by E. N. Joy
“When all this is done and over with,” Paige declared, “I’m going to be the poster child for how to beat diabetes. And I’m going to have the Lord and a testimony to prove it,” Paige had said as they loaded up the car with bags of groceries.
“Amen to that!” Blake had proclaimed.
Paige’s testimony would not only be about how, with God’s healing power and her doing her part, she got the victory over diabetes, but how God had also used the disease as a wakeup call to both her and her husband.
Now it was Sunday morning and Blake was escorting Paige to church. That was something he hadn’t done in a month of Sundays. Paige was full of joy and praises to God, and Blake was too.
“It certainly is good to see you this Sunday morning.” Pastor greeted Blake after service as several members of the congregation made their way to the pulpit in order to tell Pastor what a fine job the Holy Spirit had done in ministering through the head of the house. “First Brother Elton returns, and now you. I think I’ve got all one hundred sheep accounted for.” Pastor laughed.
“I might have strayed from the church a little bit, Pastor, but you best believe I never strayed away from God.” Blake looked over at Paige, who was standing next to him arm in arm. “He’s worthy to be praised. Worthy, worthy, worthy.” Blake almost broke out in a shout just thinking about what God had done for him and Paige: how God had brought his wife out of both a car accident and diabetic blackout; how God had begun the works of mending their marriage that had slowly but surely been in the beginning stages of falling apart. “Worthy is the blood of the lamb. Holy is our God. Holy! Holy! Holy!”
Before anyone knew it, Blake had let go of Paige’s arm, and his feet started moving and stomping quickly. “Hallelujah,” he shouted as his feet continued to stomp as if he were smashing the heads of the beast that had come to kill, steal, and destroy.
“That’s right, son. Praise Him!” Pastor declared.
Paige’s eyes filled with tears as she watched her man give God some praise. When a few other brothers made their way up and began to shout with Blake, it was like church was taking place all over again. To see all these men of God not ashamed to show love to the Father was awesome.
It was when Brother Maeyl practically leaped from the sound booth and joined them that Deborah realized Tamarra hadn’t been in church. With so much going on in her life these past few days, she hadn’t talked to Tamarra. She’d seen on the caller ID where her best friend had called her a couple of times while she was busy with Blake or something. One thing Paige had learned during marriage counseling was how valuable time with a spouse was. The last thing a spouse wanted was for his or her mate to be yapping on the phone when they were spending time together. So, Paige had made it a point these last few days to give her man one hundred percent of her attention. She’d meant to return Tamarra’s calls, but she’d never gotten around to it. And now with Tamarra not being in church, she knew that whatever it was that was going on with Tamarra deserved more than a call back. It deserved a drive-by.
“You two aren’t sneaking off to the Golden Corral, are you?” Blake asked Paige, full of skepticism as they still stood up at the front altar. By this time, the praise party was over and Pastor was still greeting folks.
“No, sweetie, I promise,” Paige assured him. “I just want to do a drive-by to see if everything is okay with Sister Tamarra.” Paige turned and tapped Maeyl on the shoulder. He had been standing next to her, talking to one of the other brothers. “Brother Maeyl, do you think you could give my husband a ride home? I want to drop by and check on your fiancée. All is well, right?” Paige shot Maeyl a look that a teacher would give a child who’d forgotten to do their homework.
“Uh, well…” Maeyl stammered. Paige had put him on the spot. He hadn’t talked to Tamarra since the day outside of Family Café—since the day he’d broken off their engagement—but he didn’t want to put their business on blast, nor did he want to be the one to tell Paige what was going on. He’d allow Tamarra to share that information with her best friend when she was ready.
He had an idea why Tamarra hadn’t been in church. Perhaps over the past few days word had gotten back to her, and she didn’t want to come to church and face the situation: the situation with him and Sakaya. The situation with him and—
“Sister Sasha, God bless you, woman of God,” a bystander said as Sasha approached Paige, Blake, and Maeyl. She nodded, smiled, then walked up next to Maeyl.
