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Authors: Shelia M. Goss

BOOK: Ruthless

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Chapter 37

“I don't know if I can do this,” Sheba said as Delilah helped her get dressed the day of Uriah's funeral.

“You can and you will,” Delilah said as she buttoned up Sheba's black dress.

“What if I can't cry? People will be talking about that.”

“Baby girl, don't worry about âpeople.' You grieve in your own way. If you feel like crying, cry. If you feel like laughing, laugh. Do you, and don't worry about everybody else.”

Sheba looked at herself in the mirror. She was dressed in a new knee-length black dress. She slipped on the silver sling-back slippers with three-inch heels. She debated about whether or not to wear a hat. She opted not to, and her hairdresser wrapped her long hair up in a bun. She grabbed her huge black shades and followed Delilah into the living room.

A knock was heard at the door.

Delilah said, “That's probably the driver. You got everything?”

Sheba looked around. She inhaled one deep breath and then exhaled. “Ready.”

The ride over to the church was solemn. Delilah had been her backbone these past few days by being by her side, filtering calls, and being the loving sister she had always wished she had.

Sheba knew Uriah had known a lot of people, but she wasn't expecting this many people. There was not an empty space in the church's parking lot. She thought that since a lot of people came to show their respects at the wake the night before, there wouldn't be a large crowd at the church today. She was wrong.

The cameras flashed as she and Delilah exited the limousine. Some of the local news media, along with the station that Uriah had overseen, had cameramen filming. Delilah tried to shield Sheba as they walked toward the front of the church and followed the preacher's instructions.

“Ma'am, we're going have to ask you to get behind the family,” one of the funeral home attendants said to Delilah.

“I am family. I'm her sister,” Delilah responded.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Someone told me that you weren't a part of this family,” the funeral home attendant said.

“I don't know who could have told you that, but Bathsheba's my sister, and I'm staying with her.” Delilah's temper flared.

The attendant backed away. Sheba heard murmurings but didn't care. Delilah was more welcome there than some of Uriah's family. Some of the people who stood in the funeral processional line neither she nor Uriah had seen in years.

The pastor of the church started reciting scriptures. Sheba tuned out everything around her. She held her head up high and followed behind the preachers. Thankfully, Delilah was on her right side, holding her up, because her legs were beginning to feel like jelly.

The closer they got to the front, the more Sheba wanted to run the other way. Fortunately, the bomb hadn't blown up the top half of Uriah's body. That was still intact. She stopped in front of his casket. The tears she had been holding in all morning streamed down her face. She leaned down and kissed him on the lips one last time. “I love you, baby. I'll always be your pumpkin.” She removed the necklace he had given her with the half heart pendant and placed it in his hands. She could hear people whispering, but this was her moment with her husband, so she didn't care. She kissed her fingers and placed them on his lips one last time before taking her seat.

Her head hung low as she waited for the rest of his family to be seated. She was handed a funeral program. She looked at the picture of Uriah on the front. It reminded her of happier times. Of when they didn't have a care in the world. She had two regrets in her life. One was that she cheated on him, and the second one was that they would never have a child together.

About midway through the service, Sheba felt the funeral was getting to be too long. She sat impatiently, waiting for the sermon to be over. People were laughing, but she couldn't find anything humorous in what the pastor had said. She knew Uriah was in a better place, but he had left her alone. Alone to deal with the world. Alone to deal with raising a child that should have been his.

“Do you want the casket opened up again?” the funeral home director asked her.

Sheba shook her head.

Delilah answered for her. “No. If they didn't get a chance to see him yesterday or before the service, too bad.”

Sheba had been doing well, but now she found herself crying uncontrollably. As the funeral home director and the attendants got ready to roll the body down the aisle, Sheba and Delilah stood up to walk behind them. Sheba's feet were planted in one spot. She rocked back and forth and said, “My baby. There goes my baby.”

