Former Rain-Forsaken Box Set

by Vanessa Miller

  A moment’s silence. Mama Rosa slowly closed her eyelids and then reopened them.

  “I believe that Jesus died and rose from the grave so that I might be saved.”

  Another moment’s silence. Mama Rosa blinked again.

  “I receive You now, into my heart Lord Jesus.”

  Silence. And then unmistakable joy erupted on her mother-in-law’s face. Kenneth saw it too. His eyes filled with tears. He walked around to the other side of the bed and held his mother’s hand. “You’re going to be in paradise, Mama.”

  Elizabeth started singing. “I sing because I’m happy... His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches over you.”

  “You have a beautiful voice,” Kenneth told her.

  Before Elizabeth could respond, Mama Rosa tugged on her daughter-in-law’s hand. Elizabeth could tell that she was trying to say something.

  “What is it, Mama Rosa?” Elizabeth bent down to get a little closer to her.

  “I – I l-love you,” she whispered, then lifted her eyes to heaven, jerked twice, and she was gone.

  The flood gates opened. Elizabeth’s tears gushed forth. “Oh, Mama, I’m so sorry. I wish we had more time.”

  Kenneth dropped his head and cried openly. He hugged this woman who had been good to him, and inhaled her scent one last time. This was his Mama. He was going to miss her everyday for the rest of his life.

  “There’s so many things I still need to say to you, Mama. So much I need to make up for.” Elizabeth couldn’t stop crying. She knew Mama Rosa was in heaven, but the guilt of how she had treated this woman wouldn’t leave her.

  Kenneth looked up at his wife. He grabbed her hand. “You’ve made up for it all, baby. I love you,” he told her, and meant it.

  Elizabeth grabbed some tissue and walked over to Kenneth. She softly wiped the tears from his face, their eyes locked. Kenneth pulled his wife into his arms and held her. For a brief moment in time, they stood at both the end of things and the beginning.

  26

  New Year’s came and went. It was now 1999, and nothing changed but the date. Nina still had to earn a living, so she prayed and prayed about the situation. By the time she was finished praying she was convinced that God was okay with her working in Isaac’s laundromat, and took Isaac up on his offer. Marguerite had a mild heart attack the week after Nina was released from the hospital, so she told Isaac that she did not need a place to stay. She and Donavan continued to live with Marguerite. Nina watched over her and made sure she took her medication as the doctor instructed. Marguerite’s house was only two blocks away from Isaac’s laundromat. Nina walked to work every morning. As long as it wasn’t too cold or too much snow on the ground, her sweet son was with her. Working at the laundromat wasn’t bad. She wiped the machines down and called the repairman when something went wrong – which was often. She handled the budget, and as an added bonus, to help moms get their laundry folded, she did story-time for the kids.

  This morning three children accosted her as soon as she walked into the laundromat. “Tell us a story, Miss Nina. Come on, please.”

  “Okay, okay. Give me a second and I’ll be right back.” She unlocked the office door, put her purse inside her desk drawer and parked Donavan’s stroller. She walked back out to the wash area, pulled up a chair, sat Donavan on her lap and yelled. “Anybody who wants to hear the story about the rich man and Lazarus come over here.” Several children ran to Nina. “Sit down in front of me,” she told them.

  “Okay. Now there was a rich man who wore the best clothes from the best designers. He had anything and everything he ever wanted all his life. But there was also a beggar named Lazarus, who was full of sores. He laid on the rich man’s porch begging to eat the crumbs that fell from his table. The dogs came and licked his sores. When the beggar died, he was carried by the angels to heaven. The rich man also died and went to hell…”

  Nina continued her story. She told the children how the beggar now lived in comfort while the rich man lived in torment. Once she finished, one of the children asked, “Why didn’t the rich man want to help the beggar?”

  “Some people are just like that,” she gently told him.

  “Nina!”

  She jumped, and turned to face the cold stare Isaac presented her with. What have I done to him now?

  “I need to see you in the office,” he commanded, then walked into the office without waiting for her response.

