When Everything's Said & Done Read online

  Warren glanced at her. “What’s gotten into you?” Cora looked down. “Nothing. Can’t a woman be quiet if she wants to?”

  “Not you. You’re always talking.”

  “See there.” Cora turned her body toward the dashboard and folded her hands in her lap. “You think you know everything about me. Well, you don’t.” She looked out the window, but in her mind’s eye Cora was seeing every detail of Warren’s face. Especially his mouth. He had never kissed her. Not really.

  “Have you been to CeCe’s before?” Warren asked.

  “No, I’ve never been,” Cora replied. “But I’ve heard some pretty good things about it. I heard some of the kids talking about their folks going there and loving it. But I’ve also heard them whispering among themselves. They talk about who got drunk at Cake’s, and who got caught with somebody else.”

  “I heard a few things about it myself,” Warren replied. “We made an arrest over there one night, but overall it’s a pretty good place. I hear it’s got great food, and CeCe’s kitchen is open half the night. So, it’s been doing pretty good. Hear it’s got a good D.J. and all, so we should have a pretty good time.”

  They drove for another five minutes before they pulled up in front of CeCe’s. It was simply a house stuck in the middle of a row of what were obviously businesses. There were cars parked all up and down the street.

  Warren and Cora parked and got out. They walked toward the building. When they stepped inside Cora noticed how the living room had been converted to a dance floor, and the dining room was the dining area with small tables and chairs. The tables were topped with crocheted tablecloths. Glass soda bottles served as candleholders, and what had been a large pantry was now the D.J.’s booth. His records were stacked and labeled on the shelves around him.

  A healthy woman wearing a dress that fit every one of her curves walked over with a smile that was as inviting as the music.

  “I’m CeCe. Welcome.” She stretched out her hand.

  “Hi, CeCe,” Cora replied.

  “Good to meet you,” Warren said.

  “I don’t know if you know it, but we are a restaurant with a dance floor. Are you planning to eat?” The question separated the paying customers from the loiterers.

  “Yes, we are expecting to have dinner,” Warren replied.

  “Good,” CeCe said. “And I’ve got just the table for you.” She picked up a menu that had been handwritten and directed them toward a corner table. “Come with me.”

  Cora and Warren followed her and sat down. “Donna will be over to take your order in a minute. I hope you enjoy yourselves.” CeCe smiled again.

  “From what I can see,” Cora replied, “I’m sure we will.”

  They looked over the menu as the D.J. played an old blues tune that had several people jumping and moving on the dance floor, Cora laughed at the antics of one man. “I think there’s going to be some performances up in here tonight,” Cora said.

  Warren glanced at the dance floor. “Do you plan to join them?”

  “Yes, we do plan to join them.”

  “I’m not talking about just dancing,” Warren said. “I’m talking about acting a fool like that fellow out there. ” Cora laughed. “I might do a little of that, too. You know who you’ve got over here, Warren Gray.”

  “Yeah, I know who you think you are, and who you’ve been determined to be up to this point in your life. People don’t always remain the same, Cora. As time passes, people change.”

  “Most people do, I guess. I can’t say I haven’t made some changes,” Cora replied. “I have, as a matter of fact.”

  “I know you have. That’s why I’m saying what I’m saying right now.”

  She looked in his eyes. They were so serious and dark. Cora looked down at the menu. “See, you starting in too serious too fast for me. And I’m too hungry for that. I’m going to pick what I’m going to eat.” “Please do. I’m just making conversation.” Warren smiled.

  Minutes later Donna arrived. “Are you ready to order?”

  “I am,” Cora replied.

  “Go right ahead.” Donna readied her pad and pencil. “I’ll have your green beans, your greens and some of this macaroni and cheese. And I want some cornbread with that.”

  “All right. What kind of meat are you having?”

  “No meat for me,” Cora replied.

  Donna, who was obviously a teenager, made a funny face. “And you, sir?”

