God Has Spoken

by Theresa A. Campbell

  Eleanor crossed over to them in a couple of strides. “I’m sorry about what had happened. I didn’t know they were coming.”

  Officer Gregg waved off her apology, peeking at her through his distended left eye, the right one was swollen shut. “They have a right to be angry at me. We’ll speak some more on how to deal with this situation with Dupree. Is that okay?”

  “Yes, that’s fine.”

  Officer Gregg shot a quick glance at the men before he and his wife slowly exited the room, her arm around his waist and his around her shoulders for support.

  All the men were silent as they looked at Eleanor, trying to gauge her mood. The brothers knew she wasn’t pleased with what they had done. And it would only get worse after Mama Pearl got wind of what had happened.

  “I’m upset with all of you.” Eleanor pointed her index finger at each of the brothers. “You all need to repent and ask God for forgiveness. Wait until Mama Pearl hears about this.”

  The men groaned. Dwight grinned.

  “Let’s get out of here before Mr. Pamoody changes his mind and calls the police.” Eleanor reached for Dwight’s hand.

  “Please. He is so busy calculating how much we are going to give him, the police are the last thing on his mind right now,” said Alwayne. “Greedy bastard. Wait until he needs my services again. I am going to charge him ten times the regular price.”

  The other men smirked before they followed Eleanor out of the restaurant, each vowing within himself to be in church the next day. They did need to repent and start to forgive as Eleanor seemed to have done.

  “She loves you very much.” Dwight sat beside Dupree on a bench under a big lignum vitae tree, out in the courtyard. “If you could just give her a few minutes to explain everything to you, I know it will make a difference.”

  Dupree shrugged her shoulders, her eyes staring straight-ahead. It had been over two months since she found out the identity of her mother and father. But she still hadn’t taken the time to speak to either one of them. Eleanor had returned to work. Trying not to push too much, she gave Dupree her space. It was Dwight who was trying to get Dupree to listen to her mother. He stopped by the apartment frequently to see Dupree and called to check up on her both at home and at work.

  “You both have so much in common,” Dwight noted. “What do you say, Dupree? Can you do this for me?”

  Dupree turned her head and looked at Dwight. She actually liked him very much. “You never give up, huh?” She smiled at him.

  “No, not when it comes to you and your mother. I loved you before I even met you, Dupree. I want what’s best for my girls.”

  “I’m just so angry with her.” Dupree’s eyes met Dwight’s. “Every time I think about what she and Mr. Gregg had done, it infuriates me.”

  Dwight took her small hand into his. “I understand. But to move past this anger, you need to get answers. You need to know why they did what they did.”

  Dupree looked at him, contemplating what he had just said. “I even hate the fact that he is paying my tuition for NYU. Jas and Tony think I deserve it but . . .”

  “What if I pay for it? Would that make you feel better about going?”

  “Really? You would do that?” Dupree’s face lit up in astonishment.

  “Your mother and I would be happy to.” Dwight held on to her hand when she tried to pull away from him, the joy on her face instantly gone. “Dupree, whatever is mine is also my wife’s and vice versa. We are a team.”

  Dupree remained quiet.

  “In fact, I have another suggestion for you. Instead of staying in a dorm, why don’t you stay with my aunt? I know Aunt Clover would love to have you. She lives by herself on Seventy-second Street in Manhattan. You can even have my old room.” He lightly nudged Dupree in her side.

  Dupree couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Really?”

  “Yes, you are family now. You jump on the subway and NYU is right there. You’ll be in the heart of New York City with everything close by; stores, restaurants, libraries, museums. Plus, you will feel more at home in the Big Apple with Aunt Clover.”

  “Can I think about it and let you know?”

  “Sure. So what do you say about dinner tomorrow at our house?” Dwight grinned when Dupree playfully rolled her eyes at him.

  “Okay, but I’m not making any promises as to how I’ll react when I see her,” she said in reference to her mother.

  Dwight gaped at her. “Huh? Really?”

  “Well, if you are not sure—”

  “Come here you.” Dwight hugged Dupree, his smile stretching from ear to ear. “Wow, wait until your mother hears this. She won’t sleep tonight.”

