The Jeffersons

The small Memphis home that LaDonna and and Elizabeth shared was abuzz as summer was ending, and Elizabeth's white children had come home, all filling the house again at once.

LaDonna barbecued out back, the thick Black woman all smiles and laughter. Lamont kept trying to get his stepmother upstairs to check out a finicky toilet, but Elizabeth wouldn't budge, having fallen for that trap more than once. Elizabeth's Black children were playing monopoly.

It'd taken time to come to accept that her youngest daughter was both a lesbian, and pregnant with a Black baby. Jane's hand occasionally slipped to cradle her daughter's belly, which showed now, as possessive as if she'd put the baby there herself. Katie had admitted she wanted a large family, and it was clear she was a chip off the block.

Emily and Jaren had also arrived, clearly in love with each other, to Lamont's consternation. And everyone was surprised that Aaron was there with a Black girlfriend, although it was clear to all that she was more than he could handle.

If only Douglas could see this, Elizabeth thought with a smirk.