by Denora Boone
Flinging the door open with a scowl on his face, it dropped at the sight of Natalia.
***
It felt like everything in Qyree’s life was falling apart and he had no clue where to go to start piecing things back together. Everything he had been working so hard for had been snatched away concerning his career, and if that wasn’t bad enough he found out that his father’s secret mistress that he didn’t know about was the same woman he was messing with. It wasn’t like he was going to pop the question to Natalia, but to find out what she was up to and all of her secrets wasn’t cool. He figured the least she could do was be straight up with him since he had never hidden anything from her. She knew that there were other women and in the beginning, she was cool, but when her feelings got involved, then all of a sudden he was supposed to line up with her. If Qyree wasn’t lining up with the word of God, he didn’t know why she would expect him to do it with her.
As soon as he saw her standing on the porch of his parents’ house he knew it was time for him to leave. He hopped in his car and left the screaming behind him as he mashed out of the driveway, with no intended final destination. Qyree had driven for so long with his mind boggled that he didn’t realize he had made it to Valdosta until he pulled up to the college. It was almost 8pm and not a soul was in sight. Not even 24 hours ago he was just there and here he was being led back but didn’t know why.
Who was he kidding? He knew exactly why he ended up back there and her name was Cheynese. As bad as he wanted to fight it, old feelings that he thought he had buried were slowly rising to the surface again. The very first time he met her, something in him was sparked, and just as he was about to make his move, one of his side joints broke that up. For the remainder of the time Chey tutored him, it was strictly business. She made it her business not to let anything grow between them except a friendship, and if that was all that she would give then he was cool with that.
Whenever he saw her on campus, she was always smiling, friendly to others, and being a help wherever it was needed. But what stood out to him the most was the fact that no one ever mentioned her sleeping around with different dudes like the majority of the girls in school. He couldn’t remember a time where any of his boys heard rumors about her, and she never associated herself with a bunch of catty females. He didn’t know what kind of material God cut her from but she was definitely cut from a different cloth from everybody else. Had he not been so jacked up in the head by the teachings of his father, he probably would have pursued her. Who knows where they would be today.
After sitting for a few minutes in the parking lot, he decided to go grab himself something to eat and cop him a room for a few days. He didn’t know how long he was going to be there, but he knew he needed to be away from Atlanta for a while.
Once he got situated in his suite, had eaten, and taken a shower, he got in the plush bed with one hand resting behind his head in deep thought. Something had changed in him but he couldn’t quite place it. All he knew was that he needed to see Chey. The way she sang and worshipped on that stage, took him to another place.
Qyree picked up his phone to shoot her a text and remembered that he forgot to get her number. So much had been going on that it had slipped his mind. He wondered if she would even give it to him, but he was going to try anyway. He didn’t talk to her long enough to find out where she was working and he was almost out of ideas until it dawned on him, Facebook. Everyone had a page these days, all the way down to kids, so he was sure to find her on there.
It took him a few minutes to remember her last name and prayed that she hadn’t gotten married and changed it. He didn’t notice a ring or tan line on her ring finger, but that didn’t mean that she was still married. Divorce was an option. He knew there was no one else on the face of the earth that had her name, but Qyree didn’t even know how to spell it.
After about twenty minutes of searching, he was about to give up when one of their college classmates popped up on his screen. His last hope was that the two of the women were friends and he could find her that way. He was so anxious to find out and was getting irritated going through the thousands of friends on the list, until there she was.
She wasn’t online at the time, but he had hoped that she would see the message fairly quick. Right then, he felt like the only one that could bring him some type of comfort was Chey. Zaria had been telling him all of his life that when he needs comfort, God was his main source. Since Qyree hadn’t talked to the man upstairs in so long, Chey had to be the next best thing. He was sure that she would listen. He wasn’t so sure if God would.
All he said to her was that he needed to see her. Scrolling down his timeline for another hour or so, he noticed all of the females that he had either run through over time, or ones he wanted to smash before. But now it was like he was disgusted by what he saw, and it was starting to not be appealing to him anymore. What on earth was going on with him? Not having the energy to even want to figure it out, he turned his phone off and shut his eyes as he let sleep find him immediately.
-15-
Chey watched as Von continued to be fighting to sit still. They were waiting at Chey’s house because this was the day that Von would be reunited with her son, Amir. After so many years behind bars, she was finally going to be able to have her baby back in her life.
“Von, honey, you have to calm down,” she said walking over to the window where she was pacing.
“I know, but I can’t. What if he doesn’t want anything to do with me? I don’t know if I can take that kind of pain,” Von said as a lone tear fell from her eye.
Wiping it away from her face with her thumb, Chey closed her eyes and began to pray. By the time she was done, she could feel the tension leave Von’s body little by little.
“God’s perfect will is going to be done. Whatever that is, I promise you will have peace,” she smiled at her friend.
