Genesis House Inspirational Romance and Family Drama Boxed Set: 3-in-1

by Angela Benson

Dawn chuckled, a sound that reflected the lightness she felt in her heart. Though it would take time, she felt Walter and Freddie had a fairly even chance of making it back to each other. “This does sound like a make nice party, doesn’t it?” she agreed. “The truth is, the four of us will never be friends. I think that’s a bit much to ask of any of us. But we can go forward from here having learned something that will make us work harder at keeping what we have.” She looked at her husband and her lips curved in a smile. “I wish none of this had ever happened, but I’m happy to be back on the road with my life partner.” She turned to Walter. “Today is about the rest of your life, Walter. Sly and I are walking out of here as a unit. We’re no longer a part of your marriage. What you and Freddie do or don’t do can no longer be laid at our feet.”

  Sly slid from the booth and took Dawn’s hand. “I pray the best for both of you,” she said to the couple they were leaving behind. Then she walked out of the restaurant, her hand folded in the hand of the man she loved. After they exited the restaurant, Sly pulled her into his arms and shared with her a kiss full of love and hope. Then they walked to their cars as one.

  Chapter 28

  Francine hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Mother Harris all day on Tuesday. Though the older woman wasn’t scheduled to be in the bookstore, Francine needed to see her to assure herself her friend was well. Their Monday conversation played over and over in her mind. George was Rev. Harris’s grandson and Mother Harris had lived with the shame of it for more years than Francine wanted to think about. After closing the store, she called Mother Harris with the intent of going over to her house. When no one answered, she decided to swing by the Genesis House Community Center on the off chance of catching Stuart after his TFMA group meeting. She wanted to tell him that he was right and she wasn’t leaving town after all.

  She breathed a sigh of relief when she pulled into the Community Center parking lot and saw Stuart’s Corvette parked there. Scanning the group of young men playing basketball on the nearby court, she grabbed her purse and slid out of her car. Stuart wasn’t among their number, so she assumed he was still meeting with his group. Not wanting to interrupt them, she headed in the direction of the basketball players and took a seat on one of the benches a good ways away from the play. The seat gave her a good view of the game, the Community Center entrance, and Stuart’s car. Confident there was no way she could miss him, she settled back to enjoy the game.

  “You’re like a bad penny. You turn up everywhere.”

  Francine tilted her head back so she could look at George, praying for wisdom as she did so. “Your material’s getting old,” she said to him. “Can’t you come up with something more original?”

  “Why waste my time trying to do that? You’re not worth it.”

  Francine sighed. “Why don’t we have this out like two adults, George, and quit all the sniping?”

  He stared her down. “What you really mean is, you want a chance to make more excuses for what you did to my sister.”

  Tired of holding her head back, Francine stood and faced George. “That’s not what I mean at all.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “You’ve got three minutes,” he said.

  Francine wasn’t sure how to begin.

  “Two minutes and fifty seconds,” he said.

  “Honestly, George, I don’t know where to start. You’ve known me all my life. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Toni. I loved her. You have to know that.”

  George dropped his arms and leaned his face close to hers. “What I know is that my sister is dead because of you.”

  She shook her head. “Not because of me, because of them, because of what they did to her.” When he would have turned away she grabbed his arm. “We’re on the same side, George. LaDonna told me that you tried to get charges filed against them. Well, I think you were right to try. They should pay.”

  “So should you.”

  “Don’t you think I’ve paid?” she asked. “You say I’m responsible for Toni’s death, and I feel responsible. I brought her there, but I was as innocent as she was. I didn’t know what was going on. I was deceived too.”

  George looked away from her but not before she could see the dampness in his eyes. “I can forgive you for taking her there, but I can’t forgive you for turning your back on her when she needed help.” He turned his eyes back to her. “Can you imagine how alone she felt? I can’t forgive you for leaving her alone like that.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t stand with her, George. I’ll always regret that. But the reality is that I couldn’t imagine a pastor doing what Bishop Payne did to Toni and the other women in the congregation. There was nothing in my experience to prepare me for that. I couldn’t believe her because what she said seemed impossible to me. I now know that, unfortunately, it’s very common. That things like that kind of misconduct go on is one of the best-kept secrets in the church.”

