Chapter 21
William sat across the table from Reverend Chance and Olivia. “I thought we were going to be on the front page in this paper?” Olivia's question was more like a demand. Her fingernail stabbed at the paper as she pointed.
“Well, we gave the interview,” William said. “We can't make them place a story in a certain section.”
“You should have done something, William,” Olivia insisted. “They ran that horrible story on the front page. They should have run this one there, too. It was positive. It hyped our message. It should not have been buried inside.”
“Well, at least we got in the paper,” Reverend Chance said. “I think you did a good job, William, making that happen.”
He smiled at William, but Olivia wasn't having it. “Look, we have to be aggressive. It's not good enough for us to be buried inside. The next time I say I want a story in the paper, I mean on the front page. We are not second-class citizens. This is unacceptable.”
She shoved her chair back from the table and stomped over to the coffee pot. Reverend Chance's eyes followed his daughter. “She's just looking out for me,” he told William. “She really wants me to win. So don't let her hurt your feelings. She doesn't mean any harm.”
William waved off the words from Olivia. “Oh, that's all right, Pastor,” he said. “I know Olivia is just a very driven, hard working woman. She's strong.”
“Yes,” Pastor Chance agreed. “She is.”
William's cell phone rang. He picked up. “Hello?” He paused to listen. “Oh . . . um, sure,” William said. He hung up and turned to the pastor. “That was a client. She is having a problem with her computer. I told her I'd go and check it out. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?”
“Sure, go take care of your business,” Reverend Chance said.
Olivia butted into the conversation. “William, try not to be gone long. Next to my father, you're one of the most important people to this campaign. You've been out in the public eye almost as much as he has. I have a few projects I need you to tackle today.”
“Okay, Olivia,” William said, standing. “I'll be back as soon as I get this thing taken care of.”
“I really appreciate the sacrifices you are making, William,” Reverend Chance said. “When I'm in office, I'm going to remember your faithfulness.”
“Thanks, Pastor. I'll see you in a bit.”
Chapter 22
Nikki wrapped up the photo shoot for Sister James.
“I'm going to send these pictures to that mission magazine,” Sister James said. “I always see those other churches' pictures in there, so I decided to get our church in there, too.”
“Oh, that will be a really good thing,” Nikki said. “Give our church some exposure.”
“Indeed!” Sister James said. “All those big-city churches can't be the only ones showing off.” She glanced at Nikki. “I've been missing you at usher meeting lately. And I didn't see you at church Sunday.”
Nikki blushed. “Oh, Iâ”
Sister James pulled out a catalog. “These are the new usher uniforms we'll be getting.” She pointed to a blue and white ensemble that looked pretty similar to the ones the ushers already wore.
“Oh . . . these are nice,” Nikki said, while thinking to herself that she could not afford to buy another usher's uniform. Especially since she hadn't been participating much lately anyway.
“Yes, they are,” Sister James said. “They'll get here just in time for the Usher Appreciation Day. I'm going to tell everybody about them in our next meeting. I hope you'll be able to make it to that one.”
“Oh, um, yeah,” Nikki said quickly. She knew she had to do better.
“Good,” Sister James said. “I'm going to have all the information ready. Everybody can place their orders then.”
“Well, isn't that kind of soon?” Nikki asked. “I mean, some people may have to wait for payday. Or they may not have the money at all.”
“That's nonsense!” Sister James waved off that idea. “We should want to look our best for the Lord.”
“Right,” Nikki said. “I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it might not be that easy for some people.”
“Easy?” Sister James laughed. “Serving the Lord isn't about easy, child! We should be grateful to be able to make the sacrifice. And if someone does not have the money for the new uniform, then sacrifice is what they should do. They can give up a dinner out one night to pay for these beautiful uniforms.”
It's a bit more expensive than a pizza
, Nikki thought. “Well, I'm just saying that maybe we should take into account people's finances and give them a bit more time to place their order than at that meeting.”
“Humph!” Sister James huffed. “I say if they can't afford to buy a simple little uniform, then maybe the usher board isn't right for them. I can't stand a lazy Christian! Somebody who isn't willing to make a tiny sacrifice for our Lord when He gave His whole life for us!”
Nikki knew there was no dissuading the woman.
“Too bad all our members can't be as sweet and giving as you,” Sister James said, lightly tapping Nikki on the cheek. “You always do what I ask. You might not come to all the usher meetings, but I know I can always call on you to help me when I need it.”
Just as she had dropped whatever she was doing today to respond to Sister James's call, Nikki had done the same thing many times over the past four years, offering to baby-sit for single mothers, visiting the elderly, and serving food to the homeless at Thanksgiving.
“You are such a delight,” Sister James said.
Nikki managed a smile. “Thank you, Sister James.”
“And you are doing a beautiful thing, staying home to raise that precious child,” the woman complimented. “So many of these young mothers stick their babies in daycare the first chance they get.” Sister James glanced at Psalm, sat at the table, quietly drawing on a sheet of construction paper.
