“You didn’t tell Dad that I was pregnant, did you?”
Ramsey gave Renee a sideways glance. Fear was in her eyes. Little Miss I-can-do-whatever-I-want was actually worried about something after all. “No, I didn’t tell him. I think you should be the one to tell him that, don’t you?”
Renee didn’t respond. She turned her head toward the window and let the tears fall down her cheeks as she thought about the baby that she had loved and lost way too soon.
Ramsey felt his sister’s pain on that one. When he’d broken it off with Brandi, he hadn’t known that she had been pregnant. But Brandi was so spiteful that she’d called him a week later and told him that the night he’d asked her to leave, was the night she was going to tell him that she was pregnant. She then told him that he didn’t have to worry about child support, because she’d aborted their baby. Ramsey still had nightmares over what Brandi had done, feeling as if his actions had caused the death of his child.
He loved his career in the banking industry. He was good with numbers and had been promoted to vice president. But none of that was enough to keep him in New York, not after he’d discovered that his carelessness had cost him a child. It was Ramsey’s cross to bear, but it was also the reason he had decided to try it God’s way. No sex before marriage, that way he could guarantee there would be no babies by random off-their-meds women.
They pulled up at the house and got out of the car. Renee walked slowly. She was still in pain, but Ramsey figured that she was also in no rush to face their parents. He pulled her suitcases out of the trunk and then rang the doorbell.
Carmella swung open the door and ushered Renee and Ramsey into the house. “You poor dear. I have been sick with worry ever since Ram called.”
“Thanks for letting me stay with you for a little while.”
“Hush with all that. As long as Ramsey and I have a home, you and any of our other children have a home to come to in your time of need.” Renee got this pained look on her face, so Carmella said, “I’ve got a pillow and a blanket on the couch in the family room. You go on in there and I’ll grab something for you to eat and some pain pills.”
Ramsey helped Renee lay down on the couch and then he went into the kitchen with Carmella. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s at the gym, but he’ll be here shortly.” Carmella put a TV tray on the counter and then put on bowl of soup, crackers and then poured lemonade into a tall glass. “I don’t know how to thank you for bringing her home, Ram.”
“Honestly, I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want her staying in Charlotte with Marlin still living there. So, I’m just praying that he won’t come here looking for her.”
“If he does, your dad will probably give him some more of what you already gave him,” Carmella said as she placed a bottle of pain killers on the tray.
“So you heard about that, huh?” Ram had a sheepish grin on his face as he sat down behind the counter.
She gave him the eye. “You know God’s word says to be angry, but don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.”
“I didn’t, Mama Carmella. I went right over to Marlin’s house as soon as we left the hospital. And trust me, I slept good that night.”
She laughed. “I let my anger get the best of me a time or two in my life also. But God knows when we’ve taken more than we can bear. So, I’m not going to beat you up too much about what you did. I just hope we won’t have to bail you out of jail before this is all over.” She kissed Ram on the forehead and then headed into the family room with Renee.
Ram stayed at the house with his parents and Renee overnight. The next day he went to church with them while Renee stayed home. He then got on the highway and headed back home, hoping and praying that Renee would get the help she needed to mend. He also prayed that she would find a good man to marry and start a family with.
Two hours into his drive, he pulled off the highway to get some gas. When he got back in the car and was about to put the key into the ignition, his phone beeped, letting him know that an email had just come in. It was a Praise Alert from Mama Carmella. She used to send alerts out every week, but they had always been about how other people gave praise to God for doing this or that in their lives. Her praise alerts weren’t as frequent these days, but they were personal.
This one was about Renee. Carmella was giving thanks to God and praising Him for bringing her baby girl back home. She even went so far as to praise God for healing Renee’s wounds. That was the part of the alert that confused Ramsey.
He understood about praising God for the great and mighty things He’d done in our lives. But how could anyone praise God for something He hadn’t done yet? It just didn’t make sense to the natural part of his brain that said people get paid for performance, for what they do right in the moment, not what they will or might do in the future. . So, naturally, he had always thought that praises to God should be reserved for when He’d actually done something. But if God was able get Renee through this awful time in her life, he wasn’t about to question how and why it happened.
As he thought about Renee moving forward from this tragedy and someday starting a family with a man who was worthy of her, his mind drifted to Maxine and how beautiful motherhood looked on her. She hadn’t slept around, become pregnant and then aborted the baby the moment it became inconvenient. She was wearing motherhood with pride and he had great respect for her because of that.
It was time for him to make contact with Maxine to see if she was ready to make room for him in her life. He’d forgotten to get her number that night at the hospital. But Dontae was on speed dial on his car phone, so he hit the number 3 and waited for his brother to pick up the phone.
“How’d it go?” Dontae asked when he picked up the phone.
“Not bad. Renee seems resigned to dealing with her situation, and I really think she wants to be home right now. But that’s not why I’m calling.”
“What’s up?” Dontae asked.
“Can you give me Maxine’s telephone number?”
“I thought you already had it.”
“No. She never gave it to me. But I wanted to check on her and her daughter.”
