The Other Side of Divine

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  The phone rang one more time just as Sandy had predicted.

  “There you go!” Sandy said after looking at the screen and smiling once again. She went back to applying Gabrielle’s makeup, brushing on blush. “He won’t call back. He’s ready now. And I’m going to have you so drop-dead gorgeous, forget about ‘you may kiss the bride.’ You just might have to give the man mouth-to-mouth from the start of the wedding just to resuscitate him.” She laughed. “That’s why I’m going to make sure I reinforce your lipstick so it will last if that ends up being the case.”

  Gabrielle was hoping Sandy was right and that Zachary hadn’t really needed her for anything important. In the pit of her stomach though, she felt something wasn’t quite right. Most would have attributed it to possibly nerves, but Gabrielle felt it was something more. She began to pray as Sandy continued working on her face. That’s all she knew to do whenever she felt this way. The Holy Spirit knew what was going on, even if she didn’t. And all she could do at this point was to pray.

  But she’d so wanted to pick up that phone. And she wanted more than anything to hear Zachary’s voice. Sandy, likely knowing what she was thinking, picked up her phone, turned it off, then carefully dropped it in her smock pocket.

  Chapter 41

  The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

  —Proverbs 15:8

  Tiffany came into Gabrielle’s dressing room. Gabrielle had everything done now (makeup and hair) with the exception of putting on her dress, which they were getting ready to help her do. They were timing putting on her dress just right since she wouldn’t be able to sit down to keep it from creasing or wrinkling.

  “Tiffany,” Gabrielle said with her arms opened. She could see by the look on Tiffany’s face things were not good. “What’s wrong?”

  Tiffany stayed back as she wiped her eyes. “Nothing. Everything’s fine,” Tiffany lied.

  “No, it’s not. Come here.” Gabrielle beckoned for her.

  “I don’t want to mess up your makeup or your hair. I’m fine. Really I am.”

  “Are the children here yet?” Gabrielle asked, letting her know she knew some of what was going on.

  Tiffany couldn’t hold it together any longer and burst into tears. “I don’t know where they are! Darius hasn’t shown up with them. I just came from home trying to be sure they weren’t in an accident or anything and maybe a call had been left on my answering machine or a note on my door. But nobody’s called or come by the house. And I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “Well, we have about an hour left to go before the ceremony. I’m sure Darius will be here with them by then,” Gabrielle said. “Knowing Darius, he’ll swoop in just in the nick of time, on purpose no doubt, to cause us panic, but just in time for the children to get dressed and walk all cute down the aisle. You know your husband—”

  “Ex-husband,” Tiffany said. “Come Monday my final papers will be here.”

  “Okay. But you know Darius. This is just like something he’d do. So I want you to settle down. All right? I’ve already prayed, and I know God is working things out, whatever it is.”

  “I know,” Tiffany said, wiping her eyes with her hands before Sandy handed her a white hand towel. “I’ve been praying as well. We know God hears and answers prayer.”

  “Yes, ma’am, he sure does,” Sandy interjected her two cents.

  “Now, I know we had you in a different room to do your makeup. But I can do yours in here if you like,” Sandy said to Tiffany. “We need to get you done though. But I can’t have you crying and messing up all of my handiwork. So are we done with the crying? At least for now? You can cry all you want after the wedding is over, although you might want to hold off a little longer since there are still wedding pictures to be taken.”

  Tiffany tried to smile as she nodded. “I’m okay. This is Gabrielle’s wedding day, and in less than an hour, we’re going to look back and laugh at all of this.”

  Gabrielle grabbed Tiffany’s hand and squeezed it. And for whatever reason, Gabrielle began a quick prayer.

  After they finished praying, Sandy wiped her eyes. “That was a powerful prayer. It’s a good thing I’m not in the wedding because y’all done gone and made me mess up my makeup.”

  They all laughed.

  Gabrielle squeezed Tiffany’s hand once more. Tiffany looked at her, smiled, then hugged her hard. Gabrielle nodded. “It’s going to be okay. It is. I just know it.”

