“I can see that. You take Winnie for a walk and I’ll try talking to her.”
“Baby girl,” Percy called out. “Winnie and I are going to roll over to Duane Reade, I forgot my toothbrush. Do you need anything?”
“No Daddy.”
He looked at Nadine and whispered, “Talk to her.” He kissed her and she waved him off. He put the leash on Winnie and left.
“Hey Mommy, do you want something to drink?”
“No. Sit down.” She patted the sofa. “It’s just you and me. What’s going on?”
“No—”
“Kyla Pauline James…what is going on?” Nadine was a take no prisoners person. Sean was correct. Kyla got her frankness from her mother, as well as her spunk and looks.
Kyla took a deep breath and answered. “I broke up with Eric.”
“What?”
“And I’ve been going to church,” she announced.
“What?”
“Well, that’s not correct. I joined church and I was filled with the Holy Spirit.”
“Come again.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
“I broke up with Eric and joined church.”
“When did all of this happen…did you say church…why… when?”
“A couple of months ago, Phillips Christian Center and because it was time.”
Nadine’s mouth was wide open. “I see. How did Sean—”
“He doesn’t know.”
“That you broke up with Eric?”
“He knows about that. He doesn’t know about the church thing.”
“Okay, let’s start over and I’ll take a glass of water.”
Kyla went into the kitchen and came back with a glass of water and handed it to her mother. She sat down and told her mother everything…the ultimatum, the voices, receiving the Holy Spirit and her friendship with DeeDee and Mike Matthews. When she started sharing about the Bible class that had peeked her curiosity, her face was glowing. Nadine hadn’t seen Kyla like this in several years. The calm, friendly playfulness was a refreshing change. Nadine was happy about Kyla’s friendship with Sean and secretly hoped he would rub off on her, but this was a little more than she had expected. She would never say this to anyone, but she had been praying Kyla would make this change. Now that she had, she was afraid her reaction may have hurt her daughter’s feelings.
“Baby girl, I am so happy, but you could have told us this over the phone.”
“I completed my New Member classes and tomorrow there’s this thing, sort of like a graduation.”
“You mean Right Hand of Fellowship?”
“That’s it and I already worked it out where I can hide out upstairs until it’s time for the fellowship thing.”
“Uh-huh. Have you given any thought to how Sean is going to react?”