Who Said It Would Be Easy?

by Cheryl Faye

Noticing that their server had delivered the wine they’d ordered, Stefàn took her hand as he said, “Let’s have a toast to celebrate our love.”

  August 6th

  All praises to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

  Thank You. Thank You. Thank You, Father, for the best birthday I have ever had. You have blessed me in so many ways I cannot even count them all, and You keep blessing me. I just spent the most amazing evening with Stefàn. You put us together for a reason, Lord, and I believe I know what that reason is. I have prayed many times for someone to love and for someone to love me. He wants to marry me. He’s willing to wait for me. He promised he would never try to compromise me or make me forsake my vow of abstinence. He loves me more than that, he says. I can feel his love when he looks at me, when he touches my hand, when he puts his arms around me and when he kisses me. I knew when I made the vow that the true test would come when I met someone I care deeply for and was faced with their willingness to respect my position. Thank You, Father, for sending me Stefàn. Also, because he has been away from the church for so long, but has now willingly returned with me and is trying to learn more about You and about all You do for all of us. I’ve only recently returned and am beginning to understand and live for Christ, but with Stefàn I think we can grow in Christ together. What I know, I can teach him. He wants to understand. What I don’t know, we can learn together. Thank You, Father. Thank You for blessing me with this wonderful man.

  CHAPTER 16

  MEET THE PARENTS

  Once they had all gone home and changed from their church clothes to more casual attire, Julian and Michele met up with Stefàn and Charisse and followed them to her parents’ home in Springfield Gardens, Queens. It was almost two p.m. when they walked into the spacious backyard of the elder Ellisons. Already in attendance and scattered around the yard were Charisse’s older brothers, David and Johnny and their families, Star and her daughters, Christina and Candice, Myra (who had been picked up by David), her cousin, Jewel with Terry, and several other of her relatives.

  John Ellison was at the grill, turning a slab of ribs when Charisse walked up and hugged him from behind. “Hi, Daddy.”

  “Hey, baby girl! Happy birthday! I was wondering when you were going to get here.” Putting down the fork he’d been using, he turned and gave her a big hug, lifting her off her feet, and kissed her cheek.

  Charisse giggled as she always did when her father gave her one of his bear hugs. “Thanks, Daddy.” She turned to Stefàn then and said, “You remember Stefàn, right? From Jewel’s wedding.”

  “Of course, I do. How are you, son?” John asked with a genuine smile as he reached out to shake Stefàn’s hand.

  “I’m good, Mr. Ellison. How’ve you been?” Stefàn asked.

  “Can’t complain. I knew I’d see you again.”

  Stefàn smiled and looked to Charisse for her reaction. She merely blushed.

  “Mr. Ellison, these are our friends, Julian and Michele and their son, L’il Jay,” Stefàn stated, making the introductions.

  “Hello.” John greeted them cheerfully, shaking Julian’s, Michele’s and L’il Jay’s hands in turn. “Welcome. Make yourselves at home. There’s plenty to eat and drink.”

  “We have a case of sodas and Coronas in my trunk,” Julian said. “I’ll run and get them real quick.”

  “Thank you, Julian, but you didn’t have to do that,” John said.

  Julian shrugged. “No big deal, Mr. Ellison. That’s how we do it.” He turned to start back to his car.

  “Listen, you all call me John or Johnny. Except you, little man,” he said, addressing L’il Jay. “You call me Uncle Johnny, okay?”

  “Okay,” L’il Jay said with a bashful smile.

  “Where’s Mommy?” Charisse asked.

  “Inside. She’s putting the finishing touches on the potato salad,” her father answered.

  Grabbing Stefàn’s hand, Charisse said, “Come on. I want you to meet my mother. C’mon, Michele. I’ll introduce y’all to everybody else, later.”

  Stepping through the back door of the house, Charisse and company came directly into the dining room. Moving immediately to her right and into the kitchen, she found her mother and her maternal grandmother. Both women were steadily working on their respective dishes.

