“I’ve already gone public. Every person that asks, I tell them you are the one.”
This warms my heart and makes me squeeze Kingston’s hand tighter. My only reply is the smile that is plastered on my face.
As soon as we enter the sanctuary, the giggling starts. There are a lot of young women in the choir that I mentor, so I consider removing my hand from Kingston’s, but then again, they need to see my fairy-tale prince treat me like the queen that I am.
Kingston leads me up into the choir stand and takes his place in front of the microphone stand.
“How’s everybody doing tonight?” he asks.
Everyone answers at once, and Kingston smiles. He does this at the beginning of every practice. After everyone is done with their chaotic hellos, Kingston opens choir practice up with a prayer.
“Okay, I’d like to teach you all a song. It’s an oldie but goodie, but mostly a goodie.”
I love when Kingston picks out hymns. In my opinion they don’t write gospel music like they used to. I don’t want to go get it or stomp. I want the precious blood of the lamb! Hallelujah!
Kingston signals to the musicians, and they start playing. This music is familiar, but it is not a hymn. Nowhere near. It’s “Time Will Reveal,” by my favorite group, DeBarge. I’d know this music anywhere!
Kingston holds the mic to his mouth and sings, “I tell you I love you, but you won’t believe it’s true.”
My face reddens, and I cover it with my hands when I realize Kingston is singing to me.
“More precious than silver, more precious than diamond rings, or anything that I can give you, it wouldn’t mean a thing. If you didn’t have my love beside you there to guide you through. Ain’t it good to know you do?”
I am thrilled and embarrassed at the same time. Kingston gets down on one knee and pulls a ring out of his pocket.
He keeps singing. “Yvonne, will you marry me? ’Cause this time love’s for real. Come spend your life with me. This special love that’s deep inside of us will last until the end of time!”
Everyone applauds as I stand here shaking, crying, and nodding yes all at the same time. Kingston keeps singing as he slips the ring on my finger. There are oohs and aahs from the choir at the ring. I wouldn’t have cared if he gave me a ring out of a Cracker Jack box!
When he finishes the song, Kingston stands to his feet and hugs me. If I could just freeze this moment in time, I would. I’ve never, ever been so happy to be alive.
“You’ve made me the happiest man in this church right now,” Kingston says.
I whisper to him, “I can’t even describe the way you’ve made me feel.”
“This is nothing, Yvonne. I’m only getting started.”
I’ll take this as a promise of bigger and better things to come, although I don’t know what else God could do that’s greater than Kingston. It’s like God wanted to make it up to me for enduring Luke by giving me the most tender, handsome, and God-fearing man that He could muster.
“Hallelujah!” I shout. I meant to keep my praise inside, but when I thought about what God had brought me from and where he was taking me, I couldn’t help but shout.
The keyboard player goes from playing DeBarge to shouting music, and I cut a rug right up there in the choir stand. The entire choir claps and dances before the Lord with me.
I guess to non-churchgoing folk, we’d probably look like we’re doing a rain dance or something. And I would agree with them. A latter rain dance. My latter man is absolutely better than my former man. And if that ain’t worth a shout, then I don’t know what is!
CHAPTER 42
PAM
“So counseling for you and Troy, huh?” Taylor asks.
“Yeah. What do you think? Would you do it? Would you stay with Spencer if he cheated on you?”
Taylor slams her hand down on my patio table. “The devil is a lie. Spencer would not cheat, but if he did, I wouldn’t stay with him. I couldn’t.”
“And yet you advised me to stay with Troy.”
“Yes. Y’all are two different people. It’ll work out with you and Troy if you just let it, Pam.”
“I don’t want to talk about it until we get done with counseling.”
There’s nothing that I can say that will convince Troy that I never slept with Logan. After he had a chance to think longer and harder about the whole thing, he decided that I was being unfaithful, and that the only reason why Logan tried to rape me was that he had already had a taste.
