Love So Heavenly (A Clean Christian African American Romance)

by Shannon Gardener

  He was sipping a fruit cocktail when she came in. She was wearing a simple cotton dress and sandals with her hair twisted into a coil at the back of her neck but she somehow managed to look elegant and beautiful.

  He stood and waited until she was seated before he sat back down. “How are you?” he asked her politely even though he wanted to tell her that her lips were fine.

  “I am okay thanks.” She told him with a smile. “Have you ordered?”

  “I was waiting until you got here but I can recommend the barbecue chicken and the mushroom soup.” He told her beckoning to the waiter.

  “I will have the soup thanks.” She told him and he ordered for both of them.

  “I have access to a top of the line studio and we can start any time you are ready. I just need to see what you have so far.”

  She looked at him for a moment as if surprised to know he was so prepared or so connected. She took out a tablet and touched something on it and passed it to him. “Just slide and you see all the songs I have written.”

  There was silence as he read them and she found herself getting nervous as the silence lengthened. All the way here she had wondered if this was such a good idea after all. She was setting herself up to fail but she had shaken off the feeling and continued on her way.

  “You wrote all of this?” he asked looking at her. He still had the tablet in his hands.

  She shrugged a little self consciously, feeling as if she had bared her soul to a total stranger which maybe she had. “I am an only child and I get lonely sometimes so I write and sing to keep myself company.”

  He heard it although he knew she had not meant for him to hear it and he felt his heart touched by her admission. “They are very good and I cannot wait to hear you put music to them.” He said softly.

  She looked at him for a moment and he held her eyes with his. “When?”

  It was his turn to look startled. “As soon as I set up the studio time.” He leaned forward and she smelled the whiff of his expensive cologne. “I want you to know Kayla that I believe in you, in your talent and your ability to make it to the top and I am going to go all the way if you let me.” His gaze was hypnotic and she felt herself being drawn into them.

  With a shake of her head she settled back against the seat. “We will see,” she said with a cool smile.

  Chapter 4

  “So tell me about yourself.” Tyrese suggested. He had picked her from the house on Saturday and she had made sure her parents had gone to a convention first before she told him to come and pick her up. She still had not told them yet and she was waiting until it was something tangible first.

  It was a beautiful September afternoon and the weather had gotten a bit cooler. She was wearing faded denims and a light blue sweater and had caught her hair up in a ponytail and was not wearing any makeup. She looked like a teenager and he felt like a dirty old man who had the hots for one.

  “You want me to pour my heart out to you?” she looked at him in amusement. Even in casual jeans and T-shirt he still managed to exude confidence and self-assurance that came from extreme wealth.

  “You don’t have to pour,” he said flashing her a grin, his very white teeth a startling contrast against his dark skin. He had picked her up in a black BMW convertible and had put the top down. “Just give me a little something. I know you grew up in church and all that and you are an only child but you have a college degree, why are you not out in the world making a contribution?”

  “I am making a contribution in the ministry,” she turned her head away to look at the passing scenery. He was not driving particularly fast and she could see the changes in the environment. He was headed uptown and the trees and shrubberies had given way to high rise office buildings and towering mansions. She supposed he lived in something like what she was seeing. “I work with children and I like to think that I contribute to their development and their spiritual life.”

  “And you still live at home,” he met her eyes briefly before turning back to the road.

  “So do you,” she countered.

  “I have to because my brother and my sister in law would miss me too much,” there goes the careless grin again. “I live in a suite to myself and we all have our space. How about you?”

  “I have my space too,” she looked down at her hands in her lap and missed the quizzical look he gave her. “Why go and pay rent when there is more than enough space at home?”

  “Some people would think that you would want to live your life without being under the watchful eyes of mommy and daddy. What about personal relationships?”

  “That’s none of your business.” She told him mildly.

  “They are going to become public as soon as people see us together and the press finds out that you are an up and coming artist.” He pulled up in front of a large imposing building where several vehicles were parked. “You are going to be placed underneath a microscope Kayla, I am used to it and sometimes it annoys me to no end but you are going to be new to this so tell me right now if this is really what you want?”

  She had felt the first sliver of fear when he had first started talking. It would not only be her but her parents as well and the ministry and she wondered if it was all worth it. “Are you trying to scare me?” she asked him finally, willing her voice to be casual.

  “No just letting you know the facts. Are you scared?” he asked her softly.

  “Not in the least,” she told him firmly. “Let’s do this.”

  *****

  He let her sing a song she had written some time ago called: ‘Love is beckoning’. He sat there in the studios with the operator and several others and they sat there listening to her incredibly sweet and sultry voice as she sang about a love that she had been running away from but it had finally caught up with her. She closed her eyes and placed her surprisingly long slim fingers on the head phones over her ears and they had a feeling that she had no idea that they were still there as she hit several high notes that almost seemed impossible to reach. Nobody spoke as the lyrics and the words wrapped itself around them and embraced them, leaving them breathless and at a loss for words. It was a few seconds before they realized that she had finished.

