Family Business--Book I

by Vanessa Miller

  Where he came from, the police were the enemy. His family would never think of calling them. They just shot first and asked questions later. But Angel’s family thought differently. They prayed first and then called the police. “No don’t call the police. I’m with my father, he’s been hurt.”

  “Oh Demetrius, I’m so sorry. Is he okay?”

  “I don’t know,” Demetrius sounded miserable. “He’s in surgery right now. We’ll know more once the surgery is over.”

  They were silent for a minute, then Demetrius said, “Tell Coach that he’s safe now. My father won’t be coming after him, so he can go on to his son’s house.”

  “Okay. I’ll handle everything on this end. You just stay there with your father.” Then she asked, “Do you want me to ask my parents to pray for him?”

  “No!” Demetrius screamed so loud that some of the people in the emergency waiting room turned around and stared at him. Lowering his voice, he told her, “Don’t tell your parents anything about my father. Just tell Coach the coast is clear and nothing more, okay?”

  “Alright Demetrius, calm down. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to do.”

  “Good, well... I need to get back in there. I’ll call you back later.”

  “Don’t forget to call me back, Demetrius. We have other things to discuss, but I don’t want to bother you with it right now.”

  They hung up and Demetrius went back to the waiting room. His father had to pull through. He just had to. Demetrius could have taken the knowledge of his father’s death, because the way Don lived, one had to expect that he would one day get what was coming to him. But Demetrius had spent so many years blaming his father for his mother’s death that he didn’t want to know how it would feel to be responsible for his own father’s demise. His father couldn’t die, not now. Not like this.

  Nineteen

  It took two days, but Don finally opened his eyes. His voice was a bit hoarse as he called out for Demetrius. The nurse in his room heard him and then went out to the waiting room. She walked over to them and asked, “Which one of you is Demetrius?”

  “That’s me,” he said, standing up.

  “Our patient is asking for you.”

  Stan had been released from the hospital the day before and was sitting in the waiting room with the whole gang. “Tell Don that I’m good. I don’t want him to worry that I didn’t pull through.”

  Demetrius put a hand on Stan’s shoulder, his father’s right hand man was like a brother to the old man. It wouldn’t sit well with Don if something happened to Stan. “I’ll make sure he knows.”

  Stepping into his father’s room, Demetrius could tell that the sleep had done him good. He was all bandaged up, but the look in his eyes told Demetrius that he was on the mend. He sat down in the chair next to the bed. “How are you feeling, Dad?”

  “Like a tree fell on me.” It sounded as if it hurt to talk, but Don still smiled at his son.

  “From what I heard, it did. But look at you. Even that couldn’t kill you.”

  “You mad about that, Son?” Don eyed him, like he needed the answer.

  Shaking his head vigorously, Demetrius told him, “I don’t want you dead, Dad. I’m the one who made sure you got to the hospital so you could get surgery, so why would you think I want you dead?”

  “Guess I just don’t understand why you picked Coach Johnson over your own father. That hurt.”

  “I wasn’t choosing anyone over you.” Demetrius lowered his voice as he continued, “I just didn’t want him to die over a bet that he made with me. It didn’t seem right. All I wanted was for you to leave Coach alone, but I never wanted anything like this to happen to you. And I feel awful that it did.”

  “We needed the money for our next project,” Don admitted. “But it all went wrong. I got Stan shot and a falling tree almost killed me.”

  “Stan is okay, Dad. He had an infection after the bullet was pulled out of his leg, but his fever has subsided and he’s sitting in the waiting room with us.”

  “Good... good,” Don said as he closed his eyes falling back to sleep.

  The next day, Don stayed awake longer, his gang of thugs sat in the room with him, laughing and catching Don up on all that had happened after the tree fell on him.

  “You telling me that the three of you pulled that big ol’ tree off of me? I don’t believe it.”