  Dupree released Dwight. “Remember, no promises.”

  “Got it. I’ll come and get you around 6:00 p.m.”

  Dupree nodded her head, trepidation moving into her gut. Was she ready for tomorrow?

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Eleanor had spent the night before and all day on edge as she waited for Dupree to come to dinner. She tried to imagine how the evening would end but came up blank. She made an attempt to rehearse what to say to her daughter but gave up. Finally, she decided to just tell Dupree the truth, leaving nothing out. Dupree was an intelligent, young woman, and hopefully, she would understand.

  “We’ll have dinner first, after which we will talk,” Eleanor said aloud to herself as she paced their home, waiting for Dwight to return with Dupree. But that went out the window real fast.

  “I don’t understand why you never wanted me. What did I do so wrong that you had to run away from me?” Dupree asked her mother as soon as she entered the house, crying. She’d been holding that question in for so many years that she just exploded. “For heaven’s sake, I was just a baby, Tiny!”

  Dinner was put on hold as Dwight quickly excused himself and went into the bedroom, leaving mother and daughter to finally have that long, overdue talk.

  Eleanor invited Dupree into the living room. “Please have a seat, Dupree.” Eleanor pointed to the couch, waited until Dupree sat, before taking her seat on the other couch across from her. Without hesitation Eleanor began her story, starting with her friendship with Dolly and recounting her experience with the dazzling Officer Gregg.

  Dupree cried silently for the most part of Eleanor’s story. With her eyes tightly shut, her arms wrapped snugly around her belly, she listened intently to the hell her mother had gone through. But it was the near rape in the park that eventually pushed her over the edge.

  “No no no, please don’t tell me they . . . they . . .” Dupree fell to her knees on the thick carpet in Dwight and Eleanor’s living room, her forehead brushing against it as she wailed. Loud, piercing cries rocked her slender frame.

  “No, they didn’t, sweetheart.” Eleanor got up from the couch and knelt down beside her daughter. “I think it was the police who came and rescued me. All I know was shots were fired, and they released me.” Eleanor pulled Dupree up off the floor and into her arms, both women crying hard.

  “If Brother Bunny hadn’t come when he did, he would have raped and killed me too.” Dupree rested her head on Eleanor’s shoulder and cried.

  Eleanor froze, her eyes bugged out of her head in shock. “Who was going to rape you?”

  “Deacon Livingston.”

  This was the first time Eleanor was hearing about Dupree’s attack. All the time she spent catching up and reacquainting with Aunt Madge, she’d never said a word. But being the wise woman that she was, Aunt Madge knew this unfortunate incident would be a glue to bond the mother and daughter together after hearing Eleanor’s story. Both women had escaped similar fates by the grace of God.

  “Deacon Livingston? He was like a father to me. He was a friend of Aunt Madge and your grandmother. He attacked you?” Eleanor felt as if someone had just reached in and ripped out her heart.

  Between sobs, Dupree told her mother of the most horrendous experience of her life. The women’s cries were like howls, boomeranging around t
he house. Dwight ran from the bedroom into the living room in alarm. He found Eleanor and Dupree huddled together on the floor, bawling. Their pain was so intense, he began to cry himself. Without a word Dwight knelt down beside the ladies and pulled both of them into his arms.

  “Heavenly Father, if there is a time this family needs you, it is now,” Dwight prayed, gently rocking both his girls. “Please heal Eleanor and Dupree’s aching hearts. Please, I am begging you to erase the pain of the past and help them to create new, wonderful memories today and forever. You are the only one who can bind them together, Lord.” Dwight prayed until their crying tapered off to sniffles. “I’m going to get us something to drink.”

  Dwight sluggishly rose to his feet, reached down, and helped his wife, then Dupree to their feet. The women staggered over to the long couch and wearily sat down beside each other. Eleanor reached for Dupree’s hand and held on to it tightly. She still had so much to tell her daughter.

  “Here you go.” Dwight returned with two tall glasses of water. He gave one to each woman, peering intently at their still damped faces. He crossed the room and got a box of Kleenex from a side table, returned, and handed sheets to Eleanor and Dupree. “Do you ladies want to take a break and get something to eat?”

