Worth a Thousand Words

by Stacy Adams

  Ms. Harrow clasped her hands together. “How exciting!”

  She walked Indigo from her backyard to the driveway and rattled off everyone she’d be buying a copy of the newspaper for that day. Then she stunned Indigo.

  “I’ve heard that you’re related to Melba Mitchell. She’s a wonderful person. How is her recovery coming along?”

  Indigo’s eyes widened. Jubilant was a fairly small city, but everyone didn’t necessarily move in the same circles. How did this woman know her aunt?

  Ms. Harrow patted Indigo’s arm. “Let’s just say you can’t judge a hair salon by its name,” she said and smiled. “I moved to Jubilant about ten years ago and didn’t know a soul in town. I woke up one morning feeling sad and started having a pity party about everything that wasn’t going right in my life. I decided to get a new look to make myself feel better, but I had no idea where to go. I looked up salons in the phone book and drove around the city to check them out. I stopped by the first shop that appeared to have some class. When I strolled my l’il Caucasian self into Hair Pizzazz to ask for a perm, your aunt Melba and I both were speechless.”

  Ms. Harrow grabbed her sides and guffawed. Indigo couldn’t help but join her.

  “Of course she didn’t have the appropriate chemicals for my hair texture, so I couldn’t get my Shirley Temple curls that day, but Melba graciously shampooed and styled my hair while her other clients watched in amazement. We became friends after that,” Ms. Harrow said.

  “The fresh flowers that sometimes grace her reception desk come from that very garden you just photographed.” Ms. Harrow motioned with her head toward the backyard. “God can bind anyone in sisterhood, you know. Sometimes Melba joins me back there in prayer.”

  A lump filled Indigo’s throat. She’d been so focused on her own agenda during the photo shoot that she hadn’t taken time to appreciate the floral sanctuary she’d just left. To know that Aunt Melba sometimes communed there made her want to take another look.

  “She comes here?” Indigo asked.

  Ms. Harrow nodded. “Usually twice a year. We get together at the beginning and halfway points of each year to agree with one another in prayer about the blessings and miracles we’re asking God for. I visited her once, before she left the hospital, but I haven’t made it to the rehab center to see her. Can you let her know that I’ve been in our special place, thanking God for her full recovery?”

  Tears blurred Indigo’s vision. “A full recovery seemed so unlikely two weeks ago, because the stroke left her unable to talk or walk. Her speech is still slurred, but it’s possible to understand her now, when she talks slowly. Her doctors say she’ll be able to walk again as long as she continues the physical therapy; and thankfully, her mind is as sharp as ever.”

  Indigo knew that witnessing her aunt’s fight to recover was changing her in ways she couldn’t yet articulate.

  Now, to hear that feisty Aunt Melba, who rarely attended church or mentioned God, had a personal prayer partner who was a well-to-do white grandmother from the other side of town stunned her.

  “I’ve never been able to pigeonhole my aunt Melba,” Indigo finally said. “To hear that you two are friends surprises me, but then again, it doesn’t. Thank you so much for praying for her.”

  “You don’t have to thank me, young lady,” Ms. Harrow said. “Now that you and I have a connection beyond your job, you feel free to stop by anytime you need my backyard for prayer too, okay? I’ve groomed that garden as a special place for everyone, not just myself. It’s my gift to God for blessing me in so many ways.”

  The two women hugged. Indigo slid into her Honda CRX, eager to get home and share with Aunt Melba details about how she wound up meeting her friend.

  She waved to Ms. Harrow and pulled out of the driveway. Before she could turn the corner and enter the busy intersection, her cell phone rang. It was Brian. Indigo didn’t have her Bluetooth in her ear, so she pressed the speakerphone setting.

  “Yeah, babe, where are you?”

  “I’m pulling into your parents’ driveway,” he said. “You almost home?”

  Hearing his voice always lifted her spirits. It was sweet of him to have driven from Austin for her aunt’s homecoming too.

  His last day with Hillman Aeronautics had been a month ago. He had submitted his resignation early so he could make more frequent trips before reporting to Officer Candidate School in ten days. Indigo was grateful.

