Crowning Glory

by Pat Simmons

  “Oregon?” Rossi kept from chuckling. “Are there any blacks in Oregon?”

  “There’ll be two.”

  Time was running out for Karyn and Levi. God didn’t have to tell Rossi to pray. He already was.

  CHAPTER 46

  After the fiasco at the crime victims’ grief session, Jet opted for private counseling. Hearing about other people’s sorrow and pain was too overwhelming, one-on-one proved to be better. It empowered her to release and manage some of her anger.

  Once the shock wore off, Jet Googled Karyn’s name, adding key phrases like “prison,” “infant,” “murder.” She applauded the Chicago Tribune’s coverage on Karyn’s family history, ambitions, and relationship with the baby’s father. The Senator’s daughter had it all and blew it. She confided her findings to Rossi since Levi had been closed lipped.

  “Whatever dirt you have uncovered on Karyn, leave me off your list to share,” Rossi had told her. “But I do commend you for seeking individual counseling.”

  His rejection didn’t faze her. She still felt vindicated, that she had been right. Karyn had no intention of telling Levi, so Jet had stopped him from making a big mistake. Stretching, Jet shut off her daydreaming and tended to the work on her desk.

  As a mid-level manager in the corporate lending division, Jet’s main responsibility was to oversee small business loan requests. She scanned this month’s list. Out of three hundred and something applications, Karyn Wallace’s name popped up. “Her again? What does she want now?”

  Opening the file, Jet absorbed herself in reading the ten-page document. The plan was thorough and the profit projections were in line, but the mission of assisting offenders in assimilating into society after prison translated to a bunch of dangerous low lives running loose. It was not her idea of protecting the community. Plus, Karyn wanted dibs on one of Levi’s current redevelopment properties. “No way.”

  Without blinking, Jet denied the loan request and forwarded it to the department’s supervisor to generate a standard rejection letter. Grinning, she signed off her computer and grabbed her purse out of her desk drawer. She was going home to celebrate by opening up a bottle of wine. She would toast to her sister’s memory.

  ***

  Karyn was happy but not surprised to get the phone call from Tia Rogers about lunch. Levi’s future sister-in-law was a classy woman who seemed genuine and easygoing. She seemed to want to count Karyn as a friend.

  The next afternoon, Tia met her at the bookstore. She browsed while Karyn finished with a customer. “Ready?”

  Turning pages of a romance book, Tia was startled and chuckled. “Yeah, it doesn’t take me long to get caught up in a story. I’ll pay for this first.”

  “No, let me treat you.” Karyn smiled. She actually had spare money from her meager salary.

  “Okay. I’ll spring for our food.”

  “That’s a plan.” Karyn clocked out for her forty-five-minute lunch. Tia, wearing heels, and Karyn, keeping pace in comfortable flats, hurried to the food court. They bypassed any food vendors that sounded healthy and chose super-sized slices of pizza.

  Once they found a seat, Tia joined hands with Karyn and prayed. “Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank You for our meal and the fellowship. I especially thank You for bringing Karyn into my life. As You bless me, please bless her. Amen.”

  Tia held up her hand as Karyn stared at her. “Let me take a bite first.” She did, closing her eyes and moaning her delight. “Ahh. Now, the first rule to our lunch date is not to mention him. Agreed?”

  “Sounds good.” Karyn nodded, although a part of her wanted to know how Levi was faring. They chatted about Tia’s wedding, Dori’s antics, and Karyn’s sister.

  “I would still love to have you in my wedding,” Tia said.

  Karyn looked away. At one time she would have been honored. To be in a Tolliver wedding without Levi in her life was wrong. “I’ll send a gift.”

  Tia didn’t push her into changing her mind. For that, Karyn was grateful and respected Tia more.

  “Okay, since we aren’t discussing him. I’m sure him told you about me. Aren’t you curious?” Karyn asked.