She had no idea what Von was feeling because she had never been in that kind of situation, so all she could do was encourage her the best way that she could at the moment. Chey had briefly spoken to Nivea, the one who was raising Von’s son, and who was also the woman that Von set up to be raped. Even with the little time they talked on the phone, Chey could tell she was a beautiful spirit and although she had been deeply hurt, her love for God took away all of that inability to forgive that she was holding on to. If it wasn’t for Him, there would be no way that she would be able to face Von again, let alone raise her child.
Hearing the car doors close brought the two of them out of their thoughts and turned their attention to the window. They could see through the curtains the people getting out, and Von took in a deep breath as her eyes landed on the little boy that looked to be around ten years old. He was the spitting image of her and though he carried the same virus that his mother did, Amir looked to be very well taken care of.
Chey watched as the man that had gotten out of the driver’s seat walked around to the passenger side. Along with Amir, there were two other children, a girl and a boy. Von told her that Nivea had been married with children, so Chey assumed they belonged to her.
Slowly, the passenger door opened and out stepped a woman who had to be Nivea. She was gorgeous! Her hair was long and thick and complemented her brown skin. She was tall, but her husband was taller and made her look short. They watched as he put his hand to her face and held her with a smile on his face. Pulling her closely, he entangled his fingers into her hair and rubbed from the bottom of her neck and slowly moved his hand up. The simple gesture held so much love and affection in it that Nivea’s shoulders began to slump. He was saying something to her that was only meant for her to hear because his mouth was so close to her ear. Nodding her head up and down, she replaced the sadness on her face with a smile and kissed her husband’s lips.
“Lord, send me one of them,” Chey said in her head. At least she thought it was in her head until she heard Von say, “Me too, Jesus!” and fell out laughing.
They watched as only N
ivea and her husband headed towards Chey’s front door, and they both took a deep breath when the doorbell rang. The kids stayed in the yard playing and laughing. Nivea thought it was best that they got to talk first before the kids were brought in. They hadn’t told Amir where they were going in fear of him being let down by his mother. Leaving Von in the living room, she walked over to the door and pulled it open.
“Hi guys, I’m Chey. Come on in,” she told them. She watched the way they moved and as soon as they crossed over into her home, she closed the door. Turning around, she bumped right into the back of Nivea.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she apologized. Nivea looked so nervous and she noticed her hands were shaking like a leaf.
“Oh no, that was my fault. I’m sorry. I guess my nerves are in overdrive,” she smiled weakly. Chey reached out to Nivea and held her hands.
“God has done a mighty work in her. I don’t know who she used to be although I have read her files and talked to her about her past. But the woman that she is now is nothing like that anymore. She’s taken accountability for everything and even repented of all of her sins. You helped her in that area,” Chey let a shocked Nivea know.
“What do you mean?”
“Because you forgave her, she was able to forgive herself. I know that things will never be like they used to be, but you can start fresh today.” Letting out a deep breath, Nivea smiled and gave Chey a quick hug. It may have been her first time meeting Chey, but Nivea could feel the power of God all over her. She knew that God had put the right person in Von’s life to make sure that she would be alright.
“Babe, you ready?” her husband asked her.
“Oh yeah, I’m so rude. This is my husband Terrance,” Nivea introduced them. She didn’t realize that he was just standing there while she was having her moment.
“It’s nice to meet you in person. Did your mother really name you after some food?” Terrance asked amused.
“Terrence! You make me so sick asking that. Rude self,” Nivea fussed.
“It’s okay,” Chey laughed, “I get that every time someone asks me my name and I tell them.”
Walking ahead of them, she led them towards the living room. Von was still in the same place looking out of the window, and they all knew that she was focused on her son. The last time she had seen him was the day that she was released from the hospital after his birth, and taken back to the jail. The only things she had of him were the pictures of him growing up. She closed her eyes and almost went back into a depression with the realization of how her stupid mistakes were affecting her child. But just as she was about to turn around and say she couldn’t do this, Nivea spoke to her.
“Hey Vonnie,” she said in a near whisper. Von’s head snapped around as the tears fell from her eyes, hearing her friend call her by her childhood nickname. Her body was almost to the floor, but Nivea got to her before she could hit it. It was as if everything had come rushing back to her and her emotions were all over the place.
“I’m sooooooo sorry Niv! God knowssssss, I’m so sorry! You didn’t deserve what I did to you and I don’t know how to make it up to you,” Von sobbed. The scene was a very deep one for Chey. The pain and hurt that radiated from the both of them as they rocked back and forth holding on to one another, was just what they needed to get past their past.
“Shhhh, Vonnie. It’s okay. We are alright. You have to pull it together for Amir, sweetie,” Nivea comforted her. It was amazing to see how this woman who had been betrayed in the worst way, could comfort and console the person that was behind that betrayal. That was truly the power of God and He was the only one who could make that happen. With everything that Chey knew about the situation, she didn’t know if she could be as strong as Nivea was in that moment. True enough they had gone years without seeing each other, but still. Chey just knew that Nivea was certainly cut from a different cloth.
