Former Rain-Forsaken Box Set

by Vanessa Miller

  “Will your people be upset?”

  He turned back to his wife, kissed her on the forehead. “They’ll get over it. And if not, last night was worth it.”

  Once Kenneth was off to work, Elizabeth woke Erin and Danae, fed and bathed them, then dropped them off at the babysitter’s. She went back home, made some potato salad and a couple of sandwiches, threw it in a picnic basket with a 2-liter bottle of Cherry Seven-Up and drove to Kenneth’s office. It had been a long time since she had surprised him with a picnic lunch. After his performance last night, Elizabeth felt that Kenneth deserved something special. She pulled into a space designated for visitor parking at TechStar and turned off her car.

  Kenneth’s secretary wasn’t at her desk. That was a shame. Elizabeth knew that Kenneth replaced his old secretary about a month ago. Oh, well. Hopefully, she would meet the new addition to TechStar before she left.

  She opened the door to Kenneth’s office with a big grin on her face. She was just about to say, “Surprise!” when she saw Kenneth rearing back in his seat. A woman, in a too-tight fitting mini skirt had her hands on the arm of his chair. She was cheesing big time as she leaned into him.

  Elizabeth dropped the picnic basket.

  At least this one was a nappy head, albeit a completely gorgeous nappy head, Elizabeth thought as she cleared her throat. Kenneth and his strumpet turned and stared. Her wonderful husband jumped out of his seat and straightened his clothes. “Ah, Elizabeth, honey.” He pointed at the woman standing next to him. “This is Cynda, my new secretary.”

  Elizabeth picked up the picnic basket, strutted over to Kenneth’s desk and gestured to shake Cynda’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said, as she released her hand. “Tell me, Cynda, do you have a plan B?”

  “Plan B? I guess I don’t understand.” Cynda’s eyebrow arched in confusion.

  “Obviously your plan A was to sleep with my husband, move up in the company, and move me right out of my house. Since you are now fired, I guess you’re in need of a plan B.”

  “Elizabeth!” Kenneth exclaimed.

  She turned to Kenneth. “What? I know you don’t have a problem with me firing this woman!”

  “I can handle this myself. I don’t need you coming in here firing people.”

  “How dare you! You may have a short memory Kenneth Underwood, but I don’t. I helped you build this lousy company. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even know how to spell CEO.”

  Kenneth’s hands balled into fists. Through clenched teeth he told Elizabeth, “I said, I can take care of things myself.”

  “That’s just fine.” She slammed the picnic basket on his desk. “You and Miss Upward Mobility can enjoy the lunch I made, once you’re finished with whatever you were about to do.” She turned and stormed out of his office.

  Driving down the street, she kept slamming her hands against the steering wheel and yelling, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” She knew not to let her guard down with that man. She knew he would only hurt her again, but like a fool, she fell for his mess anyway.

  When Kenneth took her in his arms last night, she actually thought that maybe – just maybe, they would make it through the storm. But evidently Kenneth was just passing time, and any warm body would do.

  “I can’t let him get away with this.” A convenience store was right up the street. Elizabeth decided to stop in and pick up a few supplies. “I’ll show him.”

  She parked her car in front of the store, went in and bought a five-pound bag of sugar and a Snicker bar. She drove back to Kenneth’s company and parked her Lexus next to his two-seater Mercedes. Opening the bag of sugar and the Snicker bar, she got out of the car. Locks on gas caps were probably invented for players like Kenneth. Fortunately for Elizabeth, Kenneth hadn’t been smart enough to get his stuff locked down. She smiled as she pictured Kenneth’s face when he realized his precious Mercedes would need a new engine. She twisted off the gas cap, sat the Snicker on top of Kenneth’s car and lifted the sugar bag.

  Beloved, not this way.

  She firmly gripped the sugar. “Lord, how can You deny me this? You know how much he’s wronged me.”

  Love does not keep track of wrongs.

  She dropped the bag of sugar and flopped down on the ground between both cars. “Lord, I am such a failure at being a Christian. Why do You even bother with me?”

  You are My beloved.

