The Pastor's Heart (16 page)

I
t made Kingston mad that Sinclair would break off their dates to work but seeing her smile after he brought her candlelit dinners made his anger fade away.  She clearly had a purpose in life which she worked extremely hard for.  Sinclair didn’t have much but she shared every little thing she had.  Her past struggles had shown him just how much hard work could make a huge difference in one’s life.  He was truly in love with Sinclair and yet he had messed up the best thing that had ever happened to him.  He had to find a way to win Sinclair back because he needed her back in his life.

“Lord I need a miracle, I need Sinclair
.  I need to get the woman back that is to be my future wife. I need her Lord, I need her.”  Tears started rolling down his face and he didn’t even care to wipe them away.  He was hurting so bad all he wanted to do was hold Sinclair in his arms.

Kingston had let his head fall onto the computer’s keyboard when he looked up and realized he had work to do.
He had remembered that his father called Mr. Dunbar a con artist and he knew con artists never played only one game, they played many.  He typed Chad Dunbar’s name into the computer and was shocked at what he saw.             

“Thank you Jesus for saving me!!” Kingston exclaimed as he took the
paper out of the printer and reached for the telephone. 

********************

Green draperies hang alongside the floor to ceiling windows in this large living room
that was covered with a light gray paint on the walls.  A smoke gray sofa and love seat set sat surrounding a square travertine top coffee table with pops of magenta in the flowered vase that sat atop it.  A large framed picture of the Eiffel Tower hung on one wall while one of Sinclair’s own paintings hung on the adjacent wall.

“I can’t believe you did that Robyn? That pregnancy of yours has you eating some crazy foods.”  Sinclair said looking at Robyn as she sat eating pickles that she had dipped into her ice cream.

“It tastes good to me, y
ou should let me have some of that banana pudding to add to this,” Robyn, said trying to reach over to Sinclair.

“Nope, you know I’m not sharing this.”  Sinclair said as she turned away from
Robyn.

“With all the different people helping you, do you even know who made your food?”
Robyn asked while she and Sinclair sat with their feet up in Sinclair’s living room.

“I know Kingston made this and all the f
ood that is in my refrigerator because I’m used to his cooking now.  The church members have been cleaning, doing my laundry and running my errands for me too.  Mr. Parker has even taking a liking to Miss Hazel who has been tending to the garden.  They look like they are getting very comfortable together.”  Sinclair said smiling at Robyn.

“Wow!”
Robyn said looking at the rows of movies sitting on the rolling shelf near the sofa.  “Think you have enough?”

“
When Kingston brought me home from the hospital those were there.  There is even more in my bedroom.  He had packed my refrigerator to the brim and he moved all the furniture so I could get around without bumping into anything.”  Sinclair was still upset with Kingston but thought it was nice of him to get her apartment ready for her.

He had said he would take care of her whether she liked it or not and he had.  She didn’t need anything
and if she did there was always someone for her to call.  He had cooked her three meals a day and had them delivered every day.  He even hired a car service to take to her where she needed.

“Nice.  That was so thoughtful of him.” 
Robyn replied as she dipped another pickle into her ice cream.

“Anyway, how is my agency? What is going on there?” Sinclair abruptly changed the subject.

“Nope.  I won’t do it.”  Robyn said waving her spoon across from Sinclair on the sofa.  “Nope.  I promised Kingston I wouldn’t tell you anything about the business.   I can however, tell you that Ronald Witherspoon was sentenced to time served and one year probation.”

Sinclair’s face lit up with joy.  “That’s great to hear
, now what else is going on.”

“It’s not final,” Robyn said to a puzzled Sinclair.

“What is not final? What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Sinclair asked in an agitated voice.

“I’m not at liberty to say.” 
Robyn said as she started going through the movies on the shelf.

“You know, I am so
not liking you right about now Robyn.” Sinclair said in a sarcastic voice.

“Well, I’m so not liking you right now
either,” Robyn retorted as she put down the movies.  “You are sitting up here being pampered from head to toe, not having to lift a finger and it’s all because of Kingston.  He put the Take Care of Sinclair Plan into motion, everything from Sasha, Oliver and I running your office to the people coming here to help take care of you, he set up this plan.  This is the same man that makes you three hot meals a day so you don’t have to eat fast food since you don’t know how to cook.  Now you’re mad at me because I won’t tell you about the business that you need to be resting from.  You can’t be serious Sinclair.”

“I should have let you check h
im out.”  Sinclair said with her head down.

“What? What are you talking about Sinclair?”
Robyn was totally confused now.

“Remember the creepy realtor that came to my office to try and buy me out?” Sinclair asked and she sta
rted playing with her curly hair.

“Yes?”
Robyn asked.   “What about him?”

“His name i
s Chad Dunbar, he and Kingston were the one trying to buy my business.  The night Kingston gave me my cooking lesson we stayed up all night watching movies.  Before I went to bed in the guestroom downstairs, I was working on a few things and I must have picked up his papers with mine when I packed my briefcase.   And that’s when I found it.”  Sinclair said staring out the window.  “I found a document with both their names on and my agency as the property to be purchased.”

“That can’t be right. 
That doesn’t even sound like Kingston, he would never do something like that to you or anyone else.” Robyn could not believe what Sinclair just said.

“I felt the same way too so I rushed over to his house to ask
him about it.  Sitting in his living room was none other than that sneaky low life Chad Dunbar. I asked Kingston about the paper and he claimed he didn’t know it was my property.  And the creepy Chad had the nerve to say to me, it was just business.  I was about to give him a piece of my mind when Kingston stopped me.  I told you when he came to see me that something didn’t feel right with him.  I should have let you have him checked out.”  Sinclair felt like she had let all of her clients down.

