“I don’t know, but it feels right to me, Vonnie. It feels real right,” Thomas said as he reclaimed her lips.
When the kiss started up again, Yvonne forgot to think. Thomas held her in his arms and took her breath away with the amazing way he kissed her. Then, he suddenly stood up and held out his hand to her.
“Come on. Let’s go check on the girls, and then I’m taking you out on the town.”
“W-what?” she asked, confused by his sudden urgency.
“We have to go, Vonnie. As much as I would love to stay here kissing on you all day, we need to make sure the girls are okay. And then I need to get some food in your stomach, because I know you haven’t eaten anything all day.”
Oh, yeah—the girls. Yvonne grasped Thomas’s hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. As she brushed the sand off her dress, she tried to clear her head so that she could think rationally again. “I guess we’d better go check on the girls,” she agreed, because the silence was beginning to get awkward.
As they walked hand in hand toward the reception hall, Yvonne had her mind set on getting back to the Atlantis, dealing with Tia and Toya, and then figuring out whatever this was that was happening between her and Thomas.
***
From his position behind a big palm tree just a few feet away from Thomas and Yvonne, Marvel snapped pictures of their intimate moment with his cell phone. He reveled in his good fortune. Technology was something else, and he wanted to kiss the person who had come up with the idea of cell phones equipped with cameras and video recorders. No one had noticed him taping that crazy scene at the wedding, which would be an instant hit on Facebook and YouTube. And he was getting ready to send these pictures of the good reverend, Pastor Yvonne Milner, to all of the newspapers, television stations, and radio talk shows that he could find in Detroit. Maybe CNN would be as interested in this as they were in Yvonne’s sob story.
The film from the wedding would embarrass Pastor Yvonne, but this little lovebird scene was going to destroy her. She was about to lose all credibility, and soon, City Council wouldn’t listen to a word she had to say. Marvel was confident that his project would now go through.
Just think—if he hadn’t been willing to take the risk and follow the two lovebirds out here, he never would have received all the ammunition he needed to shut them up and get his plans moving forward again. If he was a God-fearing man, he might even thank the good Lord right now. But he hadn’t been in a thankful mood in a long time. That would soon change, however. He was sure of it.
Fourteen
Thomas had planned to take Yvonne out to dinner after they checked on the girls. But when they arrived back at the hotel, they had more on their hands than they had bargained for, and Thomas decided simply to order room service. Before that, though, his first order of business was to get Tia, Toya, Robbie, and Robbie’s brother Mike out of the hotel lobby. They were screaming at each other at the top of their lungs, and hotel security had been called. “I need everybody to quiet down!” Thomas shouted above the melee.
The angry group turned to him, and all of them started talking at once, trying to explain.
“I said, be quiet!” Thomas commanded them again. He then turned to the hotel manager, who had just arrived on the scene. “I apologize for the disorderly conduct of this group. I’m going to take them to my suite, where I’m sure we will be able to settle things in a peaceful manner.”
The hotel manager nodded, then looked at Tia, still wearing her wedding dress. Streaks of black mascara ran down her face from all the crying she’d been doing. “I’m sorry things didn’t go well today,” he said to Thomas.
“Thank you,” Thomas replied and then ushered everyone to the elevator. Once they were in his room, he had to order them to silence yet again. “Your mother hasn’t eaten a thing all day,” he told Tia and Toya, “and I need to order some food before we get into this matter.”
He called room service and ordered a seafood platter that could serve ten people, then sat down on the couch next to Yvonne. “Now, can someone please tell us why you all were carrying on in the lobby as if you had no home training at all?” Then he looked at Robbie and said, “You already showed us that you have no home training at the wedding, but these girls were not much better.”
“I wasn’t trying to cause trouble,” Robbie insisted.
Thomas ignored him and turned back to the girls. “Now, I know that you’re grown women, and that you can get yourselves arrested, if you want to. But do you have any concern for your mother?”
“Of course we do, Uncle Thomas,” Toya said, placing her hands on her hips. “But Robbie was trying to blame Marvel for his own drunken behavior, and that’s just not right.”
Tia pointed an accusatory finger at Robbie. “This jerk is trying to blame someone else for his own out-of-control behavior.” Tears flowed down her face as she continued. “You ruined my wedding, Robbie. I will never forgive you for that.”
“It was my wedding, too, Tia. And I promise you that I didn’t get plastered on purpose. Marvel put something in my drink, I swear.”
“Marvel handed you a Pepsi. I saw him do it myself,” Toya retorted.
Evidently not willing to go down without a fight, Robbie countered, “Yeah, but he whispered in my ear that he had filled the can with beer. He said that he could tell I needed to relax. So, I took it. But that was the only thing I had to drink all morning. If I got that drunk on one beer, then he must have mixed something else with it.”
Now Tia had her hands on her hips. “So, what you’re telling us is, you knew full well that you were drinking beer on the morning of our wedding, and you did it, anyway? How does that make this not your fault, Robbie?”