  Tia drained the last of her juice from the bottle. “I am, but it’s real important for us to have an honest relationship before talking about something from our past. It’s like showing a stranger your scar from gallbladder surgery.”

  They laughed.

  “Seriously, Karyn let me prove myself as your friend.”

  Her request blew Karyn away. She had never met anyone like her. She choked on her emotions. “The only thing I can say is I want to be like you when I grow up,” she joked.

  “You’re older than me if you’re dating him.” She grinned, then whispered, “It’s not too early for me to share a secret with you. Please don’t tell anybody.”

  Not knowing what to expect, Karyn stuttered, “O-okay.” She was honored to be considered as a confidante.

  Tia exhaled and glanced around to make sure she couldn’t be overheard. “Seth has the ugliest feet I’ve seen on a man. We went swimming—”

  Karyn exploded with giggles almost falling out the chair. Tia joined in the fun. “I couldn’t ask for a better friend.”

  “Me either.” Tia winked.

  They finished lunch and Karyn returned to work. Although him was the furthest thing from her mind, he was the closest to her heart.

  On Sunday after worship service, Sister Ivy, who worked at the bank, gave Karyn, Buttercup, and Halo the bad news. There wasn’t a saint in the church that she hadn’t helped in some kind of way when it came to loans: educational, home, or small business.

  “I don’t understand it. I really thought you had a good chance. I tweaked the application myself, but Miss Hutchens is a stickler for details. She sees problems on an application that we overlook. You all will get letters in the mail probably tomorrow. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you before service. I’ll pray the Lord will open another door.”

  Sister Ivy fought back tears as she hugged each of them. Picking up her purse, she walked out the sanctuary as two of her children ran behind her.

  The group crumpled into the nearest pews from the aftershock. Halo was the first one to cry out to God. “Lord, Your Word says if we walk right before You, no good thing will You withhold. We’ve done that, Lord…” his voice faded in defeat.

  “That was our dream, our mission is to be self- sufficient and help someone along the way…” Buttercup’s words choked. “God, please don’t forsake us.” Buttercup covered her face as her shoulders shook. “This is what kept me going at that call center sweat shop, knowing I would be starting up our business. It’s gone.”

  Karyn was already crying on the inside. In a few minutes, she would be bawling. Nalani slipped next to her and squeezed her hand. “What do we do now? We don’t have a backup plan,” she mumbled. “What could have we have done differently? I didn’t touch that trust money so we would have collateral.”

  “I’ve been fasting all week, praying that God would make a way for us.” Halo was too much of a man’s man to cry, but he turned his head and sniffed. He rubbed his eyes before looking at Karyn again. “What caused this Miss Hutchens to reject it? The clientele alone couldn’t be it, and no one knew that it was the brainchild of ex-felons.”

  “Wait a minute. Miss Hutchens at First Freedom bank?” Karyn groaned.

  “What?” Buttercup looked hopeful through her tear-stained face. Halo stopped massaging her shoulders.

  “What, Karyn?” Halo repeated, staring.

  “Sis?” Nalani chimed in.

  “I think Jet’s last name is Hutchens, and at Macy’s girls’ night out bash, I overheard a woman ask Jet how things were going at the bank where she worked. I didn’t hear the name of the bank, though.”

  They gasped. Halo’s nostrils flared, Buttercup’s eyes twitched, and Nalani shot up and hurriedly grabbed her things.

  “Where are you going?” Karyn asked.

  �
�I’ve got to step outside this church, so I can curse. I just want to know if Jet’s fingerprints are on that application literally.”

  Buttercup shook her head. “Let her go. If God hadn’t saved me, I would join her, but we have to stay on the Lord’s side in this.”

  “I’m sorry, Halo and Buttercup. I’m sure she turned our proposal down because of me. My relationship with her brother-in-law was doomed from the beginning. I really messed things up.”

  The lights flickered in the sanctuary, indicating dinner was ready to be served in the fellowship hall. Buttercup reached out and rubbed Karyn’s arm. “Don’t blame yourself for this.”

