“Are you sure you’re feeling all right?” Gabrielle held her arm to help keep her steady.
“Just a little tired, that’s all. But I have plenty of time to rest tomorrow and all next week. Jasmine and I said we’re just going to stay in bed until we feel like getting up when you and Zachary are gone on your little Jamaican honeymoon.” Miss Crowe laughed, then started toward the front of the room alongside Gabrielle, who continued to hold on to her.
When they reached the dance floor, the DJ said, “Oh, looky, looky now! It looks like Mama Esther is about to show us all how this is done. Come on, Miss Crowe. Show them what you can do.”
Zachary looked at Miss Crowe and smiled. He bowed from his waist, then held up their hands in the ready, dance position. Everybody cleared the dance floor, surrounding the edges as Miss Crowe and Zachary began their waltz. When they finished, everyone in the entire reception hall, including those sitting at tables, was on his or her feet, clapping.
Miss Crowe took a few gracious bows, waved to the crowd, then collapsed to the floor.
Chapter 49
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
—Revelation 1:9
Zachary was on the floor giving Miss Crowe CPR. She didn’t appear to be responding. An emergency call had been placed. Gabrielle could tell by how frantic Zachary was that she wasn’t even breathing.
The paramedics arrived quickly enough possibly because this was a hotel and they were always somewhat on standby. They began frantically working on her. Gabrielle saw one of them covertly shake his head to another one as if to say she was gone, although those words were never audibly uttered. One of them just kept saying, “No change.” An ambulance was on the way.
Zachary came over to Gabrielle and held her in his arms. She was crying hard now. How could something like this happen? They were just talking, not five minutes ago. Miss Crowe couldn’t be gone. Not now . . . not today. She just couldn’t be gone.
Gabrielle broke loose from Zachary and kneeled down. “Miss Crowe, open your eyes. Come on now. Please, all you need to do is open your eyes. Miss Crowe, come on. Wake up. You can’t leave us . . . you can’t leave me. You keep fighting, do you hear me?! Don’t you quit on us! We need you. . . . I need you. . . .”
Jasmine came over and kneeled beside Gabrielle. “And I need you, Miss C,” Jasmine said. “You know I do. Who’s going to teach me how to spell words like Mississippi in the fun way that you do?”
Zachary grabbed Jasmine and pulled her up on her feet. Jasmine buried her head into him as he continued to hold her tight.
“She can’t die,” Jasmine said, looking up at him. “We’re supposed to go over everything that happened today. She promised me we would talk about how great everything turned out. And it did turn out great; just like we planned. She can’t die. I can’t lose anybody else. Not now. I’m just a little girl. I can’t lose Miss C, too. Please God, please God. I’m begging you. Make Miss C live.” Jasmine put her hands together in prayer. “I thank You for healing her, right now. I thank You for Your mercy and for Your grace. Lord, please touch Miss C’s body. Don’t let her die. Please, Lord. I’m asking You.”
As Jasmine was praying, the people inside the reception hall began to pray aloud with their own individual prayers. Gabrielle had her hands on Miss Crowe’s shoulder, trying hard not to be in the way of the ones working on her, although they really weren’t working too frantically anymore as they knew she was gone. Gabrielle also began to pray.
But Miss Crowe lay unmoving, peaceful, and still.
Chapter 50
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.
—Revelation 1:10
Miss Crowe saw Zachary when he kneeled down and started pumping her chest, occasionally giving her mouth to mouth even though she knew it was said you didn’t have to do that in order for CPR to work. She could almost hear the song playing that they said you should pump to the rhythm of when giving CPR to get the right pace, “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees.
She saw Gabrielle kneeling down telling her to wake up, to open her eyes, to fight. She saw the paramedics doing all kinds of things. Her heart did go out to little Jasmine when she said they were supposed to recap everything. Jasmine was right; she had promised her that the two of them would do that after everything was over. It broke her heart hearing Jasmine talking about her loss over the years. Miss Crowe was aware that she’d lost her adoptive father in a car accident and her adoptive mother to cancer. Jasmine’s world had been turned upside down and turned upside down again only to feel like it had finally been righted in the past six months or so.
