“And you think the reality show might become negative?”
Elizabeth giggled at that. “Have you seen the Mary Mary reality show? It’s a train wreck, but I can’t stop watching.”
“I see your point. You might want to back away from that.”
“But this could be really big for my career,” Elizabeth whined.
“Then do it,” Nina encouraged.
But, like a double-minded woman, Elizabeth said,”I don’t think Kenneth is going to say yes. Then what do I do?”
“You keep your marriage intact and walk away from the reality show.”
“Easy for you to say, Nina Walker. Your latest book is on the New York Times bestseller’s list.”
Elizabeth’s sales had slipped in recent years, but she was still a bestselling artist. But Nina understood her friend’s desire to get back some of the glory of her earlier days. “You’re in a tough spot, my friend.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I guess I know what to pray about on your end,” Nina told Elizabeth, before the two said their goodbyes.
Nina went back to work, outlining the novel she was about to begin writing. She should have started the novel a month ago, but things had been so chaotic that she hadn’t been able to focus. Nina hated not meeting deadlines but with the way things were going, she already figured that she would have to ask her publisher to push the release date back. It was unprofessional, but until she had some confirmation that her son was going to do the right thing, Nina couldn’t focus long enough to write more than a few sentences at a time.
“Hey babe, how’s it going?” Isaac asked as he came into her office. He stepped behind Nina’s desk and kissed her, while pulling her out of her seat.
Nina untangled herself and sat back down. “I’m trying to work on this outline so I can get started on this book that is due to my publisher in a few months.”
“Okay, I won’t keep you away from your work. I just wanted to talk to you about something.”
“I wanted to talk to you too.” She swerved around in her seat. She wanted to give her husband her full attention because she desperately needed him to pay attention to what she was about to say. Maybe this would help ease her mind so she could stop being so mad at him.
“You first,” Isaac said.
Her husband looked to be in a good mood. Nina was silently praying that he would really hear her this time. “Have you notice that Ikee—”
At that moment, Ikee burst into her office, eyes filled with excitement as he yelled, “Did Dad tell you? Did he tell you?”
Nina leaned back. She smiled at her son because the excitement in his eyes was contagious. “Your dad and I just started talking, so he hasn’t had a chance to tell me anything yet. Why don’t you tell me what’s got you so hyped?” She knew that ‘hyped’ wasn’t a word the cool kids used anymore, but it was as close as she could get.
“It’s going down this summer, Mama. We are taking it to the streets in the ATL, Chi-town, North Carolina, and right here at home.”
“I don’t understand. What are you talking about? And when is all of this supposed to happen?”
“Right after I graduate. Dad is planning everything out, but the first street revival will be here a couple days after graduation.”
The excitement in Ikee’s eyes was no longer contagious, because Nina was finding herself completely unamused by the entire conversation. She turned to Isaac and said, “Do you really think this is the right time for all of this traveling?”
“You sound like I’m planning a vacation or something. This is for the ministry, Nina.” Isaac didn’t know what was bothering Nina, but she’d been holding something in for over a month now.
“Your son hasn’t even decided on a college yet. Why can’t you and Donavan handle these trips and leave Ikee out of it?” Her voice was rising, and even though she tried to stop it, she couldn’t bring herself back to a place of peace. She was going to have this out with her wonderful husband once and for all.
Isaac tapped Ikee on the shoulder and nodded his head toward the door. “Your mom and I need to talk. Close the door on your way out.”
Ikee started to say something, thought better of it, then left the room and closed the door as his father had asked him to do.
Isaac sat down on the love seat in Nina’s home office. He patted the seat next to him. “Come join me.”
Nina sat down next to her husband. She didn’t say anything because she was trying to choose her words. She truly loved this man that she had been with since she was nineteen years old, but he was testing her patience.
“Now, I know that you believe in the ministry just as much, if not more, than any member of this family. So, I’m confused about why you’re so upset about the revivals we’re setting up in each of these cities.”
“Isaac, my spirit and my soul rejoices over all the wonderful works you’re doing for the kingdom of God. But I have to be honest with you… I’m terrified by some of it.”
He pulled her into his arms and leaned back into the cushions of the love seat. “God protects us, Nina. You don’t have to worry about me out on those streets.”
“I know that God protects us, but people seem to come out of all walks of life looking to settle some type of grudge against you.” She turned in his arm, looking him in the eye, seeing everything she loved about him, but everything that terrified her as well. “I also don’t like what’s been going on with Ikee lately.”
“Our son is doing good. He’s about to graduate from high school next week and he’s finally got his mind on the ministry.”
“He’s got his mind on more than the ministry. Something is up with him and I’m going to find out what it is.”
Isaac pulled his wife closer to him. “Stop worrying. Ikee has finally got his head on straight. I’ll be watching out for him while we’re on the road.”
Shoving his shoulder, Nina said, “I’m more worried about you than I am about Ikee. You find trouble everywhere you go. I’m too stressed out and really don’t know if I can handle these events you have planned for the summer. I thought you were just going to do a few local events. Now you want to travel the world and run into more people that you’ve ticked off.”
