A Familiar Ring

CHAPTER 7: Sankofa

"So, how I get this off you?"

Prosper and Cadence were upstairs in the grand bathroom trying to figure out how to get her out of her dress while simultaneously running a bath for her. He knew how calming being in the water was to her.

"So I'm zipped in on both sides. But then you gotta unhook the skirt right here," she gestured around her waist, "It's gonna look like some bra strap hooks and it's, like, a lot of 'em."

"Damn," Prosper was waving his hands around her body, confused on where to start.

"I know. I been held hostage in this all day. Here do this zipper," Cadence instructed.

Prosper went to unzip the right side of her dress. It had been so tight he could see a bit of the indentation from the zipper on her skin once it was undone. He made his way around to her left side to do the same. As he unzipped he saw the skeleton key tattoo just to the side of her left breast. This tattoo was the match to the keyhole tattoo on his chest. The two decided to get these tattoos one night on a whim shortly after moving to Atlanta together. A key for Cadence because Prosper wanted her to know that she always did and always will hold the key to his heart. The keyhole for him because he wouldn't open up to anyone but Cadence. She couldn't let it just be any key though, because she felt that Prosper was truly the only man to ever have the key to heart. So the vintage style skeleton key she had custom drawn also featured his initials. It was so well designed that anyone who'd ever seen it didn't notice but the intricate iron work of the handle prominently featured the letter 'P' and the key itself was in the shape of the letter 'F'.

"You didn't get it covered up?" Prosper asked as he grinned. Cadence cut her eyes to him.

"No matter how we ended, I'd never try to cover up my love for you," she looked back down to continue unhooking the skirt, "I loved loving you".

"Yeah? Well I'm glad you still got it. I didn't get mine covered up either." He briefly stepped away to test the temperature of the bath water before turning it off.

"Okay now it should be some buttons in the back here, like 4 or 5 of 'em, you see 'em?"

"Yeah"

"Just undo those so I can step out of this without ripping the lace. Then we'll be done."

Prosper did as instructed but was confused when the dress just didn't fall to the ground as he expected. He just stood back staring at Cadence in bewilderment.

Looking over her shoulder she said, "Um, are you going to turn around?"

"Like you don't have nothin' I ain't seen before?"

"You ain't seen this new body!" Cadence rolled her eyes as she turned back around and wiggled out of her dress before carefully stepping over it. Now she was clad in very revealing bridal lingerie.

Prosper refused to leave the room but turned around to give her a false sense of privacy. Cadence turned around to look at him as she covered her breasts with her arm before proceeding to undress completely. She stepped into the bath quickly letting out a long exhale as she sunk lower and lower into the tub. When he turned back around she was just coming back up from under the water. Her silky straight hair was now transforming into lush curls. She rested her head along the edge of the tub.

"You gon' stand there and watch me or you wanna get in?" she asked with her eyes closed.

"Uh, I'm not going to leave you by yourself in this bathroom and I don't really think you want me to get in with you," He was nervous to leave her by herself because he was still scarred from her suicide attempt years prior. And though he really did want to join her in the bath and run his hands all over her body, he didn't feel comfortable doing so without having told her about Nola. So he just sat opposite her next to the tub, letting his fingers trail the water instead of her skin. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Prosper saw tears fall from her closed eyes.