Page 123 of The Deadly Candies

“Thank you,” Debbie said softly. Ely walkd off.

When they were alone they hugged. “You okay?” Kathy asked.

“No,” Debbie shook crying on her shoulder and hiding her face.

“Hold on,” Kathy said. “You did great.”

“I saw him Kat. Across the street. He looked so hurt. I hurt him by making him do this,” Debbie wept.

“No! No! He wasn’t hurt, stop it Debbie. He was relieved. He was across that street because he wanted you safe. And he wanted you to be happy and respected here. Stop it. We gonna leave as soon as José come back. So smile and pretend just a little bit longer. Make your Ma happy and proud. Look at her.”

Debbie wiped her eyes and then looked up at her Ma surrounded by the church women fussing over her and Big Mama. Women that typically ignored her when her aunt Brenda back was turned. And her Ma looked so beautiful. Debbie smiled at how she glowed with joy when her father came up behind her and swept her into his arms. They were happy. Kathy at her side saw her father approach her mother. Maybe he wanted proof that her mom wasn’t angry with him. Her mom embraced him immediately and kissed him in front of every one. Somehting her mother never did in public.

“We did it,” Debbie said. “We made them happy.”

Kathy nodded, her heart hurting, beating fast, aching over the fact that she would be away from her parents again, not able to join the joy, not able to marry the man she wanted with them at her side.

“We did it. And that makes it worth it,” Kathy said.

Debbie took her hand and squeezed it. The girls gave each other a sad glance and smile. José walked back inside the gym with Ely. It was time time to go. Time to see the men they did love.

* * *

The back roomof Mama Stewart’s was thick with the scent of collard greens and bourbon, the dim light pooling over the scarred wooden table where the three men sat. Matteo hadn’t spoken since he’d slipped back in, his knuckles white around the untouched glass of whiskey in front of him. Carmelo watched his brother’s face—the red-rimmed eyes, the jaw clenched so tight it could crack teeth. He knew that look. It was the same one their father wore before he shattered something.

He had gone to see Debbie, to steal a glance of her in her wedding dress. He had told himself it was for her, to make her less scared. However, it was a lie. Carmelo had known fear and its dark depths ever since he had lost Kathy. What Matteo saw had broken something inside of him. The woman he loved was before God marrying another man.

Across from them, Samuel Foly, Superior Court Judge of New York, sat with the weary patience of a man used to delivering verdicts no one wanted to hear. His tailored overcoat hung neatly over the back of his chair, his fingers steepled under his chin. He’d come as a favor, not a friend. He loved José, and wanted to reassure him that the life of secrecy he’d introduce him into was more safely guarded if he’d go through with the facrce of a marriage.

Mama Stewart slid a fresh bottle of bourbon onto the table, her gaze lingering on Matteo. “Here, boys. Drink this,” she said softly, before retreating, the door clicking shut behind her.

Carmelo broke the silence first. “Mr. Foly… I gotta ask.” He swallowed hard, the words sticking like gravel in his throat. “This ceremony we’re doin’ tonight—the vows, the papers you brought—it ain’tlegal, right? I mean, it’s still against the law for us to marry Negroes. So even if we sign ’em, we gotta wait for the laws to change. Yeah?”

Samuel’s eyebrows lifted. “Who told you it was illegal?”

Matteo’s head snapped up. Carmelo frowned. “Everybodyknows. That’s why places like Mama Stewart’s exist. That’s why we’re hidin’ in back rooms like criminals.”

“Yeah,” Matteo growled. “It’sillegal.”

The judge sighed, swirling his drink. “You’re kids,” he muttered, more to himself than to them. “New York doesn’t have anti-miscegenation laws. Never has.”

Carmelo blinked. “Miscegenation?”

“Laws banning interracial marriage. They don’t exist here.” Samuel’s voice was calm, but his eyes were pitying. “There’snothingin the books stopping you.”

The glass in Matteo’s hand hit the table with acrack. “Bullshit!” The cutlery jumped. “My friend Tommy—his cousin’s a cop—hesworeit was illegal!”

“Tommy’s wrong,” Samuel said flatly.

Carmelo felt the room tilt. His lungs burned like he’d been punched.All this time.The running, the hiding, the lies—Kathy’s tears when he’d been dragged away before she was packed up and sent to Mississippi, Debbie’s trembling hands as she stood in a church full of people marrying a man she didn’t love—for nothing.

Matteo’s chair screeched as he shoved back from the table. His voice was a raw, broken thing. “My Debbiemarried himfornothing? My son’s gonna call another manDaddy, and it was all afucking lie? She could’ve beenmine?”

Samuel held up a hand. “You’re not listening.Legally, yes, you could’ve married her. But no judge would’ve signed off on it?—”

“You’re a goddamn judge!” Matteo roared. His fist connected with the wall, plaster dust raining down. “You could’ve signed it!”

Samuel didn’t flinch. “I wouldn’t. Not for you. Not even for myself.” His gaze switched to the door, where the muffled sounds of the diner carried on, oblivious. “The world isn’t ready. I’m not ready.”

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