Chapter 36 Mariah
The Upstate and Georgetown, South Carolina
Present Day
The ride from Greenville to Greer was twenty minutes fraught with anxiety. I didn’t know what I was going to say to this woman. I barely knew her. I had no idea what motivated her. Still those twenty minutes were all it took for me to be standing in the driveway of Ellen Guthrie’s house. Seconds later, I was taking her stairs two at a time. The door opened before I could knock.
I hadn’t seen Ellen in years. Suddenly, this impromptu visit felt rude, and Ellen’s face showed she thought it was too. She did, however, open the door.
Her face brightened, and she looked past me. “Is she with you?”
She had to be talking about Kenni, not Sabrina. Kenni was the only she this woman wanted to see. “No.”
“Is she back from Georgetown?”
I pulled my bag up on my shoulder. I didn’t want to have this conversation on the porch. “Ellen, can I come in?”
“Not if you don’t have my granddaughter.”
“I need to talk to you.”
She frowned, but she let me in, though not without a warning. “It’s after nine.”
“I’m just in town for the night. I’m sorry to come unannounced.”
She was thoughtful for a moment. “Is Kenni okay?”
“She’s fine.”
“What are you doing here? I thought you were opening your family’s restaurant.”
“I am, but my husband was in a bad car accident this morning, so I had to come here to give the doctors medical consent.”
“Oh no. I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll pray that he recovers.”
“That’s kind of you,” I said. “It’s very serious. He’ll need every prayer he can get.”
She walked into a home office right there at the door, and I followed. If she was sitting at that desk, that’s how she knew I was in her driveway. She had a clear view of anyone arriving. She directed me to a chair in front of her desk while she sat behind it.
“You work from home?”
“I run a personal care home for the elderly.”
I looked around the room at the different paintings and framed certificates and pictures of her late husband and son. From a large frame on the credenza behind the desk, Kenni’s happy smile reminded me why I was here. Ellen folded her arms on the desk. “I don’t know you, Mariah, not at all, so I’m really surprised you’ve come.”
“I don’t know you either,” I said. “I’m surprised myself.”
“My lawyer told me not to talk to Sabrina about anything other than Kenni, but I suppose you aren’t Sabrina. What do you want?”
“I want you to drop this court case. If you pursue it, you’ll destroy the relationship you have with my sister.”
“I have carefully considered this. My concern is not for our relationship. It’s for Kenni’s well-being.”
“Kenni is safe in her other grandparents’ home with her mother. She attends a nice daycare at the church. She is happy. You’ve seen how happy on FaceTime.”
“Today, but what about tomorrow? Your sister is the very definition of unstable. Physically and mentally.”
“She had postpartum depression. She was treated for it, and you know that.”
Ellen didn’t say anything.
“And as far as the van... Sabrina is poor. That’s not a crime. It’s certainly not a reason to lose a child.”
Ellen’s nostrils flared, and she swallowed visibly. I continued, “She asked you to help her with Kenni. She didn’t have to do that. She could have moved to Georgetown at any time. She was trying to keep her near you.”
“I noticed you didn’t say she could go to Hendley with you and your husband. You two aren’t close. You shouldn’t be here speaking for her.”
“We are close,” I replied. “We’re close now, and that’s all that matters.”
“You live up here. She should come back here.”
“She could come back. If she did, I would help her. I would help with her rent and with her business, and she would be okay, but she wasn’t happy here. She was sad and lonely and depressed. There are too many memories of Kendrick, and she’s too isolated from her biggest support system, her family.”
“I’m family too. She can’t just take her away.” Ellen slammed her fist on the desk. “Kenni’s all I have of Kendrick.”
I felt sorry for this woman. She had buried a husband and her only child, but neither loss justified her behavior. I tempered my tone for the harsh reality check I needed to give her.
“I realize you are used to having Kenni so available to you, but respectfully, Ellen, Sabrina could move to Ghana if she wanted to. Kenni is her child. Not yours. You would do well to preserve that relationship and count your blessings that she’s still in South Carolina.”
She edged her chin up. “I have rights.”
“Some, but not as many as you think. I looked up that ambulance chaser of an attorney you hired. He settles every case he gets out of court. He’s never been to trial, and he’s handled very few family matters.”
“I’ll hire another one.”
“No one reputable. I suspect you’ve already checked.” I was assuming based on what Sabrina told me her lawyer said, but I could see Ellen’s fight deflating with each argument I made. “I know you love Kenni. I’m so sorry for the loss of your son. My heart breaks for you, but I will not let you hurt my sister. She’s suffered enough—never having our mother, losing Kendrick... not having my support the way she should have.” I peered into her eyes, tried to show her I was serious. “But I’m here now, and I’ll fight with her so that she can do what our mother couldn’t, and that’s give Kenni a mother’s love.”
Ellen slumped back in her seat. I leaned forward and reached across the desk for her hand. “Let’s be family. That’s what Sabrina wants. That’s what Kendrick would want, wouldn’t he?”
Ellen squeezed my hand back and whispered, “Forgive my grief.”
I understood those words. I stood and walked around to her. I enveloped her in an embrace and let her sob until she didn’t need my arms anymore.
Forgive my grief.
Those words told it all and fixed it all. I needed to say them to my sister, but first I needed to look in the mirror and say them to myself.