After a few more minutes of them talking quietly between the two of them, with both Terrance and Chey watching, they got up off of the floor. Tears were still falling but they looked to be somewhat relieved. Like the tears cleansed them in some way.
“Do you think he will want to see me?” Von asked referring to her son Amir.
“He didn’t know we were coming here today,” Nivea said. That shocked Von and Chey. They just knew that he had been told who they were coming to visit. To know that he was in the dark about it made Von tense up again, only for Nivea to hold her hand tighter.
“He knows who you are. We have never held that information from him. Mir is such a smart boy and he has such an old soul,” she laughed lightly. “All he ever wants to know about is when you would come to see him. We didn’t know the answer to that. The last letter I wrote you, we never got a response and I didn’t hear anything until we got the call you were out. The last thing I wanted to do was tell him that we were coming to see you and you not be really ready or change your mind at the last minute. I know he’s not my child, but I will protect him until I take my last breath,” she finished, and Von understood where she was coming from.
The last thing she wanted to do was get his hopes up and then to be let down if Von wasn’t ready. And for a while she wasn’t sure if she was ready or not. She had changed her mind so many times before, until this last time Chey wouldn’t let her. She kept it one-hundred with Von and basically told her to get out of her feelings, and for once, do what was best for her and her son.
“I’m ready,” Von said as Nivea turned to Terrance. Nothing needed to be said as he walked out of the room and went to the door.
The three of the women sat in silence, waiting for the moment of truth. There was no going back and the day Von had been waiting for had finally arrived. She was about to have her son back in her arms for the first time in years. It seemed like an eternity before they heard the door close and footsteps coming in their direction. Von couldn’t help but to hold her breath as she waited.
First came a pretty teen with long dark hair and a face that resembled Nivea’s, followed by a boy that had to have been around Amir’s age. He was the perfect blend of his mother and father. Von had never even seen pictures of their daughter, Messiah, or son, TJ. It was sad that she was doing so much to hurt Nivea that she wasn’t even there when she gave birth to her daughter. That thought alone made her almost lose it again until she heard the shaky voice of her baby boy.
“Mommy?”
Von’s head snapped around while her hands came up to cover her mouth. The tears that began to fall were a mixture of fear, remorse, and sadness. But none of those emotions that her tears carried over powered the biggest emotion that she felt: love. The love she felt looking into the face of her baby boy was something that she had never felt with her own mother. That was part of the reason that she was in the shape she was in right now. At that very moment, she knew that if Amir would allow her, she would give him more love than he could ever imagine his mother giving him.
“My baby,” Von said just barely audible as she stretched her arms wide and Amir ran right into them. He held on like he was scared that if he let her go she would disappear again, but that was one thing that he would never have to worry about ever again. His mommy was there to stay and she was going to be the best mother a child could ask for.
“God I bless your name. Thank you, Jesus,” she said as she rocked her son and held on to her new beginning.
-16-
Chey sat back at her desk going through her files of the probationers that she was going to need arrest warrants for. Some thought that since she was young and had a pretty face that they could get over on her. She wasn’t new to this, she was true to this, and someone had to wake up mighty early to get over on her.
Once she had gotten that all squared away, she reached for her cell phone that had been dinging with notification after notification from her Facebook page. Someone had uploaded the video of her singing a few days ago and it had gone viral. People were commenting on her timeline all day about how she blessed them,
and even a few were led back to Christ. If anything, that was the best thing that she had heard all day.
Scrolling through her inbox messages, she noticed one that had come from Qyree. It was sent some hours after the show had ended the other day. How did he find her online? She was sure he didn’t know how to spell her name and she doubted he remembered her last name. Getting over the fact that he indeed had found her, she focused on what he had written. He simply said that he needed to see her. She didn’t know what on earth it could have been about and she wrecked her brain thinking of what it was. At first she thought it was about the video but at the time of his message, it hadn’t been uploaded online yet. She thought back to the timeframe and he should have been with his ‘companions’ but there he was messaging her. Chey was glad that she hadn’t responded that day because if he was needing to spend time with her that late at night, it could only mean he wanted one thing. But then, something was telling her that it wasn’t about that.
Chey quickly responded, asking him if he was alright and where did he want to meet. Before she had time to take that last part back, she had already hit ‘send’. Sighing a sigh of relief when she noticed he wasn’t online and hadn’t been since sending her the message, she figured that she would have time to get her nerves together before she saw him again. Wait, why did she need to get her nerves together. She had been around Qyree plenty of times before but this time she was nervous and didn’t know why.
Maybe it was because of how he looked at her when she saw him, or how he studied her while she was ministering at the showcase. Whatever it was it was different, and she didn’t know what to expect. She had just closed her messenger and put her phone down when the door to her office opened up.
“Hey superstar,” Von said smiling and carrying in takeout trays. It was at that very moment when the smell from the containers hit her nose and her stomach sounded like an African safari.