  “Granny Nan! Hi!” Charisse called as she hurried over to her grandmother and gave her a big kiss. “How you doin’?”

  “Hi, sweetie pie. I’m good. How are you?”

  “Fine.”

  “Happy birthday.”

  “Thank you. Hi, Mommy.”

  “Hi. Happy birthday,” Mrs. Ellison said as she reached out to hug her daughter.

  “Thank you. Mommy, Granny, this is Stefàn and Michele and L’il Jay.”

  Stefàn reached out to shake Mrs. Ellison’s hand first and also leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Hello, Mrs. Ellison, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  “Likewise, Stefàn. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “I hope some of it was good,” he stated.

  “Most of it,” she said with a mischievous grin.

  “Hello…” Stefàn paused, unsure of how to address Charisse’s grandmother.

  She immediately answered his concern. “You can call me Granny Nan, just like everybody else, hon.”

  He smiled at the handsome elderly woman as he extended his hand. When she took it, he leaned in and kissed her cheek, as well. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Granny Nan.”

  After greeting Michele and her son, Granny Nan turned her attention back to Stefàn. “So you’re my granddaughter’s young man, eh?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said as he smiled over at Charisse.

  “He’s a looker, Risi,” she said.

  “I know.” She laughed along with Michele and Barbara.

  “Thank you.”

  “We’re gonna have to have a talk later,” she told him.

  “Yes, ma’am. Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Mrs. Ellison, can I help you do anything?” Michele asked.

  “Oh, no, thank you, sweetheart. And, please, call me Barbara. You take your son outside and relax. We’ll be out in a minute. Charisse take Jay outside and introduce him to your nieces and nephews. There’s plenty of children here for you to play with, honey.”

  “Okay,” he shyly replied.

  IT WAS CLOSE TO SIX O’CLOCK WHEN STEFÀN DECIDED it was time for him and Myra to have a heart-to-heart talk about Charisse. He had already encountered Charisse’s brothers, having played a few games of bid whist with them, during which time they’d tried their best to intimidate him. Soon seeing that their attempts were fruitless, they conceded that maybe this fellow wasn’t so bad for their younger sister after all.

  Stefàn had also had a very intense conversation with Granny Nan and decided right after their conversation began that he was crazy about her. She had a wonderful sense of humor, while simultaneously letting him know that Charisse was not to be toyed with. “She’s my youngest grandchild, although I have several great-grands who are younger than her. But from my own children, she’s the youngest and has always been—don’t tell anybody this—my favorite. She’s always had a heart of gold, and has made some bad decisions with regards to the men in her life because she can sometimes be naïve. But she’s not stupid—not by a long shot—and I won’t stand for you taking advantage of her now that she’s given her heart to God.”

  “Granny Nan,” Stefàn assured her, “I will never take advantage of her. Charisse means more to me than I can explain. She has impacted my life in a way no one ever has, and I plan to make her my wife. I have to. I know how precious she is, and I’d be a fool to let so beautiful a woman get away. And one thing I’ve never been is a fool. You won’t ever have to worry about her as long as she’s with me. I’d give my life to keep her safe and happy.”

  Since he and Myra had history through Charisse, although they’d only seen each other twice, he had no misconceptions about what she thought of him. Desp
ite Charisse’s explanations for her cool demeanor, Stefàn felt a need to explain himself to Myra. He understood her skepticism regarding his association with her best friend. Unwittingly shielding his heart from a love structured in truth, prior to meeting Charisse he had been out there taking full advantage of all the opportunities thrown his way by the women he met. His only concern had been his own pleasure and happiness. But Charisse had changed all of that without even trying. Stefàn he had made a one hundred and eighty degree turn in his life. Anyone who knew him and knew the way he used to live would likely be skeptical, too. If he were on the outside looking in at someone else, he would have his own doubts about their sincerity in light of such a drastic change.

  Knowing how close the women were, and that with Charisse in his life, he would regularly have contact with Myra, he didn’t want there to be any friction between them. He wanted her to know his intentions toward Charisse were genuine. Stefàn wanted them to be friends, at least as much as she would allow them to be, but he wanted to be the one to offer the olive branch so she would know his heart was true.