He tried to walk toward Tia, but when she balled her fist and got in a fighting stance, he backed up. “Okay, okay, I was wrong for drinking the beer. But I was all wound up. I was nervous about reciting our vows.”
Tia’s eyes widened. “You weren’t really drinking cough medicine that day you got fired, were you? My mother asked me if you had a drinking problem, and I swore to her that you didn’t. And look how you repay my trust—you humiliate me on what is supposed to be the most wonderful day of my life.” She crossed her arms over her chest and turned her back to him.
Robbie looked at Thomas, his expression distraught. “Help me out here, Mr. Reed. I swear I didn’t do this on purpose.”
Thomas almost believed the young man. His eyes were so full of sorrow and fear. Thomas truly believed that Robbie was afraid of losing Tia’s love, and right now, it looked like that was exactly what was about to happen. But what could he do? If Robbie had a drinking problem and Tia had married him, he would have ruined her life. So, he looked Robbie in the eye and said, “Here’s my problem. I’m bothered by the fact that you drink. Do you really think that you can be a good example for your wife and future child with a drinking problem?”
“I don’t have a drinking problem, sir. I made a mistake, that’s all,” Robbie said.
Tia rolled her eyes and let out a loud sigh.
Mike stepped forward and said his first words since they’d entered Thomas’s suite. “You do have a drinking problem, Robbie. I have one, too.” He turned to look at Tia. “Robbie was drinking that day he got fired. I know because we were drinking together.”
Robbie shoved his brother. “Why are you turnin’ on me like this? You ain’t right. You’re just jealous of what I have with Tia.”
Mike shoved him back. “You need help, man. We both do.”
The brothers grabbed each other as if they were in a wrestling match and began trying to pull each other down.
“What in the world?” Yvonne said as she jumped up from the couch.
Thomas got in the middle of the fight and managed to pull the two apart somehow. “Look! This is my hotel room, and I’m not about pay for any damages the two of you may cause. So I suggest you stop this foolishness and listen to me for a minute.”
There was a knock at the do
or. Thomas turned to Yvonne. “Can you get that? I’m sure it’s our food.” He looked back at Robbie and Mike and said, “Sit down.”
The brothers took a seat on the couch.
Thomas grabbed his wallet, hurried over to the door, and handed the waiter a tip. Yvonne and the girls carried the food over to the dining room table, leaving Thomas in the living room area to talk with the men. “Now, Mike, you acknowledged that you need help with your drinking problem. And if you’re serious, I can show you how to get the help you need.”
“Show Robbie, too,” Tia called out from the dining room, amid the sounds of cracking crab legs.
“He has to want the help, Tia, and so far, Robbie hasn’t admitted that he has a problem,” Thomas replied. He turned his attention back to Mike. “Now, the help I’m talking about comes through knowing Jesus Christ. Are you ready for that kind of help, Mike?”
“I was baptized when I was a kid, but that hasn’t done anything for me. I still keep drinking.”
Thomas put a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “Son, baptism is important, but sometimes people put the cart before the horse. Because baptism is an outward showing of the cleansing that has already taken place on the inside. So, if God hasn’t come into your heart, you might as well not even get baptized. Just go swim in the lake with a bunch of your friends if you feel the need to get dunked.”
With a look of confusion on his face, Mike said, “I don’t understand.”
“What I’m trying to tell you is this: if you want your life to change for the better, then you need to invite Jesus Christ to come into your heart. I can show you how to do that if you’re ready.”
Mike sent his brother a questioning look, but Robbie only shrugged. Mike turned back to Thomas and said, “I want to know Jesus. Can you show me how to invite Him into my heart?”
Thomas nodded. “Yes, I can.”
He instructed Mike to stand up. Once they were face-to-face, Thomas led the young man in the sinner’s prayer. Mike repeated the words and declared that he was a sinner, recognized Jesus as the Son of God, and Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection as real, and then claimed the power of the resurrection for himself.
When the prayer was over, tears flowed down Mike’s face as he jumped around the room, declaring that he was free. He then turned to Thomas and asked, “Can you baptize me again, sir? I want the whole world to know that something has happened on the inside of me.” He pumped his hands in the air and shouted, “I can feel it!”
Robbie sat on the couch, watching his brother but saying nothing. Thomas didn’t push. He knew that every man must count up the cost for his own salvation, and that right now, the cost must seem too high for Robbie. So, he called nonchalantly to the women, “I hope you ladies haven’t eaten all the food, because we men are starving, too.”
“We sure are!” Robbie shouted, jumping up from the couch and racing into the dining room.
Thomas and Mike followed him in, and Thomas saw Tia glare at Robbie as he sat down next to her.
“What’d I do now?” Robbie asked.
“Nothing, Robbie. Don’t you even worry about it,” Tia said snidely.
