Serena Jasper is hurt, ashamed and angry.
In the first chapter of Speak To My Heart, her mother tells her that the man whose name is listed on her birth certificate is not her biological father. She gets the nerve to call her real father and is put off by his response:
The one thing I do remember doing that night after dinner with Mama was calling information from my cell phone as I drove without really seeing the road. The operator gave me Melvin Gates’s home number, and I dialed it immediately, unsure of what I would say if anyone answered....
With as much composure as I could muster, I asked for Deacon Gates.
When he said hello, I pulled my Toyota to the side of the road. I was beginning to shake, but I had to do this.
“This is Serena,” I said slowly, between clenched teeth. “I know the truth.”
He didn’t respond. His wife must be standing nearby, I fumed. I heard a young girl in the background.
“Daddy, come on, I need you to read my bedtime story. Please?”
Daddy. To Kami, the little girl he doted on and called his special gift from God to anyone who’d listen. When his sons had gone to college, he and Mrs. Gates had begun serving as foster parents. They took custody of Kami when she was six months old and eventually adopted her. I heard her kiss his cheek while I held the phone. Was God twisting this knife in my heart?....
I decided I needed a break.... From everyone and everything, including my Mama. And God.
What would you do?
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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