Lennox is Shirley’s husband and Rachel and Karen’s dad. He is a doting and supportive husband who treats his wife as his equal. When they have kids, he’s an involved and caring father. Like Shirley, Lennox is the second-generation child of Afro-Caribbean immigrants. In his youth, he was determined to achieve upward mobility but understood that society viewed him, a Black man, as a threat. Growing up in the stop-and-frisk era traumatizes him, and he becomes a lawyer so that he can reform the system from within. One day, Lennox shows up on his mother-in-law, Winsome’s, doorstep and initiates a passionate affair with her. Just as suddenly as it begins, Lennox ends the affair and never speaks of it again. Shirley never uncovers this secret.