The Other Side of Divine

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  “Okay, Gabrielle. Just make sure that plate, along with at least most of the cookies on it, makes its way up to them.” Miss Crowe smiled. “I know you.”

  “You know how much I love your chocolate chip cookies hot out of the oven,” she said. “And you put pecans in these. I hope you have some more you’re putting in the oven now.”

  “I do. So give the girls those and you can come in the kitchen and have all you want.”

  Gabrielle loved smelling the cookies as she walked with them up the stairs toward Jasmine’s room. The door was slightly opened, but Gabrielle didn’t want to barge in without knocking first. She felt she owed Jasmine that level of respect. About to knock, she could hear that Jasmine and Jade were in deep conversation. She wasn’t really trying to eavesdrop, not on purpose. But she overheard Jade say something to Jasmine that made her stop and listen in.

  “I had such an awesome time with my father last weekend,” Jade said. “I went all set to not like it and to let him know just how much I didn’t like how he’d left us like he did.”

  “Why do you say he left y’all? Your mom and dad are separated. He didn’t leave y’all,” Jasmine said.

  “Yes, he did leave us. You can’t just leave our home without leaving us too,” Jade said. “So my sister, brother, and I made a pact when our mother told us he was coming to get us to spend the weekend with him that we would make the weekend miserable for him.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Jasmine said. “That seems like it would make him not want to get y’all again or come back home.”

  “No, you don’t understand. We were going to do that so he would feel really crappy about having left us. You know—he would have felt guilty. And maybe that would make him think about what he was doing, then he would come back home and work things out with our mother,” Jade said. “My mother has been praying so hard for him. I hear her; she really loves him and she does want him back. When I said something to her about it one day after he first left, she said she wanted him to come home, but she wanted him back like God intends for him to be.”

  “That sounds like grown folk speak to me,” Jasmine said with a short laugh. “You know how when they don’t really know the answer, they put everything in God’s hands and on Him. My mother says we’re to pray about things, but God is also looking for us to do our part.”

  “So what are you trying to say?” Jade said. “That my mother’s not doing her part?”

  “Oh, no. That wasn’t what I was saying at all. You have an awesome mother. I love coming to your house. I just wish there wasn’t always so much fighting going on with grownups. You know grown folks fuss at us about getting along, but they don’t always set great examples. Again, I’m not talking about your mother at all. That was just a general observation.”

  Jade laughed. “You’re going to be a professor or a scientist or something smart like that when you grow up, aren’t you? I mean you’re not like normal people your age.”

  “Let’s not go there,” Jasmine said. “Finish telling me about your visit with your father. Did your plan work? Did he end up feeling bad about being gone? Are your parents getting back together now?”

  “It was only one visit. In fact, we’ve barely seen him since he left last year around September. He came to the house back in January acting like he was ready to come home for good. He didn’t look so hot that time. He looked like a homeless man. You know the ones you see staggering around and sometimes begging on the streets?”

  “Really? He was that bad?”

  “Yeah. He was pretty bad. He wanted to stay the night, but I heard Mama tell him he couldn’t. I think she should have let him stay. That might have helped bring them back together. When I told her what I thought the next day, she said I don’t know all the facts and that I should stay—”

  “Out of grown folks’ business!” Jasmine chimed in with Jade. They both laughed. “Grown folks’ speak.”

  “They do all say that, don’t they?” Jade said. “It’s like they don’t think we children have an opinion about anything. But we see stuff. We hurt just like they do.”

  “I know. There are some things I don’t tell my mother because I know she won’t really hear me. She wants to protect me, and she thinks she’s doing what’s best for me. So to cause her less stress, I just keep a lot of things to myself,” Jasmine said in a solemn voice.

  “Like what?”

  “Like I know I was adopted. I know the Nobles were my adopted family. I now know, although I would have much preferred hearing the news in a different way, that Gabrielle was actually my birth mother, the mother who gave me up for adoption. But . . .” Jasmine’s voice trailed off.

