The time being spent on researching the whereabouts of Stoney’s mother had finally spilled over to visiting each other’s homes, but now Stoney took advantage of the extra time. Before the end of the week arrived, Stoney went from a part-time worker to being fired with nothing to do, due to her own selfish dealings. Stoney and an almost-four-months-pregnant Mercy had been in full swing, finding all they could find on Stoney’s mother. Even with Stoney knowing more about her mother than she was telling her friend, the occasions they shared together filled some alone time for Stoney.
With Mercy living in a house that was attached to the back of her parents’ home, the time had finally come for Stoney to meet the parents of her new best friend. Stoney put on a façade in order to cover her emotions from the double whammy she received at Brother Mike’s. Mercy marched Stoney through the back of her parents’ home for their greeting.
“Mom, I’d like you to meet someone,” Mercy presented her new friend to her mom. “Mom, this is Stoney hart. And, Stoney this is my mother, Mrs. Kendra. All my friends call her that.”
Wiping her hands on her apron, Kendra turned to face her only child. “Hey, honey.” in a quick gesture, she lent her face to Mercy. “Nice to meet you…Stoney?” Kendra questioned, making sure she heard the name correctly.
“Yes, ma’am,” Stoney verified. “Nice to meet you too.” The two shook hands.
“Did you all go to school together?” Kendra questioned Stoney with her eyebrows. Staring deep into Stoney’s face, Kendra rushed her mind to place where she’d seen Stoney before.
When Stoney shook her head, Kendra’s mind was still running. “You look so familiar. Excuse me for staring. Hmm.”
“We met at the drugstore,” Mercy chimed in.
Listening to her daughter, Kendra turned her eyes back to Stoney. “Oh, you work at the drugstore as well?”
“No, Mom. I met her from coming in as a customer.” Giving her mother the big eyes behind Stoney’s back, Kendra knew not to question anymore.
“Oh. Well. Nice to meet you anyway, Stoney. Are you two hungry? excuse me, you three?” Kendra had finally waved the white flag, letting her daughter know that she was coming around to the idea of becoming a grandmother.
When Mercy walked back toward her mother, the embrace shared between the two sent shivers down Stoney’s spine.
“I. Ah. I’ll meet you outside,” Stoney muttered, and almost ran out of the kitchen.
Pulling back from her mother, Mercy felt bad. “Dang it. What was I thinking?” she questioned herself, and placed a hand on her forehead.
“What’s the matter?” Kendra asked, and touched her adult daughter’s hair, looking past the doorframe where Stoney had been standing.
Slouching, Mercy tried her best to give the condensed version of her short friendship with Stoney. “She wasn’t raised by her mother or father. She doesn’t even know who they are.” Mercy purposely left out the part about how she was trying to help her new friend locate the missing links.
“Was she adopted?” Kendra asked with a serious expression. “Because you know you can share with her how—”
Mercy cut her mother off. “Nope. Her grandmother raised her, but never told her anything about her parents,” she said. “I don’t know what the deal is. She seems depressed by a lot of things. Kinda weird, but you know.”
“Yep, I know you, Mercy. The stranger, the better your mission is. Wow. Well…” Kendra didn’t know what to say because she had become accustomed to Mercy being there for people regardless of their situations. “Be careful, baby. You may be having a baby”—she rubbed her child’s stomach—“But you’re still my baby. Where are you all headed, anyway?”
With a smile, Mercy said, “I will. We’re actually going to her church. They are having a youth rally and then we’re going to meet up and eat dinner with some of her friends.”
With a mother’s beam, Kendra said, “Oh, that’s good. Sounds like fun.”
“Yeah, I’m excited.” with a small hug, Mercy turned and walked toward the kitchen exit, almost bumping into her godmother, Gracie.
“Whoa, li’l miss. How’s it going?” Gracie greeted Mercy, who was in a hurry to exit the kitchen and go check on her friend. With a kiss landing on the cheek of her godmother, who was more like a second mother, Mercy gave a few moments to allow Gracie to bask in her glow.