  “Is something wrong?” Nina asked as she walked into the office and closed the door.

  Isaac took Donavan out of her arms. “So, was the rich man in your story supposed to be me?”

  “No, Isaac. It was simply a story about a man – any man who enjoyed all of what life had to offer, and was too selfish to share even a crumb with someone in need.”

  “Most of them beggars crying ‘I need food. I haven’t ate in three days,’ just want some money so they can buy crack.”

  “And some are really hungry, and don’t have a place to stay.”

  “Let ‘em get a job. They can get all the food they need then.”

  Was Isaac some evil demon sent straight from the pit of hell just to cause her demise? He was never interested in anything that would help anyone else, only in the things that profited him. “Jesus said when we feed the hungry, it is as if we are feeding Him.”

  Isaac sat down behind the desk and bounced Donavan on his knee. “Which is it, Nina? Last week you told a bunch of kids that God don’t want us to cast our pearls before swine. But this week, you say we should help every crack head on the street.”

  Lord, I need Your help. I feel like an utter failure when I try to tell people of Your goodness. “I’ll be out front if you need me,” she told him as she opened the door and left.

  Nina moved through the laundromat, talking with customers and unclogging washing machines. Once behind the counter, she concentrated on sorting through the clothes that needed mending. The seamstress would be at work in an hour or so and she wanted to make sure everything was in order.

  Isaac walked out of the office without the baby. He looked over at Nina. “He’s asleep. I put him in his play pen.” He locked the office door, then threw her the key.

  “Thank you,” she said, then went back to sorting the clothes. Nina was glad Isaac had purchased that portable fold-up play pen for Donavan. It gave her a place to lay her son while he slept and she worked.

  “Excuse me, can you help me? I put six quarters in that machine.” The customer pointed to the third washing machine in the row directly in front of Nina. “But it won’t work.”

  “Sure, I can help you,” Nina told her as she stepped from behind the counter.

  27

  Elizabeth was in bed, thinking about getting up to fix her family some breakfast, when the door to her bedroom opened. She immediately recognized the smell of bacon and eggs, sat up and smiled at Kenneth as he laid the tray on top of the bed. “Breakfast in bed huh, what’d I do to deserve this?”

  Kenneth winked at her. “I’ll never tell.”

  She bit into a piece of toast. “If you do, I’d have to kill you,” she said, laughing at her own joke.

  Kenneth sat on the bed, mesmerized. “I like to hear you laugh.” He grabbed her hands and brought them to his lips and one by one he gave each finger a sweet, gentle kiss. “I want to hear that sound every day.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t think of anything to say, so she started shoveling bacon and eggs in her mouth. It still amazed her that she and Kenneth had moved past the hurt of his affair. When they arrived home after Mama Rosa’s funeral, they sat down and actually talked. Elizabeth told Kenneth about the feelings of rejection she’d experienced as a young adult. So many guys dumped her for this new girl or that girl. “I needed you to be different,” she told him.

  Kenneth told Elizabeth all that was in his heart. “The first day I met you, I knew you were someone I could love. You were so different from me.” He held her hand and looked into her eyes. “You were confident, v
ibrant… ready to take on the world. I had never been like that, until you helped me to believe that I could accomplish more, do more.”

  She gave him a half smile as she said, “And still, that wasn’t enough.”

  Kenneth let go of her hands and stood. He turned his back to her. “No, it wasn’t. Because you were also overbearing, selfish and destructive.” He shook his head and turned back to face his wife. “I kept trying to figure out how one person could possess so many characteristics that I love, and still have so many that I hate.”

  She stood to move closer to her husband. “You gave up on me… on us.”

  Kenneth closed his eyes and released a heavy sigh. “Yes.”

  “How do I know you won’t give up on us again?”

  Kenneth looked at Elizabeth. He could see the silent plea in her eyes for reassurance. She was asking him about tomorrow, but the only thing he was sure about was right now. His hands softly stroked her face. “I can’t make promises about a tomorrow that I can’t see. But walk with me, Liz. Let’s see what the future holds for us, together.”

