Olivia’s face fell.
“I’ll leave you two alone. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Hunt.” Aura couldn’t keep the contempt out of her voice.
“I’ll see you at the party next month, no doubt,” Emerson replied.
“Of course,” Aura said. “Olivia, it was nice meeting you.”
Olivia grabbed her hand, her eyes pleading. “Can we talk later?”
“Of course,” Aura said. “Put your number in my cell, and I’ll do the same with yours.”
They exchanged numbers under Emerson’s watchful eye.
“Thanks, Aura,” Olivia said as she tried to hold it together.
“Olivia, I’m quite busy,” Emerson said, sounding impatient.
Aura looked at him disapprovingly.
“Something wrong, Mrs. Ferguson?” he asked, looking at Aura and then back to his laptop.
Aura started to say something but changed her mind. “No, Mr. Hunt. I can see you are a very busy man. I’ll leave myself. Come on, Olivia, we can walk out together.”
“All right, Aura,” Olivia said gratefully. “Will I see you tonight, Emerson?”
“I doubt it,” he replied looking at his laptop rather than at her disappointed expression.
Olivia turned and walked with Aura out of the office.
Emerson knew that Aura Ferguson disapproved of his handling of Olivia. She was a feisty thing, he could tell that. He smiled to himself. The upcoming party would be interesting indeed!
Matthew looked up and was glad to see Eric walking into the reception area of the temporary agency.
“Come on back, Eric,” he said, waving to him.
“Hey, Matt. Thanks for calling. You think you have something for me?” Eric asked.
“There’s a four-year apprenticeship program for electricians that I found for you. It’s full-time, so you will have to quit that other job. It does pay, but since you are learning on the job, the pay grade is not high. However, once you finish, it’ll be well worth it. Also, you have to buy your own tools and things.”
“Matthew, things are already tight. I really want to do this, but I have to think of Nadine and the babies,” he said.
“Look, you’re going to live with Max, right? I’ll help you. You know that.”
Eric looked at him suspiciously. “Why this sudden change of heart, Matt? You didn’t like Nadine, and you certainly don’t like Max.”
“Look, you’re my brother. I want to do the right thing. You don’t want to live with Max forever… you want your own place, don’t you? In fact, if you want, I’ll help you get a place so that you don’t have to move in with Max.”
“Thanks, but that decision has already been decided. We’re moving in with Max. Nadine feels that her sister needs her right now,” Eric said.
“Her sister needs her? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” Matthew snapped. “You have two babies coming home shortly. They are coming home next week, according to Mom, and you’re telling me that Max needs Nadine?”
“There are some things you just don’t understand,” Eric said. “We’ll be all right. Don’t worry.”
Matthew got up and shut the door and then pointed at a chair for Eric to sit down.
“Look, Eric,” he said, leaning back against the desk and facing him. “Can you promise me that what I am about to tell you won’t leave this room?”
“I don’t know, Matt. I don’t keep secrets from Nadine.”
“God, Eric! You’ve only been married a few weeks! Has that woman got you by the balls that tightly?”
“Watch your mouth, Matt. You don’t understand. We’re married, and we promised each other no secrets! So either tell me or just shut up!”
Matthew was surprised. His little brother was turning out to be a real man.
“All right. I know about Max. Did ‘no secrets’ Nadine tell you what happened to her?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“Yes, she did,” Eric said, staring back at his brother.
“Do you think that it’s safe for you and your family to be there with her? Is she well?”
“She’s fine!” Eric snapped. “How did you find out? Who told you?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Matt said, returning to his chair. “I just want to know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“Why are you being so nice concerning Max all of a sudden?” Eric asked.
“Well she helped me out, and I want to return the favor. That’s all. I thought maybe you would have an idea of how I can help her.”
Eric studied his brother a moment. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” Matt said.
Eric stood up. “All right. I won’t say anything to Max about our conversation, but I will talk to Nadine. She’s concerned about her sister and wants her to go back to her doctor—”
“You mean she’s seeing a shrink?” Matt asked.
“Who do you think she should see, knowing what has happened to her, Matt?”
“I would think that she would be over it by now,” Matt said.
“How do you get over losing your childhood at thirteen? How do you get in a relationship with a man after something like that?” Eric said. “God you’re dense sometimes, Matt.”
“Look, I’m sorry. I guess I wasn’t thinking. Just let me know if Nadine can think of anything I can do to help.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll call you if she comes up with anything.”
Matthew watched as his brother walked out of his office. He realized that helping Max was going to be harder than he thought.
CHAPTER 28
MAX MOVES FORWARD
Aura couldn’t help thinking about Olivia and how her husband treated her. She wondered what in the world the man’s problem was. Why did he marry her and then treat her like he was doing?
She came home and found Jeremy in the kitchen cooking.
“I was going to do that since I took the day off,” she said. “However, something does smell good.”
Jeremy smiled. “I talked to Mom today, and she told me she was fixing spaghetti, and that made me want some. I tried to half it so that we wouldn’t have too many leftovers.”
