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Authors: E.N. Joy

BOOK: She Who Finds a Husband
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Chapter Twenty-four
“Doctor, is she going to be okay?” Tamarra asked in a panicked voice. “I mean, we had just left my house not five minutes before it happened. I was following her, then all of a sudden she just went off the road. I slammed on my breaks and just screamed.”
“Tamarra!” she heard someone yell out, then turned to see the face of the first person she thought to call. “How is she?”
“Oh, Maeyl, I don't know,” Tamarra replied. “The doctor was just about to update me on her condition.” Tamarra turned her attention back to the doctor. “I'm sorry, Doctor, this is a brother from church.” The doctor shook Maeyl's hand. “You were saying, Doctor?”
“Well, like I was saying, Miss Lucas appears to be fine. She's lucky that the ambulance that brought her here was on route back to the hospital when the driver saw Miss Lucas's car veer off the road and into the ditch.”
“I know, and I was in such a panic, I couldn't be any help to them. They ended up taking me back to my car just to get my praying, hooping and hollering self out of their way.”
“Well, I'm glad you calmed down enough to be able to make it here to see about your friend. Anyway, besides a knot on her forehead and a busted lip, she looked fine. But the EMTs on the scene made the call to bring her in to X-ray the knot just to be on the safe side.”
“And the knot?” Tamarra asked. “Is it serious? Does she have a concussion or anything?”
“Oh, no. Everything is fine. It's nothing a Ziploc bag of ice can't take care of. So in short, Miss Lucas is going to be fine.”
“Thank you, Jesus!” Tamarra let out the breath she'd been holding for the last forty-five minutes and collapsed into Maeyl's arms. “Praise God.”
“I do have some bad news though,” the doctor added.
“What it is, Doctor?” Tamarra asked.
“Unfortunately, the squirrel she was trying to dodge didn't make it.” The doctor winked, and then walked off after telling Tamarra that her friend was being discharged and should be out in about a half hour.
“God's grace and mercy is so sufficient. Yes, it is,” Tamarra declared as Maeyl escorted her over to a chair in the waiting area. He then sat down next to her. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“No problem. I called Pastor like you asked me to. As a matter of fact, I should call back since Deborah is already being discharged. No need in Pastor wasting gas to come up to the hospital.” Maeyl placed the quick phone call, and then hung up the phone. “I tell you, I was scared to death when you first called me. All I heard were the words ‘car accident,' ‘Mount Carmel' Hospital, and ‘come now.' I'm glad you called me back to let me know what was going on once you'd settled down. Until you did, I thought you had been the one in the accident.”
“I was just so freaked out. I mean, she'd just left my house where we had been shouting and praising the Lord. I guess when praises go up, blessings do come down. Because it is a true blessing that she's okay.”
“Well, I'm glad you got your praise on today after all, seeing that you weren't in church.”
“Yeah, well, about that,” Tamarra started, searching for the right words. “Maeyl, can I talk to you?”
“I think we do need to talk.”
“I know you're probably starting to think that my first name is ‘I'm' and last name ‘Sorry.' But once again I have to humble myself and apologize for my behavior, when I stormed out of your living room without explanation. And then avoided your calls like the plague. I've really been acting like a part-time Christian lately.”
“You've got that right.”
Tamarra was shocked at Maeyl's stern response. But she knew his statement was nothing but more confirmation of what she already knew.
“And I'm sorry for that. It's just that when you had me check your cell phone to see if that was Pastor's call you had missed, I pushed a couple of buttons trying to clear the screen, and that picture of us that was on the Web site was on your phone. My mind started thinking up all kinds of things. I honestly thought without a doubt that you were the one who had posted the pictures. But then Sister Deborah came to my house today and shared with me that she'd found out the true culprit. You don't know how awful I felt.”
“If you felt as bad as I did when I thought that, once again, the woman of my dreams had somehow slipped out of my life, then you're wrong. I do know how awful you felt.”
