By the time all of the women had changed into semi-formal wear for the party, which was being held at a nearby church fellowship hall, Charlotte's two sons had arrived in their SUVs to transport them. Gerald's and Raymond's wives had driven separately with their children and were already waiting at the church.
The evening went quickly, and after Charlotte's boss, Audrey, gave her farewell speech, she called Charlotte to the podium.
Charlotte motioned for Erika and for her daughter, Tanya, to come forward.
Tanya and Erika exchanged curious glances but did as instructed. They stood just behind Charlotte and waited for more direction.
Charlotte thanked Audrey and her colleagues and shared her story of fleeing an abusive marriage. Then she gestured for Tanya and Erika to join her. Her daughter stood to her left and Erika to her right.
"I asked these ladies to come up here because they represent why I do what I do every day at Naomi's Nest, and why I will continue to further the work of this women’s shelter as executive director."
Erika was stunned to see tears fill her friend's eyes. In all the years they had known each other, she had only witnessed Charlotte's strength. But as Charlotte turned to her eldest daughter, Tanya, the tears flowed freely.
"The night I left my husband, with Tanya and her three siblings in tow, this girl looked at me with her big brown eyes and asked, 'Mommy, do you know what you're doing? How do you know they won't beat you at the shelter?"'
Everyone joined Charlotte in laughing at the memory.
"I knew then that I had something on my hands. But more importantly, I knew it was time to go, to save my life and hers, so she wouldn't grow up thinking beatings and verbal abuse were signs of love. Every time I look at Tanya and Geri and my sons, Gerald and Raymond, and see what beautiful lives and families they now have, I know that coming to Naomi's Nest gave me the gift of a new start."
There wasn't a dry eye in the room by the time Charlotte turned toward Erika, who was dabbing her cheeks with a napkin.
"And this little bitty thing here—" Laughter filled the room as Charlotte leaned over and hugged Erika, who stood a foot shorter than she. "She came to the shelter afraid of everything—the spiritual music I played, the prayers and Scriptures that flowed freely from my lips, the unconditional friendship I offered. But when I figured out what Erika needed, I was able to reach her.
"That's all we have to do with anyone we know who's hurting. Figure out what they need, and when you fill that need, they'll open their hearts to you and to all the other good things you have to share with them."
She smiled at Erika.
"Erika's biological mother is still alive, but when I met her, she needed someone to scold her when she was wrong, hold her when she was scared, and cheer her on when she was on the right track. It has been a blessing to fill that role in her life and to be there for her son as well."
Charlotte faced the podium and the audience again.
"I share all that to say that what has brought me from battered wife to executive director is the same thing that will sustain each of us on our journeys—L-O-V-E. Under my leadership, love will continue to be integral to the mission of Naomi's Nest, along with securing grant funds, donations, and the volunteer support we desperately need. If you haven't already done so, consider joining us in this important and lifesaving work."
~~~
Hours later, back at Charlotte's condo, the mood was solemn. Kami flipped channels with the TV remote while Erika and Tawana played checkers.
Charlotte strolled into the living room wearing a comfortable pair of overalls.
"What gives, ladies? It's only 9:30.1 know you aren't tuckered out already. What do you want to do?"
Serena, who was sprawled on the floor, flipping through recent issues of Essence, looked up and smiled.
"That speech rocked our world, Charlotte. We feel like we're in the presence of greatness. What are we supposed to do?"
Charlotte shook her head and took the remote from Kami. "Y'all are pitiful. Come down off the mountaintop and let's do something. I'm sixty-one years old and have more energy than you guys. I know you didn't travel from Richmond just to sit around like little old ladies. If nothing else, want to rent a movie?"
Erika, Serena, Tawana, and Kami looked at each other and answered in unison:
"Set It Off."
28
Charlotte sat on the floor, Indian style, peering at her guests as they read the scrolling movie credits.
"What'd you think?" she asked when the screen finally faded to black.
Kami nodded. "Pretty good for a ten-year-old movie. I understand why the four of them were frustrated. Society had kicked them down, and this was the only way they knew how to kick back."
Charlotte turned to Tawana. "Which one of the characters did you identify with most?"
Tawana, who sat on the floor with her back against the sofa, chewed on her bottom lip before responding.
"I could have been Tisean, the character played by Kimberly Elise, for a number of reasons," she said softly. "I had a baby when I was really young, and I've made mistakes with guys like she obviously did."
Serena, who had stretched out on the love seat, pushed up on her elbow and looked at Tawana. Tawana's quivering voice told her this was more than just simple reflection over a movie.
Tawana continued. "But you know, I could also relate to Stony, Jada's character, because like her, sometimes I just want to run and hide from my past and from all the pain that lingers there."
Tawana pulled her knees up to her chest and burrowed her head into them.
Charlotte turned toward Serena. "What about you, Mrs. First Lady?"
Serena wanted to go over and comfort Tawana, but she respected Charlotte enough to trust how she was handling the situation. She sat up and furrowed her brow.
"Hmmm... I think I related to Queen Latifah's character and Vivica Fox's," she answered. "I was Cleo when I was in my twenties and very angry at my parents for some of their choices. But thank God, unlike her, I had an opportunity to learn and grow, and that anger transformed into a powerful life lesson."
