The Truth Is the Light (14 page)

Chapter 27

“C
larence, I want to invite you to come and sing at a program we're having here at church in two weeks. It's October eighteen, three
PM
to be exact,” Reverend Walker said. “Since it's in the afternoon, it won't interfere with your church. I've asked Pastor Landris, and he's agreed, to come and share with us. I thought it would be a special treat if you'd bless us all with a song.” “Sure, Dad. I'm not busy that day. I can do that,” Clarence said.

“That's great. That's great.”

“You sound like you weren't expecting me to agree so quickly.”

“I was praying that you would. I suppose I'm just surprised you didn't give me a harder time about it,” Reverend Walker said. “It's been a long time since you've been there.”

“Dad, I don't purposely try to give you a hard time. There are just some things you and I don't, and probably never will, agree on,” Clarence said.

“You never know. Look how God has already changed things. A few years ago when I was talking to you about coming back to the Lord, you blew me off without a second thought. Now look at you. You've given your heart to the Lord. Got baptized again.”

Clarence started to correct his father, but technically his father could be considered correct. He had gone in the water twice. It wasn't that big of a deal to start an argument about it. And that's what he believed his father would have done had he pressed the subject.

“You've walked away from your old business. Now you're back in church, working for the Lord. I want the people at Divine Conquerors Church to be encouraged by what you've done in your life. So . . . what are you doing to make a living now?”

“I have a business degree, remember? Mama made sure both Knowledge and I got our college degrees. Knowledge put his degree to work in the business world his way; I put mine to work in another. My way was not the right way, but I have lots of hands-on experience as a small business owner. I've been working on turning that building now sitting idle into a restaurant or something like that. I'd like to combine maybe a restaurant with a stage. Bring in various events and acts for Christians to attend. You know, be entertained while getting some good, down-home soul food cooking. Soul food with
soul food
. Get it? Soul food, as in the Word of God, and soul food as in down-home cooking.”

“Yep. You've always had a fondness for good food.”

“Yep, that's me. I've always had a fondness for good food.” Clarence shook his head. How his father was able to serve him a backhanded slap no matter what the subject was never ceased to amaze him.

“Clarence, I believe in you. And if you're looking for someone to invest in a venture such as that, let me know. I have some dollars put aside I'd like to put to work. I can't think of any better place to do that than in something like what you're talking about. But you need to run it by Knowledge first. You know your brother is a genius when it comes to business. The government has just recruited him to help crack down on business corruption. And of course, Isis is the perfect person to look over any contracts before you sign anything.”

“Yeah, I know all of this, Dad.”

“Well, I need to get off this phone. Now, you know you're welcome to visit the church without some special program. Divine Conquerors Church
is
and always
will be
your home church; I don't care where you say your membership is. We've lost a lot of members, but if you were to come back and take over being the Minister of Music, we could build things back up again in a hurry. I know we could,” Reverend Walker said. “You still know how to play the organ and the piano, don't you?”

“Yes, Dad. But it's been a while. And people don't play organs much anymore. I have a keyboard. That's what musicians are using more these days. But I've kept up my playing skills pretty much on the side, mainly for pleasure, of course.”

“A keyboard? That's even better. You just let me know, and I can have you working at my church making a really good salary before the week is out.”

Clarence grinned. “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”

“Well, you know my philosophy: if it ain't broke, why mess with it? All I've been doing for all of these years I've done for my children, all of them. My sons by my first wife are clearly not interested in having much to do with me. I hate that, but there's nothing much I can do about it other than pray for them, the same way I prayed for you. You're getting there. God is still working on you yet. You came back to the Lord. If I can just get you back to Divine Conquerors, I'll be a happy father. I'd like you, along with Knowledge, to be in position to take over for me when I'm ready to retire. That's why I've worked so hard all of these years. It's all about my legacy and what I'll leave my heirs.”

“I thought you were doing it for the Lord,” Clarence said.

“That goes without saying. See, that's why you and I have so much trouble communicating.”

“Dad, I really don't want to do this with you, okay. Everything I do now is for the glory of God. So, let's just leave it that I'll be at the Sunday afternoon program you've asked me to come to. And I will sing praises unto our Lord.”

“Thanks, Clarence. That works for me,” Reverend Walker said. “I'll see you on the eighteenth . . . unless you decide to bless us with your presence and come even before then.”

Clarence chuckled a little. “Okay, Dad. For sure, nobody can ever accuse you of giving up too easily.”

Chapter 28

“A
ngela, I finally found it,” Arletha said, speaking about the journal Angela had asked her about. It had been a week now since Angela had asked her grandmother for the journal her great-grandmother had written.

Angela finally breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought it was lost for good,” Angela said.

