The Truth Is the Light (20 page)

Chapter 43

“G
abrielle?” Jessica said. “Are you still there?” “Yes. I'm sorry, but you're not supposed to contact me. That was the agreement. I wasn't supposed to know who you are so I couldn't come back later and try to see or take back my baby if I changed my mind. And you weren't supposed to contact
me
.”

“But you signed for your daughter to be able to find out about you,” Jessica said.

“After she turned, eighteen, yes. But she's not eighteen yet,” Gabrielle said.

“No, she's eight. And she's a beautiful, fun-loving little girl who is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant so that she'll have a chance to even
see
eighteen.”

Gabrielle sat down before her wobbly legs abandoned her completely. “Are you sure?”

“Gabrielle, the only thing that could have made me call you is if there was no other hope, no other way, if all was lost. I'm sure.”

“About a month ago, a woman from the Red Cross called me about donating . . .”

“That was at my request. I was hoping you would consent without having to know who it was for. But you wouldn't talk to her about it or agree to it—”

“Why didn't you tell her to let me know what was going on?”

“Because legally, she couldn't do that. She could call and ask you about possibly being a donor, but she couldn't go any further than that. Now things are declining drastically. My daughter is going to die if she doesn't get a match. My husband and I had all the money anyone could ever want or need. And we have loved that little girl since you released her to our hearts. She has been the love and joy of our lives. My husband died in a car accident five months ago. Now I'm facing the possibility of losing her if we don't find a bone marrow match. You're her mother. It's a great possibility your marrow will be a match for her. If she has any siblings, her sibling could also be a match.”

“I don't have any children,” Gabrielle whispered.

“Maybe her father does if neither of you are a match for her. The doctors say siblings are likely to match even better most times than a parent. My baby has a rare disorder that generally strikes children. I realize this is a lot to ask of you and definitely not what you signed up for when you gave her up for adoption. Ms. Mercedes, you gave her life once. Please help to give her life again if you possibly can. Please.”

Gabrielle started to cry. “Yes. Yes. Tell me what to do. Tell me what I need to do.”

Jessica started to cry also. “Thank you. Thank you so very much. I have prayed about what to do. I know this is not the norm. But when it's your child, you'll do whatever you have to do to keep her healthy, happy, and safe.”

“I don't know whether I'll be a match, but I will certainly do all that I can to help save . . . your daughter's life. Whatever I can.”

Jessica told Gabrielle she would call back with the instructions of where she would go to be tested to see whether she was a match. Gabrielle prayed that she would be. And if she wasn't? Well, the alternatives, either of the alternatives left—the child's father, who would be a titanic problem because of who he was now, or one of his children—would not be a good scenario to deal with. Not good at all.

“Lord, please, please, Lord. Let me be a match. Help me to be able to help this child one more time. Please. Please.”

No sooner had she hung up than her doorbell rang. She wiped her tears away, put on a happy face, and went to answer it.
Zachary must have finished up earlier than he expected,
she thought.
Thank You, Lord. Because I really need him right now. I really do.

Chapter 44

G
abrielle opened the door. “Hello,” Aunt Cee-Cee said. “Hey girl,” Gabrielle's oldest cousin, Laura, said as she stepped inside. “You've gained weight.” Forty pounds overweight, Laura struggled past a size 8 Gabrielle.

“Get in the house and quit dillydallying around,” Gabrielle's third oldest cousin, Angie, said to her two children. Angie looked around once she stepped inside the foyer. “Girl, this house is the bomb. How come you haven't invited us here before?” She handed her ten-month-old baby daughter to her mother. “Mama, here. Take Jenice while I check this place out,” Angie said. “Y'all know I need my own room because I have these three children, so don't nobody start tripping.”

“Hold up,” Gabrielle said to no one in particular. “Excuse me, but am I missing something here?”

“Our luggage and things,” Angie said. “I need my stuff. Luke and Jesse are getting them. They are slow as Christmas. But Daddy said we not gonna kill him trying to haul all our junk by himself.”

