Serena sipped her water and nodded. "You know, we never used to say that when we first found this spot. Mister P's was our thang! Now we're old, with 'bills and babies,' as that North Richmond preacher used to say when his services aired on TV and radio."
"You're not talking about Jason Lyons, are you?"
Serena snorted. "Please. Jason is all over the local and national news since that magazine article hit the newsstands. But no. I'm talking about the pastor of that North Richmond church off Brookland Park Boulevard, the one my mother used to listen to faithfully on the radio when I was growing up."
Erika turned the conversation back to Jason. "Speaking of Micah's former colleague, what do you guys think about how he's blown up, about how Standing Rock has become a national phenomenon?"
Serena shrugged. "It's hard on Micah, just the way it all went down. He truly believes that God called him to start an inner-city ministry, not to be focused on television and mega-church stardom. But to see Jason and the folks at Standing Rock doing so well makes him doubt himself. He says he's glad to see God's message getting out there; he just prays that the messengers are sincere. Micah's just trying to be faithful where he's planted."
Erika took in Serena's weary smile. "What about you?"
"Me?" Serena said and sighed. "I'm hanging in there. The twins are blessings, but they're driving me up the wall. Tawana and Misha are moving in for the summer in a week, and Micah's sister and her kids will be visiting. And did I mention that I'm pregnant?"
The waitress arrived, as if on cue, with their fried catfish sandwiches, cole slaw, and fries. She smiled at Serena. "Congratulations," she said and left the table. Since they weren't regulars anymore, she didn't know Serena or Erika like some of the other staff had.
Erika's eyes widened. "Did you just drop a bomb on me like it was nothing?"
Serena continued as if in a daze. "I can't believe I've told you and I haven't told Micah. I think I'm afraid it's another set of twins."
Erika reached for Serena's hand, to nudge her back to the present. "Serena, what is going on?"
Serena looked at her and let the tears spill. "I'm just overwhelmed, E. Miss 'Got It All Together' needs some help right now."
Erika squeezed her hand. She wanted to know more, like a due date and why Serena was so anxious, but now wasn't the time to pry. She had been in a similar place once, one that no words could describe or soothe.
"Consider it done." If she needed to take the twins off Serena's hands, help with housework, or take her out for dinner once a month, she'd do it. "But first you've got to talk to your husband, okay?"
Serena wiped her eyes and nodded. "I will. Maybe I'll do it as soon as I get home. He's watching the boys now." She tried to smile. "You know I love you, right?"
Erika waved her hand dismissively, but her heart warmed. "Go on, with all the mushy talk. Let's eat."
Halfway through their meal and small talk about Erika's looming interior design exam, Serena turned the tables. "Didn't you tell me that Derrick was going to help you prepare for this exam? Why are you taking a class at Commonwealth University instead?"
Erika glanced at her watch again. "Class begins in thirty minutes. I've got to find parking and all that. I don't know if I have time to go into it right now."
Serena sat back in her seat and folded her arms. "I guess you'll be late today."
Erika sighed. "You're getting the Cliffs-Notes version. Basically, Derrick has written me off. He told me until I figure out what I want to do regarding my marriage, he's out of the picture."
Serena raised her palms. "You can't blame him, Erika. Derrick is a good man. He hung in there a long time, waiting for you to decide what you want, with no real commitment to date or anything. What brought this on?"
"That day at your house, at the picnic," Erika said and took a sip of her tea. "That was his final straw."
"But how can you let him go when it looks like your marriage is over anyway? Didn't you say Elliott is engaged?"
Erika nodded. "That's what his last few letters have said."
"So now you're opening them?"
Erika felt the sting of interrogation. "I'm just confused, Serena. If he's changed, maybe we need to try to work things out."
Serena leaned toward her friend. "Erika, I think you and I both need an intervention."
Erika laughed at Serena's mock seriousness.
"I'm only partially joking," Serena said. "You are fantasizing about returning to a man who beat you for years and who has finally told you that he's marrying someone else. You're losing a man who loves you, flaws and all. Look at the pattern here, sis."
Erika dismissed Serena's diagnosis with a toss of her head. "I think Elliott is just bluffing, Serena, to see what I'm going to do. I think he's tired of waiting and he's ready for me to make up my mind. I'm torn."
An ambulance whizzed past and Serena looked out of the restaurant window on to Second Street. She smirked and folded her arms.
"Think again, Erika, and take a look."
Erika, whose back was to the window, turned to see what had caught Serena's eye.
Elliott was walking toward Mister P's at a leisurely pace. He held hands with a tall, voluptuous version of actress Vanessa Williams, who smiled at him with pouty lips and star-struck eyes. He said something that was obviously funny, because she threw back her head and laughed. He leaned toward her and kissed her neck.
Erika's mouth fell open. She watched the scene with mixed emotions. Did this mean she was free? Did she want to be?
15
It was true.
Serena lay across her bed and raised the thermometer-like white stick to her eyes every few minutes to double check the pregnancy test reading.
She had as much as told Erika she was pregnant yesterday, but she hadn't known for sure. She was five weeks late, so what else could it have been?
