Robert got weaker by the day. He could no longer tolerate food and only took sips of water. On Sunday, as Louella and the other congregants left the church, she saw Elmira standing on Robert’s porch, leaning against one of the posts that held up the roof.
The look on Elmira’s face wasn’t sadness; it was anger. “What’s troubling you?” Louella stepped onto the porch.
“Ask my father,” Elmira said and then stormed away from the house.
Louella had no idea what Robert had done this time, but whatever it was, it didn’t sit well with his daughter.
The nurse opened the door as Louella was pondering on Elmira’s anger. “Queen Louella, come quickly.”
Louella rushed into the house. As she entered Robert’s room, she could hear the death rattle with each labored breath he took. Standing beside his bed, she took Robert’s hand in hers. “Look to God now, King Robert. Ask Him to forgive you and receive you.”
Robert’s eyes fluttered, then lifted, but he wasn’t looking at her. He had his eyes on something that Louella couldn’t see.
“Be with my king on this day, dear Lord. Forgive his trespasses.” One thing was certain: earthly kings and kingdoms would all pass away, but God’s kingdom would reign forever. After all these years, after all their disagreements, in the end the only thing that mattered was that Robert got things right with God. She kept praying.
Robert’s body heaved. She heard that rattle one last time, and then he was gone. Another king was gone, and Louella had watched them both transition. She was calmer with Robert, but there was still an ache in her heart.
His hand went limp. Louella placed it back on the bed. She closed her eyes and took in a deep, long-suffering breath, then exhaled. She couldn’t sit here and fall apart. The people would need her now more than ever.
Louella walked outside. She went to the school and rang the triangle bell. As a tear dropped from her eye, she shouted, “The king is dead!”
* * *
Reverend Ezel stayed on at the Happy Land to perform the funeral for King Robert. Louella was pleased that so many had turned out for the burial. She laid him to rest next to his brother below the Davis Cemetery.
As they left the burial site, Louella looped her arm around her grandmother’s and started singing “Amazing Grace.” Robert had left a mess that she would have to clean up, but for now, she only wanted to celebrate the king that once was.
Her prayer for Robert was that he had received grace from God for his sins on this side of heaven. She had forgiven him and had let the past reckon with itself. Now she needed to get Elmira to do the same.
After the meal was served and everyone had eaten, Louella took Elmira to the side. She hugged her niece. “You look like you need a hug today.”
“I do, Auntie. I’m so torn.” Mountains of sadness filled Elmira’s eyes. “I love my daddy, but some of the things he’s done . . .” She shook her head. “I can’t get behind them.”
Louella put a hand on Elmira’s shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it? I saw how upset you were before your daddy passed.”
Elmira leaned against the post as Louella sat in her chair on the porch. Looking out toward the hill where more houses were, she said, “He apologized to me.”
Louella figured the apology had nothing to do with the anger she’d seen on Elmira’s face that day, so she kept quiet and waited.
Elmira wiped tears from her face as she turned to Louella. “Then he told me that I wouldn’t be alone in this world when his time came.”
“Of course you’re not. You’ve got me, your cousins, and the rest of the Bobo clan.”
“I know that, Auntie, but he wasn’t talking about y’all.” Elmira looked around, then she walked closer to Louella and whispered, “He told me that I have other sisters and a brother over in Spartanburg.”
A hand went to her face. Louella figured there had to be something that kept pulling Robert away from the Happy Land. He told her about the gambling and drinking in Spartanburg, but he hadn’t said a peep about children . . . children!
“I didn’t know anything about this. Did your daddy marry some woman in Spartanburg?”
Elmira shrugged. “He didn’t say anything about a marriage.”
Louella’s eyes grew wide, but she was silent . . . couldn’t speak on it.
“Wasn’t that nice of him to tell me something like that but provide no other information? I don’t know their names . . . where they live . . . nothing.”
Louella wondered how old Robert’s other kids were. She wondered if William knew what his brother had been up to. Children . . . in Spartanburg? She couldn’t blame Elmira for being upset. Why Robert waited until he was on his deathbed to tell his daughter something like that was beyond her.
But she desperately wanted her niece to forgive her father. She didn’t want anyone to harbor unforgiveness in their heart the way she had. But Louella knew all too well that forgiveness wasn’t easy, so she would pray for Elmira and wait until God healed her niece’s heart.
* * *
Elmira didn’t want to move into the home that had belonged to her daddy, so Louella gave it to her mother. The same day that her mother moved next door, Mama Sue said, “I hope you don’t mind, but Brenda wants me to stay with her a spell.”
Louella’s heart tightened. “You’re leaving me?”
“I’ll just be next door, my sweet girl.” Mama Sue put a gentle hand to Louella’s face. “Not but a stone’s throw away.”
Louella sighed. “At least you’ll be close so I’ll be able to check on you.”
Mama Sue gave a big belly laugh. “You mean you’ll be able to come right on over for supper.”
“Me too,” Waties said.
Mama Sue patted him on the head. “Don’t worry, I’ll still cook for y’all.”
Things were changing in the Happy Land. The children they had started with were now grown. George and Maggie Couch’s children, Ezel, Anderson, and Mary, were all grown up now as well. Louella’s children were grown, and so many others had grown up and left the Happy Land.
Louella’s mother was now with them, but Louella hadn’t imagined that finding her mother would take a bit of her grandmother from her. Things were not the same in the house without Mama Sue.
* * *
A few days later, Louella glanced over at her mother’s home. Mama Sue and Brenda were sitting on the porch sipping on tea as they chatted. Mama Sue said something, then her mother’s head fell backward as laughter spilled out of her.
Sniffing the air, Louella walked to the edge of her porch. “I smell those greens cooking. I’m coming for supper. I hope you made enough.”
Brenda waved to her. “You better get over here and eat this food with us. I want to see each of my children every day of my life from here on out.”
She had her mother back. She still had her grandmother. God was good.
* * *
The next day Louella sat on the porch with her mother, enjoying the light springtime breeze. “Your grandmother told me everything you’ve done for her and your brother, and I want to thank you for keeping the family together.”
“We had lost enough . . . didn’t want to lose each other too. I stayed on that rotten plantation after slavery because Mama Sue didn’t want to leave.” Louella reached over, took her mother’s hand in hers, and squeezed it. “I think she was waiting on you to find your way back to us.”
“Wish I had run into Reverend Ezel sooner. I missed all of you dearly. It got so bad, I had to tell myself that I wouldn’t see any of you again until we met on the other side. That was the only way I could get up and keep going every morning. I had to stop hoping for what I didn’t believe would ever happen.”
“It’s a terrible thing to lose hope.” Louella wiped the sweat from her forehead. The days were getting longer and hotter. “I have to admit that I stopped believing this day would ever come.”
“And yet here we are.” Brenda pointed heavenward with tears rolling down her face. “It’s been forty years since I was sold away from my family, but God heard my cry, and He brought me back to y’all.”
There were so many days that Louella had wondered if God was listening or if she was praying in vain. She had no way of knowing how or why God answered some prayers and left others hanging out in the wind. Even so, she had learned to bless God through it all and wait on the miracles He sent her way.