Latter Rain (8 page)
Authors: Vanessa Miller
She folded her hands in her lap, but remained silent.
Looking at this woman across from him, Isaac wondered if she could be the one for him. Maybe Nina was not meant to be with him forever. Maybe she wasn't part of the equation with him and God. If nothing else had convinced him, that engagement ring sure should have. “Are you hungry? Would you like to grab something to eat?”
Coyly, Cassandra said, “Oh, are you going to take me to lunch? Pastor Marks told me his wife would kill him, if he took me to lunch without her.”
“Well, see, that's the difference between me and Pastor Marks.” Isaac smiled as he finished his statement. “I'm not married and very free for lunch.”
12
How many pancakes do you want?” Nina asked. Donavan rolled over in bed and told his mother, “I'm not hungry.”
Nina's mouth hung slack. She walked to Donavan's bed and sat down. “Since when do you turn down my pancakes? I've got plenty of cinnamon in them.”
“I'm not feeling well. I don't think I'm going to school today.” He held his stomach as if a shooting pain had just gone through it.
Nina touched her son's forehead, “You don't have a fever. Your eyes are bright and clear.” She touched his stomach; it didn't feel bloated or tight. She pulled the cover off of him. “Boy, get your butt out of this bed and get up for school.”
He snatched the cover back over himself. “No!”
Stunned once again by her son's behavior, Nina sat in silence, wondering if Isaac had been right. Did her son need his father more than his mother? Was a firm hand better than open arms? “Donavan, what's going on with you? Lately, you seem so distant.”
He didn't respond. Just sucked in his breath.
“In church yesterday, you were walking the halls while Pastor McKinley preached. You never used to do things like that.” She bent down and touched his arm. “I'm worried about you. Talk to me; okay?”
He threw the covers back and blew out a big gust of evil pre-teenage wind. “I just didn't feel like being at church. Why do you have to make a federal case out of everything?” He stood and tried to walk out of his room.
Nina grabbed his arm. “Look, I don't know what's wrong with you, but let's get one thing straight. This is my house, and you will respect me in here. You got me?”
Pulling his arm away, he told her, “Yeah, I got you. Are you still going to fix breakfast?”
Calming herself, Nina said, “Yes. Go take a shower and I'll meet you in the kitchen in a minute.”
Before she went to the kitchen, Nina knelt at the living room couch and prayed. “Father, things aren't going well for me and Donavan. I really need your help. Oh, Jesus, I sure could use a little wisdom right now.” She got up and fixed her son his cinnamon pancakes and tried desperately to pull him out of his shell.
After failing to get inside her reluctant preteen's head, Nina sat at her computer and tried to get into Ramona's. The heroine in Nina's third book was still struggling with God's ability to forgive people who had abortions. She was stuck. Called it writer's block, but in truth, it was a faith block. Admitting that to herself stung.
The phone rang. Nina normally didn't answer it when she was writing, but she had no answers for Ramona. Nina wanted to scream at the fictional character. Tell her that she shouldn't have done it. Her life was all messed up because of that one single incident.
Now, go out and live life to the fullest with the knowledge of that, Ramona girl.
Now, go out and live life to the fullest with the knowledge of that, Ramona girl.
She picked up the phone on the third ring. “Hello, this is Nina,” she told the caller as if some other woman would be answering her phone at ten o'clock on a Monday morning.
“Hey, girl, what's up?
It was Elizabeth, and Nina was about ready to explode all over her. “About time I'm hearing from you. My goodness. I've only called you about ten times.”
“Calm down. I was on the last leg of my tour when I got your message. I was too tired to pick up the phone. Sorry. I'm here now.”
Nina smiled. The tabloids called Elizabeth Underwood a gospel singing sensation, but she simply called her
friend
. Best friend. They'd met at The Rock Christian Fellowship. Nina still attended The Rock, but Elizabeth had moved away from Dayton several years earlier. Her husband, Kenneth, had been in the World Trade Center during the terroristsattack in 2001. Elizabeth had thought that Kenneth was lost to her forever, and she had crumbled. But Elizabeth was strong; she was a fighter. And God had restored her and brought her husband back home.
friend
. Best friend. They'd met at The Rock Christian Fellowship. Nina still attended The Rock, but Elizabeth had moved away from Dayton several years earlier. Her husband, Kenneth, had been in the World Trade Center during the terroristsattack in 2001. Elizabeth had thought that Kenneth was lost to her forever, and she had crumbled. But Elizabeth was strong; she was a fighter. And God had restored her and brought her husband back home.
