UNTIL GRACE

Chapter 22

No one's singing this song, but I really just love it so I added it to suit the story. Enjoy.

Ivan stood at the front door, his eyes on the ceiling. He felt a little hand in his and looked down at his son who smiled at him.

"Daddy, I know you're a good man, but right now, you have to prove it. Stealing is a sin and the result of sin is death. Do you know which kind of death?"

He gulped before whispering, "tell me."

"Not the kind of death like my friend's parents, but of your soul and spirit and that's really bad. I don't want you to die either way so please daddy, do what is right. I want you to be happy even if you don't play with me. I love you, but Jesus loves you more."

Harry ran back upstairs leaving Ivan a little shocked.

"So the money," Unity, who was still on the ground said. "It was from selling off his music, not from a bonus for overtime? You lied to me, I should have known that such a large amount was too good to be true.

She stood up and walked up to him, "we've practically been living off someone else, we have nothing to our name. Go and ask for forgiveness, I'll be in the car and please... Do do so on my behalf too."

After a few minutes, he summoned up the courage to go outside to where Chinenyeze was seated on the rail of the empty pool.

He walked a few more steps before stopping behind him.

He was clueless about how to begin and even more clueless about how he'll end.

"Look Chinz," he started. "I'm really sorry for everything I did. I don't even know where to start, from highschool or from six years ago or today, I don't know. But all I can say is I'm sorry. It was my fault that your wife died, my fault you were sent to jail and my fault your daughter hated you. I know I don't deserve forgiveness, but if you can, please find it in your heart to at least accept my apology."

Chinenyeze said nothing but continued staring at the lake.

Ivan, feeling he'd done all he could run turned to walk away.

"You know," Chinenyeze finally spoke prompting him to stop walking. "my mother was a Nigerian as you know, my father, an American. My mother died of malaria when my father was out for work. I blamed him for that, despite knowing that he'd lost his phone during his work. When I failed the entrance exam to the school of my dreams, I blamed you for introducing me to drugs."

Ivan hung his head low, "you know, my beautiful wife and I used to sit outside here, just kicking our legs to and fro in the cold water. But not anymore, cause she's gone and the truth is, I blamed you for that too. All my life has been a life of blame. I blamed you for my demotion when even after you took my music, I should have tried to push myself again. I then blamed you for my wife's death and my imprisonment when I should have tried to keep my family happy and not wilt in my sorrows. I blamed you for Sarah's hatred towards me, when I should have tried to be a good father."

He finally stood up and faced Ivan, "I've been blaming instead of working on fixing things. And it's time I realized.

"Thank you, you have no idea what that means to me. I promise I'll make amends. Thanks allot brother."

"No, thank you, because the truth is that if I didn't go through these problems, I wouldn't have seen God. I finally realize that sometimes it takes a problem for me to find what I really need."

"Till today, I still wonder how you love God so much, I mean after all this, lost your mom, refused to contact your father and even after meeting me, you still love God, why?"

"Because he first loved me."

"Then why would He put you through all that."

"At times, he uses situations to make us put all our faith in him. That's all he wants to be honest, and he makes us realize through these situations that we should always stand with him. Do me a favor, come to church tomorrow with us."

"I, I don't know."

"Just come, I'll ask Reign to invite her friend and his sister too."

"I do owe them an apology."

The two laughed as they walked into the house.

Meanwhile, Unity decided to talk to her daughter and walked up the stairs.

She knocked and queen shouted for her to come in thinking it was Sarah.

"Oh it's you," she removed her ear phones and crossed her legs to sit upright. "What do you want?"

"Uhm, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, I had no idea about what happened six years ago."

"Mom, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to and you know I'm not just angry because of what you did to them, but what you did to me. I was happy living my life and the truth is, I'd rather had lived in poverty with your love and care than the way I've lived the past few years."

"You know, your father and I have been working only for you and Harry, right?"

"Yeah sure, mom do you think you're helping us by just leaving us under the care of a nanny? Why do you think I started wearing black? Because I was going through a random teenage phase? No, it's because you guys took the love as well as colour from my life when you put work before our care. It hurts to know that everyone in school thinks you come from this rich and caring family, when in reality, your family might be rich, but they don't care about you at all."

Unity pulled her into a hug as she started crying, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm really sorry sweetie. I promise I'll be there for both you and Harry from now on."

Proverbs 11:30 (KJV) The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.