Love So Heavenly (A Clean Christian African American Romance)

by Shannon Gardener

  “Are you happy with the way things are progressing?” Kathy came to sit beside her on the bed. She had heard her friend’s song on the radio over and over and her interview with Paula Stephenson.A She could not believe it was the same quiet Kayla she had known since they were children. She even looked different. She was wearing an old sweater and cut off denims and looked like a star.

  “I am happy and excited and scared at the same time. I pray about it all the time and ask God to lead me in the right direction and I am depending on him to do so.” She ran her fingers through her heavy hair and the strands settled back in its usual style almost immediately brushing against her cheeks softly.

  “I am happy for you. At least you will start living your life and get out from under the thumbs of a very domineering father,” she said bluntly. “Did you read his interview the other day? About being happy and supportive of you? I wanted to puke!”

  “Whatever he is, he will always be my father and I have no resentment where he is concerned. I guess he thought he was protecting me.” Kayla said quietly.

  “You are certainly a bigger woman than I am,” Kathy said dryly. “Okay enough about him, tell me how the album is progressing.”

  “I have all the songs ready for the album and it is going to be a mixture of gospel and love ballads.” Kayla said with a glint in her eyes. “It’s like I am exposing my soul Kathy but Tyrese said they are very good.”

  “And how is the hot billionaire?” Kathy asked her casually.

  “He is okay and I am sure he would not appreciate you calling him that.” Kayla told her.

  “Well he is hot and he is a billionaire.” She looked at her friend for a moment and was about to say something but did not bother. Kayla Simmons was about to be exposed to so many things and maybe even love.

  Chapter 6

  A reporter caught her just as she was about to enter the apartment building. He snapped her picture as she smiled at the doorman as he opened the large glass door for her and she smiled at him and the caption read: “Up and coming singing sensation: Kayla Simmons making her way up to her apartment.”

  Kayla looked at the picture and shook her head. She had gone to the studios ahead of Tyrese who had been caught up in a meeting and would be meeting her later on. She was working on her album and she had even gotten some backup singers to do the harmony with her. It was a heady sensation.

  “Hey Kayla,” Brian called out to her as soon as she entered the closed off room that she had been using to do her singing.

  She was slated to be in a concert in town and she was very nervous about it. Her mother had come over to take a look at her apartment and told her that it was very chic but her father had not come over. Kathy had come over and spent a night with her and they had had prayer meetings with several church members and prayed for her.

  “Hi Brian,” she said with a friendly wave. “What do you have for me?”

  “We have the last two songs to deal with and were thinking of mixing up the tune a little bit.” He said as she came inside and closed the door. Her backup singers: Laci, Brandy and Grace were already there and she greeted them with a friendly smile.

  “How about singing ‘Love reunited’ and I will tell you where it needs to be done.” he suggested. She hesitated a moment. Usually Tyrese was there and he would tell her what was wrong or what needed fixing and she missed him being there.

  “Okay no problem,” she said with a smile. She put the headphone over her ears and closed her eyes as the music came forth. She always did that, letting the music flow through her and encompass her first before she started singing. “I have never met anyone like you in my life/you came into my life so many years before and disappeared without a word/Boy now you are back and I am still feeling the same way about you/Just tell me what I can do to make you see me the way you should and I will try and be who you want me to be.”

  Tyrese had just come in then and stopped where he was as he heard her singing. He felt the words burning inside him and he felt as if his heart and soul were on fire as he stood there listening to her. It was as if they were the only persons in the room and his breath caught inside his throat.

  He shook his head as her voice trailed away and he had to take a few minutes before he could go inside. She saw him immediately and her smile came blazing forth making him catch his breath.

  “Tyrese over here.” She beckoned to him. He nodded to the rest of the people and went over to her.

  She sung the notes again and turned to him, “What do you think?”

  He wanted to tell her that he thought she was beautiful. He wanted to tell her that the snug red sweater she was wearing made her skin glow and he wanted to ask her out to dinner with him and let them start something beautiful but instead he just told her: ”You sound terrific as usual,” he touched her briefly on the arm. “I am sorry I am so late I got hung up in meetings.”

  “You don’t have to apologize, I am the one who is taking you away from your work.” She reassured him. She took off the headphone and turned to him. “How about having dinner with me tonight? I cook a mean spaghetti and meatballs.”

  “You want me to come over to your apartment? Do you have any idea what the press will do with that kind of information?” he looked at her, his thick brows raised.

  “We are friends and business partners Tyrese,” she said with a shrug. “It’s natural for us to meet together without it being construed as something else.”

  “You are right,” he said briskly hating the disappointment he was feeling. She had put it into perspective for him and reminded him how she thought of him. “How about seven?”

  “Sounds good.” She said with a smile. “Okay tell me what you think about this verse.”

  *****

  Kayla prepared. She had called Lorelei and asked her what type of wine Tyrese liked. She was not much of a drinker herself but she indulged every now and then.

