“I need to speak with Dr. Bhatti,” Vivian said, even as she punched numbers on her cell phone. “And also let our parents know that we’re on our way back to LA. I’m sure they’ll want to meet us at the hospital.”
Tai nodded, shooing away Vivian with a wave of her hand. “Go on and handle your business, Viv. We’ll be right here.” Tai sought and found comfort in King’s arms. She leaned her head against his shoulder and because of this proximity, felt his body the minute that he tensed up.
“It’s Princess,” he murmured, as if just remembering the matter of yesterday that remained unfinished.
Tai’s head jerked up. Princess, here?
“I need to finish the business with her and Rafael.”
Tai turned around just as Princess approached them. Tai immediately noticed her troubled countenance—the red-rimmed eyes and tightly drawn mouth. She also noted that Joni and Sarah were standing beside her instead of her fiancé. “Baby, what’s the matter? Where’s Rafael?”
“How’s Uncle Derrick?” Princess answered Tai’s question with one of her own, an act that didn’t go unnoticed. “Can I see him?”
“He’s asleep right now, Princess,” King responded. “Vivian has gone to find the doctor. They’re getting ready to transport him to Los Angeles where he can get more specialized care.”
“But he’s okay, right?” The deep concern in her heart was mirrored in her eyes.
“He’s not out of the woods, but we’re believing in God,” Tai responded, taking a step toward Princess and seeing a troubled soul through her expressive eyes. “But right now, I’m more concerned about you.”
“Baby, I’m so sorry about all this,” King interjected. “When Derrick collapsed, I forgot about everything else that was going on around me. But I can make that right in about five minutes. Where’s Rafael? We can finish the ceremony right away, even right here in the hospital if you’d like.”
Tai looked at her watch. “Yes, and that way you guys will still be able to make your flight.” She knew that Princess and Rafael were planning to spend the night in New York before continuing on to Montego Bay. But her daughter’s glistening eyes—unshed tears that threatened to fall at any moment—told her something else. “Baby, what is it?”
Tears fell as Princess answered. “Rafael and I broke up.”
King and Tai’s one-word response was spoken in unison: “What?”
Princess haltingly relayed what had taken place near City Hall. “When I saw the banner,” she finished, “all of these feelings just welled up inside me. I couldn’t think, could barely breathe. I knew that was no way to go into a marriage, with all of these conflicting thoughts inside my head. So I hesitated and Rafael went off. I don’t blame him. I understand it. Had the situation been reversed I’m sure I’d feel the same way.”
Tai pushed aside the déjà vu numbness she felt and focused on her main aim: salvaging her daughter’s marriage. “I can understand why Rafael was so upset. But don’t give up yet, Princess. I’m sure he’ll be more reasonable after he calms down.”
“He told me that if I walked away right then, that if I didn’t go with him into Cleavon Jackson’s office, then it was over. And I believe him!”
King pushed aside a grudging admiration for anyone who would go to the lengths that Kelvin did to prove his point, and presented a united front with his wife. “Your mother is right, Princess. It had to be hard on a man’s ego to see you being affected by Kelvin’s message. But Rafael loves you. Have you tried calling him since y’all parted?” When Princess shook her head, he said, “Well, give him a call and let him know that I want to talk with him.”
“That’s a good idea, baby,” Tai added. “In fact, we’d love you two to come by the house if you have time.” Tai had planned a large Sunday dinner for everyone who’d come into town and even though it was still going to happen, the food would come courtesy of Gates Barb-B-Q. “Even if you can’t stay, it would be nice to be able to officially send you on your way.”
Princess wasn’t exactly feeling what her parents were saying but was too emotionally drained to argue. She stepped away and placed a call to Rafael. At the same time, Tai’s phone rang. It was a loyal Mount Zion member and SOS participant, calling to see if there was anything she could do to help the family through this tumultuous time. Tai breathed a sigh of relief as she rolled off a list of items to get at her favorite barbeque joint: ribs, chicken, sausage, sliced beef, barbeque beans, slaw, potato salad, and several orders of the restaurant’s tasty thick fries.