  “You know that everything in Jubilant is fifteen minutes from everything else,” she told him. “I’ll be there in no time. Wait ’til I tell you about the woman whose picture I just shot for the paper.”

  “Wait ’til I tell you about my day,” he countered.

  Indigo frowned and lowered her speed slightly.

  What was he up to now? Today was about Aunt Melba. She hoped he wasn’t planning something foolish, like starting a discussion about wedding dates with her family. The two of them hadn’t talked about the logistics of his proposal since Aunt Melba’s stroke. With Aunt Melba’s life hanging in the balance, little else had mattered. Now she wasn’t sure what to expect.

  She ended the call with Brian and tapped the code for Rachelle’s number. Taryn answered for her mother on the first ring.

  “Hey, cuz,” the fifteen-year-old said. “You need Mom?”

  “You know it,” Indigo said. She might be all grown up, but she wasn’t going to lose her street cred with this kid. She wanted Taryn and Yasmin to keep looking up to her so she could be the mentor for these two honeys that Rachelle had been for her.

  Her older cousin’s voice filled the phone. “We’re heading to your parents’ house now,” Rachelle said. “Are you there yet?”

  “Not yet,” Indigo said, “but Brian is there, and I’m afraid that tonight I might have to tell him the truth.”

  6

  Brian Harper had never been arrogant, but he knew his worth.

  Indigo shouldn’t be taking him for granted, given the women he regularly held at bay. She was so trusting that he could have stepped out on her a time or two; but the thing was, he loved this girl. He was trying to do right by her.

  He sat in his car with the engine running and cool air swirling while he waited for Indigo’s parents to arrive with Aunt Melba. Melba wouldn’t want to be welcomed by a bunch of acquaintances, but she was such a people person that he knew she’d be happy to have the support of close friends.

  He and Indigo valued her wisdom, and Brian wished she were well enough to advise him about his efforts to marry Indigo sooner rather than later. He wanted the date set and planning underway before he left for Rhode Island, and he knew it would happen if Aunt Melba were on his side.

  Brian flipped open his cell phone and called Shelby for the second time today.

  “What do you want now?” she asked.

  “Are you in the middle of something?”

  “I’m trying to declutter my room and figure out what I’m taking to OCS next week,” she said. “I know we’re not supposed to bring much, but I don’t want to leave anything important behind. Have you talked to Indigo yet? I guess not, or she would be calling me instead of you.”

  Brian sighed. How had Shelby and Indigo wound up being best friends? They were opposite in personality and ambitions, yet the two of them couldn’t be any closer than a pair of fraternal twins.

  “You know, Brian, if you have to use coercion, that’s a sign that you need to wait, friend,” Shelby said. “Indigo loves you, but just like you and I have dreams that we’re pursuing, she does too. Why are you trying so hard to convince her to forsake what she wants to make you happy? That’s pretty selfish.”

  Brian bristled. That mouth was one of the reasons they had never gotten along when they were a couple.

  “Indigo is pulling up, now,” he told Shelby. “One of us will call you later.”

  He slid the cell phone into the holster attached to his belt loop and stepped out of the car so he could wait for Indigo near the front door.

/>   God, you know my heart. Let her agree that our relationship is worth some compromise.

  Brian watched Indigo parallel park and then approach the person in the SUV who had pulled up behind her. He recognized Cynthia Bridgeforth, Melba’s best friend, behind the wheel. Cynthia lowered her window and chatted with Indigo for a few minutes before climbing out of the Volvo and accompanying Indigo up the driveway.

  Indigo hugged him before she unlocked the door and led him and Cynthia inside.

  He inhaled the True Star perfume that cloaked her and tugged her long, thick ponytail. He loved it when her hair flowed free and framed her gaunt face; but when she was working, she kept it pulled back to keep wisps of it from blocking her view in the camera lens.

  Either way, she was stunning, and she really didn’t realize it. He liked it that way.

