Mercy, Mercy Me

by Ronn Elmore

  Dwayne rolled his Jaguar into the valet area of Reign, and before he could pull to a complete stop, a young valet opened his door and handed him a ticket. He walked through the large glass doors and was greeted by one of the hostesses, who led him through the maze of tables. His eyes finally rested on Sean at one of the small round tables in the back.

  “My man… ,” Dwayne said.

  Sean stood and warmly embraced his friend. “Looking good.”

  “So tell me, what’s going on?”

  “Same-o, same-o. But I hear you’re the man.”

  “So you heard the news …”

  “Somewhat, and I’m happy for you. It’s time things started moving for you. And this is what Yvette would have wanted. I know she would have wanted you to find love again.”

  “Whoa, what are you talking about?” Dwayne leaned back.

  “You and Nina… She seems to be a really nice lady.”

  “You got the ‘nice’ part right, but there’s nothing going on between us. At least, not now.”

  Sean cocked his head as if he didn’t believe his friend. “Yeah, that’s what she tried to tell me at Beverlyn’s party, but I wasn’t buying it then and I’m not really buying it now.”

  “Well, she was telling the truth.” As he spoke the words, it was almost as if he were trying to convince himself. At the same time, he was conjuring up images of Nina and Omari in church that morning.

  “That’s too bad.” Sean glanced down at the menu.

  “I’ve got quite enough on my plate right now.”

  A waiter brought two mimosas and Sean raised his glass. “I want to make a toast. To all the blessings God has given us and to conquering the challenges ahead.”

  Moments later, servers placed a platter of lobster crepes in front of Sean and smoked salmon Benedict in front of Dwayne. They bowed their heads in silent grace and then eagerly tackled their food.

  “So the television show is a go, huh?” Sean asked between bites.

  “Yeah, I’m excited about it. You realize that Beverlyn wants to revolutionize Christian broadcasting?”

  “Ambitious plan. But that’s Beverlyn—bigger than life.”

  “She seems that way. So what’s the real skinny on her?”

  “Interested?”

  “More like curious. She reminds me a lot of Yvette.”

  Sean frowned. “I don’t think the two of them were alike at all.”

  “Really, I look at their ambition and their drive. And like Yvette’s, Beverlyn’s heart is with God. I like that about her. I think I’m going to enjoy working with her.”

  Sean chewed for an extra moment before he said, “I’m sure you will.”

  Dwayne couldn’t decipher the look in his friend’s eyes, so he decided to change the subject. “When are we going to see you at New Covenant again? I get such grief about us being friends and not being able to get you to church.”

  Sean laughed. “Well, maybe I can get there next Sunday.” Then his tone sobered. “I have to stay in town this week. I’m taking some tests …”

  “Are you okay?”

  “So far and we’re trying to keep it that way.”

  When Sean didn’t continue, Dwayne knew to let it go. His friend would tell him when he was ready. They ate in silence for a few moments before Sean said, “Have you had the pleasure of meeting the great Linson Lejohn?”

  Dwayne nodded and then shook his head. “What is that man’s story?”

  “All I can tell you is that he’s a control freak. And,” Sean cautioned, “he’s not about to let anyone get close to Beverlyn—especially not someone who could have any influence with her.”

  “I can see that. He showed me that he was in charge the other day. But what I don’t understand is, according to Beverlyn, he was the one who really sought me out.”

  “If I had to make a wild guess,” he said, reclining back into the chair, “I’d say he felt you were pretty harmless having recently lost your wife. But having met you and realizing you might be a threat …”

  “How?”

  “Doc, you can’t be that naive. You must be too close.”

  “Beverlyn …”

  “You got it. And make no mistake. The man’s no fool. He wants the best people around, but he remains in control. Believe that. I’ve known him for years and he’s not too crazy about the friendship Beverlyn and I share. Now here comes some good-looking, successful guy that for once is on Beverlyn’s level.”

