by E. N. Joy
That did it for Lorain. She had every intention of being cordial and talking to this woman like she had sense, but she’d said the ultimate no-no; that thing a person just doesn’t say to a Christian. A person does not question the status of a Christian ... and get away with it.
“Looky here.” Lorain put all of her weight on her right leg, put one hand on her hip, pointed a finger in Korica’s face, and got to snapping her neck. Who was the so-called ghetto one now? “I came here to talk to you woman-to-woman, not be belittled and have my Christianity questioned. And for the record, I’m not half a Christian. I am a full-fledged member of the body of Christ. You, on the other hand, are nothing but the devil’s advocate here to kill, steal, and destroy what I have with my daughter.”
Lorain was seething with anger as she continued. “So you took care of Unique after her foster mother dumped her. You helped scam the government. Whoop-de-do, thank you.” Lorain gave off a sarcastic hand clap. “But—if I’ve said it once, I’m saying it again—I carried her in my womb for nine months. Her veins pump the same blood as mine. Biologically and legally, I’m her mother.”
“Biologically, maybe, but not legally.” Korica stood there with a smug look on her face, one that Lorain couldn’t wait to knock right off her face. She wouldn’t do it with her hands though. She’d do it with her words.
“Oh, I guess Unique didn’t tell you then.” Finally, Lorain had one up on Korica. It was obvious that Unique hadn’t shared with Korica how she and Lorain had gone and taken a DNA test, then had her birth certificate amended. “My name is listed on her birth certificate as her mother.”
“Ha, yeah, right,” Korica laughed. “I have a copy of Unique’s birth certificate, and nobody is listed as her mother or father. It states she was abandoned by a Jane Doe. How you think I was able to get her in school and stuff?” Korica chuckled. “Jane Doe, I guess that would be you. Hmmm, guess you are on the birth certificate then.”
Talk about cruisin’ for a bruisin’; Korica was walking on razor’s edge with Lorain.
“The certificate was amended,” Lorain taunted right back.
“The only amendment is the one in which a name was added to her birth certificate, replacing the name Baby Doe with Unique Emerald Gray.”
It was like a game of Ping-Pong as the two women went back and forth.
“Not so. Unique and I had it amended again after the DNA testing. I’m now officially listed as her mother.”
Korica’s jaw tightened, and her eyes turned bloodshot red. And all that happened right before she called Lorain the B-word. “You, stinkin’ filthy, low-down, B-word,” is what she actually called her.
“I’ll be that, but you, like I said, are the devil.”
“So, I’m the devil. I’ll take that, but when you see me, you know you looking at the devil. I don’t try to hide my horns like you. A Christian sitting up in church crying out ‘Holy, holy,’ when you ain’t nothing but a ho, ho.”
“Tut, I know you ain’t calling me a ho, Miss I-Got-More-Baby-Daddies-Than-P. -Diddy-Has-Names.”
“Yeah, but I claim mine. I takes care of mine. That’s what a real woman does. And you don’t see me lying around with some man.” Korica looked at Lorain suspiciously and with her nose turned upward. “Yeah, I know about that so-called doctor you’ve been dating. Got him running in and out of your house. What kind of example are you setting for Victoria and Heaven? Me, I don’t have no man. My focus is my kids, even now that they’re grown. So do you see now? That’s the difference between you and me, boo. I’m a real chick who takes care of hers. While a ho like you just spreads and dumps her baby for any ol’ body to take care of.”
“That’s not what happened,” Lorain shot back.
“Does it really matter what happened? I mean, really, does it? All that matters is that you ran off, got into church, and been hiding behind the cross. Now you want to come back into my daughter’s life and play momma. Well, think again. Because I’m the one who has been momma in your absence, and I’m the one who is going to stay momma in your presence—no matter what some piece of paper says. Don’t fool with me.”
“No, you don’t fool with me,” Lorain shot back in a threatening tone.
“Or what? What you gon’ do? Remember, I’m the one with an influence on Unique. I’m the one she’s obligated to, and don’t you ever forget it.”
