Redeeming Waters

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  Minister Nate looked on as King d.Avid held his son in his arms. “I already see the wisdom of this child. He is definitely going to be brilliant, all right.”

  “You two need to stop,” Brianna said. “He’s only a day old.”

  “Yeah, but have you seen the other day-old babies?” King d.Avid said. “I watched the others while they were in the nursery. And I’m not trying to brag or anything, but this little champ here, this little blessing of the Lord, I see an anointing on him like the world has never witnessed before.”

  “Well, you’d better be careful then,” Minister Nate said. “He just may supersede you when he fully hits the scene.”

  “Oh, I’m counting on it.” King d.Avid walked around, gently bouncing him. “You talk about a proud papa; this daddy here can only pray that his child does better than him.” King d.Avid smiled and continued to look at his son.

  “Okay, so what are we going to name this little anointed genius?” Brianna said as she watched her husband march around the hospital room gawking at the baby, refusing to take his eyes off of him for even one second.

  “I say we go with the obvious,” King d.Avid said. “I mean, what are the chances that my name would be David and I would actually marry a woman named Bathsheba?”

  “My name is not Bathsheba,” Brianna said.

  “Your middle name is,” King d.Avid said.

  “I know, but no one knows me by my middle name,” Brianna said.

  “Okay. So the obvious name for this little, wise warrior in the Word is Solomon,” King d.Avid said.

  “Solomon?” Brianna said. “Are you serious or are you just messing with me?”

  “I mean that Solomon is a nice name. You know: I’m David. He would be Solomon. Most of his battles would already be won.”

  “How about the name Rondell?” Brianna said.

  “You mean after my middle name?” King d.Avid said.

  “Yeah.”

  “You want to name our son Rondell?”

  “Yeah. That way you two would share a name,” Brianna said. She looked at Minister Nate. “What do you think?”

  Minister Nate held up both hands. “Oh, I’m not in this. This is something the two of you need to decide.”

  “Oh, come on,” King d.Avid said. “Tell us what you think.” King d.Avid walked over to Minister Nate. “Here, hold him.”

  “He’s too little for me to hold,” Minister Nate said as King d.Avid, despite his protest, gently placed the baby in his arm as though he were made of crystal.

  “Okay,” King d.Avid said to Minister Nate. “So what name are you hearing?”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” Minister Nate said, looking down at the baby.

  “Yeah, but I’m sure you’re getting something. Fix your eyes on that little face and tell us what God is saying to you,” King d.Avid said.

  Minister Nate looked at the baby and bounced him a little the way King d.Avid had done before transferring him into his care. “Hi there, little fellow,” Minister Nate said in baby talk. Minister Nate glanced over at King d.Avid, then down at Brianna. “Second Samuel—”

  “Oh, no,” King d.Avid said. “We’re not going with Samuel. Please tell me you’re not hearing the name Samuel.”

  “What’s wrong with Samuel?” Brianna teased.

  “I’d rather name him David Junior than Samuel,” King d.Avid said.

  “May I please finish?” Minister Nate said with a slight laugh in his voice.

  “Sorry,” King d.Avid said. “Please. Finish.”

  “Second Samuel, chapter twelve, verses twenty-four and twenty-five, says, ‘And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the Lord loved him. And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.’ The name Jedidiah means ‘Beloved of the Lord,’ ” Minister Nate said, carefully placing the baby in Brianna’s loving arms.

  “Jedidiah,” Brianna said, gazing down at her son. She raised him close to her face. “That might be a hard name to saddle on a child.” She looked up at Minister Nate and King d.Avid. “And you just know that people will ultimately end up calling him Jed or possibly even Jedi, for short.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Minister Nate said. “Jedi, huh? A Star Wars throwback. Hmmm. You’re really quick with your thoughts there, Mrs. Shepherd.”

  “That she is,” King d.Avid said. “You should have seen her dealing with my old manager, Vincent, about six months ago. Priceless! I’m telling you, it was price-less! My baby, Brianna, doesn’t play.”

  “So what do we call you, little prince?” Brianna lifted the baby up to her ear. “What’s that?” She started smiling. “Well, okay then,” she said. “If you’re sure now.”

  “What did he say?” King d.Avid asked, moving in closer.

  Brianna tilted her head to one side, grinned, then shook her head at her husband.

  “I’m just kidding,” King d.Avid said. “I know he can’t talk yet. Can he?” He grinned. “Okay, Mama. So what’s our little prince’s name?”

  “Solomon Rondell Jedidiah Shepherd,” Brianna said.

  King d.Avid stood as tears began to fill his eyes. He bent down and kissed Brianna, then stroked his son’s little tiny fingers. “Solomon Rondell Jedidiah Shepherd.”