  “But there is nothing going on …”

  “Not yet. But I’ve seen the way she looks at you, and believe me, he’s noticed it too. Don’t buy into the cocky, confident demeanor. He’s a scared little man whose whole reason for living is Beverlyn and the little empire, he reminds you over and over again, that he built. He’s desperate enough to do just about anything—I believe—to ensure that nothing shakes the control he has over her.”

  “Well, he’s the only thing that makes me hesitate a bit about this project.”

  Sean laid his hand on top of his friend’s. “Look, you’re a man of God, and L.W. can’t stop anything that God has ordained.”

  “Excuse me …”

  When Dwayne and Sean looked up, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Standing before them was L.W. In rushing to push his chair back from the table, Dwayne’s knee hit the edge, knocking over his half-filled mimosa. As the liquid splattered onto the tablecloth, Dwayne and Sean reached for their napkins to halt its spread.

  “I’m sorry,” Dwayne said to Sean, noticing the puzzled look on L.W.’s face.

  “No need to get up. I saw you gentlemen sitting here and wanted to say hello. But it looks like I interrupted something.”

  “Sean and I were having brunch,” Dwayne said, finally standing, but still patting the napkin across the table as the waiter rushed to take over.

  “Yeah, just two good friends having lunch,” L.W. said cynically, and paused. “Well, like I said, I don’t want to interrupt …”

  “No more than you already have,” Sean muttered under his breath.

  L.W. stared at Sean for a moment, then rolled his eyes before turning back to Dwayne. “I’ll see you later this week in the production meeting.”

  Dwayne stretched toward L.W. and shook his hand. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “I’m sure you are. You gentlemen… enjoy the rest of your day,” he said, smirking as he walked away.

  Sean shook his head. “All I can tell you, Dwayne, is to be careful.”

  Dwayne laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. He knew there was nothing funny about Linson “L.W.” Lejohn.

  L.W. walked quickly through the restaurant to the valet stand. There was a line as he waited to hand over the ticket for his car; and while waiting might have annoyed him on another day, it didn’t bother him today. He tried to peek back through the restaurant’s windows, but he couldn’t see their table.

  How interesting, he pondered. Something must have been going on or the two of them wouldn’t have jumped as they did when they saw him. He wondered what. As he reached the front of the line, he handed his ticket to the man in the red vest, paid his fee, then pulled his cell phone from his jacket.

  Normally, L.W. had rather deal with a message machine than a tiresome real person, but today he grimaced when the answering machine picked up. “Kim, this is L.W. I need you to give me a call on my cell—” He kept his voice as low as he could over the sound of the busy traffic on Robertson Boulevard. Before he could finish, he heard Kim’s voice. “L.W., I’m here.”

  L.W. was relieved to hear Kim’s voice. “Kim, I need you to check something out for me quickly.”

  “Why are you whispering?”

  “Just listen,” L.W. hissed. “In addition to what you’re researching for me, I need you to expand your search to include Sean Wiley.”

  “Sean?”

  “Yeah. It seems he and the good doctor are better friends than we know. And my instincts tell me that there is something going on.”

&
nbsp; “Something like what?”she asked incredulously.

  “That’s your job, Kim. Just get back to me. I’m going to need this information quickly.” L.W. pressed the “end” button before Kim could say another word, and just as his money-green Mark VIII rolled in front of him, he trotted to the driver’s side and handed the man holding the door a dollar bill.

  “Gee, thanks,” the young man muttered sarcastically.

  L.W. stared at the young man. Any other day, he would have asked for his supervisor and demanded that he be reprimanded. But today he let it roll off his back, jumping into the car. He screeched onto Wilshire Boulevard, turning a few blocks later onto Rodeo Drive. He slowed, passing Cartier, Christian Dior, and Gucci. Soon he’d be shopping here—not only on special occasions but regularly. This was certainly going to be his town. As he continued down the street, he thought, L.A. truly does have streets paved with gold. And he was on the brink of getting his fair share.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Though he treated her badly, Kim almost felt sorry for L.W. The way she figured it, without Beverlyn he was nothing. All indications were he had few, if any, friends. She’d never seen him involved in a serious relationship—forget marriage. He had no kids. Nope, it was all about Beverlyn. He seemed to live vicariously through her. Perhaps she was all he had set out to be but never achieved.

