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Authors: Vanessa Davis Griggs

BOOK: The Other Side of Goodness
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Chapter 11
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
—Habakkuk 1:8
 
 
 
D
eidra brought the telephone over to Lawrence. “It's William.” She handed the phone to her husband. “Should I hold off on finishing getting dressed for this evening?”
Lawrence smiled. “No. I told you that we're going out, and
nothing
and
no
body is going to change that.” Lawrence held the phone in his hand. “So you just go right on and finish getting all dolled up for your man. This won't take long.”
Deidra looked at him as though she didn't believe him. Lawrence could understand why she would feel that way. This wouldn't be the first time he'd stood her up for a night out on the town after receiving a call from William.
“Go on now, baby. Go on and finish getting ready.”
Deidra walked out of the bedroom and into the master bathroom. As soon as Lawrence was certain she was out of ear- and eyeshot, he scurried out of the bedroom and down the stairs into the den.
“What's up?” he said to William, barely above a whisper.
“I have some good news and some better news,” William said.
“Better than what you already told me earlier today at lunch?”
“Oh, yes. Now you know we have the best folks around working on our behalf. Of course, you also know that I don't trust cell phones when it comes to discussing most of our business. That's why I had to wait until I was home and could call from my landline to your landline.”
“It's
that
good?”
“Oh, it's that good! Do you want to hear the long version or the short?” William said.
“Give me the short version. Deidra's upstairs getting ready for our date, and the last thing I want is to be late in taking her out, especially during these obviously contentious times.”
“Okay. The short version is Miss Goodness and Mercy is dating an up-and-coming doctor named Zachary Morgan. And my sources tell me the good doctor is trying to get his clientele up and going. Of course, you know that in starting up his business, he's incurring quite a bit of debt. Then there's Miss Gabrielle's family.”
“She has a family? But I thought she was single—”
“I'm talking about her aunt Cecelia and uncle Dennis Murphy and their four delightful grown children.”
“There's something on them that we can use?” Lawrence asked.
“If we need to. Although my sources tell me that the relationship between them may be strained at the moment. Looks like Aunt Cee-Cee has gotten herself into a bit of a jam by forging a signature and embezzling money that didn't belong to her.”
“Aunt Cee-Cee,” Lawrence said with a bit of nostalgia. “If I recall correctly, she was the one that put Gabrielle out on the streets with no place to go. I don't know how much Gabrielle will care when it comes to them.”
“Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence,” William said as though he was saying his friend just didn't get it. “When have I ever come at a thing from merely one angle? I can use the aunt's situation, believe me. Cecelia Murphy is being charged with stealing. She needs a good lawyer or it's very possible she's on her way to jail. Now tell me: What do you think our helping her out would be worth to her? Huh?”
“Well, if possible, I'd like to keep the list of folks involved in whatever we do down to as few people as possible. I don't like it when you get too many players. It's a sure recipe for problems down the road, and I don't need any more problems than I already have. Let's just see if we can get Gabrielle to go away and be done with it.” Lawrence glanced at his watch. “Listen, I need to get off this phone. I don't want to do anything to disappoint Deidra. Not at this point.”
“So I have the okay to proceed on this matter?”
“Go with the one that's the least messy and will meet up with the least resistance. I'd like to nip this before it ever gets a chance to bloom.”
“All right; I'll get my folks right on it. You know that my people's horses are swifter than the leopards and fiercer than the evening wolves. When I dispatch them on a prey, they fly like a hungry eagle in a hurry to feast.”
“Just make sure when they're done, we're not left with more of a mess to clean up than what we started with,” Lawrence said. “I've seen your people's handiwork; they can be quite brutal.”
“Hey,” William said. “You either want it done or you don't. There's no in-between.”
“Fine, William. Do what you need to do and just keep me updated. But not tonight,” Lawrence said. “Tonight, I'm turning off my cell phone and focusing on making things right with my wife. I can already see we're going to have a long road ahead of us to this next election. I don't need to have to deal with a wife with an attitude to boot.” Lawrence looked up and saw Deidra walking into the room. “And speaking of my beautiful wife,” he said, hoping she hadn't heard any of what he'd just said. “I have to hang up now. This vision of beauty just entered the room.”
Lawrence clicked the END button. “Baby, you look absolutely stunning!” He walked over to her, scanning her up and down as he took note of the V-neckline, black and white, silk, bold-abstract-print, belted dress. “How did I become so blessed that God would even allow me to be able to behold such beauty this close? Huh? Tell me. And tell me who designed that dress that's fitting you all
over
the place? Uh-uh-uh.”
Deidra smiled. “Oh, so you like this? I'm glad to hear that. It's a Venus flytrap by Emilio Pucci. It cost a little over two grand, and that was the on-sale price.” She did a quick twirl as she smiled. “I just came to let you know that I'm ready.”
“Yes, ma'am.
That
you are. But the question is: Am I ready? Because I can already see that I'm going to have to fight off the men from staring at you tonight. Wow! Let me run the phone back upstairs, get my jacket, and we'll be on our way.” He started out of the room, turned back to his wife, then kissed her. “Wow!” he said. “Look at
my
baby. Nothing
but
the best, on the best,
for
the best!”
Deidra giggled. “Boy, you are so silly.”
“I'll be right back.” He ran upstairs, returned the phone to its base, put his jacket on, checked himself in the dresser mirror, then smiled. “Thank You, God. I can see things are already looking up!”
Chapter 12
For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
—Habakkuk 2:11
 