He leaned his head close to hers and kissed her. Then Isaac admitted, “Asking you to marry me was the most selfish thing I’ve ever done. I knew that life with me wouldn’t be easy for you, but I couldn’t imagine how my life would be without you.”
“I don’t want you to imagine life without me, but I don’t want to be forced to live the rest of my life without you simply because you feel compelled to keep going back to those streets.”
Shaking his head, he told her, “It’s not me, Nina. I wish I could turn my back and forget I ever knew anything about them streets. But God has decided this thing for us. So, I’ve got to keep going.”
Pulling away from him, she folded her arms around her chest as she stood up. “But I don’t have to keep on going.”
“Come on, Nina. Don’t be like this. If I would have thought for one moment that you’d object to this revival, then I would have talked to you about it ahead of time.”
She lifted a hand, halting his explanations. “I mean it, Isaac. I’m tired and I’m stressed.”
“What do you want from me, Nina. Just tell me and I’ll do it. Because I can’t take you walking around here in a foul mood like you’ve been for the past few weeks.”
Even though she hated feeling this way, she knew exactly what she wanted. She closed her eyes, hoping that she would feel different once she looked at him again, but as she laid eyes on him again, nothing had changed. “I don’t want to go on this crusade with you.”
Chapter 2
“What’s the word?” her agent asked, as Elizabeth had barely put the phone to her ear.
“Good morning to you also, Allen.” In the seventies, Allen Stein had been one of the top R & B voices in the country. Every album he put out went gold. It seemed like he had
it all, but after a night of drinking and doing drugs, he’d wrecked his car and paralyzed the woman in the passenger seat of his car. Allen spent five years in prison, then gave his life to the Lord and proceeded to become one of the best agents the gospel industry had ever known.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good morning and all that. Now tell it to me straight. Are we going in the reality TV biz or not?”
He was also pushy and demanding as usual. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to Kenneth about this yet—” she began.
Allen cut her off, “Don’t you live in the same house with the man?”
“Yes, of course we live in the same house.” Rubbing her eyebrows as they arched, Elizabeth said, “Look, I’ll talk to him today. I’ve got to go.” She hung up the phone, wishing that she’d never picked it up in the first place.
Her conversation with Nina had been joyous, but Allen had not been so nice. He hadn’t even offered to pray for her like Nina had. It’s times like these Elizabeth was grateful that she had someone like Nina in her life. They were both dealing with issues right now and Elizabeth hoped that she had helped Nina as much as Nina had helped her.
Bottom line, she needed to quit putting it off and talk to Kenneth already. The recording industry was getting tougher by the minute, with producers constantly approaching her about putting her family on display by doing a reality show. They wanted her to have her husband relive the most horrific time in his life by telling the viewers about how it felt to be in one of the twin towers when the buildings collapsed.
As a result of the 9/11 attacks, Kenneth had been knocked unconscious. When he awoke at the hospital, he had amnesia. He had not remembered his daughters or his wife. Those had been some painful years for Elizabeth, but she had moved heaven and earth to reclaim her place with the man she loved. She actually thought that their story would be a wonderful testament to how God could heal and deliver two broken people. Her agent and record producer thought so too. The only person she had to convince was Kenneth.
Elizabeth had taken her time talking to Kenneth about the idea of a reality show because she knew his stance on their past—it was better left where it was. Now that Kenneth was a new man in Christ, he wanted nothing to do with the old man who’d once proudly cheated on his wife. And Kenneth still had nightmares about the day the World Trade Center collapsed with him in it. He’d always told her that any interview he did with her could not include questions concerning the events of 9/11. But the attack had occurred over a decade ago; surely he was over it by now.
She hopped into her royal blue Jaguar and rode off so she could meet Kenneth at the homeless shelter he ran. That was another reason why Elizabeth worried that Kenneth wouldn’t agree to do the reality show. The studio producer thought that she needed to visit the homeless shelter from time to time to show the viewing audience that rich people had hearts too. She just hoped that Kenneth wouldn’t think she was putting the people in that shelter on display.
As she walked into the homeless shelter, she caught a glimpse of Kenneth kneeling on the floor, blowing up an inflatable mattress for the guest that would be staying over tonight. That was how Kenneth referred to the homeless people who slept at his shelter, as guests. He tried to make the place as homey as possible.
His assistant, a young girl fresh out of college with a young face and shapely body, walked over to him. She handed him some papers to sign. Kenneth took the pen, signed the pages, and went back to what he had been doing without even a double-take at the girl. But Elizabeth did notice how Taylor looked at her husband as she walked away from him—as if she wanted him to notice her. But Elizabeth wasn’t worried; her man knew where home was and so did she.
He looked up and saw her standing there. The smile that lit his face let her know how much she meant to him. She loved this man and he loved her. Life hadn’t always been this good for them though. She and Kenneth had gone through the worst part of their marriage before he’d even lost his memory and almost died in the 9/11 attacks. Their children were grown now and hadn’t witnessed their parents cut a fool in many, many years, but there had been a time, and as her husband walked over to greet her with a kiss, her mind drifted back to the day when she thought their love had come to an end…
After church that Sunday, Elizabeth got out of her brother’s car and, as the girls ran up the walkway, she actually began to hope that things would finally be different between her and Kenneth. Danae did more falling than running. Elizabeth smiled. It was so cute to watch her. She put the key in the lock and tried to turn it. The key didn’t fit.
