The Other Side of Divine (29 page)

—Revelation 1:3

 

 

 

A
year later, much had happened in the lives of Zachary and Gabrielle, the least of all being the new baby that arrived on March 30, 2012, the exact same day as Jasmine's birthday. When the baby boy made his screaming debut on that day, Gabrielle was a little concerned with how Jasmine might take having to share her birthday with a new baby brother.

“Are you kidding me?” Jasmine said. “My baby brother was born on
my
birthday. Now how awesome is that?! And you want to know what else?” Jasmine had said in the hospital room on her eleventh birthday, holding her little brother as Gabrielle sat on the couch with them.

“What?” Gabrielle said.

Jasmine looked down at her brother as she spoke. “It's really a blessing from God that little Zachary chose to be born on my birthday.”

“How so?”

Jasmine looked up at Gabrielle. “Well, my mother, or should I say my adoptive mother, died on my birthday. It kind of made my birthday sad after that. But now, something wonderful has happened. Of all the days that my brother could have picked to be born, he and God got together and decided it would be on
this
day, my birthday. That really says a lot. Don't you think?” She smiled.

Zachary and Gabrielle debated what they really wanted to name their little boy. Jasmine was already calling him Little Zachary, but they weren't sure they wanted to make the baby a junior. But after Jasmine was so insistent that he would be
thrilled
about it, Jasmine decided she needed to help them with their apparent dilemma.

“If you don't want to name him Zachary Wayne Morgan Jr. then what about Zachary Wayne Morgan the Second?” Jasmine stood over his portable crib in the hospital room when she made that declaration. She then grabbed the baby's hand and shook it lightly. “What do you say?” She suddenly bent down with her ear to his mouth. “What's that? You say you like it? What? Ohhhh, I'm sorry. You said you
love
it!” She turned to Gabrielle and Zachary. “He loves it.” She grinned.

“Well, then,” Zachary said to Gabrielle, “looks like you and I are outnumbered?”

Gabrielle frowned and pulled back a bit. “How is two to two outnumbered?” Gabrielle asked, pointing first to Jasmine and the baby and then her and Zachary.

“Actually, it's three to two,” Zachary said. “Jasmine, the baby, and God.”

Gabrielle chuckled. “God, huh? Okay. So Zachary Wayne Morgan the Second it is.”

Then there was Tiffany, divorced from Darius, now dating Clarence Walker with their relationship appearing to be serious and moving with promise toward a possible wedding altar.

Fatima and Trent's baby girl was born on December 3, 2011, as healthy and as pretty as could be, looking like the both of them.

Darius was still slowly recovering from the burns he'd incurred during the meth lab explosion. He could have gone to jail, but no charges were filed against him or Divine. The four people who died from the fire (two on the scene and the other two in the hospital) were the only ones who could have definitively fingered their true involvement. But needless to say, because Divine knew she was being watched, she'd dropped her illegal activities, which meant she no longer had the money to live in the lifestyle to which she'd grown accustomed. Darius couldn't work because he was recovering. They had been evicted from the mansion and were presently residing in an old run-down house that once belonged to Divine's parents.

From what Tiffany was being told by Darius (who was trying to make up with her and get her to remarry him and throw their divorce nonsense out), Divine wasn't the woman she was when they first met. She didn't take care of him. He was definitely having a hard time. He confessed that he hadn't realized what a wonderful woman he'd had in Tiffany until he'd lost her. Tiffany reminded him that he hadn't lost her; essentially, he'd thrown her away. There was a difference in how those two things were viewed, as one man's loss can be another man's gain. She told him she would continue praying for him and Divine. She even took the children to see him on occasion. After all, he was
still
their father. She would support her children. But when it came to her and Darius? That chapter was over, and she'd already turned the page.

Aunt Cee-Cee was convicted of fraud. But because it was her first offense (that she'd been caught doing anyway), they only made her spend sixty days in jail with three years of probation, and she had to pay back all the money she'd stolen plus a hefty interest. Miss Crowe admitted she'd likely never see a dime of the money. But still, if there was an opportunity to collect any of it, she was going to, and happily so. “People need to learn to stop taking stuff that doesn't belong to them and not caring about how it affects the one they took it from,” Miss Crowe said. “I absolutely positively forgive her. But she's still going to pay.”

Bennie was now living in the house left to Jasmine by her late adoptive mother. Someone had to keep the house up. Gabrielle had intended to let him stay there for free, but he insisted on paying his way, so she let him. Not because she was greedy or needy for money. But because it allowed her father to be a man, the man he desired to be. He was working full-time at the church and loving it as much as they seemed to be loving him and the work he was doing keeping up the grounds. And of course, the day Miss Crowe came home from the hospital after her heart attack, she blasted Bennie.

“I told you not to call me Esther Mae. I heard you when I was being carted off,” Miss Crowe said. “You'd better be glad I was flat on my back or I would have kept my promise and clocked you one.”

Bennie grinned because he'd done that on purpose in hopes of causing just the reaction it had: that she would open her eyes and fight.

Paris and Andrew were still together. Gabrielle didn't understand why he felt the need to tell
her
that a month after her wedding. It was as though he was confessing that there was a reason he and his wife shouldn't have still been together. But Andrew loved Paris. And Paris did appear to have changed a lot. Gabrielle attributed some of Paris's transformation and growth to her being a member of the ministry led by Pastor Landris and his anointed teaching.

“I mean, if you can sit under the true Word of God and not see a change in your life,” Gabrielle said to Zachary concerning Paris, “then there's something fundamentally wrong with you.”

“Or mentally wrong,” Zachary said.

Reportedly, Andrew and Paris were actively trying to have another baby.

Lawrence got Jasmine some weekends. They never forced her to go or made her feel guilty if she didn't want to go. It helped that she and Imani were so close. Imani loved her little sister and refused to call her a half-sister.

Jasmine relayed what Imani had said to her the first time she was there for an unsupervised visit. “We have the same marrow, the same blood type, and we're children of the same God. That means: In every sense of the word, we're full-blooded sisters.”

Miss Crowe (now Aunt Esther) was doing better than ever. In fact, she was keeping Jasmine and Little Zachary while Gabrielle and Zachary were gone for their one year anniversary. They were finally making good on that honeymoon they didn't get to originally take.

“Just know,” Miss Crowe said to Gabrielle and Zachary, “that when you two get back from your little honey over the moon, Jasmine and I are going to Disney World to see Mickey and Minnie and, of course, Cinderella and Prince Charming.”

And when the not-so-new newlyweds returned two weeks later, the following week Miss Crowe and Jasmine did just that. The two of them had a special bond indeed.

That Sunday after Miss Crowe's near-death experience, Jasmine had taken a picture she'd drawn and colored to the hospital for Miss Crowe, who looked at it, and nodded. She then grabbed Jasmine and hugged her tight.

“You've been there, too, haven't you?” Miss Crowe said, gazing down at the picture. It was a picture of rows and rows (as far as the eyes could see) of white clouds on top of an indigo blue sky, and a male figure with arms open wide surrounded by a bright light of such magnitude it was difficult to see Him.

Yep, the other side of Divine might not be as great as the actual Divine that for many is to come. But there were always places and special moments where one could experience a little bit of Heaven right here on earth. Amen?

Amen.

 

 

 

 

The questions that follow are included to enhance your
group's reading of this book.

Thank you for going on this journey with me. I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have enjoyed bringing it. My ultimate goal has and will always be to give you a great reading experience. My prayer is that, as we come to a close, you've felt that here.

Don't miss Vanessa Davis Griggs's

Available wherever books are sold

 

 

Turn the page for an excerpt from
The Other Side of Dare
. . .