Yeah, it’s going to take a lot of prayer to fix us.
I watch our children splash in the pool. They’re happy that Troy is back home, no matter what issues we might have. They love their daddy.
Taylor says, “You think you’ve got drama? I’ll see your marriage counseling and raise you an ain’t nobody got time for that. Right now my son is probably walking down the aisle at his father’s wedding.”
“You’ve grown,” I say. “A couple of years ago we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Taylor shakes her head. “No. I don’t know how much I’ve grown, but at least I didn’t hide Joshua in another city when Luke showed up. I considered that, you know.”
I laugh out loud. “Spencer would’ve stopped you.”
“Not if I put my mind to it, he wouldn’t. He is absolutely no match to my wit.”
I need Taylor’s humor to keep my mind off my life. Troy and I haven’t told anyone about Logan’s attempted rape. I wanted to call the police and file a report, but Troy said that it would ruin him in the industry if he did. So we just dropped it and pretended that it never happened.
Except that I can’t forget. I feel terror in the pit of my stomach every time I see a man who looks like Logan. I’ve always thought that I was a good judge of character, but I guess the devil can fool anybody silly enough to go playing with fire.
“I guess we’ve got a wedding to plan, huh?” I ask, wanting to change the subject of the conversation and the train of the thoughts in my mind.
“We do! Yvonne is going to be a beautiful bride.”
“Yes, she will.”
Taylor covers her mouth with her hand and chuckles. “Should we invite Luke?”
“Girl, hush!” I say.
“I’m joking. Well, sort of. I think Luke should see how happy Kingston makes Yvonne. Then he’ll realize how much of a loser he is.”
“No, he won’t,” I reply. “He’ll assume Yvonne is faking her new joy, or that she’s going overboard to make him jealous.”
“You’re right. He’s an egocentric buster,” Taylor says. “And my baby is right there hanging out with him.”
“Do you want to go and make sure Joshua’s all right?” I ask. “I can ride with you.”
“Wouldn’t that be a crazy-lady kind of thing to do? Plus, we’re not dressed for a wedding.”
I look down at my bummy pair of sweats. “We’re dressed for a loser’s wedding.”
“I don’t know. . . .”
“Oh, come on,” I say. “It’ll be fun. We can be the crackish-looking ex-girlfriends.”
“Crackish?” Taylor asks.
“Yeah.” I scratch my neck as I reply. “I ’on know why y’all all on this dude. He’s so broke, he ain’t gave child support since my son got out of diapers. . . .”
Taylor giggles and scratches her neck, too. “Yeah, little Rayjahnay, Mudfoot, and Bryce don’t have new shoes, either.”
I burst into laughter. “Rayjahnay? Mudfoot?”
“The ghettoer the better.”
“Come on,” I say. “Let’s do this. I’m in the mood for a laugh.”
Taylor bursts into a flurry of belly laughs, and I try to join in. Her laugh is one of someone who’s laid their burdens down. Mine is counterfeit. Mine sounds like that of someone whose yoke all of a sudden got heavy.
Taylor notices that I’ve stopped laughing, and she stops, too. She takes my hand in hers. “Pam, I’m still praying for your situation.”
“Thank yo
u.”
Taylor says, “I’m not stopping until you get a breakthrough.”
And I believe her, because that’s what we do. We enjoy each other, and we pray with each other. She is my sister, even if we don’t share a drop of blood.
CHAPTER 43
EVA
Eva stood outside the building, unable to walk inside. Yvonne waited patiently beside her, not rushing or admonishing her. Just waiting.
“I don’t know if I can do this today,” Eva said. “It’s like finding out that the bogeyman is real and then going to have coffee with him.”
“You don’t have to do it today, if you don’t want to. I’d be happy to ride out here with you another time.”
“No, I’ve got to do it now, before I lose my nerve,” Eva said, although she didn’t have much nerve at all.