“I told you it was here somewhere. I just wasn't sure where I'd put it. I was doing some kind of praying to hurry up and find it. I have so much junk. I guess I really need to get rid of some of this stuff. I found some things I hadn't seen in twenty years.”

“So, why was it so hard to find?” Angela said.

“Because I called myself putting it up. The only problem is, I put it up so well, I'd forgotten exactly where I put it. I should have given it back to you after I looked through it. I'm going to learn. I'm so glad you asked me about it though. I just flipped through it, and it made me appreciate how my mother had taken the time to write some of this stuff down specifically for our benefit. I don't think I appreciated it as much the first time I read it as I did this time around,” Arletha said.

“Well, I'm coming to get it right now,” Angela said.

“Child, do you know what time it is? It's almost nine
PM
. This can certainly wait until tomorrow. If you've waited this long, then you can wait another few hours. I just wanted to let you know that I'd finally located it. Especially since you've called me practically every single day asking if I had. Whatever you're up to, it must be good.”

“Grand, I'm not up to anything.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I'm getting ready to go to bed. So you can come by tomorrow and it will still be here.”

“I could be there in twenty minutes. Surely you can wait up twenty more minutes. I'd like to read through it tonight. You know, having children, this is a good time for me to get some real things accomplished,” Angela said.

“Okay, Angela. You come on and get this. But you're going to tell me what this was all about at some point. I mean that.”

“If there's anything to tell, I promise you I will definitely let you know.”

“Well, come on. I'll be waiting for you.”

“Thank you.” Angela hung up, then looked upward. “Thank You, Lord,” she said. “Thank You.”

Chapter 29

R
ansom Perdue had been blessed over the past few weeks. He had gone to see his grandson being baptized. He had somehow, God only knows how, been reconnected with a daughter he knew had been born but he'd never gotten to see or even known whether she still lived. His family had instantaneously increased when he met Memory; her daughter, Lena; Lena's husband, Bishop Richard Jordan; Lena's daughter, Theresa Greene; Theresa's husband, Maurice; and their two children, the shy and beautiful Mauricia and the rambunctious and handsome M-double-G.

Originally, they'd only planned to stay a couple of days. Lena, especially, had been skeptical that Ransom was even the real deal. She confessed to him later how she'd first believed him to be merely a ploy used by Montgomery Powell the Second. When Ransom heard the full details of what had happened to Sarah, he was just as upset about it as they were. He understood why the thought of a nearly one-hundred-year-old man showing up like he seemed to, so conveniently near Johnnie Mae—the one person this family would likely trust—would have spooked them. To Ransom, Montgomery sounded just as ruthless and despicable as his evil father, Heath.

And Ransom knew how foul Heath was. The two had bumped against each other in their young years. For Heath to have a son and have passed on his hatred and bigotry coupled with the power and money Heath had illegitimately obtained, in Ransom's eyes, as well as Memory's and Lena's, was a bad combination. Neither Sarah nor her mother ever stood a chance against them. He only wished he knew whether Victor Senior had been the one who had set him up to be permanently taken away.

Ransom had known Sarah's mother, Grace. He was able to share with his newfound family things they didn't know about the Flemings. But there wasn't enough time in the day to make up for almost a century of history Ransom carried within him.

Memory wanted to know her father better. She'd grown up with more than one lie in her life. For decades, she'd been led to believe that Mamie Patterson was her mother and Willie B. Patterson was her father. When she learned, at the age of seventy, that in fact Mamie was
not
her biological mother but instead a woman named Sarah Fleming was, she couldn't believe something like this could happen in America. But it did, and it had. When she looked back, she knew it was more than probable, and was indeed a fact of life—secrets and lies merely facts of her own life. How many countless other people had lived and died a lie without ever knowing
their
real truth? At least she now knew hers.

Memory had known her skin tone was like that of a white woman. And it had given her both advantages and disadvantages throughout her lifetime. She fit and didn't fit at times. But she'd always been a free spirit, a rebellious person, a survivor. She owed Mamie Patterson a lot, even before learning the truth. When she heard the whole story, she realized how many others she owed for her life. Grace Fleming, who had stepped up at the last minute and ensured that instructions from Heath, her mother's half-brother (who she later learned may not have even been that much, but possibly merely a stepbrother), were not carried out by the midwife in attendance. A midwife named Pearl Black.

Pearl had been the daughter of a midwife. And Pearl had had no intentions of letting the little baby die. Pearl Black wasn't sure how she would manage it, but she wasn't about to carry out Heath's directive. She would somehow find a way to sneak that baby out of there, making it appear she'd died. But she wasn't going to allow the baby to die. Pearl would have come up with something. But she didn't have to. Grace had quickly and immediately stepped in within the first breath of life that baby (later named Memory Elaine) had drawn.