That’s strange. She looked at the key. “Mmmh, it’s the right key.” She shrugged her shoulders and put the key in the lock again. It still didn’t work. Dread swept over her, the likes of which she had not known in many years. She rang the doorbell, no answer. She banged on the door and screamed, “Kenneth, I know you’re in there. You better open this door.”
Kenneth walked into the foyer and spoke through the window. “You don’t live here anymore, Elizabeth. I told you that.”
“You said you were moving in on Monday.”
“The locksmith was available today.”
Elizabeth balled her fist. “Oooh, Kenneth, you better open this door!”
“Leave my children here and go find yourself a place to stay,” he told her as he pulled back the curtain.
Elizabeth was hot. She stomped up and down the pathway trying to figure out what to do about this situation. That’s when she spotted the decorative red bricks. Bricks she’d laid around the flowerbed when their love was in full bloom. “You think you can just put me out of my own house, huh?” She grabbed one of the bricks and threw it through the bottom pane of the window.
Kenneth opened the front door and menacingly moved toward Elizabeth.
“Daddy… Daddy!” the girls screamed.
Kenneth ran past them as Elizabeth picked up her second brick. “You lunatic. Only a fool destroys her own property.”
She shook the brick in her hand. “I don’t live here anymore, remember?” She reared back, ready to send another brick sailing through the foyer window.
Kenneth grabbed her arm and pulled the brick out of her hand. “You are the most selfish woman I have ever met. God, I can’t stand the sight of you!” He moved back, trying to put some distance between them. He’d grown-up believing that only weak men beat their women. His father told him that it was easy to smack a woman around, but a real man takes time to talk things over with his woman—help her understand why things are the way they are. Real men loved their wives into submission, rather than beating a ‘yes sir’ out of them.
His dad took a hard stance against men who beat their wives. He should have stood just as firm against extramarital affairs, of which he had many. When he was a kid, Kenneth vowed never to take the easy way out. He would never beat or cheat on his wife. He had already broken one of his vows, now this woman was making him rethink the other. Kenneth wanted to smack the taste out of her mouth, but he didn’t want to stop there. He wanted to keep on pounding until she was dead. Distance, that’s what he needed.
Sirens could be heard far off.
“Don’t you walk away from me.” She strutted up to him and put her finger in his face. “I bet you feel like a big man today, don’t you? Put your wife and defenseless kids out on the street with no place to go.”
Sirens were blaring on their street.
“Get out of my face, Elizabeth.” More distance, that’s what he needed. But Elizabeth grabbed his arm. Her hand balled into a fist and she hit Kenneth in the mouth.
Erin and Danae were sitting on the steps crying. That’s it, he’d had enough. Kenneth stepped back and raised his fist to retaliate.
“Don’t do it, sir.”
A White, heavy-set police officer approached as Elizabeth advanced on Kenneth like a tiger. Her claws dug into his skin. “Ouch!” Kenneth screamed.
The police officer grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her off of Kenneth. “Sir, we received a ca
ll about a domestic disturbance. Is this your wife?” he asked Kenneth as he held Elizabeth’s struggling form.
“Let me go!” Elizabeth screamed.
Kenneth nursed the scratches on his face. “She’s my wife.”
“Do you want to press charges, sir?”
Kenneth watched Elizabeth struggle to free herself. Her eyes were ablaze with fury. He turned toward his children. They were huddled up together on the porch, crying their eyes out. “No, I don’t want to press charges. I just want her off my property.”
“Off your property?” Elizabeth broke free from the officer and lunged at Kenneth.
The police officer regained his hold on Elizabeth. “That’s it. You’re going to take a little ride with me.” He took his cuffs out and put them on Elizabeth.
“No!” Erin shouted and ran to her mother’s aid. She grabbed hold of Elizabeth’s waist. “Leave my mama alone.”
“Officer,” Kenneth lifted his hands, “please… I’m not pressing charges.”
“You two are disturbing the peace. One of you has got to go.” The officer looked at Elizabeth. “Since this one appears to have anger problems, she should be the one to go.”
Erin ran to Kenneth and pleaded, “Don’t let him take Mama, Daddy.”
The officer started walking to his car, dragging Elizabeth with him. She was huffing and puffing all the way. Kenneth sat Erin down on the porch and ran after them. “Look,” he said to the officer, “this is the first time you’ve ever come out to our house. My wife and I lead a normal life, we’ve just been having a few problems lately.” Kenneth couldn’t tell if he was getting through to the officer or not, but he continued anyway. “Man, don’t do this.” He pointed toward Erin and Danae. “My kids… they don’t deserve this.”
The officer stopped and looked back at the tear-stained faces of the little girls on the porch. He let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, but if I let her go, you’ve got to get her into some anger management classes.”
Rain in the Promised Land Page 2