Chapter Thirty-four
There was beautiful music playing over the loud speakers and a lot of chatter was taking place in the sanctuary. While the wedding planner was in full swing with manning the decorations, the coordinator smoothed out all of her loose ends. She eyed her watch but didn’t have a care in the world since she was being paid by the hour.
Mercy had left Grant outside, making a call to only God knows who. Kendra and Gracie ran around making sure everyone was in their places.
Kenya was on her way but had called and said she was stuck in traffic. Mercy already knew Kenya would be bringing her date. She’d called ahead of time to make sure it was okay if he came, and to inform Mercy that he would be meeting her at the church. They’d planned for a late-night hang out session afterward and it would be easier for them to take one car.
This was the last rehearsal before her big day, which was less than twenty-four hours away, and Mercy was excited about everything coming to an end. All of the jitters Grant was having had lent themselves to her, and not necessarily in a good way.
Since the night the news broadcast had displayed a house fire and Grant ran out of the house, there had been even more silence between the two. That night it had taken him until the wee hours of the morning to return home stating that it wasn’t his friend’s home that caught fire, but a next-door neighbor’s. Who the friend was and even a name never escaped Grant’s lips.
Mercy had been extra nervous and knew without a doubt she should have called off the wedding. But to her, she’d be letting down her family, herself, but most of all ... her son.
Because Bishop had been in her life, Mercy never had to go without having a father figure around. Her biological father had died of a massive heart attack while she was in her mother’s womb. All Mercy could think was that there was no way she could subject her son to a broken home before it even had a chance to officially grow. As far as Mercy was concerned, the less people knew about the inside of their marriage, the better. Whatever it was that Grant was going through was hurting Mercy deeply, but she was not a quitter.
“Here you go.” Stoney handed Mercy the gag gift–styled bouquet filled with different colors of tissue paper, ribbons, and glitter.
“Cute. Real cute.” Mercy didn’t break a smile. “Oh no, ma’am,” she said when she saw what Stoney had for her next.
Giggling uncontrollably, Stoney placed the paper plate, ridged hat on her sister’s head. “Girl, stop. Enjoy every moment M and M. Go ahead and play along ... geez.”
“With that? You could have done better than that, Stoney. Who did this, Grant Jr.? You are wrong for that.” She broke out in laughter for the first time since she had stepped foot inside of the church. “It’s okay. Your day is coming, honey,” Mercy guaranteed.
“I’m sure, but your day is now.” Stoney smiled. With a surprised look on her face, Stoney waved at the door when she saw her mom make her way through the sanctuary doors. Then she realized where they were and became nervous.
Stoney’s eyes grew big. She had known of all of the ruckus that had gone on between her mother and father back in the day. Not to mention her stepmother, Kendra, and Mrs. Gracie and the battles between them. From all her mother had filled her in on, Stoney was getting more nervous by the minute.
With Michelle looking around the room for her, Stoney turned just in time to see Kendra’s eyes lie on Michelle.
Without a thought, but knowing she had to put some pep in her step, Stoney doubled up her walking as she made her way to her mother. All she knew was that she had to get to Michelle before Kendra did. Halfway there, Stoney called out, “Mom!”
“Michelle!” Kendra called out simultaneously.
When Kendra’s arms opened as she continued her stride toward Michelle, Stoney didn’t know what to think. She hoped for the best, but wondered if Kendra would actually throw a blow at her mother in the church.
Slowing her pace, Stoney came to an almost halt and keyed in on what was happening. She blinked. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Totally stopping in her tracks, Stoney put her hands on her hips.
“I am so happy you could make it. Thank you for offering to help, Michelle.” Kendra held on to Michelle’s hand after their embrace.
Shrugging, Michelle retorted with, “You’re welcome. I figured, why not. It’s not like I have a life,” Michelle said as she flopped her hand to her side.
“I must be dreaming,” Stoney mumbled to herself and eased closer to the two.
