Aimee-Leigh Gemstone

Aimee-Leigh Gemstone was the matriarch of the Gemstone family, and wife of Dr. Eli Gemstone. She is portrayed by country music singer and Sugarland founder, Jennifer Nettles.

Background
According to her memorial plaque on the Gemstone compound, Aimee-Leigh was born in 1955 and died in 2018. She and her brother, Baby Billy Freeman, were a child country music duo prior to her meeting Eli Gemstone and becoming a central part of his ministry.

Aimee-Leigh and Baby Billy together recorded a song, Misbehavin', which would prove to be an enduring hit well into their adulthood. However, upon meeting Eli Gemstone, Aimee-Leigh would put her musical and dancing career on hiatus in favor of helping her future husband and father of her children in his evangelical endeavors. Having been a co-host of their Christian ministry show, Aimee-Leigh was a focal point of their episodes, displaying her musical and dancing talent regularly.

She would later be mother to three children: Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin. For a significant amount of time, the family consisted of Aimee-Leigh, Eli, Jesse, and Judy. However in 1989, Aimee-Leigh would become unexpectedly pregnant, much later in life than she anticipated. Seeing it as a miracle akin to Abraham and Sarah, Eli and Aimee-Leigh were rejoiced at the news. However, Baby Billy had been planning on starting a reunion tour with Aimee-Leigh, which was then put on hiatus due to the pregnancy.

Aimee-Leigh would later return to her childhood home now occupied by her brother. In pleading to delay the tour, Aimee-Leigh hoped to keep her brother happy. However, Baby Billy revealed his severe financial hardship, which was the driving force behind him wanting the tour. Baby Billy threatened to start selling parcels of their familial land to developers, which convinced Aimee-Leigh to go on the tour while still pregnant.

At a post Sunday church family lunch, Baby Billy's treachery was eventually revealed. Baby Billy stated that he had already begun selling off parts of the Freeman family's land, much to Aimee-Leigh's frustration. Baby Billy gaslit Aimee-Leigh into thinking he had already told her, but as seen in the previous scene in Freeman's Gap, Billy did not tell Aimee-Leigh he had already started selling. Aimee-Leigh then cancelled the tour and departed the restaurant with her family. This laid the foundation for the feud between Baby Billy and Eli in the present day.

Season 1
At the beginning of Season 1, Aimee-Leigh had deceased within the last year, according to Eli. When Eli goes to give an offering to her memorial on the compound, the plaque states she was born in 1955 and died in 2018. Aimee-Leigh that kept the family together and was able to assuage the petty bickering the Gemstone kids were known for. Eli rues her death constantly, believing that the family's misfortunes in the first season occurred because Aimee-Leigh wasn't there.

Following her death, Eli has a garden installed in her memory, with a bust statue of Aimee-Leigh's face surrounded by water fountains at their compound in Charleston.