Congratulations VII — Darrin Lowery

Gerald Akins is a financial consultant as well as a successful clinician. All of his life he's known nothing but loss. Because he seems to lose everyone close to him, he throws himself in his work. He's great at investing, great at public speaking and he is very skilled at helping other people with their problems, although he has yet to find a way to get over past hurt. Gerald was raised by his two aunts and they did the best they could to teach him family values, but it wasn't easy for two elderly women to raise a boy to be a man.

Adrienne Foxx, is a young woman also with a history of hurt. She's a former ward of state with a past of atrocities and abuse. She's been hurt and let down by so many people that life and time have hardened her heart. When she was emancipated from the system she was taken in by two elderly women that were strangers to her. They were two women who were religious and whom God put in their hearts to take her in. Adrienne has no formal education, no job and she earns her keep, by cleaning and doing chores for the elderly women in exchange for room and board.

When tragedy strikes the household, Gerald must come home to the aid of his aunts that he hasn't seen in years. He comes home to the house where he grew up in to find out that his aunts have taken in a woman that is too young for him, but a woman that he is intrigued by.

Both Gerald and Adrienne are polar opposites with regard to lifestyle, but they have more than enough in common considering that life dealt them both a bad hand. They both know loss, they both have tough exteriors, and they both are in need of love. The question is, how do you seek happily ever after when all you've known is a lifetime of pain?

This is a story of faith, life, love and family. In the end, if they hold on to their renewed faith, both just might be offered condolences as well as Congratulations.