“Oh, I won’t, and I’m sure you won’t let me, but let me tell you something that you shouldn’t forget; Unique is my daughter, my flesh and blood and—”
“I don’t give a darn about the flesh and blood thing. It takes more than just having the same DNA to be a parent. I’m her mother! Me!” Korica poked herself in her own chest. “And I’m not going to let you take her from me. I’m not. You swooped up Heaven and Victoria like an eagle, but you will not take Unique too.” Korica took a minute to calm down. “Look, this is getting us nowhere. How about we just make a little deal?”
“Me, make a deal with the devil? I don’t think so.” Lorain crossed her arms and looked off to the side.
“Will you just listen?” Korica requested in somewhat of a normal tone. “Look, you’ve already got the twins. You’re attached to them. They know you as their mommy. Leave me Unique. She’s mine. She’s been mine. I don’t care if she is a grown woman, she’s mine. So I’ll tell you what. You just fade out, and I’ll help Unique to get over her loss of the boys, you know, so she won’t try to fill the empty void with something like, you know, wanting Heaven and Victoria back.” It was clear that Korica was making an underlying threat.
“You really are the devil,” Lorain replied, “and I don’t make deals with the devil.” On that note, Lorain turned and walked away, thanking God she’d had the strength to restrain herself from putting her hands on that woman.
“All right,” Korica yelled at Lorain’s back. “Have it your way, but the day you’re packing up Heaven and Victoria’s things and trading them back over to Unique, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Lorain turned sharply on her heels to face Korica. “And the day that happens will be over my dead body,” and before Lorain walked away she added, “or yours.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Unique swung her balled fist, landing a perfect shot. Her feet danced like she was the greatest. She floated like she was a butterfly. Pow, an uppercut. That had to have stung like a bee. Blow after blow, shot after shot, Unique fought those invisible evil spirits and principalities. She punched the air as she shadowboxed. She envisioned taking out every single beast that had tried to rear its ugly head up against her. She was sending unwelcome spirits to the pits of hell where they belonged with every blow.
“Humph. Take that.” And she talked smack while doing it. “Um, tsss, tsss, humph.” She fought like she was fighting for her life. Let her tell it, she was fighting for her life. All she kept hearing were Jawan’s words: “Fight. Fight, Unique.” So that’s exactly what she planned to do. That’s exactly what she was doing now.
She wasn’t going to give up, so all those voices that were telling her she deserved to be in jail, all those voices that were telling her she wasn’t nothing, all those voices that kept telling her that nobody wanted her, that she would never amount to anything—they had to go.
At first, hearing Jawan say all those negative and hurtful things to her made her angry. Then that anger turned into determination. By the time that guard had escorted her away from her visit with Jawan, she realized why her attorney had said all those things to her. It took saying those things to make Unique angry enough to want to take some heads off. Initially, it was Jawan’s head she wanted to take off, but she realized it was that multiheaded beast she needed to go to work on. She would fight him and whatever else the devil brought, and whatever else God let the devil bring.
God loved Unique; that much she knew. She knew that some things the devil did to her were through the permission of God. Even then, she knew God wouldn’t allow the devil to do to her any more than she co
uld bear. But some things that sneaky rascal was doing under his own authority and not God’s. And the last time Unique checked, the devil had no authority over her life. It was to her that God had granted authority over the devil. It was fine time she started walking in that authority in Jesus’ name.
“And take that, and that too,” Unique raved. “You thought you was gon’ take me out, devil? For real? Well, I’ve got something for you.” Unique wacked, kicked, and punched the air.
“If you ask me, you’re the one they need to take to the infirmary,” Unique heard someone say. “Drug you up and put one of those white jackets on you. Yeah, that ought to do it.”
“Kiki!” Unique exclaimed, putting an end to her bout with the devil and running toward her cell mate with her arms open to embrace her.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Kiki held her arms up to block Unique from touching her. “Let a chick heal completely before you go trying to love on her,” Kiki said. “Besides, I thought you didn’t get down like that.”
