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

“Hi, Miss Patricia. How are you? I remembered my mom said she was going out with you, so I was hoping you would stop by and I could say hi,” Leah’s six-year-old replica said. She was holding her favorite toy of the moment, a Polaroid camera. Leah’s sister Libra sent it for her birthday two weeks ago, and Lyra had been popping pictures ever since. That bright light was Lyra capturing the two of them mid-kiss.


“Lyra Victoria Velaz-Tubman, I know you are not standing in my kitchen, snapping pictures. Now I’m going to close my eyes and count to ten. When I open them, the camera is going to be on the table and you are going to be in bed. One,” Leah said, dramatically drawing her eyelids down.


She had gotten to five when Patricia said, “I think she is settled in now.”


Opening her eyes, Leah saw Patricia and the babysitter staring at her.


Chapter 12