  The tears flowed like Niagara Falls as she sat on the ground thinking over her life – her marriage – her walk with God. Lord, Your love is so unconditional. It’s too much for me to comprehend. She rocked back and forth as the words to a worship song filled her heart – Speak to my heart. Change my life. Manifest Yourself in me. That’s what the song said, and that’s what she desperately needed. She bellowed, through the current of her tears, “Change my life, Lord. I can’t keep reverting to my old ways. I want to live for You. I want to know that You are pleased with me.” She looked down at the trail of sugar that had spilled on the ground and cried harder. “Oh, Lord I need Your help. I can’t do this on my own.”

  “Elizabeth.” Snot and tears ran down Elizabeth’s face as she turned to face her husband. He pulled his handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. “Are you okay?”

  She wiped her face and blew her nose, “No.”

  “She took me by surprise, Liz. You’ve got to believe me. I called her in my office to go over my calendar – before I knew it, she was all over me.”

  Elizabeth didn’t respond.

  Kenneth sat down next to her. He put his hand under her chin and turned her face toward his. He stared at her, a look of confusion swept across his face. “Sometimes, when I look at you, you seem so different from what I know – I mean you look the same, but you act different.”

  “I don’t feel so different. Look at me,” she pointed at the bag of sugar. “I was getting ready to pour this down your tank.”

  He laughed, “Now that would have been the Elizabeth I know.”

  Elizabeth nudged him. “This is serious. Kenneth, I need help.”

  Kenneth tried to wipe the smile from his face. “Is this serious enough?”

  She blew her nose.

  “You know what I noticed?” Kenneth asked.

  “What?”

  “You didn’t curse not once during this whole episode.”

  “I’ve been praying about my mouth. I guess Jesus heard me.”

  Her answer caught him off guard. He was temporarily speechless. When he opened his mouth, all he could say was, “You’ve really changed, haven’t you?”

  “God, I hope so.”

  He grabbed her hand and held it. He didn’t look up, but she could tell that something was bothering him. Finally he said, “I just got a call from New Orleans. Mama’s sick.”

  “Mama Rosa. What’s wrong, Kenneth?”

  He still wouldn’t look at her, but she could hear the sadness in his voice when he responded, “Cancer. I’ve got to go home. I was hoping that you and the kids would go with me. This might be their last chance-”

  “Excuse me,” a voice interrupted.

  Elizabeth and Kenneth looked up to see Cynda standing in their world with her three-inch high heels, too-tight mini skirt and a cardboard box in her hands. “What is it, Cynda?” Kenneth asked.

  She tapped her heel and chewed on a piece of gum. “All of my stuff wouldn’t fit in this box. When can I come back to get the rest of it?”

  “I’ll have your stuff mailed to your home address,” Kenneth told her.

  Cynda turned in a huff and strutted away from them.

  “You fired her?” Elizabeth looked to Kenneth and asked.

  “I told you I would take care of it.”

  “Why didn’t you let me do it?” Elizabeth stood up. Her hands went straight to her hips. “I’m out here getting ready to put sugar in your tank because I thought you wanted to sleep with that, that-”

  “Elizabeth, you’ve got to let me handle my own business.”

>   “But… b-”

  “I’m a man. Sometimes you’re just going to have to back off,” he told her, as he stood to be beside her.

  “But this wasn’t just your business. Don’t you understand?”

  “No, Elizabeth. You’re wrong. It was my business to handle.”

  She clenched her fist. “Ooh, you make me sooo mad sometimes.”

  “Will you go to New Orleans with me?”

  She relaxed her fist and looked at her husband. He hadn’t said the words, but she knew he needed her. As mad as she was, nothing could keep her from being by his side at a time like this. “Of course we’ll go with you, Kenneth.”

  23

  The swell of her belly was not completely gone, but there was no life there just the same. Nina could hardly believe how empty her belly felt. She found herself wondering, as she touched it, if life would ever exist there again. She turned her head slightly to the left and smiled. Life may not be in her belly, and maybe it won’t ever be there again, but she was looking at the life she and Isaac had produced and he looked wonderful.

