Her Good Thing

by Vanessa Miller

  She sighed and wiped some of the tears from her face. “Now You’ve had my mom with You for thirteen years. I don’t understand people who say I’m supposed to count it all joy because none of this has been joyful for me.

  “But the truth of the matter is that I had truly loved You once, and I trusted You. I want to be that person again. But I need You to give me my faith back. Can You do that for me?”

  She stood up and walked to the altar in front of the cross, and got on her knees. She lifted her head heavenward and raised her hands as she made a bargain with God. “Wake up my aunt, Lord Jesus, restore my faith and I will serve You until the day I die.”

  She lowered her head as a soft wind blew into the windowless room. And as she closed her eyes, Danetta could swear that she smelled the flowery fragrance of her mother’s favorite perfume, as she felt loving arms wrap themselves around her.

  “I’ve missed you,” Danetta said to her mom as she lay down on the floor and allowed the loving feeling to envelop her. She continued to cry out to God on her aunt’s behalf. After about an hour, Danetta’s faith had increased to the point that she jumped up and ran back upstairs to her aunt’s room. She had a feeling that Aunt Sarah was awake and waiting for her to visit. But when she got to her aunt’s room, the smile that had been on Danetta’s face all the way through the hospital corridors fell. She had a momentary lapse of faith, but then she remembered a Bible verse she’d read as a child: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

  She wasn’t tucking tail and giving in this time. Danetta wasn’t about to pray any more prayers of release. Her aunt was waking up today and that was all there was to it. She walked over to Aunt Sarah’s bed and told her, “Look, Aunt Sarah, I don’t know what you think you’re doing sleeping the day away. But I’ve got news for you. I just made a bargain with God. I told Him that if you wake up, I will attend church with you again.”

  There was no reaction on her aunt’s face to that particular bit of news, but Danetta thundered on anyway. “So, if you want me to live up to my bargain with God, I suggest that you wake up and make me.”

  “When she wakes up, I’ll take both of you to church.”

  Danetta swung around. Marshall was standing in the doorway looking just as fine as he always did. Danetta knew she looked a wreck. But he was looking at her as if she fulfilled all of his desires. She ran her hands through her hair as she said, “I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

  He rushed to her and pulled her into his arms. “Aw, baby, you look like you’ve been through the wringer today. I shouldn’t have left you.”

  It felt so good being in his arms that she nearly forgot that she was in a hospital and that her aunt was lying in the bed next to them fighting for her life. For a slim moment in time, all her thoughts centered around this man, and when he pulled away a bit and looked down at her, Danetta saw the heat of desire in his eyes and she could do nothing to stop herself from begging him to kiss her right then and there.

  He lowered his lips and explored her mouth like a scuba diver searching for her hidden treasure. They connected on a level that was more than physical, more than emotional...it was spiritual. Their love would stand the test of time, because it was founded on so much more than mere sexual attraction. They had respect and love for one another.

  When their lips parted, Danetta said, “Wow, that was some hello.”

  He smiled down at her. “You haven’t seen anything yet, baby. I really go to town when I’m saying good night.”

  Chapter 19

  “Come on, let’s go get something to eat.”

  Danetta looked at the still form of her aunt and shook her head. “I don’t want to leave her right now.”

  “Have you eaten anything since last night?” Marshall asked.

  “No.”

  “And you barely ate any of that food either.”

  “Hospital food isn’t all that appetizing,” she admitted.

  “Nevertheless, you’ll be of no use to Aunt Sarah if you don’t keep your strength up.” He grabbed her hand and began moving her out of the room. “I’ll ask the nurse to call us if anything changes, but I’m taking you downstairs right now to get something to eat.”

  She saluted him as if he were a sergeant in the United States Army. “Yes, sir, Mr. Windham, sir.”

  “Keep talking like that, baby. I like it when my women are submissive.”

  She shoved him.

  Marshall laughed and then he gave the nurse his and Danetta’s cell phone numbers and told her that they would be down in the cafeteria for a little while. They walked hand in hand to the cafeteria. Marshall paid for their food and then they sat down at one of the round tables. It might have only been cafeteria food, but Danetta ate like the food had come from Cheesecake Factory, one of her favorite casual restaurants.

  “See, I knew you were hungry,” Marshall said as Danetta cleaned the meat off the bone of a piece of barbecue chicken.

  “Hungry is not the word. I guess I spent so much time in the chapel praying today, that I didn’t realize how hungry I was. Hopefully God will see my starvation as a sacrifice to Him and be more inclined to wake up Aunt Sarah.”

  Marshall smiled. “I’ve never heard you talk about God or praying much. You used to tell me that it made no sense to pray, when a person could just put in the effort and get everything he or she wanted, instead of waiting for it to fall out of the sky.”

  She winced at her words. But there was nothing she could do about the past, because she truly had felt that way. “My aunt told me that I lost my faith while in this hospital. She believes that her illness is going to help me get it back. I just hope that she’s right, because if she doesn’t wake up...” She left the rest unsaid.

