What God Has For Me (6 page)

She stole a peek at him while he steered the
SUV on the highway. Judging from his soft humming, she doubted it.
She tried to get past his handsomeness, but it was right there day
or night, dressed in a suit and tie or in sweats.
Stay
focused
, she chided herself.

By the time Zachary pulled up to the curb of
her mother’s house, Halcyon was in a daze. Since professing his
love, Zachary hadn’t said another word, but let the soft music fill
the silence. “Goodnight,” she said before he could put the SUV in
park, grabbed her purse and scrambled up the steps as if creepy
crawlers were on her trail.

After letting herself in, Halcyon shut the
door and leaned against it. She was panting, her heart was racing,
and her vision began to blur with tears. Chancing a peep out the
side window, Halcyon was relieved when Zachary drove away. She
didn’t know who had her more flustered: Scott for not loving her
enough to marry her, or Zachary for loving her so much, he had
waited for her.

Turning around, Halcyon jumped when her
mother stirred on the couch. Apparently, she was waiting up for her
instead of asleep in her own bed.

Sarah yawned. “Thank God, you’re home. You
had me worried.” When it came to her children, regardless that they
were grown, she still fretted. And she would tell them in a minute
that as their mother, it was her prerogative.

Squinting, her mother slowly stood. The
relief she wore earlier was gone as her brows knitted together in
worry. “Baby, you’ve been crying. Did something happen before Zach
got there? No one tried to abduct you, did they? Did someone hit
your car?”

Halcyon had to stop her mother before she
created a world disaster centered on her car trouble. But as she
opened her mouth to explain, tears she thought she had capped
earlier, leaked out. “Yes, something happened. He loves me, Momma.”
Halcyon fell into her arms and sobbed whole-heartedly. “Zachary,”
she mumbled.

Her mother squeezed her tighter, then
loosened her hold. “Ooh, I want to tell you, ‘I told you so,’ but I
won’t.” She paused after she already said what she said she wasn’t
going to say. “So he finally told you. ‘Bout time. You’re getting a
good man.” She chuckled.

She looked at her mother as if she were an
alien. “I just got out of a four-year”—she thought about Zachary’s
calculations—“and three-month relationship. This is too soon. I’m
still adjusting to it being just me and the children. Now Zachary
is messing with my head and heart. He basically expects me to quit
my job to come and work for him. Plus bring Ashanti and
Jonathan.”

Sarah laughed, then covered her mouth so as
not to wake her grandchildren. “Talk about perks. That’s why I love
that young man. If your father was living, he would, too.”

“Momma, I’m glad you’re happy, because I’m
confused. I’m not looking for a father for my children or love. If
I jump back into the dating pool just because another man shows
interest in me, it could be a bad recipe if my head’s not in the
right place. That is how other women have different fathers for
their children—looking for both. I won’t go back there. I’m done.”
Halcyon threw up her hands. She didn’t care what Zachary had said,
when it came to a job, she
was
a charity case, but she was
determined not to be one in the love department.

“I believe you won’t be one of those women.
Zachary is a young man with a heart to serve God. As a practicing
Christian, you know he won’t touch you, and since you’re not
looking for love, I guess you won’t be puckering up your lips for
him either.” She yawned. “We better get to bed. It appears we both
have to be at work in the
morning
. Just remember, what God
has for you, is for you. The devil can’t have it.”

As if cued, her smartphone notified her of a
text at this late hour. She pulled it out of her handbag, then
groaned
. Zachary.

See you in the morning, any time before noon.
Night. Z.

So it hadn’t been a dream,
Halcyon realized
the next morning when her alarm clock sounded at seven a.m. Too
early an hour for a woman who had grown accustomed to sleeping
later as a result of working the overnight shift.

She really had been rescued by a tall, buffed
and handsome prince who had whispered his love for her, her
children and offered her a job that only pride would keep her from
accepting. It was the other part that made her uneasy. Scared and
totally confused.

But before Halcyon did too much celebrating,
she wanted to double check that Zachary’s offer was genuine and not
said in desperation before she quit her overnight job. Grabbing her
phone, she tapped in his number. When he answered, she asked, “Ah,
hi, I wanted to make sure you still want me… I mean working there
for you.”