“Looks as though you are hurrying along the process, huh?” she asked Mercy while rubbing her belly. “Don’t be letting everyone rub on your belly, either.” Gracie looked in Kendra’s direction. “What?” They laughed. “I’m the girl’s godmother; you know I can do this!”
“Baby, go on.” Kendra brushed her daughter away with her hand. “Auntie Gracie is liable to keep you from your plans.”
“Hush, Kendra. Oh, your friend is outside waiting for you. Yep, you better get going.” She finally released the love grip on Mercy. “I think the young lady was crying, if I’m not mistaken. I passed by and just spoke, and her eyes were bloodshot.”
When Kendra and Mercy looked at each other, Mercy shared, “Yep, I’d better go see if I can talk to her. I’ll see you all later.” She rounded the corner and left the kitchen, headed to the outside.
“She surely looks familiar. Whose daughter is that?” Gracie asked Kendra, believing she had seen Stoney at church before.
Shrugging, Kendra couldn’t confirm anything for Gracie. “Mercy said we don’t know her. Said she met her at work. Dunno.”
“Oh. I surely thought she was from the church. Wow. A grandmother? I think I’m a tad bit jealous, Ken.” Gracie sighed as she took a seat on a kitchen barstool, resting her aged but well-manicured hands in her lap.
Cutting her eyes at Gracie, Kendra said, “Oh, you can have them both. How about that? The mother and the baby.” They shared a seasoned laugh. “Your time is coming, though. When the time is right, that is. Shoot, it wasn’t even my time, but we’re here now.” She leaned against the kitchen sink.
“Girl, those twins, excuse me, men of mine, aren’t even trying to hear that. Gregory is adamant about me not bringing up the marriage conversation to him at all, and Geoffrey said when he’s out of his twenties he may think about it. That gives me three more years to even think about being a mother-in-law first.” Gracie shifted uneasily in her seat. “Maybe he’ll be so lucky as to make me a grandmother on his honeymoon like me and Marcus did with my parents.”
“Poor boys. I’ll have to keep you busy so that you can stop meddling in their business. Are they coming home for the holidays this year?” Kendra asked about Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Shooing her friend, Gracie pouted. “Geoffrey said he may, but Gregory said he’s working through Thanksgiving. And you know if Gregory doesn’t come…” Gracie claimed.
“Then Geoffrey’s not coming without him,” Kendra ended, knowing her friend’s sons all too well.
“Right. Some new building design that Gregory is over; he said he has to get the finished sketches complete before Christmas. Anyway, I can’t tear them boys from Atlanta. Oh.” Gracie snapped her fingers. “I forgot to tell Mercy they said they wanted her to call them.” She looked over her shoulder as if Mercy would still be standing there.
“Sounds like they have some stuff they want to share with her.” Kendra’s eyebrows raised the roof.
Taking an orange from a bowl on the counter that was full of fruit, Gracie said, “Well, you know they are a bit disappointed about the situation she’s put herself in.”
“Yep, can’t say that I don’t understand though,” Kendra agreed. “Imagine how I feel. I’m the mother.”
Feeling Kendra’s disappointed heart, Gracie wanted to lift her friend’s spirits. The years between the two had seen some complex situations that only God could have delivered them through. No longer wavering in their Christianity and their walk with Christ, Kendra and Gracie, in the end, had been each other’s backbone.
“Can you believe it though? You’re about to be Granny Kendra.” Gracie snickered when Kendra laid into her with the evil eye.
Reaching for her cleaning rag, Kendra again commenced the cleaning she had started before Gracie’s visit. “Don’t even go there, Gracie. Shoot, I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to allow my salt to peep through my pepper. A baby, my foot.” Kendra couldn’t help but laugh at herself.
“But for real though. We’ve been through some thangs, Kendra.”
“And we’re still standing. That’s because God is good like that.”
“And you better believe it,” Gracie guaranteed.
Having taken history in athletics during her college years, and later on being part owner at Full of Grace gyms and spas, which Gracie owned, Kendra held strong to her belief in staying physically fit. Years ago, when she made choices for herself that had led to her acquiring a disease that would break anyone’s spirits, Kendra had to fight for her life: emotionally, mentally, and physically.
