Chapter 49
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
—1 John 4:18
Having just left Paris, Gabrielle held it together when she got to the car where Zachary and Jasmine were waiting for her.
“Is everything all right?” Zachary asked.
She nodded and forced a smile. “Oh, yeah. Everything’s fine.”
“I remember her,” Jasmine said. “She and her sister, Imani, came to see me the day I got to go home.”
“Yes,” Gabrielle said, turning to look at Jasmine, who was in the backseat buckled up. “She most certainly did.”
“She must not have remembered me,” Jasmine said.
Zachary backed out of the parking place. The lights in the lot lit up the car.
“Why do you say that?” Gabrielle asked Jasmine.
“She didn’t say hello to me when she saw me. She acted like she didn’t even notice or see me.”
Zachary released a short laugh. “Oh, she didn’t say hello to me, either,” Zachary said. “I think her mind must have been somewhere else.”
“Yeah, but, my mother says you’re always supposed to speak to people you know.” Jasmine got quiet.
Gabrielle tried to see what was going on with Jasmine. She could hear her sniffling. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” Jasmine sniffled. “I just miss . . . I just miss my mama.”
“I know you do, sweetheart. But we know she’s in a better place now.”
“I know,” Jasmine said. “She’s with Jesus. But I miss her so much! I do!”
“I know.” Gabrielle turned around and wiped the tears from her own eyes.
Zachary looked over at Gabrielle. He pulled the car over to the side of the road. Gabrielle smiled at him, jumped out, went and got in the backseat, and put her arm around Jasmine, who was crying hard now. “It’s okay. I’m here. And Dr. Z is here. We’re going to be here right with you. Okay?”
Jasmine nodded. Gabrielle buckled up in the seat next to her. Zachary pulled back onto the road.
When they reached Gabrielle’s house, Zachary got out and came in with them. He stayed until after Jasmine was in bed.
“Come here,” he said to Gabrielle, wrapping his arms around her as soon as she walked into the den.
Gabrielle couldn’t hold it together any longer. She completely broke down.
“Oh, baby. I know all of this is hard.” He sat down, pulling her with him. “Did that woman . . . Paris, isn’t that her name? Did Paris say something to upset you?”
Gabrielle wiped her eyes and nodded. She pulled away from Zachary’s embrace. “She says she plans on taking Jasmine from me.”
“Come again?” Zachary said with an obvious edge to his voice.
Gabrielle primped her mouth a bit before steadying it. “She says she’s going to petition to get Jasmine.”
“What does she have to do with any of this?”
“I don’t know,” Gabrielle said. “I don’t even know where this is coming from. Unless her father is putting her up to it, I can’t imagine Paris wanting to raise a child that’s not her own.” Gabrielle released a short laugh. “In truth: I can’t see her wanting to raise her own child. She’s the type that would hire a full-time nanny while she sat there watching her fingernail polish dry.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Unless she’s changed from the person I knew.” Gabrielle shook her head slowly. “I don’t know where this is coming from.”
“Okay. So tell me everything she said,” Zachary said.
“Basically she said I wasn’t fit to be anybody’s mother, especially somebody like Jasmine. She made references back to my days as an exotic dancer. Oh, let me not clean up the way she said it: my days as a stripper. She indicated that Jasmine would fare better in a home with two parents as opposed to being with me. I don’t know. Jasmine doesn’t know her. How does she think it will benefit that child to have some stranger whisking her away to a home with people she doesn’t even know?”
“I know.”
“Jessica left her in my care. She did everything within her power to ensure Jasmine wouldn’t suffer too much when she was gone,” Gabrielle said. “I still haven’t told Jasmine who I really am or the truth about who she is. I was supposed to. But with everything happening as it did and so fast; I just couldn’t bring myself to do it then. Now Paris is here saying I’m not good enough to take care of her and she wants to take Jasmine away from me?” Gabrielle began to shake her head. “No. No. I’m not going to let her. I will fight her until the end.”
“We’re not going to let her,” Zachary said.
Gabrielle smiled at Zachary. “Thanks for that. But this is my battle. I wouldn’t dare involve you in this. It’s going to be hard enough on me. I’ll not let her drag your name through the mud. This is my battle.”
