Put on them, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Colossians, 3:12-15 For the next two days, the family spent all their time together. Annie and Rodney were originally planning to leave on Monday, but decided to stay until Wednesday with the rest of the family. Robert even brought over sleeping bags so the children could camp out in the living room and he, Clare and Minnie could take their beds upstairs. The only time the whole family was not together was when Denise, Michael and Lindsey were at the church with Reverend Whitaker and a family counselor to begin their counseling sessions. Lindsey promised to return to Richmond for their sessions every other weekend. Charleen cried with joy when Denise told her that she and Tabitha were moving in with her and Michael. Aunt Sarah still refused to talk about W.C., but Louis said she would keep trying to convince her to change her mind once they got back to Alabama. Robert had told her everything W.C. had done to get Charleen's car back but he didn't tell anyone else W.C. put Raymond in the hospital.
On Tuesday, the family gathered together in the yard for their last family reunion dinner together. Before anyone could leave the table, Charleen stood and asked everyone to quiet down.
"Now ya'll know what the Reverend said the other day. He said to tell everybody why you love them while you still can and we never did get through goin' around the table. Some of ya'll didn't get a chance to speak your piece. So I want everyone who didn't speak then to speak now. Louis, you first."
"Put that cake down, gal, and stand up", said Aunt Sarah teasingly. She took the fork out of Louis' hand and poked her in the side.
"Well", began Louis as she swallowed hard and cleared her throat, "I want to tell my baby Erica how much I love her." Erica was surprised her mother had called her name. "Baby, I know your mama got a big mouth…"
"Amen", said Aunt Sarah. Realizing she had embarrassed her daughter, she touched Louis hand and said "I'm sorry, baby."