What Stoney hadn’t known was that the Michelle and Kendra had been talking cordially. Since their chance meeting, in an odd kind of way, Kendra had become a confidant, a mentor to Michelle. In turn, Kendra knew why Michelle had had extra time in her schedule. With things not working out with Keithe as she had hoped for, the two women decided to close the gap they’d had between them in all the years. All that Kendra knew was if Gracie could forgive her for her wrong, surely she could do the same for Michelle.
“When did all of this happen?” Stoney made her way in the middle of the two. “Really?” Stoney looked into Michelle’s eyes and wondered why she hadn’t brought her up to date with her new friends.
“Where shall we start?” Michelle finally laid eyes on Stoney. “Hey, honey. I was looking for you.” She veered off from the question in Stoney’s eyes. Michelle was just ready to go with the flow.
“And so you found me.” Stoney was still shocked, giving her mother sass. “Isn’t this a pleasant surprise?” Her eyes watered. “You two amaze me on so many levels. I want to be just like you two one day.” The three of them participated in a group hug.
Mercy appeared just as the three pulled apart. “Enough of this mushy stuff. Hi, Ms. Michelle.” Mercy leaned in for a hug. She had spent time with Michelle and Stoney as she visited her stepsister in Houston over the years.
“We have things to do, ladies. Chop, chop.” Mercy clapped her hands.
Kendra and Michelle made their departure. They headed toward another room that housed flowers, greenery, and accessories, ready to help out the decorator as much as possible.
“I’m here!” Kenya was out of breath. She wanted to make sure she wasn’t late for rehearsal.
Her only role was to show up and officiate; however, she wanted to make sure she went over the specifics so that neither Mercy nor Grant would be caught off-guard with the questions, prayers, and especially the recital of the vows. Kenya wanted to make sure the flow of the ceremony was all it could be and more.
Placing her purse on the first pew she saw available, Kenya moved down the aisle where Stoney and Mercy were standing and asked, “Are all of your bridesmaids here?”
“Check,” Mercy said and did an invisible check mark in the air.
“Oh she checked us all right. We are here.” Stoney looked around and waved toward the other bridesmaids, who had gathered into the sanctuary. Walking off, Stoney went to gather the few who had scattered off in various directions. “Hey, ladies, let’s get in our places.”
Nudging her aunt with her hip, Mercy was nosey. “Soooooo, where is your dude? I thought he was meeting you here?”
“Uh. Girl. We calmed that down.” Kenya rolled her eyes. “Actually he is just cool and he’s no bit more interested in me than I am him. But you know what? He has turned out to be a great friend.”
“Word?” Mercy questioned with her hands on her hips. Her mind jumbled in thought but wouldn’t dare start with the questions. Nope. Not when it was her day.
“Word,” Kenya replied. They both laughed. “It’s a long story, niecey. I really wasn’t interested in him. I was only kicking it with him to avoid his friend because I had to work out some issues of my own. If you learn anything from me, just don’t try to figure anything out yourself. Just let God do it.”
With wrinkled eyebrows, Mercy just listened. Then nodding in an agreement, Mercy asked, “Was his friend that horrible?”
“Not at all. Actually his friend was just ... right there.” Kenya couldn’t believe it when she saw Keithe walk through the doors. “What is Keithe doing here?” she wondered aloud.
Mercy held on to the fake bouquet Stoney had handed her. She was looking back and forth between Kenya and Keithe, who had made his entrance deeper into the sanctuary.
“Mr. Keithe? You like Mr. Keithe?” Mercy said more to herself than her Aunt Kenya, who had already taken off up the aisle.
“Who likes who?” Stoney asked as she walked up and stood by her sister. “Oh, there’s Pops. It’s about time he got here,” Stoney said and walked off with Kenya on her heels.
“Hey there, Deacon Morgan. What are you doing here?” Kenya asked with a questionable look on her face, having walked over to the man who she no doubt had a crush on.
“Hey.” Stoney walked up to hug her stepfather, burying herself underneath Keithe’s arms. Shying away, Kenya was embarrassed to think Keithe was Stoney’s boyfriend. Had she known that, there was no way she would have walked to greet him.
“Oh. Auntie. Kenya. I’m sorry. Have you met—” Stoney tried to introduce the two.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to interrupt ... I thought ...” Kenya turned and started walking away, not knowing what she was trying to say.