  “Believe it,” Stan said. “I had to crawl over there so I could help these two weaklings with that tree.”

  “You should have seen him. He was all like,” Al mimicked the way Stan crawled over to them. “That wasn’t the half of it,” Al continued. “We kidnapped a doctor and a nurse to take care of you. But that wasn’t good enough for Demetrius. He bribed a paramedic to drive you all the way to this hospital. It was something to see. I couldn’t believe he pulled that off.”

  “That’s my boy,” Don said. Then he asked, “How much did you have to pay the guy?”

  “How much is your life worth?” Demetrius countered.

  The room went silent. Demetrius rolled his eyes. “Relax Dad, you can afford it. And paying keeps them from going to the cops about being held hostage in the first place, don’t you think?” Demetrius’ beeper went off. He used that as an excuse to leave the room.

  He called Angel back, but as she told him how much she missed him and he didn’t respond, she asked, “What did I do wrong, Demetrius? You’re acting so distant.”

  He loved her and wanted to spend a lifetime with her. But her parents had this connection with God that worried him. “I just wish you had told me about your father. He doesn’t like me, and you know it.”

  “My father doesn’t run my life, so why are you letting this come between us?”

  “I’m not.” Demetrius ran a hand over his head. “I mean, I’m not trying to. But I’ve never been around people that pray like that... and then my father gets hurt really bad. He almost died, Angel.”

  “I’m sorry about that, Demetrius. But it’s not my fault.”

  His hand tighten around the phone. “I know it’s not your fault, baby. I just need to wrap my head around all this praying stuff.”

  “Okay,” she said sounding dejected, “But you still want us to come home, right?”

  He hesitated a moment, but only a moment. “Of course I want you back home. Just let me get my father out of this hospital first.” He did want them back, didn’t he? Of course he did. Demetrius just needed to get over his feelings about that prayer. Her father didn’t even know his father, so it wasn’t like he had a reason to want Don dead. The more Demetrius thought about it, the more it just didn’t make sense. How could a simple prayer cause a tree to fall? And if that tree was meant for his father, then why did other trees get uprooted, and why had the wind knocked out the power all over town. Blaming Angel and her family for what happened to his dad was foolish.

  He went back into his father’s hospital room. They were still laughing it up and telling tall tales. From the stories Al and the gang were telling, they had gotten themselves ambushed by a group of thugs dumb enough to think they could rob them. That was it, end of story for those guys.

  Joe-Joe changed the subject. He told Don, “We need to get you out of here before these folks get wise to anything. Stan has already left enough money on your account to take care of the bill. But do you think you can travel home by morning?”

  “Yeah man, I’d rather be in my own bed recuperating anyway. Y’all can always kidnap another nurse. I wouldn’t mind that at all. And this time I’ll be conscious so I just might enjoy her company.”

