La Toya Hankins

Leah Tubman had no way of knowing the informational interview she had in 2008 with the shapely marketing manager would lead to her planning a same-sex Southern wedding, complete with a rabbi and rum cake, seven years later. She and Patricia Goldman may come from different faiths, but their love knows no bounds.<br><br>When the two women meet, they don’t need a Supreme Court decision to fall in love, but thanks to the split June 2015 ruling making gay marriage legal in the United States, they plan to make their interracial mixed love affair official with a fall wedding. It takes an allergy scare and a brunch complete with sex and syrup to bring them close to wedding bliss, but Leah wouldn’t have it any other way.

Challah and Callaloo

Leah, for her part, had engaged in a fling with a programmer who worked for IBM, which Patricia encouraged. Things had seemed great until they weren’t. Patricia returned the favor with flowers and funny movies she treated Leah to when her temple sponsored a Jewish comedienne film festival the week before Hanukah. Even their age gap wasn’t an issue. They both had fond memories of the first time they saw Michael Jackson perform on TV. For Patricia, it was seeing them on the Ed Sullivan show when she was ten. For Leah, it was Motown 25when she and her parent had newly moved to Delaware in 1983. Sure, there were some cultural references that flew over each other’s head, but for the most part, they operated in sync like the 90s boy band.


Taking their friendship to a different level was a major step, but Leah felt she was ready. The time had come for them to face the potential of combining cultures, challah meets callaloo.


Chapter 8