Free The Truth Is the Light by Vanessa Davie Griggs Page B

spent quite a lot of time with her mother. Then her mother just happens to see the Wings of Grace box and conveniently somehow remembers to tell her about it. When Johnnie Mae goes to check it out, it turns out to be true. That’s when she learns Gramps is actually Ransom Perdue.
    â€œBut why would anyone go to this much trouble to make us think this Ransom Perdue is Sarah’s Ransom Perdue?” Johnnie Mae asked out loud, still trying to work through this puzzle. “It doesn’t make sense.”
    â€œIf you ask me, I’d say it looks like it has Montgomery Powell the Second’s handprint all over it.” Lena was referring to Sarah’s grandnephew who had earlier worked hard to keep Sarah locked away and from returning to her rightful position in the Fleming family hierarchy, and thereby taking back her house he’d illegally confiscated. A home that—to Montgomery’s dismay since Sarah’s death—Memory now legally lived in.
    Johnnie Mae thought about it for a minute. She, of all people, knew how conniving and hateful Sarah’s grandnephew could be. A scenario like this would fit right in line with something he might do.
    â€œWell,” Lena said, “let me call Theresa and Memory and tell them what’s going on. It looks like we’ll be heading to Birmingham shortly. That’s a sure way for us to get to the bottom of this, once and for all. True silver and true gold will still be silver and gold after the heat and after the fire. Tell Ransom Perdue to guess who’s coming to dinner.”

Chapter 11

    It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
    â€”Lamentations 3:26

    â€œZ achary, you’re bringing who here, when?” Leslie Morgan said to her son.
    â€œMy friend Gabrielle Mercedes in two weeks,” Zachary said.
    â€œIt will be good to see you, but why are you bringing a woman with you? She’s not pregnant, is she? Oh, my goodness, please tell me you haven’t gotten someone pregnant. I told you some women will do whatever they can to get their hooks into a good-looking, successful man like yourself. Zachary, baby, I told you—”
    â€œMom, Gabrielle is not pregnant. Gracious, you need to stop that. You just start flying all over the place with your thoughts.”
    â€œWell, what kind of a name is Gabrielle Mercedes anyway? It sounds like a stripper name to me. Please tell me you’re not bringing a stripper to my house.”
    Zachary paused for a moment. Gabrielle wasn’t a stripper, at least not anymore. And this was definitely not a conversation he wanted to have with his mother over the phone. The fact was that Gabrielle used to be an exotic dancer. But she’d given her life to Christ now, and that dancer life had become part of her past that had been pardoned by God and cast into the sea of forgetfulness. That’s how Pastor Landris had explained past sins of those who had given their lives to the Lord and had become new creatures in Him.
    â€œMom, weren’t you the one who used to tell us not to judge or make fun of other people’s names? That was you, wasn’t it? It looked like you . . . sounded like you . . .”
    â€œYeah, okay,” Leslie said. “But you call me out of the blue to tell me and your father about some young woman who used to know your aunt Esther. That was fine. Great news. But now the two of you are dating and you want to bring her here to meet us. Are you sure something’s not going on? Because you know how I am, Zachary. I don’t like to be sandbagged. If she’s pregnant or if there’s something I need to know about her, you need to tell me now . . . before she comes here. I hope you know that the truth is the light.”
    Zachary thought about the words his mother was saying. And he knew from more than a few personal experiences, his mother didn’t have a problem with embarrassing him in