“I’m not sure if Maxine wants me passing her number around to any and everybody who asks. You might be one of those types that like to stalk celebrates, for all I know.” Dontae could barely keep the laughter out of his voice as he joked with his brother.
“Boy, shut up and give me that number.”
“All right. Being a single mother, she might not have as many offers for dates these days, so she just might have lowered her standards by now,” Dontae said just before giving out the number.
“Thanks for nothing, bro. Oh, and tell Jewel I feel sorry that she has to stay married to a bum like you.”
4
Ramsey was thirty minutes from Charlotte when he punched in Maxine’s number. She picked up the phone on the first ring and screamed at him. “Don’t you call here again! Leave me alone.”
Before Ramsey could respond, he found himself listening to a dial tone. “What in the world just happened?” Ramsey asked himself. Maxine hadn’t been expecting to hear from him. But he doubted she would be so rude just because he got her number from Dontae without asking her if it was okay. He punched in her number again. And before she started yelling at him again, Ramsey yelled out her. “This is Ram, what’s going on over there?”
“Oh my God, Ramsey, I’m so glad you called.” Maxine sounded frantic “My lights have gone out and someone is playing on my phone.”
Taking charge, Ramsey told her,” Make sure all the doors and windows are locked. I’m on my way.” He took down her address and then kept her on the phone while he sped down the highway, talking to her by way of his Bluetooth connection in his car so that he could keep both hands on the steering wheel. Because he was driving so fast, he needed a firm hold on the wheel.
When he arrived at the house, Maxine ran down the stairs, swung open
the door and then threw her arms around him. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t called when you did.”
As Maxine clung to him, he got lost in the smell of lilacs and roses. He found himself wondering what her favorite perfume and shampoo was. He held her tighter, forgetting his purpose for coming until he heard the baby cry. Ramsey immediately released her, stepped back and said, “Where is the breaker box?”
“In the garage.” She pointed him in the right direction.
“Okay, do you have a flashlight?”
“No batteries.”
Ramsey went back to his car, popped the trunk, shuffled through the contents and came up with his flashlight. He rushed back to the house. “I’ve got mine, so you go check on the baby and I’ll try to get your lights back on.”
By the time Maxine made it back upstairs and lifted Brielle into her arms, the hall light came back on. She breathed a sigh of relief and headed back downstairs. Ramsey exited the garage and closed the door behind him. “That should do it.”
“Thank you.” Looking a little embarrassed, Maxine said, “I guess I should have known to check the breaker box, but to tell you the truth, this is my first house. I moved here from New York. And in the building I was living in, the super handled everything for us.”
“Your sister told me you had been living in New York. I’m just surprised that I never ran into you.”
Maxine chuckled. “Yeah, that was the strange thing about New York. I would run into people I knew all the time, and then I would go months without seeing anyone at all.”
“That was one of the reasons I asked to be transferred to Charlotte. I needed to live in reality, rather than the alternate universe that is New York.”
“I actually loved most everything about New York except for how big it is,” Maxine agreed. They stood in the hallway, staring at each other for a long uncomfortable moment, then Maxine said, “Um, I made a cake just before the lights went out. I didn’t get a chance to frost it, but if you’d like a piece I can put the icing on it quick enough.”
Ramsey would do anything to prolong his stay with Maxine. If she wanted him to eat cake, that was all the better as far as he was concerned. His stepmom owned a pastry shop and Ramsey made his way there every time he went home, not to mention all the cookies and pies that she brought home with her. Ramsey rubbed his hands together. “Sounds good. What kind of cake did you make?”
“Carrot,” Maxine told him with pride.
One of his favorites. Ramsey couldn’t wait. Beautiful and could cook, too. He didn’t know why God decided to smile down on him, but Ramsey sure wasn’t about to try to act all humble and tell God he wasn’t worthy... he was just going to accept the gift and keep his mouth shut.
Maxine was about to put Brielle in her high chair when she reached out for Ramsey just as she had done at the hospital a few nights ago. “No Brielle, just sit here while I put icing on the cake.”
“Baba, baba,” she said as she kept reaching for Ramsey.
“Let me take her. She can sit on my lap, if you don’t mind.” Ramsey sat down at the kitchen table and put Brielle in his lap. The child bounced around on his knee as she squealed with joy. “I think she really likes me.”
“Yeah well, she better not end up being boy crazy as a teenager, or I’ll have to home school her and lock her in the house until she goes off to college.”
While watching Maxine frost the cake, Ramsey figured he’d get as much information out of her as he could before she threw him out for the night. “So, you really enjoyed New York, huh? Did you ever attend any Broadway shows?”
“I not only attended Broadway shows, I acted in a couple of them.” She shrugged. “If you could call it acting.”
“What do you mean?”
Maxine cut three pieces of cake, put them on saucers with a fork and handed one to Ramsey and Brielle. “One of the reviewers said, and I quote,” She made like she was opening a newspaper to read from it. ‘Maxine Dawson displays better acting skills while lying on a beach in a swimsuit being photographed. To be blunt, this is one model who shouldn’t quit her day job’”.