  They laughed, but Don wouldn’t be enjoying much of anything until those broken bones healed. But once they did, Demetrius had no doubt that his father would give his nurse all she could handle. Don Shepherd was a menace to society, but he was also Demetrius’ dad. Coach had his son in South Carolina. Demetrius could dream all he wanted about being the son of a man like Coach, but it wasn’t never going to happen. He needed to fi
nd peace with the family he had. And he wanted that family to included Angel and DeMarcus.

  ~~~~

  They had taken his father to his house and thankfully, his boys didn’t have to kidnap a nurse to take care of him, because Lisa came running.

  Al gave Demetrius a ride home. “We parked the Bronco in your driveway,” Al told him.

  “Good, I’ve got to get on the road.” He planned to take a shower, change his clothes and then get back on the highway to go get Angel. But as they pulled into his driveway he saw his SUV. It was parked alright... but he wouldn’t be driving it anywhere. Demetrius glared at Al. “You didn’t have to burn my ride up like that.”

  “Just following orders,” Al told him. “Talk to your daddy. I’m sure he’ll buy you a new one since you finally came back to your senses.”

  Demetrius slammed the car door and walked into his house. He didn’t have time to argue with Al. He needed that shower, needed a nap and now he needed a rental car. When his thoughts turned to a rental car, Demetrius opened his front door and stared at the SUV that was parked in front of his house. He had seen it out of the side of his eyes when he’d closed Al’s car door, he hadn’t given it any thought, though. But it looked like the one he’d rented at the airport last week. It wasn’t parked in his driveway, so Demetrius told himself that he was imagining things. Someone with the same type of SUV must be visiting one of his neighbors.

  He closed the door and headed to his bedroom. But as he passed Angel’s bedroom, DeMarcus ran out of the room and grabbed him around the ankles. “Daddy... home.”

  Demetrius bent down and picked the boy up. He hugged him to his chest. At that moment he didn’t care what anyone said, DeMarcus was his son. He said, “Daddy is home, but what are you doing here?”

  Angel came out of the room. She leaned against the door as she told him, “We missed you, I told you that.”

  She took his breath away. It wasn’t possible that Angel was more beautiful than the last time he saw her, but somehow it seemed that way to him. Demetrius didn’t know what he was getting into... didn’t know if Angel was right or wrong for him. All he knew was that he loved her... ached for her. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I missed you too. I was planning to drive back to North Carolina today to get you.”

  “Liar.” She shoved him. “How you gon’ drive in that burnt up mess in the driveway?”

  “Don’t remind me,” Demetrius sounded miserable. “I felt like crying when I saw my baby out there like that.”

  “I guess you got the message, huh?”

  “Loud and clear... don’t go against the family.”

  “Is your father doing better?”

  “Much.”

  “Then can we talk?” Angel led Demetrius to the living room. They sat down on the sofa with DeMarcus between them. She put her hands in his as she asked, “What’s going on with us, Demetrius? Am I losing you?”

  “Didn’t I just tell you that I was coming to get you?”

  She gave him a come-on-be-straight-with-me look.

  Holding up a hand, Demetrius admitted. “Okay, I was tripping for a minute. But you should have told me that you came from a family like that.”

  “Like what?” Angel asked.

  “All Holy Ghost filled and all. I’m just not used to that kind of stuff. I was uncomfortable, especially when they started praying against me and my father.”

  “They didn’t pray against you.”

  “They prayed against my father, and look what happened to him.”

  “Okay, so what does all this mean? You don’t want to be with me because I don’t come from a family of thugs?” Angel asked, getting a bit agitated.

  “To tell you the truth, I can’t imagine being with anyone else. But I don’t want to be with you and then have you come home one day all Holy Ghost filled and praying over everybody and everything.”

  “So this is real? We are going to be together?” Angel said, completely ignoring everything else Demetrius just said.

  “Yeah girl, I think we can make it work... as long as you don’t change up on me.”

  “Why would I change? I love you now and I’ll love you forever.” But Angel had a Godly call on her life, so she was making promises that she would never be able to keep. She would one day look back on this day and wished that she had walked away... but if she had, the child that God had anointed would never be born and the world would have no hope.

  Epilogue

  Demetrius and Angel married on a rainy day in June. Don served as Demetrius’ best man and just before they walked out to the altar, Don told him, “You picked a good one.”

  “Wait, I’m confused. First you didn’t want me with Angel, and now you think she’s a good one?”

  “She’s the type of woman that you’ll be able to count on when you can’t count on nobody else. And in our business, you need a woman like that by your side.”

  “So, you like her because she helped me with Coach?”

  Don nodded. “She had to know that defying me could get her killed. But she helped you anyway. I like that. Your mama would have done the same thing.”

  Angel had won Don Shepherd over, but Demetrius had not done the same with Angel’s family. Her father hadn’t even shown up for the wedding. But Maxine Barnes was there. And as Angel prepared to walk down the aisle, Maxine was saying, “I know that you’re in love, honey. But have you thought about the future? Marriage takes a lot of work.”

  “We will be fine, Mama. I’m never going to let Demetrius go and he’s never going to let me go. He’s my match in every way.”

  “I’m only going to say this to you once, and then I will leave it alone. You were raised in a Christian home. Demetrius doesn’t seem interested in the things of the Lord at all. And the Bible asked the question, ‘how can two walk together if they do not agree?’

  “It’s a hard thing to love the Lord and be married to a man who doesn’t,” Maxine told her.

  But Angel wasn’t listening. “I haven’t been in church since I left home, Mama. But if I decide to go back to church I’m sure Demetrius will understand. We’ll make it work.”

  The look on Maxine’s face showed the concern she was feeling. The Bible told her that if you raise a child in the Lord, they will not depart from it. So she knew that Angel would once again serve the Lord. But Maxine didn’t have a clue what that would ultimately mean for this marriage.

  Angel put her arms around her mother and said, “I love him, Mama. Can’t you just be happy for me?”

  “Okay hon, let’s go get you married.” Maxine silently prayed as she walked her daughter down the aisle and God was listening.

  To be continued...

  Family Business Book II (A Sword of Division) coming in July 2016

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  Former Rain

  Book 1 in the Rain Series

  Sample Chapter

  by

  Vanessa Miller

  Prologue

  July, 1998

  Nina Lewis had the key in the lock of Marguerite’s 1990 Chevy Cavalier when she noticed the white Cadillac with tinted windows parked a few feet away. She squinted in the thick darkness of the night as she tried to read the license plate number. The street light in front of Joe’s Carryout had been broken for several weeks. A sign tacked to a raggedy old fence across the street read, “Tax dollars, hard at work.”

  The Cadillac’s door swung open. The key jammed in the lock of the Cavalier and refused to yield. She frantically searched for any sign of help. A leg stretched out of the Cadillac and touched the ground. Fear clenched Nina’s heart. She dropped the grocery bag. The dozen eggs Marguerite needed to bake that sweet potato cheesecake splattered in the street. The Reese’s cup she had been craving for
a week violently connected with the ground and her heel, as she ran like the wind. Tears streamed down her face, as she thought, So this is my destiny; to die like a dog in the street.