Miss Crowe saw the bright light before her. She’d heard about that light, but words couldn’t describe this kind of light, not this one. Mere words were grossly inadequate! It was so beautiful. She was standing—gliding, more like it—on what appeared to be rows and rows of miles of perfectly uniform clouds. There was nothing but indigo blue and white clouds as far as the eyes could see. She suddenly saw people standing off in the distance waving at her. She felt so at peace, so at home right now.
That was it. She felt like she’d returned home from a long journey and a long time of having been away. As she came closer, she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was her mother and father . . . together. And as though just thinking a thought made things instantly happen, she was right there in front of them. It seemed they wanted to speak, but there was nothing but love exuding from their mere presence. She glanced out of the corner of her eye and, lo and behold, there was her beloved husband. He nodded, then leaned over and gently kissed her on her cheek.
But it was the light that seemed to be the thing that she couldn’t look away from. Inside the light, she saw what appeared to be the figure of a man. But the light was so intense, so stunningly bright, it was hard to completely focus and declare the figure inside of the light for sure. Divine. Yes, divine! That was the best word Esther Crowe could find to describe everything she was seeing and experiencing. It was paradise, a place full of divine divines.
It was then that she knew she was about to cross over. She was leaving the other side and entering pure Divine. She was standing in the presence of what she could only describe as her Lord. She bowed down before the Great Light, which seemed to move closer to her. There was such warmth; there were no words to describe it. Such peace and love she didn’t know how anyone could stand after experiencing this and not want to possess this always and forever.
While bowed down, she heard voices. Only the voices were coming from the other side, the other side of Divine. And the voices were calling for her to come back. But how could she go back? Why would she even want to? She was home now. This was her home. This was Heaven or, at the very least, the entranceway where she’d step over into it. Then all of her troubles, tears, trials, and tribulations would be left behind.
But then she heard Bennie’s voice, of all people. The man who had been filled with such rage and evil at one time that he’d killed his own wife. The man who had gone to prison for that very crime, leaving a beautiful little girl to essentially have to fend for herself. A little girl who would find she’d have to fight for whatever she got and even then, she would be at a disadvantage because she was fighting against folks who had no problem fighting dirty.
Still, Gabrielle had given her life to the Lord, and just look at her now. Esther was proud to have played whatever small role she had in Gabrielle’s life. But now, all of that was over. She’d run her race. She’d finished her course. Now it was time for her to take her rest.
But Bennie was talking to her. Loaded on the gurney as they were taking her body to the hospital to pronounce her death there, Bennie was jogging beside them talking to her.
“You can’t leave now, Esther Mae,” Bennie said.
Esther cou
ldn’t believe he was calling her Esther Mae! She’d told him twice before that she didn’t have a middle name and she certainly wasn’t going to be called Mae by the likes of him. She’d told him what she’d do if he ever called her that again.
“My little girl still needs you,” Bennie said. “You can’t go now. Do you hear me, Esther Mae? Do you hear me, you old stubborn woman!”
“No, he didn’t just call me stubborn,” Esther said what felt to be within herself. “I have told him I’m not stubborn. I’m set. I’m determined. I’m focused. But what I am not is stubborn! Stubborn is what you call a mule.”
“Gabrielle needs you. Jasmine needs you. Zachary needs you. Your family needs you,” Bennie said. “How are you going to just up and leave them like this?”
But Esther Crowe didn’t care what he was saying. Everybody knows we’re not on this earth to stay. They know this place is not our home. They know we’re merely pilgrims passing through this unfriendly land. And they know that no one is going to live forever, that we’re all going to leave this place one day.
