“Do you all have it?” he asked.
“Yes,” most everyone said.
“And Romans six, twenty-three, reads, ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’” Phillip looked at Alicia again and then across the congregation. “So my topic for today is Sin and The Ultimate Betrayal.”
Alicia wasn’t sure if it was her guilt that was making her take Phillip’s topic personally, or if Phillip actually believed she’d betrayed him in some way. Because with the way he kept glaring at her, he seemed to be speaking to her directly. Her father sometimes did that very thing when he wanted to get a point across to Charlotte, or even Alicia for that matter, but she hadn’t expected this from Phillip.
“Of course, we all know that the ultimate betrayal in history was when Judas identified Jesus to the Roman soldiers so they could arrest him. But over the years, I’ve learned that betrayal can occur on many levels. It can also involve grave amounts of sin, and innocent people can be hurt pretty badly. And please don’t get me wrong, we’ve all sinned at one time or another and fallen short of the glory of God, but there ought to come a time when, as Christians, we don’t want to commit those same awful sins anymore. And yes, it is also true that we all make mistakes, but when we make mistakes, we also have an opportunity to learn some very valuable lessons. That way, we never, ever make those mistakes again.”
“Amen,” some of the members said.
“The other thing I’ve learned is that lying can cause just as much pain as any other sin. Not being honest with the people we love can cause irreparable damage. It can also cause lots of suspicion and total distrust.”
If Alicia could run out of the church without anyone seeing her she would. She wasn’t sure whether Phillip suspected anything about Levi, or whether he was referring to the way she’d lied to him about going on another shopping spree. Years ago, when she’d gone out and blown all their money on shopping, he had become furious and they’d argued like enemies—every single time she’d done it. But today, she couldn’t tell which was which. Was it the shopping he was still so upset about, or did he think she was having an affair again? Surely two days of shopping hadn’t made him believe she was sleeping around. But what if it had? What if he knew more than he was saying? What if her father had shared with Phillip his own suspicions? But then, there was no way her dad would betray her that way. He wouldn’t do that to his own daughter. Or would he? What if her father was having her followed the same as Levi had? It certainly wouldn’t be out of character for him. He had done much worse to others in the past, so anything was possible. But then again, her dad wasn’t like that anymore.
Alicia tossed so many thoughts and scenarios through her mind, her head started to ache. Sneaking around, hiding, and lying for two days straight was weighing heavily on her heart, and it was making her insane. One weekend was only a short period of time, but as she sat listening to Phillip, she knew she couldn’t go on this way. There was something too unsettling about the pain and the troubled look she saw on his face. She needed to decide who she was going to spend the rest of her life with: her husband or the man she loved so completely. Phillip or Levi? The man who’d never stopped loving her or the other man who’d never stopped loving her? Because if she didn’t, she knew her father’s words would play out in real life. Somebody would get hurt. She wished that weren’t true, but it was almost inevitable.
Chapter 38
Melanie looked at the accident photo and article write-up in the newspaper and shook her head. That poor, poor little girl. Dead because of a mother who saw nothing wrong with drinking and driving with her own child in the car. From the looks of how demolished her compact car was, it was a wonder the woman driving hadn’t died as well. Brad was truly blessed, and it probably hadn’t hurt that he’d been driving a large SUV.
She folded up the paper and placed it in her handbag. She stood on one side of Brad’s bed, leaning against the wall, and her father stood on the other, holding on to the bed rail. Brad was still sedated and resting peacefully.
“You look a little tired, Dad. Why don’t you go on back out to the waiting room?”
“I will. Just thought I’d come in for a few minutes.”
Melanie wasn’t sure why she was bringing this up right now, but she couldn’t stop herself. “So, what was Mom’s excuse this afternoon?”
“Said she was tired from getting up so early for the eight o’clock service.”
“Really? That’s the reason she gave?”
“You know your mother,” he said. “Hard to understand some of the things she does.”
“I’ve spent my entire life trying to do everything she wanted, but after all these years, it’s still not enough.”
“I know, and I’m very sorry about that.”
When someone knocked, Melanie and Andrew looked toward the door and saw it opening.
Melanie smiled. “Hey, Phillip. How nice of you to stop by.”
“Of course,” he said, hugging her. “And thank you for adding me to the visitors list.”
“You’re like a brother to Brad, and to me, too. He wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Phillip walked around and hugged Andrew.
“Son, you gave a great sermon this morning,” Andrew told him. “It was powerful.”
“Thank you, Brother Johnson. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I’m sorry I missed hearing you,” Melanie said. “I was really looking forward to it.”
Phillip looked at Brad for a few seconds. “So how’s he doing?”
“Good. Dr. Romalati ordered another brain scan a few hours ago, and the swelling has gone down a lot. They’re going to slowly bring him out of sedation early tomorrow morning.”
“Praise God.”
“Well, hey, you two,” Andrew said. “I’m gonna head back out there to sit down for a while.”
“Okay, Dad. We’ll be there shortly.”
When Andrew left, Phillip moved from the foot of the bed to the side of it.
“I’m sure you saw the newspaper this morning,” he said.
