Forever Blessed (Women of Prayer) (17 page)

Laney used her new pink highlighter to reinforce those words of love. It was during Christmas dinner that Ella’s phone began to ring. Laney wasn’t sure she’d ever heard her phone ring. She knew she had a phone because she had called her a few times, but she was curious as to who it was.

Ella only spoke for a couple of minutes and the conversation was one sided, but it was obvious it was one of her kids. Laney couldn’t help but hear what Ella was saying. “Yes, thank you I did receive your card. Did the children like their gifts?

“Yes, I realize they already have scarfs and hats but I thought they might like one made by their grandmother.” There was a pause then Ella continued. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to get them. I didn’t receive any kind of list and I didn’t want to just send them money.” Another pause. “Yes, I will remember that for next year. Can I tell the kids Merry Christmas? Oh, I see. I’m sure they are busy with it being Christmas and all. Please tell them I love them, okay? Merry Christmas. Goodbye.”

The conversation couldn’t have lasted for more than five minutes. Laney’s heart broke for the woman who was still standing with her back to the table, her shoulders hunched forward. She rose and went to her friend. “I’m so sorry.” Laney hugged her close, wanting to comfort the woman who has been there for her through so much. She was so thankful they could spend Christmas together. Otherwise, Ella would have spent it alone, as she did every other year. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She allowed Laney to lead her to the couch. “Laney, don’t ever do what I did. Don’t stand by and let your husband hurt you and ridicule you in front of your children. They will never forgive you for it.”

Laney felt her lungs scream for a breath. Ella was abused too? This sweet woman who has done so much for others? She kept quiet, waiting to see if Ella would share her story.

“Marsha was only one when her daddy died in the Vietnam War. I was scared. All alone with a little one, no money and no place to go. What was I supposed to do?” Ella looked to Laney, not expecting an answer yet still wanting her actions to be understood, to be validated. “Then Frank came along. He was charming, handsome and he swept me off my feet. He seemed to be everything I needed, a strong shoulder to lean on and a provider for my young daughter who was the victim of circumstances. By the time I realized what he was, it was too late. I had already married him.”

Ella looked guilty, as if she had committed something unforgivable. She tried to explain further. “I was a single parent without any way of providing for us, so I did the next best thing. I married the first guy that asked me. I wish I had known God back then. Maybe he would have shown me a better way to do things.”

Ella dabbed her eyes with the tissue Laney handed her. “At first, I was happy. We seemed to have a good marriage. But things fell apart fast. To my daughter, I was weak and afraid. She thinks I let him beat me and humiliate me. She doesn’t understand that I didn’t know what else to do. Now, she won’t forgive me. She wants nothing to do with me. Somehow she thinks I’ll rub off on her.”

Ella crossed the room and studied the framed pictures lining the mantle.  “Things started off slow, a shove here or there, a push every once in a while. Occasionally he would pin me down on the bed and make me listen to what he had to say.” She stood in front of Marsha’s picture while tears stained her roughly-etched cheeks.

“The more I rebelled, the more I stood up to him, the worse things got. It went from shoving and pushing to slapping and belittling. He would do things on purpose, make things up, blame me, and then punish me for them. He found my fear entertaining. He invented ways to embarrass me, to make me question my sanity and my worth as a human being. The worst thing was, he caused my daughter to hate me.”

Ella took the framed picture of Marsha and held it close to her heart. “She couldn’t stand me. She looked at me like I was the most disappointing person on earth. Even after Frank died, our relationship never got any better. I tried. I really did.”

Ella replaced the frame, and then walked back to the couch.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to burden you. I try not to think about him or about our life together. It is better left alone, behind closed doors.”

She looked at Laney, her eyes pleading. “Please, don’t do the same thing to your kids. They deserve so much more.”

Laney was so thankful that her kids were there. They spent the rest of Christmas day asking for help or wanting to play games. She knew Ella wasn’t completely distracted, but having the kids need her sure did help. She played two games of
Sorry,
helped Joy start her very own scarf with her new knitting needles and yarn, and she played princess with Melanie, who was still refusing to take off her angel costume. They had each other and for now that would have to be enough. All in all it was a good day. One she would later think back on and long for.

             
             
             
Chapter Twenty-One

The call came early, really early. “Laney, it’s Sheila. You awake?”

“It’s five o’clock in the morning, no, I’m not awake. Why are you calling this early?”

“Laney, it’s Keisha. She’s in the hospital. They don’t know if she is going to make it.”

She was wide awake now. “What do you mean, they don’t know if she’s going to make it? What happened?”

“It was Jamal. He beat her badly. It was a couple of nights ago. The neighbors called the police. They found Jamal sitting at the kitchen table eating pizza and drinking beer and they found Keisha lying in the bedroom on the floor, bleeding to death. Laney, they found Junior in the bedroom closet, scared out of his mind.”

Laney felt like throwing up. She held her stomach and moaned. “Is she at Mercy?”

“Yeah, Laney, I’ll pick you up. We’ll go together.”

“Okay, I’m gonna call Ella and see if she can come sit with the kids until they leave for school. I’ll see you in a few.”

Laney was silent on the short drive. Her newfound faith wasn’t strong enough yet to calm her fears, not when they involved someone she dearly loved being mauled by someone she detested.

Keisha’s mother was standing guard over the room. She’d heard enough about Laney and Sheila to know they were friends of Keisha and allowed the nurses to show them the way.

