Been There Prayed That (9781622860845)

by Joy, E. n.

  “Bingo!” Lorain exclaimed after finding the final nail in the coffin. Finally, after three days of online researching, not only had she been able to verify her own untold story, but she’d retrieved and printed enough information to verify how her life related to Unique’s as well—and to Mr. Leary’s.

  Everything seemed to be coming together in a way that could have only been orchestrated by God. And now that Lorain had all this information at her fingertips, she had no idea what to do with it.

  “Now what, God?” she asked as she hit the button that would initiate the printing of the last document she had researched.

  Lorain slowly stood up and straightened out her aching back. The pain was due to sitting for so many hours in her computer chair. She began walking it out by pacing the floor and thinking—and thinking—and pacing. Deep in her soul, she knew what she should do, what she would want someone to do for her, but there was a part of her that was too ashamed and embarrassed to have to face the details of a past she was regretful of. How could she even fix her lips to tell anyone, including the main person who truly deserved to know?

  Lorain stopped her pacing, then walked over to the printer after hearing the last page print off. She retrieved the pages from the print tray, held it in her hands, and looked at it for a minute. The nail in the coffin indeed. She made her way back to her desk and picked up the blue three prong folder she’d labeled “My Life.” She placed it inside the folder, and then flung it back on her desk. It slid to the back of the desk and onto the floor. With the soreness in her back, she didn’t feel like bending over to get it, so she decided to leave it there until she needed it. It would stay there, along with the other papers she’d collected for the last three days, until God ordered her next steps.

  Deciding it was time she’d finally eat a decent meal, Lorain headed for the kitchen. She’d been so glued to her computer the last few days that she’d hardly eaten. She had been unable to tear herself away from the computer as it continued to spit out one piece of the puzzle after the next. She grabbed a couple of grapes from the fruit bowl and popped one in her mouth. As she opened the refrigerator, her doorbell rang. Looking outside her front room window, she noticed her mother’s car in the driveway. She sighed and her shoulders slumped. Another unannounced visit from her mother couldn’t be good.

  “Hey, Mom,” Lorain tried to say in a perky tone as she opened the front door. Popping the second grape in her mouth, she looked up, swallowed it whole and began choking. She tried to cough it up, but it was stuck in her throat. She hunched over in a ball with her hands gripped around her neck like she was trying to squeeze the grape up. She couldn’t breathe.

  “Oh dear God!” she heard her mother cry out. “I’ll call nine-one-one!”

  Lorain didn’t know how much time was passing by, but it felt like forever and a day. The very air she breathed had been ripped from her in a matter of seconds. Just before she felt as though she were going to black out, she felt a presence behind her. She then felt arms around her. She felt fists gripped under her breasts. Next she felt a repeating pumping pressure. The grape hit the floor. She felt the arms release her.

  “Are you okay?” was all she heard before she blacked out, hitting the floor and squashing the poor little grape.

  “What happened?” Lorain asked in a groggy voice after coming to.

  “You choked on a grape, honey, but you’re okay now,” Eleanor told her daughter as she stood over her with a smile on her face. She was delicately brushing her hands through Lorain’s hair.

  Lorain stared at her mother momentarily as if it had taken her a minute to figure out just exactly who she was. “Ma?”

  “Yes, honey, it’s me,” Eleanor confirmed.

  Next, Lorain’s eyes darted around the room. “Where am I? What’s going on?” All Lorain saw were white walls. She thought for a moment about where she could possibly be, and then began to panic. “Ma, what have you done? “I told you I wasn’t that kind of crazy. And you go commit me to the hospital, all because I didn’t want to go shopping with you?”

  Eleanor allowed Lorain to ramble on before she stopped her. “Lorain, what are you talking about? It’s been almost two weeks since we had that conversation. You’re talking like we just had it.”

  “We did, didn’t we?” A confused look flushed Lorain’s face. Eleanor could tell that something wasn’t right with her daughter.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Levington, the ER doctor on duty,” the tall woman said as she entered the room with a clipboard in hand. She looked like she should have made her career in the WNBA.