It had been Grace who had scooped up Sarah's baby while Sarah lay unconscious from something Pearl had given her prior to the baby's birth. It was Grace who had saved the baby by carrying her into the room where their maid, Mamie Patterson, had earlier delivered a son. It was Grace who told Mamie she had delivered twins instead of the one birth. Twins that were like salt and pepper, night and day, light and darkness, vanilla and chocolate. Grace was the one who told Pearl to record it as such in her midwife book. How they would fix things later on was not on any of the three women's minds at the time—that could be straightened out at a safer time. But for now, the goal was to save the baby. And they were determined to do just that, by whatever means were necessary.

Grace, the last person Ransom would have expected to hear had gone out of her way, totally out on a limb, to save
his
mixed child. Grace, whom Ransom had known to hate colored folk, almost with a passion, had been the one to put everything on the line to save the child that carried his blood, hers, and her daughter's through her veins.

Grace had given one of the boxes he'd made to Mamie for his daughter to have someday—a father believed to be long gone or dead. Inside that Wings of Grace box (as everyone called the boxes he'd never known would become legends) she'd given to Mamie for Memory was a necklace. An alexandrite necklace with history, which was worth millions. A necklace that would later bring Memory, Lena, and Theresa together. It was hard and hurtful at times, but bring them together was—in the end—precisely what that necklace had done.

They'd talked about a little of this while they were at Johnnie Mae's house. But the real discussion of this happened the following day. Memory and her family had a suite at the hotel where they were staying. Zenobia decided to take off from work Friday after their meeting that Thursday night. She'd called the nursing home and informed them she would be keeping her father a few days more. There was a discussion about whether she could or should do that. Isis, Zenobia's daughter-in-law, put in a call to inform the nursing home director that her mother-in-law and grandfather had every right to do this if they so chose. The nursing home was there to render a service, not to act as his jailer. The director quickly backed off any further objections she may have had.

Ransom even stayed at the hotel with Memory and her family on Saturday night. Memory and Lena told him all about the videotape Grace recorded. The other Wings of Grace box Grace left for them with things that helped them with Sarah. The surprise information relating to his birth: that he was born to Adele Powell, a black woman who had passed for white. A woman who could not tell her white racist husband that the child they had produced together was dark-skinned, not because she'd been with a black man, but because her life-sustaining veins contained the blood of her African heritage.

So she'd done the only thing she knew to do to save herself and most likely her child. She sought out a black midwife in another town, pretended she was just going into labor so this woman would deliver her baby, found out if there was any possible way the baby had the whiteness of her skin color along with the whiteness of her husband's. When the midwife told her the baby was not a white child, she'd asked the midwife to take the baby and find him a good home. After all, it was the way of their people. To take care of children that weren't theirs by birth but, because of their color, were theirs. It turns out she'd been wise to give up the child, who very quickly turned from light to dark. And that midwife had turned out to be Pearl Black's mother.

The baby had been given to a good family—the midwife claimed he had been named Ransom when the mother had asked for the Bible and pointed to a word, thus naming her son. That part had been the tale Pearl's mother had spun as to how she came to have this baby who now needed a good home. This motherless child whose father couldn't bear to raise him alone. So much of Ransom's life's story was also not true. And most of this truth hadn't come to light until almost all of the key players had passed on.

Adele Powell was the same woman, they'd later learned from the tape and information Grace left, who had given birth to Heath Powell while she was still married. It was revealed later that she was having an affair with Victor Fleming Senior. That's how Heath ended up with the last name Powell instead of Fleming—his full name being Montgomery Heath Powell. Adele had convinced Victor that, in spite of her being married, this child was his. That's how Heath came into so much of Victor Fleming's power and wealth. He believed Heath was his son. Shortly after Heath was born, Adele's husband suddenly and mysteriously died. A month later, Adele married Victor and became pregnant with their second son, Victor Junior. Adele died giving birth to him. Victor Senior then married Grace. Grace gave birth to Sarah, the child who would grow up to become her father's heart.

But Sarah Elaine Fleming fell in love with a dark-skinned, black man named Ransom Perdue. A man Sarah would not learn, until close to her own time to depart this world, was technically her stepbrother, as Adele Powell was Ransom's biological mother and Adele had been married to Sarah's biological father.

Zenobia had become concerned. Maybe there were some things her father really didn't need to know or hear. After all, he
was
an elderly man. And although he didn't appear to be frail, she couldn't say how much his heart truly could take.

But Ransom had wanted to know everything that they knew. And that's what he'd done with his newfound family. He'd listened to as much as they were able to tell him, not just about the past that was part of his old world, but about their individual pasts—the good, the bad,
and
the ugly.