  ~~~~

  The ringing of the telephone cheated Elizabeth out of much needed sleep. She turned over in bed and glared at it. “Somebody better be dead!” she growled, reaching for the receiver. Then again, at one in the morning, if someone were dead, she could do nothing about it. So she turned back over in bed and as her shoulder-length hair swished across her mocha-chocolate face, she resolved to let the answering machine pick up the call.

  The salutation seemed a bit long this morning, and the beep was a tad loud. But the noise that bellowed from that little box on her night table was the most annoying of all. “Hi Liz, it’s your big brother. You’ve been so heavy on my mind that I couldn’t get to sleep... Where are you?”

  “Lying right here listening to you, bonehead!” she shouted at the answering machine.

  “Well, call me when you get in. Let’s do lunch or something, okay kiddo?” He hung up.

  “Not if I can help it,” Elizabeth grabbed Kenneth’s pillow and covered her face. Ever since Michael became a minister he was always preaching, always telling her that she was a sinner. The way he talked one would think she was a complete heathen who never set foot in a church building a day in her life. Didn’t she take her kids to church almost every Sunday? Didn’t she sing in the choir and lead most of the songs? Hadn’t her pastor told her that he was glad she was a member of his church? As far as Elizabeth was concerned, she was all right, and there was no way she was going to lunch with Michael to have him tell her everything she was doing wrong. Hmmph, no way! Mister Holier-than-thou could just find someone else to preach to!

  The phone rang again. Elizabeth sank deeper into her bed and screamed, “Why me?” The answering machine picked that one up also.

  “It’s one in the morning, Elizabeth,” a sultry woman’s voice announced. “Do you know where your husband is?”