Unique sucked her teeth. “Girl, they might have knocked the sense out of you, but not your sense of humor,” she joked. “Anyway, what are you doing out? You still look a little banged up to me.”
“Humph, you think I look jacked up? You should see the other broad’s fist. It’s really tore up.”
“This is not funny, Kiki.” Unique gently touched Kiki’s bandaged forehead.
“Aaahhht, aaahhht, don’t touch.” Kiki slowly made her way over to her bed and sat down as if she had the bones of a ninety-year-old woman.
“They got you pretty good, huh?” Unique asked, sitting down next to her. She looked down at the sling Kiki’s arm was in.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. I could have been out of the infirmary days ago. There was just this hot nurse I was trying to holler at.”
Unique twisted her lips.
“Sike, naw. I’m just kidding.” Kiki slowly went to lie down. Unique moved out of the way to help her, and then sat back down next to her. “Anyway, the question is what are you doing here? Word around the joint was that you were getting out of this place.”
Unique sighed. “I was. The judge dropped all those charges against me, but then they hit me with a charge for that weapon they found under your mattress.”
“Oh yeah. I’m sorry about all that. It’s just that if you hadn’t said it was yours, this right here,” Kiki ran her hand down her bruised body, “it could have been you, only worse.”
“I kind of figured all that out,” Unique told her. “By the way, thank you for all that.”
“Don’t thank me. It’s because of that whole situation that you’re still in here. If I had never agreed to let them put that thing under—” Kiki stopped speaking, then looked at Unique regretfully.
“It’s all in the past.” Unique assumed Kiki was about to fess up to her part in the entire scheme.
“But still, I knew about the setup and what they were going to do to you. I was the one who was supposed to go to solitary while they got at you. I wasn’t supposed to be in here when it all went down so that your blood wouldn’t be on my hands, and so that they couldn’t do anything to try to get me to snitch or charge me with anything.”
“What were they going to do to me?” Unique asked Kiki.
Kiki looked at Unique as if to say, “You don’t want to know.”
“Never mind. Anyway, I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Me, too. I just wish it all didn’t come back to bite you in the tail like this.”
“I know, especially since the knife really wasn’t mine. But I’m sure me telling them won’t do any good.”
Kiki didn’t reply. She just lay there as if something had come across her mind and she was in deep thought about it.
“What? What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing. It ain’t nothing. Look, I been out of commission for a while. I’m about to go check out the scene. I’ll catch you later.”
“You need me to help you? To come with you?”
“Oh, no no no. I’m good,” Kiki was quick to say. With the help of Unique, she got up out of the bed and exited the cell.
Unique watched her walk away before saying to herself, “That girl is up to something, and it’s probably no good.”
“Gray! Let’s go!” a guard yelled, waking Unique up. “You got an hour to get packed up or you stay with us.”
“Huh, what?” Unique yawned, wiping her eyes.
Just then, two more guards entered the cell. They woke Kiki up, demanding she come with them.
“Hey, where are you taking her?” Unique questioned. “And where am I going?”
“She’s going to solitary,” one of the guards answered, “and you, you’re going home.”
Unique couldn’t believe her ears. This had to be a dream, because all she was used to were nightmares.
“Home?” Unique had to make sure she’d heard correctly.
“It seems that way,” the guard replied, and then looked at Kiki. “Guess the warden bought your story. He put in a word to the State and voilà, this one’s free.” He was referring to Unique. “Just like you wanted, I’m sure. But somebody’s got to pay. Not only are you going to solitary for possession of that knife, but as you agreed, they’re tacking more time on your sentence.”
“Yeah, I know, I know. Let’s just do this.” Kiki got out of the bed and walked over toward the guards, surrendering herself.
“Kiki, what have you done? What did you tell them?”
Kiki looked at Unique as if she had two heads. “What do you mean what did I tell them? I told ’em the truth. What else sets a person free? You are free now, right?” Kiki chuckled. “Guess it does work after all.”
