Chapter 47
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
—1 Peter 3:13
“I’d like to come to your church for Bible study tonight,” Paris said to Darius as soon as he answered his cell phone. “Can you give me the address?”
“Oh, so you’re coming to our Bible study? Cool. Why don’t I just meet you somewhere and you can follow me over there?” Darius said. “I’ll tell my wife I have something to do and that I’ll be coming on later.” “Listen, I’m not trying to get me or you in trouble with your wife. So just give me the address if you know it or I can just look it up.”
Darius laughed, then rattled off the address. “So Paris Simmons is coming to visit us at Followers of Jesus Faith Worship Center for Bible study? Wow.”
“Looks that way. And the name is Paris Simmons-Holyfield, with a hyphen.”
“Okay, Mrs. Simmons-Holyfield with a hyphen. Is there any particular reason why you’re coming to visit us?”
“If you must know: I’m hoping to run into Gabrielle.”
“I see. So it has nothing to do with the great Word we get there? Well, I’ll tell you what: If you’ll park in section D and wait for me if I’m not there when you get there, I’ll be more than happy to show you the general area where Gabrielle sits. You know how folks have an area they prefer more than others. That will help make it a bit easier for you to ‘run into her,’ although I must warn you: She’s generally with that little boyfriend of hers. Now it’s her, that little girl, and her boyfriend.”
“Her boyfriend is a doctor, isn’t he?”
“That’s what they say,” Darius said with a slight singsong to his words.
“That’s fine. I’m not coming to start any drama. I just want to let her know in person that I’d like to sit down and talk to her about something, woman to woman.”
“Why does this not sound like it’s going to be good?”
“I don’t know,” Paris said.
“Now, if you just want to call her, I can get you her phone number.”
“I had her business card with her church phone number. I threw that thing away. No. I’d prefer to look in her face when I tell her some of what I have to say.”
She and Darius discussed the time she should aim to meet him in the church’s parking lot.
Paris arrived and saw Darius standing outside his car.
“Where’s your wife and family?” Paris asked when he opened her car door.
“They’re coming later. I told her I had an errand to run,” Darius said. “Come on. Let’s go in.”
“Are you sure you won’t get in trouble if someone sees you walking in with me?”
“We’re walking into church. People walk into church alongside other people all the time. Last time I checked, it wasn’t a sin to walk in church with someone other than your spouse.” Darius laughed.
Paris kept space between her and him even though she could feel Darius making an effort to veer closer to her, “accidentally” bumping into her a few times. It did make her a little nervous that he was with her. When they got inside and he led her to the side where he indicated Gabrielle sat most times, she smiled at him. “Okay. Thank you. You can go find your family now. I can take it from here.”
“Find my family?” He chuckled. “I have no idea where they’ll be. My wife sits all over the place. It’s according to what time she gets here. Most of the time she’s late because of the children. That’s when she doesn’t just give up and opt to stay home.”
They sat down and Paris tried to pretend she didn’t know Darius, just in case anyone was watching them.
She really enjoyed Pastor Landris’s teaching. She was shocked at how much he touched on things she was dealing with in her own life. He spoke about going on after disappointments, knowing that God has already gone before you and taken care of things before you ever even arrive.
“Even when things seem like they’re going bad for you and cause you to wonder if God is actually listening to you, God is there,” Pastor Landris said. “If you’re going through something, you need to be praising God because it means one of two things. Either God has worked it out and this is for His glory, or God knows you can handle it and that you’re going to come through. When things are at their lowest point, that’s when you need to be looking up and praising the loudest. God will not put more on you than you can bear. God is there with you, whispering in your ear that you can do this; you’re going to make it if you just hold on to His hand. You’re stronger than you think. God is helping you work those faith muscles and you’ll see just how strong, through His power and His might, you truly are.”
After service dismissed, Paris almost hated to ruin the wonderful feeling she was having, following that message, to confront Gabrielle. But she had come here for a reason, and she was not going to be denied. She was going to carry out her mission.
She spotted Gabrielle and stood out of the way as the congregants filed out. “Hi, Gabrielle,” she said when Gabrielle was passing by her way.
Gabrielle looked; bewilderment registered on her face. “Hi.”
“May I speak with you for a moment?” Paris said. “In private?”
Gabrielle looked at Zachary, who was holding Jasmine’s other hand. “I suppose. Sure.” She let go of Jasmine’s hand.
“We’ll meet you at the car,” Zachary said to Gabrielle, although it was obvious to anybody looking that he didn’t want to leave Gabrielle alone with Paris.
Paris and Gabrielle walked out of the sanctuary over to an area away from the crowd making their way out the doors.
“Listen, I hear you have Jasmine Noble,” Paris said.
“Yeah. You just saw her with me.”
“Is this a temporary thing or what?”
“Personally, Paris, I really don’t care to discuss this with you,” Gabrielle said.
“Well, you may want to rethink that. You see, I think that beautiful little girl deserves a good and stable home. She’s already been through so much.”
“I won’t argue with that. In fact, I absolutely agree with you.”
“Personally, I don’t think you’re the right one to offer her what she needs. Not like what my husband and I can.”
Gabrielle laughed. “Excuse me? You’re kidding me, right?”
“No, I’m not kidding you.”
“Okay, Paris, let’s cut through the noise. What exactly are you trying to say?”
“I’m just letting you know up front that I’m planning on petitioning the courts to get Jasmine.”
Gabrielle looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “You’re planning to do what?”
“I’m going to petition the courts to get Jasmine, and then I’d like to adopt her.”
Gabrielle snapped her head back. “Why? For what reason? I don’t get it? You don’t even know Jasmine. You have no association with her at all. I know this can’t be you just trying to get back at me. Not even you can be that small and petty.”
Paris lowered her head downward. “Small and petty? Is that what you think of me? That I’m small and petty?” Paris’s voice rose slightly.
“Listen, I’m not having this discussion with you, Paris. Things are already in the works for me and Jasmine to be a family. So whatever you’re calling yourself doing, you need to back off. I’m telling you . . .”
“Gabrielle, be reasonable, okay,” Paris said. “Save yourself some trouble. Because I know you don’t want to battle with me. If it comes down to a court having to look at you and what you have to offer that little girl, and me and my husband, not even counting the weight I can summon with my father on my side, you’re going to lose. That’s a fact! And I don’t want to go there if I don’t have to. But your stint as Goodness and Mercy may well come back and haunt you, if we have to fight this out. I don’t know what your role is in Jasmine’s life, but I know Andrew and I can give her a better home than you ever can.”
“As I said, I’m not having this discussion with you, and specifically not here. In fact, there’s really nothing for us to discuss period! I don’t know what you know or what you think you know, but I’m going to tell you: There’s the other side of goodness that you know nothing about. Please don’t make me go there. Because if you really want to see some real weight, then just wait until you see me with the weight . . . the glory of my Father”—she pointed toward Heaven—“on my side. That’s the other side of goodness I’m speaking of; the Lord fighting my battle.”
“Oooh, I’m trembling. The other side of goodness, huh? Well, don’t let my beauty fool you, either. When I want something bad enough, I can get down in the trenches as well. But know this: I will be moving forward to get custody of Jasmine. So, we can do it the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. But I promise you: We will do it.” Paris then turned and walked away. She was trembling, and not totally sure why.
But she had now, in fact, thrown down the gauntlet. Now she would just have to convince Andrew of how much she truly wanted Jasmine and to be sure that he was ready to fight right along with her.