  However, there was little doubt in Kim’s mind that he genuinely cared for her. In fact, he had his moments where he wasn’t all that bad. At times, he had been rather generous with her and more than generous with Beverlyn, but L.W. was indeed a very strange bird. She’d known from the first that it was going to mean big trouble if Beverlyn ever found a man, and lately, she’d noticed the way he reacted whenever Dwayne Grandison was around.

  Alas, when threatened, there was none more conniving than L.W. She’d hated doing his dirty work. She’d grown to love Beverlyn, considering her to be one of her closest friends, and while she didn’t know what L.W. had up his sleeve, she knew it couldn’t be good.

  For Kim, the situation was as close to being caught between a rock and a hard place as ever it could have been. Unbeknownst to Beverlyn, part of Kim’s job description was to “keep watch over her.” When L.W. hired her five years ago, she’d been indifferent to the task, but having come to know Beverlyn, she resented having to spy on her, reporting back to L.W. what she’d heard.

  Quite frankly, there had—until now—been little to report and so, no conflict. But she knew all too well that Beverlyn was falling for the doctor. Who wouldn’t? The man had it going on and she was happy for Beverlyn, but at the same time, she knew the painful ramifications, part of which would begin with the information L.W. wanted on Dwayne. And now Sean? She liked them both, especially Sean, who’d been singing on Beverlyn’s crusades on and off for the past five years. Sean had been so impressed after hearing Beverlyn at one of T. D. Jakes’s conventions that he’d said yes when first approached by Lejohn to appear on Beverlyn’s first crusade.

  Kim’s thoughts were interrupted at the sound of someone entering the room, and she turned to find Beverlyn in her doorway.

  “What are you doing here so late?” Beverlyn inquired.

  “I could ask the same of you,” she countered.

  “Oh, for sure,” Beverlyn said, easing onto a leather sofa adjacent to Kim’s desk. “What’s my travel schedule like this month?”

  “You’ve got Jakes on Thursday, then on Friday, you go to Houston for Saundra Montgomery’s women’s conference, and on Sunday, you’re with Eddie Long. Later this month, you’re in Nashville to do some studio work with Shirley Caesar for her next album, and on the twentieth, you’re back in New Orleans with Deborah Morton. Montgomery—that’s Yolanda Adams’s church, right?” Kim asked.

  “Yeah. Okay, I’m glad you booked them. I like the pastor, Ed Montgomery. He’s really coming up in that city.”

  “Of course, you know you’re also scheduled back at Carlton Pearson’s in Tulsa and then you’re back in Los Angeles for Fred and Betty Price’s Inner City Church Confab on the twenty-fifth,” Kim added.

  “Pretty light this month.”

  “Well, considering we’re still getting settled, I thought it best to keep your engagements down. Something on your mind?”

  “What do you think of Dr. Dwayne Grandison?” Beverlyn asked.

  Kim had known that question was coming. “Impressive. Dynamic. Handsome. Single.”

  Beverlyn laughed throatily. “Yeah …”

  “Interested?”

  “Well, he’s certainly not like anyone I’ve ever known. Not even close.”

  “Really?”

  “Unfortunately, yeah.” She paused for a moment. “Sometimes I think it’s good to marry young.” She gazed directly at Kim, who was a divorced single mother of an eight-year-old daughter. “Because when you’re young, one doesn’t have to consider what the other brings to the union—the ramifications of mixing lifestyles and those lifestyles being compatible—because no one has anything. Of course, there’s always the chance that one outgrows the other, but at least motives aren’t a particular concern.”

  “Well,” Kim considered, “I guess you have a point there. Were you ever close to getting married?”

  “Not really. Well, I had a first love… but I don’t think it would have worked out over the long haul.”

  “What happened?” Kim asked.

