If Memory Serves

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  “I really don’t,” Memory said. “All I know is he had the necklace, and I felt that getting it back was one way I might have a chance of you and Theresa not being angry with me anymore.”

  Sarah touched Lena’s arm. “What Montgomery and my half-brothers did is my battle.” She looked at Memory. “They were the reason I was locked away all those years from my home until Johnnie Mae Taylor, now Landris, with the help of the Lord, aided me to set things straight. Montgomery lived here in this house until I had him removed in October of 2001. So, please, tell me everything you know about him wanting this house.”

  “He wants to buy it from me should I inherit it from you. But I didn’t believe you were really intending to leave me the house, so I didn’t see any harm in signing that paper he had me sign in order for me to get the necklace back.”

  Sarah nodded. “Well, he is correct regarding my intentions for this house. My will does state you’ll inherit this place upon my death.”

  “How did he know that?” Lena asked.

  “Obviously, someone is leaking my confidential information to him,” Sarah said.

  “Do you think it’s your lawyer?” Memory asked.

  “No. My lawyer, Lance Seymour, is a trusted and loyal friend. He wouldn’t do something like that.”

  “What about someone in his office? Maybe Montgomery has someone on his payroll in there or paid them for your information,” Memory said.

  “The Wings of Grace box and the necklace,” Sarah began. “Tell me from the start what happened there.”

  “I gave Lena the necklace. She took out the Wings of Grace box. We broke the seal and unlocked it with its special key,” Memory said, looking at Lena for agreement.

  “Then Gayle came in and told us you were sick and needed us. We got up and left everything on my bed,” Lena said. “I came home later that night from the hospital and, honestly, I wasn’t thinking about the box, the necklace, or anything else except getting some rest. I suppose I thought Richard had put them away when he came home. I asked him about them the day before yesterday, and he said he hadn’t seen them at all.”

  “So naturally she thought I took them,” Memory said. “With my track record, I can’t say I blame her. But I promise you both, it wasn’t me.”

  “Lena, do you believe Memory now?” Sarah asked.

  Lena looked at Memory. “It’s like I want to. But Memory and I have a history. I just don’t know. I can’t think of anyone else who may have moved them or would have taken them except her. Not in that time frame. The timing is suspicious.”

  “Well, I don’t think Memory took them,” Sarah said. “There’s something else going on around here, and I think we need to put our heads together and get to the bottom of it. We must pull together, because the Bible tells us that a house divided cannot stand.”

  “But Grandmother, how can you be so sure it wasn’t Memory who took it?” Lena asked as she looked at Sarah intensely. “I’ve seen what she’s capable of doing.”

  Sarah looked at Memory. “I know because somehow a mother knows when her children are lying. They may not always want to admit that they know . . . but they know.” She took a deep breath and released it. “So let’s see what we can figure out.”

  “You need to change your will and leave this house to Lena or Theresa,” Memory said. “Anybody except me. I may have signed that paper, but I’ll not be a part of Montgomery’s plans to hurt you. I won’t.”

  Sarah placed her hand on Memory’s. “You let me take care of this my way. I may be old, but I still have my wits about me. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. There’s more than one way to crack open an egg. We need to find that Wings of Grace box, though. I have a feeling my mother had something important in there. That’s why she wanted the two of you to open it together.”

  “But what if whoever has the box has already removed its contents?” Memory asked.

  “We’ll just have to pray that’s not the case. Let’s not think negatively.” Sarah reached over and took Lena’s hand, then grabbed hold of Memory’s hand. “Let’s pray.”

  “Yes,” Lena said. “The Bible says one can put a thousand angels to flight, and two can put ten thousand. There are three of us here. Ecclesiastes says that a three-corded strand is not easily broken. We must stand strong.”

  “Lena and Memory, I want you to take one another’s hand,” Sarah said as she bowed her head. “Dear Father in Heaven,” Sarah began. “We come to You asking for guidance and Your help. Please Jesus, order our steps in the way we should go. Keep us strong as a family that we may be pleasing in Your sight. Heal any hurt that still lingers among us. Remove all fear and replace it with love. For we know that love covers a multitude of faults . . . a multitude of sins. Father, we acknowledge that we have all sinned and come short of Your glory. Forgive us. Heal us. Direct us. These things we ask in the name of Jesus, Amen.”

  “Amen,” Lena and Memory said in unison. Memory squeezed Lena’s hand. Lena squeezed back.

  “Let’s do this,” Memory said. “Let’s find out what’s going on around this place.”

  Sarah smiled. “I don’t know where Monica is with our dessert. Could you go tell Monica we’re about ready for dessert now?” Sarah asked Lena.

  Lena got up and went inside.

  “Thank you,” Memory said to her mother.

  “For what?”

  “For loving me,” Memory said.

  Sarah nodded. “I can’t help it. It’s as natural to me as breathing. Don’t you worry now; we’re going to fix this. And you and Lena . . . in the end, you’re both going to be all right. I feel it in my heart.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Hope is always a good start, but don’t ever stop with hope. Always . . . always move on to faith. And not just any kind of faith, I mean the working, love kind of faith.”

  Chapter 36

  For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.