  “How can I not?” Karyn looked away. “I expected whatever I had done years ago not to matter.” She stood. “Come on, let’s go next door to eat.”

  “You better go and get your sister before she curses out the wrong person,” Buttercup suggested.

  “Good idea.”

  CHAPTER 47

  Monday morning, Jet was in her office when the supervisor from the lending department interrupted her.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Hutchens. I have a woman who insists on seeing you about a loan application that was denied,” Claudia Ivy said.

  “Which loan? We received hundreds a month,” Jet said, annoyed. She hadn’t been at work an hour and already this was the third interruption.

  “The Crowning Glory proposal.”

  Jet did her best to keep the smirk off her lips. Claudia had made her day. Nodding, she rested her pen on a pile of papers and shrugged. “Sure. I have a few minutes.” She leaned back in her leather chair and waited for the fireworks to begin. Expecting Karyn, Jet was disappointed when her sister sashayed in.

  Nalani positioned her fists on her waist and glared. “You’ve got a lot of nerve. I don’t believe in coincidences. There was nothing wrong with my sister’s proposal. I’m financing a large portion of her business, so you’d better have a good reason for rejecting her application. On second thought, I don’t even want to hear it, be prepared for a showdown.” She dropped her arms and wiggled her fingers as if she was a cowgirl ready to draw her gun.

  Yawning, Jet lifted her pen without breaking eye contact. “She’s a criminal. There are others ahead of her, so she can take a backseat. Our bank doesn’t hire felons, neither do we loan money to them.”

  “Karyn’s debt is paid in full.”

  “Once a criminal, always a criminal in my book.”

  Nalani stepped closer. “Listen Chaka Khan…” It wasn’t the first time someone made reference to her long natural hair being similar to that of the former entertainer. “I’m not my sister. I believe in the bigger they are, the harder they fall theory.” She pounded a fist on the desk and leaned forward. “I’ve got people in high places ready to take you down.”

  Jet laughed. “Yeah. I know Jesus, right?”

  “I don’t need Jesus for something I can take care of myself.”

  “You’ve wasted enough of my time. I have qualified loans to approve.” Jet dismissed Nalani as she tapped on her keyboard.

  “You,” Nalani pointed, “might want to rethink your decision and okay that Crowning Glory’s proposal. I’ll file so many complaints against you and this banking institution there will be a waiting list of plaintiffs ready to testify about any past discriminatory practices.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “You’ll eat your words, and I hope I’m there to feed them to you and that Karyn is beside me to wipe the corners of your mouth.” Nalani scooped up her purse and left.

  CHAPTER 48

  Levi told himself he was running out of excuses. Dori’s questions had become unrelenting about Karyn’s whereabouts and going to the bookstore. But first, he had to bring closure between him and Karyn. He loved her, but he wanted to…hate her. What kind of Christian admitted that?

  Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins, God whispered 1 Peter 4:8.

  Glancing at his desk calendar, Levi shook his head. If things had been different, he would have proposed on Valentine’s Day. He didn’t need a long courtship. Practicing Christians could only hold out so long for intimacy. Shacking up wasn’t God’s or his style. None of that mattered now.

  What made Karyn do it? How could she do it? Would she have ever told him? The questions had nagged him since day one, but pride kept him from asking her. He had refused to take the first step, but he needed closure or reconciliation.

  Tia verified she and Karyn had lunch, but divulged no further details. The look on her face dared him to ask. Seth had seconded the motion.

  Closing his eyes, Levi silently prayed and asked God how to proceed. He waited, but God’s voice was still. He had always treated Karyn with adoration. Regardless of the strife between them, he should not withhold his kindness. He still loved her.

  Picking up the phone, Levi punched in the number to the florist in the mall where Karyn worked. He ordered a dozen roses and asked that a note be attached: Can we talk? Dinner tonight. Please call me. Levi. He requested an immediate delivery and waited.

