Fiction

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Later that night after the Williamses had gone home and Charles and Angie had tucked Jeremiah in and kissed him good night, Charles said to Angie, "Honey, I'm kind of tired. I'm thinking of going to bed early. How about you?"

"Me, too," Angie agreed. "I am bushed!"

Charles and Angie put on their pajamas and brushed their teeth. When they were done, they climbed into their bed. "I'm glad LaToya and I are friends," Angie said.

Charles took her hand. "Me, too, darling," he said. "I am glad she's finally over her anger."

Angie nodded. "It's wonderful how close she and Ty were. He was a really great guy," she said. "I can see why you'd love him like a brother."

"Yeah, he was," Charles agreed. He put his arms around Angie and held her close. "Oh, gosh, I wish you had met him growing up."

"But from what I did know about him after I met him, even before I heard all of this, I knew he was great. And his grandmother--wow! That was an amazing quilt! Did your grandparents or great-grandparents ever make a quilt to tell a story?"

Charles leaned back against his pillow, still holding Angie. "Well, darling, they didn't have a quilt, but my grandma loved to scrapbook. She gave me a scrapbook of me and my family visiting her and pictures of many milestones in my life, including my baptism and graduation, and pictures of us together on holidays and me eating cookies she always made whenever I came over." He sighed. "She was an amazing woman."

Angie sat up and sighed and sat with her head in her hands. She was near tears. Charles sat up, too. "Angie, baby, what's the matter?" he asked, rubbing her back and neck.

"Oh, Charles," Angie sighed, "you and Ty have families you can be proud of. Me? My dad was a Klansman. I feel like my family name has been totally tarnished, totally besmirched. Your families are wonderful."

"Come snuggle with me," Charles said as he lay back down, gently laying Angie back down and pulling her into an embrace at the same time. He kissed her temple and held her as tightly as he could. "Angie, you're the same wonderful and beautiful woman I've always known you to be. Who your dad was will never change the way I feel about you. Who your dad was doesn't define who you are. I know you helped fight for civil rights for my people, and I will be forever thankful for that. You are your own person, and you are raising our son to be a wonderful, loving, godly man. Believe me, my angel, nothing about you could ever be besmirched." He kissed her again.

"Oh, Charles," Angie said. She and Charles kissed.

Just then Jeremiah came in. Charles and Angie sat up. "Jeremiah, what are you doing up?" Angie asked.

"I couldn't sleep," Jeremiah said. "I can't stop thinking about everything that happened today."

Charles picked Jeremiah up and sat him on his lap. "It was quite a day, wasn't it, son?" he asked.

Jeremiah nodded. "Daddy, I'm glad you and Mommy and Ty's family are friends."

"Me, too, son," Charles said.

"I wish Ty had been there. I would have loved to meet him," Jeremiah said.

Charles kissed his son. "You will meet him someday in Heaven," he assured him.

"Mommy, Daddy? Is it OK if I slept with you?" Jeremiah asked. "I don't know what it is, but on restless nights, somehow the rhythm of Daddy's soft snoring puts me to sleep."

Charles and Angie laughed. "Well, all right," Angie said. She and Charles kissed Jeremiah, and then they turned off the lights, and they all went to sleep.

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