Just as she was ending the call, she looked up to see Vivian coming back around the corner. She wasn’t alone. Tai wasn’t pleased. And she couldn’t have cared less that the boy’s father was flat on his back in a hospital bed. Tai wasn’t the least bit happy to see Kelvin Petersen.
And she got the distinct feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time that Derrick Montgomery’s son caused her some chagrin.
19
Dilemma
K ing and Tai looked back and forth between Kelvin and Princess, but for the two ex-lovers, it was as if no one else was in the room.
Kelvin stopped at the group huddled near Derrick’s hospital door. “Hey, Princess.”
“Hey.”
“Can I speak with you for a minute?”
King stepped into Kelvin’s line of sight. “I’d think the first person you’d want to see is your father, the man who’s lying on his back on the other side of this wall, maybe fighting for his life.”
Kelvin glanced at King, but instead of commenting, simply looked back at Princess. “Just two minutes and I won’t bother you again.”
Tai snorted.
Princess tried to control the fluttering of feelings now swirling around her. “It was crazy what you did, Kelvin.” Her tone wasn’t as stern as she’d hoped.
“That’s just it, baby,” Kelvin responded with a crooked smile. “You got me looking so crazy right now.”
Tai stepped in between the silent love fest happening before her eyes. “What you’re really looking like is a disrespectful home wrecker who’s full of himself. How dare you hire a plane and send out a message all over Kansas City, just so you can interrupt my daughter’s happiness!”
“I hired eight planes, Miss Tai,” Kelvin replied with a nonplussed attitude. “And instructed them to fly five hours nonstop, to cover every inch of the metropolitan area in the hopes that Princess would read my message and follow her heart.”
Tai rolled her eyes. “Spoken like someone with an ego the size of the sun.”
King looked at the tall, confident man before him through narrowed eyes, remembering a past confrontation with a then eighteen-year-old Kelvin, who, when King had threatened an ass-kicking, had stood his ground. He understood where Tai was coming from, but decided on a different approach. “It’s clear that you didn’t want Princess to marry Rafael. But let me ask you this, Kelvin. What are your plans regarding my daughter?”
There was no hint of nervousness or doubt as Kelvin answered King’s question. “That’s a very good question, sir. And I do have an answer. But it’s one I’d like to first share with your daughter.” He looked at Princess. “Baby, can I please speak with you? Alone?”
Vivian, who’d been watching this exchange dispassionately, looked beyond King and Tai’s shoulder and saw the doctor entering Derrick’s room. She excused herself, followed the doctor into where her husband lay and seconds later announced to the group huddled just beyond her, “he’s awake!”
Everyone heard this and, for the moment, put aside their differences and entered Derrick’s room.
“Dad.” Kelvin’s voice broke as he stepped up to the bed and grasped Derrick’s hand.
From the opposite side of the bed, Vivian reached for Derrick’s other hand. “How are you feeling, baby?”
Derrick looked at his wife. Although no words were spoken, a tome of conversation was transmitted with their eyes. He continued to look around the room, smiling at King and Tai, and then
his eyes stopped on Kelvin. “Good to see you, son,” he said.
The years fell away, and Kelvin felt like the seven-year-old boy living near Hamburg, Germany, who’d just found out that his pet bird would live. “I’m here for you, Daddy.” His voice was hoarse, his eyes glassy. “You’re going to be all right.”
Tai observed Kelvin’s obvious love for his father. It didn’t change her thoughts about this young man not being the right choice for her daughter. Before the end of the day, however, she’d discover that Kelvin’s opinion wasn’t the only one that she’d want to change.
A little over an hour later, Mama Max sat in Tai’s dining room, unaware that her daughter-in-law had just traded one minefield for another one. At the time Tai had mentioned having all of the family and a few close friends over the day after the wedding, it sounded like a good idea. Now, faced with the reality of this decision… not so much.
