Goodness and Mercy

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  Gabrielle was given special training the agency’s new hires were required to go through to ensure the standards promised to the prospective employers. Gabrielle was also required to sign a confidentiality agreement that required she not disclose any information attained or that she may become privy to while employed in the home. She was told the house belonged to a doctor (she would learn the doctor’s name when she arrived at the house), and only given the address and time when she was to report. They were expecting her, so someone would be there to greet her tomorrow and let her know what was needed and expected of her. After that, Gabrielle was informed, there would likely be days when she would be at the house alone, which is why they were extremely cautious about hiring someone who could be trusted and could work without direct oversight and supervision.

  After Gabrielle arrived home, credited with a full day’s pay that included her interview time, testing, and training, she called Johnnie Mae to let her know she’d gotten the job and to thank her for all she’d done to help her secure it.

  “All I did was give them your name,” Johnnie Mae said, “and tell them what an incredibly dedicated, hard worker I believe you to be. That’s all I did. You did the rest.”

  She and Johnnie Mae also talked about Fatima and her mother’s passing.

  The dance ministry would be meeting as usual on Tuesday night, so Gabrielle had a full and exciting day ahead of her tomorrow in tandem with starting her new job.

  She called Zachary to tell him about her job, but his phone went straight to voice mail. Two hours later, she tried calling him again, and the same thing happened. The third time, she decided to leave him a message to call her back. She wanted to surprise him with her great news. For whatever reason, she didn’t hear back from him at all that night.

  Tuesday, she arrived at her employer’s house in Mountain Brook. From the outside, she could see it was large. She understood why the agency wouldn’t give out the client’s name until the job started. That kept workers from checking out their new employers over the Internet (not that she had Internet at home to do it) before meeting them.

  A twenty-five-year-old woman answered the door. Pregnant, she was wearing a beautiful royal blue satin pantsuit. Her hair was perfect—jet black, free-flowing, and cut into layers—which impressed Gabrielle because it was eight AM. A beautifully flawless, dark-skinned, African-American woman, Gabrielle thought. Maybe she works here, too.

  “Hello,” the woman said. “You must be Gabrielle Mercedes.”

  Gabrielle reached out and shook the extended hand. “Yes, I am.”

  “I’m Queen. I received a call from the agency yesterday saying that you’d be coming this morning. You’re right on time. Please, come in.” She held the door open for Gabrielle. “I’m so excited to have you working here. There’s a lot to do for sure.”

  Gabrielle realized she didn’t work here; this was her house. She looked around the foyer, with its marble floor, crystal chandelier, and winding staircase. Sneaking a peek into two adjacent rooms, she saw nothing but boxes. Obviously, they’d just moved in.

  Gabrielle didn’t want to ask too many questions, but she was at a disadvantage. “Are you the doctor?” she finally asked Queen.

  Queen laughed. “Oh, heavens no. Doctor Morgan’s not here. He was at the hospital all day yesterday. There was this horrible accident. You may have seen it on the news—an explosion at a plant. They called him to come help at the hospital because of his expertise. When I spoke with him briefly, he was stretched to the max. I wanted to let him know the agency had called to let us know they’d found someone for this job. He was so busy, he didn’t even have time to hear about it. So, of course, everything is left to me to handle. He called this morning around one, knowing that I’m a night owl and was still awake, to let me know he would be sleeping at the hospital because there was so much left to be done . . . lots of patients that still needed his attention. He’s such a dedicated doctor. I am so proud of him, I can’t begin to tell you how much.”

  So far, Gabrielle was able to deduct that Dr. Morgan was the name of the doctor she was working for. She hadn’t heard of him, so he wasn’t that famous.

  “Is Queen your real name?” Gabrielle asked, then thought that might not have been a good idea considering she’d just walked in and could easily be sent right back.

  “Actually, it is. Those close to me call me Queen Esther, which is really my first and middle name, taken from the book of Esther in the Bible. Some people call me Q, although I don’t care much for being called that. The only one who consistently calls me Q is one of my two brothers, so I suppose I really don’t mind all that much.”