“Honey, we’re ready to go,” Sasha practically whispered in Maeyl’s ear. “Sakaya’s getting restless.” She looked down at her little girl, who was holding her hand. “You know how kids can get when church gets over.”
Did she call him honey? Paige was thinking. She shook her head. She had to have been hearing things. She looked down and noticed the slight little tug Sasha was giving the bottom of Maeyl’s suit coat. It was discreet, but Paige saw it.
“Give me a second; then I’ll walk you two to your car,” Maeyl told Sasha.
“But, Daddy, aren’t you coming back home with us? Aren’t you going to sleep at our house again?” Sakaya whined.
Sasha cleared her throat—loudly. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s go thank Sister Helen for teaching you such wonderful things in youth children’s church before we go.” Sasha dang near dragged the little girl away before she could say anything else.
Maeyl stood there silently, staring down at the floor.
“Well, are you just going to stand next to that elephant and say nothing?” Paige spat after a few seconds.
“Elephant?” Maeyl had a confused look on his face.
Paige threw her hands on her hips—hips that she swore had already shrunk down an inch. “Yeah, the elephant. You know, the old English idiom also known as the obvious truth. Or in this case, Sasha!” Paige had gotten a little loud.
“Honey, calm down.” Blake gently grabbed her arm.
“I think I am calm. More calm than I should be after seeing my best friend’s fiancé—”
“Babe,” Blake gritted as Paige now drew folks’ attention. His grip on her arm was no longer so gentle.
“Ouch!” She looked down at the grip her husband had on her arm. It hurt. She didn’t know how to feel about that. Perhaps Blake didn’t realize he was hurting her. Surely he hadn’t meant to squeeze her arm so tightly. So hard.
“Look, Brother Maeyl, if you don’t mind, can you give me a ride home while Paige goes to see about Tamarra?” Blake smiled. He released Paige’s arm as he charmingly walked over to Maeyl and put his hand on his shoulder, patting it gently.
“Uh, sure, yeah, that’s not a problem. Let me just walk Sakaya and—” He looked at Paige then nervously back at Blake. “Let me just do something first. Meet me at my car in a couple minutes,” he told Blake before walking away.
Blake turned his attention back toward his wife. “See, honey, everything is going to be fine. I’ll talk with Maeyl on the way home to get his side of the story of what’s going on. Just relax, okay?” He rubbed Paige’s arms up and down while she still caressed the spot on her arm he’d practically crushed. He then planted a loving kiss on her forehead before walking away, but not before saying, “And don’t you go sneaking off trying to go out to that buffet you and Tamarra love so much.” He tapped his watch. “I’m gonna time you. Don’t be more than an hour.” He winked, but he wasn’t joking. Paige could tell. There was someone else who could tell as well.
“Everything okay, Sister Paige?” a female voice asked Paige out of nowhere.
Paige turned to see Sister Nita slipping on her gloves, probably headed somewhere in the church to start cleaning. As the head of the Janitorial Ministry, Sister Nita saw to it that the church was spotless.
“Oh yeah, Sister Nita, I’m fine.” Paige smiled.
“Is your arm?” Sister Nita asked knowingly.
Paige didn’t like what Sister Nita was trying to insinuate. “Yes, all of me is okay, thank you very much.”
“All right. Well,
I was just checking.” Nita paused as if she were waiting to take direction from someone. “You know if you ever needed anyone to talk to, I’m—”
“I think there is a clog in the women’s bathroom that is calling your name, Sister Nita. Why don’t you run off and go see about it.”
Nita could take the hint. She smiled and nodded. “God bless you, Sister Paige. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
Paige was immediately convicted for the way she’d just spoken to Sister Nita, but she hadn’t appreciated one bit the way the woman had approached her. Paige looked around in what one might consider a paranoid way. She wondered what Sister Nita had seen to make her approach her like that in the first place. She wondered if anyone else had seen the same thing. Obviously Sister Nita had jumped to the wrong conclusion, but Paige didn’t have time to stand there and worry about it. She had to run to see what was going on with her best friend. She had to run from her own thoughts—thoughts that she knew mirrored Nita’s to some degree.