  Brian, Indigo, and Cynthia were sitting in the breakfast nook, sipping sodas, when Rachelle and Gabe knocked on the side door off the kitchen. Rachelle peered through the multipaned glass and waved.

  Brian opened the door and hugged her when she crossed the threshold. Her kids strolled in behind her and waved on their way to the family room, where the Wii was stationed.

  Gabe closed the door behind him and slapped palms with Brian. “What’s up, man?”

  “Not much, Doc,” Brian said. “How about with you? You settled into your new digs at Jubilant Memorial?”

  Gabe followed Brian and Rachelle to the table. Indigo and Cynthia stood and hugged him.

  “I don’t know yet, Brian,” he said as he pulled out a chair. “It’s very different from being the head of cardiology at one of the largest hospitals in Houston, but I’m adjusting.”

  Cynthia nodded. “Our small-town medicine can’t compete with the technology and resources a large facility provides, but we’re happy to have you here, Gabe,” she said. “You and Rachelle. Who would have thought that the brief time she spent volunteering at my pediatric clinic all those years ago would lead her to eventually open her own optometry practice, and in Jubilant, of all places.” Gabe smiled at Rachelle. “I know,” he said. “But change is good. More than good.”

  Brian knew that Gabe had been “The Man” in Houston medical circles. Living and working in Jubilant had to be very different, and probably confining.

  “Sometimes God leads us to a foreign land so we can take our eyes off of ourselves and our drama, and focus on him,” Rachelle said.

  Gabe chuckled. “Don’t I know that.”

  “I wasn’t talking about your first mission trip to Uganda.” Rachelle winked at him. “Just our move here.”

  Brian’s eyes widened. “Mission trip to Uganda?”

  “When I was helping with eye exams in Cynthia’s office, Gabe was in Uganda, transforming other people’s lives with medical care,” Rachelle told him. “Little did he know that God was also performing surgery on him.”

  Gabe nodded. “Well said, babe.”

  Indigo rose from the table and motioned for them to follow her. “Let me show you what I’ve done for Aunt Melba,” she said. “As independent as she is, you know she hates not being able to go to her own house; but maybe this will make her feel at home while she’s recuperating.”

  They gathered in the doorway of Indigo’s bedroom. When she flipped the light switch, there was a collective gasp.

  “Oh my goodness,” Cynthia said.

  “Girl, you are gifted,” Gabe whispered.

  Brian’s heart swelled with love and pride. He couldn’t summon the words to match his feelings, so he remained silent.

  Indigo had turned the walls of the room into a miniature gallery. The soft lavender paint from her high school days still graced the walls, but each surface was now covered with photos of various sizes, from 4 x 6s to matted 11 x 17s that she had collected of Melba at various stages of life: in her salon; at her fiftieth birthday party; on a cruise with her sister, Irene; singing in the church choir; reading to kids in Cynthia’s pediatric clinic; on a mission trip to Kenya with Gabe and his former medical partner, Lyle Stevens.

  The black-and-white images were encased in black frames, and some were matted or suspended in glass.

  “This is beautiful.” Rachelle’s voice was trembling. She walked to the wall across from the bed and pointed to a picture of Aunt Melba laughing, with her head thrown back, eyes closed and hands clasped together as if she were in prayer.

  “That’s my favorite,” Indigo said shyly. “I took that picture about three years ago, right after I helped her get dressed for a formal event. It captures Aunt Melba’s heart and soul. I hung it there to remind her of who she is, so that when she gets discouraged, she’ll remember that the chance to resume her full life is worth the struggle to get better.”

  Brian stepped toward her and hugged her. When she became Mrs. Harper and he was a top Navy pilot, he’d see to it that she got plum assignments to showcase her talents wherever they were stationed. They were going to be a good team.

  7

  Ican’t believe I agreed to this. I didn’t sleep all night.”

  Indigo sat on the edge of her bed, gripping her cell phone so tightly that her hand was beginning to ache. Shelby would tell her what to do.

  But her friend remained silent.

  “Are you there?”

  “I’m here, Indie,” she said. “What do you want me to say?”

