“What?” Gracie blew out the question in a rigid breath. Running her hands through her hair, no longer caring about the present curls, Gracie couldn’t believe her ears. “Wait.” She placed one hand over her open mouth. “So. You…you may be her child’s father?” she questioned her husband, who stood as close to her as possible. As if she could hear his heart beating through his shirt, Gracie placed an open hand on her husband’s chest, over his heart.
The small and vacant conference room that was available was cold and quiet. Removing her hand, Gracie half wrapped herself with one arm.
Marcus knew he didn’t have to profess his love to his wife. It had been evident taking his vows decades ago how much he adored Gracie. Not even halfway into their marriage, when he made the mistakes often made by insecure people, Marcus realized how undying love resurfaced.
“I don’t know for sure. I don’t even know if she knows for sure, honey.” he really wanted to believe Michelle had just blurted his name just because. “Tests will have to be run.”
“They were run all those years ago, Marcus,” Gracie snapped, and turned her back to her husband.
“I never saw them. She told Ky that neither of us was the father.”
“Humph.” She gave off an attitude. “And you just took her word for it?”
“You were right there along for the ride with me, Gracie. You could have spoken up. You could have demanded, or asked about having the paper results. Right? I wasn’t thinking. It never dawned on me.”
Turning back around, Gracie rolled her eyes, bypassing his question all together. “But all of these years? This isn’t a baby.” Gracie’s mind jogged back to the time when her husband had stepped out on their marriage, on their vows. The same pain that had bred inside her feelings all those years ago, Gracie felt again.
“I don’t want to hurt like that again. It’s bringing all the pain back.” Gracie shuddered and dove into her husband’s arms.
“No. No, it’s not. This is just a moment. We don’t have to relive that. I’m here now, and now I haven’t cheated on you.”
“But if this girl happens to be yours, she’s a product from what you did do.” She buried her head into Marcus’s chest.
He couldn’t deny it, nor could he keep finding ways to play around with the wording. The only thing he could do was get with Michelle and Stoney as soon as possible to see what the truth would come to.
She tried to stay strong. Marcus had just thrown her off her stationary bike, by putting wheels on their marriage. With the news he’d just shared, Gracie felt herself peddling backward to the past filled with hurt and pain. Wishing she were home in order to lock herself in her prayer closet to speak with Jesus physically, Gracie had to make do with what she had spiritually.
Marcus left the conference room before she did. Giving him a few steps in his exit before she made her own, Gracie made a detour into the lavatory that was placed at the front of the vacant area. Walking into the tight area, as soon as the door shut itself, déjà vu hit her like a ton of bricks.
Gracie’s stomach felt as if a wrecking ball had made contact with her current affairs. Her knees buckled and Gracie tried to pull from her stored strength, trying not to give in to the trick of the enemy.
“Okay. Okay. If Marcus has a daughter…” she placed her left hand over her eyes as if she needed shade from what she was about to bring forth. “A daughter? That means he has another child by someone else. Wait a minute,” Gracie tried to reason with herself, “Marcus may be the father of Michelle’s baby? Lord Jesus.” She allowed her reality to settle once more as if she hadn’t just come to the conclusion a minute before.
“Why now, Lord?” Gracie couldn’t help but ask her maker. “If this had happened when everything else happened, I could’ve been over it.” Gracie spoke of the affair Marcus had with Michelle. Admittedly taking her husband for granted at the time, solely making decisions on her own instead of as a couple, Gracie couldn’t help but to take some of the blame off of Marcus. “Now I have to go through this again. Jesus, you are going to have to give me strength…unmatchable strength.”
Gripping the sink as tightly as the steel would allow her, Gracie wondered how one person could be so evil, so manipulative. If it were up to her, she’d set Michelle straight once and for all. But she walked God’s path now, and there was no turning back. It wasn’t up to her to bring damnation on Michelle, if that was needed to be done.
“Oh my goodness,” Gracie bellowed when the past thought of her husband being with another woman crossed her mind again. Over twenty-two years ago she’d been in a hospital restroom, wondering in which direction her life and marriage would take off. To Gracie, life had a funny way of repeating itself. Back then, Gracie had been more than five months pregnant with the couple’s third child and had no idea her husband had stepped out on their marriage. Now, over two decades later, the result of that affair was taking advantage of her heart once more.
“But God shall supply all of my needs.” She stood firm, in the middle of the restroom, ready to take the storm with authority.
“Devil, you may have had this waiting in the wings for me.” She rubbed her hands together and then placed another stiff grip on the steel bowl while looking in the mirror. “But you’re not going to get the result I’m sure you’re looking for.” Gracie allowed her tears to have their own way while she went to God in prayer. “Father, I come to you with a sincere and repenting heart, asking you to hold me. Hold me, dear God, so that I don’t break, so that I cannot break under the devil’s holding.
“When it’s time for the test, even before the two of them have spoken, before the test is even spoken of, I’m not going to ask you to have the DNA results speak one way or the other. I’m going to ask you, Lord, to allow us strength in whichever way the answer settles. I know you love me, Lord, and I’m thankful even now for the blessings you have for my storm.
“Peace be still.” Gracie spoke to her storm as she felt the enemy try to bring on the feeling of uncertainty. “I’m not going to hate Michelle, devil. God, only you can help Michelle. Only you can finally, once and for all, break the chains that have captured this woman’s heart for far too long. I don’t know her story and I don’t know her issues. Oh, but I know a man who sits high and looks low. Jesus, I know you to be a healer and a way maker. Ha!” Gracie broke out with a happy praise.
“I know you to be a deliverer, dear God. Show up in Michelle’s life. Yes, devil, I call on my Jesus for Michelle’s healing. Save her, Lord.” Gracie stamped her feet and tried not to get too loud, but there was something about the name of Jesus that made her not worry about anyone else. If anything, maybe some of her prayers could seep through other hospital doors.
“Set her free, Jesus, and fill her with your precious holy Ghost power.” Gracie concluded her prayer vocally, but still gave the physical remnants of shouting for the Lord. Trying her best to quiet her praise, Gracie had no choice but to let out what was still in her. “From the crown of her head, Lord, to the soles of her feet, Jesus, set Michelle free.”