“Yes to both, Bridget.” His voice relaxed
her.

“And the children, is it still okay to bring
Ashanti and Jonathan?”

“I don’t renege on my offers. You know that.
Call me when all three of you are ready and I’ll have one of my
mechanics come to get you, most likely it will be Raymond. I’m
kinda busy right now.”

Throwing back the cover, she scooted up in
bed and glanced across the room at her children still asleep,
Jonathan in his crib and Ashanti in her juvenile bed. Pulling her
legs to her chest, Halcyon just sat there, then became overwhelmed,
reflecting on the new developments in her life. How could she work
alongside Zachary, knowing of his affections? She sighed heavily as
a tear tinkled down her cheek.

“Lord,” she paused, not knowing where to
begin or how to continue. “Thank You for the blessing. You know I
need the money, but who am I that Zachary would be attracted to me?
He’s a good man who deserves more than leftovers from a man I
thought would be my husband.”

Know your purpose!
The magnificent
Voice caused her to shiver. Bowing her head, Halcyon closed her
eyes as tears flowed. She did her best to muffle her sobs with her
pillow, so as not to wake and alarm her children. In His presence,
she felt small and guilty. Her soul sought repentance for her
thoughts and deeds.

I created you with a purpose,
the
Lord’s words came as a whisper this time.
I am mindful of you
and your needs… Read Psalm 8:4.

A Bible verse. When she attended church, the
Lord seemed to plant Scriptures in her head as He was doing now.
But that stopped when she became legally grown and decided to go on
her own. Was God now trying to rescue her after all her years of
living in sin?

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, only
made Halcyon start crying again. “Jesus, I truly am sorry for the
decisions I made that put my children in the middle of this
drama.”

Once she depleted her reservoir of tears, she
took a deep breath and looked in the direction of her
children—still asleep. Halcyon quietly stepped out of bed and
padded across the room to the bathroom. Her spacious childhood
bedroom served as a studio apartment that she hoped would be
temporary, if she didn’t mess up on the job with Zachary.

Halcyon stared at her reflection in the
mirror. She wasn’t the beauty she had been when she met Scott five
years ago. She had been slender, shapely, thick head of hair, and
glowing in her youthfulness. Thanks to childbirth, her curves had
been altered. Her mother and Granny Rose said the added pounds made
her look more like a woman and it took nothing away from her
beauty. Of course, she never believed that. At twenty-seven, she
even noticed gray strands. Oh well, her past was her past. It was
time to move on.

She wanted to shower before the children
woke, so she could find that Scripture in the Bible God told her to
read. Although Halcyon came out the bathroom in record time,
Jonathan was already awake and quietly playing with a stuffed toy.
When he noticed her, he scrambled to his feet and reached for
her.

Once she had him in her arms, she shook
Ashanti. “Sleepyhead, do you want to eat?”

“I wanna eat,” Jonathan repeated with morning
breath.

Halcyon chuckled. “All right. After that,
we’re going to where Uncle Zachary works.”

“Yay,” Ashanti suddenly said, springing up.
“I love Uncle Zach.”

“I know. He loves you, too.”
And me,
too,
apparently. Halcyon didn’t know how awkward things would
be between them now because of three simple words that he couldn’t
take back.

“Mommy, can I bring my books?”

“Yes, baby.” Ever since her daughter learned
she was going to pre-school, Ashanti loved carrying books so she
could be like the big kids she saw at bus stops.

Ashanti raced to her stack of coloring books
and box of jumbo crayons.

“Let’s eat and get cleaned up first,” Halcyon
told her daughter. She quickly washed their faces and hands.
Halcyon supervised her daughter’s tooth brushing techniques while
she cleaned the baby’s teeth.

When they walked into the kitchen, her mother
was finishing her cup of coffee. Working part-time, her mother was
dressed and ready to leave. After receiving hugs from her
grandbabies, Sarah swiped a kiss on Halcyon’s cheek. “Enjoy your
first day for everything.” She smiled, took her keys off the
counter, then waved goodbye.