“Look, I don’t care what happened.  I still say that doesn’t sound like Kingston to me. 
There is more to that story than it seems but you just have to sit down and talk to Kingston. Has he called you at all?”  Robyn just couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I haven’t returned
his calls.”  Sinclair said as she continued playing with her hair. “Robyn if I lose the business I worked so hard for I couldn’t live with myself.  It would seem like I let Miss Marjorie down and I can’t do that, but with Kingston being behind this whole thing, I can’t I really can’t.”  Sinclair said as she broke down and cried.  Robyn rushed over to Sinclair’s side and hugged her while she cried into her arms.

“That’s not going to happen.  You are a good person and God knows your heart.  Trust me G
od is going to work this out, trust me.  God is an on time God and He will work this out.”  Robyn reassured a crying Sinclair.

********************

A few hours later Sinclair sat in her living room watching a movie when there was a knock on her door.  “Come in Miss Annabelle,” Sinclair yelled to the door expecting to see the older woman from the church.

Louise Carter stepped into Sinclair’s living room looking fresh and vibrant while dressed in
a casual blue shirt and jeans.  Her long hair was pulled into a high pony tail making her look years younger.

Sinclair was shocked to see who walked through her door.
“Mrs. Carter what are you doing here?”

“I have come to
take you out of this house today,”  Louise said as she put her purse on the coffee table and sat right across from Sinclair.

“Mrs
...” Sinclair started.

“Miss Louise will do fine
as I told you before.  Now if you would just tell me what you would like to wear I will help you get dressed.”

“Miss Louise, I real
ly don’t feel much like going out, but thank you for the invitation.” Sinclair spoke in a soft voice.

“Look Sinclair
, I did not drive all the way over here to ask you if you wanted to go out.”  Louise said as she leaned to get closer to Sinclair.  “I am actually going to kidnap you so you can get some fresh air.  You have been hiding out in this house since the accident and you need to get out.  The only time you have been out is to go back and forth to the doctor’s office and that’s it.” Louise said to Sinclair who had her leg on the coffee table.

“But Miss Louise,” Sinclair pro
tested. 

Sinclair now knew where Kingston got his demanding side from because this was the second time that a Carter had spoken to her in a harsh tone, even though it was for her own good.

  “You have been through a tremendous amount of things in a short period of time and you need to start the healing process.  It starts here and now with me taking you out of this apartment.  Now if Kingston never told you I used to be a missionary at one point but if you got on my bad side I would turn into a mercenary.”   Louise said in a stern voice surprising Sinclair.

“My jean skirt is hanging in the front of my closet and my purpl
e blouse is in the back.  My purse is by my nightstand and the only shoes I can wear are by the door.”  Sinclair did not want any of what Kingston told her she had dished out in the past. 

Being a sweet lady also made Louise
vulnerable to people trying to take her kindness for weakness.  On several occasions she had to take her first lady hat off and put a few people in their places, Sinclair did not want to be one of those people.

An hour later the two arrived at the beauty salon to get their hair done.

“Hi First Lady Carter, good to see you again.  You are right on time for your appointments,” greeted the receptionist at the desk of the large hair salon. The twenty something year old said to Louise.

“Appointments?” Sinclair asked.

“Yes, I took the liberty of scheduling us appointments.”  Louise said to Sinclair then turned back to the lady at the desk. 

“
Nice to see you again, Sophia.  This is Miss Sinclair Madison; you should have her name down as the other appointment.”

“We sure do. 
Hi Sinclair.  Now if you two would just follow me everything is set up for you.”  The Asian woman said as she walked to the stylists who were waiting for them.

“Miss Louise you didn’t have to do this.”
Sinclair said as the hair stylist helped her into the chair.

“I didn’t have to do this, I wanted to do this.”
Louise replied as she got comfortable in her chair next to Sinclair.

“
I know how much my son loves and cares for you.  I also know how much you love and care for him as well.  Honey, I know this is a hard thing you are going through right now but you have to get up from it.  You are not the same person I met so many months ago, the woman whose smile lit up any room.  Where is the Sinclair Madison that stole my son’s heart?  What happened to her?” Louise got right to the point.

When t
he stylist took Sinclair’s hair down from her pony tail, she stared at herself in the mirror and she couldn’t even recognize her own self.  Her eyes were withdrawn and her dimples looked like they had completely faded away.  She felt so bad on the inside that it had started showing on the outside. 

“I honestly don’t
know, she is simply lost somewhere,” Sinclair confessed. “No one will tell me what is going on with my agency.  I don’t know whether I have to shut it down or move or what.”

“Honey your agency is fine and we are
making sure you don’t have to close the doors to your business.  What you have built is a one of a kind thing here in this area and it serves so many needy people, there is no way we will allow it to close.”  Louise said to Sinclair as the stylist started combing her long gray hair.

“If it weren’t for the pain killer
s putting me to sleep I would not sleep at all.  I worked so hard to make my business what it is and to sit back and do nothing makes me feel completely helpless.” Sinclair said staring at her undone nails.

“You’re not helpless
; you just are down right now.  You have walked into the walls of Jericho and just because you can’t get over it doesn’t mean you can’t get around it.   I believe when you get up and you will get up, everything will be fine.  I know what my son did seems like the cruelest thing anyone could do to another human being, but I believe him when he said he didn’t know Mr. Dunbar was a crook I am not just saying that because he is my son, I say that because he is an honorable man like his father.  Now he is not perfect by any means and he does make mistakes because he is only flesh.  I bet you he never even asked you about your life in foster care.” Louise said while showing the stylist what she wanted done to her hair.