  Chapter 42

  The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.

  —Psalm 93:3

  It was three o’clock, the official wedding time. Only two hundred invitations had been mailed. But with family and all their members, and friends with their family members (not counting Followers of Jesus Faith Worship Center members, who, personal invite or not, were in attendance even if they couldn’t attend the invitation-only reception at the hotel ballroom), the church that held three thousand people was packed. People merely wanted to show their love and support for this couple.

  Melissa came in to let Gabrielle know that Tiffany’s children still hadn’t shown up, but they had someone stationed as a lookout for the moment when they finally did arrive. Three-oh-five and the wedding was officially late now. And there was one other snafu Melissa hadn’t really wanted to tell Gabrielle if she could avoid it, but now was left with no other choice.

  “We seem to have lost the groom,” Melissa said. “In addition to the three children not being here, we don’t know where Zachary is, either.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t know where Zachary is?” Gabrielle said, her eyes wide upon hearing this news.

  “I mean that no one seems to have seen him since, like, around one o’clock,” Melissa said. “We don’t know what happened to him. He was here one minute and gone the next, and no one knows where he is. His tux coat is still on its hanger.”

  “So what are you saying? That he got cold feet and bailed?” Fatima asked.

  Melissa shook her head. “No. That’s not what I’m saying or implying at all. In fact, his father and his groomsmen said it took all they could do just to keep him from putting on his full tux and planting himself in his wedding spot, to wait on the time to arrive. Apparently, he had on his pants, shirt, cummerbund, and tie before he stepped out of the room for some unknown reason. After that, no one has seen him.”

  “Has anyone checked to see if his car is still here? Called his cell?” Tameka asked.

  “Do you know how many cars are out there? And his phone goes straight to voice mail.” Melissa said to Tameka before turning to Gabrielle. “I’m sure something must have come up. Everybody knows he was more excited about this wedding than even you seemed to be, Gabrielle.”

  “What’s going on?” Miss Crowe said, coming over to Gabrielle and grabbing her hand. “We’re out there waiting for things to get started and now it’s past time.”

  “Miss Crowe, have you seen or talked to Zachary?” Gabrielle asked.

  “Not since we first arrived. I thought I was going to have to sit on him to make him be still until it was time. He’s so eager to marry you. What’s wrong? Has something happened?” Miss Crowe asked.

  Johnnie Mae knocked on the door and came in. She hugged Gabrielle. “Well, don’t you look beautiful! Absolutely breathtaking!” Johnnie Mae covered her mouth with her hand, then took it down. “I was sent to find out if there’s anything I can do to help get things rolling. Pastor Landris is ready and waiting, as is a sanctuary full of people.”

  Tiffany stepped forward. “It’s my fault. My children aren’t here yet. Darius has them. He said he was going to bring them, but he hasn’t come yet. And I haven’t been able to locate him although I’ve called everywhere I know to call.”

  “Oh, my,” Johnnie Mae said to Tiffany.

  “And it also appears the groom is MIA,” Melissa added.

  “The groom is
missing?” Johnnie Mae said. “What do you mean, ‘missing’?”

  “No one seems to know where he is, either,” Fatima said.

  “Well, we know where he’s not. And that’s run off. So something important must have come up,” Johnnie Mae said. “That’s the only explanation.”

  “That’s what I said,” Miss Crowe said. “Let me go ask Queen if she’s heard from him,” Miss Crowe said, referring to Zachary’s sister, who was also in the wedding but was in the other dressing room at that moment.

  “All right,” Johnnie Mae said. “So what do you want to do at this point? There’s a church full of people out there waiting and wondering what’s going on.”

  Melissa nodded, and then turned to Gabrielle. “Well, if it was just the children who weren’t here, we could manage around them. I could give the flower girl’s job to Jasmine instead of her being a junior bridesmaid. Or we could have one of the bridesmaids or even the matron of honor throw out the flower petals before the bride walks down the aisle and no one would know that wasn’t our original plan.”