 
 
“W
hat's wrong?” Zachary asked a crying Gabrielle as soon as he arrived at her house and she answered the door. She'd been crying a lot these past four hours. And she still hadn't heard a word back from Lawrence.
“I need to go,” Gabrielle said.
“Go where?”
“To the hospital. Jessica just called. She's falling apart. She asked me to come to the hospital. She's never asked to see me before. She and I have never really met in person, except for that one time when she came and took the baby out of my arms. I didn't even look at her that day; I don't even know what she looks like. This has to mean things are taking a turn for the worse for Jasmine. I don't know if I can do this. I can't let her see me crying like this.”
“Then I'll take you,” Zachary said.
“No. I don't think that's a good idea. Jessica wants as few people knowing what's going on as possible.”
Zachary gathered Gabrielle up by her shoulders. “I'm going with you. Understand?”
Gabrielle timidly nodded. She was glad he wanted to go with her. She didn't know what to say to a mother who had possibly just been told her daughter was taking a turn for the worse and time was running out. It had just been hours ago when the two of them spoke and she told Jessica she was there if she needed her. She didn't really think Jessica would take her up on her offer, and definitely, not this soon.
“Zachary, before we go . . . there's something I need to tell you.”
“Okay. But if you like you can tell me on the way.”
“No. I need to tell you here . . . right now. Because after I tell you, you just may decide that you don't want to have anything more to do with me. And if that's the case, then I'll be the first to understand.”
Zachary smiled. “Nothing you can tell me will make me feel like that. So what is it? What's going on?”
Gabrielle looked up, closed her eyes, opened them, and looked at Zachary with a nervous smile. “It's about Jasmine's birth father.”
“Yeah?”
“I told you that I went to see him.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I didn't tell you everything. And I need to tell you. I don't want there to be any secrets between us. And since I botched it so badly with him when I saw him, things just might get ugly.”
“So, is this guy a gangbanger or something?”
Gabrielle shook her head. “No, not a gangbanger.”
“Then he's no credible threat.”
“I don't know about that,” Gabrielle said. “His name is Lawrence.”
Zachary smiled. “Lawrence, huh? You don't hear of many black men named Lawrence these days. Lawrence. I
assume
he's black. Is he? Not that it matters.”
“Yes, he's black. And his name is Lawrence Simmons.”
Zachary nodded. “Okay, Lawrence Simmons, like that congressman's name of Lawrence Simmons, the one that's made the news lately after he switched from the Democratic Party to the Grand Old Republican Party. He defends his actions by saying he's now with the party of Lincoln. Only Lincoln did something that benefitted people of color. The Republican Party these days could
give
a flip.”
She briefly cast her eyes downward. “Not
like
that Lawrence Simmons . . . is.”
Zachary frowned. “Excuse me? Come again?” He tilted his ear toward her.
Gabrielle nodded, then leaned her head back before straightening it to look into Zachary's eyes. “Jasmine's birth father
is
Representative Lawrence Simmons.”
Zachary jerked his upper body back. “Whoa!” he said one octave lower. “You're kidding me, right?”
“Nope. I'm not kidding you.”
“But he's sort of old, isn't he? He has to be close to fifty. I mean . . . he's old enough to be your father.”
“Yes . . . he
is.
”
“And you're telling me that you and him—”
“Yes. Me and him. I'd just turned eighteen at the time.”
“But how... how did something like that even happen?” Zachary held up both his hands as though he was surrendering. “I'm sorry, that's really none of my business.” But the look on his face said otherwise.
“I told Jessica, when she called me earlier today, that I'd spoken with the father.”
“Wow. You have to give me a minute to process this.” Zachary walked away from Gabrielle. “He appears to be such a wonderful family man, spouting off all that family-values stuff, claiming to be a Godly man, deacon of his church for over twenty years, a man of integrity. And you're telling me that Mr. I Love My Wife and Family, ‘my wife and I have been madly in love for the entire twenty-nine years of our glorious marriage' had an affair with you some nine years ago?” He looked at her.
She stepped up to Zachary. “You say that as though you don't believe me?”
“No.” He gathered Gabrielle by her shoulders. “No. Of course I believe you. I'm just trying to process all of this.” He let go. “You say you saw him earlier today?”
