Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Kennedy Ryan
- Language: English
- Genre: Multicultural & Interracial Romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
Ruth
1983, Atlanta, GA
Shabbat Shalom
The words come—sudden, unexpected. A greeting my heart offers when
there is no one to reply. No one for me to say it to. Friday evenings, once a
day of rest, a Sabbath, are now the most restless days of the week. My soul
churns, yearns for rest, but there is no peace here tonight.
“Your ass is set!”
My husband Alfred’s animated words thunder from the living room,
shattering the small moment of quiet I found for myself by a steaming tub of
water. It’s our first time having anyone over since we moved. With the food
out, our new neighbors all entertained, I used my baby’s nighttime bath as an
excuse to slip away. Despite my melancholy mood, Alfred’s laughter and
booming voice coax the corners of my mouth up in a smile.
“Sounds like Daddy’s winning,” I say, pressing my nose to my son’s. He
gurgles back, laughing and stretching his little starfish palm toward my face.
He squirms as I lower him into the warm water. A grin squints the corners of
eyes the same color as mine, a blue so deep it’s almost purple. The contrast
with his golden skin and cap of springy dark curls is striking. Some of me.
Some of his father. Wholly himself.
Is he adopted?
The cashier had asked today, the syllables dragged into a molasses
drawl, her wide eyes flicking between my son and me. It’s not the first time
I’ve been asked that since we moved to Georgia. Even in New York, this
petite Jewish woman carrying this baby boy drew the occasional stare. But
here? Every time I venture out, they can’t seem to look away. Some are
discreet, at least trying to hide their curiosity, but many don’t even bother.
From my experience so far, the famous Southern hospitality is, at least in our
case, overruled by good old-fashioned nosiness. Sometimes outright
rudeness.
I squeeze baby shampoo into my palm and rub it into his soft hair.
“What have we done bringing you here, Ezra?”
I was so ready to get away from my family in New York, I didn’t fully
consider where we were going. My husband couldn’t turn down a full ride to
Emory University, and my mother and I were barely speaking by then.
“Alfred Stern,” my mother had said, savoring the name. “And a business
student at Columbia? What a catch, Ruth.”
I could practically hear her thoughts. A nice Jewish boy with a nice
Jewish name and a bright future. Well, she had the bright future part right,
but I knew my atheist boyfriend, with his imposing height, smooth dark skin
and stubbornly godless heart was not what Mother had in mind. I’d always
assumed I’d marry someone from my own neighborhood. Certainly someone
Jewish. Alfred walked into the bookstore where I worked and swept me off
my feet without even trying.
“Lord above, they’re gonna come to blows out there playing spades.”
I look over my shoulder to find Janetta Allen, one of my new neighbors,
whose husband is in law school with Al. She stands in the bathroom door,
arms extended keeping her baby girl, Kimba, away from her body.
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