  Minister Nate was keying something into his cell phone. He smiled, looked up, and said, “Okay. Solomon is Hebrew, meaning ‘peaceful’; Rondell is French, and it means ‘short poem’; Jedidiah is Hebrew, it means ‘Beloved of the Lord’; and Shepherd is English, and ironically it means ‘shepherd’—‘one who tends and oversees.’ ”

  Minister Nate placed his hand on the baby’s heart as Brianna held him. King d.Avid held his son’s hand. “I call you a child of the Most High King,” Minister Nate proclaimed. “I call you wise. I call you blessed. I call you a blessing. I call you peaceful, who pens short poems, and is the beloved of the Lord, who will care for and guide a group of people as you teach and, with wisdom, minister the Word of God to those who are in need. I declare you Solomon Rondell Jedidiah Shepherd.” Finished, Minister Nate gave a nod, removed his hand, and raised both his hands to Heaven. “Amen!” he said.

  “Amen,” Brianna said, as tears began to roll down her face.

  “Amen,” King d.Avid said. He then bent down and kissed his little Jedi, then kissed the woman who had blessed his life in more ways than words could ever express. “Amen.”

  Discussion Questions

  1. In the prologue, Brianna and her friend Alana are outside because Brianna’s father believed children should have balance in their playtime. What are your thoughts? Had you ever heard what Alana revealed was taking place when it rains and the sun is shining prior to this? What are your thoughts . . . experiences?

  2. Brianna’s husband was headed toward making millions of dollars. Discuss your feelings about men making that kind of money playing professional sports. What are your thoughts, if any, when it comes to college players not being paid and possibly ending up the way Unzell did?

  3. What did you think of Brianna and Alana’s friendship as adults? Discuss.

  4. In Brianna’s religious studies, she visited a mikvah. Address your thoughts when it comes to this, even down to a desire to learn of other religious practices.

  5. Discuss the things that took place at the beach house, including Brianna’s actions and the fact that King d.Avid was watching her from the roof.

  6. Did King d.Avid do the right thing in sending Chad to see who was staying at the beach house? Discuss this as well as Chad’s visit with the women. Should King d.Avid have gone to see them while he was there?

  7. Was Brianna wrong to have accepted King d.Avid’s dinner invitation? Discuss.

  8. What do you think about Brianna’s time spent with King d.Avid and her staying overnight? What do you believe was the real reason that she “fell”?

  9. Do you think Brianna went overboard in her
reaction when she realized what she’d done? Did King d.Avid take it too lightly?

  10. Upon learning she was pregnant, did Brianna handle things correctly? What did she do that you would have advised her to do differently? What do you agree with?

  11. Did you agree with King d.Avid’s cover-up plans? Why or why not? If you disagree, then what should he have done?

  12. Should Brianna have talked with someone about what was going on? If so, whom?

  13. Did Brianna do the right thing remarrying when she did? Was it too soon? Should she have let people believe the baby was her late husband’s? What would you have done?

  14. Discuss the baby (Jason) and everything surrounding him, including his parents’ varied reactions. What do you feel about the end result?

  15. Discuss Brianna’s decision to renew their wedding vows and the way it was ultimately carried out, together with King d.Avid’s secrets and surprises.

  16. What did you think of Mack and Melvin?

  17. Discuss Vincent Powers and all his antics, including his final push to get his and Kendall’s jobs back. Do you believe there was any merit to some of the things Vincent talked about that people might be discussing when it came to King d.Avid and Brianna, along with the people they loved? Do you believe King d.Avid had anything to do with Unzell’s death? Was Brianna right to step into the private conversation that her husband was having with Vincent as she did?

  18. Discuss your thoughts on Brianna and King d.Avid’s eventual blessing of Solomon.

  Sister Betty returns in time for Christmas in

  Pat G’Orge-Walker’s

  No Ordinary Noel

  Coming in October 2011 from Dafina Books

  Turn the page for an excerpt from No Ordinary Noel ...

  It was well past midnight when the reverend’s phone rang. He’d hardly slept a wink, but when he saw the number on the caller ID, he immediately woke up.

  The reverend yawned and answered, “Hello, Sister Betty.”

  “I’m sorry to call this late, pastor,” she apologized. “This storm has made everything a mess. My bus ran late from Belton, and when I got home to Pelzer, I was too pooped to do anything. I saw that red light flashing on my phone, but didn’t bother to check it right away because nothing good ever comes out of me doing so.”

  By the time Sister Betty finished with her long apology and her aversion to checking her messages, the reverend was fully awake. He’d barely explained to her about the mess caused at the church by Mother Pray Onn accusing him of mishandling her one-hundred-forty-dollar-and-twenty-six-cent tithes and his reaction to it, when Sister Betty started to whip him with the Word. She gave him scriptural uppercuts from the Old Testament. “Psalm One Hundred and Forty-four says, “Blessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight!” She then TKO’d him with scriptures from the New. When she finished, he’d apologized more to her than he had to God.

  “How God gonna give you a vision about leading folk to The Promised Land and then not give you the provision?” Sister Betty hissed, “Now I don’t mean no further disrespect, but you acting like you forgot that God gave me that same vision and it was about the same time He trusted you to bring it about.” She waited for the reverend to dispute what she said, but he didn’t. He couldn’t.

  “Reverend Tom, now tell me we didn’t shout about it in your study when God showed us back then that there wasn’t gonna be a need for a mortgage? You can’t. And didn’t the good Lord say to name it the Promised Land? Now I already told you that I’m tired from this long trip. I had to go see about a dear ole friend that’s getting up in age and pray with her. Now my body is sore. I ain’t got time to feed you Bible Similac like you a new babe in Christ. You’re the head of the church, and if the head don’t believe, then why would the body?”