  “Hi, Dr. Levington.” Eleanor stood and quickly approached the doctor. “What’s wrong with my baby? I know my baby, and something ain’t right.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk about.” The doctor began flipping through the files. We took some X-rays of your daughter’s head and an MRI—”

  “Oh Lord. It’s her brain. She’s got brain damage or something, doesn’t she?”

  “Now, sweetie, calm down.” Broady stood up from the chair he’d been sitting in over in the back corner of the room. He walked over to Eleanor and embraced her. “Calm down and just listen to what the doctor has to say.”

  “Ma, what’s he doing here?” Lorain asked as she watched her mother be comforted by the man that had asked her to calm down. “Who is he?”

  “What do you mean who is he?” Eleanor asked her daughter. “You know exactly who this is.”

  “Lorain, it’s me, Broady,” he said as he released Eleanor and looked at her. “You only met me briefly the other day, but I’m—”

  Eleanor cut her fiancé off while charging toward Lorain. She was pointing an accusing finger. “Oh, I see what you’re doing, young lady.” She then spoke to Broady while still charging at Lorain. “Don’t even bother telling her who you are, Broady. She knows exactly who you are. You are the person who saved her life. If it weren’t for the grace of God and you being there to give her the Heimlich maneuver, because the Lord knows I don’t know how to do it, that grape would have killed her.” She was now speaking to her daughter again. “But I know what you’re up to. And don’t even think for a minute this little game of yours is going to—”

  “Please, everybody, just calm down,” the doctor intervened. The doctor looked to Eleanor. “Ma’am, your daughter took a pretty hard fall and has suffered a minor concussion. Now that she has come to, I’d really like to run more tests, especially after what I’ve just seen. So I’m going to take the patient for some more testing.”

  Upon doctor’s orders, Lorain was taken from the hospital room. Both Eleanor, who was still skeptical, and Broady had lunch in the hospital cafeteria, then returned to Lorain’s room where they waited. A couple of hours later, Lorain was returned to the room, the doctor returning shortly after that.

  “So doctor, what’s the verdict?” Eleanor didn’t beat around the bush.

  The doctor didn’t beat around the bush either. “She’s not playing a game,” the doctor replied. “From the results of all the testing we’ve done, more than likely your daughter is dealing with a selective memory,” she said to Eleanor.

  “Selective memory?” Eleanor was confused.

  “Yes, with selective memory, patients can remember certain things for the most part. It’s usually traumatic events that they tend to forget.” The doctor then looked over to Broady. “For some reason or other, she probably really has no idea who this man is.”

  Chapter Thirty-four

  “Mother Doreen, I got here as soon as I could.” Pastor Frey arrived at the hospital waiting area out of breath. “What’s going on?”

  “Excuse me for a minute, baby,” Mother Doreen said to Sadie who she had been embracing and rocking in her arms the last half hour.

  Sadie was a complete mess. All she kept saying the entire time she, her aunt, and her brother followed behind the ambulance was, “This is all my fault. This is all my fault.” Mother Doreen was doing her best to comfort her niece and let
her know that everything was going to be okay, and that no matter what the outcome, she had nothing to do with it. It was all in God’s hands.

  “Hudson, make sure you stay here with your sister,” Mother Doreen told her nephew who was sitting next to them. “I need to go talk to Pastor Frey—” She paused and looked up at the partially distraught gentleman. While cutting her eyes at him, she said the word, “alone.”

  Mother Doreen got up and led Pastor Frey outside of the emergency room doors where the sun was shining and the birds were chirping on this beautiful, yet chilly, November morning.

  “Mother Doreen,” Pastor Frey pleaded while placing each of his hands on her shoulders.

  Mother Doreen had to admit that there was something about Pastor Frey that she liked, his touch being one of them. There was something so sweet and gentle about him. For a minute there, she was even foolishly falling for him, but had prayed, gouged herself with blessed oil, and fasted for three days, asking God to remove the feelings she was having for him. Feelings that weren’t part of the plan, she was sure.

