Page 116 of Written By a Woman

“What are you two, sixteen?” Raina asked with a raised brow.

“We weren’t—well—” Signe flapped her hands a little bit before holding her hand out to my sister, “I’m Signe.”

“I know,” my sister replied, supporting my newborn nephew wrapped to her chest with a hand under his rump, and using the other to shake Signe’s hand, “I have been following you since day one.”

“Oh god,” Signe turned to look at me with a look of horror, which made me throw my head back and laugh at the hilarity of this moment.

“Tariq!” Raina called over her shoulder, “Come meet my brother and his girlfriend while they’re stuck behind the door here.” A young, tall black man with dark, short hair, dressed in a white t-shirt and cargo joggers stepped up beside Raina, resting one of his hands on her shoulder while smiling nervously at Signe and me.

“Nice to meet you,” he nodded at the two of us, before turning to my little sister and murmuring, “Let them out, you monster.”

“Zaid!” My mother gasped, gently pushing my sister and her boyfriend to the side, and opening her arms wide, before hesitating and noticing the state of us. “Were you not expecting us?”

“Uh, no,” I shook my head, “I was not expecting visitors.” I stepped forward to place a hand on Signe’s lower back. My mother didn’t appreciate a lot of visible PDAs, even when my sisters gave quick kisses to their partners in greeting or farewell, she always looked away. I had only seen my parents kiss a few times in front of me growing up, usually when they thought they were alone.

“Susu!” My mother called, making my sister snap her head up from whatever food she was preparing at my kitchen island, “You didn’t tell your brother that we were coming?” My mother placed her fists on her hips with her question.

“Whoops.” Salma winked at us, making Ben chuckle as he stepped next to her to help her with the food.

I leaned down towards Signe, whispering in her ear with both of my hands on her shoulders, “Is this okay?”

She placed both of her hands on mine, something my mother noted when she turned back around to face us, “This is fine,” she turned to look up at me, “Should I go home?”

“No, no, no,” my mother stepped forward and took hold of Signe’s hands, pulling her out of the entryway and into my kitchen with the rest of my family, “I want to officially meet and get to know the woman my son was hiding from me.”

I furrowed my brows at her wording, “I wasn’t hiding Signe from you,” she stopped to give me a disbelieving look, to which I rolled my eyes and admitted, “I just didn’t want you to scare her off too soon.”

“If you would have told me you were seeing someone,” my mother wrapped one of her arms around Signe’s shoulders, “I wouldn’t have paraded another young woman in front of you both.” At that, my mother turned to face Signe. They were similar in height, and neither had to look up or down at each other, “If I had known my son was in a relationship with you, I would have never done such a thing.”

Signe gave her a small smile with a nod of her head, “That’s okay, I appreciate you clarifying that.”

My mother smiled, wrapping Signe in a tight hug and saying, “I just want him to be happy.”

“I do, too,” Signe replied, sending me a grin over my mother’s shoulder.

I felt my body relax little by little, having Signe meet my family and having them accept her with open arms. I wasn’t sure if my mother knew exactly what brought Signe and me together, and frankly, it was fine if she never really did.

“Stop hogging her,” Raina complained from her spot at the island, chopping vegetables with my dad and Ben on either side of her, “I want to talk to Signe, too.”

Signe blushed again before the excited squeal of Zeki filled the space. We all turned down the hallway, where he was running towards her with one of my Spider-Man action figures in his little hands.

“Signe!” Zeki squealed as he lifted his arms up to be held.

She laughed and obliged, pointing to his toy, “Who is that?”

“Spida-man,” Zeki held the action figure with both of his chubby hands, bouncing in Signe’s arms with the energy of a three-year-old who was still deep in his superhero phase.

“He’s a pretty cool guy,” Signe smiled up at me, and the sight of her holding my nephew so comfortably on her hip made something warm bloom in my chest. A vision I would love but wouldn’t push her for. She knew where I stood, and I was more than willing to wait for her to decide whether that was part of our future.

I had already waited this long to have Signe in my arms, and nothing, absolutely nothing, was worth letting her go.

ChapterThirty

SIGNE: MONTHS LATER

“How are presales going?”Jamie asked as she slid into the seat next to Mary. She leaned forward and smacked a quick peck on Mary’s cheek, who had a mouthful of waffles and was leaning over her plate of food like it was her last meal.

“They’re going,” I smiled. I tried not to focus too much on how the book was doing. I still had just under a year before it was officially published, but when I hit a number in presales that I only ever dreamt of having, I realized keeping track of all the numbers was a surefire way to send me into an imposter syndrome spiral.

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