  “No.” Dupree turned to look at Eleanor. “I want to hear the rest of it.”

  “Are you sure? We can continue another day. I know that was a lot for you to absorb.” Eleanor stared at Dupree with concern.

  “I’m sure.” Dupree nodded with determination. “Please, go on.”

  “Babe, why don’t you go ahead and eat without us?” Eleanor said to Dwight. “Dupree and I will have something later.”

  Dwight agreed and left the room. It took a few more hours, many more tears, and over eighteen years of pain and heartache before Eleanor concluded her story.

  “So that’s why I stayed away but never a day went by that I didn’t think about you, my daughter.” Eleanor’s eyes pleaded with Dupree, the tears creeping down her face. “I thought I was protecting you.”

  Dupree’s wet eyes locked with her mother’s. “You came back?”

  “Yes, I did. But I just got a glimpse of your back.”

  “May God forgive me but I’m not sorry that monster is dead,” Dupree said, alluding to Officer Bailey. “As for Mr. Gregg, it’s going to take a long, long time—”

  Eleanor leaned over and placed her index finger over Dupree’s lips. “No. Please. I don’t want it to take a long time for you to be free. I want God to help you to forgive us so you can finally step into your future.”

  Dupree nodded. “It all makes sense now. You were forced to do what you did. I do wish you had told Dwight or your adopted brothers what was going on and maybe they could have helped us, but on the other hand, who knows what might have happened with that lunatic.”

  “I pay for my sins every day, Dupree. I was such a bad mother to you that the Lord decided I would never be a mother again, so He shut my womb.”

  Dupree looked at her mother in shock. “What?”

  “The one thing my husband wants so much, I can’t give him; a child of his own. It’s my punishment for what I did to you.” Eleanor shivered as if cold, crying. “I accept my fate and I have you, but I can’t help feeling the pain for the man I love. It’s all because of my sins.”

  “That’s not true. You know God doesn’t work like that.” Dupree stood up, without a word she knelt down in front of Eleanor and placed her hand on her mother’s tummy. “Dear God, my mother is ready now to be a mother again. Please grant her and Dwight the desire of their hearts and bless them with a child of their own.”

  Eleanor wept, her eyes closed.

  “Lord, please make it a girl and not a boy. I don’t know if I can deal with another bigheaded brother.”

  Eleanor smiled through her tears, stealing a peep at Dupree. To her surprise Dupree had a serious look on her face, her eyes closed in deep concentration.

  “I will try to help change diapers when I come home on school breaks, but I’m not going to make any promises right now. Who knows, they might get a nanny and let me off the hook.”

  Eleanor bit her lip, happiness overtaking her body.

  “So, please I am asking this of you in your holy name I pray. Amen.”

  “Amen.” Eleanor’s mouth was stretched wide with a huge grin on her face.

  “It’s going to be okay, Mother,” Dupree said as she stood to her feet and sat by her mother’s side. “Just wait and see.”

  Eleanor crushed Dupree to her bosom and began praising God in a loud voice. Dwight ran in again, expecting the worse. But this time it was cheers instead of tears. “She called me ‘mother,’” Eleanor told him over Dupree’s head. “She prayed that we will have a baby. A girl though.”

  Dwight placed a hand to his cheek, nodding his head repeatedly. “I . . . I . . . I love girls,” he stammered, his wife’s happiness reflecting in his own eyes.

  Chapter Fifty-four

  A week later, Eleanor stood outside the offices of BDO Jamaica waiting on Dwight to come and pick her up from work, beaming from ear to ear. Usually she stayed inside until Dwight got there, but she was just too happy to be confined to the office. The last few days had been some of the best for Eleanor. She had been spending a lot of time with Dupree, getting to know her daughter and vice versa. Eleanor was surprised at how much they had in common. With her eyes fixed on the ground, a smile on her face, her thoughts were consumed with Dupree.

  “Can you spare some change, ma’am?”