“I did. Was just looking at it again right before you got here.”
“Such a senseless act. This woman has killed an innocent child, and they’ve already charged her with child endangerment and vehicular homicide.”
“There were a couple of other charges, too. It’s all very unfortunate. A part of me is angry because of the fact that she could have killed Brad, but I also can’t help feeling somewhat sorry for her. Not only is she going to prison, but she’ll have to live with what she’s done for the rest of her life.”
“A lot of folks wouldn’t understand it, but we have to keep everyone involved in our prayers. Including her.”
Melanie nodded in agreement, but she sensed something was bothering Phillip. “Are you okay?”
Phillip folded his arms and relaxed his body against the wall. “It’s your friend. The old Alicia is back.”
Melanie prepared for the worst, but she waited for Phillip to continue.
“She’s up to her same old shopping habits again, and it came out of nowhere. You should have seen all the stuff she bought.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Melanie said, glad Alicia’s lost time was all about shopping and that it had nothing to do with Levi.
“It’s not like I didn’t know she’d had a problem, but I thought those days were gone for good. She hasn’t been obsessed with shopping in years.”
“She really hasn’t. Maybe this was just a one-time trip.”
“Well, that’s the thing. She did it all day Friday and said she wasn’t going to do it again. Of course, that was a just a huge lie because she was right back at it yesterday. She also lied about her phone being dead. Swore she couldn’t make or receive any calls the whole time she was gone.”
“Wow. Not good.”
“She also said something about you and her getting into it. I wasn’t sure if that was true, though.
”
“I’m embarrassed to admit it, but we did. We said some really terrible things to each other, and I feel bad about it. Especially after seeing what happened to Brad and realizing how short life is.”
“I don’t like what she’s doing and the problems she’s already causing for us. I haven’t even spoken to her since last night. Didn’t even ride to church with her this morning.”
“That’s really unlike you guys.”
“I’m too upset to deal with her. She got me so worked up, I changed my whole sermon. I’d planned on speaking about one thing, but early this morning I changed my mind and spoke about betrayal.”
“I think you need to talk to her.”
“I was hoping you would, too. Just to see where her head is. Do you mind?”
“Not at all. Brad’s resting, and I’m sure the nurses will be back in soon, so I’ll go call her now.”
The two of them walked out of the room and left the ICU area. Phillip went into the family room with Melanie’s father, and Melanie walked down the hallway and into a tiny conference room. She closed the door and sat in one of the chairs.
Alicia answered on the second ring. “Hey.”
“How are you?”
“Not the greatest, and I’m really sorry about yesterday.”
“I’m sorry, too. About everything I said and for asking you to leave.”
“How’s Brad?”
“Good. They’re going to bring him out of sedation tomorrow, and he’ll probably get to come home in a couple of days or so.”
“That’s wonderful. Thank God nothing worse happened to him.”
“I know.”
“They were saying on the news that the woman who caused the accident was on suicide watch.”
“Really?” Melanie said. “I hadn’t heard that, but Phillip was just saying how we have to pray for everyone. Even her.”
“We do,” Alicia said, but Melanie noticed her voice trailing off a bit.
“Hey, Phillip is really worried about your marriage. He’s kinda down, and I don’t know if he’s ever asked me to call you about anything. If he has, it was years ago.”
“I messed up. I didn’t mean to be gone so long Friday, but once I started shopping I couldn’t stop. Then yesterday I went again.”
“Well, Phillip’s not happy about it, and you need to talk to him.”
“I will. You don’t know how glad I am that you called.”
“I’m glad I called, too.”
“I think I’ll just head over to the hospital so I can see Brad.”
“Sounds good.”
“I should be there in about an hour. Maybe less.”
“See you then…and I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mel.”
Melanie stood up, preparing to leave the room, but she felt dizzy. She held on to the doorknob, trying to steady herself. At first she wondered what was going on, but then it dawned on her that she hadn’t drunk any shakes today. She’d had a couple of bottles of water, but after all that had gone on with Brad she hadn’t remembered to drink anything else this morning before leaving the house. Her nerves had also been too shot for her to eat a salad last night, and she still didn’t have an appetite now.
She opened the door to the conference room, and while her dizziness had begun to subside, her legs felt weak. She hoped she wasn’t getting dehydrated again, but just in case, she would up her water intake for the rest of the day. She would do it until her energy level returned to normal.
Chapter 39
Alicia hated that she’d had to call her mom and stepdad to take a rain check on dinner, but given the circumstances with her and Phillip, she hadn’t thought getting together with them was a good idea. Not when Phillip would have quickly shown how angry and irritated he was with her. It had just been better for Alicia to cancel, versus setting herself up to hear questions from her mother, because Alicia couldn’t handle that. Not today.
Alicia turned off the ignition of her car and pulled out her phone. She’d just arrived at the hospital, but she wanted to try Levi again. She’d called him twice while driving, but he hadn’t answered. He didn’t pick up this time, either, and since she’d already left him a message earlier, she hung up. It wasn’t like him not to answer or at least call her back within a few minutes, so she wondered what was going on. Nonetheless, she deleted all her calls to him from her phone, got out of her car, and went into the hospital.
