by Shana Burton
“This isn’t just about wanting your forgiveness,” justified Theresa. “I need you, my family needs you. Do you think I would’ve hired you if I wasn’t confident in your work and your credentials as a nurse? Yes, I wanted to make amends for what happened with Duke, but I’m also in for the fight of my life with this disease. This is just as much about receiving the help and medical treatment that I need as it is about anything else.”
“Reese, there are other nurses,” said Duke. “You know that I’ll spare no expense to get you the best care money can buy. We don’t need my ex-wife to take care of you.”
“It has to be Angel” insisted Theresa. “I don’t want anyone else.”
“Even now, it’s still all about what you want!” Angel butted in.
Duke ignored her. “Reese, I don’t want to deny you of anything, but I do want you to think long and hard about this.”
“I have,” she assured him. “God led me to this decision and to her.”
“God told you to do this?” mocked Angel with a cackle. “God told you to lie to me about who you were? God told you to convince me to let my guard down and trust you with my most intimate secrets? He told you to create this whole farce, to deceive the man you claim to love for your own selfish gains? God really told you to do all that?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Theresa answered softly. “I know I hurt you, not just with my relationship with Duke but also by not being completely honest about who I am. None of that changes the fact that I need you.”
Duke faced his ex-wife and spoke with difficulty. “This is awkward for all of us, but the bottom line is that my wife is sick and needs your help. If you’re in, it’s fine with me. I’m willing to go along with whatever you two can live with.”
Angel put her hands on her hips. “Ain’t this something? The two of you are actually giving me permission to wait on you hand and foot, to be there for your every beck and call. I get to have a front row seat to watch Theresa living it up with my husband and to chase behind her children when your affair was the reason that my child died. How noble of you to want me to be a part of that!”
“What child?” exclaimed Duke. “What are you talking about?”
Theresa looked down. “Maybe this was bad idea. It’s obvious that this is asking way too much of you, Angel, and I’m sorry for putting you in this position.” She started coughing. “I hope that you can accept—” Theresa’s cough turned to a hack that forced her to double over to try to catch her breath.
Duke grabbed her. “Baby, are you all right?” Theresa was coughing too hard to respond.
Angel’s conscience got the best of her. “We need to get her in the house.”
Duke swept up his wife and rushed her inside with Angel in tow. He laid her down on the living room sofa. Theresa was clutching her chest and wheezing.
“What’s wrong with Mommy?” asked Morgan, her eyes wide with fright.
Duke turned to Angel. “I think her bronchitis is flaring up again.”
“She’s okay, sweetie,” Angel reassured Morgan. “Take your sister upstairs. I’m going to give your mother some medicine to help her feel better.” She turned to Duke. “Get her something to drink.”
Duke left without a word, and Angel propped the pillows up behind Theresa’s back. “How are you feeling, Theresa? Can you talk?”
Her coughing subsided a little. “I’m in pain,” she groaned.
Angel reached into her bag and filled a syringe with medicine. “This will help, it’s something for the pain. Lay back and try to relax.” She injected Theresa, who started to calm down almost immediately.
Duke returned with a glass of water. “Here, drink this, baby.” He held the straw to his wife’s lips while she took small sips from the cup.
“Thank you for staying, Angel,” said Theresa. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Angel stood up to leave. “I’m a professional. I’d never leave a patient in distress. She should be fine for now. Call her doctor and let him know what’s going on. You should get another nurse in here as soon as possible.”
“Baby, I’m going to walk her out, but I’ll be right outside.” Duke kissed Theresa’s brow and followed Angel out to her car.
“Angel, please, won’t you at least try to reconsider? I’ll pay you double what Theresa offered.”
Angel unlocked her car door. “It’s not about the money, Duke.”
“You’re right, it’s not about the money. It’s about my wife getting the best nurse we can afford. I was married to you, I know how good you are at what you do.”
Angel huffed. “Do you really want your ex-wife dispensing medicine to the woman you dumped her for? Like you said, this could be the revenge I’ve been waiting the past eight years to serve up.”
“I know you, Angel, and it’s not in your nature. You have too good of a heart to intentionally hurt anyone. If Reese trusts you, so do I.”
“Don’t let the name fool you. I’m not the angel that you’re making me out to be.” Angel opened the door. “It wouldn’t work. There’s too much history between all of us. Besides, can you honestly say that you’d be comfortable with me hanging around your wife and kids all day? Do you really want to come home from a hard day’s work and have to see me?”
“It isn’t about me or my feelings. Honestly, Angel, you’re probably the last person I would’ve sought out, and had I known what Reese was up to, I would’ve put a stop to it. Not because I don’t trust you, but because I wouldn’t want to force any of us to relive what happened. But you’re here now, and my wife wants you to stay. That’s all that matters to me.”
Angel bit her lip. “You really love her, don’t you?”
“She’s my wife and the mother of my children. Of course I love her.”
“That’s what makes this so hard,” she admitted. “I can look at you and tell how much you love her, and it hurts, Duke. I can’t lie. Seeing you together with your kids would only remind me of everything I lost, and I don’t know if I can handle being reminded of that every day.”
