Private Property

by La Jill Hunt

  “That will be twenty-eight seventy,” Lydia said.

  “Wow, I thought they would be way more than that. I can maybe swing that. Do you have any in a ten and a half? I got thirty bucks.” Jonah stepped up to the counter next to Zeke.

  They all laughed, and Jonah blinked, confused.

  “I told you he was corny.” Zeke shook his head. “These kicks are way more than thirty damn bucks.”

  “I thought she said twenty-eight seventy,” Jonah responded.

  “Twenty-eight hundred, sweetie!” Ricardo said.

  “Dollars?” Jonah was shocked. “For some gym shoes?”

  “They aren’t gym shoes, man,” Zeke said, taking out his credit card and handing it to Lydia.

  Jonah glanced up, and his eyes met hers. She smiled. He looked down again, hoping she didn’t see him blushing.

  “Really, at the end of the day, that’s what they are,” Lydia said. “Gym shoes.”

  “No, they aren’t,” Ricardo said. “They are limited-edition classics and a rare collector’s item. They are more than gym shoes, don’t get it twisted. Why do you work here again? Oh, that’s right, because your daddy knows the owner.”

  “I think it’s because of her amazing customer service skills and her gorgeous smile.” Jonah shrugged.

  They all turned to him, and this time when he looked up at Lydia, he didn’t look down. The energy between them was so intense that he knew it had to be love.

  “Well, damn. Maybe he ain’t so corny after all,” Ricardo said. “I think they may be a match made in heaven.”

  Ricardo was right. For Jonah, Lydia was heaven-sent just for him. They began dating, and it was as if he had known her his entire life despite their many differences. He grew up in the suburbs of Anne Arundel, Maryland, and she was from the inner city of Baltimore. He graduated from high school and immediately entered the police academy while being a Navy reservist, and she was working on a master’s degree in education. He was a corny white guy who loved animals, and she was a beautiful black woman who enjoyed running and was afraid of dogs. His family loved her, and even though her family didn’t feel the same, they made it work. He proposed to her a year and a half later, and she said yes. They were preparing to move in together when his reserve unit was activated. He was being sent to Afghanistan for six months.

  “I want to marry you before I leave,” he told her. “Let’s go to the courthouse tomorrow.”

  “No. I want us to have a wedding, baby. A beautiful church wedding with all of our family and friends and my dad walking me down the aisle.” Lydia leaned into his chest. They were lying on the sofa, trying to figure out their living situation.

  “Do you think your family will even come to a big church wedding? Your dad technically didn’t even give me permission to marry you.”

  Jonah and Lydia were visiting her parents’ home one Saturday evening when he hinted to her dad that he wanted to marry her. He didn’t get the chance to ask his permission because her father immediately went into a lecture about how Lydia had an amazing future ahead of her and other goals to accomplish before she was tied down to be someone’s wife. He then continued to say how he and his wife had sacrificed to make sure that Lydia had everything she needed to accomplish her goals without the help of a man, especially one who wasn’t educated or headed in the same direction of success as his daughter.

  Jonah’s first instinct was to respond by telling her father that he had his own goals, but somehow becoming a K-9 specialist in the police department didn’t seem as impressive as he thought it would. He wanted to say that he wasn’t trying to tie Lydia down, but he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and wanted her to be the mother of his children. There was so much he wanted to say, but he didn’t. He figured he would save it for another time.

  “My dad is just trying to be intimidating like he does to all the guys I’ve dated. You’re not gonna let him scare you off, are you?” Lydia teased.

  “I ain’t never scared! I ain’t never scared!” Jonah said in his best Bone Crusher impersonation.

  Lydia laughed. “And that’s what made me fall in love with you. You remember that day you and Zeke came in the sneaker spot? I saw this cute white dude with swag, nodding to the beat.”

  “Swag?” Jonah laughed.

  “Yeah. The fact that you knew all the words to UGK’s ‘International Players Anthem’ let me know that you had swag. Plus, you were with Zeke, so I knew you couldn’t be that bad.”

  “Zeke just knew he was about to make that move on you until you shot him down!”

  “I told you on that day that I knew what I wanted, and I got it!”

  Jonah kissed her and said, “I want to marry you tomorrow. You know I’m about to leave, and just in case—”

  “I don’t want you to marry me out of fear.”

  “It’s not out of fear. It’s because I love you and I want to make sure—”

  “Just make sure you bring your ass back here in one piece so we can have a huge church wedding. Trust me, I’ll have plenty of planning to keep me busy while you’re gone. Now promise me you’re gonna do that when you get back!”

  “I promise as long as you promise to give me a baby as soon as we get married!”

  “I promise!” she said, and he kissed her again.

  Jonah’s deployment went by quicker than they both anticipated. He hoped that by the time he returned, her father would have had a change of heart. However, things were no better when he got back. Jonah knew it couldn’t have been his race, because Lydia’s older sister had married an Asian guy and he and her father got along exceptionally well. There was just something about Jonah that her father did not like. Things didn’t get any better once the two of them decided to move in together before the wedding.