  “She is fantastic!” Brian one of the operators said with an amazed grin on his face. “Where on earth did you find her man?”

  “In church,” Tyrese told him with a grin. “Do you think she can sell records?”

  “She is going straight to the top as soon as the record hits the streets. You have yourself a goldmine there man.”

  *****

  “Have you told your parents yet?” he was taking her back to her house after letting her do several more songs. He was ready to go ahead with the publicity and the press releases and then everything would start to catapult from there.

  She shook her head no.

  “You are going to have to talk to them no later than today. People talk Kayla and I have a feeling that someone who heard you today is going to be saying something and you have a talent that is very rare. Tell them before they find out from some other place.”

  “I need a minute to take it in,” she said a little shakily. He had pulled to a stop outside the church compound and she was relieved to realize that her parents’ Volvo was nowhere to be seen. The church yard was practically empty and she remembered that most of the members had gone to the convention. “I always knew I wanted to sing and be heard and I knew I had the talent but I never thought about star status because I have been taught since I was a little girl to be humble and use what I had because it all came from up above.” She looked at the towering steeple on the stately white building that was the church. “I am used to simple and I am not sure I can handle complicated.”

  “I discovered you and I will be there to guide you through this and I want you to believe me when I tell you that I will stand behind you all the way to the top.” He told her softly reaching out to take her hands in his.

  She started to pull away but he held her and
she looked up at him, his gaze holding hers for a moment before she looked away. “I will be holding you to that.” She pulled her hands out of his and opened the door. “Thank you.” She added before getting out of the car and closing the door behind her.

  He watched her as she made her way over to the large white building she called home and watched as she stopped and looked at the flowers blooming in the garden. He knew he should drive away but he could not and he saw her stooped down to pluck what looked like weed from the flower bed. It was late afternoon and the sun was going down and cast a rosy tint on trees and the entire place. There was a slight breeze and several strands had escaped the ponytail she had put up before she came to the studios with him. She was going to look great on camera, he thought mildly. Suddenly she looked up and saw him still there and waved. He nodded and drove off, his expression thoughtful.

  *****

  “You are telling us that you want to be one of those young ladies that parade themselves on a stage half naked for every male to touch and lust after?” Reverend Simmons looked at his daughter as if she was a stranger. “How can you call yourself a child of God and want to do this?”

  Kayla felt her belly clenching and she had to take deep breaths in order to stop herself from being sick. She had spent her entire life trying to avoid confrontations with her father because she never won and she always end up being miserable and trembling from the aftermath of it. She had been having pep talks with herself trying to convince herself that she wanted this bad enough to endure his wrath but now she was not so sure.

  “I have spent my life serving God and serving the ministry and I have been a good daughter, never stepping out of line. I have lived here and worked here because you asked me to and I have never complained. I need this, not for the glory or the fame or even for the money but singing and writing songs is what I am very good at and I am asking you to support me for once in your life Dad. If you love me you would be happy for me.”

  There was silence as he looked at her. It was the longest speech she had ever had with him and it was the first time she had ever stood up to him and it caught him by surprise, so much so that he did not know what to say.

  “You are willing to put the ministry under the scrutiny of public eyes so that you can get your two minutes of fame?” he asked caustically, his stance rigid.

  “You certainly have a way with words father and as I told you before I am not looking for fame,” her breath hitched inside her throat almost choking her. “I am doing this with or without your blessings but it would be nice if you would be supportive of me.”

  “I am a servant of God and I do not support licentious living and Sodom and Gomorrah and that is what that type of lifestyle supports. If you insist on doing this then you are no longer my daughter.”

  “John what are you saying?” her mother got to her feet and faced her husband, her eyes wide.

  “I refuse to be a part of what she is about to become Marion and I am sticking by what I said.” He said grimly.

  “If you do then I am going to stand by our daughter and you will not have a wife.” She told him coldly. “I have stood by and watched you push her aside, never giving her the love you are supposed to and you stand up on the podium and preach about love and forgiveness and family union every single Sunday and yet in this house you do not show love to your only child. If you cut her off then you are going to cut me off too.”

  He stood there looking at his wife and then without a word he turned and left.

  Kayla ran into her mother’s open arms and finally let the tears fall.

  *****

  “She is going against my wishes and Marion is supporting her.” Rev. John Simmons muttered as he settled back against the soft pillows on Erica’s bed and watched indulgently as she put together some notes for church tomorrow. He had driven out of the parking lot and headed straight to her apartment and sat outside for a little bit and then he went up making sure he was not seen.

