CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED and TWELVE
(part three)
“Can I ask you a question?” Tanesha asked.
“Of course,” Delphie said.
“Why didn’t you tell me that my mom was going to be all right?” Tanesha asked. “Tell me where she was. You’ve never been shy about butting right into the middle of everything. But the day my Mom might get free, you had to work?”
“Because I didn’t know if she’d be all right,” Delphie said. “Everything that happened wasn’t set in stone. Yvonne had to make the choices to get through the day. Jeraine had to meet up with the donkey so he would look familiar to Yvonne’s keeper but still unrecognizable. Bumpy had to reconnect with his son so he could call Rodney and convince him to come to Yvonne. Jeraine had to find her at the exact moment her keeper didn’t have time to kill her. I had to make her keeper think he had to be in Saint Louis by dawn. And you had to look for her.”
“It was… horrible.”
“For everyone,” Delphie said. “But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t exactly what had to happen. Jeraine closed his bank account, right?”
Tanesha nodded.
“He helped someone else without regard for himself, right?”
Tanesha nodded.
“That’s exactly what he needed to do to grow into the man he needs to be,” Delphie said. “You needed to stand your ground and commit to finding your mother. Everyone involved from Charlie and Tink to the boys with your father at Sand Creek, they needed to experience the frantic loss of someone they didn’t know but loved anyway. The whole experience gave Rodney the courage to stay with Yvonne the first night. Your actions reforged your family.”
“But…”
“And it was hard,” Delphie said. “It was awful for me. I saw all of the possible paths. Jeraine missed the donkey so the keeper recognized him. Yvonne insisted on finding you and her keeper killed her and dumped her body in an alley off Franklin. Your despair was too great to launch the rescue so the boys that helped your father never experienced the panic their families felt every time they disappeared. I could see them all. I had to believe and trust that everything would fall into place.”
“It did.”
“And, in a way that can only be described as a miracle,” Delphie said.
The strong pain medications pulled Tanesha toward sleep. She forced herself to stay present.
“Did you make it happen?” Tanesha asked.
“No, I’ve never had that kind of power,” Delphie said. “If you ask me, I think love made it happen. You love your mother even though she’s disappointed you. Rodney desperately loves Yvonne, but, like his years in prison, she was taken from him by a power much great than himself. Jeraine loves you. You love him. Bumpy loves his son. Each of you felt cut off from what you loved and powerless to change it. You couldn’t have your mother. Rodney couldn’t have Yvonne. Jeraine wasn’t able to connect with you and you with him. Bumpy felt like his son was dead to him. And even Yvonne’s keeper. On some level, he loved her too much to kill her.
“Step by step, love made it happen,” Delphie said.
Smiling at the idea, Tanesha slipped into medicated sleep.
“Let’s just hope love will carry us through the next few days,” Delphie whispered to herself. “Because anything can happen now.”
Delphie’s brow furrowed with worry. She shook the worry out of her head and said a prayer to the Goddess. She had to believe that every thing would work out for the best like it always had. Nodding to herself, she returned to her knitting.
Denver Cereal continues tomorrow…
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