Her first husband, now deceased, was a world-class champion in body building, and the two shared the deadly disease. Dillian and Kendra persevered through their illness and tried to live as normal a life together as they could. After a heart attack, which led to Dillian’s death, Kendra’s hopes and dreams disappeared on the day he passed. No longer caring if she lived or breathed her last breath, Kendra slacked on her medication along with taking care of her body. As far as she knew, no one would care about her being gone. But her mantra held true: but God.
She couldn’t even believe God’s grace at times. When she looked back over her life and saw all the wonderful things he’d done just for her, joy rang out loud and clear. Especially after all the pain she’d caused in so many others. What she did know was that hurt people hurt people. Her pain from her own childhood had catapulted from her then present life and leeched on to those around her. One of those persons was Gracie.
Gracie had been her first real friend, meeting Kendra in college and connecting from day one. But with Kendra forever being guarded, she only allowed Gracie to see who she wanted her to see. Instead of telling Gracie what she needed in a friend, Kendra had allowed Gracie to be a superficial friend. All the while she really needed someone who wouldn’t be afraid to go through the trenches with her. For that, their friendship suffered dearly.
Promiscuous wasn’t even the word for back when Kendra lived her life on the edge. Having a boyfriend who she had premarital sex with, yet still allowing herself free rein with any man of her choosing, Kendra was labeled a modern-day harlot. No one was off limits to her…not even her best friend’s fiancé, Dillian.
“Who would have thought?” Kendra asked.
“Not me.” Gracie continued to peel her orange, which she planned on sharing with Kendra.
“And to think, you are still putting up with me. Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you? how I love you?” it was often enough that Kendra told Gracie how much she loved her. For the hurt she’d passed on to Gracie, which she was sure she’d done on more than one occasion, Gracie still genuinely showed Kendra grace and mercy that God allowed. Not many women, if any, were willing to do such a thing.
“Gracie, you’ve been so good to me as a friend and sister.” Kendra now leaned in, resting on the island that sat in the middle of the kitchen; it was the only item keeping the two ladies from each other.
“Actually you have. But have I told you how thankful I am for you, Kendra? Years ago when you came out of that coma and became a mother overnight, and built a relationship with God, you helped me get through all the mess that I had put my own family through. And let’s not even talk about when that ol’—”
“Watch it, sister.” Kendra giggled. “This is the bishop’s house.”
“What? I was just going to say heffa!” Gracie joked. “But seriously, girl. It took me a good minute to get over the fact that my husband had cheated on me and could’ve been the father to that Michelle girl’s baby. You were there.”
“But God.” Kendra pointed upward.
“But God,” Gracie followed suit. “And if it weren’t for your mama, girl! whew.” Knowing it was God and God all by himself, Gracie still had to give Mrs. Herlene credit for how she allowed God to work through her.
“Honey, she reminded me daily to look ahead, toward the mark. She said, ‘Look to Jesus because he is the only answer.’ You know that lady can share a word.” Gracie readied her hand for the high five she knew Kendra would give her.
“She can give a word, can’t she?” Kendra raised her hand to slam her high five into Gracie’s awaiting palm. “But let’s not count out Mr. And Mrs. Gregory. Your parents…”
“God rest their souls.” Gracie’s eyes bore a happy glimmer. “They prayed with me and covered me with the blood of Jesus. I know you went through your thing with Dillian, but when I’d gone through my own ordeal with Dillian, and God spared my life, when I lost my baby boy and thought I’d lose my mind…” Gracie reminisced about a pregnancy she’d planned years ago without yoking her prayers with those of her husband, Marcus. “But God…”
“But God,” Kendra agreed.
“Sho’nuff!” Gracie smacked hands with her girlfriend again. “Where is Mrs. Herlene anyway?”
Finally finished tidying up the kitchen, Kendra sat and took a piece of orange that Gracie offered. “You know Kenya’s running a revival up north. Mama and James went with her.”
“Look at God, would you. Miss Kenya is walking in her gifted anointing. Evangelist Kenya. Wonderful.”
“It really is. I’m so proud of my sister. She may be twenty years younger than me, but she can give me a word any day,” Kendra proudly declared.