  “It’s a fitting name. Queen, I mean. You’re definitely as beautiful as a queen.”

  “Well, thank you.” Queen looked around. “I suppose I should show you what needs to be done today.” They walked into the dining room first, since it was equally as close as the living room. “As you can see, most things are still in boxes. The heavy furniture’s in place. But all the whatnots and knickknacks are in boxes. Most of the rooms look just like this one. Heavy furniture set up, but things needing to be put away.”

  Queen showed her the rest of the house, each room awaiting her attention.

  When they finished the tour, Gabrielle asked, “Are you planning on being in the rooms to show me where you want things to go? I mean, I would hate to put up something somewhere and no one is able to find it later.”

  “Oh, it’s fine. We trust you to put things in their proper places. However you decide and wherever you put things will work, as far as we’re concerned. If it’s not where it’s wanted or desired, it can always be moved or changed later. The immediate goal is to get things out of these boxes and into, say, the china cabinet if it’s china, the closet if it’s clothes. Seriously, however you want to arrange things at this stage of the game is fine.”

  Glancing at Queen’s pregnant stomach, Gabrielle understood why she didn’t need to be lifting anything. “All right, then,” Gabrielle said. “Which room would you like me to start with?”

  “The kitchen, please,” Queen said. “I’ve taken a few things out of the boxes because there was nothing to eat on or with. And I hate eating with plastic and out of containers if I don’t have to. You can start by putting the things in the kitchen up, then the dining room, and the master bedroom after that. I’ll be in the master bedroom putting away papers and things like that since I know where they all need to go, and it’s not that heavy of a job.”

  “Okay,” Gabrielle said. She went to the kitchen and began.

  Gabrielle loved the large kitchen. There was plenty of room to put away the pots and pans and other dishes without crowding. Most of the things were brand new, still in their boxes. Gabrielle washed them before putting them up. She speculated either they’d just gotten married and had received these new dishes as gifts (opting not to take them out of their boxes until they moved into their new house) or when they bought the house, they decided to buy all new things. People with money can do stuff like that.

  Gabrielle left at four o’clock. She was tired, but it was a good tired. Queen had been wonderful. She’d ordered lunch for them, so they’d sat in the kitchen nook and ate Chinese food. Queen loved Chinese food and confessed to having eaten it three times in the past seven days. They talked while they ate, but it was mostly Queen asking things about her. Gabrielle figured this was her way to conduct a different kind of background check. She didn’t mind. In spite of her name, Queen was down to earth. And it didn’t hurt that they were close in age—Gabrielle twenty-seven, Queen turning twenty-six on December twentyseventh. The big difference was that Queen had a college degree, and she didn’t.

  Zachary called Gabrielle just as she was about to walk out of the door to go to church for a dance ministry meeting.

  “Hey, I got your message, but it’s been mad crazy at work these past two days,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to call you back. I’m exhausted.”r />
  “It’s okay. I understand. I was just calling to let you know that I got a job.”

  “You did?” Zachary said through a loud yawn. “Oh, that is great.” He yawned with even more sound effects this time. “Congratulations.”

  “Look, you go on and get some rest. I’m on my way to a dance ministry meeting. And I would call you back when I finish, but I can tell you’re going to be knocked out. Maybe we can talk tomorrow evening after I get off work?”

  “That sounds good. Then you can tell me all about your new job.” He yawned again. “I am so sorry. I just can’t help it. I am beat!”

  “Well, you get some rest,” she said as she smiled at the phone. “We’ll talk later.”

  “Okay. And you have a good ministry meeting.” He hung up.

  Gabrielle shook her head. She really liked him. And the more she thought about it, the more she believed Zachary just might be the one. He could be the one to bring down the thick walls she’d erected to protect her heart.

