One Gift to Give

By Darrell Mark Hutchinson

Tiffany was an African American woman who was raised in a Christian household. After high school, she attended college and law school then started what would become an exciting career. Although at the expense of several failed relationships, Tiffany felt blessed to give birth to her son. Later in life, Tiffany found true love when she dated someone she believed was the man of her dreams. Unfortunately, Tiffany's son made a stunning allegation which divided her family and caused what would become an emotional avalanche. Hit with a series of blows to her personal and professional life, Tiffany found herself at the edge of her rope. After having hit rock bottom, Tiffany was admitted into a facility with others who struggled to cope with their problems and rebuild their lives. While there, she became close friends with a Caucasian female, a Native American male, and a Hispanic male. Eventually, they banded together and became their own support network. Later, each of them discovered they had been given a gift from God. Finally, they were grateful for a second chance at life and were excited to share their newfound gifts with others! Millions of families have been negatively impacted by tragedies that stemmed from suicide, suicidal intents, and/or mental illness. One Gift to Give illustrates a picture of the pain and desperation a person may endure before he or she decides to take their own life. This book will neither judge nor condemn anyone. However, it does affirm the belief that God has given a gift to everyone with which to live a purposeful life. It is much harder-if not impossible-to take your own life when you have discovered the gifts that God has given for your fulfillment in life and for his glory and honor!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781646701889

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One Gift to Give

Darrell Mark Hutchinson

ISBN 978-1-64670-187-2 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64670-188-9 (Digital)

Copyright © 2019 Darrell Mark Hutchinson

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

On Top of the World

Suspicion and Lies

Interviews and Charges

Upcoming Trial of a Family Breaking Apart

The Revelation

Too Little Too Late

From Bad to Worse

The Shadow of Death

God Had a Different Plan

Search for Wholeness

The Reconstruction Squad

Discovering the Gift

Money Can’t Buy Love

Love Conquers All

Hindsight Is Twenty-Twenty

Graduation Day

Things Were Looking Up

Skits and Fits

A New Gift and Calling

I’m All Ears

One Gift to Give

About the Author

1

On Top of the World

Although never a valedictorian, honor student, or class president, there was something different and special about this particular African American girl from the Chicago suburbs. With certainty, those who knew her believed she was special and would grow up to be very influential in the lives of others. This young lady, Tiffany, lived up to those expectations and more! Tiffany was raised by Christian parents with one elder brother and two younger sisters in a two-parent home. As a young child, she loved to attend Sunday school and youth services. Everyone in her church’s small congregation cheerfully referred to her as the little deaconess. Back then, she unashamedly expressed her love for the Lord and was praying diligently every day. However, once she became a college sophomore, her prayer time, church attendance, and relationship with God became all but nonexistent.

In Tiffany’s senior year of high school, she participated in a field trip at the Supreme Court of Illinois. During the meet and greet session, she met one particular justice who inspired her to reach for the top, persevere through adversities, and be a voice for those who could not help themselves. That was when Tiffany knew she wanted to become an attorney. The following month, she volunteered at local charities and eagerly worked with marginalized populations in surrounding communities. After graduation, she enrolled at Chicago State University where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and a minor in criminal justice. The following year, Tiffany was accepted at the DePaul University College of Law. While in her second year of law school, Tiffany interned at the Federal Defenders Program where she researched case laws, drafted pretrial motions and legal memorandums, and interviewed pretrial detainees. Tiffany loved to be a voice for those who could not defend themselves. She truly realized the benefits of psychology when she interviewed the pretrial detainees, explained their rights, and told their stories. The next year, as a student in Depaul’s Third-Year Practice program (3YP), Tiffany also volunteered by helping Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients maintain their benefits. She learned to use her career to advance equity and prosperity for everyone. She quickly came to understand many of the recipients in this population were extremely vulnerable with undiagnosed mental illness, which only served to compound their struggles.

At graduation, Tiffany received a Senior Service Award for her outstanding service to the College of Law. Finally, she became a certified law student and passed the state’s bar association examination. Although thrilled to be a law school graduate, Tiffany was burdened by the fact she accumulated student loan debt in the amount of $140,000. So much for wishing she was born into a wealthy family or the survivor of a collision with an impaired driver who was operating a Chicago Transit Authority bus! Either scenario would most likely have eliminated her financial distress. However, facing the anticipated problem head on, she lived on a strict budget and was determined to pay the bill in full by the time she was forty-five years old. For most people, this would have caused heartburn, sleep apnea, and occasional gas. For Tiffany, this was simply another opportunity to sharpen her problem-solving skills.