  Sister Betty went on to say a lot more as he held the receiver away from his ear. His shoulders slumped and a numbing pain began from the back of his head to the front. He held his hands to his ears to avoid the truth of her words.

  Headache or not, he respected her words. So he brought the receiver back to his ear and discovered she hadn’t finished rebuking him. He heard Sister Betty’s warning, “If your faith ain’t increased by tomorrow when I go down to that bank, then don’t you come with me. I may have a ton of money in that bank, but I can’t blackmail them with haters and faith blockers in my way.”

  The next morning, Reverend Tom was exhausted. Sister Betty’s telephone rebuke had pushed sleep aside and given him a lot to ponder.

  However, despite her rebuke last night, that Monday morning he couldn’t help but to remember his history with Sister Betty. As he started to read the morning paper, the thought of her brought a surprised smile to his face.

  Sister Betty was one of his most senior members and had been a blessing to him ever since he took over as Pastor. Her quirkiness was well known to some and a puzzle to most. As far as he was concerned, she was a woman who had God’s ear. He had also adopted her as his spiritual mother, especially since both of his parents passed away long before he had finished college, and she was always telling him what to do anyhow.

  She also watched his back and stood between him and the desires of several unmarried females at the church who were looking to add the title of First Lady to their letterhead and bank account. Sadly, there were also a few married women who would have made an exception to their marriage vows had he given them a reason.

  Through the good and the bad, Sister Betty had never left his side. She made certain that he knew that God had not left either.

  Before he knew it, it was around noon and time to pick up Sister Betty. He rechecked the weather and learned the forecasters had upgraded their report to an almost certainty that an early winter storm would cause havoc on the roads.

  As he pulled out of his driveway, Reverend Tom whispered an affirmation, “God in heaven, forgive me for my unbelief and my unmerited pride in what you’ve placed in my hands. But Lord, all days are your days too. Now if Moses didn’t let the Red Sea stop him from helping his people, I’m not about to let the threat of a snow storm, lack of finances, or a congregation of unbelievers stop me from helping mine.”

  After a short drive, Reverend Tom slowly pulled into the winding driveway of Sister Betty’s luxurious home. Before he could step from the car, she stepped outside to meet him.

  Sister Betty was dressed in her traditional all white everything. At that moment, her everything was a heavy wool overcoat, gloves, boots, and hat. On this particular day, she’d bundled up so tight she looked like a white box with a large bible attached to its side. She stayed ready for any storm—natural or spiritual.

  Sister Betty’s small feet hopscotched through the slush until she made her way inside the car. Without ceremony or waiting for him to open the door, she said, “Praise the Lord, Pastor.”

  “Sister Betty,” the reverend replied. He chose to leave it at that.

  Sister Betty chuckled as she fastened her seatbelt and gave him the once over. “You look like you still holding on to about a quart of faith, so I sure hope you’re ready to roll for the Lord this glorious day.”

  Judging by the way she acted at that moment, it was hard to believe she’d just chewed him out the night before. Nevertheless, the joy only lasted long enough for him to put the car in drive. Before they’d gotten off the block, she’d become more like a Mama Betty than the Sister Betty he’d needed.

  Sister Betty adjusted the scarf around her neck and pointed to the car’s heater. “It’s so cold in here I can see my breath. Now turn that thing up. I told you I don’t have hot flashes no more and I need a lot of heat.”

  Reverend Tom did as she requested. He then waited a moment until she adjusted to the blast of heat from the heater before he added, “Okay, my short but powerful Ride or Die gal. Let’s go and reclaim the Promised Land.”

  “I don’t know how many times I need to remind you that I really don’t like the word die used in the same
sentence as my name,” Sister Betty murmured.

  “Don’t worry about that,” the reverend laughed as he finally pulled out of the slow-moving traffic. “You are not going anywhere anytime soon. Heaven doesn’t need you up there as much as I do down here.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears and His will.” Sister Betty sat back. Her head leaned to the side as she thought I want to thank you, Lord, for Your grace and for Your mercy too. A smile crept across her face as she praised her God.

  The reverend looked over and smiled, too. “I see you’re smiling,” he said softly. “Are you and God collaborating again?” He let out a laugh when he saw the surprised look upon her face.

  “Why yes, Reverend Tom, we are constantly in cahoots.”

  “Mind sharing what God has revealed?”

  “It’s not so much what He’s revealed to me as much as me discussing with Him where we’re going to end up.”

  “Oh, I see. You mean the Promised Land.”

  Sister Betty shifted her bible and winked. “That’s right, me and the Lord; we are chatting about the Promised Land. So now you quit interruptin’ before I have to start speaking in tongues to keep you out of my heavenly business.”

  The reverend returned her wink with a smile and turned up the heat just a little more in the car. “Well, Sister Betty, I’ll get us to the bank and see about the Promised Land in about ten minutes instead of forty years.”

  DAFINA BOOKS are published by

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  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2011 by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  All rights reserved. No Part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.