Sugah & Spice (39 page)

Chapter 30

Charlotte thought about church, brunch and everything that had transpired right before her eyes.
“
Young people
”
, she said smiling. Richard placed his arms around her waist, drawing her closer to him. They rocked back and forth, enjoying the moment
, falling deeper in love
. She was truly thankful to have him in her life. But she was worried about Sugah. If anything happened to her
,
she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself.
‘
You have to protect her. She is in danger
,
’
Charlotte heard a voice say. She had heard the voice many times before and was never mislead, so she knew that what she was sensing at brunch was true. Sugah was indeed in some kind of trouble but what? A sharp pain soared through her entire body.
Charlotte leaned in closer to Richard, holding him tighter. She never wanted that moment to end.

“Baby, what’s wrong? You are shaking! Charlotte, Sweetheart
!” Richard looked at her with great concern and compassion in his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to protect the woman he loved and seeing her in pain, pretending as if it were nothing, touched him to his core.  “S
hh…come here. Let me get you a blanket.”
He tried to lead her over to the sofa in the nearest room
, but she wouldn’t move
.
She stood frozen as if she was deep in thought. Richard didn’t know what else to do. He closed his eyes and silently prayed, asking God to keep her safe.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to will the pain away.
“No, I’m okay. Don’t move please. I just want to stay here, just like this for now.”
Another pain ripped through her
. Ch
arlotte doubled over
before
collaps
ing
in Richard’s arms. He didn’t know what was happening or what he should do.

“Charlotte, Sweetheart. Please don’t leave me right now! Please, Sweetheart!” He was hysterical, thinking the worse because he had experienced someone dying in his arms before. It was eerie as if history was repeating itself. Sophia collapsed in his arms just minutes before taking her last breath, and now Charlotte was doing the exact same. Richard panicked. Scared to move in fear of hurting or doing more harm to his beloved, he pulled out his cell phone. As his fingers ran across the numbers, Charlotte suddenly opened her eyes. She smiled and Richard’s world was okay.

“Baby, what happened? You scared the daylights out of me! We need to get you to the hospital. Come on, let’s go. I’ll call Sugah on the way.”

Charlotte didn’t want to go anywhere. What she had just saw
frightened her to the core. She had to tell Richard. “Help me up to the
bedroom
, Sweetheart. I have something to share with you
first
. I’m okay, really. I just need to lie down for a minute. I promise that if I’m not feeling better in a few hours, you can call my doctor but no hospital, please.
And don’t bother Sugah. She has enough to worry about.
” She hated hospitals.
Charlotte
remembered the day she and her sister went to the hospital with her aunt because something had happened to their parents.

***********************************************************************

That day started out as a beautiful sunny day. It was a Sunday. Their mother woke them up early as usual to get dressed for Sunday school. She always prepared breakfast, which they ate as a family. They laughed and talked
,
and couldn’t wait to go to the beach after church as promised the week prior
by their father
. Well, that all changed when their father answered the telephone that
morning
.
He
got a call from one of his parishioners, and had to leave. Their mother decided to go with him
seeing the panic suddenly appear across his face
.
She knew her husband needed her by his side.

Their father was a great Baptist preacher, whom everyone called in their time to trouble to pray with them. Before their parents left them, she and her sister were dropped off at their aunt Eugenia’s house, their father’s sister. She was very sweet and kind. She adored them, but Charlotte knew that her sister was her aunt’s favorite. Aunt Eugenia had no kids, but a bear of a man as a husband. Uncle
Punk, as everyone called him, loved his wife and was always nice to them whenever they were there. He was
quiet until he felt comfortable enough to talk to you.
But everyone in town loved
and respected him greatly.
Uncle Punk was truly a man after God’s heart.
He lived his life pleasing to God and all who ca
me
in contact with him saw and felt how sincere he was.

Usually she and her sister loved going to spend time with their uncle and aunt, but that day they wanted to be with their parents. It was as if something was telling them that it would be their last time together.
Charlotte recalled the last words she would ever hear from her parents again. “Ya’ll mind your uncle and aunt, be good in Sunday school and we will see you before church service start,” her father said giving her and her sister
hugs and
kisses.

“That’s right and
Eugenia;
if y
ou have any trouble out of them
you have my permission to tan their backsides. I love you my precious girls. See you a bit later, okay,” their mother said, kissing them both on the forehead before getting back into the car. Charlotte remembered watching the car until it was out of sight, thinking something bad was about to happen to them. That was the first day she heard the voice.
‘
You won’t see them again. They are not coming back.
’
Charlotte cried in her sister’s arms telling her what she had just heard. Her sister held her tight and wept with her. They had a close bond. They were best friends and simply adored each other.

