Strong Loving: Strong Family, #9

By Niobia Bryant

In the ninth installment of her much-loved Strong Family series, bestselling author Niobia Bryant delivers a new "Sexy, Funny and Oh So Real" romance novella about pulling a broken marriage from the flames and fighting for real love…

Kaleb Strong and his wife, Zaria, beat the odds of a May/December relationship and their different personalities (he's serious and she's playful) to find their happily ever after with each other. Some years have passed and some of the romance has faded. As she nears the eve of her birthday, Kaleb's coolness and distance over the last year has Zaria worried that their fifteen-year age gap has finally taken their toll—especially when a beautiful and much younger journalist seems to be vying for his attention.

When Zaria moves out of their family home with their small children and begins a new life without him, Kaleb knows he has to reveal the secret behind his distance in their marriage and fight once more to prove to Zaria that his love for her is stronger than ever and age is still nothing but a number…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Infinite Ink Presents...
• Release date: Aug 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393689935

Niobia Bryant

Niobia Bryant is the award-winning and national bestselling author of more than fifty works of romance and commercial mainstream fiction. Twice she has won the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for African American/Multicultural Romance. Her books have appeared in Ebony, Essence, The New York Post, The Star-Ledger, The Dallas Morning News and many other national publications. 

Book preview

I am still a true romantic.

I still completely believe in happily ever after and destined souls.

I still write romance because I believe in romance.

And so, this one, like the first Zaria and Kaleb book,

is still dedicated to my heart.

PROLOGUE

2019

Kaleb Strong looked about at his family gathered in his living room. Nearly all were in his attendance, having accepted his invitation to come over. The sizeable room was bursting with laughter, raucous conversation, and love. Always love.

His parents, Kael and Lisha, sat beside one another on one of the large leather sofas arranged into a conversation area.  Their hands were lightly touching—a simple act that was both subconscious but necessary. That was his folks. Shows of affection were constant. Always teaching by example of how to love.

It was all he knew. All he’d seen.

Not perfection in the least, but constant, deep, and lasting.

Strong love.

Licking the sudden dryness from his lips, Kaleb took a deep sip of the bottle of beer he held. It neither quenched his thirst or settled his unease.

Damn.

He took another swig, eyeing the couples in the room over the edge of the bottle. Time and time again there were testaments of love conquering all obstacles.

Business conflicts.

He eyed his brother, Kahron, lock eyes with his wife of over a decade, Bianca. The gaze was heated. They loved each other far more than they had ever hated one another as business rivals.

Grief.

Garcelle sat beside his brother, Kade, laughing and talking excitedly with her fingers lightly stroking the silver curls of his nape. The love of his beautiful Dominican wife had helped heal his brother’s broken heart caused by the passing of his first wife, Reema, who was the mother of his twenty-one-year-old daughter, Kadina.

Being fundamentally different.

Kaeden and his wife, Jade, were the epitome of opposites attracting. He was allergic to nearly everything outdoors and Jade thrived on her business as a wilderness guide. Kaleb mustered a smile at them laughing at something together before she pressed her hand to the side of his brother’s face and stroked his cheek with her thumb. Not even their struggles to conceive had toppled their union. Now they had two children. Jewel was as fearless as her mother and one-year-old Jaeden—complete with spectacles —was the epitome of his number-crunching accountant father.

With a shake of his head, Kaleb took another sip of his beer as Kaitlyn—the baby of the family and the lone daughter—kicked off her sandals and placed her feet on her husband’s lap. Quinton instantly went to work massaging her toes. She was pregnant with his third child. She birthed Quinton, Jr., a chubby toddler, and loved his eldest daughter, Lei, from his first marriage like her own. Quinton’s love for Kaitlyn had helped mature her away from her entitled temperament bred on by years of being spoiled by her father and big brothers.

Kaleb, where’s your wife? his father asked, looking over at him where he leaned against a pillar.

Heartbreak and mistrust.

That had been his parents’ battle to defeat to find love. The retelling of their love story was now a family tradition. They devoted decades to their marriage and their family. Through thick and thin.

Kaleb released a stream of breath that was far steadier than he felt.

I just text her, Meena offered, holding up her iPhone. She’s coming up the drive.

‘Or even amnesia,’ Kaleb thought, after giving one of his twin stepdaughters a brief look of thanks.

Meena gave him a smile and a nod of her head before walking over to where her husband, Armstrong, sat talking to Dane, Neema’s husband. Both young ladies had given birth to twins two years ago and were happy in their marriages.

Love was everywhere. Swelling around him. Humming with its own frequency in the air.

At that moment, he felt stifled and gripped the long slender neck of the beer bottle tighter as he pushed off the pillar and crossed the large space to exit through the front door. He inhaled, thankful for the fresh air and the relief from something he once cherished.

Adoration. Desire. Companionship.

Love.

Shit, he swore, finishing his beer just as a white Range Rover parked in front of the spacious home.

He set the empty bottle on the handrail of the porch as the driver side door opened and his wife, Zaria, exited.