Chapter Thirty-six
Tamarra had just finished packing and was carrying her suitcase down the steps when the doorbell rang.
“Ugh.” She sighed and looked at her living room clock. It was after one o’clock, later than she had thought it was. Later than what she wanted it to be. “A drive-by,” she said under her breath.
She’d planned to be on the road by now, gone before anyone from New Day came to see about her. She didn’t know how many people had witnessed or heard about her collapsing outside of Family Café. She knew at least one had, because Pastor had called her up at the hospital the next morning after her fall with plans to come visit her. Tamarra convinced Pastor it wasn’t necessary, and instead, they just prayed together over the phone. Pastor hadn’t yet shared Tamarra’s hospitalization with the church family. Pastor wanted to get all the details first before calling up folks and just telling them anything blindly. Tamarra had promised her pastor she’d call and give all the updates on her health and what was going on with her. And she planned to…once she returned.
Tamarra told Pastor she didn’t want to worry her church family and have folks calling and coming by; instead she wanted rest. Pastor agreed. But Tamarra wasn’t a fool. She knew someone who’d been up at Family Café and watched her get hauled off on a stretcher had told someone. And that someone was probably the someone at her door now.
After creeping over to the door and looking out of the peephole, Tamarra was somewhat relieved to see her best friend, but she was also somewhat perturbed. She had a right mind to let her stand out there, to leave her hanging the way she’d left her hanging by not answering or returning her calls. Paige hadn’t answered her calls when Tamarra needed someone to talk to, when she had the courage to tell someone everything—absolutely everything—for real this time. Neither her nor Maeyl had been there. For that, Tamarra was bitter, but still, not so bitter where she’d leave her best friend outside her door knocking.
“Well, well, well, you’ve finally found the time to see if I was over here breathing or not,” Tamarra spat as she opened the door.
“Tamarra, I’m sorry.” Paige immediately apologized. “It’s just that you have no idea what these last few days have been like for me. I—”
“What they’ve been like for you!” Tamarra shouted. “Tuh.” She walked away, letting go of the screen door that she’d been holding open. It almost slammed in Paige’s face. Luckily, Paige caught the door with her hand and invited herself in, following behind Tamarra.
“Tamarra, I…” Paige’s words trailed off when she spotted Tamarra’s suitcase. “You’re leaving?” Paige asked. “Where…where are you going?”
“To Maryland,” Tamarra answered, short.
“But Maryland? For…for how long?” Without giving Tamarra time to answer, Paige continued in a panicked tone. She was afraid she was about to lose her best friend. “Are you sure this is what you want to do? Leave the state? I mean, I can understand you wanting to leave the church. I don’t blame you, because I know how hard it would be for you to sit up in there Sunday after Sunday and see Maeyl and Sasha together. But you shouldn’t—”
“Wait a minute. Hold up.” Tamarra put her hand up to yield Paige’s words. She grabbed her stomach with her other hand. It took her a couple of seconds to find her breath. Paige’s words had knocked the wind out of her. “Maeyl and Sasha?”
“Yeah, girl, I realized that’s what you’ve been calling me for, trying to tell me, when I saw them in church today.” Paige mocked Sasha. She walked over to Tamarra and tugged at the bottom of her jacket the way Sasha had tugged on Maeyl’s suit jacket. “Honey, we’re ready to go.” Paige rolled her eyes while sticking her tongue out in disgust. “Made me sick. And then like some ol’ Stepford Husband, Maeyl walks her to her car. But what blew my mind was the little girl.” Now Paige began to mock the words Sakaya had spoken. “Daddy, aren’t you coming back home with us? Aren’t you going to sleep at our house again?” Paige shook her head. “Come to think of it, I’m glad you weren’t in church today. I probably would have had to pull you off that floozy the same way my husband dang near had to…”
Tamarra didn’t know what Paige was talking about. Maeyl? Sasha? Tamarra was clueless about the entire Maeyl and Sasha thing. Paige’s words had trailed off once Tamarra realized that everything she was saying was all new to Tamarra’s ears…to her heart. Paige could tell by the blank expression on Tamarra’s face.
