Mama B - A Time to Dance (Book 2) (10 page)

Now, I know
everybody got to die some time, but it ought to be when you’re good and
satisfied. Kind of like how you start feelin’ on the sixth day of a vacation.
You done had enough foreign food, visited all the places you wanted to see,
done everything on the itinerary set for you. You satisfied and ready to go
home.  And it don’t really matter how old you are, neither. Jesus did His
mighty work in thirty-three years and left soon as it was finished.

When Geneva left
us, only a few months earlier, she was at peace. God had made good use of the
life she lived. She was tired.

That’s when I
believe we supposed to go—when He has satisfied us and we’ve satisfied
Him. Not one minute after, and certainly not one minute before at the hands of
the enemy.

“She ain’t ready
to go,” I declared.

“I know,”
Ophelia agreed.

We both set our
purses on the visitor’s seat. We got on either side of Henrietta’s body and
started interceding for her, running our hands up and down her limbs,
commanding every cell, every tissue, every blood vessel, every nerve, every
function to line up with God’s perfect will and be regulated in the name of
Jesus.

Then we joined
hands over Henrietta’s body and prayed a wall of protection around to halt any
further attacks of the enemy, be it from bacteria, another sugar strike, or
just anybody coming into the room speaking anything contrary to the
word.  

By the time we
finished, we had an audience at the door. Two young nurses stood in tears, one was
comforting the other.

“Excuse me,” the
shorter one said. As she moved closer, I could see she was expecting. Her
friend trailed her as they approached Ophelia’s side of the bed, which was
closest to the door.

“The doctors say
that my baby will have a heart problem when he’s born, and it’s gonna take a
long time before they can even do surgery on him…I just…I want you to pray for
me like you prayed for her because I don’t want my baby to suffer and...” she
couldn’t even finish her thoughts.

Ophelia gave the
young lady a hug.

Her friend
quietly slipped out the room.

I rubbed the
girl’s back. “You got a name for him yet?”

She collected
herself enough to say, “Jeremiah David.”

Ophelia sucked
in her chin and giggled slightly, “Oh, honey, with a name like that, he’s going
to
have
to be healthy so he can carry out the plan of God for his life.”

Shock painted
the girl’s face as all the blood drained from it. “Oh my God. That’s
exactly
what my dad said before he passed away last month! I mean word-for-word!”

“Honey, this is
all the confirmation you need to believe. Let’s pray,” I told her.

Me and Ophelia
confessed healing and strength for Jeremiah David. Again, we bound the work of
the enemy against the baby’s little heart and spoke healing into the organ in
the mighty name of Jesus.

“Thank you so
much,” the soon-to-be-mother said as she dried her eyes with her sleeves. “I
believe.”

We wrapped our
arms around her again and then sent her away in peace.

I tell you what,
the Spirit of the Lord was so very present in that hospital room, I believe
anybody who needed healing that morning could have walked in and been made whole. 

He’s just that
real.

We didn’t leave
the hospital until almost noon, when Pastor showed up.

“How’s she
doing?”

“Same, by the
way she looks. But it won’t be long before we see what the Lord done already
started on the inside of her,” Ophelia prophesied.

“Amen and amen,
sister,” I squeezed her hand in agreement.

By the time I
got out of ICU and was able to turn my cell phone on again, I could see I’d
missed three phone calls and a text from Son, and I had one voicemail from
Derrick.

“Mama B, I got
up this morning and you were gone. I’m not sure where you are.  I guess
I’ll call Son. Call me when you get this message.”

In the rush to
get to the hospital, I suppose it slipped my mind that I had somebody else I
needed to take into consideration before I bolted out of the house.

Hmph. Maybe that
was part of the reason I thought I couldn’t carry on with Frank. I ain’t got
time to be checkin’ in with nobody. Me and Lord
got
this.

Since me and
Ophelia was still together in her car and I didn’t want her to hear me fussin’
at Son for being so paranoid, I sent both Son and Derrick text messages letting
them know where I was and why.

Frank and I also
had several text messages between us. I asked him to check in on Henrietta, if
he had some time between his patients. He promised he would, and I thanked him.

Son interrupted
our electronic conversation with a phone call. “Mama, we got a big problem.”

All his big
mountains tend to be molehills, if you ask me. “What is it, Son?”

“It’s Derrick.
Did you know he’s being prosecuted as a child molester?”

“Child
molester?” I gasped.

Ophelia shot her
eyes at me from the driver’s seat. I waved off her attention.

“What you
talkin’ ‘bout, Son?”

“Twyla called
me. She said she doesn’t want to see Derrick take advantage of you and lie to
you like he does everybody else. She told me how to look up his charge, and
there it was plain as day on the screen, indecency with a minor.”

I shook my head.
“That just don’t sound like something Derrick would do.”

“You can see it
for yourself. I’ll send you the link.”

“I don’t want
the link, Son. Got to be more to this story than what you seein’,” I defended
Derrick for some reason. “Did Twyla say anything else?”

“No, but what I
saw online was enough for me. And I swear to God, if he’s said or done anything
to Cameron while I’d stepped out of the room, I’ll kill him!”

He’s such a
drama king
. “Son, calm
down. You ain’t killin’ nobody. Let me talk to Derrick when I get home. We’ll
get to the bottom of this. And quit checkin’ up on me like I’m a teenager, you
hear? Getting yourself all worked up over a cup of water.”

“You know I
can’t agree to that, Mama. Somebody’s got to look out for you. You’ve been
acting strange lately. Going out on dates. Disappearing at six o’clock in the
morning. What’s gotten into you?” he probed.