“Maeyl, why are you like this? So forgiving? You don't even make me work for your forgiveness. I'd feel a lot better if you'd at least show some kind of a grudge.”
“I'm only operating the way my Lord and Savior would have me,” Maeyl reasoned. “Remember how many times the Bible says we must forgive a man?”
“Seven times seventy,” Tamarra answered.
“And on top of that, God doesn't make us have to work for His forgiveness. It's automatic once we ask. And who has time to hold a grudge? As a man of God, I try my best to walk in love daily, and sometimes that means forgiving those who we don't even feel deserve forgiveness.”
“So are you saying that I don't deserve your forgiveness?” Tamarra asked softly.
“Would that make you feel better if I said you didn't?” Maeyl smiled.
“Perhaps,” Tamarra teased.
“Well, sorry. I cannot lie, not even to make you feel good. You deserve forgiveness, Tamarra, and I forgive you.”
“Thank you, Maeyl, and I really am sorry. I'm so sorry for once again jumping to conclusions.”
“Once again, apology accepted. But tell me, who is the real culprit?”
Tamarra proceeded to give him the details. But with curiosity still getting the best of her, Tamarra asked, “But can I ask you one thing? Why did you have the picture on your cell phone?”
“Well, when the church secretary couldn't get me on either my home phone or my cell phone, she decided to send me a text message along with the picture to download. I simply had forgotten to delete it.” Maeyl paused for a moment. “I take that back. That's a lie. I didn't forget to delete it. I didn't want to delete it. Heck, you looked kind of cute in that picture.”
Tamarra blushed before planting a kiss on Maeyl's cheek. This was the first time she'd ever laid lips on him, and it felt good. “I'm gonna go over to the vending machine and grab a Mountain Dew. Would you like anything?”
“No, I'm good,” Maeyl replied.
“All right,” Tamarra said, then stood up with her purse in hand. That's when she saw Paige heading toward her. She'd forgotten that she had also called Paige and told her about Deborah's car accident. She realized that perhaps she should have called Paige back and told her not to come to the hospital when Maeyl called Pastor. It was too late now.
“I left work as soon as Norman showed up to fill in for me,” Paige explained, hugging Tamarra. “I didn't have any business working on a Sunday no how,” Paige fussed at herself. “Now God done made a way to pull me out of that place, although I wish it had been under different circumstances. How is Sister Deborah anyway?”
“She's fine,” Tamarra replied. “Just a bump on the head pretty much. The emergency squad just wanted to take precautions and bring her here for X-rays. Everything is fine.”
“Thank God,” Paige said as she hugged Tamarra. That's when she saw Maeyl sitting nearby. “Uh, hi, Brother Maeyl,” Paige said, then looked at Tamarra in an attempt to study her face to make sure she was okay with Maeyl being there. Tamarra had told her about how she was really finished with him this time after discovering the picture from the Web site on his phone. But when Tamarra shot Paige the “it's okay” look, Paige figured everything had been worked out.
“Hello, Sister Paige.” Maeyl stood, then looked at Tamarra. “I'm going to go now that Sister Paige is here.”
“All right, Maeyl. I'll call you. And thanks again for coming.” For the second time, Tamarra allowed her lips to rest on Maeyl's cheek. “Drive safely.”
It was a toss up between Maeyl and Paige as to who was more shocked by Tamarra's show of public affection in front of someone they knew. Maeyl exited the hospital.
“Did I just see you plant a pucker on that man's face?” Paige asked.
“Yes, you did,” Tamarra said proudly as she looked around the hospital. “And hopefully someone got a picture of that.”
The women high-fived as they waited for Deborah to be discharged. Tamarra filled her best friend in on all of the past couple hours developments. She praised God the entire time, thanking Him that everything had worked out for her good in the end. But when Paige then turned the conversation to her and Blake and how quickly their relationship was moving along, Tamarra realized that
almost
everything had worked out for her good in the end—almost.