  “Let’s see, I think I’m going to have this, CeCe’s Killer Smothered Chicken.”

  “All right.”

  “And give me a side of your lima beans, and—^uh. I’ll take some corn.”

  “Anything to drink?” Donna looked from Warren to

  Cora.

  “You have tea, don’t you?” Cora looked at the menu again.

  “Yes, we have sweet tea.”

  “I’ll take some sweet tea.”

  “Start me off with some tea, too,” Warren said.

  “I’ll bring your drinks out in a minute,” Donna replied before she walked away.

  The drinks came and the food followed shortly after, and Cora and Warren engaged in conversation about the restaurant, CeCe, Laura and life in general. The conversation flowed easily—^the talk of two people who had known each other for a lifetime. The talk of friends.

  Once the meal was done, Cora sat back and took a deep breath.

  “My goodness, and when I first ordered I promised myself a dessert of apple pie with vanilla ice cream on top. But now I can’t eat another thing.”

  “This hit the spot for me,” Warren replied. “I’m feeling just fine. Not too much, not too little.”

  The song in the background ended and the dancers began to return to their tables.

  Donna popped up again. “Can I get you something else?”

  “You can bring me a beer,” Warren said.

  She looked at Cora.

  “I’ll have some more iced tea,” Cora replied. Donna picked up Cora’s glass and walked away.

  “When a Man Loves a Woman” began to play. Cora watched a couple get up and go to the dance floor. She looked across the table and saw Warren rise from his chair as well. He came and stood in front of her and stretched out his hand. Cora looked at it.

  “It’s time,” Warren said.

  “Time for what?” Cora challenged.

  “You’ll see once we get out there.”

  She looked into his eyes, then said, “All right.”

  Cora placed her hand in Warren’s and followed him on to the floor. When they stopped, Warren pulled Cora to him and wrapped his arms around her. It was uncanny how her head fit so neatly just below his shoulder. Cora couldn’t help but close her eyes at the feel of him. They had been going places together for a couple of months, but all that time Warren had kept his distance. At first Cora didn’t know what to think about it, but she finally concluded Warren just wanted to be friends. But now, as he held her in his arms, the feeling that came over her made Cora know that, for her, it was more than friendship.

  Warren began to move in a simple but rhythmic fashion as they held each other in silence, and the music and the lyrics washed over them.

  “The D.J. couldn’t have picked a better song, Cora,” Warren finally whispered.

  Her brows knitted. “Really?”

  “I think he’s playing it just for us.”

  Cora’s heart beat a little faster as she continued to lie against his chest.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “This is how I feel about you,” Warren said as he pressed Cora against him. “I’ve fallen hard for you, Cora. I had to really search inside myself and see if what I was feeling was the real thing...but I really knew it from the moment I saw you come into my mother’s house to get that salt. I knew I still loved you, that I had loved you all my life as I told you even then.”

  Cora felt like she was melting. It was an unexpected, disconcerting feeling, and she tried to play it down. “Warren, you t
hink you love me.” She looked up at him with a teasing smile. “We’ve been friends so long, you can’t tell friendship from love.”

  “Yes, I can. I know what love is.” He looked into her eyes. “And so do you.”

  “What do you mean, so do I?”

  “Just what I said. I can feel it right now as I’m holding you,” Warren replied. “There’s no way you don’t feel it, too. If it’s this strong for me, you’ve got to feel something. ”

  Cora’s brows lifted. “I feel it all right. But what I’m feeling, I don’t know if it’s love or not. I haven’t been in a man’s arms in a long time. And I’m not the kind of woman who’s been accustomed to doing without. I’ve got needs, Warren.” She paused. “You’ve been taking me to eat and to movies and everything. And we’ve all got needs. I think, maybe you and I…it’s time for us to fill that space for one another. ”

  “There’s no doubt in my mind, Cora, that we could fill each other’s needs, but I’m talking about more than that. I can fill my needs with some of anybody. Sex is such a base thing. Something even dogs can do. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about love, commitment. I’m talking about marriage.”