“It’s tough for me too. You and Theresa are the only women I’ve ever loved. Knowing that my love for her is what hurt you is something I’ve had to grapple with all this time. It would be much easier to let you drive off and never have to look at you again, but we both know that running away from the past isn’t going to solve anything.”
“I just don’t think that this is the right thing for me to do right now. Maybe if things were different. . .” Her voice trailed off.
“I understand,” replied Duke, nodding. “Hey, what were you talking about earlier? What baby died?”
Angel brushed him off. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Duke let it go. “I hope you reconsider staying, but we’ll accept your decision.”
Angel climbed into her car and fastened her seatbelt. “I won’t lie and say it’s nothing personal, because we both we know it is. I’ll pray about it, but I don’t think I’m going to change my mind.”
Duke stood in front of her door. “No matter what happens, it was good seeing you again, Angel.” He gently touched her face. “I’m glad life has treated you well.”
His caress was hauntingly familiar and gave her a jolt that made her feel uneasy. Angel waved before closing the door and pulling out. As she drove on, she wondered if his touch made her uncomfortable because she no longer had feelings for him, or because she did.
Chapter 24
“Revenge is best served cold.”
—Sullivan Webb
Lawson checked her watch for the fifth time since she, Kina, and Sullivan sat down to eat at Huey’s on the River. “I’m worried,” admitted Lawson. “It’s not like Angel to run this late and not call anyone.”
Sullivan shook her head and closed her phone. “Still no answer. Her phone’s going straight to voice mail. Maybe we should ask a waiter if she’s called.”
“She probably hasn’t found her phone yet,” Kina told them. “She thought she l
eft it at a client’s house and was supposed to swing by and pick it up on her way over here.”
“That was two hours ago. We should’ve heard from her by now,” said Lawson.
Sullivan cleared her throat. “Not that I’m complaining, but we do seem to be missing another person. Where’s that incorrigible sister of yours, Lawson?”
Lawson skimmed her phone for any missed text messages from Angel. “Reggie’s at home asleep. I’m so proud of her. She’s only been working at that insurance company a few weeks, and she’s already putting in overtime. Poor thing was too worn out last night to make it to her bed, and passed out on the sofa. She’s sticking with it, though. I never thought I’d see the day Reggie was working at a nine-to-five job and liking it.” Lawson looked down at her watch again. “Even you have to give her credit for trying, Sully. A steady income and a solid future is what Mama always wanted for her.”
“At least she’s working, which is more than I can say for some people,” mumbled Kina, directing her eyes at Sullivan.
“You people have to work. I don’t.” Sullivan looked up and exclaimed, “Well, it’s about time!” when she saw Angel approaching their table. “Where have you been?”
“We were starting to panic,” said Kina. “I thought that you had been in an accident or something. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“Is everything all right?” asked Lawson. Angel shook her head. “What’s wrong?”
Angel sat down, eyes glazed over. “Remember the new client I told you about?”
Kina thought back. “Theresa McNair, right?”
“That’s the one, except her name isn’t Theresa McNair anymore. It’s Theresa King. More to the point, she’s Mrs. Du’Corey Jamal King.”
Kina stopped chewing her food. “As in Duke’s wife?”
“Exactly,” replied Angel. “Can you believe it?”
“I can’t and I don’t! This is no coincidence, Angel,” charged Sullivan. “It’s obvious they’ve been setting you up the whole time.”
“That’s sick!” declared Lawson. “Why would they do something like that? Does the woman even really have cancer?”
“That much of it is true,” confirmed Angel. “And they didn’t plan it. She did. Duke didn’t know anything about it.”
Lawson raised her eyebrow. “Says who?”
“She admitted that it was all her doing. Duke was just as shocked as I was.”
“Is she trying to prove something, or is she just demented like that? The nerve of her!” scoffed Sullivan. “I hope you told her where to go with that foolishness.”
“She claims that she just wants to make things right between us before she dies. She wants my forgiveness,” said Angel.
“That’s fine. Tell her you’ve hidden it and that she has to go to hell to find it.”
Angel managed to smile. “You know I can’t tell a dying woman that. I did tell her that I wouldn’t be working with her anymore.”
“Good for you,” cheered Lawson.
Kina frowned. “Why not?”
Everyone dropped their forks at the same time.
“Kina, this woman slept with Angel’s husband and got pregnant by him,” said Sullivan. “Why would she want to have anything to do with either one of them?”
Kina flung her hand. “That’s all water under the bridge now. We’re supposed to be operating in forgiveness. I know I do.”
“You have to be forgiving, you’re married to an idiot,” reasoned Sullivan.
“I’m going to operate in forgiveness right now and ignore that,” replied Kina. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Helping her is the right thing to do.”
Lawson differed. “It would be a big mistake. There’s too much bad blood there.”
Sullivan spoke up. “Wait a minute. Kina might be on to something,”
“See, even Sully agrees with me,” said Kina, vindicated.
Sullivan nodded. “Who says that this can’t work out for the best? You know, Angel could add a couple of extra milligrams to her medicine here, a few extra pills there, and if Theresa accidentally overdoses . . .”
