“We’re looking for Maxine Dawson.”
“Oh God,” were the only words that escaped from Maxine’s mouth as she all but crumbled into Ram’s arms.
“Is this the baby?” the officer turned to the woman and asked.
Holding Maxine, Ram said, “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” His voice was so loud that several members of his family came to stand in the entryway with him.
Ramsey Sr. said, “This is my house. And this is my son,” he pointed to Ram. “So can you please tell us what you want?”
“We received information that Maxine Dawson had kidnapped a baby belonging to a Ms. Brandi Owens. Child Protective Services is here to collect the baby.”
“Over my dead body,” Ram shouted. “Maxine is Brielle’s mother, and...” while his family looked on, Ram added, “I’m her father.”
9
“What did he just say?” Renee asked as she turned to look at her family with confusion written all over her face.
Ram turned to his family and said, “Could you all go back in the family room? I will explain everything once Maxine and I straighten this out with the authorities.”
Carmella started rounding everybody up. “Okay y’all. Let Ram handle his business.” As the others turned to leave the entryway, Carmella added, “We’ll be waiting for the three of you in the family room.”
Ram appreciated that Carmella said ‘the three of you’, because that gave him hope, and allowed him to keep the faith that even in this situation with the police and Child Protective Services at the door, his daughter wasn’t about to leave his side. “Come in. If you all don’t mind, we can talk in the living room and I can show you my paternity paperwork. I think that will clear things up.”
Ram walked everyone to the living room. He then grabbed his overnight bag and pulled out the official paperwork that he’d just received earlier that day and handed it to the tight-lipped woman who already appeared bored with the situation.
She read the paperwork, nodded, handed it back to Ramsey and then asked, “So who has custody of the child? You or Ms. Owens?”
“Neither at the moment.” Ram pointed to Maxine. “Brielle is Maxine’s daughter. She adopted her within a month of her birth.”
The woman glanced at Maxine, who was looking as if she’d snuck a cookie out of the cookie jar and then back at Ramsey. “Ms. Dawson was notified earlier today that Child Protective Services of Charlotte would be picking the child up on Monday. Therefore, when we received information about her fleeing the city, we naturally had to change our plans and pick the child up today.”
“They didn’t tell me that they were picking Brielle up, only that they needed to talk with me.”
“But you knew what the issues were, so you never should have left town with the child,” the woman said matter-of-factly.
“She left town with me. And since I am Brielle’s father, there shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Putting her hands in her lap and utilizing a calm voice, the woman said, “The problem we have is that Ms. Owens never finalized the adoption with Ms. Dawson, so the child cannot remain in her home.”
“What are you talking about?” Ramsey looked around the room trying to figure out what had just happened.
“I’ve been trying to find the best way to tell you,” Maxine began. But Ram put a hand on her shoulder.
He turned back to the police officers. “This doesn’t make that much of a difference, does it? I’m Brielle’s father and I will be marrying Maxine, so whether the adoption was finalized or not, she’ll be Brielle’s mother anyway.”
Ramsey’s statement just about caused Maxine’s head to fall off her body as she turned toward him.
“I see,” the worker said, “And when did all of this come about?”
“What does it matter? Brielle has two responsible adults who love her and want to raise her. You can’t seriously be thinking about giving Brielle back to the woman who wanted to abort her.” Ramsey was furious. He stood and began pacing the floor as his tirade spilled over. “Brandi Owens is not fit to be Brielle’s mother. Any woman who could even conceive of aborting her own child shouldn’t be allowed within fifty feet of the child.” He stopped pacing, closed his eyes as he ran his hands over his face. Exhaustion was beginning to set in, but he had to keep fighting for Brielle.
“Brandi might not have had the abortion as she told me she’d had, after the fact might I add, but she still didn’t want Brielle. If she had, would she have given her to Maxine?”
One of the police officers stood. “Look, we’re not interested in pulling your family apart.” He turned to the Child Protective Services worker. “How can we remedy this situation so we don’t have to take the baby from her father?”
***
Ram spent half the night on the phone with his attorney and in the Child Protective Services office. Once he was finally about to get an emergency custody order, he was allowed to leave the office with Brielle.
Back at his parents’ house, he was finally ready to sit down and confess all. When he was finished, Carmella walked over to him and gave him a hug. “You have been on my heart for over a year now. The Lord had me praying for you so much, that I could hardly get a pray in for the others. But I trusted God’s direction and now I am so glad that I listened and kept praying. The devil has been trying to attack your mind and make you think that you’re not worthy of God’s love because of what you did a few years ago. Now I know what to pray for.”
“And what, exactly, are you going to be praying on my behalf?” Since the day his father married his stepmother, Ram felt a special bond with her. But he also could feel an anointing when he was around her that he rarely noticed in others. He had to know what she was going to be praying, because then he just might be able to believe it himself.
“I’m praying that you beat that old devil at his own game. Get him out of your head, Ram, don’t let him win... know that you are special to God and that His word is true; He has already forgiven you. You don’t have to carry these burdens of sin any longer. Jesus took care of all of that on the cross.”