“Well, I've got some news,” Nina stated.
“Don't get me all knotted up on the inside. Spill it,” Elizabeth told her.
Nina played with her engagement ring. “I don't know if I want to tell you now. You kept me waiting, so I think I might call you back tomorrow to let you know that I just got engaged.”
Elizabeth screamed. “Oh, my God. How did he ask you?”
“He actually asked me a while ago. I just hadn't said anything because I didn't want to upset Donavan.”
“Why would Donavan be upset?” Elizabeth sounded confused. “He's always wanted you and Isaac to get back together. I would think he would be ecstatic.”
Nina shook her head as if Elizabeth could see her from across the telephone line. “Not you too. Elizabeth, I've been dating Charles for several months now. You know that.”
“Oh,” she said flatly. “I didn't think it was serious.”
Nina put her hand on her hip. “But you thought I had something serious going on with Isaac?”
“No, nothing like that. I just know that Isaac has been planning to marry you since the day he left prison. I just thought you finally gave in.”
“That will never happen,” Nina assured her friend.
“All right, excuse me for being wrong. But tell me, Nina, when did you suddenly fall in love with Charles Douglas?”
Nina slouched in her seat and grinned goofy-like as she thought about Charles. “I don't know. I think I'm attracted to how responsible he is. He's loyal and he's a nice man, Elizabeth. Truth be told, I think he will be good for Donavan also. You know, give him some stability.”
They talked a little longer about wedding plans, Elizabeth's family, and Nina's love-hate relationship with Isaac Walker. When they finally hung up, Nina turned off her computer and went for a walk.
Donavan watched as his mother walked down Oxford. He sat perched on an abandoned car. The school bus had left an hour ago. She didn't even notice that he didn't get on it. Why didn't she just leave him alone? Just run off with her boyfriend? She didn't care about him. Didn't even want to know how his insides were eaten up with guilt over following behind JC and his crew.
He still couldn't believe that he risked his life for three hundred bucks. That was the amount JC gave him. How much his services had been worth. He might only be elevenâalmost twelve, but he knew that three hundred bucks wasn't going to get him far.
“Hey, kid. Get off of my car.” A fat man with a gun was standing on his porch hollering at Donavan.
Donavan jumped down from the hood of the car and ran. He had no plans the rest of his day; had no idea what he would do until he could go back home. So, he just wandered the streets, trying to get as far away from the route his mother had taken as possible. A few blocks over, he ran into a couple of teenagers standing behind an abandoned house, smoking cigarettes and shooting dice. Donavan didn't want to shoot dice. His father had told him too many times that his uncle had been murdered over a dice game. So, dice were out of the question for him.
“What up?” Donavan asked with a wave of his hand as he sat down on the back porch and watched them. He figured if he could strike up a conversation, they might let him hang with them for the rest of the day. But the three guys were already talking about something. Donavan heard the name Mickey Jones and his mouth went dry.
“Man, did you hear that Mickey got took for five thou' the other night?” the tall, scraggly one asked.
The guy with the cigarette took it out of his mouth, blew out smoke and said, “I wish it had been me. I could use five thou' right about now. My mom's house is about to be foreclosed on.”
“Naw, man, you don't want that money.” The third and final guy speaking was shorter than the other two, but he was muscular; built like a fighter. The fighter continued, “Heard Mickey is looking for those so and sos. He's going to kill them with his bare hands.”
Donavan had nothing to contribute to this conversation. He stepped off the back porch and left. As he walked around the neighborhood, Donavan realized that he was a chump. Three hundred dollars wasn't worth this kind of stress. He couldn't even run away with that little bit of money. He might as well go buy himself a Sean John outfit and wait to die.
After all, according to those guys in the back of that house, Mickey Jones was looking for the so and sos that robbed him.