“Huh?” Stoney was confused. “No, you’re okay. I was going to ask if you met my pops?” Stoney took the bag from Keithe and kissed him on the cheek. “You are so awesome. I thought I had gotten it from your condo last night when I left.” She continued talking as she looked in the bag to make sure the content she needed was accounted for.
“We’ve met,” Keithe chuckled and shared with Stoney as he held on to her. With a reassuring look on his face, Keithe could tell what Kenya thought about him and Stoney. “We attend the same church.”
Loosening his hold on Stoney, Keithe moved in close to Kenya. With a hug he said, “Stoney’s my stepdaughter.” He wanted Kenya to relax.
“Get out!” Kenya let her thoughts escape.
“Wait ... wait a minute.” Stoney stopped her rummaging and stood back. Reeling in the conversations that she, Mercy, and Kenya had had about men, Stoney wondered if her pops had indeed been that very same crush. With her eyes widened, Stoney pulled in her lips and didn’t want to blow Ms. Kenya’s cover.
“Okay. Well. Thanks, Pops. I’ll leave you two alone. I mean, um. Yeah. Um. I will call you later.” She leaned in for another tight squeeze and a peck on the check.
“I don’t know if I will be at your place or Mom’s ...” Just that quick Stoney remembered that her mother was in the vicinity. Knowing her mother was pressing her way to get over Keithe, Stoney figured it wouldn’t be a good thing if Michelle saw just who Keithe had the hots for. “Oh, shoots.” Stoney knew if Michelle saw Keithe and Kenya in one another’s face, there would be trouble. “Pops, I need to talk to you for a minute,” Stoney spoke in haste and moved in once again to take Keithe off of Kenya’s hands. “’Scuse us, Ms. Kenya. We will be right back.”
Kenya shrugged her shoulders, thinking nothing of the exchange, and excused herself from the sanctuary and went down the hall to the ladies’ room.
Grabbing Keithe by his hand, Stoney raced her stepfather out through the sanctuary doors and toward the foyer. Looking both ways, down either hall, Kenya needed to make sure the coast was clear.
“Mom’s here,” Stoney tried her best to whisper. “And from the way you and Ms. Kenya are making goo-goo eyes at one another, I think you better split.”
With his hands deep inside of his pants pockets, Keithe said, “Stoney, stop being so paranoid.” When Stoney gave him the “oh, okay, you must’ve forgot” look, Keithe became a little testy.
“Look, me and your mother already had our talk. We are divorced, Stoney. I love you and your mother very much, but—” Keithe was cut off as Michelle and Kendra walked up to them down the hallway on their way in to the sanctuary.
“Hey, Keithe. What are you doing here?” Michelle walked up to her handsome ex-husband and gave him a tight squeeze.
“Hey, you,” he greeted her. “Just bringing Stoney her items she’d left over at my place. And”—he looked at Stoney and knew she didn’t want him to share what he was about to—“I’m trying to school our daughter on the understanding we have.” He used his pointer finger to point back and forth between the two of them. “How are you doing, Kendra?” Keithe asked, not wanting to be rude as he saw her standing politely with her arms folded.
“Say it ain’t so. What’s going on, Stoney?” Michelle asked, rubbing her daughter’s back, knowing Stoney worried about her too much.
“Oh, nothing. I just want to make sure you both are happy ... and when it’s time for you to move on, that there are no hurt feelings left.” Stoney was sincere in her approach to the truth.
“But we are friends and will always be as such, Stoney.” Michelle added Keithe to make it a trio hug.
Looking directly at Keithe, Michelle wanted to make sure the sincerity of her words was heard.
“I’m so sorry for all of this inconvenience, Keithe. I can’t believe I did all of this, just to try to get back with you. And I’m just as sorry, Stoney, for putting you in the middle. But I’m doing better.” Michelle looked over at Kendra and reached for her new friend’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
“God is good,” Kendra said.
“All the time,” the three Morgans chimed in.
Just as Kendra was about to share how blessed she, too, was to be able to mend ties with them, there was a ruckus heard coming from the sanctuary. As she headed in that direction, the others were hot on her heels.