“Thank you, Mama Carmella.”
Carmella turned toward Maxine and smiled. “And don’t you let none of this get you down either. Remember, God sees the beginning and the end. And I’ve got a feeling that this thing is going to turn out better than either of you could have expected.”
Maxine nodded, but didn’t speak. It wasn’t until the following day when she, Ram and Brielle were on the road heading back to Charlotte that she began to question him. “Am I going to be able to take Brielle home with me?”
“Child Protective Services said that she has to be with me. But you’re more than welcome to come home with us. And before you think I’m trying to come on to you, I have four bedrooms in the house.”
“If you’re not trying to come on to me, why did you tell those police officers that we are getting married?”
He eyed her, trying to figure out where the question was coming from— a place of fear or of longing. He figured it was a mix of both, so he wasn’t going to play games with her. “I told them that because I think it’s the perfect solution. You’re Brielle’s mom and I’m her dad. Don’t you think Brielle should have both her parents under one roof?”
“What about Brandi?”
Ram’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “Brandi will never get her hands on my child. She would have probably thrown Brielle in the trash if you hadn’t come along.”
“I don’t think she would have done that. You’re not being fair about this, Ram.”
“Not being fair?” He slammed his fist onto the steering wheel. “She told me she aborted my baby. I guarantee you that those weren’t just idle words. She was thinking about doing it. And if a woman can kill an unborn child, I wouldn’t put it past her to kill her own child.”
Maxine flinched; every word Ram spoke was cutting her deep. “Do you think that yo
u are the only one worthy of God’s forgiveness? Since when did one person’s sin become any less or any greater than another’s?”
Ram hadn’t realized that his words would make Maxine angry. But she had been friends with Brandi once upon a time, maybe Maxine still felt some sort of loyalty to the woman. He put his hands on her shoulders and lightly rubbed her arm as he said, “I don’t want to fight with you. If you don’t want me to talk about Brandi anymore, I’ll let it go. But I don’t want her coming in between us, okay?”
Looking out the window, watching the cars go by, Maxine responded, “Brandi could never come between us.”
“Just what I wanted to hear.” All smiles now, Ramsey got off at the exit towards Maxine’s house. “Let’s go get a few things for you and Brielle and then go on to my house.”
***
It wasn’t Brandi that Maxine was worried about. It was Ram’s hatred for what he’d assumed Brandi had done. Brandi hadn’t done it at all, but Ram couldn’t seem to get past it. Maxine wondered what he would think of her or how he would treat her when he discovered the truth about her. That she had aborted not one, but two babies, and all so that she could stay at the top of her game. The first time she found out that she was pregnant, her boyfriend had just been killed in a car accident and she’d then received the call she had been waiting five years for. Maxine had the cover of Essence.
Maxine had rationalized as so many of her friends had done back then that she had a once in a life chance to make her move in the fashion industry. She couldn’t stop the momentum by getting fat and then going on maternity leave. She had the rest of her life to have children. The second time it happened was two years later when she was modeling for Sports Illustrated, Vogue and other top notch magazines. She was doing runway in London and Paris, what kind of life would her child have with her doing so much traveling?
She’d believed all of the devil’s lies back then. But thanks be to God, one day her Lord and Savior made Himself known to her and she hadn’t hesitated, she crawled her way back to Jesus and begged Him to forgive her for the part she’d played in selfishly killing her own children. Unlike Ram’s unforgiving heart, God had forgiven her and He’d wrapped her in His loving arms and told her, It will be all right, My child.
Maxine had believed those words God spoke into her spirit years ago. And she’d begun turning her life around. No longer was she only concerned about her career and making it to the next level and then the next level after that without stopping to consider what others might need from her. She now made time for her sisters in ways she hadn’t bothered to before, she certainly made time for Brielle. And God, He was number one on her list.
That’s why Maxine couldn’t understand why God had softened her heart so towards Ram that she was feeling as if she loved this man. But not one time had Ram mentioned anything about love to her. He only started talking about marriage after he discovered that she didn’t have the legal documents to adopt Brielle.
What Ram wanted to do for her and Brielle was wonderful, and Maxine loved him all the more for it. But since Ram didn’t love her, Maxine doubted that a marriage between them could survive once he found out the truth about her and that brought great sadness to her. Whenever sadness and guilt of her past tried to overtake Maxine, she turned to the bible. Maxine had the bible in her lap right then as she sat in the comfort of Ram’s living room, reading out of Mark the 11th chapter.
