“A divorce is like an amputation: You survive it, but there’s less of you.” Margaret Atwood
Fancy left the courthouse sad and depressed. If Khalil and Xavier hadn’t been there for support, she didn’t think she would have been able to go through it. It was over in a matter of minutes. Seeing Hezekiah looking fine as ever caused part of her attitude. He may have still been in the wheelchair, but having gone without seeing him for months, she saw how much his health had improved. He was accompanied by a slender, no…skinny, model looking woman, who doted on him like he was a celebrity. She didn’t know if it was supposed to be his caregiver or someone who Hezekiah was sleeping with. No matter who she was, it infuriated Fancy. How dare he bring some woman with him to court.
Fancy, he has to have help. He can’t come out alone. Be for real. Those thoughts brought her back to some sense of reality, but she still felt extremely sad.
Her whole life, as she’d known it, had officially come to an end when the judge declared, “Divorce granted.”
She didn’t say one word to Hezekiah, not that he attempted to say anything to her or their sons. What had happened to Hezekiah? Was he like this all along and she had been too blind to see it? How could he be so cold and callous? He was dressed to the nines and he didn’t seem to be missing out on anything other than being confined in a chair.
The judge didn’t call either of them up to the bench, their lawyers handled everything. Is this how it goes now? Is this all it takes? Fancy thought again, fighting to keep back tears.
She watched as Khalil and Xavier followed behind Hezekiah, his lawyer, and the young woman as they exited the courtroom. She prayed they wouldn’t cause a scene. The divorce was over and done with now. There was no need for words to be exchanged. All she wanted to do was get out of the courthouse and go home. She wanted this day, this moment, to end as quickly as possible.
Khalil got in front of Hezekiah’s wheelchair, forcing him to stop, as Xavier stood at his side.
Hezekiah sat riveted and faced his sons while Fancy remained behind.
“So this is how it goes? No hello? No how you doing, sons? No sorry to our mother? Not even so much as a go to hell….nothing?”
Hezekiah remained quiet. He didn’t have time for this crap. What did they expect him to say? Cheer them on for helping to ruin his life, his marriage?
In response, he raised his arm showing his gloved hand and the young woman behind his wheelchair began to push him.
“Excuse us,” Hezekiah’s lawyer said. “My client has nothing to say to you, personally. You can direct your questions or concerns to me.”
“Cool, no problem,” Khalil said and stepped to the side. “I don’t have a thing to say to this buster but one thing. Your day is coming. Believe that.” He glowered at his father before he and Xavier walked away while Hezekiah and his team continued toward the Handicap Exit.
Hezekiah held up a hand and the young woman stopped the chair. She turned the chair slightly so Hezekiah could get a view of his family. “Gimme my money, Khalil or you’ll be sorry!” he yelled.
“Keep moving,” the lawyer said.
The girl turned him back toward the exit at the instruction of the lawyer.
“Money? What money is he talking about?” Fancy asked. “The nerve of him. He’s taken everything and now he’s talking about he wants his money.”
“Ignore him. He’s talking out of his head. You crazy, old fool!” Xavier yelled at his dad.
“Just forget it. Let him go,” Fancy said and began storming off in the opposite direction. “You see he’s not the person we thought we knew. He doesn’t care about us.”
“Yeah, that was easy to see,” Xavier said. “He’s dead to me, Ma. I may as well not have a father.”
Fancy heard the hurt in her baby boy’s voice, and it caused her to hurt. But she imposed an iron clad control on herself. “Son, we’re going to be fine. Life doesn’t end because Hezekiah McCoy is no longer part of it.”
“His day is coming,” Xavier said, head lowered, he clenched his mouth tighter.
“You’re right, Ma. We got this. We don’t need him,” Khalil said.
Since the divorce hearing, Fancy was in a deep dark place. Khalil and Xavier tried to comfort her by inviting her out to lunch or dinner, but she refused. She didn’t go to Holy Rock, she refused to engage with her new women friends, and barely ate. She just couldn’t seem to persuade herself to do anything. She needed time to wallow, to grieve over what once was. Maybe in time she would be able to take a step forward, but as for now, she didn’t have the physical or mental fortitude.
Fancy was glad she allowed herself to branch out and start spending time with the two women. They were both around her age and in the Women’s Ministry. Having other women to talk to, go shopping with, and share a meal or two, felt good and she’d come to enjoy their company. She invited them to the party and asked them to help her plan it. They stepped in and did a fantastic job.
Tonight was the party. Everything was in its place. Forty people out of the sixty she invited RSVP’d their attendance. Her new friends arrived early to help put the finishing touches on the decorations. The food was being catered by a caterer one of them knew.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Victoria said as she made sure the dessert table was arranged the way they talked about.
“I hope so. I’m so nervous. You know I’m not use to entertaining on this level.”
“Yes you are, Fancy,” Tara said. “The birthday dinner you gave Pastor Khalil was superb from the food to the entertainment, everything. We were just getting to know you back then, remember?”
“Yes, she’s right, Fancy,” Victoria said. “I don’t know why you’re so nervous.”
“I guess because this is a different kind of party. I’m actually supposed to be celebrating…well, you all know.”
Victoria threw up a hand, arranged something on the dessert table, while saying, “Look, you’re going to be fine. I’ve had two or is it three divorce parties.”
Tara eyed her up and down, looked over at Fancy, and the three of them erupted in laughter.
“You are so crazy,” Tara said.
“You two keep me laughing,” Fancy said as she walked to the other table where utensils, glasses, and other accessories were decoratively lined. “I don’t know how I would have pulled this off without your help. I’ve been so depressed since I went to court.”
“Anytime. I love doing stuff like this,” Victoria said. “I’m glad we could help.”
“So am I,” Tara added. “Do you think we were going to let you lay around and have a self-pity party? Okay, so your marriage is over. I know it hurts. I was divorced too, but my life has changed for the better. I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful little stepdaughter, and we’re expecting our own child in a few months.” She massaged her growing belly. “God sent me someone better than my ex-husband during a time I thought my life was over. I was like you, depressed, crying all the time, could barely go to work. I almost got terminated, but thank God my manager, a wonderful woman, understood what I was going through.”
“What Tara is saying is God has your back. He’s not going to let you fall, Fancy. He’s setting you up for something, maybe even someone, better. So, let’s have fun tonight. Let’s turn-up!”
Fancy couldn’t do anything but laugh again. These were the kind of friends she’d always dreamed of having. Friends who stuck by her, who told her the truth, who wouldn’t allow her to sulk and feel sorry for herself.
They looked around, surveying the tables to assure they were set up properly, then went into the kitchen, and then the large family room and living room where the guests would be. The weather was perfect and the backyard patio was decorated with chairs and tables for those who might want to enjoy the evening outside.
Fancy didn’t tell her friends the other reason she was nervous about the party tonight had a name…Winston Washington. She invited Stiles but he told her he would be coming back to Memphis the following week for his father’s test results so coming this weekend was out of the question. She was disappointed that he wouldn’t be there, but when Winston called, she forgot all about Stiles Graham.
Initially, when she didn’t hear from Winston, she chalked him up to being some random dude who had been blowing smoke up her nostrils with no intention of calling or seeing her again. Turns out she was wrong, and she was glad that she was. It may have taken him a minute to call, but once he did, the two of them talked and texted throughout the day. She felt like a school girl. He was able to take her mind off her problems and the reason she was throwing this party.