They went on to church
expecting to see their parents after Sunday school, but that didn’t happen. The Assistant Pastor ended up delivering the sermon that day and after church Aunt Eugenia and Uncle Punk were speaking with a few of the church members when someone hollered out that the pastor and first lady had been in a horrible accident just down the road. Charlotte remembered squeezing her sister’s hand to keep from falling to the ground. Her sister only
looked
at her,
holding on to her tightly,
thinking about what was said before church.
When they got to the hospital it was packed with family, friends, and church members. Everyone was crying, trying to console each other, but they tried composing themselves when she and her sister walked in.

As their aunt and uncle spoke with the doctor and policemen, Charlotte knew then that the voice in her head was right. Her parents were dead. Aunt Eugenia walked over to her and her sister placing her arms around them.
She knelt down in front of them with tears in her eyes and sadness in her heart. Uncle Punk stood behind them with his hand on each of their shoulders. He wanted to make sure nothing happened to them just in case they should fall.

Aunt Eugenia looked at her husband and he nodded at her. She sighed heavily before speaking again.
“
Sweethearts, your mom and dad went to heaven.
Babies,
they
were in
a horrible
accident
after they dropped you off at my house
.
” She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.
“
They didn’t make it. I am so sorry,” she said
now
crying
hysterically
. “I can take you to see them if you like. The doctor said it is okay.
He also said they didn’t suffer.
I do understand if you don’t want to.”

Her sister didn’t want to see them but Charlotte did.
Uncle Punk held her sister in his arms as Aunt Eugenia held her hand, leading her toward the morgue.
Walking down the long, white halls in the hospital chilled her to the bone. The smell of death greeted her as she tried to remain strong, a big girl like she knew her parents would want her to be. She remembered reading the sign “morgue” before entering into a door at the end of the long hallway. There, lying on two separate metal tables were her parents. They looked to be asleep. Their bodies didn’t look ugly as she had expected, and there was no blood
anywhere
. They were covered with a white sheet and appeared to be peaceful
,
and not in any pain. Her mother had a smile on her face and her father looked so handsome, just like she remembered seeing them when she and her sister crept into their bedroom each morning to wake them up.

Charlotte didn’t cry. For some reason she couldn’t. She knew that
they were in a better place,
so she couldn’t be sad. The only thing she thought about in that moment was taking care of her sister, who was also her twin.
She was older by five minutes
and
knew it was now her responsibility to look after her. Their parents always told them to take care of each other
.
Charlotte knew that she could never let them down.

That day when they left the hospital, Charlotte bowed to never set foot inside a hospital again. She didn’t like the way it felt, smelled or how all the doctors and nurses looked at her. Plus, the voice told her that the next time she returned to a hospital she was never leave. That was enough to make her stay as far away from there as she possibly could.
S
ince that day, she hadn’t been inside any hospital, for
any
reason or anyone. She gave birth to Sugah at room, with a mid-wife and her husband standing outside the room.

After her parent
’
s funeral,
which was held on the same day and time,
she and her
sister lived with Aunt Eugenia
a few months until
t
he
i
r Uncle Punk had a heart attack
and couldn’t work anymore. Things
fell on hard times and
Aunt
Eugenia hated involving their mother’s family, because they didn’t get along, but she had no choice. She just couldn’t afford to take care of both girls,
who were growing up too fast
ly
,
with a sick husband. Charlotte was the one sent away. She promised
to come back for her sister.
She promised that t
hey would be together again, but that never happened.

Months passed, and then turned into years. They spoke on the phone for a few months after being separated but soon Aunt Eugenia couldn’t afford to have a phone anymore and was forced to disconnect the line. They wrote each other, but soon those letters were returned back to Charlotte.
When she tried to locate her sister, she was left with nothing. Aunt Eugenia had passed away and
Uncle Punk was placed in a nursing home, being taking care of by the state. N
o one knew where her sister went after that. But Charlotte was still determined to find her sister. She searched high and low until she had Sugah and all of her time was devoted to her daughter
and new husband Clove
.
She tried to get him to go look for her sister when he was away on the road, but he didn’t hav
e any luck either. Charlotte grew
sad
der
each day after that. It was as a part of her was missing. People say that twins share everything so she constantly wondered if her sister felt all the pain and sadness without her. She began taking her hurt
out
on her
husband
, which ultimately pushed him out the door into the arms of another woman, a woman she despised.
Charlotte paused. She felt the tears streaming down her face, but couldn’t do anything to control them.
Up until a few years ago, she hadn’t known anything about her sister, and the fact that she was an aunt.

“Sweetheart, you’re crying. Please tell me what’s going on! I cannot stand to see you in this much pain,” Richard said, bringing her back to reality. Taking a trip down memory lane was draining, sad, and Charlotte didn’t like it. She never felt sorry for herself and she wouldn’t start now. The only thing that could make her life complete now was reuniting with her twin sister.
She closed her eyes and talked to God. When she was done, her pain was gone
.
S
he didn’t feel bad anymore. She knew that she and her sister would find each other. She only hoped that she wasn’t on her sickbed.