Free A Wish and a Prayer by Beverly Jenkins Page A

while she was living. “He is cute. Most of the July guys are.”
    â€œI know. Eli said, Why would I want to date somebody dumber than me? I guess Diego never finished high school.” Crys looked up. “But I don’t think that makes a difference. You’re way smarter than the OG, and you’re good as a couple. Right?”
    It took Bernadine a moment to find her voice. “I think it’s different when you’re adults. We have life experience to keep us balanced.”
    â€œOh.” Crys appeared to think on that for a moment before going back to her drawing.
    Bernadine asked casually, “You haven’t heard from Diego since he and the family were here at Thanksgiving, have you?”
    â€œTried to e-mail him a couple of times just to say hi, but it bounced back. It must be an old one.”
    Bernadine regularly monitored Crystal’s e-mail and social media accounts. The other parents kept a sharp eye on their kids’ online activities as well. Since she hadn’t seen anything come in from Diego either, all she could think was, Thank you, Holy Ghost!
    â€œSo, how’d the rest of the meeting go?” Crys asked.
    â€œOkay.” She didn’t want to tell Crystal about Stillwell because she didn’t want her to worry or to think she needed to do something to keep her mom safe. She’d tell her eventually, however. “How are you and the Witches of Franklin getting along? Are they still working your nerves?”
    â€œOnly when I pay them any attention. Today they tried to tell me I made up going to Spain with you. I refused to participate in stupid discussions.”
    â€œGood for you. Keep taking the high road.”
    â€œBe easier to just kick their butts, but I’m trying the high road for now.”
    Bernadine bent and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I love you, Crystal. I’m heading up to my room. How close are you to being finished?”
    â€œAlmost done. I’ll lock up down here before I come up for bed. You just go relax.”
    â€œOkay.”
    Upstairs in her bedroom, Bernadine took off her work clothes, put on sweats, and after stretching out on the bed, tried not to think about Stillwell. Picking up the remote, she clicked on the flat-screen. There were other things on her mind competing for attention too, like deciding what temperature the oil needed to be when she fried squirrel-head Wiggly and the Big Box lawyers, because she doubted she’d seen the last of them. Then there was the arrival of Preston’s maternal grandmother, apparently tomorrow, according to the text she’d received from Brain earlier. Bernadine had only talked with Lenore Crenshaw on the phone a couple of times, and frankly hadn’t liked the superior tone of the voice on the other end. According to the background check Lily had done on the Crenshaws, they hailed from Massachusetts. Old money. Free Black ancestors fought for the colonies during the war. Lenore Crenshaw was one of the first fully documented African American women admitted into the hallowed ranks of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
    She thought back on the short visit she’d had with Preston’s birth mom, Margaret Winthrop, and the painful story the NASA scientist had shared. That Lenore had mentally pummeled her daughter into giving Preston up for adoption while being happy about his father’s death said volumes about who Lenore Crenshaw was as a person. For Lawrence Mays to have earned a scholarship to MIT, he must’ve been brilliant, but Lenore had chosen to ignore that in order to berate him for where he’d come from. Had he lived, life might have been different. Preston would have blossomed as the son of incredibly intelligent parents, and sadness wouldn’t be still pouring out of his birth mother’s soul. To say Bernadine wasn’t looking forward to the arrival of Lenore Crenshaw was an understatement, and for some unnamed