“Oh my…. That’s not why you were calling me, huh?” Paige figured out. Tamarra didn’t answer. She just stood there in shock, trembling. She was angry. She was hurt. Paige could see those emotions as well as a zillion others taking turns expressing themselves on her face. “Oh, sweetie,” Paige said and walked over to comfort her friend. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I just assumed…”
“Wow,” Tamarra said, staring straight on. “Wow. He calls our wedding off one day, and then he’s right in her bed the next. I can’t believe… I’m… I don’t know what to say.”
“Come and sit down.” Paige led a stunned Tamarra over to the couch. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way about Maeyl and his baby’s momma.”
“That’s why he did it. That’s probably the real reason why he broke the engagement off, using me and my feelings for his daughter as an excuse. All the while it was because he was knocking boots with Sasha. Probably been sleeping with her since the day she so conveniently strolled back into his life. Once again, joke’s on Tamarra.” She smacked her hands upside her forehead…hard…harder.
“Stop it!” Paige said while grabbing her friend’s hands. “Stop it right now.” She held Tamarra’s hands and prayed. “In the name of Jesus, Lord, we come to you—”
“You stop it!” Tamarra spat back. “I ain’t thinking about praying. Praying has gotten me nowhere.”
“The devil is a lie.”
“And so are men. Liars, cheats, cheats and liars.”
“I know how you must feel—”
“No, you don’t,” Tamarra snapped as she stood up. “No one does, nobody but God knows, and yet He just keeps piling it on.” She looked upward. “‘Here you go, Tamarra. You can take it. You can bear it. Here you go. Here’s a little more poop to add to the pile.’ Well, God, I can’t take…any…more.” Tamarra lost control of her breathing, so she quickly did her inhaling and exhaling exercise until she regained some semblance of control. The last thing she needed was to have another panic attack when she was supposed to be getting on the road. Speaking of the road…
“I gotta go.” She headed for her suitcase.
“Wait. I can’t let you leave like this, in this condition.” Paige stood up and walked over toward her friend.
“I’ve gotta go. My folks are expecting me.”
Paige stood erect and placed her hands on her hips. “Like I said, I can’t let you leave like this. Now, sit down and calm down for a minute.” Tamarra shot Paige a look as if to say if she didn’t move out of her way, she was going to go through her. Paige co
untered with, “Look, God might have given me all this extra weight and big bones for a time such as this. Don’t make me use it on you, girlie.”
Tamarra could see that Paige meant business. She released the suitcase, stared at her friend momentarily, and just broke down and sobbed.
“Now, now,” Paige said, hugging Tamarra. “It’s going to be all right.” The two friends stayed in their embrace while Tamarra shed every tear that felt the need to release itself. “You know as well as I do that God will put on us no more than we can bear. I mean, this whole diabetes thing, the diabetic coma, blackout, or whatever the doctors called it, I can handle it. And you can han—”
“Wait. What are you talking about?” Tamarra made an early exit from her own pity party to see about Paige. “Diabetes? Coma?”
“Yes, that’s what’s been going on with me the past few days. Girl, one minute I was driving my car down the road, and the next minute I woke up in the hospital. Come to find I’d blacked out. My blood sugar had dropped. It was the scariest thing ever,” Paige reminisced.
“My God, Paige. You should have called me.”
“It had to register with myself first. And then Blake.” A smile lit up Paige’s face. “He’s been consuming all my time. He’s been more attentive than ever, just taking care of me and treating me like a queen. I was going to call you. I meant to call you. Then I figured I’d just see you at church and talk to you then.” She took a quick breather. “God is good. He saved me from an accident that, if you could have seen my car, there is no way I should have lived. Yeah, I might have been diagnosed with a disease, but my God is a healer. All I have to do is walk in the healing; do the things I’m supposed to do as a healthy, healed woman of God. I’m starting with changing my diet.”