  Gabrielle moved closer to the door, afraid whatever Jasmine had just said had been missed completely because it had been spoken so quietly.

  “But what?” Jade said.

  “But now I want to know who my real father is. I want to know whose daughter I am.”

  “It won’t be long now before Dr. Z will be your father. I’m so excited about the wedding. I’m glad I’m going to be in it. We’re going to be junior bridesmaids!”

  “Yeah, I’m excited about Dr. Z and all. But he’s not my real father. I want to know where I came from.”

  “Then why don’t you just ask your mother?”

  “Because she has to know already that I want to know. If she’s not voluntarily offering to tell me then that means, in her head, she thinks she’s protecting me.”

  “But if you tell her that you really want to know, that will free her to know you’re interested. What is she going to say if you want to know?” Jade said.

  Jasmine sighed. “There’s one other problem my asking could bring up. What if she doesn’t know who my father is? What if she doesn’t know whose daughter I am?”

  “Do you think that’s the case?”

  “I don’t know,” Jasmine said. “But you know Mindy at church?”

  “You’re talking about Drawing Mindy that likes to draw all the time?”

  “Yeah. Well, I heard her telling another girl that her mother didn’t have a clue who her daddy was. She said her mother needed to go on that show where they bring on possible fathers to see which one, if any, is the father. She said she would be embarrassed if her mother brought like three men on and none of them turned out to be her father. That would mean her mother was something she called her that’s not a word I’m allowed to say.”

  “I know what word that is. I’m not allowed to say it, either. But it’s not a very nice word to say or be,” Jade said. “So are you thinking Miss Gabrielle might not know who your father is and that’s why she hasn’t said anything to you about him?”

  “I don’t know. I just know right now it’s safer if I don’t say anything,” Jasmine said. “I’ve learned that sometimes the answer is worse than the question. And with all I’ve been through, I’m not sure I’m up to being hurt much more. Imagine if I learn that my birth mother can’t tell me my birth father’s name.”

  “If she does know and can tell you, would you want to meet him?” Jade asked with a touch of enthusiasm in her voice. “I mean if he’s still alive, of course.”

  “I would so love to meet him. I’d love to find out if I have any sisters and brothers. I’m like an only child right now, which has been okay. I mean, I have you, and you’re like a sister.”

  “Believe me, having a sister and a brother is not all it’s cracked up to be,” Jade said.

  “Oh, you know you love yours,” Jasmine said, giggling.

  “I do,” Jade said with a hint of resolve. “But sometimes they get on my last nerve! Like last weekend when we went to our father’s new place who, by the way, lives in a mansion with the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  “Prettier than your own mother?” Jasmine asked.

  “You know what I mean,” Jade said, deflecting the question. “Her name is Dee . . . Vine but she goes by Divine, like it’s one word instead of two. Well, when I saw her, I w
as determined I was going to make her regret the day she ever came between my parents getting back together. I mean—I truly believe had he not met her and ended up at her place, he and Mom would be back together already. I heard my mother tell someone on the phone the following day after he asked to stay at the house back in January that she could tell he was at his breaking point and ready to do right. She said it was just a matter of time. But I guess after that, he must have gotten with Miss Divine and he’s not studying any of us now, especially my mother.”

  “So you like this Divine woman?”

  “I didn’t want to,” Jade said. “But she’s a pretty nice lady. She had rooms decorated as though she knew us personally. She said the rooms would be ours whenever we came over. Of course, she put me in the room with Dana, which I hated. I’d prefer my own room all by myself. Miss Divine has some more rooms in that mansion. So who knows? Maybe I’ll ask for a room of my own the next time I’m there. That’s if she and Daddy stay together. My mother told someone on the phone that Daddy has commitment issues. Whoever she was talking to must have called him a dog because my mother quickly came back saying he wasn’t a dog; he was just confused.”