“Thank you,” Nikki said, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation. She didn't want to be a stay-at-home mom, but knew she could not voice that. “As a matter of fact, I need to get her on back to the house. She's not been feeling well lately.”
“Nothing serious, I hope?” Sister James inquired.
Nikki started to downplay her daughter's condition, then decided to come clean. “Well, to be truthful with you, Sister James, I don't know how serious it is. We just found out she has a medical condition that may require surgery.”
“Surgery! My word!” Sister James's hand flew to her chest. “Well, I will certainly lift her up in prayer. Our Lord is still in the healing business. He healed a woman with an issue of blood when doctors gave her no hope. He healed Hezekiah and extended his days. He will heal your child. You just keep the faith.”
“Sometimes it's hard, Sister James,” Nikki admitted.
“Hard? There is nothing too hard for God, child!”
“No, what I mean isâ”
“Shhh,” Sister James said. “Don't speak doubt. You just go forward and trust the Lord to bring healing to that girl. Now go on home. Get in the Word.”
Nikki wanted to say something more. She wished she could talk to someone about her doubts and her fears, but who would listen? Those around her seemed to be so much further along in their spiritual lives than she. “Come on, Psalm, let's go home,” she said, and the child climbed off the chair.
They said good bye to Sister James and called for David, who was somewhere out back. They climbed into his car for the second time that day. Psalm began whimpering on the way back home. Nikki turned around to touch the child in the backseat. “Oh, baby, it's all right,” she said.
“My tummy hurts,” Psalm whined.
“She had too many cookies at my mom's house, huh?” David asked with a smile.
“No, actually, she's been sick the past couple of days,” Nikki said, rubbing the child's leg.
“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Did you put in a prayer request at church?”
“No. I justâ”
“Oh, you should put in a request,” David said. “Let the prayer team offer your family up.”
“Yeah, I should,” Nikki said weakly. “I just hadn't gotten around to it.”
“Oh, that's a shame. That's the first thing I do if ever I need something. The Lord can't bless us if we don't ask.”
“Well, I've been praying on my own,” Nikki said.
“It's not the same,” David chided. “You need prayer warriors working on your behalf.”
“Yeah, you're right.” Nikki didn't want to argue.
“Moommmyy!” Psalm's wail pierced the air.
“Oh, that child is in some serious pain,” David said, and clucked his tongue. “It's a shame you have been holding off on getting your blessing, Sister Broussard. You should get the prayer warriors praying for you soon. Stop standing in the way of your child's blessing.”
By the time they returned home, Psalm had calmed down. She ran to play on her Dora the Explorer blanket. Nikki closed herself in the bathroom and sat on the edge of the double vanity. She buried her head in her hands. She broke down in tears and no words could get around the lump in her throat. The fear for her child's life knotted her stomach and the heartbreak she felt at seeing Psalm suffer made her raise her fist toward the ceiling. “God, please!” She managed to get the words out.
“Mommy, are you okay?” A concerned Psalm knocked on the bathroom door.
Nikki quickly wiped away her tears. She mustered false cheer and called back. “I'm great, sweetie! Go back and play. Mommy's in the bathroom. I'll be out shortly.”
“Okay, Mommy,” Psalm called. “I love you!”
Nikki's heart melted. “I love you, too, baby.”
She could hear the child scurry away. Nikki could not imagine letting her daughter go through another painful episode. Psalm didn't deserve this pain. Nikki opened the door and walked to the nightstand next to her bed. She picked up the phone and dialed Danielle's number. She knew what she had to do. She had put it off long enough.
Chapter 23
Danielle let her hand trail lightly across Troy's naked stomach as he lay on his back next to her, the sweat still warm on his skin. “So, baby, do you think you can get a hookup at the hospital for Nikki?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don't know,” Danielle said. “Do whatever you do. Nikki needs some help paying for a surgery and she doesn't have any money.”
“What? Don't tell me Miss Goody Two Shoes wants a hookup.”
“Well, she's not as innocent as she pretends.” Danielle toyed with the idea of laying her best friend's laundry out before Troy, but refrained. “Yeah, she's in kind of a bad way. Her baby is sick and she needs some money kind of fast. And you know I've got to help my girl out.”
“I don't know if I want to give her anything,” Troy said. “She don't like me too much.”
“If you do this for me, this could really help things along,” Danielle said suggestively. Troy had been on his best behavior as he tried to smooth things over with her.
Troy thought about this for a moment and then nodded. “Okay,” he said. “But she needs to keep this under wraps.”
“Oh, she won't say anything,” Danielle assured and leaned in to kiss him. “But look, let me get out of here so I can scoot on to work,” she added and climbed out of the bed.
She hopped into the shower then slathered on thick, peach scented lotion as she got dressed for work. She rolled her eyes as she looked at the clock. Yep, she would be late, again. “I have got to get married so I can quit this dumb job,” she groaned inwardly as she heard Troy rustling about the next room.
“I'm headed out now!” Troy called to her.
“Okay, bye, baby!”
She heard the door slam, and then the condo was again silent. Danielle admired herself in her full-length mirror, pushing out her breasts and nodding at her flat stomachâwell, it wasn't as flat as it was a few years ago, but it wasn't bad. She saw the beginnings of a pooch.