  Eleanor’s eyes swept over two dirty, skinny, sore-infested feet swallowed up by a pair of grimy flip-flops. Moving upward, she took in the small, stained, raggedy dress torn in multiple places, falling off the skeletal frame. Sympathy filled Eleanor’s heart as she stared at the yellow, sunken eyes in the bony face, decorated by big pimples and acne scars. Suddenly Eleanor’s breathing sped up. “Dear God,” she muttered, her eyes widened in recognition. “Dolly, is that you?”

  “Tiny? Girl, I didn’t even know it was you in your fancy clothes and things.” Dolly smiled, revealing a mouth full of rotten teeth as she scratched at some sores on her arms.

  “Oh, Dolly.” Tiny moved closer and hugged her, fighting against the tears that threatened to fall. “I’m so sorry.”

  Some people stared in surprise, others in fascination at the contrast of the expensive business suit enfolding someone wearing dirty rags; the business executive embracing the stinky junkie.

  That was the sight Dwight saw as he pulled up alongside the pair. Quickly parking the car, he hopped out and approached his wife and company.

  “This is my husband, Dwight,” Eleanor made the introduction, her hand around Dolly’s bony waist, not fazed by the strong odor emanating from her old friend. “Baby, this is Dolly.”

  Dwight’s eyes enlarged with shock. “Huh? Hmmm, hello, Dolly.” He stretched out his hand and shook hers, before releasing it. It felt like a piece of dried stick.

  “Tiny, you done got you a fine man here, high yellow with pretty hair and colored eyes.” Dolly winked at Dwight, who looked away embarrassed. “From the looks of the two of you, he has money too. Handsome, beg you a few dollars to buy something to eat.” Dolly stretched out her hand to Dwight.

  “We are not giving you a cent to go and buy drugs,” Eleanor told Dolly. “But we can help you if you want us to.” Eleanor had taken one look at the fidgety Dolly and knew that she was on something other than marijuana. It had been on the news for the last few months about Jamaica being infiltrated by cocaine and heroin. Jamaica’s National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) vowed to intensify its drug law enforcement and increase drug arrests and seizures.

  Dolly hung down her head in shame. She had been hooked on cocaine for almost a year, doing a little heroin also when it was available. In order to get her daily fix, she sold her body. But as the poison took its toll on her once curvaceous body, even that was hard to do now as no one wanted her. She was homeless and walked th
e streets begging for a few cents to get the monkey off her back. “Why would you want to help me, Tiny? I left you on the streets when you came to me for help.”

  “I was mad at you for a while, but now I’m glad you did. Now that I look at it, you actually did me a favor.” Eleanor’s voice was filled with kindness. “I had to follow my own destiny, Dolly. It was all a part of God’s plan.” She felt Dwight take her hand and gave it a squeeze.

  “Just like you running into my wife today,” Dwight added. “It’s God’s will for us to help you.”

  Dolly looked down at her grimy feet in the beat up flip-flops. “God don’t deal with the likes of me. I have done too much dirt.”

  “It’s just the opposite, Dolly.” Eleanor moved closer to her. “Look at me,” Eleanor demanded and waited until Dolly’s wet, sunken eyes met hers. “God specializes in people like you; people who need Him.”

  “So are you ready to make a change, Rockin’ Dolly?” Dwight grinned at her.

  Dolly threw her head back and laughed out loud, Eleanor joining in. “I see you told your man all about me,” Dolly said to Eleanor. “I’m not rocking anymore, but I sure would like to again,” she told Dwight.

  “Good. I have a client who has a big inpatient rehabilitation center in Portmore, St. Catherine. He started it here in Jamaica about two years ago and has a few in the USA after his only brother overdosed about six years ago,” Dwight told Dolly. “I know it’s full to capacity, but maybe I can call in a favor.”

  “Dolly, please do this.” Eleanor’s eyes pleaded with her. “This is not the way for you to live. You know that.”

  Dolly looked from Eleanor to Dwight with uncertainty, rocking back and forth on her heels. “I’m not so sure . . .”

  Eleanor stepped closer to her, a determined look on her face. “Not sure, huh? I thought you wanted to be a performer. What happened to those dreams?”

  Dolly’s face lit up. “I used to perform in my own show.”

  Eleanor shuddered at the thought, forcing the image from her mind. “Not those shows, Dolly,” Eleanor said dryly. “I meant the Pantomime.”