13
Cassandra had decided to join his church rather than Pastor Marks's. Isaac was happy about that. He found himself smiling when he saw her again, which of course, was at Wednesday night Bible Study. Actually, he saw her on Tuesday also. He told Cassandra that he and Keith were going to be working late. She showed up at his office with smothered pork chops, cabbage, mac & cheese and some peach cobbler. A brother got fed good.
Now she was walking over to him with some of that left over peach cobbler. Service had been good. Bishop preached well, but none of that compared to Cassandra's peach cobbler.
Keith had told Isaac that he needed to watch out. He thought Cassandra was being too good, too fast. Well, Nina wasn't trying to be good to him. Nina was jumping the broom with some other dude. Cassandra could be as good to him as she wanted.
“Just let me know if you have to work late again. There's no sense in you having to worry about dinner. I'll bring something to you,” Cassandra told Isaac with a smile on her face and a look in her eyes that told Isaac all he needed to know about how she was feeling about him.
Isaac sat in the kitchen in the back of the church wolfing down peach cobbler and thinking how sweet it was to be treated like a king again. He gave Cassandra a smile that showed off his dimples. “As good as you cook, you can hook a brother up, even when I'm not working late.”
Cassandra stood next to Isaac, silent, but pleased.
Bishop Sumler picked that moment to rush into the kitchen. “Isaac, get your bags packed, he said without acknowledging Cassandra.
“What's up, Bishop?” Isaac swallowed his last bite of cobbler.
“We need to get over to my church in West Virginia. The members are calling me right and left. They say they'll all leave, if I don't fire their pastor.”
“Pastor Marks?” Cassandra asked with a puzzled look on her face. “Why would the congregation want to get rid of him?”
Isaac knew Pastor Marks, and had a pretty good idea why the congregation wanted him fired. But he wasn't going to tell Cassandra all that he knew. Pastor Marks's reputation was another reason Isaac was glad that Cassandra decided to join his church rather than Marks's.
Bishop put his arm around Cassandra and looked at Isaac with a smile on his face. “So, I hear that my goddaughter has been feeding you real good.”
Isaac stammered. “T-this is your goddaughter? You didn't tell us that.”
Patting Cassandra on the shoulder, Bishop said, “Cassandra doesn't like to make a big deal of the fact that she's my goddaughter. But, take my word for it, she is something special,” Bishop said to Isaac then turned to Cassandra. “Can you give us a few minutes to talk?”
Like an obedient child, Cassandra said, “Sure, Bishop. I'll sit at the table over there,” she pointed to the left of them where a group of women sat, “and get to know some of the women at your church.”
When Cassandra was gone, Bishop turned back to Isaac. “This thing with Pastor Marks needs to be solved.”
Some of these preachers reminded Isaac of street hustlers. Isaac knew exactly how to deal with hustlers and he also knew that that was the reason Bishop wanted him to go to West Virginia with him. Isaac truly did want to go with Bishop, but regrettably, he had other obligations. He needed to pick up Donavan this weekend. He needed to talk to his son before he got caught up. “I can't go. Not this time. I've got to pick my son up this weekend.”
Bishop raised his hands. “Now, son, I know you've got family obligations, but this is important.”
And Donavan wasn't?
“I need you on this trip, Isaac. Pastor Marks is not always a reasonable man.”
Understatement though that was, Isaac still had responsibilities, and he wasn't about to leave them to good ol' Charlie. “Bishop, you know I'd love to help you, but my house is a mess. I've been working double-time all week long. And I have got to see Donavan this weekend.”
Bishop Sumler called Cassandra back over. When she stood in front of them he said, “Isaac needs his house straightened up. You wouldn't mind helping him out, now would you, Sister Davis?”
Cassandra opened her mouth, but Bishop rushed on. “It's for the good of the ministry. Isaac, run home and pack your bags. Give, Sister Davis your keys. She'll make sure you come home to a clean house.”
Isaac looked toward Cassandra.
She smiled. “I don't mind. Go take care of your business.”
“Bishop, there's still my son to consider.”
Bishop waved a dismissive hand in the air. “We'll pick him up on our way back. Help me handle this mess, Isaac. You'll still be able to get Donavan on Saturday.”
He wasn't going to win this one. Might as well go home and pack.
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