Page 61 of Lovers' Dance

“Well, it’s true,” she admonished. “That’s what they’re calling you. A white-washed hoe. No traditional black man is going to want you now. How could you do this to me? Didn’t I raise you right? You know he’s using you for sex.”

Could a person die from humiliation? The way I felt, it was likely. Dante exchanged an embarrassed look with me, then tried to calm my aunt down.

“Aunt Cleo, come on now. Madi’s twenty-six, a grown—”

“Grown what? She isn’t grown. The girl’s got no sense at all. Just like her mother. Now everyone knows what a wild woman she was—”

“Aunt Cleo, please don’t say that,” I interrupted.

She continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Shaming my brother, God rest his soul. Did you think about that, Madison? Did you think about what he would say if he was alive? To see you carrying on like this? Isn’t it enough that they try to persecute us every which way they can? Why couldn’t you find a nice, stable, black man?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and stared at my clasped hands. Dante tried again to defend me.

“Auntie Cleo, maybe you’re overreacting—”

“Am I done talking?” She fumed. “Don’t you get sassy with me, young man. You’ve been coming to my house since you were nine-years-old, and I can still smack sense into you.”

Dante shut his mouth. Aunt Cleo was not someone to mess with. She was thousands of miles away, an ocean between us, yet I felt cowered. It boiled down to the way we were raised. You did not disrespect your elders, especially in black families. Do so at your own risk.

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking white men are different over there, Madison. They’re just as bad. Filling your head with nonsense to sleep with you, that’s all they want. He sure as hell won’t marry you. A rich man like that is only out for one thing and you’re serving it up with no thought of the consequences. You might as well put chains on and call him massa—”

“How dare you!” Matt exploded in a hard voice. My head snapped up at his outburst. Did I not tell him to stay quiet?

“Who’s that?” Aunt Cleo asked uncertainly.

I gave Matt a mean look before hastening to say, “No one, Aunt Cleo. It’s the TV. Look, can we please discuss this later? I’m at work—”

“I’ve been calling you on your cell and the house phone since yesterday, but you were too busy living it up in Italy, like some mistress with that man. Wearing that skimpy piece of string, showing your ass for the whole world to see. Your uncle hasn’t stopped arguing with me, blaming me for your behaviour. Did you think about us before you decided to parade about with that man? Jamal and Jenny are embarrassed, seeing pictures of their cousin all over the Internet like that.” She let out a loud, weary sigh.

“Aunt Cleo,” I tried to make my tone firm, “Think about your blood pressure. I don’t want you to worry about this. I’ll fix it.”

“Fix it? The only way to fix this is to stay away from that man, you hear? Stay away from him. Dante?”

“Yes, Aunt Cleo,” Dante answered.

“I want you to put my niece on a plane and send her home—”

“Wait a minute,” I said, flustered at where the conversation was going. Damn it. I was twenty-six years old, even if sometimes I didn’t act it.

“No, Madison. You come back home. I’m going to take you to church, and don’t tell me you’ve been going to service over there because I know you haven’t.”

“I can’t.” I looked beseechingly at Dante. He held his hands up in defeat.

“If you don’t come here, I’ll come over there and sort you out. I’m sure Dante’s mom will enjoy a trip to England. It’s obvious you two don’t know how to act right.”

“But I didn’t do anything,” Dante argued. I staggered over to where Dante stood. This was a farce.My life was turning into a farce.

“You’re just as responsible. Educated, strong, black man like you letting her get involved with someone like that. Why you haven’t married her yet is beyond me. You’re twenty-eight. Time to settle down and have babies, Dante.”

Oh God. I avoided Matt’s gaze like my life depended on it.

“We have to go Aunt Cleo,” I muttered. “I’ll call you later.”

“You better call, or—”

“Love you,” I said in an attempt to block another one of her verbal assaults.

“Humph. I love you too, sweetie. Stay away from that man.”

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