  “You are cooking him dinner?” Lorelei had asked her curiously. “Do I detect something more than just business relationship there?”

  “You are starting to sound like the press,” Kayla had told her with a laugh. “It’s just me showing my appreciation.”

  “Okay if you say so,” she had said in amusement and told her the kind of wine he liked.

  She had not admitted it to herself but she had started to feel a little something for Tyrese. She had just chalked it down to her being extremely grateful and not to the fact that he was an extremely handsome man with a virility that she had not seen before.

  She lived a very sheltered life and had spent much of her time doing church work and exploring her relationship with God. Even in high school when the other girls her age were exploring their sexuality, she had stayed true to her calling and had kept herself pure. She had never even been kissed. She believed in saving herself for her husband and she was bent on doing just that.

  Tyrese Malcolm was far from being someone she would ever consider being a candidate for marriage and besides he had more than his pick of women – they were just friends and that was all.

  *****

  “If I did not know Kayla I would think you are dressing to go out on a date,” Tariq had stopped over at his suite on his way downstairs to have dinner with his wife.

  “But you know her better,” Tyrese said with a humorless smile as he buttoned up his shirt and checked his pockets to make sure he had everything. “I am not her type bro. I am not a follower of Jesus.”

  “So you want to be her type,” Tariq wandering into the room and noticed the different outfits strewn on the bed. His brother had more clothes than any man he knew and always dressed in the very heights of fashion. But then again he had to because he was always in the public eye, even more so now. “If you want to do that you are going to have to start showing her that you have changed.”

  “She is not interested and I don’t know why you think I am,” he scooped up his car keys and his light sports jacket ready to head out. He had noticed that it was
already a quarter to seven and he did not want to be late.

  “You have not been out with anyone since you met her and even the papers are commenting on it.” His brother eyed him quizzically. “You are going to dinner at her home and you are dressed as if you are going to a celebrity party.”

  “She is in fact a celebrity,” he said wryly. “Are you going to stay here and clean up for me or are you going down to have dinner with that lovely wife of yours and butt out of my affairs?”

  “Going down to have dinner with my very lovely wife but that still does not stop me from being all up in your business,” Tariq followed behind him and sniffed the air. “Special cologne?”

  “Shut up!”

  *****

  He got there promptly at seven and she opened the door to him. She was in a simple blue and white short sweater and faded denims and had caught her hair up in a short ponytail at the back of her neck. Her face was scrubbed of makeup and she was barefoot causing him to tower over her. She told him to hang his jacket on the coat hanger.

  “Something smells delicious,” he commented as he followed her into the kitchen.

  “I told you my spaghetti and meat balls are out of this world,” she flashed him a smile as she went over to the counter to take the wine out of the cooler and handed it to him. He looked at the bottle and then at her, his eyebrows raised. “I called Lorelei and asked her about your favorite wine and she told me.”

  “You did this for me?” he looked at her speculatively as he unscrewed the top.

  “Of course,” she said carelessly. “You have done so much for me Tyrese that I don’t know how I am ever going to be able to thank you.”

  “It was my pleasure Kayla,” he told her lightly as he poured the wine in the two glasses. “And I am reaping the rewards don’t worry.”

  “I know but you invested in me and I am grateful.” She took the glass from him and sniffed the wine before taking a sip and wrinkled her nose as the liquor touched her tongue. “I am not used to strong liquors,” she told him with a laugh. “Kathy tried to get us to drink a whole bottle one Saturday night and we had church the next day and we were sick as dogs and still had to go to church the next day. Reverend Simmons took one look at both of us and knew what we had been up to, I never did that again.”

  “You call him Reverend Simmons and not dad, why is that?” he asked her softly, putting the half empty glass on the marble counter top.

  She looked at him startled. “I had no idea I did that.” She hedged, drinking down the wine instead of sipping it.

  “You did and I have noticed it on several occasions.”

  “I have never been close to him,” she admitted slowly. “I used to wait for him to tell me how proud he was of me and how much he loves me but that never happened and I stopped expecting it from him. No matter how much I achieve, it was never enough for him and I would see him with other children at church and how loving he was to them and I would wonder what I did wrong and I was his only child.”

  “I am sorry,” he told her softly, needing more than anything else to just take her into his arms and comfort her.

  She shrugged. “I got over it and know that my Heavenly Father loves me more than anything else in the world and I was okay with that.”

  “But still we always need our parents love.” he murmured. “My dad was hard on us because he wanted us to be okay when he was not around especially when our mother died shortly after I was born.”

  “I read about that,” she said sympathetically. “You never got to know her.”

  “My dad never really got over her and he never had another woman. I would find him some days just sitting in his office and looking at her picture.” He shook his head. “I told myself that one day I would like to find a love like that.”

  “I have a feeling you will,” she told him softly. “Okay let’s go and eat before everything gets cold.”