“Just one reviewer’s opinion,” Ramsey said, trying to sound supportive.
“And the producer’s, and the director’s, and the other actors and the audience, and...”
“Okay, I get the picture. You really stunk up the place.” Ramsey tried his best not to laugh in her face. So, he pressed on. “Is that the reason you decided to move back home?”
Maxine sat down across from Ramsey and Brielle. “Actually, as I was getting older, my relationship with God was also growing. And suddenly it just wasn’t as important to me to be this triple threat I’d always imagined myself being.”
Ramsey started counting off, “Model,” he lifted one finger, “Actress,” he lifted another finger. As he lifted the third finger he gave Maxine a curious glance.
“Singer. My third talent was supposed to be singing,” she confessed.
Brielle picked up the cake, took a bite, then put the cake back down and started crying. Ramsey glanced at the baby and wondered why she was crying as if someone had taken the cake away from her, when it was right in front of her.
Looking dejected, Maxine said, “She won’t eat the baby food I made for her either. I try to make things healthier for her, but she’s just not going for it.”
Ramsey put a piece of the cake in his mouth and wanted to cry himself. It wasn’t that Brielle didn’t like healthier options; she probably preferred food that actually tasted good. He would have spit it out if he didn’t really, really want to take this woman out. Well, at least she didn’t say that her cooking skills were her third talent; if she had, Ramsey would have to say that she was a threat all right. He put his fork down and pushed his plate aside.
“You don’t like it either, do you?”
How could he tell this beautiful woman, whom he definitely had feelings for, that he hated her cooking. Ramsey wasn’t that brave. “My step-mom bakes her carrot cake a little differently. I think I’m just used to the way she fixes it.” He didn’t care what he had to say; there was no way he was taking another bite of that cake. And apparently, Brielle wasn’t going for it either. As tears poured down the child’s face, Ramsey rubbed her back. “Stop crying, sweetheart.”
Maxine picked Brielle up and began soothing the child by humming to her. Brielle stopped crying and laid her head on Maxine’s chest. “There, there, my sweet little one.”
“You’ve got the touch, evidently.” Ramsey pointed at the baby. “She’s gone to sleep.”
Looking down, Maxine smiled. “It normally doesn’t take long when she’s tired. Let me go lay her down and then I’ll be back to see you out.”
The moment Maxine left the kitchen, Ramsey rushed over to the sink, grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and immediately began rinsing the awful cardboard taste of that cake out of his mouth. Maxine was beautiful, but an Iron Chef she was not. He heard her coming back down the stairs so he went back to his seat and pretended as if he’d been sitting there waiting for her all along.
As Maxine re-entered the kitchen, she set her iPad on the counter, turned it on and then pressed one of the icons. And just like that she had full view of Brielle’s room. When she noticed Ramsey checking her monitoring system out, she said, “I like to make sure she’s okay.”
“That’s pretty slick. That way you don’t even have to get out of bed to check on her. Just turn on your iPad and it’s like you’re in the room with her.”
“Not only that, but watch this.” Maxine tapped on her iPad a couple of time and then turned the device towards Ramsey.”
“That’s us?” He waved his arms around enjoying seeing them on camera.
“I have the monitoring system in about four rooms. If I ever have to leave Brielle with a babysitter, I want to be able to check in on her, no matter where she is in the house.”
“That’s probably the best wa
y to do it. You never know what’s going on behind closed doors these days.”
Maxine lifted her iPad. “With this baby, I know a whole lot of what’s going on in here.”
“That’s what peace of mind look like.”
Maxine set the iPad back on the counter and then all of a sudden she got this look in her eyes as if she’d just remembered something important. She snapped her fingers, and said, “Eggs.”
“What?” Ramsey’s eyebrows went up as he questioned her one word sentence.
Popping her forehead with the palm of her hand, she told him, “I forgot to put eggs in the cake.”
“I think you forgot the sugar, too,” Ram told her as politely as he could.
Laughing, Maxine sat down across from him. “I used a red beet as a substitute for sugar.” She playfully smacked his arm. “Some of the models back in New York used to do that when they needed a sugar fix.”
Ram protested. “Hey, don’t abuse me simply because I can’t tell the difference between no-sugar and the use of a beet for sugar. When it comes to my cakes, and my women, I might add... I want all the sugar I can handle.”
“Okay, so the next time I bake a cake for you, I’ll make sure to put regular sugar in it.”
“That’s all I’m asking. And please don’t forget the eggs.” Glancing at his watch, he stood and pushed in his chair. “When might that be?”
“When might what be?” Maxine asked as she stood with him.
“You said you’re going to fix me another cake.” Lord knows he didn’t want to suffer through another cake episode. But if it was the only way he could see Maxine again, he’d just put the hospital on notice that he might be coming in to get his stomach pumped.
The look on her face said she wish she could, but she opened her mouth and said, “Ram, I’m sorry but this week is going to be busy for me. Brielle and I just might be eating out a few days this week.”
“I understand if you’re busy, don’t worry about it.” Ram put his hands in his pocket and headed for the front door.
Ramsey's Praise Page 3