“Okay, sweetie. I’m here with you.”
Eva clutched Yvonne’s arm and practically dragged her into the hospice where her uncle Parnell was living out his final days. As soon as they entered the building, a smell of decay accosted Eva’s nose. Life was fleeting in this place.
They checked in at the front desk. “I’m here to see Parnell Jacobs,” Eva told the desk attendant.
“That’s wonderful. You’re his first visitor.”
“I am?” Eva asked.
“You are. Even though he has a daughter and a son listed here, you’re the only one who has shown up.”
The desk attendant gave Eva and Yvonne two ragged paper visitors’ passes. They were so worn out that they needed replacement, but the two ladies took them, anyway.
“He’s in room two-sixteen,” the attendant said.
Once they found the room, Eva stood in front of the door for a second, almost changing her mind. Having Yvonne there helped so much, but not quite enough to make her feel at ease. It was a monster she was confronting and demanding an apology of. A monster who’d stolen her innocence.
God, can you help me through this one?
Eva’s short and sweet prayers were coming more frequently now, but was she prayed up enough for this? Yvonne was not going any farther. It was just Eva’s turn now.
She gently pushed open the door, holding her breath the entire time. Her exhale rushed out as she saw her uncle lying on the bed. He couldn’t have been more than eighty-five pounds, and he was attached to an oxygen tank. His face was barely recognizable, save for the thick glasses he always wore.
“Baby girl,” Parnell croaked.
Eva cringed. “Don’t call me that. I’m a grown woman.”
Parnell pats the seat next to his bed. “Sit down right here.”
“No. Uncle Parnell, I just wanted to say that you stole my innocence and everything else from me.”
Uncle Parnell looks away from my intense glare. “I did. I’m so sorry about that, baby girl.”
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say for yourself?”
“I was wrong, Eva. Everyone knew it. Your grandmother Susie, your cousins. They all wanted me to die, but you left the scene and made my presence more tolerable for everyone else.”
Uncle Parnell’s eyes rolled into the top of his head, and his entire body quaked.
“Do you need a nurse?” Eva asked.
Her uncle couldn’t answer. He was having a seizure.
The nurses and doctors swarmed around her and pushed her out of the way. They worked on him for a few moments and got him stabilized, but the hopeless looks on their faces told Eva that it wouldn’t last long.
Yvonne poked her head in from the hallway. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I think I’m done here. Can we go to the cemetery now?”
Eva left the unconscious uncle Parnell and left the facility with Yvonne. She didn’t know what she expected from her uncle. But an apology had to be far down on the list.
It was a silent drive to the cemetery where Grandma Susie was buried. Eva clutched the big white Bible to her chest, and tears spilled down onto and over the binding. She had never been to the grave site. Wasn’t invited to the funeral and had never taken the time to visit it herself.
After Yvonne parked, Eva got out of the car with the Bible and a bouquet of flowers. First, she spread the flowers all over the gravestone. Then she set the Bible down in front of the stone.
“Grandma Susie, I know you can’t hear me, but I just want you to know that I did pay for my sins in life. But Uncle Parnell touching me wasn’t my sin. It was his. I’m leaving your Bible here with you. I have one, and I’ve highlighted only words of life.”
Eva could barely say the speech she’d prepared through her sobs. Yvonne got out of the car, put her arms around Eva, and squeezed.
“You must think I’m crazy, Yvonne, to be standing out here talking to a gravestone.”
Yvonne shook her head. “No, ma’am, I do not.”
“Whether you think that or not, could you not tell the other ladies? I want them to be my friends, and they won’t if they think I’m crazy.”
“They wouldn’t think this was crazy, too.”
“No, Yvonne! Swear you won’t say anything!”
Yvonne smiled at Eva and hugged her again. “Don’t you worry about your secret. Go ahead and talk to God, your grandmother, and everyone else you need to address. And, honey, I won’t tell a soul.”