  Cora’s feet felt as if they had stuck to the floor. “Marriage?”

  “That’s right. Marriage,” Warren continued. “You and me. We know each other, Cora. We’ve known each other all our lives so there’s no need to get to know each other any better. And these couple of months that we’ve been spending time together have shown me who you are as an adult woman, and I hope I have shown you who I am as a man. So I don’t want to play no game of hit it and quit it, Cora. Let’s see how it fits.” Warren paused. “This the real thing. I’m talking about our lives, and I’m talking about our future. I want you to marry me, Cora.”

  “Warren, I never thought about marrying anybody,” she replied. “It’s just not been who I am.”

  “It’s not been who you decided you were as a young girl, and it may not have been who you decided you were when you left home, but life is unpredictable, Cora. You know you are one of the last people that I have to tell that to.” He paused again. “We have to mold our happiness in the way we want it. We shouldn’t set ourselves up for failure as two people who come together playing with each other, having no sense of commitment. I don’t want to play that game, Cora. It’s not the game for me to play. Not with you it isn’t. You say you haven’t thought about marriage, well I’m giving you an opportunity to think about it.”

  Cora put her face to his chest again. “I’ll think about it.”

  “I hope you will. You think about it right now while we’re on this dance floor. ” Cora stiffened and Warren continued. “I don’t want you to tell me your answer when we get over there to that table. I don’t want your answer in a couple weeks when we’ve thought about making love over and over again, thought about how it will feel, thought about it so much it has almost driven us insane. By then our desire for one another will be so strong we won’t even be able to think about what I’ve said here. Cora...”

  “Yes?”

  “I want you to tell me your answer once this dance is done. You’re either going to be my wife or you’re not. I’ve waited long enough. ”

  They continued to dance in silence as Warren’s hold on Cora tightened, and her embrace tightened as well, while their fate was being decided by the length of a song. When Percy Sledge sang the last sentence of the tune, Cora and Warren stopped dancing and held one another.

  Cora heard Warren ask, “What’s your answer? I’ve got to know. I’ve got to know now.”

  Cora looked up at his face, and deep into the eyes that held a lifelong friendship, a lifelong love. It took only a moment for Cora to reply, “Yes, I’ll marry you, Warren.”

  Then right there in the middle of the dance floor while everyone in the room looked on, Warren and Cora sealed their future with a kiss.

  Nebia’s Story...

  “Now I like a man like that. A man that knows what he wants and he goes right for it. Warren said don’t dance around me and try to tell me this, that and the other. I want you, and either you want me or you don’t.” Cynthia slapped her thigh. “Find me a man like that.”

  Erica and Sheila laughed.

  “What can you say?” Sheila said. “There they were, and Cora knew she wasn’t going to let Warren get away. She loved him.”

  “Yeah, I think she did,” Erica replied.

  “Yes, she loved him and it was beautiful,” Nebia said. “Because I tell you, from that day until their wedding day, Cora had a glow that could light the world. It was like she had been born again, and it just spilled out on all of us.” Nebia looked down. “At least most of us, that is.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Dressed in one of her finest outfits, Brenda watched Michael get out of his car and approach the house. She opened the door. There was a tinge of irritation on her face. “You better hurry up or we’re going to be late.” “Late?” Michael closed the door. “Late for what?” he looked at her.

  “Late for the wedding,” Brenda replied.

  Michael squinted.

  “The wedding, Michael. Cora and Warren’s wedding.” “They are getting married?” Disbelief hung with the question.

  Brenda held her breath. “Yes. I told you about the invitation over a month ago.”

  “But I just thought...” He looked through the window. “I guess I didn’t believe that—^that they would do it. That Cora would actually marry.”

  Brenda looked away, then walked further into the house. “Well, you were wrong.”