Although never a party girl, Tiffany did find time to occasionally unwind with her friends at a local club. However, the club was no place for a girl who neither enjoyed the taste of alcoholic beverages nor dancing in public. Tiffany dated here and there but never found the right guy. Just when she thought she could literally hear wedding bells, she would discover her boyfriend had a secret cell phone, split personality, or a third eye. She could not seem to catch a break! At the age of twenty-seven, Tiffany and one of those ill-matched boyfriends brought a little handsome baby boy named Kenneth into the world. Their relationship only lasted a year after the birth of Kenneth. Although Tiffany’s relationship with God had long since faded, she knew it was not a good idea to build a relationship with a man who was both an atheist and a womanizer. However, she rejected the early warnings of her Christian parents, threw caution to the wind, and simply sought to change him along the way. With her feelings of exhaustion, disgust, and humiliation, Tiffany broke up with her boyfriend. She and Kenneth were now on their own. Now fully devoted to raising Kenneth and building her career, she understood life could be both difficult and fulfilling. She even managed to pray occasionally and read a couple of scriptures here and there.

At the age of thirty, Tiffany was a licensed attorney working at the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender. Tiffany started as an assistant public defender assigned to the Juvenile Division. Two years later, she moved to the Felony Trial Division where she is presently assigned. While she reviewed evidence for a particular case, Tiffany met Keith, a Chicago police officer who was assigned as an evidence technician. What was initially a casual friendship eventually blossomed into a loving and caring relationship. Although Tiffany had been in love before, she truly believed Keith was the man of her dreams. Additionally, Keith was shaping up to be a great father figure to Kenneth. They would have their alone time at the park or when Keith was running errands. They got along very well. Tiffany had come to realize their prospects as a family. Keith was not a religious man. However, he did believe there was a God. He just didn’t believe he needed him! Tiffany’s parents did not fully support her relationship with Keith, which they considered to be unequally yoked. They considered Tiffany’s love for God and Keith’s detached affection and disinterest toward God to be an accident in the making. However, they did feel that he was a good and respectable man. Tiffany believed that Keith was a good man who deserved an opportunity to prove himself in spite of their spiritual imbalance. In fact, she defended her relationship with Keith as vigorously as she defended her clients at trial. As such, her parents simply prayed that Tiffany would have the wisdom, knowledge, and ability to make the right decisions moving forward. For Tiffany, she was not getting any younger. She would do whatever necessary to make this relationship work. A couple of years passed, her relationship with Keith had blossomed and outlasted all of her prior relationships. Furthermore, their love and passion for each other only seemed to intensify over time. Finally, the planets have aligned; her foundation appeared solid; and Keith, her knight in shining armor, had given her an engagement ring. They made plans to have a small wedding in twelve months. It only took thirty-five years, several broken hearts, and a doctorate degree from the School of Hard Knocks.

Reflecting on her past, Tiffany agreed life did not have to be so difficult. However, she had always been the type to play by her own rules and blaze her own trail. This meant she did not always value sound advice or opinions, especially if they differed from her line of thinking. Sometimes that left her relatively unscathed, while other times she was badly bruised. However, this is a new season in Tiffany’s life. That initial $140,000 student loan debt had now been paid down to $38,000. If all went as planned, the debt would fall below the $10,000 threshold before her wedding day. This would have placed her more than fifteen years ahead of schedule! To top things off, Tiffany was under consideration for partnership at Tenor and Fisk Law Group, the premier trial and personal injury attorney office in the state of Illinois. For the first time in her life, she felt as though the storm clouds have finally departed, leaving only clear blue skies ahead. The love between Tiffany and Keith was real. Yes, Tiffany was on top of the world!

2

Suspicion and Lies

Although things were going great, Tiffany could always use a little help around the home she rented with her fiancé, Keith. Tiffany’s parents did not approve of their living arrangements. However, Tiffany had been able to save on living expenses. She now had an in-house babysitter and could allocate more money toward paying off her student loans. For her, Keith was a godsend. She frequently reminded her parents, The end justifies the means. Tiffany’s parents were not amused. However, they did their best to overlook the matter. For their own particular reasons, their daughter’s wedding day could not come quick enough. Although they generally liked Keith, they wanted Tiffany to continue to live on her own until marriage, even if it meant she would have to struggle financially a bit more or take longer to pay off her student loans. Tiffany considered herself to be very logical and practical. She constantly reminded her parents how old-fashioned they were and how modern and acceptable her beliefs had become.

Keith primarily worked the graveyard shift and arrived at their home around 9:00 a.m., Monday through Friday. He was usually asleep by 10:00 a.m. and awake by 2:00 p.m. Keith had to be at the bus stop fifteen minutes later to meet Kenneth, the proud and happy first grader. Kenneth was always ready to repeat the events of his day, usually embellishing a little here or there for shock value. After a few laughs during their short walk home, Kenneth would grab a snack, do his homework, take a nap, then complete his assigned chores. Occasionally, after his chores were done, Keith and Kenneth would hang out together, going to the park, watching a movie, or simply playing video games at their home. Tiffany usually arrived home around 5:00 p.m. They would have their dinner by 6:00 p.m. Afterward,