Aura sat down, watching him as he moved about the kitchen. He looked up at her as she seemed in deep concentration about something. “All right. What’s up?”
Aura related the day’s events and her interaction with Olivia and Emerson Hunt.
“That’s very interesting,” Jeremy stated “He led me to believe that his was a marriage of convenience. Yet you’re telling me that his wife loves him and that he ignores her.”
“She’s miserable, Jeremy. She said that she’s going to ask him for a divorce after the party.”
Her cell phone began to buzz. She opened it up. “Hello?”
“Aura?”
“Hi. Olivia, is everything all right?” she asked.
“Everything’s fine. I forgot to ask you, what are you going to do about a dress? We never did try anything on.”
Aura looked at Jeremy, who was watching her.
“I have to go back to work tomorrow, Olivia. Do you want to meet up at Macys around five? Are you sure that you don’t want to just get a dress made?”
“I’m sure.” Olivia said. “Thanks for being there for me today. I really appreciate it.”
Aura hesitated a moment. “Look, Olivia, I don’t mean to pry, but I have to tell you that I found your husband’s behavior toward you very disturbing. Something must be bothering him for him to act like he did. Will you allow me to pray with you for your marriage? Jeremy is here, and I know that if the three of us pray for your marriage, we can expect something to happen.”
“Sure, Aura. Please do pray. I still plan on asking Emerson for a divorce. I can’t keep living like this.”
Aura co
uld hear her voice crack, and her heart went out to Olivia.
Aura prayed for Olivia, and Jeremy placed his hand on her shoulder and bowed his head. Olivia began crying on the other end of the line.
Jeremy waited until Aura had finished praying. “Don’t hang up yet,” he said.
“Tell Olivia that as you were praying, I felt the Lord telling me that Emerson Hunt is afraid. I don’t know of what. Maybe she knows.”
Aura related to Olivia what Jeremy had just told her.
“That doesn’t make any sense, Aura. Emerson has never been afraid of anything that I know of. He’s a go-getter! He certainly can’t be afraid of me! I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know, Olivia. Just think about it and keep praying… maybe the Lord will reveal it to you. In the meantime, we’ll go shopping for our dresses tomorrow. Okay?”
“All right. Thanks, Aura. Tell Jeremy thanks too. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Aura closed her phone and looked at Jeremy.
“What do you think he’s afraid of, Jeremy?”
He sat down at the table with her. “I didn’t want to speculate to her, but I think he’s afraid of her.”
Aura looked surprised. “Why in the world would he be afraid of her? That doesn’t make sense.”
Jeremy took her hand. “It makes perfect sense… from a man’s point of view. Emerson Hunt is somewhat insecure. I can tell just by the way he carries himself. I don’t think he wants to trust her with his heart. That’s a scary thing.”
“Were you scared?” Aura teased.
“No, because our relationship is secure. Besides, I try to think positive, not negative. Now if you told me that you didn’t want me anymore… well, that’s pretty scary because I’ve laid myself bare to you and put all my feelings and my heart into your hands. Some people don’t want to do that because they go into a relationship thinking that it’s going to end eventually. They think that they are protecting themselves if they hold back, but all they are doing is making themselves miserable.”
Aura got up from the table and walked around to him. “I wonder what he’s going to do when she asks him for a divorce.”
Jeremy shook his head. “I don’t know, but I can tell you this: it’s not going to be pretty.”
Nadine left the doctor’s office with her mother. She was feeling a lot better, and she had received a good report. The incision was healing nicely, and she had to come back for her final checkup in a month.
“Do you want to stop and get something to eat?” her mom asked.
“No, I’m not hungry right now,” Nadine said. They rode home in silence, and Nadine laid her head back and closed her eyes.
When they arrived at the apartment, her mother continued to make a fuss over her.
“Mom, I’m fine,” she said, sitting in a chair in the living room.
“Maybe you need to lie down for a while.”
“Not right now. All I do is lie down,” Nadine countered. “I do want to talk to you about Max though.”
Her mother paused. “What about Max?”
This was what her mother always did. She got defensive when it came to Max. She and her father were always tiptoeing around Max instead of helping her.
“Max needs to get some help. Ma, she’s not dating. She’s not happy. I told her to go back to the doctor.”
“Nadine, it’s been eleven years. I don’t know if anyone can help Max,” her mother said. “We’ve done all we know to do.”
“Don’t say that,” Nadine snapped. “I don’t believe that for a minute. Max wants to get better; she just doesn’t know how. That’s why she’s insisting that Eric and I move in with her.”
Her mother got up and began straightening the cover on the sofa. Nadine rolled her eyes. Her mother always fidgeted when she was nervous.
“Did you talk to Eric and tell him to be careful around Max? You know how men can upset her,” her mother said, sounding worried.
“Look, Ma, I am not going to have Eric on pins and needles in his own home. That’s why I was considering not moving in with Max. However, I believe that if she returns to the doctor, she will be able to continue to get the help she needs. We need not baby her!”