Now it was official.
She had given the boys their baths and taken one herself, to relax her tense muscles. Afterward, she decided to pull out the EPT and get it over with. She would finally know for sure whether the signals her body had been giving her were accurate so she could begin to wrap her mind around the reality of it.
The two blue lines said it all. The McDaniels nursery was open for business.
When Micah came home tonight, she would share the news.
Serena held her stomach, which hadn't been flat for a few years now, and imagined another life growing there.
"God, you have a sense of humor," she whispered. "I take a prayer walk and tell you I need help to get myself together, and this is your response?"
She uttered the words facetiously, knowing full well that when she took that walk yesterday she already was with child. Plus, how dare she have an attitude about getting pregnant when she had struggled for years to conceive. She thought about the miscarriages, the hormone shots, the false hope she had lived with before God had decided to bless her womb naturally with twins.
Tears formed at the miracle of it all. Serena rose from the bed and shivered. It was late May, but their drafty house was often cool in the evenings. She thought about making herself a cup of tea, then remembered that she didn't have decaffeinated.
Think about the baby.
There went her Diet Cokes for the next nine months. The chocolate, she'd have to ration. Right now, socks were the next best option for warming her up quickly.
She opened her drawer but decided she didn't want to wear the thin trouser socks left over from her days in the working world. She rummaged through Micah's drawer and found a thick pair that he wore when he played basketball with Ian or some of the guys from church.
"Perfect."
When Serena pulled the folded socks from the drawer, a sliver of folded white paper floated out and hit the floor.
Where had that come from? Micah's side of the dresser top was always cluttered with papers, but this had come from the drawer.
Serena knelt to pick it up and was surprised to see a famili
ar handwriting. Bethany's.
She opened the torn slip of paper quickly.
Her heart raced as she read the cryptic note.
We need to talk. Call me asap. B.
Serena slumped to the floor. This had to be some kind of joke.
Not her Micah. Not with that. . . diva.
There had to be a legitimate explanation.
She sat there, wracking her brain, trying to recall if Micah had mentioned something recently about Ian or Victoria or even Bethany asking to talk with him about a matter of faith. Nothing.
Except for the letter that had come in the mail from Bethany last week. She'd meant to ask him what that was about, but had been so distracted by the Black Visionaries feature with Jason Lyons that she'd forgotten to bring it up. He hadn't bothered.
The more her imagination danced, the sicker she felt. Serena clutched her stomach and remembered. The test. The baby.
This couldn't be happening. She heard a thud that finally made her get up from the floor. As she rose, she glanced at the clock—9 p.m. and no Micah. Until an hour ago, she wouldn't have thought anything of it. Now, it could mean the worst.
Serena put one foot in front of the other and propelled herself toward the twins' room. She knew the loud bump she had heard was probably Jaden. He fell out of the bed and stayed deep in sleep on occasion—just often enough for her not to be startled. Serena found him as expected and tucked him back in with his favorite bear.
On the way back to her room, images of Bethany paraded before her eyes . . . Bethany in the form-fitting pantsuit she'd worn to church last week, just the second time she had ventured to New Hope. Bethany stopping by a few weeks ago in a tennis outfit that accentuated her long legs, just as Micah pulled into the driveway and a sweaty Serena finished cleaning the flour-covered kitchen from a mess the boys had made. Bethany calling Micah at the church last month when Serena had been in the grocery store hunting for the mischievous Jaden.
Serena sank to her knees at the foot of her bed. She turned her eyes heavenward and let her heart speak to God's.
At times like this, when she was hurting and unsure of herself, she wished she could pick up the phone and commiserate with her mother. It had been seven years since Mama's death, but when the yearning for Mama's unconditional love and wisdom was at its peak, Serena longed for her like she had slipped away just yesterday.
Mama would have understood this crisis without her uttering a word. Mama would have told her how she had made it through the rough spots in her own marriage and how Serena could navigate this nightmare.
But Mama was resting with the Lord, and as Serena had been learning in the years since her passing, she couldn't rely on anyone else's convictions. Her own faith would have to see her through.
16
Tawana folded the last pair of Misha's shorts and tucked them into the drawer. She set a photo of herself, her daughter, and her mother on the dresser that had once belonged to Serena's mother and checked the suitcase on the bed to make sure she had put everything away. The spacious, pale blue room, down the hall from Serena and Micah's and the boys' bedrooms, felt like home now.
She was back in Richmond and she was happy. After all that had transpired in the past month, it had been good to leave the Boston area. Tawana knew she had to return for her final year of law school, but she hoped this time away would prepare her to go back feeling a lot better about herself and ready to focus on the right things. Whenever she spent time with Serena and Micah, that seemed to happen.
And maybe this time she'd be able to give something back to her friend. When she wasn't working, she could help out with the twins or with a project around the house. She could see that Serena was struggling, but Tawana knew that came with the territory of being a perfectionist, a trait that she, too, had trouble managing.
This summer clerkship was an awesome opportunity to show her skills, learn new ones, and find a mentor with insight into the criminal defense profession. She had already decided that she was going to be the star among the summer associates, whatever it took. She'd begin that journey in three days, and she couldn't wait.