  She wanted God to keep her on the straight and narrow in order to fulfill her assignment there in Kentucky. It was clear that she suspected Pastor Frey of being up to no good with her sister, but for some reason, when the two of them were together, he acted like Bethany didn’t even exist, never brought her name up or anything. But Mother Doreen knew she couldn’t change her initial perception based on that. She was, in fact, wavering and doubtful, which is why she had to have the conversation she was about to have with Pastor Frey in order to clear things up once and for all.

  “Please, tell me what’s going on.” Pastor Frey was frantic, as he had been ever since Mother Doreen called him on his cell phone just as he was about to enter the church. All he’d had time to do was wave down a fellow member and ask that they relay to Pastor Davidson what was going on, that he wouldn’t be in church today in order to go see about Sister Bethany. “How is Sister Bethany? Is she okay?” All of a sudden a horrible thought entered his mind. “The baby—is everything okay with the baby?”

  “I’m not sure if everything is okay with Bethany’s baby,” Mother Doreen said to him, considering no one had yet updated them on Bethany’s condition. “Or should I say I’m not sure if everything is okay with Bethany’s and your baby.” She shook her shoulders free of his touch.

  Pastor Frey turned beet red. But what Mother Doreen found most peculiar was the complete look of confusion on his face.

  “Please, let’s not play games, Pastor Frey. I’m way too old for that. And playing games is what you’ve been doing since I arrived. Playing games with my sister. Playing games with me. But I’ve figured you out. All you were trying to do was to be a distraction to me—get me all rallied up into thinking you had an interest in me so that I wouldn’t detect your interest in my sister. Well, the game ends here, and from the looks of it, no winner will be declared.”

  “You’ve got this all wrong,” Pastor Frey said.

  “Do I?” Mother Doreen leaned in close to Pastor Frey’s ear. “You and I both know that that baby ain’t none of Uriah’s, God rest his soul. That’s your baby, and you know it. I know it too.”

  Just when Mother Doreen thought Pastor Frey couldn’t turn any redder, he did. He was as red as the devil is depicted to be.

  “Baby? My baby? Mother Doreen, what on God’s green earth are you trying to insinuate about me? Anybody who knows me knows that I love the Lord. I delight in God’s commandments.” A stern and angry look covered Pastor Frey’s face. “And I abide by them. So for you to stand here and accuse me of adultery, and even worse, creating a baby as a result of the act, is nonsense!” Pastor Frey was all in Mother Doreen’s case, but she wasn’t fazed.

  “Humph.” Mother Doreen rolled her eyes. She wasn’t about to fall for his well rehearsed act. Standing there acting like he was none the wiser about what she was talking about. Versus stand there and play that little game with him, she decided to get right to the point, which is exactly what she’d intended to do when she phoned him just forty-five minutes ago and told him about Bethany’s accident. It sure wasn’t for him to run up there to the hospital and act like he was there as part of his ministerial duties. It was to finally lay the cards on the table, which is exactly what she’d just done.

  “Like I said, the game is over, Pastor Frey, and it’s time for you to follow the advice of John the Baptist and repent.”

  “You are making a mistake, a big mistake, Sister Doreen.” Pastor Frey said this with such conviction that Mother Doreen almost believed him. “That baby your sister is carrying is not mine. I would never do such a thing to Brother Uriah. He knew that about me.”

  “Well, he may have thought that all the sniffing you did around his wife was in the name of Jesus, but I know better.”

  “Believe me when I say I was only doing what God told me to do when it came to being there for your sister.” A weird look suddenly appeared across his face as he hesitantly added. “What God and Pastor Davidson told me to do.”

  It was at that very moment when a spirit of discernment filled Mother Doreen like never before. Had she, in fact, been distracted? But not by the man whom all this time she’d thought had set out to do so?