  Charisse’s sister-in-law had been sitting with Myra, but when she walked away, Stefàn took the opportunity to approach.

  Coming from her rear, he said, “Hey, Myra. Mind if I join you?”

  Looking up at Stefàn, she shrugged indifferently and said, “No, help yourself.”

  Taking the seat Suzette had just vacated, Stefàn pulled it a little closer to Myra and asked, “Are you enjoying yourself?”

  “Yes. Are you?”

  “Oh yeah. Charisse’s family is great. I think they like me.”

  “So you’ve managed to pull the wool over their eyes, too, huh?”

  “Now, see, that wasn’t nice,” he said, looking squarely into her eyes.

  Unable to hold his gaze, she looked away in embarrassment. “You’re right, that wasn’t very nice. I apologize.”

  “Apology accepted.”

  They sat silently for the next minute or so until Stefàn said, “I really do love her, Myra.”

  “You don’t even know her.”

  Leaning forward to emphasize his point, he told her, “I know her well enough to know that I want to learn everything there is to know about her and do whatever I have to do to be in her life and to have her in mine. I also know enough about her to know that she loves you and that she’d be happy if we tried to be friends.” When Myra didn’t respond, he continued, “Can we be friends, Myra?”

  “Will you tell me something?”

  “Anything.”

  “What’s up with that woman at your friend’s cookout? The one who stuck her tongue in your ear?”

  Stefàn reared back and frowned as if in pain. “Nothing! The only thing that woman can do for me is let me sell her a house. There was never anything between us. I only met her that day. Even if I wasn’t in love with Charisse, I wouldn’t pursue her. She’s too old.”

  “You were flirting with a lot of women that day. Charisse was very upset with you.”

  He hung his head and softly stated, “I was a jerk that day. I explained to Charisse that the only reason I was acting out like that was because I was afraid of her.”

  Myra looked skeptically out of the corner of her eye at him.

  Stefàn smiled. “I know how that sounds, but it’s the truth. Charisse had had such an impact on me that she scared the devil out of me. I needed to…. I couldn’t let her see that she had me so shook up.”

  “So what’s changed?”

  “I realized how ridiculous I was acting and that if I didn’t check myself, I’d lose any opportunity I might have to get to know her.”

  “She’s very sensitive, Stefàn, and doesn’t know how to love halfway. When she gives herself, she gives her whole self, so when her heart is broken, she’s devastated,” Myra felt the need to tell him.

  “I won’t break her heart, Myra. I’ll protect it. I love her with every ounce of my being. She’s the most important person in my life and all I want to do is spend every day proving that to her.”

  Myra stared into Stefàn’s unwavering eyes for the next few seconds with neither of them uttering a word. Folding her arms across her chest, she very quietly stated, “You know, Charisse has always been more of a sister to me than my natural sisters have ever been and I worry about her. She believes God put you in her life for a reason, and while I have my own issues with God, I know how happy she seems to be now that you’re together.”

  “She makes me feel like… I feel like I can do anything because she loves me,” he said in tone filled with wonder.

  “I believe you,” Myra admitted.

  Feeling as though the thick block of ice that had been separating them since they’d met was beginning to melt, Stefàn took a chance and broached a subject he figured would probably be more uncomfortable than Myra would admit. “Why are you so angry, Myra?”

  Caught off guard by his question, Myra jerked her head and shot a venomous look his way. “What?”

  “I didn’t stutter,” he calmly replied.

  Indignation colored her face, but she was unable to hide the fact that he’d broken through her previously impenetrable barricade of protective self-righteousness. Nevertheless, she was determined not to answer his question. As far as she was concerned, it was none of his business.

  The two sat in silence for the next several minutes until Stefàn compassionately asked, “Who hurt you?”

  “What makes you think anyone hurt me?” she agitatedly responded.