Serena sighed. "I guess I relate to the want-to-be-perfect aspect of Vivica's character, Frankie, now. I have to be honest: Some days this stay-at-home mommy gig kicks my butt. The kids seem to run wild and wear me down, the house is never clean enough, my attention is divided between them and Micah, and ..."
Her own urge to cry caught her off guard. "And I don't know how I'm going to do it again when this new little one comes. I think I might just lose it."
She hadn't meant to announce her pregnancy like this, but oh well.
Erika and Kami came over and hugged her.
"You know we're here for you, Serena; you don't have to be perfect," Erika said. "Remember that grace you're always talking to me about? Don't you think it's time you extended it to yourself?"
Charlotte seemed to be on a mission. She turned to Kami and smiled gently. "I'm really not trying to bring all of you to tears; I just want to know where your hearts and heads are."
She surveyed each of the women. "When you get a girlfriend weekend like this, use it wisely. Have a ball, let your hair down. But make it memorable for more than just the fun of it. That's what will really bind you together as sisters."
She looked at Kami again. "You're still young, but did anything in the movie speak to you, other than what you shared earlier?"
Kami shrugged and looked at Serena, Erika, and Tawana.
"I don't know that the movie touched me so much," she said. "It was entertaining, and I got the symbolism, but I guess hearing how it resonated with Tawana and with my sister means even more. They're the ones teaching me about real life, by just watching them handle it every day."
Charlotte nodded, then pointed at Erika. "You know I saved you for last."
Erika gave a half smile. "That's what I was afraid of."
She removed her arms from around Serena’s shoulders and folded her legs under her. She looked towar
d the ceiling.
"I saw a piece of myself in all of the characters, I guess," Erika said. "I understood Tisean's pain in not being able to care for her child; I've struggled with a difficult past like Stony and still struggle to forgive my mother for loving the men in her life more than me; I worked in corporate America, like Frankie, but lost my status there because Elliott forced me to stay home and cater to his needs; but most of all, I've felt anger similar to Cleo's because I was a battered wife. I guess I'm still angry at Elliott and the hold he has over me."
Charlotte leaned forward. "Ah, now we're getting somewhere."
Erika looked at her and frowned. "What does that mean?"
"You answer my questions first," Charlotte said. "What kind of hold does Elliott still have over you, after all these years?"
Erika hesitated. "Elliott wants a divorce so he can get remarried."
"And?"
"What do you mean, 'and'?" Erika was indignant. "He's spent the past two years telling me he wants to reconcile and that he's seeking professional help so we can put our family back together. He sends me cards in the mail every two weeks trying to romance me. Now out of the blue he says, 'Forget it, it's over'?"
Charlotte didn't respond.
"Hello?"
"I want you to hear yourself," she told Erika.
"What do you mean, Charlotte?" Erika asked. "I don't understand."
"Erika, listen to yourself. Ask yourself what you're so upset about."
The room fell silent while Erika processed Charlotte's instructions.
"Are you upset because you really love Elliott? Do you want to spend the rest of your life with him?" Charlotte asked the questions slowly.
"Or, are you ticked off that all this time you mistakenly felt like you were getting revenge by stringing him along? He obviously wanted you back, but you were going to make him pay for the pain and suffering he caused you. You did it by watching him long for you. Now that he's trying to tell you goodbye—or at least pretend like he's going somewhere— your game plan is ruined."
Serena saw Erika's defenses crumble.
Charlotte didn't force an answer. She rose from the floor and looked at the grandfather clock in the corner.
"Almost midnight, ladies," she said and headed toward her bedroom. "Feel free to stay up as late as you want. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."
Erika, Serena, Tawana, and Kami stared at Charlotte as she disappeared into the room and closed the door.
They sat in silence, until Tawana said what each of them was thinking.
"This has got to be a sick joke. She leads us into a Dr. Phil session and then goes to bed?"
No one laughed.
Erika looked at her bare ring finger, then at each of her friends.
"Now I know why she encouraged me to invite you guys," she said. "She wanted to bring all of us to our knees."
29
The smell of bacon and coffee lured the sleeping beauties toward Charlotte's cozy kitchen.
Kami and Tawana had shared the sleeper sofa and were the first to rise when they heard Charlotte bustling at the stove. She refused their offers to help, so they made small talk, careful to avoid a return to the previous night's weighty conversation. Tawana had picked up the morning copy of the Washington Post Charlotte laid on the coffee table and was intrigued to find a lengthy profile of Neal Lewis's family and details about his upcoming trial in Richmond.
Serena and Erika emerged from the guest bedroom just as Charlotte was setting plates filled with bacon, omelets and fruit in front of each chair at the table. Before she took a seat, she placed a deep purple chamois bag next to each place setting.
"What is this, Charlotte?" Erika asked. "Don't tell me you went out and bought us gifts. You're the honoree this weekend, not us."
Charlotte responded by extending her hands. When the five of them were touching, she led a brief prayer to bless the food.
She raised her head and reached for the salt shaker. "I know I don't need it, but it won't hurt just this once."