  Her baby stretched his little arms and wiggled his body. He let out a wail that was much too big for his five-pound body. Nina picked him up. “What’s the matter with the baby?” He continued to stretch and wail. “I know what you want.” She opened her gown and laid him against her breast. He latched on and suckled until he was full. Nina laid the baby on her chest and rubbed his small back. He burped and fell back to sleep.

  As she held her son in her arms, she closed her eyes and prayed. Lord, I give him back to You. May he grow in the wisdom and knowledge of You. Help me to raise my son in the fear of You, Lord. May he forever keep Your commandments, my Lord, my King.

  “Praying again,” Isaac said dryly as he opened the door. He walked over to the bed and looked down at the small bundle in Nina’s arm. “My son, huh?”

  Nina stared at Isaac. His left arm was in a sling, but other than that, he seemed no worse for the wear. He reached down and touched the baby’s arm. At his touch, a small grin appeared on the baby’s face. Pure joy showed on Isaac’s face as he looked at Nina. “Did you see that? He knows me.”

  Nina looked down at her baby and smiled.

  “I wish I could hold him. Hopefully, I won’t have this sling on for long.”

  “I heard what happened.”

  He had just spent three hours going over the events of last night with the police. They thought they could make him talk – roll over on Keith, but Isaac showed them. He sat down next to her bed and hung his head. “Valerie died.”

  “I know. I was sorry to hear that,” she told him.

  Isaac looked at Nina. Her eyes were moist. He knew she meant what she said, but couldn’t understand why she would be sorry. Valerie was always doing stuff to Nina. If anything, he would have thought Nina would rejoice over Valerie’s demise and he told her just that.

  Nina laid her baby back in his crib. “I don’t rejoice. My heart is sick over what happened to Valerie. I also mourn the deaths of those two men.”

  “Well, you can stop mourning for them. I’m glad that Ray-Ray is dead. If I’d killed that fat pig months ago like I started to, none of this would have happened.”

  Nina softly rubbed Isacc’s cheek with the tips of her fingers. She looked into his dark cold eyes. “You carry around so much hatred, Isaac. You’ve got to learn to forgive.”

  Isaac knew Nina wanted him to forgive Ray-Ray, but he had never forgiven anyone their transgressions against him. And he wasn’t about to start with the fat slob who murdered Valerie. Isaac had something else on his mind anyway, and he would have an answer. “What about me, Nina? Can you forgive me?”

  “I already have.”

  Isaac stood up and walked over to the baby’s crib. He stared at his son for a long while. “You know what the last thing Valerie said to me was?”

  “What?”

  “I’ll always love you.” He looked up and she saw that the sadness in his eyes had returned. “She jumped in the way of a bullet that was meant for me because she loved me. You talk about God wanting us to forgive others, but tell me, Nina. How do I forgive myself for that?”

  He put his right hand against his temple and rubbed. When that failed to soothe the ache in his head, he slammed his fist on the bed rail. “I never lied to her, you know – never promised her a rainbow – no crystal stairs. Shoot, my whole life, I never loved nobody but myself!” He looked down in the crib in front of him, let his hand move over his son’s small body one more time. “But now…”

  A mist clung to his eyes, but no tears fell. “Now I think I understand the type of love worth sacrificing for.

  My Mama was the only person I’d ever been willing to die for… but she’s been gone a long time now.”

  Nina lay in her hospital bed listening and watching. Isaac was battling with something. Something deep within himself. She didn’t know what, and didn’t know how to help him.

  “Nina, we are family, you know. You’ve got to let me take care of you.”

  “We’ve already been through-”

  “You don’t have to live with me,” he told her. “You’ve made it perfectly clear that your God is against any form of fun and happiness,” he told her sarcastically.

  She tried to sit up, but failed. “You’ve got it all wrong, Isaac. I didn’t know happiness, until I knew Jesus.”

  Isaac flinched. “Anyway. I’ll get you an apartment of your own. And if you’re worried about living off me – you can manage the laundromat I own. You wouldn’t even have to get a babysitter. You could just bring the baby to work with you.”