Well, this is my day. And I’m fine with it. This place where I am now is beautiful. And when I tell you how beautiful, you’re not going to believe just how much so.
But then Bennie had to go and say one more thing. One more thing, as they rolled her gurney into the parking lot. One more thing as she could see all of the ones she loved following behind her as they were whisking her body away. He had to speak one more thing he knew would likely get her attention.
“Esther Crowe, you listen to me and this is the last thing I’m gonna say to you. Do you really want the day Gabrielle and Zachary got married on to be marred by the remembrance of the day that you died? Do you really want to leave that on them as each and every year they celebrate their glorious wedding anniversary they’re left saddened because you up and died on the very same day? Huh?”
Esther heard a great voice like a trumpet. She felt heat rush through her body. She looked and saw the One in the Light touch her and shake His head as though He was saying either it wasn’t her time to be there or that she had to go back. Maybe the One in the Light knew she was having second thoughts now. And He knew that if He’d asked if she wanted to go back, that she’d say yes. Everything seemed to happen so fast after that, in less than an instant, so she couldn’t say how long for sure. All she knew was that she felt pain in her chest from all the pumping and CPR efforts. She saw a man holding two paddles in the air cheering that they had a pulse now and a heartbeat, although faint.
She was back—back on the other side of Divine.
Gabrielle rushed over to her and softly rubbed her forehead. “Thank God, you’re alive.” Gabrielle was crying, but those were definitely tears of joy. “You came back to us. Thank you. And thank You, Jesus, for hearing and answering our prayer.”
They were pushing the gurney into the ambulance now.
“I’m riding with her,” Gabrielle said to them. She then climbed in, wedding dress and all.
Zachary knew only one could ride in the ambulance, so he nodded to Gabrielle. “I’ll be right behind you.” He blew his new bride a kiss. Still holding tight to Jasmine’s hand (that had sneaked into his) he said to her, “Do you want to go with me or stay with Miss Tiffany?”
“Yes, Daddy Z,” she said. “I want to go with you. Please don’t make me stay.”
He stopped and looked at her, his head tilted lovingly to the side. “Daddy Z?”
“Yeah. My friend Princess Rose calls her stepfather—that would be Pastor Landris—Daddy Landris. And since I technically just found another father, which is Mr. Lawrence—although I’m still working on calling him Daddy anything, even though he said I could when and if I ever felt like I wanted—I’ve decided, that is if you don’t have any objections, to call you Daddy Z.”
He picked her up, hoisting her in the air. “I would be honored and love nothing more,” Zachary said. “Me, you, and your mother are officially family now.”
“Yep!” Jasmine said. “We’ve mixed our sand together and there’s no separating them back out, not now, not ever. That’s what Pastor Landris said.”
“That he did.” Zachary was on his way to his car until he remembered he’d let his brother have it as he and Gabrielle rode over in the limousine Aunt Esther had for them after the wedding to bring them to the hotel’s ballroom.
“Looking for this, little brother?” his brother Yancey said as he tossed him the key. “You go on. Your car is right over there.” He pointed where he’d parked. “You go on after your woman and take care of Aunt Esther until we get there. Both of those women are one of a kind.”
Zachary nodded. He located his car, made sure Jasmine was buckled up, and went to the hospital, where he found Miss Crowe had experienced a heart attack. She was doing okay right now, as it appeared there had been a blood clot that had caused it, and the clot seemed to have passed.
Chapter 51
Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.
—Revelation 1:19
Miss Crowe told of all that had taken place over the time when it appeared she’d died. She told them about this place she’d heard of, the place she was looking forward to going back to again someday, now that she’d gotten as far as the door and gotten to peek in. A place of love and peace and Jesus, His arms open wide.
The doctor told her she really hadn’t gone to the place she called Divine, but that it was merely her brain shutting down after her heart stopped. As for the light she described, he attributed that to the firing of lights in her brain. Yes, clinically speaking she had died, for a good amount of time. And what she experienced was something many have said actually happened, but he was skeptical.
