One Prayer Away (25 page)

“Do you really want to know what he looks like?”

Virtue nodded, and Beverly was more than willing to tell her.

“He's as handsome as he can be.” She grinned. “He dresses well, he's clean-shaven, and his face is very youthful, just like yours. He still has those dark eyes that you remember, and I believe that smile of his could charm a cobra. If I was a few years younger, I might try to net him for myself; but since it's you he said he loves, I'll leave him be.”

Barbara saw the look that covered Virtue's face when she not-so-discreetly disclosed the last bit of information. Knowing that Mitchell had openly declared his love for her meant something to Virtue, whether she admitted it or not. She stood from her chair and took a few steps across the floor. At first, Beverly thought that she was headed for
the window, to look through the open blinds. But Virtue made an about-face and came to a stop at a small bookcase in the back of the office, where Beverly kept hardbacks of some of her favorite novels. Virtue ran her hands across the wood frame and then spoke with caution.

“How do you trust after what I've been through, Beverly? Not just the Mitchell thing, but you know my whole story. How am I supposed to just forget everything that happened and open my life up to something like this again?”

While Virtue was clearly torn, Beverly heard and saw even more signs of growth. The hostility that was in her voice as late as last night, when they'd argued, had dissolved. She still sounded confused and hurt, but Beverly couldn't detect the anger that had always been so prevalent in their past discussions.

“Don't let anything that anyone has done in your past make the decisions for your future. Don't give anybody that kind of power over your life, Virtue.”

“I'm scared, Beverly.”

“I know. But like I told you the first day we talked, I'm with you every step of the way. More important, God is too.”

Virtue turned from the bookcase. “I want to tell Mitchell that I forgive him. I don't know if I'm doing it for my sake or his, but I want to do that. Beyond forgiving him . . . I can't make any promises.”

“And I don't think he expects you to,” Beverly said as she flipped through her Rolodex and picked up her telephone and began dialing.

“What are you doing?” Virtue asked.

“I'm calling Mitchell.”

“Right now?”

“Yes,” Beverly said with a smile as she listened to the telephone ring. “It will be easier this way than in person, don't you think?”

On the third ring, a woman's voice answered.

“Jackson, Jackson & . . .” She paused and then continued. “May I help you?”

“Yes, please,” Beverly said. “I'd like to speak with Mitchell Andrews.”

There was another pause.

“Mr. Andrews is not in. Would you like to speak to Mr. Jackson?”

“No, thank you. Can you tell me when Mr. Andrews will be in?”

This time the pause lasted longer, raising Beverly's suspicions.

“Uh . . . Mr. Andrews no longer works here, ma'am,” the receptionist said. “Mr. Jackson is handling all of his accounts. I'll switch your call to him.”

“No,” Beverly quickly said. “This is a personal call. When did he stop working there? I just spoke to him from his office last week.”

“His last day was Monday, ma'am.”

Beverly grimaced and looked at Virtue in confusion. “Did he go to another office?” she probed. “Can you tell me how I might be able to reach him?”

“I'm sorry, ma'am. I've given you all the information that I can. Thank you for calling.”

Before Beverly could say another word, she heard the dial tone that indicated her call had ended.

“What's the matter?” Virtue asked.

Beverly hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment before looking at Virtue. “Did he leave you any more numbers besides the one to his office when he left the message on your voice mail that day?”

“No, that was the only one. Why, Beverly? What's the matter?” she repeated.

“I'm not sure, but when I find out, I don't think I'm gonna like it.”

Twenty-One

T
he hands on his desk clock told Rev. Inman that he only had a few minutes left in his final premarital session with Chris and Lisa. And since he had another meeting immediately following theirs, there would be no time to linger afterward for small talk or to say the things that he hadn't said during the ninety-minute appointment. As with all of the meetings before, Chris and Lisa had sat hand in hand like any couple in love would. But something was different about this meeting, and the signs hadn't escaped Rev. Inman's notice.

There were times when Chris's mind seemed to venture away from their conversations, and every now and then, his countenance reflected unhappiness. He participated and even laughed during their interactions, but Rev. Inman could see through many of the orchestrated smiles. Several times during their meeting, Lisa used her unoccupied hand to stroke the back of Chris's. It was a subtle change from the previous sessions, but Rev. Inman took note of that as well. Her strokes were more than touches of affection.
The pastor defined them as a means of comforting Chris. The question in his mind was:
Why does he need comforting?

With the final minutes ticking away, Rev. Inman decided that it was time to address his concerns. Even after all of their meetings and all of the textbook answers he'd been given for the questions he'd asked, Rev. Inman was still uncertain about the pending union. He wouldn't be able to perform the ceremony if he didn't clear his own conscience.

“Are both of you ready for this gigantic step in your lives?” He smiled as he looked across the desk at them and took note of their nods.

“February tenth,” Lisa announced as if he didn't already know the date. “You do have us marked on your calendar, don't you?”

“I do indeed. What a way to usher in Valentine's Day, huh?”

“Yes,” they replied in unison.