The dinner itself had been drama-free. Between all of their children and extended members of their church family, there had been enough people in King and Tai’s dining room to keep Obadiah and Mama Max out of each other’s space. But now, two hours later and with most of the company leaving or already gone, the frosty elephant in the middle of the room could no longer be ignored.
“It was good to see you again, Pastor,” Elsie Wanthers said, pulling Obadiah into a big bear hug. “We sure hope that you’re able to settle that church in Texas real soon, and get back to your church home here in Kansas”—Elsie snuck a look at Mama Max—“where you belong.”
Mama Max acted as though she didn’t hear Nosy Elsie’s comment, even as she made a note to suggest that Sistah Alrighty mind her own business in the not too distant future. She further disrupted her murderous chain of thought by rising to clean off the table, balancing plates and cups and saucers and silverware as if she’d waitressed half her life. A part of her wanted to take the ivory china and bounce it against the walls, to take a glass or two and throw it up against Obadiah’s head, but for all her posturing and strong-willed talk, Mama Max had never been a violent person. So instead of doing either of these things, she asked her teen twin grandchildren, Timothy and Tabitha, to help her clear the dining room table and warm up the cobblers she’d baked last night. She’d almost successfully ignored the living room goings-on until she heard Obadiah speaking to one of the deacons.
“Nobody said the road to heaven would be easy. It’s absolutely hard being away from everything here—the city, the church, the wife. It is a burden to bear… .”
The rest of his statement was drowned out by the waves of anger beating against her consciousness. Not easy? Being away from his wife a burden? You low-down, lying hypocrite!
“Grandma, you’re going to break that dish!”
Mama Max heard Tabitha’s words at the same time she looked down and realized she was precariously close to snapping in half the casserole dish she was rinsing. She covered her anger by taking great pains in placing it and other dishes into the dishwasher, while having Timothy take out the apple, peach, and three-berry cobblers and place them in the oven. “Make sure the temperature is set to three-fifty—no higher. I don’t want my pies to get burnt.”
The oven temperature could have been set to six thousand degrees and it wouldn’t have been hotter than Mama Max. After putting the kitchen in order, she couldn’t hold on to the facade any longer. She told Tabitha to get her mother and have her meet Mama Max in Princess’s old room.
Tai was there within minutes. “Mama, you’ve been tense all afternoon. Are you worried about Princess?”
Princess’s announcement that she’d broken up with Rafael, and the fact that she had stayed with Kelvin at the hospital and then was a no-show at this family function had been a concern for all of them, but right now Mama Max was more focused on making her own exit from this family affair.
“Why didn’t you tell me that Obadiah would be preaching today? If I’d known that, I never would have set foot in the building!”
“Mama, I didn’t know until this morning myself. Last night, when King left the hospital, I assumed he’d gone home to go over his sermon for today. I got home late, and then left early to meet Vivian for breakfast. But honestly, when I later saw King at the hospital, I didn’t give it a second thought. I’m sorry, Mama.”
“What’s happening isn’t your fault, daughter. I just need to leave, that’s all.”
“Why? Did Daddy O say something to you? I’ve heard him saying good things—how he misses home, misses you, and wants to come back here.”
“Yeah, well, his actions are speaking so loud they’re drowning out those lying words. Every day that Obadiah stays with that floozy is a slap in my face. But I don’t even blame him anymore. It’s me who’s putting up with the foolishness.” Mama Max leaned forward until she was just inches from Tai’s face. “But no more, darlin’. I’ve listened to you and King talk about the ruckus my divorce from Obadiah will cause, but I’m ready to face whatever happens. The property, insurance stuff—I’m ready to settle all of it. I don’t intend on spending another year living in limbo. I want to straighten out my life and live however much of it that’s left in some sort of peace.”