  Just then, Sadie, followed by Hudson, raced from the double doors.

  “Mom’s okay,” Sadie cried out, “but the baby is gone!” Sadie fell into her aunt’s arms, and the fight they’d had earlier had long been erased, washed away by each of their tears that fell and hit the pavement.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  “Hello,” Tamarra answered the phone after seeing Maeyl’s number on the caller ID.

  “Hi, how are you?” Maeyl asked Tamarra in an upbeat tone.

  “I’m good.”

  “Did you need something? I saw that you had called me twice. I was in prayer, and you know I don’t answer my phones when I’m in prayer.”

  “Yeah, I figured you were.”

  “God is so good, Tamarra. He really is.”

  Maeyl was so perky that Tamarra almost wanted to change her mind about what she was about to do, what she was about to tell him. He hadn’t been this happy since—since before finding out he had a daughter. Tamarra knew that Maeyl’s total bliss had almost everything to do with the relationship he was forming with Sakaya. Tamarra knew she could never be as equally thrilled about the situation, which is why she had to break things off with Maeyl. The sooner the better. She knew she best do it now before she tried to kid herself and pretend she could go through with continuing a relationship with Maeyl.

  “Well, you certainly sound blessed,” Tamarra said. “Look, Maeyl, I was wondering if you could meet me at the park.” For late November, the outdoors was beautiful and still had welcoming weather.

  “Are you serious?” Maeyl questioned, still in a perky tone.

  “Yes, is that a problem?”

  “No, it was just that I promise on everything when I got out of prayer I was going to call you up and ask you if we could meet somewhere. The park will do just as fine. Why don’t I call up Sasha and see if she’ll let Sakaya—”

  “Uh, Maeyl, I was kind of hoping it could just be me and you,” Tamarra said as her skin crawled. She couldn’t help it. Every time Maeyl reminded her that he had an extended family now, the green eyed monster showed itself. She was jealous. Jealous of the woman, jealous of the child, or both. She didn’t know. She didn’t care. She just knew right at that moment, with the way she was feeling, it only confirmed that she was about to do the right thing.

  Maeyl paused. “Well, I kind of wanted to do it with Sakaya, but I suppose I could meet you alone. Can you give me about a half hour?”

  “Sure,” Tamarra said. “I’ll see you then.” Tamarra ended the phone call and sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy. Breaking up with Maeyl, and then having to see him on a regular at church. Seeing him and Sasha and the child. Perhaps she’d just have to find some place to worship outside of New Day Temple of Faith. But for n
ow, first things first. She went into the bathroom and sprinkled some water and setting lotion on her natural hair. She then went out to her car and headed toward the park, along the way practicing exactly what she was going to say to Maeyl.

  “Yes!” Tamarra screamed. “Yes, Maeyl, I’ll marry you.” Those were far from the words she had practiced on the way to the park, but yet those were the words Tamarra had spoken. At the sight of the two carat diamond ring, Tamarra had forgotten all about the reason why she’d asked Maeyl to meet her at the park in the first place.

  “She said yes!” Maeyl began to shout to total strangers that passed them by while they sat on the park bench. “She said yes.” He then looked to Tamarra. “You have just made me the happiest man in the world. I knew you’d say yes. I just knew it. While I was praying earlier, when I missed your calls, I’d been praying about you, about us. I needed to make sure that what I was about to do—what my heart wanted so desperately to do—was the right thing. During prayer, I asked God to give me a sign. He didn’t give me my answer right then and there, but I knew when I came out of my prayer room and saw that you had called, and then you asked to meet me at the park, I knew it was meant to be. It was at the park that I had envisioned proposing to you and you saying yes. Your calling me was my sign, Tamarra. This, us—” He held her hand he’d just placed the ring on. “We were meant to be.”

  A huge smile covered Tamarra’s face as she watched tears form in the eyes of her husband to be.

  “The only thing different than what I had envisioned,” Maeyl continued, “was Sakaya being here.”