  Isaiah 64:4

  When Gayle returned from her errand, Sarah was in the foyer about to go back upstairs to lie down.

  “How was lunch, Miss Fleming?” Gayle asked as she closed the front door.

  “Divine,” Sarah said. “Monica outdid herself. Then we had this rich chocolate cake for dessert. You know, I’ve always been partial to chocolate.”

  “Yes, you’ve told me. And I told you that you need to be careful that you don’t indulge too excessively, especially when it comes to sweets.”

  Sarah waved her hand. “I’ll be ninety years old on October first. I think I’m allowed some indulgence at my age. I don’t want to get to Heaven and wish I’d eaten just one more slice of chocolate cake that I happened to have turned down because somebody felt it was bad for my health.” Sarah looked at Lena. “Gayle can take me up from here.”

  Lena started to protest, then decided against it. She nodded and went back in the kitchen to find Memory, who had insisted on helping Monica clear the dishes.

  Memory was, in reality, working to find out what Monica knew about the missing items from Lena’s room. She’d remembered that Monica was still at the house when Gayle came in the room to let them know Sarah was ill. The best way to determine who might have taken the things was by hard questioning and the process of elimination.

  When Lena walked in, Monica was closing the dishwasher and turning it on. The quiet rumblings of the dishpan-hand-saving appliance began.

  Monica smiled at Lena, appearing almost relieved to see her walk in. She finished wiping off the kitchen countertop. “That’s pretty near all I can tell you,” Monica said to Memory in her own brand of Southern drawl. “I’m sorry I can’t be more help.”

  “What you told me was good,” Memory said. She stood up. “I suppose I’ll get out of your way,” she said as she walked past Lena and nodded that she was finished with Monica.

  “Is there any more lemonade left?” Lena
asked.

  “Yes,” Monica said. “In fact, I just finished making a fresh batch and put it in the refrigerator. It’s not cold yet, though.”

  Lena walked over, opened the cabinet, and took down a glass. She pushed the empty glass against the button that produced crushed ice. Opening the refrigerator door, she grabbed the gallon glass pitcher of lemonade by its handle and poured—turning the pitcher sideways when her glass was half full to ensure a slice or two of lemon would flow into her glass. Taking a sip, she let out a deliberate sigh to indicate her satisfaction.

  “I tell you, Monica. You make the best lemonade,” Lena said. “Not too sweet, not too tart. It’s always just right.”

  “You sound like Goldilocks in Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” Monica said with a chuckle. “Just right.” She mocked the way Goldilocks said it in the story.

  “I want to thank you for that fabulous lunch. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect!”

  Monica rinsed out the dishrag, folded, and draped it across the divider in the sink for later use. “I’m just glad to have Miss Fleming home safe. She really gave us a scare.”

  “I suppose I’ll go see what I can get done,” Lena said as she made a show of leaving.

  “Lena?” Monica called out to stop her from leaving just yet.

  Lena stopped and turned back toward her. “Yes?”

  “Memory was asking about some things that were in your room that appear to have come up missing. I just want to let you know, I had nothing to do with it. I would never do anything like that. I told that to Memory, but if you don’t mind me saying this, and I know I don’t know her all that well, but you can’t always tell what Memory’s up to or thinking,” Monica said. “She’s not the most tactful. With her, what comes up usually comes out. No sugar or artificial sweetener added.”

  “I know.” Lena took another sip of lemonade. “So, what did you tell her?”

  “Just that about ten minutes after y’all left for the hospital, I locked up and left.”

  “And no one came by before you left?”

  Monica shook her head. “Not while I was still here. And I didn’t go upstairs.”

  Lena smiled and nodded. “Thanks. And for the record, I didn’t think you did it. The best I would have hoped for with you is that you moved them, you know, put them up for me, and just maybe forgot to mention it with all that’s been going on around here.”

  “Miss Fleming’s been too good to me. I would never do anything to cause her or anyone in her family discomfort or stress. And I don’t steal. I just don’t do that.”

  Lena went to Memory’s bedroom. When she walked in, she sat in the wingback chair. They exchanged looks.

  “I believe we can eliminate Monica from our list of suspects,” Memory said.

  Lena sat back in the chair and relaxed. “Yeah, she told me what you were talking about before I walked in.”

  “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t her,” Memory said. “Monica’s too much of a scaredy-cat. If she’d done it, I believe she would’ve broken down or confessed when I questioned her. So let’s go back over everything.” Memory crossed her legs as she sat. “We were in your room. We’d broken the seal and unlocked the box. Gayle rushed in and said Sarah needed us. We got up to go see about her. Did Gayle come to Sarah’s room with us?”

  “Honestly I don’t remember. I just remember running to Grandmother’s room.”

  “I don’t remember, either,” Memory said. “Did you come back to your room after you went in to see Sarah?”

  “No. I had money on me, so I didn’t need my purse.” Lena brushed a speck off the chair’s arm. “Gayle drove us to the hospital in her car, so I didn’t need anything else.”

  “Okay, so let’s scratch Monica’s name off with a tiny question mark beside it. I mean, she could be lying, but my gut feeling says she’s not. And Richard said he didn’t move them?”