“Nobody move!” Gabrielle yelled out when it was apparent no one was paying her any attention. Gabrielle turned to her aunt. “Aunt Cee-Cee, what is this?”

“It's exactly what it looks like. It's us moving in with you,” Aunt Cee-Cee said, placing a hand on her hip.

Gabrielle started shaking her head. “Uh-unh. No. That is not going to happen. You all need to turn right around and head right back to your own house.”

“We don't have a house to head back
to,
” Jesse said as he strolled past her with two large suitcases in tow.

Gabrielle looked at her aunt. “What is he talking about?”

“Can we please go in the den and talk about this?” Aunt Cee-Cee said.

“No. Nobody's going anywhere until I find out what's going on.”

“They foreclosed on our house, we were evicted, and we don't have anywhere else to go,” Luke said, bringing in three suitcases. “Where should I put these suitcases? They're Angie's bunch.”

“Just sit it where you are,” Aunt Cee-Cee said. “Until we straighten out who will be where.”

“You're not staying here,” Gabrielle said. “I don't know how to say that any clearer. You can go to a hotel, a motel, the Y, or a shelter. But you can't stay here. You can't.”

“We can't afford a hotel. There are too many of us for the Y or the shelter. And it doesn't make sense, since we have family that has a place big enough to accommodate all of us where we can stay,” Aunt Cee-Cee said.

“We let you stay with us when you needed somewhere,” her uncle said when he came in.

Gabrielle looked at him, then had to look upward. “I know you didn't just say what I think I heard you say. I know you didn't.” She began to stare at him. “You're not staying at my house. And you know full well why. He's not staying here,” she said to Aunt Cee-Cee. “I'm telling you, this man is not staying in my house.” She turned back to her uncle. “Don't force me to call you out in front of your family.”

“Honey, let me handle this,” Aunt Cee-Cee said to her husband. “Go get the rest of our stuff out of the vehicles.”

“No, don't go get anything else out of anything. And you need to take what's in here already and haul it
right
back to your cars, trucks, SUVs, whatever,” Gabrielle said.

“Mama said you were a Christian,” Angie said. “What kind of a Christian are you supposed to be?”

Gabrielle clenched her teeth. “Tonight we can
definitely
call me a WIP—work in progress.”

“Well, don't it say somewhere in the Bible that when we didn't have a place to stay, you opened up your home and gave us a place?” Angie said.

“What do you know about a Bible?” Luke said, laughing. “You're just parroting what Mama said when we were getting ready to come over here. I told y'all I didn't want to come here anyhow.”

“Well, where are you going to go?” Laura said. “You don't have a job. You don't have a girlfriend that will let you come and stay with her. Where you gonna go? Huh?”

“I have friends,” Luke said.

“You're not staying with any of your hoodlum friends,” Aunt Cee-Cee said.

“None of them will let him stay with them anyway, and he knows it,” Angie said. “He just wants to feel like somebody likes him.” She popped her chewing gum three times successively. “What you got to eat in this house? We're hungry. Mama told us we could eat when we got over here.”

“Gabrielle, please, just let us in first,” Aunt Cee-Cee said. “Then we can sit down and discuss this. We don't have anywhere else to go. You know I'm telling the truth. You can't just let us sleep out on the streets or out in our cars. We have a baby and small children here. Come on, now. Let's see if we can't work something out, at least for tonight.”

“Okay,” Gabrielle said. “But don't bring all of your stuff in, just what you need to stay one night.”

“Sure, sure,” Aunt Cee-Cee said.

“Can you show me to my room?” Angie said to Gabrielle.

“Y'all are so trifling,” Laura said to no one in particular. “That's why you won't have to worry about me, Gabrielle. I just need to get the okay from my two friends saying I can rent out their extra room, and I will be
out
of here.”

The doorbell rang again.

“It's open!” Gabrielle yelled with frustration.

“Hey. How are you?” Zachary said as he walked in and found Gabrielle in the midst of the crowd of people. “Are you having a party or something?”