“Therefore I say unto you, what things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Those bible verses ate at Maxine’s heart, because she knew that Ramsey was treading on thin ice, by having an unforgiving heart. Ramsey was loving and kind to her and Brielle, but his heart had hardened where Brandi was concerned. Maxine didn’t want Ram to still be in love with Brandi or anything like that. But she certainly didn’t want him hating the woman and constantly condemning her as if he was Almighty God himself. Because if he continued like this, what would happen when he finally had to face what she had done to her own children? And that day was fast approaching, because Maxine could not conceive of marrying Ram without telling him. If he couldn’t deal with it and decided that he no longer wanted to marry her, then she would fight him and Brandi in court for Brielle as she had originally planned to do. But she wasn’t going to hold malice in her heart towards Ram or Brandi, no matter the outcome. Her mind was fixed in that regard. God had forgiven her, so she would forgive others, no matter how they trampled on her heart.
Ram walked into the living room, stopped and stared at her for a moment and then said, “Look at you, reading your word like a Proverbs 31 kind of woman. I like that.”
“I’m not perfect, Ram. Just because I read the bible doesn’t mean that I haven’t made mistakes like anyone else.”
He sat down next to her and lifted her face so that she was looking directly at him. “Hey, I know that you’re not perfect and I don’t expect you to be.”
“Are you sure about that, Ram? Because I don’t want to marry you and suddenly discover that I’m living in a house with a man who hates me, simply because he can’t do what God admonishes all of us to do.”
“Where is all of this coming from? Have I given you any reason to even suspect that I would be anything but a loving and attentive husband?”
Softly cupping his face in her hands, she told him, “I do believe that you would do your best to treat me like gold. But what I don’t know yet is how you would treat me once you discover all my flaws and that’s what scares me.”
Lifting his hands in an I’m-not-like-that kind of move, Ramsey said, “I don’t judge.”
“You most certainly do. You’ve done nothing but judge Brandi from the moment you thought she aborted your baby.”
“Am I supposed to play nice with that woman? Maxine, you don’t know how I was tormented by the thought of my child being aborted.”
“I wonder how much God was tormented by the thought of His son having to go to the cross for all of our sins.”
“You’re not fighting fair,” Ramsey declared.
“Oh really,” she said as she stood up and put the bible in Ramsey lap. She pointed to the scriptures she just finished reading and said, “Read this and come talk to me when you can explain to me how it’s different.”
10
“Come to bed,” Ramsey Sr. called out to his wife.
“I’m not through praying. Matter of fact, get down here with me,” Carmella told Ramsey. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but Ram needs us. I feel it, hon. He needs us like never before.”
Without another word, Ramsey got on the floor next to Carmella and put his hands in hers. “I’m ready, baby.”
They bombarded heaven on Ram’s behalf, calling on the name of Jesus, the name above every name. Asking God to look out for Ram, and give him the way out of whatever storm he’s in. They prayed for Maxine and Brielle also. Because Carmella felt as if a war was being waged and the outcome of this battle would set the tone for everything that would happen for the rest of their lives. “Send Your angels down, Father God. Watch over Ram, Maxine and little Brielle. Lead them and guide them in what they need to do and say. We will forever give You praise, in Jesus’ matchless name we pray all of this and we count it done, Amen!”
“I thank God for the discernment that He has given you concerning our grown children,” Ramsey said as he and Carmella climbed back in bed.
“And I thank God for you and each and every one of our children. I thank God for not just being our God, but our children’s God as well. And I truly believe that each of them will come to know and trust God in the same way that we do.”
“Amen to that,” Ramsey said and then turned out the light.
“I think we should drive
to Charlotte tomorrow.”
Ramsey turned back on the light and stared at his wife.
Carmella’s explanation was, “I want to see my grandbaby again.”
“All right, honey, we’ll head down there right after church if that will make you feel better. Now let’s get some sleep.” This time when Ramsey turned off the lights, Carmella snuggled up to him and let sleep take over. But God was trying to tell her something, and she prayed that all would be revealed in good time.
***
“I’d rather not call the police to have you thrown out of this room, but you’ve given me three credit cards with three different names and all of them have been declined. So, I don’t know what name you’re going by today, but all three of you have to leave this instant.”
The desk clerk was holding the door wide open as Brandi glared at him as if it was his fault that she was using stolen credit cards and the jig was up. “You don’t have to scream through the hallway, and you don’t have to stand there and watch me.”
“Just get your stuff and get out of here. I’m trying to be as nice to you as I possibly can. But I’m running out of patience.”
Rolling her eyes, Brandi said, “Whatever.” She then put her suitcase on the bed, and started throwing her clothes, shoes and toiletries into her suitcase. She then fumbled around in her purse, looking for something.”
The desk clerk pointed towards the hall. “Come on, you can go through your purse when you get to your car.”
She found what she was looking for, put it in her hand, put her purse strap on her shoulder and walked out of the room. Before the desk clerk could move from his spot in front of the door, Brandi turned back toward him, open her hand so that he could see what she had, and then she tased him. The man instantly fell to the floor, convulsing as if he was having a seizure.
“That’s for getting loud with me.” She then kept walking to her car as if this was just another day and she’d done nothing wrong. But this wasn’t just another day. This was the day that Brandi had decided she was going to get even with any and every one who’d even thought about doing her wrong.
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