Excerpt from Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Are you worried," Q asked one evening, "about marrying me?"

"Damn right I am. Every feminist worth her salt outlines the perils of partnering with men and here I am. Risking it all because of lust. ọ bụ ihe ihere—that means it's disgraceful, by the way."

He laughed. "No, but seriously. Did you think you'd end up with someone like me?"

"Nah. Definitely not. And I know my parents didn't either. Dad has probably phoned his sisters back home and told them to call off the search for a prospective Chigozie or Nonso."

"It matters to them? That I'm not Nigerian?"

I kissed his face because there is no easy way to articulate what it means for your loved ones to worry that your person's ability to love you is limited by their inability to comprehend many of your lived experiences. "What matters is that I'm happy."

He caught my head in his hands and kissed me back. "We can start a YouTube channel."

"Interracial content? Swirl Tube? This is what it's come to?"

Q had the best time at our wedding. He loved the culture of it all, surrendered himself to Dad and Nate to be fitted out for his traditional wear for the native law and custom. He laughed the loudest, prostrated even though that is a Yoruba custom, and never once let the sound of Aspen's whispers and tutting wrinkle his mood.

He took photos of me as I stood outside the church. I saw him arguing with Aspen at one point, but he didn't bring any trace of the fight back to our table. We spent a week in Hawaii, traipsing up and down the beach, locking ourselves in our hotel room and tasting salt and happiness.

My wedding dress was an ivory prom dress we found on sale at Debenhams, much to Ma's and Gloria's shock and dismay.

It still hangs in my wardrobe alongside his suit, a pair of unwearable memories, a reminder of what was, what could have been and, now, what never will be.

Excerpted from Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli. Copyright © 2022 by Onyi Nwabineli. Excerpted by permission of Graydon House. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.