  “Well, you don’t have anything to worry about, because I’ve been praying for Aunt Sarah to wake up, also.” Teasingly he added, “You might be too much of a heathen for God to listen to your prayers, but I got this.”

  “Yeah, if I’m a heathen, then what are you?”

  “Woman, don’t sit here questioning me about crazy stuff. You need to finish your food so we can get back upstairs.”

  “Mmph, whatever.”

  They finished their food and then headed back upstairs. Marshall joined Danetta’s hand with his again. Danetta felt as if she were in an alternate universe. One in which she belonged to Marshall and he belonged to her. But how had this happened and when would she wake up? “I don’t understand you at all,” she said as they headed to the elevator.

  “I’m not that complicated.”

  “Who are you trying to kid, Marshall Windham? You are the most complicated man I know. Like this for example.” She lifted their hands up high; he was still holding on to her hand. “You’re walking through this hospital holding hands with me; you kissed me in my aunt’s hospital room. I just don’t know what to make of your actions.”

  There was a darkened alcove off to the side of the cafeteria. Marshall pulled Danetta over there and with her back pressed against the wall and him standing so close she could hardly breathe, he told her, “For some reason you don’t seem to believe that I want to be with you. But that’s the truth. I don’t know how long it will take for me to convince you of that, but I’m not going anywhere... Oh, and I need you to delete your online profile.”

  “Why?” She wasn’t about to admit that she’d already asked Ryla to delete it for her.

  “Because, I’m not about to watch my woman go on dates with other men. That’s just not happening.”

  Her heart exploded with joy at his words, but she still didn’t understand him. “Why, Marshall? Why do you want me now, but not back when we were in college?”

  He put his hand under her chin and gently touched his lips to hers. The kiss was quick, but soft and it spoke of hope and promise. Wh
en they broke apart and she was looking into his eyes, he said, “I know you were upset that I turned you down in college. But I’m not.”

  She stepped back, trying to break the trance that such close contact was putting her in. Folding her arms, she said, “If you’re not the least bit remorseful about the way you treated me back then, why should I want anything to do with you now?”

  He grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him. “Hear me out, baby. Give me a minute to explain.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  He ignored her attitude and continued, “If I had been with you back in college, we wouldn’t be friends right now. I know that, and I also had sense enough to realize that our friendship was too important to throw away for the sake of a bad relationship.”

  “You don’t know that,” Danetta protested. “You never even gave me a chance. If you had, we probably would be married by now with three kids—”

  “And a divorce,” he said, interrupting the dream she’d carried in her heart all these years. “Look, Danetta, we both know that I don’t have a good track record for maintaining friendships with my sex partners. If they aren’t slapping me or slitting my tires, they usually try to avoid me all together...and I try my best to avoid them as well.”

  A tear trickled down Danetta’s face; Marshall wiped it away.

  “It wouldn’t have been like that with us,” she said, confidently.

  “It would have, baby. Don’t you see? It has never been a question of whether you were good enough for me...but I needed to be the kind of man who could give you the love you deserved. And even though I knew I couldn’t, I still couldn’t bear living without you. That’s the reason I asked you to join me as a partner in Windham Enterprises. It gave me an excuse to be with you.”

  Danetta smirked. “Oh really? And all this time, I thought we became partners because you had the money, but I had the brains.”

  He laughed as he kissed her on the forehead. “You do have the brains, Danetta. Brains and beauty. And I don’t want to waste another day without having you completely in my life.”

  Skeptically, she asked, “How do I know that this isn’t just a ploy of yours? I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at me lately.”

  “Baby, I’m not even gon’ lie and act like I haven’t noticed how sexy you are. But let’s be real...you were trying to put it on me the other night, so if all I wanted was to hit it, I could have done that then.”

  She hit his shoulder, embarrassed that he would remind her of her wanton behavior. “You just lost two cool points for that one.”

  Marshall put her hands in his. “Point-blank, what I’m trying to tell you is...I can’t get you off my mind. At first I thought I was just going through a midlife crisis or something, but now I know different.” He looked into her eyes, praying that she could see everything he was feeling. “Sometimes, I think I love you more than I love myself, and I’m just praying that you feel for me even an ounce of the love I feel for you.”

  Tears streamed down Danetta’s face as she took in every word Marshall said to her. And it was at that moment that she knew she would be able to trust Marshall, he wouldn’t trample on her heart as he’d done for so many years with all those women he’d dated. Marshall’s heart now belonged to her, and nothing else mattered. She put her arms around his neck. “I’ve been trying to talk myself out of loving you for so long.”

  “Has it worked?”

  In answer she kissed him with all the passion she’d stored up for years, waiting for him to give her a chance. Just as his hands began to travel, Danetta’s cell phone rang. She continued kissing Marshall, not wanting to break the spell. But as the phone kept ringing, she remembered that she was in a hospital and a nurse might be calling her about her aunt. Pulling her lips away from Marshall’s, she took the phone out of her jacket pocket and hit the talk button.