  “You sure do overhear a lot around your place,” Jasmine said.

  “Oh, if you learn to be quiet and sit perfectly still when you’re in the room with adults while they’re talking, you’ll find that they forget all about you being there, and you can learn a lot you otherwise would never know. But I think people who sneak up and listen in on closed doors aren’t people with integrity. That’s just being sneaky and deceptive, and I don’t do that.” Jade laughed.

  Gabrielle glanced down at the plate of cookies, tiptoed back to the top of the stairs, then made a lot of noise as she came back to Jasmine’s bedroom.

  “Knock, knock!” Gabrielle said. “Sorry to interrupt, but Miss Crowe made—”

  “Cookies!” both girls shouted in unison and sprinted toward Gabrielle.

  Jasmine grabbed the edge of the plate. “Are all of these ours?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Gabrielle said releasing the plate to Jasmine. “They’re all yours. Miss Crowe has probably pulled out a fresh batch by now.” Gabrielle tilted her head slightly. “So, what are you two girls up here talking about with the door pretty much closed?”

  Jade looked at Jasmine, who quickly eyed her.

  “I was telling Jasmine about my visit last weekend with my father,” Jade said.

  “Oh, yes. Your mother told me the three of you went to stay the weekend with him,” Gabrielle said. “So how was it?”

  “It turned out nice. As much as I’m mad at my father on one hand, what I learned in being with him last weekend is how much a father really means, especially when you’re his little girl. I’m just glad I, at least, know who my father is.”

  Jasmine kicked Jade on the sly, obviously telling her to cool it. “Thanks for the cookies, Mama.” Jasmine smiled and cocked her head to the side.

  Gabrielle grinned. “Okay, I can take a hint. I suppose that’s my cue to stay out of your business and that I can leave now and go take care of my own.”

  “Not trying to hurt your feelings,” Jasmine said. “But we don’t have a lot of time together before Jade has to go home.”

  “And you’d prefer not having me waste any of that time talking about stuff you don’t want to talk about.” Gabrielle raised her hands as a sign of surrender. “I got it.” She started toward the door, then turned around. “Oh, if you want milk, you’ll have to go to the kitchen and get it yourself.” Gabrielle stopped at the door. “You want the door open or closed?”

  “Open is fine,” Jasmine said.

  Gabrielle left the door open and walked out. She had a real decision to make at this point. Zachary had just said something about it, and now she’d heard it from her own daughter’s mouth: Jasmine wanted to know her birth father. She wanted to know whose daughter she was.

  Chapter 29

  Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

  —Psalm 51:6

  It was Sunday afternoon, April 24, 2011, the start of the week when meteorologists were predicting possible tornadoes across the South, including Alabama. Gabrielle hadn’t intentionally chosen this day for this to go down in anticipation of impending bad weather (she’d set the date well before the forecast). She just knew it was time.

  Time for Jasmine to know the truth about her birth father. Time for the family to finally meet. Time to get everything totally out in the open. Time to move forward.

  She hadn’t been certain of precisely how she should proceed. Whether she should tell Jasmine everything first, then see what Jasmine desired from that point. Or merely bring them together and lay everything out there. It was a choice between slowly and carefully pulling off the Band-Aid and ripping it off quickly.

  Miss Crowe believed she should tell Jasmine everything with just the two of them present and see what Jasmine wanted to do after that, since the birth father had already agreed to go along with whatever Gabrielle decided. Always the one to stand by her side no matter what, Zachary offered that Jasmine was still a child and putting such a decision solely in her hands was not the way parents should parent.

  Lawrence let it be known that he preferred being present when Jasmine first learned the news because he didn’t want her to have time to hate him before he could show her he really did care. Deidra, Lawrence’s wife, felt the whole family should be present for that exact same reason. In the end, Pastor Landris offered a powerful prayer and advised Gabrielle to wholeheartedly allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide her.