  “No, Richard didn’t see them, and he came home after we’d gone to the hospital.”

  “So it looks like whatever happened, happened between the timeline of you and I leaving the room and before Richard came home from playing golf.” Memory stood up.

  “Where are you going?” Lena asked.

  “To talk to Gayle. I’d like to know what she knows, if anything, about this.”

  Lena got up. “You don’t really think she moved them, do you?”

  “Somebody took those things. And I want to know who and what we’re dealing with here,” Memory said. “One way or the other, we’re getting to the bottom of this!”

  Chapter 37

  Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. . . .

  Joel 2:15

  Landris pushed open the door and held it for Johnnie Mae’s mother as she walked into the hospital room.

  “Mama,” Johnnie Mae said, holding out her arms to her mother. Mrs. Gates hurriedly went and embraced her middle child.

  “Hey, baby,” Mrs. Gates said. She rubbed Johnnie Mae’s hair as she stood above her. “I hear you’re not doing so good right now. Well, it’s going to be all right. God is still on the throne.”

  Johnnie Mae looked up at her mother. “You know me?”

  “Now, what kind of a crazy question is that? Of course I know you,” Mrs. Gates said. “You’re my baby girl—Johnnie Mae.”

  Johnnie Mae looked down at her hands. “They have to take the baby early.”

  “Yes. Landris told me.” She glanced over at him. “But I don’t want you to worry none. Just keep on trusting and believing God. He hasn’t failed us yet, has He?”

  Johnnie Mae couldn’t help but smile. Her mother was her normal self again, at least for now. That in itself was a miracle and even that much more special, since it was happening during a time when she really needed her.

  Two nurses came in. “We’re ready to take you in,” one of the nurses said to Johnnie Mae.

  Mrs. Gates took Johnnie Mae’s hand and squeezed it. “It’s going to be okay. Jesus will be there with you. And I’m going to be in the waiting room, waiting on you when you come out—you and my brand-new grandbaby.” She squeezed Johnnie Mae’s hand again, leaned down, and softly planted a kiss on Johnnie Mae’s forehead. Nodding her approval, she stepped back to allow Landris an opportunity to get to her.

  Landris came and took Johnnie Mae’s hand. “Your sisters are here, and Donald. They’re all in the waiting room with my mother and Princess Rose.”

  “Thank you for bringing Princess Rose in to see me so quickly. Your mom and Princess Rose looked so cute dressed alike. Princess Rose is being such a big girl.” Johnnie Mae smiled nervously. “You’re going in there with me, right?” she asked.

  “Of course.”

  She looked at her mother. “Mama, you know you can come in with us if you like. They’ll let you come in,” Johnnie Mae said, looking at the nurses for their concurrence.

  “Oh, no, baby. I’m going to let you and Pastor Landris have this special moment to yourselves. But rest assured, I’ll be out here praying, waiting, and cheering you two—well, actually, three—on. You can count on that.” She came back over and patted Johnnie Mae’s hand. “I’m going to go now. Okay?” She leaned down and gave Johnnie Mae another kiss on her forehead, this time allowing her lips to linger. She brushed her hair with her hand one more time. “Stay strong,” she said as she walked to the door, then left.

  Johnnie Mae grinned before letting out a joyful laugh. “She’s doing so well today,” she said. “Thank God.” She looked up. “Thank You, Lord.”

  “Yes, she is,” Landris said.

  He stepped back as the nurses got Johnnie Mae ready. As they began wheeling her out of the room, she reached her hand out for his. She could see from the look on his face, although he was working hard to hide it, he was concerned. She watched his face and could see his lips were moving ever so slightly. She knew at that moment he was praying. She closed her eyes as she too said a prayer for herself and their baby. And she said a special prayer for Landris, her husban
d, who was standing by her side.

  “You know we’re going to be all right,” Johnnie Mae whispered to Landris as he stood next to her in his blue hospital cap and gown in the operating room, waiting as various hospital personnel were doing the things that needed to be done.

  “I know,” Landris said as he smiled. “I know.”

  Chapter 38

  This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.

  Isaiah 43:21

  Johnnie Mae was in the operating room having a C-section while various members of her family congregated in the waiting room. An hour and a half had passed, and they hadn’t heard anything.

  Donald glanced at his watch. “How long does something like this usually take?” he asked, never one good at waiting.

  “I thought they would have been out by now, too,” Marie said.

  Rachel, who had stood minutes earlier and was pacing somewhat while wringing her hands, said, “Unless there were complications.”

  “Let’s try not to think negatively,” Landris’s mother said. “We must continue believing that everything is fine.”

  Mrs. Gates hugged Princess Rose, who was sitting on her lap, then reached over and patted Virginia’s hand. “Thank you. You took the words right out of my mouth.”

  Rachel sat back down. “Well, you’d think somebody would have come out here and told us something by now. Something. But I suppose no news is good news.”

  “You know what we need to do?” Marie asked. “Pray. We need to pray.”

  Rachel looked at her. “Well, what exactly do you think we’ve been doing all this time?”

  “No, I mean pray as a family,” Marie said. “As a whole. We need to touch and agree as we pray together.”