  Michael clenched his eyes and held them shut. “She’s getting married in an hour, and if we’re going to be there you better hurry. ”

  Michael changed clothes and met Brenda, who was waiting quietly in the front room. “I’m ready.”

  She rose from the couch and started toward the door. Michael stopped her. He pulled her to him. It was a short, uncomfortable embrace. Eventually, they made their way outside and climbed inside the car. Michael started the ignition. “I didn’t realize you and Cora talked.”

  “We don’t really,” Brenda replied. “I’ve bumped into her accidentally on a couple of occasions. But since that first evening when she came by, we haven’t really gotten together. The invitation came in the mail along with a special note, saying that it would break her heart if I wasn’t there. If I didn’t come to her wedding.”

  Michael’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Of course it would. You’re her sister,” he said softly.

  “But the invitation was to both of us.” She looked at his hardened profile. “She wanted you to be there, too, Michael.”

  He nodded. “So where is it being held.”

  “At Mama’s house. In the backyard.” Then she added in a hushed whisper, “Where this all started.” Michael glanced at Brenda but he remained quiet as he drove.

  They were both surprised by the number of cars that lined the street, and the number of people who had crowded into the Robinsons’ small backyard. Several of Cora’s students served as ushers and one quickly directed Brenda and Michael to a couple of chairs near the front, almost directly behind Laura and Nebia. Lucille sat across the aisle from Laura, a lone white face in a sea of blackness. Brenda edged forward and was about to touch her mother’s shoulder when the wedding music began.

  It was not your traditional wedding march, and Cora did not walk down the aisle to meet a waiting Warren. They walked the aisle together and Warren held a decorated broom between them as he advanced in a tailored suit. Cora, on the other hand, wore a dress of layered gauze, the color of maize. Cora’s slightest movement gave it life. A matching scarf covered her head and face, while the ends floated behind her.

  Cora and Warren stopped in front of their guests and, without a minister, they began their vows.

  “I stand here before you, Cora Robinson, one of the happiest men in the world. This moment has been a dream of mine ever since I was a boy, and now standing here befo
re you, offering myself as a man, I know the fullness of this moment will never leave me. For me you are all a woman, a wife, a mother should be. You are the fulfillment of my dreams, and the seed for my future. I am filled with joy and pride because you have agreed to be my wife.” Warren reached into his pocket. “And I place this ring on your finger as a constant reminder of what you are to me, and what we will be together. One.” Warren lifted Cora’s hand and placed the ring on her finger.

  For a prolonged moment, Cora stared at it before she lifted her eyes to Warren’s.

  “Warren Gray,” Cora began, “a name and a face that I have known almost all my life. I never guessed that you would be the man to bring me to this place. A place of surrender. Of love. Of hopes, and of understanding that loving one man, truly loving him, can be more fulfilling that a lifetime of experiences. I love you, Warren. I am so glad to say that, to share that with you, and those who have gathered here.” She looked at the sky. “I look forward to our life together.” Her chin lowered and her eyes were on Warren again. “And I hope to be as good of a wife and mother as I know you will be a husband and father. All I ask is that you have patience with me if I lose my way, and know that within my heart this love for you will always lead me back to the right road, my union with you, my marriage.” Cora slipped a ring onto Warren’s hand, and with mutual eagerness they came together in a kiss. Afterward, Cora and Warren turned to the crowd. Two of the ushers picked up the waiting broom and laid it on the grass in front of them. With huge smiles they jumped the broom together and declared, “We are now husband and wife.” Applause erupted and nearly drowned out their last words, “Warren and Cora Gray.”

  Lucille was one of the first to get up. She came forward and hugged her son and her new daughter-in-law. But when Cora was able, she broke away and came over to Laura, who continued to sit by a standing Nebia. Cora gave Nebia a peck on the cheek before she bent over and hugged and kissed her mother. In return, Laura held her so tight it was obvious for all eyes to see.