  A few minutes later, Levi second guessed himself. Have I lost my mind? He should be disgusted at the sight of Karyn. Instead he longed to see her. When an hour passed, he followed up with the florist and was told the delivery had been made. Levi continued to wait. Then ten minutes before four o’clock, his phone rang.

  Levi checked his ID. He didn’t recognize the number, but the name. Karyn was no longer using the phone he had purchased for her. “Karyn.” He didn’t realize his heart was pumping harder. Despite his conflicted emotions, he wanted to hear her voice.

  There were a few moments of awkward silence before she responded. “Thank you for the flowers, but I can’t go out to dinner with you. My center has a new residential facility director. She came from a halfway house environment where there isn’t much flexibility. As of a few weeks ago, New Beginnings’ rules will be strictly enforced with no exceptions.”

  There was no stalling. She got to the point. Words like halfway house, enforced, residential had never been part of their conversations before. Levi didn’t even realize that her apartment building was a women’s residential center. He was dumbfounded on how to respond. Should he converse normally or ask questions about her lifestyle. He wasn’t going to get any answers by talking to himself. “I’m sorry, Karyn, for the way I responded,” he whispered. He didn’t know what else to say.

  “I’m sorry, too, Levi. I guess we were just passing through each other’s lives. Just know that God can wash away any sins, including mine.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “I know you haven’t brought Dori to the bookstore because of me. Don’t stifle her reading abilities. She’s very smart and will make you proud one day. If you can hold off for a few weeks, I’ll no longer work here, so you can bring her back then. I wish and pray nothing but God’s blessings for you.”

  She was giving him a send-off and he didn’t like it. “What do you mean?”

  “I have a new job. I start in two weeks.”

  Why did relief settle over him? A new job was good. Karyn deserved better. At least she wasn’t moving to another city or God forbid, losing her freedom again. Then again, she wouldn’t give a notice. The authorities would just take her away. “Karyn, I—”

  “Listen, I’ve got to go. Take care, and give Dori a kiss and hug. You don’t have to tell her it’s from me.” She disconnected and Levi felt a prick. The bleeding had begun again. This time he might bleed to death because there was no way he would subject himself to falling in love again.

  ***

  A week later, Karyn had dressed for an evening out for Valentine’s Day. This time last year, she didn’t think about being anyone’s Valentine. Freedom, food, clothing, and shelter were her immediate needs.

  Then a few months ago, Karyn would have been looking forward to a night out with her handsome prince—Levi Tolliver. But life goes on, she reminded herself. God had promised her salvation, not nece
ssarily happiness while on this earth.

  She returned her mind to the task at hand, getting ready. She put her hair in a ponytail, smoothed her red sweater dress and inserted the tiny earrings through her lobes.

  Her cell phone rang as she slipped into her boots. The church van would pick up her and any other ladies who wanted to attend Crowns for Christ’s special event. As part of their community outreach, the church treated any woman to dinner who would otherwise be alone on special days, especially Valentine’s Day.

  They would be showered with roses, a teddy bear, bath toiletries, and chocolate. A few times, men had tried to attend, but Pastor Scaife nipped that in the bud. “Brothers, unless you’re here to serve our lovely sisters, then you can’t come in,” he had insisted.

  Karyn’s pastor and First Lady, Doctor Winnie Jordan Scaife, sacrificed their romantic evening to serve others. Karyn would never think about going to another church—they fed her soul and were the best example of Christ’s love for the outcasts.

  Recognizing Nalani’s number, Karyn mustered a smile. It was bittersweet to know a Tolliver was flying to Chicago on this day to have dinner with a Wallace. It was just the wrong couple. When had those two become close? Maybe God’s plan was for Minister Rossi and Nalani, and she and Levi were just tools used for someone else’s happiness.

  Nalani argued it was a business meeting. Karyn didn’t believe it. Maybe she would see a fairy tale after all.

  “So, has Rossi made it there yet?”

  “He’s in the limo now and on his way.”