  “Yeah, and I think my baby is a girl so we could just think of it as her dropping the petals and we both doing wedding duty,” Fatima said. “Can’t you just see me showing her the pictures and telling her this was her first stint as a flower girl while in her mommy’s tummy?” Fatima smiled, hoping to lighten the mood.

  “See?” Melissa said. “I like that idea.” She smiled at Fatima. “I didn’t know you were pregnant. Congratulations!”

  “Thank you.” Fatima touched her stomach. “Trent is over-the-moon about it.”

  “Okay, so we could take care of the flower girl’s duty easily enough,” Melissa said. “Ring bearers these days are mostly for decoration since they don’t actually carry the ring, so we could just cut that part out. Unless we want to give the pillow to the best man and have him place the real rings there, you know, holding the pillow over to Pastor Landris when he asks for the rings.”

  “Okay, but what about the groom?” Tameka said. “As resourceful as we are to make this work, we can’t have a wedding without a groom. And so far, no one knows where he is.”

  Queen and Miss Crowe rushed in. “I’ve not heard from him, either,” Queen said. “Not since this morning when we first got here.”

  Melissa nodded. “All right. No groom. And therein is the real rub. So we need to locate the groom, and then we can get started.”

  Gabrielle looked at Tiffany, who was on the verge of breaking down. “Are you going to be all right?” she asked Tiffany.

  Tiffany put her hand up to her mouth, obviously trying not to smear her lipstick, and nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just going to really let Darius have it when I see him. I don’t believe he did something like this!”

  Johnnie Mae reached for Gabrielle’s hands and squeezed them. “Okay, so what’s the plan now?”

  “I plan to get married to the man I love. We just need to find him,” Gabrielle said. “So if the wedding is late, it will just have to be late. And if anyone wants to leave, they can. But Zachary and I have come through too much together. I know he didn’t just leave me at the altar. Something had to have happened—” She sucked in a quick breath as her face lit up. She pulled her hands out of Johnnie Mae’s. “My phone? Where’s my cell phone?”

  “Why are you worrying about your phone?” Sandy asked.

  “Because Zachary called me earlier, remember?” Gabrielle said to Sandy. “Maybe that’s why he called three times the way he did. He was trying to tell me something important. Somebody find my phone, please. Sandy, you had it.”

  Sandy nodded. “Yeah. I put it up for safekeeping. I’ll run and get it.” She hurriedly left the room.

  “That’s probably what happened,” Miss Crowe said. “He was likely calling to tell you what was going on. Hopefully the answer is on your voice mail.”

  “That’s if he left a message,” Gabrielle said as she stood tall, taking in and letting out long deep breaths.

  Miss Crowe came over to her and hugged her. “You look so pretty.” Miss Crowe shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

  Sandy rushed back in with the phone in hand. “Here you go.” She handed the phone to Gabrielle, who quickly accessed her voice mail, then released a quiet sigh.

  “What? Did Zachary leave a message?” Fatima said. “What did he say?”

  “There was an emergency at the hospital,” Gabrielle said, nodding. “He said he was coming back and under no circumstances was I to cancel the wedding today. He’s coming back, and he said we’re going to get married today no matter what.”

  Johnnie Mae smiled. “Then I’ll just go let Pastor Landris know so he can announce to the people that there will be wedding, although late. But delay is not denial. There will be a wedding for those who are willing to wait.”

  “Now, that’ll preach!” Miss Crowe said. “Delay is not denial for those who are willing to wait.” Miss Crowe shook her head from side to side. “That will preach! I feel a shout coming on! Somebody hold my mule!”

  Everybody laughed. Everybody except Tiffany.

  Gabrielle went over and hugged Tiffany. “Now, don’t you be over here worrying. God has your three children in His hands. You know this. You and I prayed about it, now we’re going to act like we believe it’s so.”

  “Faith,” Tiffany said. “We have to have faith.”