  “Uncle Linson saw before I could that it wasn’t going anywhere and talked me into breaking it off. Oh, I hated him for it then, but—as always—he was right. Since then, there have been flirtations, but nothing really meaningful. Then, too, there’s my work …” Her voice trailed off. “And quite frankly, I hadn’t met anyone I was all that interested in. Sure there are a lot of single pastors, but some of their motives—as you well know—have been questionable, and I don’t want a business merger, I want a marriage.”

  “So you do want to get married?”

  “Why do people assume that if a woman hasn’t married by a certain age, she doesn’t want to be married, instead of assuming she just hasn’t found the right man?”

  “And is Dwayne Grandison the right man?”

  “Could be,” Beverlyn said, her eyes twinkling.

  “Does L.W. know that?” Kim inquired, as if in surprise.

  “I suppose so,” Beverlyn said, wondering why she’d even have to ask.

  Daaaaah! The horn signaling the end of the Laker game mixed with applause and cheers. Omari stood with the crowd as Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and the rest of the team members—and their opponents—filed off the stadium floor to the locker room.

  “Mr. Dwayne, that was so good,” declared Omari, whose purple and gold Laker jersey was covered with melted cheese from his nachos and caramel-covered popcorn that had spewed over onto the playing floor of the Staples Center.

  “You had a good time?”

  “Boy, did I. Thank you.”

  Within five minutes after their ten-minute press through the crowd to Dwayne’s car, Omari was fast asleep in the backseat, allowing Dwayne’s thoughts to drift. Dwayne continued to look at Nina’s son in the rearview mirror. With four nieces and nephews, he was used to being around children, but there was something about Omari. Every time he saw the boy, he was reminded of the child he and Yvette never had. Was the breakdown of their marriage really tied to children? And which one of them had been right? Had Yvette been correct—was he too passive about success and achievement? Was that why he had lost all that was important to him?

  He pulled in front of Nina’s building. When he turned off the ignition, he glanced at Omari, his head dropped toward his chest and a soft snore coming from his lips. Dwayne pulled Omari from the backseat. The boy stirred, but only for a moment, and nested his head on Dwayne’s shoulder. As Dwayne rang Nina’s buzzer, then carried Omari up the stairs, he buried himself in the feeling of the boy against his chest. He took in his breathing—and the way Omari’s heart beat against his.

  When he
reached the top of the stairs, Nina was already in the hallway. His demeanor changed when he saw her—dressed in jeans with holes at the knees and her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, a stark departure from the professional pantsuits and conservative look he had grown accustomed to seeing her in.

  “Let me take him.”

  “No.” Dwayne shook his head. “Just show me where to lay him.”

  Nina smiled and led Dwayne down the long hall to Omari’s bedroom.

  “Just put him down. I’ll come back and change his clothes,” she whispered.

  Dwayne gently laid Omari onto his bed, covering him with the blanket, then followed Nina from the room.

  “He’s a good kid. Thanks for letting me take him.”

  “Are you kidding? I really appreciate it.”

  Dwayne glanced across the living room to the dining table covered with papers and folders. “Do you ever get out and have any fun?”

  “Well, I had fun when I went to the party with you.” Her words had come quickly. It wasn’t until they were hanging in the air that she realized what she’d said. “I mean I don’t have much time to get out. Between Omari, my job… and the women’s ministry.”

  Dwayne held his hand up, silencing her. “Don’t explain. I know what you mean. Well, it’s getting late.” He paused for a moment and then turned. “I’d better go.”

  “Thanks again.”

  She followed him to the door and he paused somewhat awkwardly again before finally leaning over and hugging her. While she felt strangely familiar in his arms, he was at a loss for the proper good-bye.

  “Dwayne,” she said, calling him back.

  He turned, his eyes meeting hers.

  “Be careful. It’s easy to get caught up in that world.”

  He acknowledged the admonishment with a nod, then stepped through the door and waited to hear the locks click. Still, he did not move from the door, wondering if Nina was standing there on the other side, and wondering if the moment had been as awkward for her as it had been for him.

  He walked back to his car. Inside, he clicked on the radio, turning the volume up as loud as he could stand, hoping to drown out the confusion in his head. Yvette. Nina. Beverlyn’s TV offer. So much was going on.