As she stepped on the elevator, she pulled her phone back out and placed it on silent. She wasn’t sure if Levi would be calling back or not, but if he did, she didn’t want it to ring when she was anywhere near Phillip.
She walked off the elevator and went down to the family waiting room. Melanie, Mr. Johnson, and Phillip sat in one of the far corners, and a couple of other families were there, too.
Phillip stood up, and when he reached out and hugged her she was relieved. But soon, more guilt inched up her spine because while she’d tried to find comfort in Phillip’s embrace, she couldn’t stop thinking about Levi. She was still wondering where he was and why he wouldn’t answer his phone.
“Hey,” Melanie said, standing and hugging her, too. Then Alicia leaned down and greeted Mr. Johnson.
Phillip stood next to her, and Alicia wasn’t sure what to say. The connection between them felt awkward, and she detected a certain sense of sadness from him. It was the reason she refused to make eye contact with him and looked at Melanie instead. “Can I go in to see him?”
“Of course. We can do it now.”
Phillip and Mr. Johnson stayed behind, and Alicia followed Melanie to the intensive care unit.
“Where’s your mom?” Alicia asked, noticing dark circles under Melanie’s eyes. She’d sort of wondered about that yesterday, but she’d figured maybe Melanie was just tired and hadn’t been sleeping well. The darkness seemed more obvious today, however.
“Home, I guess.”
Alicia wanted to ask why, but since Melanie hadn’t elaborated she left it alone.
Melanie opened the door, and one of Brad’s nurses smiled and walked out.
Alicia moved closer to the foot of his bed. “I can’t believe this happened.”
“I don’t think any of us can, but I’ll tell you one thing: Brad’s accident has made me rethink everything. Two of his senior partners dropped by this morning. They couldn’t go in to see him, but they made it clear that they were here for us. Said they want him to take off as much time as needed to recover. So I decided right then that I was taking a leave of absence as well. Brad and our marriage have to come first now. Life is too precious and unpredictable. Too short to be miserable and unhappy. Even just for one day.”
“I don’t blame you. I remember when my dad was beaten by those men a couple of years ago, and then last year when Racquel stabbed Matthew. Tragedies like that really make you place things into perspective.”
“Brad and I have really grown apart, but that has to change. We can’t live like that anymore. If a husband and wife don’t make each other a priority, what’s the point of being married? Why be together if you barely see each other?”
“I agree.”
“I hope things get better for you and Phillip, too, because all the drama just isn’t worth it. Not if you really love someone. Even I was letting petty stuff like money come between Brad and me, and it’s just not that serious. I know Brad can’t continue throwing away thousands of dollars, but I also know I could have talked to him about it a lot differently. Over the last few months, we’ve yelled and argued so much, I don’t even remember the last time we had a normal conversation…the last time we even joked around or just laughed about something together.”
“I didn’t realize things had gotten that bad. I knew you’d said he was still working all the time and you were doing a lot of arguing, but I just thought it was something temporary.”
“No, things between us were headed toward divorce. I know that might sound strange, but we just haven’t been on the sam
e page lately. We’ve been going our separate ways, and once you do that for so long, you get used to it. We were never together. But seeing him lying in this bed has gotten my attention. I don’t ever want to know what it feels like to be without him,” she said with tears in her eyes.
Alicia listened to her friend speaking from her heart and thought about her own situation—how lost she would be if she couldn’t see Levi or hear his voice again. But then there was also Phillip, whom she’d caused a lot of distress over the last couple of days. So what was she going to do? Levi had given her an ultimatum, and now she couldn’t get in touch with him. What if he’d changed his mind about giving her a month and had moved on already? Alicia didn’t even want to think about something that dreadful. At this point, all she could do was call him again when she left the hospital, hoping he would answer. Maybe he’d already tried her back or left her a text message. She wouldn’t check her phone in front of Melanie, but it would be the first thing she did when she got back to her car. She didn’t want to seem desperate, but she was. She wouldn’t be at peace until she talked to him.
Chapter 40
It was four a.m. and much too early for most people to be up, but Melanie wanted to get back to the hospital by six. Dr. Romalati was planning to bring Brad out of sedation, and chances were, he’d already asked the overnight nurses to begin the process. Before showering, though, she wanted to go online to transfer the money for her dad from one of her and Brad’s money market accounts. She’d actually just written the check a few minutes ago, and since she wouldn’t be going to work the way she’d planned, she’d told her dad he could pick it up from her at the hospital.
She pulled up her bank’s web site, typed in her user ID and password, and waited for their accounts to display. She scanned all three of them, her checking account and both their joint money market accounts, but she frowned when she noticed the balance on one of them. She clicked the link for it, and her stomach tightened. Brad had withdrawn another ten thousand dollars on Friday. She thought about how she’d checked the account that very morning, but when she clicked on the withdrawal slip she saw a time stamp of 3:08 p.m. She took a deep breath, trying not to get herself worked up. Brad was steadily lying and saying he wouldn’t do this again, and worse, he’d begun taking money from their joint savings.
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