  “You’ve got that right,” George said.

  Francine placed her hand on his arm, and he surprised her by not shaking it off. “I’m sorry about your grandmother, George. It shouldn’t have happened to her either.”

  His eyes turned cold and he shook off her hand. “Stay away from me,” he said. “You know nothing about me or my family.”

  Francine’s hand tightened on his arm to keep him in place, though she knew he could have pulled away from her if he really wanted to. “Your mother deserved to know her father and you deserved to know your grandfather.”

  He shook her hand off again. “Too bad people don’t always get what they deserve. Especially people like you. What you deserve is to pay for my sister’s death, but you’re coming out of this whole thing smelling like a rose. When Rev. Thomas held you up in church that Sunday as an example of what it meant to be a Christian, I wanted to throw up. You’ve even got Pastor and Stuart talking to me about my attitude.” He shook his head. “You’ve really got them fooled. You don’t know how many times I’ve thought about changing my membership since you’ve been back. I still don’t know if Faith Central is big enough for both of us.”

  “George—” she began.

  He waved her off. “Forget it. I don’t want to hear it. Your three minutes were up a long time ago.”

  Francine watched him stalk toward the Community Center entrance. Though the conversation hadn’t gone the way she wanted, she was glad she’d had a chance to say the things she did. She prayed the Lord would use her words to soften George’s heart.

  When George opened the Community Center door, Stuart was coming out. They shared a few words and then Stuart glanced over at Francine. George said something else and Smart shook his head. Then he clapped George on the back and headed in her direction.

  “What brings you by?” he asked Francine when he reached her side. “You should have come in and said hello to the guys.”

  Still thinking about George, she said, “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “Did you and George have words again?”

  She looked at him. “What did you and Pastor say to him?”

  Stuart grinned. “He told you about that, huh?” When she nodded, he said, “We just talked about what it meant to be a Christian. We didn’t think blackmailing sisters or sabotaging brothers was part of the description. George agreed.” Stuart studied Francine closely. “Rather, he said he did. What did he say to you?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “What matters is that he’s no longer after you.”

  He tapped her nose with his finger. “What matters is that he works this out with God. This is not just about me and George, or you and George. It’s about George and God. That relationship can’t be doing too well if he’s treating his brothers and sisters the way he was treating us.”

  “You’re right,” Francine said. “You’re so right. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

  He pointed to the bench she had recently vacated, and they sat down. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “A f
ew things. First, I wanted to tell you I’ve called off my job search and I won’t be leaving town.”

  He grinned at her. “Now, that’s good news.”

  “Aren’t you going to ask why?”

  He smiled. “I think I have a pretty good idea. Mother Harris called me over last night, told me about your conversation with her, and told me her plan for trying to make up for the injustice she and her husband did to George’s family.”

  “Plan?”

  He nodded. “She’s some lady.”

  “What’s she going to do?” Francine asked.

  Stuart shook his head. “That’s for her to tell you and I’m sure she will. She thinks you walk on water.”

  “What?”

  He chuckled at her wide-eyed expression. “She appreciates your being there and letting her work through what was bothering her. She said that even though it was tough to do, she felt a burden had been lifted.”

  Francine bowed her head to hide her tears. “I didn’t know,” she said. “I was a bit worried I’d done more harm than good.”

  He tilted her chin up. “When you said you weren’t leaving town, I thought you’d finally gotten it. When are you going to see what a blessing you are to people around you? You sell yourself and God short when you don’t.”