“Kiki, my God. I can never repay you for this,” Unique said as her heart filled with joy.
“You already have, in more ways than one.”
“God’s going to bless you for this.”
“Now that’s where you’re wrong,” Kiki told her. “God blessed me for this long before I ever did it. I’m not waiting on Him to pay me back for some good deed. I’m the one paying Him back for what He’s already done for me.”
Unique had a shocked expression on her face. She wasn’t used to Kiki talking about God like this.
“What happened to you while you were away?” Unique asked. “Maybe they really did do a number upside your head.”
“No, Unique, it was you who did a number upside my head.” Kiki had a serious look on her face as she took a couple of steps back toward Unique. “I watched you day after day, week after week, sit up in this joint, and through it all, you held on to your faith and trust in God. I’d hear you up there praying at night sometimes, reminding God about how His Word says He’s not supposed to forsake you and all that stuff. At first I used to put my pillow over my head so I didn’t have to hear all that jibber-jabber stuff. But then I started listening. After you’d get finished praying, I’d look up to heaven and say, ‘Yeah, ditto, God, what she just said.’”
Unique laughed.
“Anyway, I see that mess worked. It’s like all that stuff in the Bible is really true. At least the parts you’ve told me about and the parts I’ve read.”
“The parts you’ve read? Girl, I ain’t never seen you read a Bible. You don’t even own a Bible.”
“You think?” Kiki winked and patted her sling, signaling that that is where she was keeping her Bible. “I guess I was covered in so much blood after my beat down they thought I was going to die. They had the old chappy come pray for me. He gave me a Bible. Heck, I ain’t have nothing else to do while I was laid up. I figured I might as well crack it open. And you know what? I’m glad I did. It’s a pretty good book. So good, that like any good book, I couldn’t help skipping to the end to find out what happened. And you know what? We win.”
Unique smiled. “Yes, Kiki, yes, we do win. But you don’t have to wait until the end. You can start winning right here, now, on earth.”
“Word?” Kiki asked.
“Do you believe what I’ve told you and what you’ve read about Jesus Christ? Do you believe that He was the Son of God and that He died on the cross for the remission of your sins?”
Kiki nodded.
“Do you believe that He rose again and dwells in heaven?”
Kiki nodded while closing her eyes, envisioning Jesus floating up to heaven and doves flying around to welcome Him back home. “I do. I really do,” Kiki said.
“Then repeat after me.” Unique proceeded to say the sinner’s prayer and the prayer of salvation, instructing Kiki to repeat after her. In less than a minute, Kiki had dedicated her life to Christ. Kiki was saved. Unique rejoiced, throwing her arms around Kiki. “Welcome to the family, sister in Christ.”
“Okay, all right, already,” one of the guards said. “We’ve let this go on long enough.” He snatched Kiki by the arm. “Let’s go.”
“Okay, I coming,” Kiki replied, walking back over to the guards as they began to escort her out of the cell. “See you around, Esther,” Kiki said over her shoulder as she walked away.
“Esther?” Unique said, puzzled.
“Yeah, you’re my Esther anyway, for I know you were born for such a time as this.” Kiki winked and was led away.
“Fifty minutes now,” The guard shouted to Unique. “You’ve got fifty minutes to get packed if you want to be a free woman.”
Unique smiled. “Oh, I’m already a free woman,” she told the guard with a huge smile on her face. “I’m a free woman indeed.”
Chapter Thirty-five
“Come on, let’s get married. Why should we wait? We’ve been waiting forever it seems. Let’s just go get our license, head down to the courthouse, or even elope somewhere like my mom did when she got married.” Lorain was adamant about her and Nicholas not waiting another day to tie the knot.
Nicholas chuckled as the two walked the hospital grounds. The cool, crisp breeze was a sign that fall was on the way. “Girl, do you know my momma would kill me if I ran off and got married and didn’t give her the opportunity to turn this thing into the biggest shindig ever? Trust me, as a daughter-in-law, she’d never let you live it down.”