  Chapter 32

  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

  —Colossians 3:13

  At the dance ministry meeting, Gabrielle could feel the difference in how some of the members of the team were toward her than in the past. Sasha and Alicia were especially different. She had spoken to both of them, and they’d thrown up a slight wave without even looking at her. Her first reaction was to say “forget them.” If they wanted to act that way when she’d done nothing to them, then so be it. But Pastor Landris had taught all of them about confronting with love, and that confrontation was not a bad thing, if done right.

  The way things were, the two of them were upset with her either for something she’d done and not known, or for some other reason she was not privy to. If she’d done something to them unknowingly, she wanted to make it right. If they’d merely heard the whispers about her past that Johnnie Mae had told her were circulating throughout the congregation, then they were wrong, but they still needed to talk it out. If the two of them were having a bad day or just had an attitude toward her for no reason, then there wasn’t much she could do about that except to still show them love and keep going.

  After their ministry meeting dismissed, she walked over to them.

  “Excuse me, may I speak with you two?” Gabrielle said to both Sasha and Alicia.

  “I really don’t have a lot of time,” Sasha said. “I need to get out of here and go pick up Aaliyah and Ashanti from Aaliyah’s father’s house. I told him and Melissa I wouldn’t be long tonight.”

  “It shouldn’t take but a few minutes,” Gabrielle said. “Five, possibly even less than that.”

  “Fine, what is it?” Sasha said, staring at Gabrielle with a slight smirk.

  “Have I done anything to you? Either of you?” Gabrielle said, alternating between Sasha and Alicia.

  “Not me,” Alicia said quickly.

  “You don’t bother me either,” Sasha said.

  “Then, why have y’all been acting the way you have toward me?”

  “And how exactly are we acting? You mean because we’re not running up behind you and bowing down at your feet? Because we’re not telling you how marvelous you are?” Sasha asked. “What is it about people with the name Mercedes anyway? Whether it’s the first or last name, what is it about people named Mercedes that makes them think people should bow down to them? My friend Mercedes in high school was just like that. Always thinking things were all about her. You know, the kind of people who become like sponges, soaking up everything they can around them, just because they can.”

  “Yeah,” Alicia said, not having a clue what Sasha was talking about.

  “I know this has nothing to do with jealousy,” Gabrielle said. “I can’t control other people saying nice things about me. What am I supposed to do? Tell them not to say anything nice or compliment me because I don’t want other people to be mad?”

  “Oh, that’s not what we’re talking about, and you know it,” Alicia said.

  “Shut up, Alicia!” Sasha said.

  “What then? What did I do?” Gabrielle asked. “How can I make something right if I don’t know what I’ve done wrong?”

  “We’ve been hearing a few things about you,” Alicia said. “Then, we started putting two and two together, and we were able to better understand how you were able to do it.”

  “Do what?” Gabrielle asked, almost exhausted with this game of Guess Why We’re Mad at You. This was so juvenile. Grown folks acting like this.

  “How you were able to just come in and take Doctor Morgan away from me!” Sasha blurted out.

  Gabrielle held up her hands. “Hold up. Take Doctor Morgan away from you? What Doctor Morgan? I haven’t taken anybody away from you, and least of all not Doctor Morgan. Unless you were planning on cleaning his house and you’re upset because I got the job.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sasha said. “I barely clean my own house, let alone want to clean somebody else’s. And I would assume Doctor Morgan would hire someone to come in and clean his house, so I wouldn’t be cleaning his house either.”

  Gabrielle began to slowly shake her hands at Sasha. “Okay, apparently I’m missing something here.” She put her hands down. “Could you please just tell me what you believe I’ve done that has you upset with me?”

  Sasha put her hand on her hip. “I was the one who invited Doctor Morgan to come visit here during that Sunday we had our celebration. He comes, and what happens? I see him all up in your face. And I’m left wondering, what’s that all about? Then I hear from Tiffany’s husband that you have some special skills, which is probably why you were able to snatch him up like you did.”