And Eva believed her.
Eva stood silently in front of her grandmother’s grave, now finished with her declaration. It was so quiet that she could hear her own breathing. She counted the inhales and exhales without thinking.
Her counting was different this time, though. The last time she’d numbered her breaths, it was with the thought that she was getting closer to taking her last. Now her inhales drew strength and her exhales carried power.
God breathed new life into Eva. And she became a living soul.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
DON’T TELL A SOUL
Tiffany L. Warren
About This Guide
The questions that follow are included to enhance your
group’s reading of this book.
Discussion Questions
1. Pam has made great strides with her writing and now has a book deal. What do you think about Troy’s lack of support? Does it justify Pam’s later actions? Should a woman pursue a career that might take her away from fulfilling her family’s needs? Is this part of being a Proverbs 31 woman?
2. Yvonne’s romance comes at a time when she has finally gotten used to and comfortable with her single life. Are her feelings about Luke surprising? Discuss the complexities of dating after being married for many years.
3. If you were in Taylor’s shoes, how would you handle Luke’s sudden reappearance? Do you believe in Luke’s transformation? Do you agree or disagree with Spencer and Taylor’s decision regarding Luke’s visitation with Joshua? Should Taylor have followed Spencer’s lead from the beginning?
4. Eva’s journey is not typical. She has her altar-call experience after deciding to change her life. How should the church deal with new members who are not quite finished with their past? Base your discussion on (John 4:4–29).
5. Were you surprised by Logan? Did you like him as much as Pam did? Where did Pam go wrong? Where should she have drawn the line? Was the friendship doomed from the start?
6. What do you think is next for Pam and Troy? Do you think he’s really going to drop Aria? Should Pam walk away if he doesn’t?
7. Are Rhoda and Rochelle ever gonna get delivered from their gossiping spirit?
Don’t miss Rhonda Bowen’s
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On sale in April 2013 from Dafina Books!
CHAPTER 1
Sydney was never one for sports.
It wasn’t that she was a couch potato. She just wasn’t one of those women who met the crack of dawn with a pair of Nikes and a bottle of Gatorade.
However as she stood at the center of the Carlu’s Round Room, surveying the best of the NBA that Toronto had to offer, she had to admit that professiona
l sports did have its attractions.
“Sydney, whatever you do, don’t pinch me.”
Sydney grinned and folded her arms as she considered her younger sister.
“Why?”
Lissandra bit her lip. “Because I do not want to wake up from this dream.”
Sydney turned toward where Lissandra was staring, just in time to catch the burst of testosterone that walked through the main doors. Brawn, beauty and brazen arrogance wrapped in suits. Who said a girl couldn’t enjoy basketball?
Sydney’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that . . .?”
“Yes, girl. And our HD TV does him absolutely no justice,” Lissandra said, as her eyes devoured the newest group of NBA stars to steal the spotlight. “I love this game.”
Sydney laughed. “I don’t think it’s the game you love.”
“You laugh now,” Lissandra said, pulling her compact out of her purse. “But when that hot little dress I had to force you to wear gets you a date for next weekend you’ll thank me.”
Sydney tugged discreetly at the hem of the dangerously short boat necked silver dress that fit her five foot nine frame almost perfectly. It was a bit more risqué than what Sydney would normally wear but seemed almost prudish compared to what the other women in the room were sporting. At least it wasn’t too clingy. And the cut of the dress exposed her long elegant neck which she had been told was one of her best features.
“I’m here to work, not pick up men,” Sydney said.
“No, we’re here to deliver a spectacular cake,” Lissandra said, checking her lipstick in the tiny mirror discreetly. “And since that cake is sitting over there, our work is done. It’s playtime.”
“Focus Lissa,” Sydney said, touching Lissandra’s upper arm. “Don’t forget this is an amazing opportunity to make the kind of contacts that will put us on the A-list. Once we do that, more events like this might be in our future.”
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