Delilah wrapped her arms around Sheba's waist and tried to get her to walk, but she wouldn't move. David approached them and assisted Delilah with Sheba. Sheba fainted, and she would have hit the floor if David hadn't caught her in his arms. When she woke up, she was in the back of the limousine. David was on one side of her and Delilah on the other.

“Tell me I didn't miss the burial.” Sheba felt her heart drop again.

Delilah said, “No. We're on our way there now.”

Sheba was relieved. “David, thanks for catching me back there.”

“Yes, sis, you almost hit the floor. Now, that would have been a sight,” Delilah said, trying to lighten up the situation.

Sheba laughed a little. “Delilah, thank you for helping me this week. Lord knows I wouldn't have been able to get through this week without you.”

Delilah winked her eye. “That's what older sisters are for.”

After Uriah's casket was lowered into the ground, Sheba remained seated for a while. People walked up to her to offer their condolences. Then David walked up to her, and standing next to him was a man almost as handsome as he was.

“Ladies, I want you to meet my best friend, Reverend Nathan McDaniel.”

Sheba shook Nathan's hand.

Then Delilah shook Nathan's hand and said to David, “Your best friend is a preacher, and you're like you are.” Delilah looked at Nathan. “I bet you use up a whole bottle of holy water on him.”

Nathan laughed. “Well, dear, I can tell I might have to sprinkle a few drops on you, too.”

David said, “He just calls it likes he sees it.”

Delilah rolled her eyes.

Sheba, tired of the display, stood up. “I'm ready to go home.”

“The repast is back at the church's fellowship hall,” Delilah said.

“Y'all can go. I think I just want to go home,” Sheba sighed.

Joyce, one of Uriah's cousins, walked up to her at that moment and said, “That looks like a baby bump. Are you pregnant?”

“Joyce, now is not the time for this,” Sheba said as she turned and walked toward the limousine.

Joyce shouted, “Don't walk away from me.”

Sheba threw her hand up in the air and waved and got inside the limousine. The tears flowing down her face were not only from the grief of losing her husband, but also for her and David's betrayal.

Chapter 38

“Being at that funeral was one of the hardest things I've had to do in a while,” David confessed to Nathan over lunch the following week.

“You're going to have harder days than that unless you did what I told you to do. Did you repent? Did you go to God and ask him to forgive you for the things you've done?”

David stopped eating. “Yes, but he's been whipping me. I haven't had a good night of sleep since I sent Simon that e-mail about having Uriah handle the issues with the government officials there.”

David just realized that it was the first time he'd confessed what he had done to anyone. The only other person who knew was Simon, and Simon treasured his job too much to mention to anyone that sending Uriah to meet with the officials had been David's idea. David waited for Nathan to berate him again.

“The Lord is not through with you, David. Don't think that because He's punishing you that He has taken His hand off your life. You're still His child, and He will never leave you or forsake you.”

It was reassuring to know that God was still in his midst, although lately David hadn't felt His presence.

They were riding in the back of David's limousine after lunch when Nathan asked, “What are you going to do about Sheba?”

“I really don't know. I've been giving her time to grieve, but she's having my child, and I want her and the baby to move in with me.”

“But do you think that's wise?” Nathan asked.

“I've made so many bad decisions as of late, but I think asking Sheba to move here so I can take care of her and the baby is the right thing to do. I am the father.”

Nathan didn't voice his agreement or disagreement. He allowed David to make his own decision. “Be prepared for the aftermath.”

“I'm used to people talking,” David said.

“Up until now, the media has portrayed you in a positive light. Know that this move may change the public's opinion about you.”

“I don't allow the public to dictate my moves. I'm David King. Only God can dictate my moves.”

Nathan said, “Don't say I didn't warn you.”

The limousine dropped Nathan off at his house. David waited until Nathan was gone and then dialed Sheba's number.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“Better, but not good at all,” she responded.

To David, Sheba sounded really depressed. He wished he could make her feel better. Contrary to what Nathan and Delilah thought, he really did care about Sheba. He wanted the best for her. Right now, with Uriah gone, David felt he was the best.