  Kenneth did not promise her a life of eternal fidelity as she had hoped. He asked her to walk into the future with him, and see what was in store for them. Just then, she remembered the gentle words Tina spoke to her the night she cried in her kitchen. “Is anything too hard for God?” Her resolve began to build. She would walk into the future with Kenneth, but she would do it with her faith and trust in God.

  The days evolved into weeks, and she continued to walk with Kenneth and trust God. And now, she was eating breakfast in bed. A breakfast that her husband prepared just for her.

  “So what’s on your agenda today? I was hoping I could hang out with you,” Kenneth asked his wife.

  Elizabeth choked. Kenneth had to hit her on her back a few times before the bacon dislodged from her throat. She wiped her mouth and questioned Kenneth. “You want to spend the day with me?”

  Kenneth rubbed her back. “Not just today, baby. Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. Ah heck, let’s just spend the rest of our lives together and call it quits when we’re so old and decrepit that no one else will want us. What do you say?”

  “If you keep saying stuff like that, you’re going to send me into cardiac arrest.”

  Kenneth smiled at her. “I love you, Elizabeth. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove that to you.” He lifted her chin, causing her to look directly into his eyes. “When I’m done loving you, you won’t be able to recall a time when the loving stopped. That’s my pledge to you, baby.”

  Tears. She was full of tears these days.

  Kenneth wiped a tear from her face. “Some more happiness?”

  Elizabeth embraced her husband. Oh, how she loved this man. Please, God. Don’t let this feeling end.

  “This might not be the best day. I joined the choir at my church, and we have practice this morning.” She shrugged, then said, “I guess I can miss rehearsal this one time.”

  Kenneth shook his head. “You don’t have to miss your rehearsal for me.”

  “But I thought you wanted to spend time together today?” Elizabeth asked.

  “I do, so I guess it’s off to church we go. I’m on your schedule today.”

  Elizabeth’s eyebrow lifted in surprise. For as long as they had been married, Kenneth had never attended church with her. Elizabeth knew this was just choir rehearsal, but it was at a church. “Are you sure you want to go to church with me?”

  “Yeah. Let’s go,” he told her.

  Elizabeth dressed in a hunter green Jesus Sport jogging suit. She opened her dresser and pulled out a gray sweatshirt and handed it to Kenneth. “If you’re going to hang with me today, you might as well dress like me.”

  He read the front of the sweatshirt, “Jesus Sport.” He looked at Elizabeth. “That’s cute, where’d you get this?”

  “A couple at my church own a clothing line. SPORT stands for Sanctified People Of Righteousness and Truth. Nice, huh?”

  Kenneth rubbed his hands over the shirt. “This is quality stuff.”

  “Do you think I would buy it, if it weren’t?”

  Kenneth smiled. He knew how picky his wife was. “Does my sweatshirt come with a pair of jogging pants?”

  “I’ll go online and order you a pair.”

  “They have a website, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, order me a couple more sweat suits while you’re at it. This is comfortable,” he told her after putting on the sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.

  They dropped the kids off with Elizabeth’s mother, then Kenneth tagged along with his wife the entire day. He sat quietly in the back as she practiced a few songs with the church choir. He was patient when they went to the mall to exchange a jacket that was too big for Danae, but ended up bringing home two other outfits. It turned out to be a pretty good day for the Underwood family.

  By the time they made it back home, everyone was ready for bed, but not necessarily sleep.

  28

  “I need to get this stuff hemmed,” the customer said as she slung some clothes on the counter.

  Nina was just putting Donavan down for his mid-morning nap. She pulled the cover over her son as he lay in the bassinet behind the counter. Nina turned to greet the customer, and the smile that was on her lips vanished as she recognized the woman. “Cynda. How… how are you?”

  “Not bad,” Cynda told her as she tossed her hussy blonde hair.

  Cynda was wearing a hip length, leather zip jacket, cotton ribbed turtleneck and black leather pants with Italian leather boots to match. Not only was she dressed well, but she was gorgeous, no mistaking that. Nina touched the collar of her gray swing dress. A Wal-Mart original, but she had purchased it second hand at the goodwill store last week.

