“You think she’s an angel?” Onika asked.
Seraiah shook her head. “I think she’s my auntie, from a long, long, long time ago.”
Onika said nothing, because she knew she couldn’t explain any of this, and no one would believe her if she tried. But for some reason, which she also couldn’t explain, she believed that Seraiah was right. Joyce was some sort of protector. A gift.
But from whom? Onika wondered if the God she’d stopped believing in a long time ago was still trying to get her attention. And if He was, what did He want with her?
EPILOGUE
Graham watched Onika and Seraiah play their little hand-clapping game before Onika tucked Seraiah into the twin bed situated in the corner of Onika’s room. They were so much alike, it was scary. They had the same laugh, and the same expressive eyes.
Although no one knew where the girl had come from or why, a DNA test confirmed that Seraiah was indeed Onika’s little sister. There were also records that Judy gave her child to a woman passing through, as an adoption. She’d wanted to get her baby out of Goldsboro.
Apparently, Onika’s mother had more sense than Onika gave her credit for, because she didn’t let Earlene even know that the child or the pregnancy existed.
“Can I call you daddy?” Seraiah asked Graham as he stood in the doorway. “You can come in if you want.”
Graham did come forward to the bed. “I’m not your daddy. I’m your friend, and you can always call me that.”
“Can I call you Graham Daddy?” Seraiah asked.
Graham and Onika laughed. Seraiah had such a way of tickling them both and making them feel joy.
“Good night, sweetie,” Onika said, and they left the room and closed the door.
Graham handed Onika a glass of wine he’d poured for her before he realized Seraiah was still awake. Onika eagerly took the glass and sat on the couch.
“She wears me out in that little time I have her after I pick her up at the end of my workday. Those day-care directors must have superpowers.”
“They probably do.”
“I think I may have found me and Seraiah an apartment.”
Graham was offended. He’d moved them both in with him after the funeral. He’d stood by her when the social worker gave Onika the DNA test results. He didn’t know why she kept talking about moving.
They never had to leave as far as he was concerned.
“Save your money and stay here.”
“I can’t. You’re not asking for it now, but one day you’re going to feel like I owe you something for rent that goes beyond writing a check.”
“I would never.”
Onika laughed. “You are a boy. You will.”
“I am a grown man. I know how to exercise restraint.”
“Oh, okay,” Onika said, not really sounding convinced.
“You’re going to mess around and miss out on the best man you’ve ever had,” Graham said. “There are plenty of women out here who want to cuddle with me.”
“But you’re sitting up here waiting on me?” Onika asked.
He smiled. “Of course I’m waiting on you.”
Graham was waiting. And while he tarried, he was falling in love with Onika and the little one who wanted to call him Graham Daddy. They were starting to feel like a family. Graham didn’t want to lose the feeling, but there was just a tiny bit of fear in the pit of his stomach.
Onika never did tell Graham what happened the day of her mother’s funeral. When she’d gone outside for fresh air and come back with a child. He did know that after it happened, she still didn’t want to go to church, but she didn’t make him stay quiet about his faith anymore.
He wondered if she’d had an experience with God. If so, he would let it marinate.
Some people went to church and had an experience with God there. But some other people—and he suspected Onika was a member of this group—had God meet them somewhere else. Graham didn’t mind. Inside and outside the church, God was the same. He was no respecter of buildings and couldn’t be contained in one, anyway.
The God that Graham met on Sunday mornings at his church service was the same one who’d nudged Graham on a Metro station and who’d planted Onika in his path, not once but twice. He was also the God who whispered His peace in Graham’s ear when Graham thought of loving Onika for the rest of his life. Graham’s God was omnipresent. He was even present in the desolate and dark corners of Onika’s heart and spirit.
Where He was present, He lived. And where He lived, He let there be light.
Her Secret Life Page 27