Tai and her mother-in-law chatted a few more moments. After getting Mama Max’s promise that she wouldn’t do anything before first talking to King, she led her beloved mother-in-law out a side door and made her apologies to the remaining guests. “Mama Max felt a pounding headache coming on and decided to go and take a nap. But she sends her love.”
Later, it was King’s turn to be the voice of reason to a hard audience—his dad. “Try and see this from her point of view,” he told a man who felt he’d been disrespected all day. “Mama was blindsided when you walked into the pulpit. It’s understandable that she’d be … at a loss for words.”
Obadiah scowled at his son while mixing vanilla ice cream with Mama Max’s apple cobbler and spooning it into his mouth. “I’m surprised you didn’t choke on that lie you just told. More than once, I’ve tried to talk to Maxine since being here—at the rehearsal dinner, just before the wedding, and right before I left for the hospital. She’s got her behind sitting up on her shoulders, acting like she hung the stars and the moon.”
Perhaps that’s because you’re shacking up with your mistress and acting like your feces doesn’t have an odor, is what King thought. “I can understand her being upset,” is what he said.
Obadiah wasn’t as understanding. “How you figure? I admit my sins before the Lord, but Maxine ain’t blameless in all that’s gone on. At least I’m acting civil. I did what she wanted by not bringing Dorothea with me. I actually thought this might be a time for me and Maxine to talk a bit, find out if there was any way we could …” Obadiah’s words trailed off as he looked beyond the den’s large picture window and tried to see a calm tomorrow.
King tried to still his now rapidly beating heart, in the moment totally empathizing with his children when they felt he and Tai might not stay together. “Dad, can I get personal for a minute? How are things with you and Dorothea?”
Obadiah took another bite of apple cobbler à la mode. “Some things aren’t to be discussed between father and son.”
King remembered a conversation where Obadiah was questioning him about his marriage, but felt now was not the time to make this point. Instead he waited … patiently … quietly.
Finally Obadiah spoke, looking out the large picture window as he did so. “Sometimes the icing on a cake might be as sweet as sugar, but taking a bite reveals that there are some ingredients gone missing in the batter.” His statement was cryptic, but well understood. And in time King would come to appreciate it even more than he did now.
20
The Power Of Love
P rincess wandered amid a profusion of flowers, listening yet again to Rafael’s instruction to leave a message at the end of the tone. She’d done that already, several times, and her ex-fiancé’s silence was so loud that it was deafening. Pushing the button to end the
call, she sat on a bench that offered an unobstructed view of the glistening lake water rippling several yards behind the floral landscape. In another place and time, Princess would have appreciated the tranquil atmosphere, warm summer breeze, and clear blue sky. Right now, however, all she kept seeing was Rafael’s face, and how crushed he looked when she stopped on the sidewalk and admitted that marrying him did not feel right. If only I could talk to him, she thought, reaching for the phone, hitting redial and feeling anguish at hearing his voice mail again. She even thought about calling his parents again, but quickly rejected that idea. The first call had been bad enough, with Mrs. Stevens not only refusing to come to the phone but loudly telling Mr. Stevens that she didn’t want to talk to that “selfish, coldhearted female dog.” Except the word she used to describe this canine began with a B and ended with what happens when one gets poison ivy. It wasn’t a word that Princess could have imagined coming out of Mrs. Holy’s mouth, but then again, having broken their son’s heart only hours ago, she could understand the Stevenses’ feelings toward her being less than Christian.
Her phone buzzed. She hurriedly looked down, hoping it was Rafael. No. It was Kelvin calling. Again. She almost regretted that she’d given him her number. He’d called three times since she’d left him at the hospital. After he’d poured out his heart to her, after he’d said things that she’d never thought would come out of his mouth. He’d asked her questions. She had no answers. Too much had happened, she’d explained. The whole weekend was crazy! He pressed. She balked. Finally told him that she needed time alone, to think and clear her head. That’s how she’d ended up here, at Shawnee Mission Park. Being in nature always made her feel closer to God, and Lord knew she needed to feel Him right now.
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