Love Across Colors (Urban BWWM Interracial Romance) by Shauna Hudson Page A

again.”
                  “Oh no, Ma’am. Actually, there is someone here who has come to see you. Do you recognize him?” Wayne asked and dressed back so that she could see Melvin standing there looking shy.
                  Charlotte peered around Wayne
,
and instantly her eyes pulped and her hands flew to her mouth. She walked outside and stood before the man, reaching out her hand to touch his face. “Melvin? Is that really you?” she asked.
                  “Yes, Char, it is me,” he told her as he covered her hand with his own.
                  Tears started falling down the woman’s face instantly. “Don’t cry,” he said to her.
                  She dabbed the corner of her eyes with the tips of her fingers. “Do, come in. Would you all like some tea or juice?” she asked once they were inside.
                  “No, that’s alright, thank you,” Melinda said.
                  Charlotte turned to Melvin now as she sat. “How did you find me? And who is this lovely couple?” she smiled and asked.
                  “This is my daughter and her intended,” Melvin answered.
                  “Oh, it is a pleasure to meet you two,” she said as she extended her arms to them.
                  “They were the ones who helped me to locate you. See, I almost did to them what my father did to us so long ago. I was s
o
distraught when she brought home a white man I lost it, and all I could hear were my father’s words ringing in my ears, telling me to leave you alone and to stick to my own people. That moment has traumatized me for years and even more so when I saw you leaving.”
                  “My dad did the same thing. He was afraid you might contaminate me
,
so instead of risking it, he decided to move right away. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye,” she said as the tears trickled down her face. “I tried to find you after, but I discovered that you were married, and it broke my heart again. I got married after that, but I was never truly happy. He died a few years ago
,
and it has just been me and my animals ever since. I never thought I’d see you again,” she said.
                  “Neither did I. And then I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me , or wouldn’t recognize me,” he told her.
                  “How could I ever forget that face
,
Melvin? It was painted across my mind, heart and soul. I couldn’t forget it if I tried
,
and time could not undo that.”
                  Melinda and Wayne’s hearts were warmed as they listened to Charlotte and Melvin catching up, and it only served to bring the two even closer than they were before. They spent the remainder of their time touring the neighborhood and enjoying the sights, and for all her life Melinda had never seen her father happier
,
; not even when he was with her mother. The love between the two burned brightly still
,
and they were teleported back in time to when the love was strong and there was nothing between them
,
; nothing but the swing and her parasol.
                  By the time they were ready to go home, a little bit of the light had died in Melvin’s eyes. “Will I ever see you again?” he asked her.
                  “I don’t see why not. Don’t you want to see me again?” she teased him.
                  “Desperately,” he told her.
                  “Then we will see each other again,” she smiled as she reached up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek.
                  The ride back home was a long and tiring one
,
and Melvin could barely speak. Melinda was hardly able to get him to comment on anything , or to eat. He seemed to be a man broken when compared to the man she had been seeing for the last few days.
                  “Look at him,” she