“That is so not what I meant!” insisted Kina. “Now who’s demented?”
“I don’t want to kill her,” affirmed Angel. “I just don’t want to treat her. I don’t know why I even told Duke that I’d pray about it.”
“Don’t even waste God’s time or your energy with that one,” suggested Sullivan. “Tell both of them to kick rocks and keep it pushin’.”
“Don’t listen to Sully,” advised Lawson. “What is God leading you to do? Listen to your heart.” Lawson put her arm around Angel. “That’s the part that He speaks to.”
Angel sighed. “My heart is saying that I need to help her. Health and healing is the ministry that God gifted me to do. I just wonder if I’m strong enough to carry it out.”
“That’s why you’ve got our shoulders to lean on when it gets rough,” said Kina.
“Kina, you can’t expect her to be all clowns and smiles with the very people who nearly drove her to kill herself,” insisted Sullivan. “Angel, you still have your therapist’s number, don’t you? You’re going to need her if you keep listening to Kina.”
Kina held Angel’s hand. “God wouldn’t have placed this on you if He wasn’t going to give you the strength to carry it out.”
“You’ve got all the answers, don’t you, Kina?” Sullivan asked snidely. “But what about the answer to the most important question, the one everybody’s scared to bring up?”
“And what question is that?” asked Lawson.
Sullivan faced Angel. “When it’s all said and done, how do we keep the nurse from falling back in love with the patient’s husband?”
It was the one question that no one could answer.
Chapter 25
“We’re just kissing, right? It’s no big deal, no crime committed.”
—Sullivan Webb
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” said Vaughn, after letting Sullivan into his apartment. “Close your eyes.”
She beamed. “What is it?”
“Didn’t I tell you to close those pretty eyes first?”
She did, and then Vaughn placed something hard and heavy in her hands. Sullivan opened her eyes. “Oh my God, Vaughn, you bought me a canvas! That is so sweet. This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Thanks . . . I’m touched.”
Vaughn downplayed the gesture. “It ain’t nothin’. I’m sure your husband could buy you a whole gallery if you wanted him to. I’m sure he’d do almost anything to keep you happy. I just want you to start back painting again.”
“That means a lot, Vaughn. More than you know.”
Vaughn cupped her face and moved to kiss her. Before he could, his phone rang. Sullivan was both relieved and disappointed by the disruption. “I’ll let it go to voice mail. Now, where were we?”
Sullivan reached for one of his paint brushes. “We were talking about art. No time like the present to start painting, right?”
Vaughn filled a palette and sat down to paint next to her. “What you got going on over there?”
“Why? Are you trying to steal my ideas?”
“No, just trying to get inspired.”
She blushed. “And just what is it that I inspire you to do?”
“This . . .” Vaughn took the brush from her. Sullivan knew what was coming next. If she were honest with herself, she’d have to admit that she longed for it. He set his lips on top of hers, and his kisses were everything that she imagined that they would be—intense, lingering, passionate. Every place on her body that was ignited by his touch seemed to scorch with desire. Whenever he looked at her, she could feel herself dissolve.
“You’re trembling,” he whispered.
“I’m f–fine,” she stuttered. “You broke my concentration, that’s all.”
“Dang, girl, you just can’t admit it, huh?” They wer
e close enough that she could hear his heart beating, or perhaps it was her own, which started to race whenever he was near her the way he was at that moment.
“Admit what?”
He leaned into her, his lips inches from hers, “That you want me.”
“I don’t know how you fit such a massive ego in this tiny apartment.”
“Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don’t want me, that it’s not taking every ounce of willpower you have not to kiss me right now.” He stroked her face. “I know you felt it from that first day we met.”
“What makes you think that?” she asked breathlessly.
“Because I felt it too.”
Sullivan could feel heat radiating from his body. “I told you . . . I have Charles.”
“You also said that he’s busy. Yeah, I see him all over the TV, making speeches and organizing rallies. Meanwhile, his woman is all alone, waiting for someone like me to scoop her up and show her what she’s missing.” He pulled her closer to him. “Relax. Kiss me.”
Sullivan did, and with every liplock, her resolve and vows to Charles grew dimmer. “We’re just kissing, right? It’s no big deal, no crime committed.”
“It can be whatever you want it to be.” Vaughn slid his hand underneath her shirt and traced the outline of her body with his fingertips. His mouth soon followed. There wasn’t an inch of her body that didn’t crave to be kissed by those forbidden lips.
He pulled her into a long, passionate kiss and into a place where her husband, her vows, her morals, and her God no longer existed.
She pulled back from him, realizing that he had leaned against her canvas. “I’m getting paint all over your clothes.”
“Then I guess you better take them off.”
Sullivan peeled off his shirt and physically consummated that which had transpired in her mind a long time ago. It no longer mattered that Vaughn was someone she knew she should have nothing to do with. He was the type of man who’d leave a girl sprung and a quivering mess of her former self, while he moved on to the next lovelorn victim. She wanted more of him, and she didn’t care that she belonged to someone. Sullivan’s mind and her body already belonged to Vaughn.