At least I don't look like some of those big, fat nasty women who act like they've never heard of a gym
. The only workouts she had gotten lately, though, were always on her back. Her firm cheerleader's body was morphing into a soft roundness that was still decent, but could easily get out of hand. But she shrugged the thoughts off; after all, she had always been beautiful. That was how she made her way in the world.
She worked hard to look goodâshe got her hair done every week, and nails too. Spa treatments kept her looking refreshed and expensive, designer clothes showed off her body. A woman's power is in her looks, she had always believed.
Danielle knew many women shunned such a statement and looked upon her with disdain for taking it to heart. “Those are just the ugly trolls,” she mumbled to herself. Danielle knew definitively where her power was. She recalled the first time she realized her looks could get her what she wanted. She had been five years old. She and her sister had been playing in the mirror while waiting for ice cream. Her sister wore a pink dress with the most beautiful lacy rose-colored ribbon Danielle had ever seen. Danielle's dress was the same design, but yellow, with a matching ribbon. She thought her sister's pink ribbon was prettier and tried to snatch it from her hair. When her sister protested, Danielle shoved her to the floor, causing the girl to bump her head. Their mother had spanked her and fussed, telling Danielle to go outside. The heart-breaker was when their mother said Danielle could not have any ice cream because she was on punishment for being mean. Danielle flounced out to the porch, angry and pouting. Her uncle smiled at her. “What's the matter?”
“Mama says I can't have any ice cream,” she said, looking at him with sad eyes.
He smiled and hoisted her onto his lap. “Well, a pretty girl like you can't ever be found crying,” he said, situating her narrow behind over his lap. “Let me hold you just like this for a little while and I'll take you to get some ice cream. You're so pretty I'd do anything for you.”
And he had.
Danielle shook her head to clear the memory.
Yes, looking good will get you anything you want
. And now, finally, she had snagged someone who would give her what she wanted: a big house, a Range Rover, and enough money to quit that godforsaken job. Troy was fine and had a good job in sales. That little cheating episodeâor whatever it wasâwas behind them. He knew he had a good thing. He wouldn't dare be so ungrateful as to cast her aside. “As soon as I get back from my honeymoon, I'll be telling that hospital where they can get off,” she mumbled.
Danielle hated nursing, and had only entered the field to be closer to doctors, thinking she would be able to snap one up in pretty short order. Nobody told her, though, when she signed up for nursing school, that most of the doctors were already married. That plan hadn't worked.
She ran through a series of men and wasn't sure how she ended up still single.
Nikki goes out to one party not even caring about finding a man and ends up with a guy who immediately marries her. I go out every week and can't meet anyone to take me down the aisle. But that's all about to change now
. The relationship with Troy was coming along nicelyâthat minor cheating episode aside.
Danielle had barely made it through nursing school, and would have flunked out if she hadn't zeroed in on her advisor's admiration of pretty thingsâor at least, pretty young women. Through a series of carefully placed coy comments and “accidentally” brushing against him, she had managed to get him thinking about her. She flattered the balding and overweight man with attention, and blew his mind with short skirts that showed off her lack of undergarments. Before long, she had convinced him to steal tests for her so she would have the answers and even to change her grades. In exchange, he got to taste her young body.
“You know, I think I'm starting to feel really bad about all this,” Danielle had said to the advisor, her eyes lighting on the smiling photo of the professor with his wife and two children. She touched his wedding band, which was nearly hidden in the fleshy folds of his hand.
“Oh, you're just a sweet girl, you shouldn't feel bad,” he had said, zipping his gray pants after a lunchtime quickie in his cluttered office.
“I'd really hate for your precious wife to be so hurt by all this.” Danielle straightened her clothes and fluffed her hair.
His eyes shot to her face. “What are you talking about?”
“I'm just trying to look out for your family,” she said sweetly, trailing her hand over his chest. The white shirt was transparent with big, sweaty spots. “Your dear, loving wife really has a right to know what's going on. Maybe I should tell her.”
He grabbed Danielle by the arm. “You'll do no such thing!” His breath was hot on her face.
“What
you
will do, is get your fat hands off me,” Danielle said. Her voice was low, but deadly. “Because, you see, I am the one with the power in this situation. You owe me.”
“Owe you? Owe you?” he sputtered, letting go of her arm. “I am the reason you even passed nursing school. If it had not been for me, you would have flunked out two semesters ago.”
“Precisely,” she said, stepping to the door with her purse in hand. “Which is exactly what I will tell the dean of the department if you don't find me a job.”
His face slacked and looked deflated as he slumped back onto the desk they'd just used as a makeshift bed. Moisture beaded his pasty white forehead and he let out a defeated sigh. “Okay, okay. Let me, uh, make a few calls. I'll have you a job by week's end.”
She blew him a kiss. “Thanks, baby.”
And now, her affections would land her Troy. Already, he was doing her bidding by getting this surgery taken care of for Nikki. It would be only a matter of time before she got him down the aisle, Danielle mused.