is from a wealthy family, one into which I was never accepted. They abhorred my background, disapproved of our dating. My becoming pregnant left them petrified. Their vitriol was unrelenting, to the point where even I questioned my worth. It took a long time to rebuild my confidence. There is evidently still some work to do.”

“Where was Kyle’s father while his family attacked you?”

Her smile was bittersweet. “Mostly, on their side.”

“Even after you gave birth to his son?”

“Oh, that was just to trap him, you see, and a determination made only after paternity was proven by not one official test, but three.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“As serious as his parents were when they demanded I take them. After Kyle was born, they ramped up the pressure for him to dump his low-brow girlfriend and find someone respectable to marry. Someone with the right...credentials. That’s what he did.”

“Then you’re better off without him. A man who doesn’t have your back, no matter what the situation or who the person is attacking, doesn’t deserve you.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Hopefully he helps out financially, at least.”

“The bare minimum, thanks to creative accounting and a savvy attorney. What they didn’t understand, and still don’t, is that Ernest’s presence in Kyle’s life would be more valuable than any check he could write. Every child needs a father, but for boys, it’s even more important.

“In the end, it’s probably for the best. I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone with that set of grandparents. There’s no telling how they’d poison his mind, or scar his soul.”

Terrell reached over and caressed her face. “Would it sound too selfish for me to say that I’m glad he’s not in your life?”

“Yes, that sounds selfish. But I’m still glad you said it.”

He leaned. She leaned. Their lips touched, softly, exploring. Soon their tongues intertwined, still bearing the essence of the wine. He kissed her thoroughly. She matched him stroke for stroke.

He pulled back. “I’d better stop while I can. We’ll soon be landing.”

Terrell’s kiss erased yesteryear’s heartache. Aliyah relaxed into the comfort of the supple leather, and began to feel the excitement of being in a private plane with a handsome man, soaring to a night of fun. She finished her flute of champagne and turned flirty eyes to Terrell.

“I’m glad Kyle is at your center. All of the men there, at least the ones I’ve met, seem genuinely invested in the program’s success and are great male role models.”

“Including me?”

“Especially you.”

Terrell extended his arm across the aisle. Aliyah placed her small hand inside his much larger one. “I’m glad he’s there, too. We’ll do our best to provide him with the mentorship he needs. Meanwhile, tonight—” Terrell raised her hand and kissed it lightly “—I’d like to make sure his mother, the lovely Aliyah Robinson, gets whatever it is she wants and needs as well.”

Chapter 4

They landed at San Francisco International Airport and were whisked away to a cozy, upscale restaurant with stunning views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Aliyah looked around. “I didn’t expect we’d be someplace this fancy. Glad I wore my crystal stilettos or I’d feel out of place.”

“You could walk in here wearing a garbage bag and outshine every woman in the room.”

Aliyah laughed and sat back in her chair. “Wow, you are a salesman, aren’t you?”

“Yes, and a darn good one. But that wasn’t a line.”

The waiter came over and after describing the evening’s special features, took their drink and appetizer orders. After further discussion of the menu and deciding on entrées, the conversation came back around to their continuing to get to know each other.

“So, Aliyah...”

“Yes?”

“What made you decide to become a doctor?”

“Not just any doctor but an anesthesiologist, specifically. The reason? Shannon’s mom.”

“Was she an anesthesiologist?”

Aliyah nodded. “My seventh-grade summer, I was selected for a math-and-science program that paired students from different schools to work on a project together. I was paired with this geeky, slightly chubby girl named Shannon. We were best friends from day one. So much so that she invited me to her birthday party. She lived on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. That train ride took me to another world and changed my life.

“After that day, I spent several more at her house. One time we were in her room and I was asking how her family lived the way they did. Where they got so much money. Her mother was walking by and answered, ‘We worked for it.’ I asked her what she did and she told me that she was an anesthesiologist. Right then and there, I decided that’s what I’d be, too. Of course, had I known that such a declaration was going to cost me twelve additional years of my life after high school, I would have chosen Shannon’s father’s career instead.”

“What did he do?”

“Worked in finance. On Wall Street. He’s retired now. They both are. Shannon still lives in the home I visited but her parents spend most of their time in their villa in France.”

“Do you like what you do?”

“I love it. Money and the lavish lifestyle I saw at Shannon’s house is what sparked my interest. The satisfaction I found during the educational journey to my goal is what’s kept me here.”

“You’ve accomplished a lot. As a single mother, it couldn’t have been easy.”

“I’m not used to easy. Anytime I think of quitting I remember those on the block who chose differently, and are no longer with us. I never want Kyle to experience what I saw growing up. He’s my motivation.”

Dinner arrived. The conversation changed. From the appetizer to dessert, the food was as decadent as Aliyah’s thoughts had been ever since Terrell’s promise to satisfy her. They left the restaurant, and just when she thought the night couldn’t get any better Terrell surprised her with tickets and backstage passes to see one of her favorite artists, Janelle Monáe. The show was rocking, so much so that Aliyah was almost able to ignore all the attention Terrell received from the ladies. Even if she were interested in a serious relationship, which she wasn’t, Terrell wouldn’t be on her short list. Relationships were hard enough. One with walking temptation wrapped around fifty shades of sexy would be impossible.