"Don't you say that every time?" Erika asked. "Back to my question. Gifts?"
Charlotte took a bite of the omelet and motioned for the others to eat as well. She looked at Erika. "Let me do my thang, okay?"
Erika laughed at Charlotte's attempt to be hip. "Okay, Miss Thang."
Charlotte ate slowly, savoring each bite. Little was said as they enjoyed the meal.
"Now that you're all sufficiently curious, I guess I can explain the bags or, better yet, what's in them," Charlotte said and took a sip of her third cup of coffee.
"Finally," Erika said. She leaned forward and rested her slight weight on her elbows.
"When Erika told me you were coming up with her for the weekend, and knowing how close you all are, I thought this would be a great time to share the gift that a good friend shared with me soon after I moved into Naomi's Nest two decades ago with my children.
"Harriet Washington picked me up one Sunday and took me and the children to church," Charlotte said. She fixed her eyes on an abstract painting above her sofa, clearly traveling back in time.
"After service, her sisters agreed to watch and feed the kids while the two of us went out to eat. She took me to a restaurant on the outskirts of the District, where we could talk privately. She gave me a small bag similar to the one you're receiving."
Charlotte pulled a black pouch from her shirt pocket and poured its contents into her palm: three loose pearls—one bronze, one translucent, and one turquoise.
She asked her four guests to open their bags. They each poured three pearls of varying colors into their palms.
"Like Harriet told me that day, and I now firmly believe, pearls symbolize life, and how God can create something beautiful out of tragedy, shame, or sin, as long as we're willing to be transformed.
"A brief science lesson, okay?"
Charlotte continued when each of the attentive women nodded.
"Pearls are formed inside of oysters or other mollusks living in the sea. Unless something gets inside of an oyster's shell, the oyster just swims along in life with no need to change or grow or pay attention to the outside world."
Serena smiled.
Charlotte nodded. "I'm embellishing a little here, just so you can picture what I'm trying to convey, but this is grounded in fact.
"So, the oyster is just swimming along, until an irritant, a foreign object, somehow gets under its shell and begins to infiltrate its layers," she said. "An oyster's body reacts to the foreign object by producing a substance that forms hard and shiny layer upon layer around the irritating object, to isolate and surround it.
"In doing so, the oyster accomplishes two tasks: it protects its body and creates something lasting and beautiful—a pearl. Think about it, Erika, Serena, Tawana, and Kami. We aren't much different, are we?"
Erika lowered and shook her head. "Wow."
Charlotte continued.
"We are like those oysters in many ways," she said. "Irritants, or foreign objects, infiltrate our lives in the form of bad choices, jealousy, fear, deep loss, and countless other challenges I could name. We choose how to handle the things that come, either by rallying our strength and faith and finding a way to go on, or by giving in to the pressure and giving up.
"When we choose to stand up inside and protect our spirits, our hearts, and the essence of who we are, we produce a substance similar to what the oyster produces to form the layers of a pearl. In us, it's called character, integrity, grace, courage, and the ability to love ourselves and others, with no strings attached."
Charlotte looked at the four women and smiled.
"I was glad when you guys chose a movie last night about four women struggling to find their place in society, however wrong they were in going about it. God is something else. He knew I was planning to share this with you this morning and that your hearts had to be open to seeing yourself as you are, but also with a vision for what you are becoming."
Charlotte spread her
arms wide again.
"The things we've been through, or are going through, are producing layers in us. We are becoming more than our circumstances. We're multicolored and multilayered."
Charlotte took Tawana's hand and gently squeezed it.
"I heard the regret and shame in your voice last night," she said. She pointed at one of her three pearls, which she had set on the table, on top of her black bag.
"See this?" she asked Tawana. "This is what you are becoming. A precious, beautiful jewel. Of course, it's going to take some 'irritants' to get you there.
"I don't know all of your missteps and mistakes, but God does." Charlotte’s gaze left Tawana and landed on each of the women at the table. "He sees those things that have hurt you or left you feeling less than good enough, and he has begun a good work in you anyway."
Tawana frowned and shook her head. "Some of the things I've done or have almost done are pretty terrible."
Charlotte shrugged.
"The very things you're condemning yourself for are issues that other people battle too, Tawana," she said. "The Bible isn't exaggerating when it essentially tells us that there's nothing new under the sun. The longer you live, you're going to face some things that you think will take you out."
She picked up her pearls again. "When those times come, remember these loose jewels and what they represent: they are fragile and need to be handled with care, but they also are resilient and they represent your struggles, your ability to survive, and your beauty.
"My pearls are bronze, pink, and white, for no particular reason other than Harriet wanted me to know that the situations that were shaping me at that time might have a different purpose for someone else facing the same issues. We come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, determined by the shape, size, and color of the irritants that float into our lives."
Serena looked at her cultured pearls, which were lavender, pink, and teal. Kami's were white, steel blue, and gold. Erika and Tawana also had unique colors.
"Around this table, I see in each of you the scars and the choices that have brought you to this place in life," Charlotte said. "You're all translucent yet very different, and you are supposed to be. You're the color of water that ebbs and flows with the tides of life. You're watercolored pearls."
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