“We have a few minutes, so I want the two of you to hear from my heart. We've gone through the steps that our church bylaws require, but I want to step outside of the handbook and speak to you outside of the role of a pastor. I want to speak to both of you as your friend, and after I've heard what you have to say, I'll share some things from my heart with you. I'd like to start with you, Lisa.”

When she nodded in agreement, he continued. “We've talked about your past marriage and why it failed. What do you believe it is about this pending union that will be different?”

“Well, first of all, Felander was a fool,” she said without hesitation. “He was always so jealous. Every time I left the house, he needed to know where I was going, who I was with, what I was going to do, and when I would be home. Christopher is way more confident and trusting,” she said, tossing her fiancé a loving smile. “With Christopher, I feel like I come first and that I won't have to worry about him
being insecure. I feel like I can go anywhere and do anything and he'll support me. I feel loved.”

Rev. Inman looked toward Chris. “It'll be hard to beat that, won't it?” he teased, drawing laughter from the couple. When they calmed, Rev. Inman continued. “What makes you so sure that she's the right one for you, Chris?”

“I think I fell in love with her when I first met her,” Chris began. “Lisa's the whole package. She's beautiful, she's smart, she's honest, and she loves the Lord. I can't ask for more. All of those things are important to me, but especially the latter two.”

Rev. Inman nodded and then waited as Chris readjusted himself in his seat and seemed to struggle with what he would say next.

“You know, when Lisa first walked into the church a while back, she caught every eye in the building,” Chris said. “There were brothers who tried to win her even before I got up the nerve to ask her out. But as beautiful as she is, I respected the way they all backed off when they knew the two of us had bonded. At least, I thought they had anyway.”

Rev. Inman sat up straight. “What do you mean?”

“Sweetie, let's not talk about that, not today,” Lisa urged.

“If it's an issue, it needs to be addressed,” Rev. Inman said.

Lisa disagreed. “It's not an issue. It's just some trifling mess that never should have happened, and I think that if Christopher talks about it, it's only going to make him angry all over again. I don't want him upset. What's done is done. He did what he had to do, and now we're moving forward.”

Rev. Inman looked from Lisa to Chris and hoped that this wouldn't be the end of the discussion. They only had five minutes of meeting time left, and Rev. Inman felt that they'd tapped into something that needed to be exposed.
Only a moment of quiet lapsed before Chris spoke again.

“No, babe,” he told Lisa as he kissed the back of her stroking hand. “I want to tell this. I want Rev. Inman to know what kind of scum is mixed in with the good people of Living Word Cathedral.”

Once again, he had his pastor's full attention. “Go on,” Rev. Inman urged.

“I just had to break off my relationship with the closest thing that I've ever had to a replacement for my brother Jonah.”

In slow motion, Rev. Inman reached up and removed his glasses from his face before placing them on top of his desk and looking back at Chris. “Mitch? You ended your friendship with Mitch? Why?”

“Because of this, that's why,” Chris said as he lifted Lisa's arm and then rolled back her sleeve to reveal the bruise that still hadn't completely faded.

Rev. Inman got up from his desk and walked around for a closer look. “What does this have to do with Mitch?”

“He did it.” There was returning anger in Chris's voice. “While my secretary and I were out of the office sick last week, I made the mistake of sending Lisa there to help him keep up with the workload. I guess he thought what was mine was his. He tried to make a move on Lisa, and when she refused his advances, this is what he did.”

Rev. Inman looked at the bruise again and then back at Chris in disbelief. “I just find that so hard to believe.”

“Well, he did,” Lisa said accusingly.

“It ain't that hard to believe, Rev. Inman,” Chris said. “See, what I know that you
don't
know is that Mitch used to be married. He was a sloppy drunk, and he used to lay into his wife all the time. He's got a history of battering women, Rev. Inman. It ain't so hard to believe once you know the facts.”

“I've known about that for years,” Rev. Inman said, catching Chris off guard. It could clearly be seen in his
expression that he had no clue that the pastor had known all along what he'd just found out weeks ago. Rev. Inman continued. “Mitch told me about his past in the early days of his joining our ministry. I'm well aware of the two times that he struck his wife, but that was then.”

“Well,
this
,” Chris rebutted while simultaneously holding up Lisa's arm, “is now.”

“And you
know
that this happened?” As soon as Rev. Inman had spoken the words, he could feel Lisa's eyes burning into his skin.

“I told him that it happened; so,
yes
, he knows that it did.”

Never taking his eyes off of Chris, Rev. Inman rephrased his question. “Did you confront him about this?”

Chris released a short, frustrated laugh. “I did more than confront him; I clobbered him.”

“You hit him?”

“No,” Chris said. “I
beat
him. I should have killed him, so he got off easy.”

Wiping his hands over his chin, Rev. Inman took several slow breaths and walked back around his desk. The clock on his desk said he had less than sixty seconds, but he knew he needed more time. His next appointment would just have to wait. He turned back to face Chris.

“Did he admit to doing this?”

Chris grimaced and shook his head. “Of course not! It takes a man to admit to being wrong. Mitch is not a man; he's a sleazeball. He admitted to hurting her arm, but get this: He tried to tell me that Lisa was trying to come on to him, so he had to grab her like that to keep her off of him.”