  “So you’re just going to move my baby girl all the way out here and shack up, huh? You think that’s appropriate?” her father asked while he was moving some of Lydia’s things into Jonah’s apartment, which she’d moved into once he’d returned home.

  “No, sir, not at all,” Jonah told him. “It’s just temporary until the wedding in four months. I would marry Lydia tomorrow if she would let me.”

  “So you don’t think she deserves the wedding of her dreams? You just wanna take her to the courthouse without any of us being there, huh?” Her dad frowned as he fired off the questions.

  It was a no-win situation, and Jonah was glad when Lydia’s mother came in and said, “Leave him alone. He loves her, and she loves him. They are saving money to close on their house. It’s happening. Let it go.”

  “I just think she deserves better. She’s a good girl,” her dad mumbled, walking back out to the moving truck. Still, Jonah could make out the words “broke,” “struggling,” and “hopeless.”

  “Thank you,” Jonah said to Lydia’s mother. “And you’re right, I do love her more than anything in this world.”

  “I know you do,” her mother said. “Just promise me you won’t let anything happen to my baby.”

  “I promise,” Jonah said, and for the first time since they had met, she hugged him.

  Jonah kept his promise, and he and Lydia were happily counting down the days to the wedding. One evening, she met her mother and picked up her wedding gown. She came back exhausted and fell onto the couch.

  “Did you get the dress?” he asked her. “How does it look? Let me see.”

  “It’s gorgeous, and no, you can’t see it. It’s not even here, so you can’t even sneak and take a peek. It’s at my parents’ house, safe and sound.”

  “Oh, I definitely won’t be going over there to see it,” he told her. Her face was flushed, and her eyes weren’t as bright as they normally were, so he asked, “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m just tired. This wedding is taking its toll on me a little.”

  “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”

  “Of course not, baby. I love you, and I can’t wait to become Mrs. Jonah Harring
ton.”

  “That sounds so sexy,” he said. “Come on, future Mrs. Harrington. Let’s go to bed and practice making this baby you want.”

  “Give me a minute, honey. I’ll be right up.”

  Jonah went upstairs, took a shower, and climbed into bed, waiting for his fiancée. He didn’t even realize he’d fallen asleep until he woke up and it was two in the morning. Lydia still hadn’t come upstairs. He went back down and saw that she was lying on the sofa. Walking over, he tried to wake her. Then he saw she wasn’t breathing.

  “Lydia! Lydia!” he called out. He began CPR on her but was so confused. He didn’t know whether to stop and call for help or keep going in an effort to save her. Finally, he grabbed her cell phone from the coffee table and dialed 911.

  Arf! Arf! Arf! The noise coming from the backyard brought Jonah back to reality. He took off his headphones and heard his dogs barking incessantly. Something was wrong. He hopped off the treadmill and rushed out the back door to the kennels. All eight of his German shepherds were jumping, trying their best to get his attention.

  “Calm down, guys!” he yelled as he walked into the backyard. His nose filled with the smell of smoke, and his eyes began to burn as he saw exactly why his four-legged friends were barking.

  Chapter 5

  Micah Burke, The Guesthouse, 1547 Harrington Way

  “So when do you leave, and when are you coming back?”

  “The conference starts next Thursday, so I fly out Wednesday afternoon, and I will be back on Saturday evening,” Micah said, fighting sleep. He and Adrienne had been on the phone for almost thirty minutes: the exact number of minutes since she’d left his house. He was tired, but he knew he had to stay on the phone until she made it home.

  “You know we are supposed to attend the dinner for Deacon Garrison and his wife’s anniversary Saturday night. We discussed this months ago, and I already sent the RSVP in.”

  Micah laughed. “Yes, sweetheart, I know.”

  “Why are you laughing?” Adrienne asked. They had spent most of the day together, ending the evening having dinner at his place while they watched two movies on Netflix until she left just before midnight, as she always did.

  “Because you are already sounding like a minister’s wife, that’s why. Is this what I have to look forward to?”

  “Yes, it is. And I’m just wondering why you keep taking on more and more of these conferences with your schedule already being full.”

  “I’m not taking on more conferences. You already know this one wasn’t even scheduled. It’s one I agreed to do at the last minute because Dad volunteered me.”

  “You mean he ‘voluntold’ you to do it.”

  “Pretty much. Should I tell him you said I can’t go?” Micah asked, laughing at her attempt to sound like she was joking but knowing there was some truth to her statement.

  He met Adrienne soon after her parents moved to the area and joined the church. He had just begun working as the youth pastor of Greater Works Assembly of Faith. Micah loved being a youth pastor because he had a sincere love for kids. But he knew this position was only a temporary assignment and a part of his being groomed to someday take over his father’s ministry.

  He and his twin brother weren’t even in elementary school when their father started the church. It was all Micah could remember: sitting in the pews beside his mother and brother while their father preached. Unlike his twin, Micah loved church. He loved the people, the music, the spirit, the emotion he felt as his father bellowed out a sermon. He knew he had been called to the ministry like his father. It was inevitable.

  “I didn’t say you couldn’t go. I’m just hoping you know I’m not planning this wedding by myself.” Adrienne sighed. “I put in some applications online for a night job so I can—”

  “Night job? For what?” Micah sat up in his bed and turned on the lamp sitting on his nightstand. His drowsiness suddenly disappeared.