“How can you be so cruel, Nadine! Max has been through a lot—”
“And you are crippling her!” Nadine shot back. “Stop babying her! She’s a grown woman. If she doesn’t get help, then Eric and I are moving out! I am not going to have her exposed to my daughters while she thinks that men’s penises are weapons used against women.”
Her mother walked over to her. “She would never tell them that, Nadine. I’m sure of it.”
“As long as she hates men, then her feelings might influence my daughters, Ma. She wants to keep them. I want her to be a part of their lives… but she’s got to get better. I’m giving her an ultimatum today. I’ve already discussed it with Eric.”
Her mother sat back down. “We tried to help her, Nadine. You’ve got to believe that.”
“Ma, I know you did, but when she told Daddy to his face that she hated men and that she didn’t want him touching her ever again, I would have dealt with that right then. Daddy is still walking around with a chip on his shoulder, mad at the world and handling his own child with a long-handled spoon, letting Max call all the shots. I can’t live that way. I won’t!”
Her mother followed her into the kitchen. “Honey, I don’t understand what you are going to do that we didn’t do.”
Nadine turned to her mother. “I’m going to stand up to Max. I’m going to tell her that she must go back to the doctor. I see her cringe every time Eric comes near me. That’s not good. I have to think of my children. It’s not normal, Ma. You and Daddy just put up with it, but I’m not going to. You two need to stop feeling guilty because of what happened. It’s not your fault.”
Her mother didn’t reply. She watched her daughter move around the kitchen. She was nothing like Max. Nadine was a fighter like her grandmother. Her grandmother would attack things head on and beat problems down until they yielded in submission.
“You sound like my mother,” Olivia James said, putting her arms around Nadine. “I’m not a ‘grab the bull by the horns’ type of person.”
Nadine laughed at her mother’s confession and poured herself a glass of juice.
“Well if that’s the case, then stand back as I ride the bucking bronco!”
Max sat in Dr. Nelson’s office. She had hoped that there wouldn’t be any openings and that it would be months before the doctor could see her, and then she would have been able to get Nadine off of her back. No such luck. They had an opening, and here she was.
Dr. Nelson was an older woman, the motherly type. She looked to be at least sixty. She was nice enough, and she had five sons. Five! Max couldn’t imagine having a house full of men. The thought made her shudder.
“Well, Maxine, it’s been awhile,” Dr. Nelson said, looking at her file. “Have you made any attempts to date at all?”
“No,” Max replied, looking at the wall.
“Maxine, we’ve discussed this at length. You can’t just cut yourself off from the world. You need to interact with men. I’m not saying that you have to marry them. We need to take one step at a time. Are you still going to restaurants with a magazine and earphones so that men won’t approach you?”
Max ignored her question.
“I’ve asked my sister and her new husband to move in with me,” Max said.
Dr. Nelson looked surprised. “How does that make you feel?”
“A bit scared,” Max confessed.
“Why is that?” Max looked at the pattern in the skirt she was wearing and didn’t respond.
“Why is that, Maxine?” Dr. Nelson repeated.
“I don’t like seeing him touch her. I don’t know what I’d do if I actually, you know… hear them.”
She brushed an imaginary crumb from her skirt.
“What will you do when that happens? I’m not saying ‘if,’ because they are married. What will you do when he walks down the hall shirtless or you accidentally bump into him leaving the shower?”
Max jumped up. “I don’t know. Don’t you think I’ve thought about that? I figured that having them there would be a step forward.”
“Did you consider that your behavior may cause a strain on their new marriage?” Dr. Nelson asked.
Max paused a moment. She didn’t think about that. Maybe that was why Nadine said that they needed to have a talk this afternoon.
“No, I guess I didn’t,” Max said.
“Do you still believe as you told me before that a man’s penis is, and I quote, ‘a weapon of destruction used against women’?” Dr. Nelson sat the file down and stared at her.
“That was a long time ago. I said that when I first came to you at thirteen.”
“True,” Dr. Nelson replied. “However, you told me last year that you still felt that way. I’m asking you now if that has changed.”
Max could not look at her “I-I don’t know.”
“Have you talked with your father?” Dr. Nelson pressed.
“No… not really. He’s upset right now about my sister and her marriage.”
Dr. Nelson sat back in her chair. “Is that the only reason you’re avoiding him?”
“I-I don’t know,” Max said.
“Oh, I think you do, Maxine. Since you have given me a signed release to talk to both your sister and mother about your condition, I want to talk with your sister about this impending move. It may not be good for you right now.”
Max was startled. “No. It’s all settled. We’re moving in together. Don’t tell her something that will ruin it!”
“I told you on your last visit to try to go out with a man… even a relative. You have not tried the least bit to comply. You are a walking time bomb, Maxine. I can’t help you if you won’t let me. I understand why you may not feel ready to date, but why not talk to your father? Do some father/daughter things as a start down the road of trust and recovery.” She stood up and walked around the desk.
The Preacher’s Son Page 26