  *****

  “Maybe we should slow down and stop seeing each other for a while.” Erica said nervously. He had waited until she had driven out of the church’s parking lot before following her, telling his wife that he had to go and look for a sick congregant and he would be back later.

  “Why?” he demanded.

  He had seen reporters lurking around and had ordered them off the church property and whenever his daughter came to church they were there to take pictures and take in the service. He had no problem because now his ministry was on the map and there were several television offers for him to become a televangelist. His daughter’s fame was making him more visible and he could not complain but he had no intention of curtailing his other activities. He was in too deep.

  “Because we might get caught,” Erica told him impatiently as she got up and slipped on her robe. She was starting to wonder if she was not throwing her life away with a married man, a minister at that.

  “We are very cautious,” he soothed, watching her with pleasure as the robe molded her figure. “I am not leaving you Erica, so don’t even mention it.”

  “What we are doing is wrong!” she cried wrapping the robe tight around her. “I see you up on the podium every Sunday and you preach such a strong message each time and I feel guilty. God is going to charge us.”

  “God is on our side,” he climbed off the bed and slipped on his robe. He was a tall stately man with a few gray strands in his low black hair and his face was still unlined even though he was in his fifties. “He watches over us and what we are doing is not wrong, he is not judging us, and it’s just people who would do that. If it was allowed I would make you my second wife.” He pulled her into his arms. “I love you that much. If it was not for the scandal that would rock the ministry I would divorce Marion and marry you.”

  She lifted her head and looked up at him. “You would?” she asked him uncertainly.

  “You know I would,” he told her softly. “You are the only one who understands me and the only one I can talk to about anything. When I am preparing a sermon and I reach a roadblock you are the person I want to call and ask about anything.”

  “Oh John,” Erica whispered softly and rested her head against his chest.

  “So you see why I cannot leave,” he murmured, his smile coming in smug satisfaction.

  *****

  “You have no need to be nervous you are going to rock the place,” Tyrese assured her. They had finished eating and were sitting in the living room drinking coffee and eating some key lime pie she had bought at a pastry shop. Even simple shopping had become a task because she was recognized as soon as she stepped outside.

  “You have more confidence than I have.” She told him. She was curled up on the wine red sofa with her feet tucked beneath her and she looked like a little girl.

  “I have heard you sing so it’s easy to have confidence,” he said with a smile.

  “I cannot believe that I am living on my own in an apartment that really belongs to me.” She mused as she looked around the cozy place. “I often thought about leaving my parents place and finding something for myself but I always got cold feet and wondered if after a few months I would run back home. Couldn’t you just see the ‘I told you’ look on the Reverend’s face?” she asked with a laugh.

  “Has he been here yet?” he asked her after the laughter had died down.

  She shook her head no. “My mother has been here several times though and makes some excuses for him saying he was busy and he will be here when he can.”

  “I think he will. I am sure he would not want the press to get a hold of the fact that he is not happy that his daughter is showing her independence.” He swallowed down the last of the coffee and realized that he did not want to leave. A glance at his wristwatch showed him that it was almost ten thirty and he knew she had rehearsals and he had meetings at the office to discuss the financial viability of the hotel downtown. But he wanted to stay and talk to her and maybe do other things.

  “I suppose you are right,” she looked at him. “I enjoyed the evening.”
<
br />   “So did I,” he stood up and so did she. In her bare feet she just came a little below his shoulders and he felt like a giant towering over her. With a sudden movement he brought her closer to him and claimed her lips with his in a kiss that took them both by surprise.

  *****

  Kayla locked the door behind him and stood there rooted to the spot. She could still feel the imprint of his lips on hers. Why hadn’t she stopped him? Why did she participate and most of all how could she enjoy it? How could she feel the fire starting inside her at his touch. She was a child of God and she had allowed him to kiss her, the first step to intimacy that God only wanted to be shared with a man and his wife. She had kept her rigid principles for so long and now to throw them through the window and not because of a nice church going brother but one who changed women like he did his underwear!

  What had she been thinking? Was her father right all along? Was it that she was not to be trusted on her own? Was she a child of God only when she was living with her parents? Blinking her eyes she sank down onto her knees and bowed her head in prayer, begging God to forgive her for her lapse and asking him for strength.

  *****

  Tyrese was glad he did not see his brother or his sister in law when he got to the manor. He was not in the mood for conversation or curious questions. His head was too mixed up and confused right now. He had kissed her and instead of the strong feelings he had for her going away, it had been intensified! He had wanted to prolong the moment but he had let her go reluctantly and left immediately feeling as if he had taken advantage of her. He had not apologized because that would have been hypocritical and he was far from being that.

  He had driven home feeling her lips on his and her soft pliant body against his and knew he was in trouble. He was falling in love with her and he had a feeling he would never convince her that he was good enough to be with her. He had not seen anyone since he had approached her that fateful night at the outdoor concert and he had told his friends and brother and even Lorelei that he had been busy molding her career but the truth was he had no urge to be with anyone else.