“Bye, Grandma.” Her children waved.

Halcyon hurried her children during breakfast
instead of allowing them to play with their food, coaxing them to
eat every bite. Even though Zachary was being generous, he was
still a business man who had a company to run, so she wanted to get
to Baer Electronics sooner rather than later, and earn the fifty
thousand dollar salary he was paying her blindly. That was twice
what she was making.

Back upstairs, she quickly bathed and dressed
them. Halcyon brushed Ashanti’s hair into two ponytails, then
observed her children. No one could ever accuse her of not
providing for her children with food, shelter, or clothes.

She, on the other hand, had neglected herself
when it came to personal pampering. Inside her closet, Halcyon
surveyed the few business suits she could still fit. Most of her
clothes were practical to keep up with two small children. She
couldn’t remember the last time she was in a dress and pantyhose,
so on the spur of the moment, she decided to dress to impress her
boss, even if she wore the same coordinates for a week.

Ashanti and Jonathan seemed entertained by
her dilemma of changing three times before deciding on a powder
blue suit. Next, she dreaded the time she would need to apply full
makeup instead of the normal blush and lipstick. “Keep an eye on
your brother.”

“Okay, Mommy,” Ashanti said, but didn’t look
up from the page she was coloring.

All she needed was for them to run into the
bathroom while she was using her eyeliner. Last was her hair. The
ponytail was practical, but since she was going all out, she opted
to brush it out and let it lay on her shoulders. She glanced at the
time: ten-thirty. “Finally.” She exhaled as she scrutinized her
appearance, then sent Zachary a text: Ready.

I wish I was there to pick up my three
special people, but Raymond is standing by. See you soon.

Zachary’s mechanic arrived a half hour later
as Halcyon was packing up snacks for the children. “Hi, Miss
Holland, Zach already put the children’s car seats in the back.
I’ll take that,” Raymond said, reaching for Jonathan’s diaper bag
and the small rolling backpack of snacks and toys to occupy her
children while she learned her job.

While on the way to the store, Halcyon made
small talk with the man she had met a few times. The fact was that
she was nervous, not because of the first day jitters. Every woman
wanted a man to tell her he loved her, but coming from Zachary, she
was caught off guard, especially since she felt something.

Raymond turned into the parking lot of the
strip mall that housed Baer Electronics as an anchor store. Zachary
Bishop was another African-American success story, handsome, a
committed Christian and financially secure. According to Desi,
Zachary had even put down money for Michael to start a franchise in
an attempt to help his brother get away from the environment where
the “crime of infidelity was committed”—Desi’s words.

Halcyon scrutinized her new place of
employment. She had only been inside for the grand opening many
years ago and then one other time with her mother when Zachary
insisted she pick out a new high def TV for Mother’s Day. The man
was definitely a prince. She couldn’t deny that.

“Go on in, Miss Holland, they’re expecting
you. I’ll bring your things and the car seats in,” Raymond said
after parking.

Thanking him, she did just that. With
Jonathan in one arm and holding Ashanti’s hand, Halcyon smiled when
one of the employees greeted her at the door like a maître d
instead of a fellow coworker.

“Hi, Miss Holland, we’ve been expecting you.
Welcome aboard. Please follow me to your office.” As she trailed
the woman, Halcyon craned her neck trying to locate Zachary. She
had expected him to be greeting her. When she stopped at the
doorway of her office, her mouth dropped open. Her “office” was
bigger than her spacious bedroom. One side of the floor was covered
with colorful large square carpet pieces while the other side was
white tile.

The carpet had kiddie furniture for Ashanti
to sit and color her cartoon books to her heart’s content, and a
chest of toys that were normally seen stocked in a pediatrician’s
office. “And to think I dragged an arsenal of toys with me,” she
mumbled as released her son into the wild of the toys. “Wow.”

“Yeah, we had to scramble to get it done this
morning, but Mr. Bishop compensated us well,” the employee, whose
nametag read Lynette, said. The woman didn’t seem bothered at all
by the last minute inconvenience.