“Now, wait a minute. You’re not too shabby yourself, Missionary. What you and Bishop have going ain’t nothing to play with. I’m still on a spiritual high from the tag-team message you all brought some weeks ago,” Gracie affirmed.
“Thank you, girl.” Kendra blushed. “I’m blessed and I have to tell it. Girl, I just have to.” Kendra flipped her wrist upward, feeling the spirit jump on her.
Gracie sat, thankful how God had worked in her and her best friend’s lives. Gracie may have started the salvation race before her girlfriend, but from where they were now standing, God had placed Kendra as a spiritual guide in Gracie’s life.
When people still questioned her being friends with Kendra, and sometimes gave her a stare or shook their heads in wonder, she held true to what she always told them. “He’s just good like that.” and no doubt she meant it.
She had no clue herself how she could still be yoked with Kendra.
If she dealt with flesh, she wouldn’t even know how she could allow herself to breathe the same air Kendra breathed. All she knew was that God was sho’nuff, sho’nuff good like that.
Not only did Kendra use her body to come between Gracie and Dillian, Gracie’s then fiancé, but Kendra exposed Dillian to the deadly disease of HIV/AIDs. Where God intervened, yet again, was sparing Gracie from any inch of the disease. No scare, no scars. And on top of all that, God had blessed her with a loving husband.
“Tell it, sister,” Gracie coerced.
“For God to keep me, when people die daily from HIV/AIDs complications, is nothing short of miracles and blessings. And then,”—she punched her pointer finger against the cabinet—“for a man of God to come into my life and love me in spite of all my impurities, a man after God’s own heart…” Just thinking about being married to a bishop, a holy man of God, Kendra was in awe of how God had turned her life around. With tears welling up in her eyes, Kendra knew her praise was for real.
“For God to send me someone who not only cares about me, but my child. Gracie, hallelujah!” Kendra took a quick praise break. “Now you know I have something to praise God about.”
“The word says that when you are in Christ, you are a new creature,” Gracie versed.
“Old things have passed away, and behold all things have become new,” Kendra finished. “God raised me from a coma, gave me a new walk,” Kendra said as she walked a few steps in a small circle, “A new way to talk; blessed me to have my mother back in my life. Without condemnation. Hallelujah. he blessed me with forgiveness from my friend.” She waved her hands in the air. Kendra praised the Lord right in the middle of her kitchen. “I got to praise him, Gracie.”
“Praise him, honey. Ain’t nothing like knowing who you are in Christ,” Gracie agreed, and helped her sister in Christ extol their God together.
Breaking out in her gift of tongues right in the midst of her kitchen, Kendra allowed her mind to linger on her deliverance.
“I’m a product of what God can do if we allow him to turn those things around. I let my past set me back for far too long. But when I found out about the goodness of Jesus and his mercies, I didn’t allow molestation to keep me down. Rape, being promiscuous, hallelujah, I didn’t allow jealousy, envy, or strife to rule me. My, my, my!” Kendra couldn’t cease her praise. “I’m not ashamed of what the good Lord has done for me. I had a baby in the midst of being in a coma while infected with HIV. And my baby came through unharmed. You can’t tell me what God can’t do.”
Full of tears, as she was anytime that her best friend and first lady spoke over the congregation or the many conferences that sought her, Gracie sat, full of God’s grandeur.
“God, you are awesome,” Gracie added without taking from Kendra’s praise. Fixed on her own thankfulness, Gracie was overjoyed.
“He is. He is, Gracie.” Kendra finally took her seat. “I know the word says separate yourself from unbelievers, especially so you won’t be pulled into the trenches. But thanks be to God you didn’t let go of our friendship. I’m thankful for you.”
Shaking her head, never taking credit for God’s goodness, Gracie knew God had it all under control. “Unbeknownst to me, Kendra, it was the God in me. It was he who nudged me right back to you every time the devil tried to keep intervening.”
“Well, thank you, God, for your goodness.”
The two lifelong friends held hands as Gracie said, “Thank you, God, for Jesus, the best teacher anyone could have.”