  “Kayla is a wonderful young woman with a talent I have never before seen and I know our Lord would want her to share it with the world.” She put aside the notepad she had and came over to the bed. “You are alienating your only child John and that is a bad idea. How is it going to look to your congregants to see that you are not supportive of her?” she asked him gently.

  He lay there and considered what she was saying. “Maybe it will have a positive effect on what we are doing at the ministry.” He said thoughtfully.

  “Now you are thinking.” She climbed in beside him and spent the time making him extremely happy.

  *****

  Tyrese played a section that he had recorded on his phone for his brother and sister in law. They had just sat down to dinner and were halfway into the meal when he took out his phone and started playing her song. He saw out of the corners of his eyes the rapt expression on Lorelei’s attractive face. His brother had stopped eating and was totally caught up in the strain of music and the hauntingly beautiful voice.

  “So what do you think?” he asked teasingly as soon as the song had finished.

  “You cannot just treat us to something like that and ask us what we think,” Lorelei rebuked him softly. “We have to come back down from the high we were on and then readjust ourselves to what we just heard.”

  “This girl is –“ his brother stopped in mid sentence as he searched for an appropriate word to describe what he had just heard.

  “Incredibly talented? Hauntingly perfect? Out of this world?” his brother said trying to help him out, a pleased expression on his face.

  “You were right,” Tariq said looking at him soberly. “She is quite something. Does she have the image to go with it?”

  “She has the entire package but she dresses as if she is going to a church social. I aim to fix that.” Tyrese told him, spinning the wine around in his glass.

  “Please keep one thing in mind.” He looked over at his sister in law. “She is a church person and is more than likely innocent, don’t change that too much, try and keep some of that innocence intact.”

  “I am aware of who she is Lei and I am going to do my best to keep her from losing what she is.” He said quietly meeting her gaze. “And besides she is too much her own person to be swayed into doing or being someone she is not.”

  “How soon are you planning to start?” Tariq asked him still hearing the haunting melody in his head and having to admit that his brother had discovered something very rare.

  “I have already started.” He said lifting his glass with a smile. “Her single will be released in October and then I am going to be working with her on the album. I am fast forwarding this thing because I know the result is going to be sensational.”

  “I think you are right,” Tariq said with a sow smile. “You are actually showing some responsibility bro and I want to say I am proud.”

  “What are you talking about? I am the most responsible person in the world!”

  *****

  He apologized to her and told her that she would have his full support. “Just don’t do anything to disgrace the ministry and please remember that you are a child of God.” He told her brusquely.

  “I have no intention of forgetting that,” she told him, still smarting at his harsh words.

  “I am aware that I have been pretty hard on you for years Kayla but it is because you are my daughter and people have a tendency to be judgmental when it comes to children of pastors. I was just trying to protect you.” He continued.

  She wanted to tell him that she needed love not protection but she did not bother. She had given up on him showing her love a long time ago. “Thank you.” She had told him briefly before leaving his study.

  She went straight to her room and closed the door behind her. She felt the shaking and realized that it was nerves. She had cried in her mother’s arms and they had talked for a long time while he had gone and her mother had told her that she was happy for her. “Whatever you are going to be doing I will be giving you my full
support darling, I always knew you were made for great things. You father will come around you’ll see.”

  “If he does not I am still going for it Mom.” She had warned.

  “I expect you to.” She had said with a smile.

  Now he had come back home and apologized to her and she wondered what had changed his mind.

  *****

  “You are going to be famous!” Kathy shrieked as she jumped up and down on her friend’s bed. Kayla had called and asked her to come over and told her she had some news.

  “Shh!” Kayla said with a laugh feeling her friend’s enthusiasm rubbing off on her. Her parents were over on their side and could not hear them but she was not taking the chance of rocking the boat with her father. She had told him and her mother that she did not want anyone at church to hear of it yet until she was ready to tell them.

  “And Tyrese Malcolm, billionaire playboy is going to be your manager,” Kathy said with a sigh. “Girl I am envying you right now and don’t bother to quote scriptures to me I am really indulging in envy right now.”

  “You don’t have to, I am not going to forget the little people,” she said with a grin and ducked as her friend threw a pillow at her.

  “How did Papa Bear take it?” she asked referring to the Reverend.

  “You are being totally disrespectful right now you know that?” Kayla asked trying to sound serious but they both burst out laughing at the same time.

  “He told me that if I went ahead with that nasty lifestyle I was no longer going to be his daughter.”

  “Honey! I hope you told him where to get off, Reverend or not.” Kathy said grimly.

  “Mom stood up for me and told him that if he was not for me then she was going to be standing by me no matter what he said.”

  “Good for her,” Kathy said approvingly. “So he finally came around?”