“Yes.”
“I can imagine how
that
conversation most likely went. The man is up for reelection. Word on the street is that he's pretty much done for. Something like this getting out will bury his chances of being reelected for sure. He was already so desperate that he switched to the Republican Party. A black man running as a Republican is hard enough. But a black man in the south running as a Republican is . . .” Zachary shook his head. “Let's just say me and those traveling in my circle are all scratching our heads on this one.”
“Lawrence didn't believe me. But then, I did do something that gives him plenty of a reason to doubt me at this point.”
“And that would be?”
“Lawrence had wanted me to get an abortion. He thought I'd gotten rid of the baby. So you can imagine what it was like for him to have me show up telling him that not only didn't I get rid of the baby, but that she's now eight . . . close to nine years old and in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant—”
“And him taking the test to find out whether he qualifies as a possible match could surely expose him as suspect to having fathered her.”
“No,” Gabrielle said, shaking her head slowly. “I told him the way for him to do this without him ever being exposed, just like any other anonymous donor can do. I told him that. Zachary, I'm really not trying to hurt him. I hope you know that's not the type of person I am.”
“Oh, I know that.” He shook his head. “And I didn't mean to imply that you were.”
“All I want is to get Jasmine the help she desperately needs. And poor Jessica is about to completely lose it. I'm not sure what kind of faith she had going in, but she certainly sounds like she's given up on God at this point. That's a dangerous place to be.”
Zachary moved closer to Gabrielle and lovingly cupped her face. “And what about you? How are
you
holding up through all of this? This has been a lot for you to process and deal with.”
Gabrielle stepped away from Zachary so he wouldn't be able to look in her eyes when she spoke. “She's not my child. She's Jessica's. I gave my child up. I gave up my right to care when I signed her over to them.”
Zachary grabbed Gabrielle's wrist and turned her back toward him. “And you still love her. And it's okay. In fact, I would wonder what's wrong with you if you didn't.”
Gabrielle began to cry. Zachary held her. “Yes. I love her,” Gabrielle cried. “And I don't want anything to happen to her. I don't want her to die, Zachary. But I don't know what else I can do to help her. I . . . don't . . . know . . . what . . . to . . . do!”
Zachary continued holding Gabrielle. “It's okay. I understand.”
Gabrielle looked up at him. “Do you? Do you really? Do you understand that I love her so much and I'm afraid she's going to die if I don't do all I can to help her?”
“Yes, I do.”
“And do you understand that I practically threatened to go public if Lawrence doesn't do what he can to at least try and help her?”
“You didn't threaten him, did you?” Zachary looked worried. “Tell me you didn't threaten him.”
“Well, in a backhanded way, I suppose it might have come across that way.”
“That wasn't a good thing to be doing. He
is
a government official, you know.”
Gabrielle pressed her lips tightly together. “I know. But I lost it. I asked God to forgive me because I didn't come off as the best example of a Christian with him. But he was trying to deny the baby could even
possibly
be his. I told him he's welcome to take a paternity test if he doesn't believe me. I told him he can donate the marrow anonymously if he turns out to be a match. I don't want to expose him on this. But I also know that I could care less about his reelection bid if that's all that's holding him back from doing what he can to help save Jasmine's life. I just want to get Jasmine the transplant she needs. That's it. Maybe I'm just being selfish. I don't know. It's been hours since I told him and I haven't heard a peep from him. Nothing. I've called his office again and left several messages, but . . .”
Zachary held Gabrielle tightly in his arms.
“I'm okay,” she said, trying to push loose. “I'm okay.”
He continued to hold her tight.
“I'm okay,” she said. “Really. I'm okay. She's not my child. She's not. She belongs to somebody else. She's Jessica's little girl. I'm just . . . I'm just—” Gabrielle broke down completely. “Oh, Lord! Please help me! I don't want her to die! I don't want her to die! I don't want . . . my child . . . to die! God, please don't let my baby die!”
Zachary kept his arms tight around her, holding on to her as she crumbled to the floor. He wouldn't let go.

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