  “Because you’re too beautiful a woman to be so cynical about men. And it’s just about men because I’ve seen how you interact with women. You’re protecting yourself, and the way you were coming at me was to protect Charisse. That fierce protectiveness comes from being a victim; from being hurt. Take my word for it; I’ve been there. Charisse is the one who freed me.”

  “What do you mean?” Myra asked, her curiosity piqued by his seeming transparency.

  Despite knowing the root of her temperament due to Charisse’s confiding the truth to him yesterday, Stefàn didn’t expect that Myra would open up to him if he didn’t first expose himself to her. That being the case, he told her about Janine.

  Listening as Stefàn explained how he was ultimately responsible for the heartbreak he endured by the first woman he had ever loved, and how he had built a wall around his heart to prevent anyone else from ever having the opportunity to break it again, moved Myra to tears.

  “I grew up in a family full of men who use women at their whim. My father did it to my mother, my brothers do it to their women, and they did it to our mother before she died, too. All of the men who’ve ever been close to me have hurt me, so forgive me if I have a hard time when I see a man trying to grin up in my face or hear him throwing meaningless compliments in the hopes of getting in my pants, or my friends’ pants, for that matter,” she testily stated.

  Sympathetic to her feelings, Stefàn tenderly remarked, “I’m sorry that’s how you grew up, but all men aren’t like that, Myra.”

  “You were.”

  “I was, but I’m not representative of all men. Don’t judge the whole barrel by a few bad apples. I know plenty of good men who know how to treat a woman to make her feel like she’s the most important thing in their world. Believe me, I’ve done plenty of women wrong because of my own issues, but even I’m not that man anymore thanks to Charisse. Don’t let what your father and brothers did to your mother or you color your view about all men. You’ll miss the man God created for you.”

  “God?” she questioned in puzzlement.

  Stefàn chuckled. “Yeah, God, ’cause it could’ve only been Him who gave Charisse to me.”

  “Hey, what are you two talking about?” Charisse asked as she approached them from behind.

  Stefàn smiled and looked up at her as he reached for her hand. “You.”

  “I hope it was good,” she said, looking at Myra.

  Pulling Charisse down on his lap, he told her, “How could
it be anything but?” Kissing her softly on her ear, he said, “Right, Myra?”

  “It was all right,” she said with a mischievous grin.

  “So, you mean you two weren’t fighting over me?” Charisse asked teasingly.

  Stefàn laughed and Myra couldn’t help but chuckle. “No, we’ve put down our guns.”

  “Hey, I was never armed. I was ambushed,” Stefàn stated with a smile in Myra’s direction.

  “Touché.”

  CHAPTER 17

  TIMES MARCHES ON

  Over the course of the next several months, Stefàn’s and Charisse’s love for one another grew without bounds.

  Having decided there was nothing he wouldn’t do to prove his love for Charisse was true, Stefàn made a conscious effort to understand the root of her faith. In so doing, he experienced an awakening of his own.

  He and Charisse began attending services every week at First Baptist Church after their initial visit with Julian and Michele. Several weeks later, Charisse made the decision to transfer her membership from New Covenant Baptist Church in New York to First Baptist for several reasons. Primarily, because she felt a stronger connection to the pastor and congregation there. The fact that it was closer to home played a major role in her decision, too, but she was largely influenced by how much Stefàn enjoyed attending services there.

  During that time, he came to know Christ for himself. After three months of attending Sunday services and weekly Bible study with Charisse, Stefàn made the decision to give his life to Christ.

  The Sunday before Thanksgiving, he picked her up at the usual time but she noticed that he seemed quite pensive from the moment he greeted her.

  Inquiring about his uncharacteristic silence, Stefàn simply responded, “I’m okay, Risi. I’ve got some stuff on my mind that I’m trying to work out.”

  Concerned about his demeanor, since she felt no tension from him directed at her, she decided not to push him. She figured if he wanted to discuss what was on his mind, he would.

  The sermon that Pastor Young brought that morning was entitled, When God Calls, Do You Answer?