  “How long will it take to hem these pants?”

  Nina picked up the clothes and examined them. “Two pair of pants – it shouldn’t take more than a week.”

  “A week!” Cynda picked up a pair of red stretch pants. “I need these pants back by Friday. Isaac and I are going to Chicago this weekend.” Nina’s head jerked up. “And I intend to be wearing these pants when we leave.”

  Hurt registered in Nina’s eyes before she could talk herself out of it. Lord, take the pain away. I don’t want to be hurt anymore by Isaac and his women. They shouldn’t matter to me. I belong to You now. “If you can try these pants on,” Nina pointed to a dressing room, “I’ll see how much of a hem you need – and we’ll try to get them done for you this week.”

  Cynda remained in the laundromat for a grueling twenty minutes. Nina prepared the hemline as Cynda raved on and on about Isaac. She said that they were back together – and would stay together. Nina tried to imagine this woman as Donavan’s stepmother, but shuttered at the thought.

  Later that afternoon, another one of Nina’s ex-wife-in-laws came into the laundromat. Nina was sitting at the desk behind the counter sorting through receipts and entering the daily totals into a spreadsheet. Keith helped her set up the file. He was good with computers.

  Isaac walked into the laundromat. A young woman in a baseball shirt and jeans laughed with him as they entered. Isaac went into the office. The girl stood by the counter tapping her long nails.

  Donavan woke up with a shout. Nina put down her receipts and bent down to pick him up. “What’s the matter? I know you’re not hungry. You just want Mama to hold you.” She swung him in the air. “Yeah, I know that’s what you want.”

  “Where on earth did you get that homely dress?” A blonde with hair weaved down her back asked.

  Nina stopped swinging Donavan. “Excuse me?”

  “And look at those nails. Honey, you simply must take better care of yourself.”

  Nina put Donavan in the pouch she had strapped around her. It allowed her to work and carry him around at the same time. She looked at her nails. They did look bad, but pulling lint out of dryers and clogs out of washing machines didn’t seem to be a conducive environment
for salon-beautiful nails. “Do I know you?”

  “I wouldn’t waste my time getting to know the likes of you.” The girl spat the words at her.

  “Okay.” Nina said, reminding herself to be calm. “Is there something I can do for you?”

  She put both hands on the counter and twisted her shoulder in the direction of Nina. “Yeah, there’s something you can do for me. You can get your baby’s Mama drama out of this laundromat and go find somebody else to support you.”

  Nina looked in the direction of the office. She heard Isaac come into the laundromat, but was so intent on getting her daily log finished that she didn’t notice his companion. Obviously, this woman must have entered with him. “Isaac doesn’t support me.” The girl gave her one of those ‘yeah right’ looks. “He does sign my paycheck, but I work hard for every dime I make. I pay my own bills.” Donavan started kicking, she adjusted his position inside the pouch. “Believe me, the only thing going on between me and Isaac is the care of our son.”

  “And why would you feel the need to explain that to this chicken head?” Isaac asked Nina as he approached.

  “Somebody needs to explain something. How am I supposed to know what’s going on between you and Nina.” She was talking to Isaac, but her head was doing the jerk in Nina’s direction. “I mean, you got her working at your place of business and all.”

  Nina saw the cold blooded anger in his eyes, but couldn’t tell if it was directed at her or this young woman on the opposite side of the counter. "Hand me my son.”

  Nina wasn’t sure if she wanted her four-month old son mixed up in Isaac’s drama. “He’s a little restless…”

  “I said, hand me my son!”

  She pulled Donavan out of his pouch and handed him over to his father. Isaac smiled at his son and tossed him in the air a few times. Donavan laughed and threw out his arms for more. “You’re getting big, boy.” He cradled him in his arms as he smiled down at the joy of his life. “Tell me, Deanna, where else do you think Nina could work, and be able to take care of my son at the same time?”