  She looked at Isaac. For the first time, she saw vulnerability in his eyes. She wasn’t sure if it was because his girlfriend just died, or because his son was born. All she knew for certain was that he needed something. She knew Isaac believed that she and the baby could fulfill his needs. But Nina knew they would never be enough for a man like him.

  “Will you let me help you?”

  Sure, the situation would benefit her. She’d have a home for her son. She’d be able to take her son to work with her – all that sounds good. But once again she would be a taker. What could she give Isaac?

  Give him Me, Beloved.

  How, Lord? I don’t know what to do.

  Walk upright before him.

  “I’ll have to pray about it, Isaac. I’ll let you know next week.”

  “Pray?” He waved his hand in the air. “Whatever,” Isaac said, then pointed at his son. “By the way – what’s his name?”

  “I was hoping you would name him.”

  Isaac smiled. He thought about his little brother. His brother never got the chance to reach puberty. Dead before Isaac got out of that juvenile detention facility. He always said that if he had a son… “Donavan. His name is Donavan.”

  24

  “How are you doing, Mama Rosa?”

  Mama Rosa opened her eyes and frowned at Elizabeth. “You came with Kenneth, huh? I must be dying.”

  Elizabeth’s smile turned upside down. She had hoped that this mean ol’ woman could put aside her hatred of her now that she had cancer. She had hoped that she wouldn’t play tug-o-war with her for Kenneth’s affection this trip. But one look at Mama Rosa told Elizabeth that she had hoped in vain. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was determined not to cause Kenneth further pain by acting out her frustrations.

  “The nurse said that you respond well to having your arms and legs massaged. Would it be alright if I did that for you?” Elizabeth offered.

  A sharp pain went through Mama Rosa’s body and she flinched. Her hands tightened around the iron rails on both sides of the bed. “Where’s my son?”

  “He’ll be here in a minute. He’s talking with the doctor.” Elizabeth sat down and started massaging Mama Rosa’s arms. She told her stories about the children and how excited they were to see her.

  “You’ve kept those kids away from me.”

  Elizabeth didn’t respond, she just kept m
assaging her mother-in-law’s arms and legs.

  “I told Kenneth you was no good.”

  “Mama!”

  Elizabeth turned to her husband as he walked in the room. She put a finger to her mouth. “Shush. It’s okay.”

  Kenneth walked around to the other side of the bed with Danae on his hip while Erin stayed close to his side. “Mama, look who I brought to see you.”

  Mama Rosa smiled at her grandchildren, but then a shooting pain went through her body that left her panting and gasping for air.

  Elizabeth thought she was about to pass out. It made her so nervous, she ran out of the room, found the nurse and pulled her back into Mama Rosa’s room. The nurse calmly walked over to the bed and pulled out a tube which was connected to the bag over Mama Rosa’s bed. “Rosa, can you hear me?” the nurse asked.

  Mama Rosa shook her head.

  “When the pain starts, push this button. This will give you some relief.”

  “What’s that?”

  The nurse looked to Kenneth. “It’s morphine. It’ll keep her comfortable.”

  The nurse left the room and Kenneth turned back to his mother. “Mama, why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

  Elizabeth wiped the sweat from Mama Rosa’s forehead.

  “Son, I didn’t want to bother you. You’ve got enough to worry about with your company and taking care of them kids.”

  “You still should have told me, Mama.”

  “I – I didn’t want to add to your sorrows. With that s -- silly woman you married, I knew you already h--ad plenty.” Her breathing was labored. Her words clipped, but that didn’t stop her from getting another jab on his wife.

  Kenneth looked to Elizabeth. He smiled half-heartedly, then gave her an apologetic shrug.

  Elizabeth shook her head, and mouthed, “I can take it.”

  They stayed with Mama Rosa about two more hours. Elizabeth discovered that she had more restraint than she’d known existed on the face of the earth.

  The woman hated her guts, but Elizabeth couldn’t blame her. In the seven years she and Kenneth had been married, Elizabeth couldn’t point to one occasion when she went out of her way to win the favor of her mother-in-law. They usually played tit for tat with Elizabeth giving as good as she got. Kenneth had never stood up for her. Never put his mother in her place.