“I’d like another doctor,” Miss Crowe said to Zachary and Gabrielle as soon as he left the room. “I don’t want any doctor working on me who doesn’t believe in God or the afterlife waiting once we leave this place.”
“Aunt Esther, are you serious? He’s really a great doctor,” Zachary said. “One of the best around.”
“He can be great and the best all he wants,” Miss Crowe said.
“But I know what I believe, and I can tell you what I saw. You can’t tell me I didn’t see and experience something when I know that I did. I told him everything I saw when I was declared dead even by their standards, didn’t I?”
“Yes, ma’am, you did do that,” Zachary said with a slight chuckle.
“And didn’t you confirm that everything I reported that I saw and heard when I was supposed to be unresponsive . . . dead . . . whatever fancy term anyone wants to call it?”
“You did indeed do that as well, and with shockingly great accuracy,” Zachary said, scratching his head. “You’ve definitely made a complete believer out of me. But if it was as beautiful as you said, I’m even more surprised that you came back. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to,” Miss Crowe said with a loud sigh. “And you tell your father, Gabrielle, that Benjamin Booker, I’ve told him not to call me Esther Mae, and I resent him using that guilt tactic that he did about y’all’s upcoming anniversaries.”
Gabrielle frowned bewildered. “What about our upcoming anniversaries?”
“Well, as crass as Benjamin was, he was right. The last thing I would ever have wanted to do was to blemish the most beautiful day of you two’s life with you having to remember it also being the day I transitioned—not died, because I’m telling you there’s no death, just eternal life in a different place. This much I know without any doubt now.” Miss Crowe tried to sit up straighter. “But know this: I am leaving here one of these days. And when I do, I don’t want anybody crying for me. You can cry for yourself, but don’t cry for me. Because that place . . .” She shook her head. “I can’t wait to see Jesus and see what’s beyond the light. That’s all I have to say. Everybody got it?”
They all laughed. “Yes, ma’am. Maybe we’ll just throw you a New Orl
eans-style home-going fully equipped with the horses and band and all,” Zachary said.
Miss Crowe nodded with a smile. “There you go! That’s the idea. Just don’t get some cheap band to play. If you’re going to get a cheap band, then don’t even bother. And just know, if you try it, I’ll likely see what you did. And when you get to Heaven, we’re going to have a nice little chat. Oh, yes!”
“Well, we’re going to go now. The doctor said they’re going to keep you and run some more tests while they monitor you. But you should be home Monday if everything pans out as I suspect it likely will.” Zachary hugged Miss Crowe.
Jasmine walked up to the bed. “I’m so glad you’re all right. We still have to do our recap, but it can wait until you’re better.” She hugged Miss Crowe.
“Well, that will be on Monday when I come home. So get ready. Because that wedding you and I put together and attended was off the hook!” Miss Crowe smiled. “We threw down!”
Jasmine laughed and hugged her again, then whispered, “Get well. I love you, Miss C. And thank you for staying here and deciding not to leave us. I know just how beautiful a place it was.” She smiled. “Thanks for coming back.”
Miss Crowe winked at Jasmine as she stepped away.
“We’ll be right outside,” Zachary said to Gabrielle, who was still wearing her wedding gown. Zachary and Jasmine left.
“You were the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen in my life,” Miss Crowe said. “And I know I’ve said it before, but I want to say it again. I love you with all of my heart.”
“Miss Crowe . . .” Gabrielle started to cry.
“Don’t you dare. Don’t you do that. I’m fine. You see that I’m okay now.”
“But I thought I’d lost you,” Gabrielle said, wiping away the tears. “You just did too much. You overdid it. So when you get home, I’m going to take care of you for a change. And you’re going to let me. You’ve taken care of me for too long, and so many times. Now it’s my turn to make sure you’re all right.”
The Other Side of Divine Page 28