Even though she had warned them of what they would find, Laney ran for the bathroom and lost the cup of coffee that Sheila had brought her for the ride. Keisha was so swollen she was hardly recognizable. Tubes were attached everywhere. She had machines beeping and monitoring. Her face was one huge bruise. Stitches lined the side of her face and disappeared once they hit the bandage that was covering her head. She was breathing, but barely. Gone was the joy and laughter that had once consumed this woman lying comatose. Everything Laney could see was minor compared to what had happened inside her body. Apparently when she had collapsed from the pain, he started kicking her over and over again.

Laney could see Sheila’s lips moving, praying, she was sure. Laney took a giant step backward in terms of her faith. How could God allow something like this to happen? Keisha loved him. She was always talking about him. Now this?

They were only allowed to spend a couple of minutes with her. She was recuperating from all the surgery. She’d spent hours underneath the knife. She had so many bleeding organs from being kicked with steel-toed boots, they couldn’t determine how long he had beat her before he grew tired of it.

Laney sat down next to Keisha’s bed. She wasn’t leaving until they made her. She watched Sheila quietly head out of the room toward Keisha’s mother who was wondering if her daughter was going to survive.

Laney watched Keisha for a moment, wondering if she could hear her. Some people believed people in comas could hear what was going on around them. Some didn’t. Laney didn’t care. She was going to talk to her anyway.

“Look at this mess you are in. Girl, by the time you get better, you’re going to be skinnier than me.” Laney wiped a tear that escaped.

She willed life into Keisha. She tried to find some exposed skin, anything she could hold onto. Both hands had tubes sticking out of them and what didn’t have tubes was covered in bandages. “How did this happen, Keisha? Why? I don’t understand.” Laney pleaded with her friend to fight, to not give up. She turned to God. “Why? Why did you let this happen?” Laney felt her anger build. She had to leave. She was angry with Keisha for taking that scum bag back in, she was angry with Jamal for too many reasons to count, and she was angry with God because he could have stopped this and didn’t. The nurse stepped in and motioned for her to leave.

Laney left without saying a word. The taste of her tears conflicted with the taste of the bile rising within her. She ran out the first exit she came to and shouted at the sky. “Why? I thought you were bigger than this. I thought you could do anything? Was this too much for you? Some great big God you are.” She sat down on the curb and held her stomach with more questions than she had answers for.

*  *  *  *

Sheila headed straight to Keisha’s mom and held her tight. “We are here if you need anything at all.” She pulled back. “How is Junior? Is he with family?”

The large black woman shook her head and wiped her nose with a piece of tissue. “Yeah, he’s with my mama right now. He’s got to go see the social worker later today.” She sat down on the nearest orange chair and blew her nose in earnest. “That boy won’t talk to nobody. He ain’t said a word since they found him. I didn’ know it was so bad. I jus' didn’ know. I’m the one who told her take the fool back. This is all my fault.”

Sheila sat down next to the woman. “I’m so sorry. But you cannot take the blame for this. What Jamal did, the way he treated Keisha, is his fault. Not anyone else’s. He is to blame for what he did. You cannot beat yourself up over this. Junior is going to need you more than ever. You are all he has left.”

“You should’a seen Jamal. They haul’d his butt in and he smilin'. Can you believe that? Grinnin’ like he done nothin’ wrong. Almos' proud. He hurt my baby and he’s proud.”

The women sat together, crying, when they heard an alarm going off and nurses and doctors moving at a rapid pace.

Sheila quickly moved to the nurses’ station. “Is everything okay? Is it Keisha?”

Laney had heard the alarm from outside and went to sit and wait. There were no ready answers so all three women huddled together, waiting for someone to tell them what was going on. It wasn’t long before a doctor approached them. “I’m sorry. We did all we could. There was just too much damage. We lost her.”

Laney let out a sob, not that anyone heard her. Each woman was lost in her own grief. While the doctor led Keisha’s mother back to her baby, Laney took off, running as fast and as hard as she could. Sheila started to follow but she backed off, realizing Laney needed to work off some anger.

Sheila offered to take Keisha’s mom back to the hotel, where she’d been staying.  On her way, she looked for signs of her friend while driving. She didn’t see Laney until she was halfway home, slowly walking with her head downcast. She knew she was crying. She parked the SUV and got out and joined her, not saying a word. After walking for several minutes, Laney finally spoke. “Why? Why? What did she ever do to hurt anyone? She was so gentle and sweet. She had such an innocent faith. She never doubted God, not for a minute, and look what happened to her. What kind of God lets things like this happen to people? Especially people who love him?”

Pulling a tissue from her pocket, Sheila handed it to her friend. “Laney, honey, I don’t have all the answers. I never have. But, I do know I trust my God. More than ever. Do I understand everything? No. Do I understand even a little bit of what my God does? No. But, I do know he knows more than I ever could.”

She pulled another tissue for herself. “I love Keisha too. She touched my life in ways that surprised even me. I’m going to miss her.” She looked away for a second and took a deep breath. “She stopped by a couple of days after Christmas and brought me a gift. I hadn’t heard from her in a while so I was quite surprised. It was the most beautiful teacup I’d ever seen. Little pink flowers with tiny green leafs were daintily placed all over an off white china. The cup and saucer were trimmed in gold and the china was so delicate, so fragile, it was almost see-through. I asked her where she got it and she only smiled and told me she thought of me as soon as she saw it. She gave me a package to give to you too. It’s in the truck. You want to go and see what it is?”