Tawana heard Misha's bubbly laughter floating on the wind. She strolled to the window that overlooked the backyard and saw Micah pushing her daughter higher and higher in one of the swings. The boys were nearby, seesawing as fast as they could. Misha looked her way and waved. Tawana returned the gesture and searched for Serena, then remembered that she was in the kitchen putting away the turkey spaghetti, one of her quick-turnaround staple meals that also happened to be Misha's favorite "Aunt Serena dish."
Misha had been ecstatic when Tawana told her they would be spending the summer in Richmond, at her godparents' home. Ms. Carter had settled in with Ms. Brenda and promised to call and come by often.
Misha's days would be full. After a six-week stint in a creative arts program in the city's West End, the soon- to-be third grader would enroll in a North Richmond camp near Serena's home that emphasized physical fitness and academic skill building.
Tawana marveled at how she was a student paying for these experiences for her daughter when, as a child, she'd never been exposed to them herself. Ms. Carter hadn't even known such programs existed.
When she learned that her law firm stipend was going to be slightly more than she had expected, Tawana also decided to give Serena and Micah something modest for rent and groceries. They had insisted that their home was hers and that she save her money for critical needs. However, she wanted to pull her own weight, especially since the McDaniels were living on a single income. Even with paying them, she would be able to cover camp costs and save for Misha's back-to-school expenses.
Serena's sons were young enough that visits to area parks and the Children's Museum were all it took to excite them. She had offered to watch Misha as well, but Tawana knew her daughter would quickly grow bored and become a handful.
Still, Misha continued to reiterate how lucky she was to be spending the summer with Jacob and Jaden, the two little brothers she had "always wanted."
"If you have to work all the time as usual, that's okay, Mommy," Misha had told Tawana over dinner earlier tonight, soon after they arrived. "I have to help Aunt Serena with Jake and JayJay, so I won't miss you as much."
Tawana, Serena, and Micah had laughed heartily at her grown-up offer, and especially at how in a matter of hours she'd decided that the boys needed nicknames.
Yet Misha's pronouncement had also reverberated within Tawana. She hadn't forgotten Serena's advice from a few months earlier, that Misha needed some special time with her. Tawana planned to make that happen; she just wasn't sure it would be before she finished law school.
~~~
Downstairs in the kitchen, Serena also watched the children and Micah at play while she washed the dishes from dinner. Just a few hours into their stay, Serena knew it was going to be a joy having a little girl in the house.
She glanced at her purse on a nearby counter and thought about that slip of paper tucked inside, with Bethany's alluring message to Micah. Tawana had offered to babysit tonight so she and Micah could go out for dessert or a movie. She had something more important in mind.
Whatever he said to her after she confronted him, she had made up her mind. As she soaked her hands in the suds, listened to the children's glorious laughter, and thought about the child growing in her womb, Serena readied herself for battle.
17
For the fifth time in the past half hour, Erika dialed the numbers to Elliott's cell phone. As she had done the previous four times, she clicked the off button before pressing the final digit.
What would she say to him? Why was she calling, anyway?
Seeing him last week with another woman had been a wake-up call. Like Derrick, he too had obviously grown tired of waiting for her. Elliott and the mystery woman had strolled past Mister P’s restaurant that day without seeing Erika or Serena and had entered another Jackson Ward eatery.
Erika had been tempted to follow
them, but restrained herself. She just couldn't believe it. After all of these years, Elliott Wilson had finally moved on? Then why had he continued to string her along, with greeting cards and calls, and requests for dates? Why hadn't he released her so she could move forward with her life, too?
When did he ever think about you?
As quickly as that challenging thought surfaced, she ignored it.
Aaron trotted into the room, spotted her on the sofa surrounded by textbooks, and crawled into her lap. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and laid his head on her chest.
"Hi, Mommy. What time is it?"
Her little old man.
"Hi, sweetie." She kissed the top of his head and hugged him. "Did you have a good nap? It was about time for you to wake up."
His midday Saturday snooze had given her an opportunity to review materials for the prep class for her fast-approaching interior design exam, but she'd wasted a good chunk of time holding the phone.
She glanced at the digital clock on the DVD player. It was just three o'clock. Serena's half sister, Kami, had agreed to come by at four to babysit so Erika could run to the grocery store and complete a few other errands. At least that was what she'd told the girl.
What she really wanted was to talk to Elliott face-to- face, to make peace with his decision so she could figure out God's plan for her life.
Love doesn't hurt.
She recalled her last in-depth conversation with Derrick, and his almond brown face filled her mind. She tried not to think about the way he looked at her, as if his eyes were boring into her soul.
Wonder what he's doing right now?
She pushed the thought away and fanned the bare fingers of her left hand out in front of her. She had long ago stopped wearing the stunning diamond Elliott gave her when they married, but why couldn't she remove his invisible hold?
Erika gazed at Aaron, who snuggled next to her and closed his eyes again. All that she had once loved about her husband was wrapped up in her arms, in this small package.
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