“Nothing. This
is my life, Son. I don’t know how much longer I have, but I want to live it in
peace. You got to stop with all this fear. You a man of God, you got to trust
Him with your Mama just like you trust Him with your wife and your kids and
everything else. Now, I got to go. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Probably should
have gone by Son’s job and laid hands on him, too. I know he don’t mean no
harm, but you got to draw boundaries with your grown kids. Otherwise, they’ll
keep you holed up in a ten-by-ten room for your “protection.” They forget we
had to release
them
by faith once upon a time, too.

Me and Ophelia
stopped for a bite to eat before she dropped me back at the house. She said
she’d get the announcement to Angela so we could have special prayer for
Henrietta tomorrow during service.

Soon as I walked
through the door, the smell of Pine Sol whipped up my nose. “Derrick?”

“Hey, Mama B.
I’m in here.”

I followed his
voice to the kitchen, where he was slaving over my stove. Had my apron on like
he was some kind of chef.

“You cook these
days?”

“Yeah. Twyla
and Kionna are
coming over for dinner.”

“Oh, wonderful!
Bless God!”

“We’re gonna
need God for this one,” he grunted.

I set my purse
on the chair and walked over to check the dials on my stove. Looked like he was
boiling the macaroni too high. “I’m gonna turn this eye down, if you don’t
mind.”

“Thank you.”

“Mmm hmm. So,
what you cookin’ up for Twyla, other than this food?”

He stopped in
his tracks, exhaled all the air from his chest. “Is it that obvious?”

“Uh, yeah. You
ain’t cooked a lick since you been here. What gives?”

“I need her,” he
said.

“You need her
for what?”

“I need her to
testify on my behalf next week,” he admitted. “My attorney says if my wife at
least acts as though she’ll forgive me, the judge might, too.”

I laughed.
“Smart lawyer you got there. Sometimes an entire society can forgive a cheatin’
husband before his wife will.”

“Except, for the
record, I didn’t cheat,” he stated.

No time like the
present to get my questions answered. “Derrick, what
did
you do,
exactly?”

He twisted his
lips to the side, then sucked in air through his teeth. “Okay. Here’s what
happened. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

“Should I sit
down for this?”

“You can if you
want to.”

I slid myself
into a seat at the table and propped up my chin with my hand. “Do tell.”

Ding. Ding.

The doorbell stopped
his confession. He wiped his hands on my apron, untied the strings, and threw
my apron on the countertop. “She’s here! Okay, Mama B. Don’t mention the
testifying. I need to ask her gently. At the right time.”

Derrick answered
the door while I prayed first for peace, and secondly for the food Derrick had
made. Judging by the black spots on the pork chops, he ain’t got no business
cooking for
nobody
, let alone somebody he was about to ask a favor from.

The
pitter-patter of
Kionna’s
feet warmed my heart.
She walked right up to me and bellowed, “Hi! What’s your name?” Cute as she
could be with her deep brown skin and midnight black eyes. Two little hoop
earbobs on the sides of her face, and a big afro puffball on top of her head.

“Well, hello,
sweetie! I’m Mama B. How are you?”

She answered
with a hug. Such a friendly child!

She must have
stole the smile from her Momma, who walked into my kitchen with a scowl on her
face. Couldn’t blame Twyla much, though. It’s hard to break bread with somebody
who just broke your heart.

“Hello, Mama B.
It’s good to see you again.”

I could tell she
was trying her best to keep from crying, for my sake.
Lord, help her.
“Hi,
Twyla. It’s good to see you, too. You got to come by more often.”

“I know. I’ve
just been working so much since I’m
on my own
these days.” She shot
Derrick the evil eye. He probably needed an evil eye or two, but not in front
of the baby.

Now, I liked
Twyla, but she one of them types who got her life already planned out ten years
ahead of time on a computer chart. She was probably more mad at Derrick for
messin’ up her plan than for cheatin’, actually. I guess nobody ever told her
that when you sign up for better or for worse, you gon’ have all kind of
interruptions – babies, in-laws, sickness, job loss. Honey, “worse” could
mean anything!

Couldn’t be too
judgmental about her being so controlling, though. Takes one to know one.

“Well, let me
just go
with Kionna
to the back yard for a
minute while you two finish getting things ready in the kitchen.”

Twyla dropped
her purse and child’s backpack on the floor in exasperation. “Thank you, Mama
B. I could use a breather, if only for a minute.”

I offered, “Why
don’t you let her stay the night? I’d be glad to take her to church with us in
the morning. You could come back and get her after service.”

Twyla’s sad eyes
brightened. “Are you serious?”

“Sure am.”

She threw her
head back. “Oh my gosh, I could soooo use a break.”

“Chile, I had
four kids. I know
every
momma needs a break sometime.”

Derrick stirred
the macaroni. He muttered, “I’ve been telling her she could leave
Kionna here with me anytime.”

Twyla’s
eyes became slits as she looked over her shoulder and spat, “Well, seeing as
you can’t be in the company of minors without
supervision
, I have to be
sure Mama B or some other responsible adult is willing to watch
you
while you watch Kionna.”

Derrick tapped
the spoon against the pot, then turned to face me and Twyla both. “See, you
didn’t even have to go there. Do you really think I would hurt our child?”

My head swiped
to the left to study Twyla’s reaction. Her forehead stayed smooth as she
replied, “It doesn’t matter what I think. The law says you can’t be alone with
her. If I violate the law, I could lose custody of her, and then we’ll
both
be lookin’ stupid.”

I glanced down
and took note of the expression on Kionna’s face. She didn’t know what her
parents were saying, but she had to know something wasn’t right by their body
language and the tone of their voices.