  Francine knew he was right, and she wanted to live the rest of her life like she believed it. No more recriminations for the past. No more feeling unworthy. If she’d realized anything in the past few days, she realized what she’d experienced at Temple needed to be public knowledge. She didn’t want people to be as naive as she was. She wanted people to know what was possible so that people who needed help—people like Toni, Mother Harris, George and his mother and grandmother, Monika and Dolores, even Sister Campbell—could find that help. She was about to tell Stuart this when his cell phone rang.

  “Rogers,” he said. He stood up. “I’m on my way.” He reached for her hand as he flipped his phone over and tucked it back in his pocket. “We have to get to the hospital. It’s Mother Harris.”

  “What happened?” Francine asked as he pulled her to his car. She got in, not bothering to point out that she had her own car.

  “I don’t know the details,” he said. “Rev. Thomas just said we needed to hurry.”

  “George,” Francine said as Stuart put the car in gear. “We need to get George. He needs to be there.”

  Stuart looked over at her, as if debating her request. “Stay put,” he said. “I’ll get him.” She watched as he sprinted into the Community Center. No sooner had he entered the door than he and George rushed out. Stuart ran back to his car and George hustled to his own. The two-car convoy made it to the hospital in record time. Rev. Thomas met them at the entrance to the emergency room.

  “How is she?” Stuart asked, his hand holding tight to Francine’s. George stood next to him, his heavy breathing indicative of his concern.

  Rev. Thomas shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said. “She’s gone.”

  “Nooo,” Francine cried, turning into Stuart’s arms.

  ~ ~ ~

  Three days later Francine sat in Rev. Thomas’s office with Stuart, Sly and Dawn, Monika and Dolores, George and his mother, and Freddie and Walter, waiting for Mother Harris’s will to be read. She still couldn’t believe that her good friend and supporter was gone. A massive heart attack, the doctors had told them. Mother Harris had known about the condition of her heart and so had her doctor, but she hadn’t chosen to share that knowledge with anybody else. As the doctor explained, when he’d warned her about her condition, she’d blithely told him, “I’m old, parts are gonna wear out, but I’m not going anywhere until the Lord calls me.” And that, he’d said, was that.

  Francine glanced around Rev. Thomas’s office at the lives Mother Harris had touched. The older woman had said she had no children, but as Francine looked around, she realized that wasn’t true. Mother Harris did have children—children of the faith, brothers and sisters in Christ she’d nurtured and supported as much as any parent could have. Francine blinked back tears as she looked into the faces that represented Mother Harris’s legacy. What would her own legacy be? she wondered.

  The door opened and Rev. Thomas joined them. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he said, “but another appointment ran long.” He glanced over at Stuart, who sat in a chair close to Rev. Thomas’s desk. “Did you bring the documents?”

  Stuart handed Rev. Thomas a manila folder. “Stuart could have done this without me,” Rev. Thomas told the assembled group from his perch on the front edge of his desk, “but Mother Harris wanted it done this way. Since we’ve always followed what she wanted us to do, I didn’t see any reason to stop now.” The comment brought a soft chuckle from the group that Francine knew was coupled with individual and specific memories of a Mother Harris moment. “I have Mother Harris’s will in front of me and you’re all here because you’re all named in it.” He glanced down at the papers. Then he looked over at George, who was seated next to his mother. “The bulk of Mother Harris’s estate, including her home, the bookstore, and the proceeds from Rev. Harris’s life insurance, which Mother Harris never touched, go to his only child, Mary Roberts, and his only living grandchild, George Roberts. If Mother Harris had any regret in her life,” Rev. Thomas told them, “it was that she and Rev. Harris never publicly acknowledged his child. She had plans to correct that error but the Lord saw fit to take her home before she could do it.” He handed George and Mrs. Roberts envelopes with their names on them. Mrs. Roberts squeezed hers tightly in her fist and turned her face into her son’s shoulder and wept. “She informed me that she wrote these letters,” Rev. Thomas told them, “to say what she should have said years ago.”