  “There you go,” Gabrielle said to Tiffany before addressing everyone in the room. “Well, people, it looks like we’re in a holding pattern . . . for now. But we’re going to land this plane soon. There may be a storm, but we’re flying above it. And we’re going to land safely very shortly.”

  Miss Crowe chuckled. “Now that’ll—”

  “Preach!” everyone in the room yelled. They all laughed, this time including Tiffany.

  Chapter 43

  The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.

  —Psalm 93:4

  Thirty minutes past the time the wedding was supposed to begin, there was a knock on Gabrielle’s dressing room door. Fatima answered it, and after a few words were exchanged, she allowed the person on the other side to enter.

  “Hi, Cousin Gabrielle,” Angie said. “I’m sorry to barge in like this and all. Oh, look at you! You look gorgeous! I love that dress! Maybe you can let me use it after you finish with it for when me and my hubby get married.”

  “If you’re married already, why would you need a gown or a wedding, for that matter?” Fatima asked, her nose slightly turned up.

  “Oh, we’re not actually married right now. I just call him my hubby until we make things legal,” Angie said. “You know . . . faith. But I know I would look good in that dress. It looks like it cost a fortune. I bet we can get a lot for it on eBay. I buy things off eBay all the time, and I find some great deals. Although that dress has to have cost thousands, I can tell by all the diamonds sewn on it going down diagonally and the pleats crisscrossing on top meeting up with the diamonds.”

  “They’re not diamonds,” Gabrielle said, trying hard to be patient with her cousin, who was getting on her nerves by being her normal superficial self.

  “Well, they look like diamonds,” Angie said. “All sparkly and everything. Look at the detailed ornate design of each piece. And they’re all linked together going from the left side at the top diagonally to your right hip. That’s a lot of bling! Even if they’re not diamonds, whatever they are, they had to cost a pretty penny. And then there are those pleats going across your waist, then some slanting downward—absolutely gorgeous. And I mean that dress is fitting you, too. You go, girl! Got that swirl going on at the bottom. Zachary is going to pass out right there in front of everybody when he sees you. Oh!” She raised her hand. “That reminds me. That’s why I came. Zachary sent a message to you by me.”

  “When? When did you see Zachary? Is he here?” Gabrielle asked.

  “I don’t know if he’s here or not. But I saw him about
two hours ago.”

  “You saw him?” Gabrielle asked. “Where?”

  “Here,” Angie said as she unwrapped a stick of gum and shoved it in her mouth. “I had my little crumb snatchers with me. They’re with Mama now. Oh, Gabrielle, Mama is out there! She wasn’t going to come at first, but she didn’t want Uncle Bennie tripping like he’s been doing here lately. Uncle Bennie has been trying to get everybody in our house to go to church, to walk godly, get on the straight and narrow. Prison sure can mess a person up. That’s why I told Jesse he’d better listen to Uncle Bennie, who knows from which he speaks—”

  “Angie, please! I want to hear about Zachary? What did Zachary say?” Gabrielle said.

  Angie popped her gum a few times and rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to be all rude and everything. I was going to get to it. Dang. And y’all supposed to be the bougie folks. He told me to tell you he had an emergency at the hospital, but he’d definitely be back for the wedding, so if he was late, know that he would be back. Oh, and to not cancel the wedding regardless of how late he might be.”

  “So why didn’t you come and tell somebody that two hours ago when he first told you?” Fatima asked.

  Angie slowly turned toward Fatima. “Because”—she popped her gum three times—“I had those bad kids of mine, and I didn’t want to be trying to find folks and having to drag them around. So I got in my car and went home. I talked my mother into coming to the wedding, which means I could leave them with her, come back, and find somebody to . . . tell. Is that all right with you?” She screwed up her mouth.

  Fatima held up both hands, shook her head, and merely walked away.

  Angie turned back to Gabrielle. “So I’m going to go back out there and wait for the wedding to start. I sure am glad I went home earlier though. I would have hated to have sat here all this time waiting on some wedding to start. It looks like y’all are just as late starting as people are always accusing my family of being.”