  “I don’t know. Something. Anything. What would you do?”

  “That’s a loaded question and you know it,” Shelby said.

  Indigo rolled her eyes. So what if Shelby and Brian had dated freshman year? Shelby had been up front with her about that years ago, and Brian assured her that their brief romance had led nowhere.

  Indigo trusted him. She trusted Shelby too. Her sister-friend wouldn’t betray her.

  “I’m not asking what you’d do if Brian wanted to marry you—I’d kill you before that happened,” Indigo said and giggled. “I’m asking what you’d do if you were me.”

  She heard Shelby plop on a bed or sofa.

  “That’s still a loaded question! I can’t tell you to choose grad school over your man or vice versa. You have to do what’s right for you, Indie.”

  Indigo sighed. “Why do I have to choose? Why can’t I marry him and then go off to grad school and join him when I’m done? Or better yet, we could just have a long engagement and get married after I get my MFA.”

  Shelby should have been a psychiatrist. The long silences she could maintain always left room for Indigo to come up with her own solutions.

  “Yes, that’s what I’ll do. See if he’ll let me backtrack on what I agreed to last night and instead have a long engagement. Thanks for listening, Shel.”

  “Always, girl. I’m here for you. Now let me go have breakfast with my family. Mom is already getting emotional about her baby leaving for Rhode Island. It’s not like I’m going away to college for the first time. Rhode Island is just a plane ride away. But you know how parents are.”

  Indigo laughed. “Go give your folks some love. And be prepared to keep an eye on Brian for me when you guys get to Officer Candidate School. I know those little honeys are going to be after my man.”

  “Hmmm,” Shelby said. “Sounds like you do want to keep him. I was beginning to wonder.”

  They laughed.

  “I do love him, Shelby,” Indigo said. “I just don’t want to make the mistake of throwing away my dreams for someone else’s. It happens all the time. I think that’s one of the reasons Mama lost herself in alcohol all those years ago. And Rachelle reminds me every chance she gets about the long, rocky road she has traveled to finally practice optometry. I think I can pursue what I’m called to do and still be there for Brian.”

  Just as quickly as she uttered that reassurance—more for herself than for Shelby—Indigo remembered the cloud that had settled over Rachelle’s face the night before, when Brian gathered everyone in the living room, including Aunt Melba, and asked the family to help Indigo prepare for a late summer weddin
g. She had agreed to a date only moments before.

  “Indigo and I have decided that we’d like to get married sooner rather than later,” Brian had announced. They stood in the center of the room, holding hands, and Indigo kept her eyes glued to his face while he spoke. “I will graduate from Officer Candidate School on August 19, and I’ll have a few weeks of leave before I have to report to flight training school, possibly in Corpus Christi, but most likely in Pensacola, Florida.”

  Indigo’s mother beamed. “I’ll do whatever I can to help my baby get ready. That’s not a lot of time, though. We have a lot to do between now and August, Indigo.”

  Aunt Melba, whose face was still slightly twisted from the stroke, had remained expressionless.

  Gabe and Rachelle exchanged glances, but didn’t speak.

  Despite her reservations about his urgency, Indigo knew she was lucky. She had captured the heart of a man who loved God, had a bright future, and adored her. She would be throwing away a blessing to dismiss him.

  Yet, she had tossed and turned all night. And it troubled her that Rachelle had gone home without telling her goodbye or wishing her well.

  She deserved an explanation. Indigo flipped open her phone again and dialed Rachelle’s number. It was Saturday morning and just seven a.m., but she knew Rachelle was already well into her day.

  “Hey, cuz, where are you?”

  “At Melba’s salon, making sure everything’s ready for the ten a.m. opening,” Rachelle said. “The two girls who’ve been renting booth space from her agreed to split her clientele today. Carmen will serve as their shampoo girl, like she’s always done for Aunt Melba. I’m going to field calls and answer questions about how Melba’s doing. Your mom said we might want to set up a schedule to rotate these duties until Aunt Melba’s back up to speed. I could tell last night that she’s worried about her business falling apart.”