“Why don't you pack a bag? I'll have a driver come pick you up, and my pilots will fly you into Dallas.”

“David, you can't be doing that. What are people going to think?”

“Does it matter? You're having my baby, and I just want to make sure my baby's mama is relaxed.”

“Well, I didn't want to say anything, but I went to the doctor today and he put me on bed rest. I'm off work until I have the baby.”

David and Sheba went back and forth in a friendly banter of conversation. David tried his best to convince her to come to Dallas for the rest of her pregnancy. “Delilah can watch your house. I'm pretty sure if you ask her, she'll do it for you.”

“Delilah has been great. I'm going to miss her if I move out there,” Sheba said.

“She's welcome to come out here anytime she wants. My house is big enough for the three of us.”

“As crazy as it sounds, I'm thinking about taking you up on your offer. Let me think about it and get back with you.”

“You got my number,” David said. He had to handle the situation with her delicately because he was close to getting her to move in with him. If he could get her to Dallas, he knew she would succumb to her feelings for him.

He could tell she liked him more than she let on. He recalled the night he and Delilah flirted with one another. She had the look of a jealous woman, and if she was jealous, that meant she had some feelings for him.

He didn't have to wait long for her to respond. A few days later Sheba called him back. She said, “Delilah's agreed to watch my house, so if you, not your driver, can come and get me this weekend, I'll come back to Dallas with you.”

“You drive a hard bargain, but I will be there. Can I ask what helped you make up your mind?”

Sheba responded, “Joyce has been telling everyone I'm pregnant and that there's no way that Uriah is the father.”

“How did she find out?” David asked.

“She's just speculating. As you know, she approached me at the grave site, but I ignored her. I guess that pissed her off, so she's been gossiping about me ever since to anyone who will listen.”

David could hear the tension in Sheba's voice. “Getting upset isn't good for the baby.”

“I know. That's why I need to get away. I can't stand to be around Uriah's family right now.”

“Where's Delilah?”

“She's been screening the calls, because if one more person calls me with some mess, I swear I'm going to snap.”

“Calm down, Sheba. Breathe in and out.” David could hear Sheba doing as he instructed. “Better?” he asked.

“I will be. Let me take care of some business here, and you'll see me soon.”

David was glad that Sheba was coming, but hated that she had to endure ridicule from Uriah's family. He hoped the stress wouldn't affect her or the baby much. He would make sure when she arrived in Dallas that she was well taken care of.

David was supposed to be going out of town during the weekend, but he would juggle whatever he had to because he was bringing his woman home. Well, she wasn't officially his woman yet, but she would soon be. He had to convince her that he was all she needed. Her and their baby would be one big happy family.

David could control a lot of things, but time wasn't one of them. The week seemed to drag by. He was up bright and early Saturday morning. For one, he still wasn't sleeping well, and two, he was anxious about his soon-to-be houseguest.

He gave his maid strict instructions on how he wanted Sheba's room. He had noticed she liked peach and had painted her bathroom that color, so he had an interior decorator come in and redecorate one of the rooms across from his bedroom in peach. His ultimate plan was to have her move in the master bedroom with him, but until then, he wanted her room to be her personal sanctuary.

He was glad he did redecorate, because ten hours later, when he arrived back at the house with Sheba, her eyes lit up when she saw her room.

“David, thank you. This is absolutely beautiful.”

His butler placed her bags near the closet. “Mademoiselle, I'm not sure where you want your things. When you're ready to unpack, let me know and I will send Celia upstairs to help you unpack.”

Sheba said, “No need to. You've done enough. I can handle it from here.”

“But, mademoiselle, we've had strict instructions that you are not to lift a finger.”

David said, “Bentley, I'll help her. Thank you. That'll be all for now.”

“Yes, Mr. King.” The butler turned and walked away.

“Wow. You really are living large. You're like the king of Dallas.”

David laughed. “You can say that.”

Having Sheba around had brightened up the lonely mansion already. David now had a queen for his castle.