Free When Solomon Sings by Kendra Norman-Bellamy

of the one that was really on her mind. She didn’t need Neil’s mother to think she didn’t trust them with her son.
    â€œOh yeah, he’s here.” Ella laughed and reached for her cane that was leaning against the loveseat. “That young’un of mine and that li’l linebacker of yours were outside playing football a little earlier. They’re upstairs getting cleaned up and changed. They ought to be down any minute. I hollered up there and told Sol that you were here when I saw you through the window as you pulled up in the driveway.”
    Shaylynn leaned against the back of the seat and tried to relax. If Neil and Chase came down in jeans and T-shirts, she would just die. Why did she get all dressed up? It was Tuesday, for goodness sake! Why didn’t she just assume that it would be a casual affair?
    The delicious smells floating from the kitchen area were starting to intoxicate her and free her mind from the bondage of worry. She smelled collard greens, some type of fish, and something sweet. On cue, Shaylynn’s stomach released a soft rumble. She had no idea that Neil could cook like that; though it should not have shocked her with Ella Mae Taylor for his mother. “Did he cook seafood?” It was Shaylynn’s favorite, and she hoped the answer was yes.
    Ella laughed out loud. “Chile, he didn’t cook a thing. I baked stuffed salmon and prepared some long-grain wild rice, and collards. For dessert, y’all got some homemade peach cobbler.” She began walking toward the kitchen. Her cane helped her to move a little faster.
    â€œYou did the cooking?” Shaylynn was surprised, but she had eaten Ella’s award-worthy food too many times to be the least bit disappointed.
    The woman flashed a grin and said, “What you think I’m over here for?” before disappearing in the kitchen.
    Did that mean she wasn’t staying for dinner? Shaylynn inhaled deeply and became too hypnotized by the aromas to care one way or the other. Oddly enough, in all the months that she and Neil had been dating, he had never invited her to his home for dinner; they always ate out. As a matter of fact, their time alone at his condo had been very limited. Usually if they were there longer than an hour, it was because the three of them—she, Neil, and Chase—were all there together playing board games or watching movies. That was another one of her rules to which Neil had grudgingly agreed, but for once, Shaylynn wanted to do it God’s way. She’d grown up with such little self-worth and so deprived of love and affection that every boyfriend she’d had since the age of seventeen had been able to talk her out of her clothes without much effort. Even Emmett had done it, but unlike the three before him, he really did love her, and he’d proven it during their brief life together.
    This time, though, Shaylynn would do it right. Not that she thought Neil would try anything; he had been nothing but respectful and honorable. If the harsh truth be told, he probably wasn’t the one she didn’t trust. Shaylynn’s emotions had the tendency to run amok when she was with Neil, and that was especially true when they were alone. The thought of it all sometimes still boggled her mind. Shaylynn had never thought she could love again, let alone desire at a level like this. After Emmett’s death, the thick body of ice that she had built around her heart was soundproof, yet somehow, when Neil talked, she could hear him. And though the glacier was guaranteed unbreakable, Neil managed to shatter it to smithereens.
    Theirs was a relationship that never should have developed, but it had, and when she was with him, she found herself letting her guard down more and more and allowing Neil greater entrance into her heart. But Shaylynn was determined that despite her past record, her heart was all that she’d allow him to enter. This time, she knew she could