“No, the battle is not yours; it’s the Lord’s.” Zachary took her by both her hands. “And you’re not going to fight this one alone because, as your husband, I’m not going to let you fight it alone. I’m going to be right there by your side every step of the way. Understand?”
Gabrielle frowned. “What?”
Zachary kneeled down on one knee. He reached into his pants pocket, pulled out a black velvet box, and opened it to a princess-cut three-carat diamond ring.
Gabrielle placed her right hand over her mouth and began to shake her head slowly. “Zachary . . .”
Zachary took her left hand and looked lovingly into her eyes. “Gabrielle Mercedes . . .”
Gabrielle started to cry with her right hand still covering her mouth.
“I love you,” Zachary said. “And I want to spend the rest of my life with you as your husband and best friend. I want us to be a family: me, you, and Jasmine. In fact, I can’t imagine my life without the two of you in it. I promise to love, honor, cherish, and, yes, fight for our love, every single day of our lives, if I have to. Gabrielle, whatever is in our past is in the past. And on this side of goodness, God’s goodness, I would be honored if you would say yes to my proposal and agree to be my wife.” He took the ring out of the box and set the box on the floor. He held the ring out to her as he waited for her to answer.
“Zachary,” was all Gabrielle said as tears came streaming down. “But why? Why now?”
“Why now?” He grinned. “Well, because it took them a week to get the ring in that I ordered. Otherwise, I would have asked you last week. Now, will you please make me the happiest man in the world and say yes? Yes, you’ll be my wife. Let’s just forget about everything and everybody. The only people I care about what they think or feel when it comes to us, is you, me, and of course now, Jasmine.”
“Are you sure, Zachary? Are you sure? Because I believe I’m in for the fight of my life if Paris decides to proceed with this as she indicated she would. You know I love you. I love you, Zachary. But I don’t want to do anything that might hurt you.”
Zachary stood up, pulled her up, and kissed her. “If that’s true, then shut up with the commentary and say yes.” He smiled, holding the ring up to her.
“Hmmm. I don’t know.” She shook her head. “If I shut up, then how can I possibly open my mouth to say yes? A closed mouth can’t speak.”
He grinned. “Gabrielle Mercedes, will you marry me?”
She looked at him hard, then broke out into a huge grin. “Yes!” she said. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”
The next thing she knew, he’d slipped the ring onto her finger, and her feet were dangling in the air as he hugged her.
“Hey! Hey!” Jasmine’s voice came through the loud laughing they were doing. “What’s going on in here?”
Gabrielle dashed over to her and hugged her. “I’m sorry. We woke you up.”
“Oh, I wasn’t asleep. I always have a hard time falling asleep,” Jasmine said. “So what are you and Dr. Z so happy about?”
Gabrielle looked up at Zachary, who was also grinning. He came over to them and, kneeling, took Jasmine by both her little hands. “I just asked Miss G to marry me.”
Jasmine’s face lit up. “You did? You asked her to marry you? For real? You really did?”
Zachary smiled. “I did.”
Jasmine turned back to Gabrielle. “And did you say yes?” She held her hands together in a prayerlike pleading way.
Gabrielle was grinning hard now. “I did! I said yes!” She held out her hand, showing Jasmine her ring.
Jasmine started jumping up and down, then grabbed them both by their hands and started jumping up and down along with them. “Yay! We’re getting married,” she began to sing. “We’re getting married.” After about two more times of singing that stanza, she stopped and began rubbing her eyes with her fists and began to cry.
Gabrielle squatted down and hugged her. “Jasmine, what’s wrong? What’s the matter?”
“I was just thinking. I prayed and asked God for you two to get married. God didn’t answer my prayer when I asked Him to heal my mother.” She rubbed her eyes with her hands. “But God answered my prayer with you.” She stopped wiping her eyes and suddenly broke into a humongous grin. “We’re getting married! We’re going to be a family! I’m so hap-py,” she sang.
Zachary hugged her. “Me, too, Miss Jazz! Me, too! I’m so hap-py! Yes, God does answer prayers!” He stood up, looked at Gabrielle, winked, then hugged her. “God absolutely answers prayers.”