  He turned to Monika and Dolores. “Mother Harris knew how much you wanted a family, Monika, and more than anything, she wanted you to know she considered you and your mother her family.” He handed envelopes to both Monika and Dolores. “Like any grandparent would like to be able to do for a grandchild, Mother Harris left money to cover your college education and the down payment on your first house.” He smiled at the teenager. “She said she’d leave the car up to your mother. She didn’t think her heart could take you behind the wheel of an automobile.” Monika squeezed her eyes shut but tears still leaked from her closed lids.

  Rev. Thomas now turned to Walter and Freddie. “What Mother Harris wanted most for the two of you was reconciliation and restoration.” He handed each of them an envelope. “She knew how hard it was to forgive an unfaithful spouse,” he told Walter, “and she wanted you to do a better job of it than she did. In addition to a substantial sum of money from her personal life insurance policy, she signed you both up for marriage counseling.”

  Next Rev. Thomas turned to Francine, Dawn, and Sly. “Mother Harris kept a warm spot in her heart for you, the much loved grandchildren of her dearest friends. Because she knows how much the legacy of your grandparents means to you, she wanted to support that legacy by investing in the funeral home. Francine told her about the venture you were planning, and she left a substantial investment in the collective. She asks that the proceeds from her investment be donated to Genesis House.”

  He handed an envelope to Francine and one to Sly that was for him and Dawn. “Dawn and Sly, Francine told Mother Harris about your reconciliation and that made her happy. Francine, she loved you dearly. She wanted you to know, really know, that your coming back here changed a lot of lives, no one’s more than hers.” Francine’s heart contracted with love and loss for the dear woman who had herself changed so many lives.

  Finally, he turned to Stuart. “I know this surprises you, Stuart, but she had something for you too. She wanted you to know that she and Marie have your back. She didn’t see a need for a letter to help explain that.” Stuart lowered his head.

  Rev. Thomas looked across the room at the group. “That’s it, except for a rather large donation that she left to the church.” George and his mother were the first to stand. “Thank you for
everything, Rev. Thomas,” Mrs. Roberts said, her voice still clogged with tears. Francine stood and hugged the older woman, hating the stiffness in Mrs. Roberts’s body as she embraced her. Francine didn’t say anything, because there was nothing left to say. George leaned toward her and whispered, “You’re fired. Don’t even think about coming back to the bookstore.” Then he turned and led his mother out of Rev. Thomas’s office.

  When Francine turned back to Rev. Thomas, he said, “Mother Harris expected that response and you should have too. Read her letter and you’ll understand better.” Rev. Harris turned to Dawn and Sly. “Would you two give us a few minutes? I need to discuss something with the others that has nothing to do with the will.”

  Dawn hugged her sister and then she and Sly left the room.

  “This is not the best time for this news,” Rev. Thomas said to the assembled group, “but I thought you’d appreciate it.” He looked at Monika. “Your grandmother and your three brothers want to meet you,” he told her.

  Monika’s mouth dropped open.

  “What?” Dolores asked.

  “Rev. Campbell’s three sons and his mother want to meet their newest relative.”

  “When?” Monika asked.

  “Whenever you’re ready to meet them.”

  “What about my father?”

  Rev. Thomas’s lips curved downward in a frown. “He’s not there yet, Monika.” At the dismay on her face, he added, “Don’t take it personally, sweetheart. It’s no fault of yours. It’s his problem and he has to work through it on his own. If it helps you any, he’s not close to your brothers either.”

  Monika nodded as she turned into her mother’s embrace, and Dolores led her out of the room. Stuart and Francine stayed behind.

  “What happened when you talked to Rev. Campbell?” Francine asked.

  “I didn’t talk to him,” Rev. Thomas explained. “I made a few investigative phone calls, found out a few things, and then I called his oldest son. He’s pastor of a small church in southern Alabama. Excellent reputation and a strong ministry of reconciliation. Anyway, I told the son the story and he took it from there.”