  “This wedding is going to be costly, Micah. You already know that. The guest list already includes my family, your family, the church members and staff you know we have to invite, and don’t forget the people your parents are probably inviting. There’s no way my family is gonna be able to foot the bill on this one. I have to be able to help them pay.”

  “Adrienne, no one expects you to pay for the wedding. My mother has already started setting things in motion. I heard her talking to someone earlier about hiring a wedding planner.” He laughed. “Baby, we got this. Trust me. Your family doesn’t have to do anything except show up.”

  “Micah, that’s not right, and you know it. There is no way my father is going to just let you all pay for the wedding,” Adrienne told him.

  “There is no way I’m gonna let you get a night job. With my hectic schedule, we don’t get to spend enough time together as it is. Don’t do it. Everything will work itself out. I promise,” Micah said to reassure her.

  “Okay, Pastor Micah, I’m home now. Thank you for keeping me company,” she said. “I love you.”

  “I love you too. I could really show you how much if you would’ve listened to me and stayed the night,” he told her.

  “Now you know that wasn’t gonna happen when you asked me.”

  “Come on, Adrienne. You know there would not have been any funny business. I wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want me to do,” Micah pointed out.

  “That’s the problem,” Adrienne giggled, “what I would’ve wanted you to do to me. Besides, how would that look? Me spending the night at the bishop’s house?”

  “You wouldn’t be spending the night at the bishop’s house. You would be spending the night with your fiancé, in your future home, which is separate from the bishop’s house. And no one would even know that you were over here.”

  “Your parents would see my car. And besides, the Bible says, ‘flee the appearance of evil.’ It’s not what we would have been doing if I stayed over there, but what it appeared that we were doing. Why do we keep having this same discussion?” Adrienne asked.

  “Because you never give in and spend the night like I ask you to,” Micah groaned.

  “I love you, your ministry, and your immaculate reputation too much to even give in to that temptation. Just think about this: in a few months I will be spending the night with you in our home every single night.”

  “I can’t wait.” Micah’s voice was deep and seductive.

  “Me neither. Now get some sleep and dream of me.”

  “That would be easier if you would send me a pic to look at before I close my eyes,” Micah said, making a last-ditch effort to at least get his fiancée to give him a glimpse of what he had to look forward to.

  “Good night, Pastor Micah,” was Adrienne’s response.

  “Good night.” Micah didn’t even try to cover his disappointment.

  Neither one of them were virgins, but they had been celibate since before they met almost two years ago. Micah was instantly attracted not only to her athletic, toned body and beautiful smile, but he was also drawn to her humble spirit and quiet demeanor. He was surprised, a few weeks later, when he arrived at one of the local homeless shelters to find that she was volunteering as well. As they sorted donated canned goods and served food to those in need, he enjoyed talking with her, so much so that he invited her to join him at his parents’ house, where he was headed for dinner, hoping to continue to know her better.

  His family immediately liked her as much as he did, and they began dating. A year later, after receiving her father’s permission, along with seeking the nod of approval from his own father, he proposed in front of 4,000 members of the church congregation in attendance one Sunday. Micah was happy that he was able to make his parents proud and distract them from the stress and strain that they had been dealing with caused by Malachi and his antics. Micah had lived his entire life being good: a good student, a good son, a good friend, a good boyfriend, and soon, he would be a good husband. Micah could not imagine doing anything other than living out his purpose b
y serving God, serving in his father’s ministry, and serving the youth and the people who needed him. Doing the right thing just came naturally to him.

  The only thing he could see Malachi serving was time. His brother was always up to no good and had been for years. Growing up, he was constantly suspended from school, getting in fights, and causing trouble. And it didn’t change as they got older. Micah had lost count of how many times Malachi had been to rehab, and his last little run-in with the law had landed him in jail. The more successful and famous their father became with preaching all over the world, appearing on television, and even being beside the president of the United States, the more Micah did to cast a shadow on their family. He was the bad seed, a thorn, and a test from the Lord that Micah had yet to pass.

  He was actually relieved that his brother had been residing in the penitentiary for the past eighteen months. Not only did it give him the satisfaction of knowing that his brother was safe and far from the trouble that he seemed to find in the streets he ran, but also because they were free from him doing anything to put their family or the ministry in any further negative light. He prayed that this little “hiatus” behind bars would allow his brother the time to think and reevaluate his life and make some much-needed changes. Micah knew he should have taken the time to visit, but his busy schedule really didn’t allow it. He did put money on his brother’s books every month though, and he made sure that the church administrator sent him copies of their father’s sermons weekly along with the monthly edition of a magazine the ministry put out called Greater Life. He hated to admit it, but things for the family just seemed to be a little easier with Malachi not being around.

  Micah put his phone on the charger, cut the light off, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep. A few hours later he heard an inner voice telling him to wake up. Micah recognized and knew that this had to be the Holy Spirit. He opened his eyes, checked the time, saw that it was almost two in the morning, and then closed them again. A little while later, the voice came to him, stronger this time, and commanded him to get up.