Summer winds blew the ends of her waist-length jet black weave up into the air as she walked over to climb the stairs. He studied her, finding it hard not to do so. She was just as beautiful as the night they met eight years ago. Tall and curvy. Firm. Beautiful features. And not one sign of being a mother of five nearing her fiftieth birthday.

Hey, she said, her eyes shifting over to take in the empty beer bottle.

Kaleb stiffened as he reached for it. You ready? he asked.

She nodded as she slid her hands into the back pocket of the jeans she wore. You?

He shrugged one broad shoulder. It is what it is, he said.

Zaria locked her eyes with his for long moments before she cleared her throat and nodded again as she continued up the steps to move past him. She paused with her hand on the solid black front door. Where are all the children? she asked of the eleven Strong grandchildren ranging in age from twelve to one.

They’re all in the game room with KJ, he said, speaking of Kahron and Bianca’s twelve-year-old son.

Good, she said before entering the house.

Kaleb followed his wife inside before closing the door behind him.

The entire front of the house was one large living space with floor to ceiling windows on each end that gave the spacious area glowing light and made the silver hairs of all the Strong men gleam. Hairs they all acquired prematurely—a family trait.

Zaria came to a stop, not fully entering the sitting area where the majority of the Strong family were assembled. Hello everyone, she called out, raising her hand when all turned to look to her.

Kaleb came to stand by her side.

Finally, Lisha said. We thought you got lost.

Okay, son, what’s this meeting all about? Kael asked.

Kaleb noticed the twins, Meena and Neema, share a look.

We have some news, Zaria said in a soft voice as she forced a smile.

Kaleb felt his muscled abdomen clench.

What’s wrong, Aunt Zaria? Kadina asked from where she sat on a leather ottoman with Lei. Both were twenty-one and freshly graduated from college.

The concern his niece voiced became the expression on all the faces of his family and Kaleb released a heavy breath as he looked down at the toe of the well-worn Timberland boot he wore when he worked his dairy farm.

Kaleb and I have decided to divorce, Zaria said.

The room went still. The silence was deafening. Time seemed to slow down and unhurriedly ticked by just before the family reacted just as they expected.

Tick...tick...tick...tick...

CHAPTER ONE

Three months before

I do. I do.

Zaria Strong stroked her thumb against the smiling face of her husband, Kaleb, in their wedding photo that hung on the wall over the stone fireplace. She so clearly remembered the minister’s question that evoked such an emphatic response from the man she also vowed to love.

Do you, Kaleb, with all the love, commitment, patience, forgiveness, and devotion needed for a lasting union, take Zaria to be your lawfully wedded wife?

She beamed, remembering the day so clearly. How could she not? She went into labor in the middle of the ceremony and most of the wedding attendees joined them at the hospital for the birth of their son, Kasi Dean Strong. He was the gift that made the day even more amazing.

Thankfully they had taken their photos before the ceremony. In the picture, they gazed into each other’s eyes in that moment just before they shared a kiss and there was no doubting that the look they shared was just pure love. So much love.

What happened?

A pang radiated across her chest as she lowered her hand and turned away from the photo.

What’s wrong, Momma?

Zaria eyed Kasi and her five-year-old twins, Kalel and Kaliya, where they kneeled around one of the large ottomans playing on their iPads. Barefoot, she crossed the polished hardwood floor. I’m good, she assured him, lightly stroking his head before sitting behind him on one of the four grey metal sofas forming one of three separate conversation areas in the sprawling open living space.

We’re hungry, Momma, Kaliya said, putting down her tablet in a fuchsia case in the shape of a large bunny.

Zaria reached for her phone where it sat on the leather-trimmed end table beside the sofa. It was well after seven. The days of old, Kaleb always made sure to be home for dinner—even if he had to return to the vigorous work required as a farmer. Lately, he didn’t make the effort.

At first it hurt but after days turned to weeks, she was just annoyed.

No call. No show.

She dialed his number. It rang twice and went to voicemail.

This is Kaleb Strong of KS Dairy Farm. Leave me a message and I’ll return your call as soon as possible.

This was the new normal.

She ended the call.

Let’s eat, she said, rising to lead her little crew across the distance to the newly renovated chef’s kitchen with beautiful copper accents that accentuated the dark wood of the cabinetry.

As the children claimed their seats at the large island, Zaria paused in plating the spaghetti she made to note that her kids no longer questioned the absence of their father during dinner. She frowned and shook her head a bit, but pushed through her irritation and forced a smile as she turned to place a plate before each of them.

Spaghetti! Kalel exclaimed, smiling broadly and exposing two missing front teeth.

Zaria’s heart stung. Of all their children together, Kalel looked the most like his father. Your favorite, she said, carrying her own plate of food and a bowl of garlic bread to the island.

"Me and Daddy," he reminded her.

True, she agreed.

"Can we have my favorite tomorrow?" Kaliya asked.

Brownies? Zaria asked, using tongs to give each a slice of bread. "No, ma’am, maybe for dessert, but not dinner."

Kaliya laughed, exposing that she had two missing front