  “Miss Harris, is that you?” a voice on the other end asked.

  “This is Danetta Harris, how may I help you?”

  “You might want to come back upstairs. Someone has been asking for you ever since she woke up.”

  Danetta relayed the message to Marshall. They then ran for the elevator and impatiently waited for its arrival. They touched, hugged and kissed all the way to the ICU floor. Once the elevator released them, they ran all the way back to Sarah’s room. And then Danetta witnessed the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen in her life. Aunt Sarah was sitting up in bed, sipping water as the nurse held the cup for her.

  The nurse set the cup on the tray table and Danetta ran to her aunt and threw her arms around the woman’s neck and cried out, “Thank you, Lord...thank you.” When she released her aunt and looked at her, she said, “I can’t believe this.”

  “Why can’t you believe it?” Aunt Sarah asked, “It’s what you prayed for, right?”

  As tears streamed down her face, Danetta didn’t trust her voice to answer, so she just nodded.

  Sarah turned to Marshall and asked, “So, when are we going to church?”

  In answer, Marshall asked a question of his own, “How about a church wedding?”

  Danetta’s mouth dropped open. She swerved around to face him. “What did you say?”

  Marshall swaggered over to his woman, lifted her hands and kissed the backs of each one. Then with a teasing glint in his eye, he said, “You know, considering you are the brains of our operation, it sure does take you a while to catch on.”

  She could barely breathe as she asked, “What do you mean?”

  “When I said I want to be with you, I didn’t just mean for a night, a week or a month. This thing with us is forever, baby. I want to marry you. So, what do you say?”

  What does a woman say when her dream is standing before her, asking her to step into reality and live in it with him? “Yes, Marshall, thanks for making my dreams come true.”

  Chapter 20

  As far as Marshall was concerned, the dream had just begun. He’d kept his promise and taken Danetta and Aunt Sarah to church in mid-March, the week after she was released from the hospital. The three of them thoroughly enjoyed themselves during praise and worship. Marshall even found himself taking notes during the pastor’s sermon.

  Danetta leaned over and whispered to him, “It feels like coming home.”

  He smiled; his baby was happy, so it was all good with him, as well. “Then we need to keep on coming...I never want to forget where home is.”

  “Thank you for being okay with this,” she said and then turned back to the pastor to finish listening to the sermon.

  Marshall knew that Danetta wasn’t thanking him for being okay with attending church, but about the conversation they’d had the night he’d given her the engagement ring. And in truth, as he thought back on their conversation, Marshall still wasn’t sure if he was totally okay with what he’d agreed to.

  He’d gone to the jewelers and picked out a three-carat emerald-cut diamond ring. He then picked up Danetta from the hospital and took her to McCormick & Schmick’s. He couldn’t wait to give her the ring he’d picked out. The previous night at the hospital, he’d blurted out that he wanted to marry her, but he was unprepared and wished that he had waited until he was able to hand her a ring. But he was going to make up for that tonight.

  Danetta sat down and nervously looked around. “I don’t know if I like having our first date in the same place I was accused of being a man-stealer.”

  “This isn’t our first date,” he said as he sat down across from her.

  Danetta laughed. “Don’t even try to claim all of our business dinners as dates, because I’m not going for that.”

  “Don’t you remember our dance at that nice little restaurant I took you to? I certainly wasn’t thinking about business then and I hope you weren’t either.”

  She blushed a bit, remembering the restaura
nt and how she had felt being with him that night.

  “And anyway,” Marshall continued, “I brought you back to McCormick’s because this is the place we shared our first kiss.” He leaned over and touched his lips to hers.

  “Oh yeah, that’s right. We did kiss in this restaurant.” He kissed her again and she said, “I’m liking this place better and better with each kiss.”

  They ordered dinner. This time Danetta was even able to eat her meal without some woman showing up at the table and demanding that she give Marshall back. By the time the dessert arrived, Danetta was counting her blessings just for being able to have a man that didn’t belong to anyone else. But Marshall went and topped everything off by getting down on one knee and handing her the most beautiful ring she had ever seen.

  “Baby, when I asked you to marry me, it was in the heat of the moment so I didn’t do it right.” A waiter walked to the table carrying two dozen red roses and two glasses filled with champagne. He set the items on the table and left as quickly as he’d arrived. Marshall continued, “I trust you’re okay with receiving these roses from me?”

  She nodded, not trusting that her voice wouldn’t crack as she tried to speak.

  He put her hand in his and said, “I don’t just want to be business partners anymore. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Will you please marry me, Danetta?”

  Without hesitation she said, “Yes!” He put the ring on her finger and then their lips joined again, while thunderous applause erupted around them.

  As the applause died down, Marshall whispered in his woman’s ear, “I want you to come home with me tonight. I think we need to finish what we started the other night, don’t you?”