  So here they were, Gabrielle and Jasmine, in the car, just the two of them on their way to meet people who, for better or worse, were about to become Jasmine’s soon-to-be-newfound branch in her family tree.

  Gabrielle only told Jasmine that they were going to meet some people after church and for her to pick out whichever dress she wanted to wear. Jasmine picked what Miss Crowe called her “Sunday Best”—a pretty yellow dress with daisies on the bottom and a long, white linen coat. It had been her Easter outfit and was now her favorite go-to apparel.

  Zachary wanted to come, but Gabrielle told him, on this one, it was something just the two of them needed to do. It would be hard enough with merely the key players involved. She didn’t want to add any unnecessary tension to the mix.

  And the way Zachary rose up to protect both her and Jasmine, she could just see something jumping off and Zachary pouncing, beating somebody down, even if all he was using to do it were words.

  So no, he wasn’t allowed to go.

  Gabrielle pulled up to the house, walked to the front door, and rang the doorbell. Answering the door, Deidra led them to the den (an area large enough to hold everybody comfortably). She invited them to sit on the couch.

  Paris was there, looking like any minute she might grab her stomach and say something to the effect of “It’s time,” and everybody would be left scrambling to get her to the hospital.

  Gabrielle couldn’t help but think with her and Paris’s history, which appeared to have settled down after the last fiasco Paris had caused, Paris just might go into labor just as things were being laid out. She didn’t believe Paris would do that on purpose, not at this point with things as they were. But still . . .

  Andrew was also there along with Malachi, Lawrence’s twenty-seven-year-old, debonair son.

  “Dinner is ready,” Deidra Simmons said, looking at her diamond watch. “Imani should be down in a few minutes. She wanted to change into something more comfortable, getting out of her church clothes into what we used to call play clothes when we were growing up. I told her she was fine, but you know how sixteen-year-olds are.”

  “Imani?” Jasmine said, turning and looking at Gabrielle with a huge grin on her face as things were beginning to click before turning to Paris, who she obviously still hadn’t quite warmed up to. “Yes!” She did a victory fist pull down. “The Iman
i who was my bone marrow donor.” There was a glorious twinkle in Jasmine’s eyes.

  Paris smiled and nodded.

  They all had agreed that the less said until everyone came together, the better.

  Imani came in and saw everybody seated and waiting. When she saw Jasmine, she immediately hurried over to her though the little girl was already running to meet Imani. The two of them hugged and started squealing with delight as they jumped up and down.

  “Mom, why didn’t you tell me this is who our company was going to be?” Imani said, looking at Deidra. “Oh, my goodness! Look at you! Look at how long your hair has grown.” She picked up Jasmine’s hair and let it drop. “And you’ve gotten taller. I almost didn’t know who you were. Why didn’t someone tell me Jasmine was coming?”

  “Don’t feel bad,” Jasmine said. “My mother didn’t tell me where we were going, either. Had she told me, I probably would have been beside myself to get here. I guess that’s why she didn’t.” She hugged Imani again, and the two of them did their celebratory jumping ritual all over again.

  “Come and sit by me,” Imani said as she and Jasmine found a place on the couch together. “You look wonderful. I can’t believe how great you look. Oh, my goodness!”

  Lawrence looked at Gabrielle, wondering what the plan was from this point. It had been agreed that Gabrielle would take the lead.

  Gabrielle stood up and cleared her throat. “I have something I need to tell you,” Gabrielle said, looking at Jasmine. “Can you please come here with me?”

  Jasmine giggled, no doubt thinking of the many times Miss Crowe had made a big deal about using the words “can” and “may” correctly, with can meaning able to and may being will you.

  Jasmine came and stood next to Gabrielle, whose look was staid as she kneeled down, causing the two of them to be eye to eye. Gabrielle smiled nervously. She glanced sideways at Lawrence, who was making his way over to stand next to them as Deidra, touching the rose pendant dangling from her necklace, got up and sat next to Imani, putting her arm around her.