  “Yeah,” Alicia said, as though her word was a punctuation mark at the end of Sasha’s sentence. “I heard this isn’t your first foray into dancing on a big stage. I’m just still trying to figure out the difference between a stripper and an exotic dancer.”

  “Is that what Darius is spreading around the church about me?” Gabrielle asked.

  “He didn’t say exactly what kind of dancing you’d done before you came to put your dance skills to work here. Although someone did say you were an exotic dancer. But I have a problem with anything that might have been untoward,” said Alicia.

  “Not that I really want to dignify what you just said, Alicia, but the key word is been. Whatever you’ve heard or think you know about me, whatever that is, it’s part of a past life. It’s not who I am now. And according to the Word of God, I am a new creature in Christ,” Gabrielle said. “My past is under the blood of Jesus now.”

  “Yeah, but if it’s true, then you still did it. And honestly, I think you should still have to pay for what you did. I don’t think you ought to be up here at church kicking your legs around and spinning, not when you know where you’ve done it before,” Alicia said.

  “In other words, you’re saying that even though I came forward, confessed my sins, gave my life to Christ, am now forgiven, I am a new creature in Christ, that I’m not truly forgiven and that I should still have to pay for those sins regardless? Is that what you’re saying?” Gabrielle looked at Alicia first, then over to Sasha.

  “Listen, I don’t want to get into all of that, because Lord knows I wouldn’t want that standard applied to me and my life,” Sasha said. “Even after being saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost, I’ve messed up. I had a baby out of wedlock. Everybody knows I was doing something wrong. I asked God to forgive me, and I sure am not going to stand here and declare a set of rules that God didn’t authorize and that I can’t live under myself.”

  “I was just trying to make sure I understood,” Gabrielle said. “We can ask God to forgive us and He does. But now, according to you two and some others, I have to worry about man thinking he knows more than God. That even though God has forgiven me . . . even though God has changed my life, I still have to prove something to all of you.”
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  “Okay, I think I see where you’re coming from,” Alicia said. “Maybe I was wrong about that part.”

  “Maybe you’re wrong about a lot of parts. Maybe when Darius brought that bone to you, you should have stopped him and had him carry it back instead of letting him bury it in your front yard. I can only hope and pray you haven’t been carrying the bone and trying to bury it in somebody else’s yard.”

  Sasha started laughing. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard gossiping put quite that way before. That was a good point you just made. Dogs carrying bones and bringing them to your front yard to bury them there instead of in the back.”

  “Thank you,” Gabrielle said, looking at Sasha. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to something you said earlier. Doctor Morgan—how do you know him, and why did you say I took him away from you?”

  “I met him when he came to close on his house a few weeks ago. We talked, I invited him to the celebration, and before I could get over to speak good, there he was chatting it up with you after services. He even joined the church that Sunday.”

  “Are you talking about Zachary Morgan?”

  “Yes. Doctor Morgan. Some people call him Doctor Z. Some folks call him Doctor Z. W. I believe he said Z. W. stands for Zachary Wayne. Yes, Doctor Zachary Wayne Morgan.”

  “He’s not a doctor,” Gabrielle said, almost laughing at the obvious confusion.

  “Okay, so now you want to be funny? Of course he’s a doctor. He just finished his residency, and now he has started his own practice.” Sasha looked at Gabrielle as her expression began to soften somewhat. “You really didn’t know that Zachary was a doctor?”

  “No. We never talked about what he did. I knew he worked,” Gabrielle said.

  “I don’t get that,” Sasha said. “The first thing you ask a man when you meet him is what he does for a living. You want to know where he works. And if you get close enough to him, you find out how much he makes, at least a ballpark figure. Personally, I want to know what kind of a car he drives, does he own or rent. If he rents, when does he think he’ll be buying a house. If he owns a house, where is it and how many square feet. And you’ve been talking with this man, you came to church with him this past Sunday, and you had no idea he was even a doctor?” Sasha started laughing.