There was still a tad bit of information she'd withheld from Paige. It was information regarding what Paige referred to as her divine set-up. Hopefully everything would work out for good in that situation as well. Now if only Tamarra could find just the right time to tell her before things between Paige and Blake moved any quicker.
Chapter Twenty-five
“I was scared out of my mind. Your father and I were five minutes from taking the next flight to Ohio.”
Tamarra had forgotten all about the fact that she'd been talking to her mom right before Deborah decided that a squirrel's life was more valuable than her BMW and ran off the road in a failed attempt at avoiding the little critter. With all of the excitement of being at the hospital, making up with Maeyl, and her issue with Paige, she'd forgotten to call her poor, worried sick mother.
“Oh, Mom, I'm so sorry,” Tamarra told her, then filled her in on all that had happened. “I didn't mean to worry you or Dad.” Although Tamarra was still trying to keep her spirits up, a part of her wanted to get indignant with her mother and ask her why she was so worried about her well being now when she should have been worried over twenty-five years ago.
“Well, is your friend all right?”
“Yes, she's fine. Only suffered a knot on her head. Her car even ended up being okay once the tow truck pulled it out of the ditch. I drove her to it once they released her from the hospital.”
“Well, look at what God did for you.”
“Yeah, He is something,” Tamarra said. “Well, Mom, it's been a long, long day, and I have a brunch to cater tomorrow. I'd best lay it down and get some shut eye.” Tamarra wasn't really tired. She was just attempting to keep her spirits up, and she knew that if her mother resumed the topic of conversation she was about to bring up prior to their phone conversation being cut short, Tamarra's spirit would pop like a balloon blown up beyond capacity, then deflate accordingly.
“Well, okay, dear. I understand.” Tamarra could hear the disappointment in her mother's voice. It was evident her sweet hopes of resuming the conversation had just turned bitter. “Can you call me tomorrow after your catering affair?”
“Sure, Mom,” Tamarra lied. “Talk to you tomorrow.” Tamarra hung up the phone, then folded her arms in prayer. “Lord, I just got over one huge hurdle. Please spare me a little time to be refilled with your strength before I'm faced with an even bigger one, one that I know has been a long time coming.”
On the following Wednesday after Bible Study, Deborah and Tamarra met with Pastor and reported the information about what Deborah had seen on Helen's cell phone. Pastor said that before any further steps were taken or before Helen was confronted with the matter, everything needed to be reported to and addressed with the New Day board members. Pastor then wanted time for the board to look into things further, see if they could find a way to confirm that the pictures had actually been posted from Helen's phone. There had to be some type of technology that could prove their claim.
In the meantime, Pastor asked Tamarra if she would be able to deal with attending services with Helen until the investigation was over. At first Tamarra was set on putting up a fight, thinking the pastor was just trying to save face and avoid confrontation with Helen. But then the Holy Spirit reminded her of how many mistakes she had made without properly looking into things. How she'd been falsely accused of things without anyone bothering to look into them on her behalf. She imagined she'd want the same type of respect.
She agreed that Pastor and the board members were right to want to be clear on everything before they went accusing anyone of anything. So she decided to let things go and let God. After all, it seemed as though whenever she did that, things always worked in her favor. For once she wanted to know what it felt like to be out of God's way and in God's will.
Deborah purposely neglected telling Pastor about how Helen had been taunting her. Telling Pastor would more than likely mean revealing every little thing dating back to four years ago. She'd vowed she'd never do that. She'd never speak on it; not even with God. Besides, she didn't want Pastor to think she was going on some kind of witch hunt against Helen. If Deborah got her way, Helen would be so embarrassed and ashamed once Pastor and the board confronted her about the pictures, that she'd find a new place of worship anyhow. Then Deborah's little secret could stay swept under the rug just like it had been.
It all sounded like the perfect plan, but unfortunately, God's plan isn't always man's plan. This was one of those times. Sooner or later, it was God's plan for Deborah to finally face her past demons . . . and Him.

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