Gabrielle threw him a look that more than expressed just how much she wasn't in the mood to play. “Not tonight, Zachary. Not tonight,” she said.

Chapter 45

G
abrielle grabbed Zachary by his arm and escorted him to the kitchen. “Do you believe this? I don't believe this. This can't be happening.”

“What is it?”

“They were evicted. Their house was foreclosed on, and they were put out on the street. And you know where they decided to come? Here with me. But they can't stay here. They just can't. I have too much going on to have to deal with this right now.” Gabrielle broke down.

Zachary pulled her into his arms and held her. “What else is going on?”

“Just before they all came crashing into my home, I got a call from the woman who adopted my daughter.”

“She called you? But how? I thought that was something sealed and couldn't happen unless it was an open adoption.”

Gabrielle stepped back. “The woman is well-off. She has more than enough money and the means to do whatever she wants. Her little girl is in need of a bone marrow transplant. And according to her, it looks bad. She didn't want to call me; she
had
to. My . . . her little girl is dying, and she
will
die, if they don't find her a match.”

“Wow. You are having a rough time. I'm so sorry, Gabrielle. Did she tell you what it is, what the child has that's requiring her to need a bone marrow transplant?”

“No. And I didn't ask, because frankly it doesn't really matter
why
she needs it; she needs it. That's the only thing that matters : she needs it.”

“You're right. So what do
you
need? What can I do to help you right now?”

Gabrielle's body slumped. “How about getting these people out of my house?”

“You want me to? Because I can go in there right now and tell all of them to leave, if you want,” Zachary said.

She smiled. “It's really not your problem. I'll handle it. But thanks anyway.”

“Well, as much as I hate to say this, at least you're talking to me again. I was beginning to worry you were trying to get rid of me.”

Gabrielle didn't respond.

“All righty then. Well, we still have tickets to see
The Color Purple
tomorrow. What time do you want me to pick you up?”

“Oh, Zachary.”

“We're still going, right?”

She looked at him. “Did you not see all of these folks in my house when you came in?”

“I saw them. Either they'll be here tomorrow or they won't. Either way, that shouldn't keep you from going to see a show you've been excited about seeing for the past month.”

She shuffled her feet a few times. “You know how much I want to see it.”

“Then I'll pick you up around five?”

“Ah,” she said, bending her head back, looking up at the ceiling, then bringing her head back straight. “Yes. But make it five-thirty. I'm not going to allow them to steal this from me.”

“And I don't mean to tell you how to handle your family, but I will tell you this. If you let them stay without a clear exit strategy agreed upon from the beginning, you're going to find yourself with a real problem,” Zachary said.

“But they're family.”

“And you're not responsible for their well-being.”

“But aren't I my brothers, sisters, aunt, uncle, and cousins' keepers?” she teased.

“I don't think that's what that scripture is talking about. And before you say anything, I realize my sister has been at my house for a while, but I believe the two situations don't even compare. My sister wanted her own place. I talked her into staying with me. Plus, she's been a lot of help.”

“I know,” Gabrielle said with a whine. “And those people out there—”

“Excuse me,” Angie said, “but are you planning on cooking or ordering something to eat? We're really hungry. And Mama said for you to bring her something to drink.” Angie left the kitchen.

“Ground rules and an exit date,” Gabrielle said. “Because they are not about to make me lose my religion.”

Zachary laughed as he grabbed her and hugged her. He placed her face gently between both his hands, pulled her head slowly toward him, then kissed her on her forehead. “If you need to, now, you know you can always escape to my house.”

“You'd better be careful with your invitations. I just might take you up on it.”

“But I was serious. If you need to get away, or if you need some peace and quiet, my house is your house.” He kissed her forehead again. “Oh, this is hard!” he said, realizing just how much he loved her, and how much he wanted to take her into his arms and literally whisk her away from all of this. “This is
really
hard.”

She looked at him. “Yeah,” she said, as though she knew exactly what he was talking about. “It is, isn't it?” She bit down on her bottom lip.