***
Yvonne was in awe of Thomas. He’d seen the hurt in Mike’s eyes and had done something about it. She had been too busy sitting on the couch, trying not to say a word to anybody. She’d had enough and just wanted to go to her room and lie down. But Thomas had shown her that God could still bring about a miracle even in the midst of dysfunction. He had been about his Father’s business, just as the Bible instructed in 1 Peter 3:15: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”
When Thomas had invited Mike to come to church the following Sunday to be baptized, Yvonne had wanted to ask why he didn’t simply use the tub in his hotel room—If the boy wants to be baptized, let’s get on with it! But then she’d realized that Thomas had reasons for putting it off until church. “Invite your family, and I’ll take everyone to dinner next Sunday after we get you baptized,” he’s said.
Yvonne understood now. She turned to Robbie and said, “You’re more than welcome to attend the baptism next week.”
Robbie looked at Tia. “Do you mind if I come?”
“It is no longer any of my concern what you do, Robbie Carter. I wouldn’t care if you jumped off a bridge.” With that, Tia got up from her seat and rushed out of Thomas’s suite.
Yvonne stood up. “I’ll go talk to her. You all just continue what you’re doing.”
Toya got up, too. “I need to go check on Marvel.”
Yvonne headed out of the room and found Tia running down the corridor. “Tia, stop! Wait.”
When Tia turned and saw her mother, she ran back toward her and fell into her open arms. “I’m so stupid, I’m so stupid,” she chanted as tears of sorrow and regret rolled down her face.
Toya walked slowly toward them, but Yvonne waved her away. “Come on, honey. Let me take you to my room so we can sit down and talk.”
When they reached her room, Yvonne opened the door, and Tia went straight for the bed and lay down—the very thing Yvonne had wanted to do all afternoon.
Tears were still flowing down Tia’s face. “What am I going to do, Mama?” she wailed.
Yvonne kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed next to her daughter. “The first thing we’re going to do is pray. I need to ask God to forgive me for being so angry with Robbie that I failed to see his need for Christ.” Thomas’s actions that evening had reminded Yvonne that as a Christian, she didn’t get to carry a grudge—not even when the offender had broken her baby girl’s heart. “And you need to ask for forgiveness for doing things your own way instead of allowing God to guide you.”
Tia wrapped her arms around Yvonne, just as she used to do when she was a little girl snuggling with her mommy in bed. “I know I messed up, Mama. I fell in love with Robbie so quick that I never even took time to find out if he had the same beliefs as me. I have made such a mess of my life—and my baby’s life, too, and she’s not even born yet.”
Yvonne was amazed to hear her daughter admit that she had messed up. For once, Tia wasn’t trying to lay blame on everybody but herself. Thomas had been right when he’d said that this incident would help Tia to grow.
They prayed together, and then Yvonne said, “Hon, I know that you are angry at Robbie right now. But the two of you will have to work together to raise that baby.”
Tia’s voice was calm as she said, “I know, Mom. But to tell you the truth, I don’t know if I can forgive him for this.”
“Earlier today, you were begging me to marry the two of you even though he was drunk. If I had done that, Robbie would be your husband right now, and you certainly wouldn’t get anywhere by holding unforgiveness against him then. What makes you think it’s okay to do so now?”
“I didn’t want to marry him in that condition. I was just embarrassed. But now? I mean, look at all the money you and Uncle Thomas have wasted.”
“We did spend a lot of money for a wedding that never took place. But Tia, honey, Thomas and I would much rather have you discover that Robbie has a drinking problem before you married him than after, no matter the cost.”
“It’s so embarrassing, Mama. I actually believed him about the cold medicine. I thought his boss was a real jerk for firing him. How stupid am I?”
“You’re not stupid, sweetheart; you’re just in love. And when we’re in love, want to believe everything our loved one says.”
“I know you’re probably thinking about Daddy right now. But, Mama, you had good reason to trust him.”
“You’re right about that. The only lie that man ever told me was one he couldn’t control—when he promised not to die on me.” At that moment, Yvonne realized something. She had just been telling Tia that she would have to forgive Robbie for what he’d done; meanwhile, she hadn’t truly forgiven David for dying on her.
“I’m tired, Mama. Do you mind if I sleep here for a while?”
“Not at all, baby girl. This king-size bed is more than big enough for both of us. I think I’m going to take a nap, as well.” Yvonne turned over on her side, and a tear fell on her pillow as she whispered, “I forgive you, David. Rest in peace.”
Fifteen
Yvonne may have fallen asleep thinking about her husband, but she awoke with Thomas on her mind. The man was simply amazing. He was turning her world upside down and causing her to think of him more than she wanted to admit. But how could she help herself? Every time she turned around, Thomas was doing or saying something that caused her to feel privileged to know him. The man could go anywhere on earth and probably be welcomed with open arms, yet he’d chosen to stay with her. That counted for something, and she wanted to make sure Thomas knew that she recognized his worth.
When they returned to Detroit, Yvonne planned to sit him down and tell him everything she was feeling. However, she never got the chance. From the moment the plane touched down in Detroit and Yvonne stepped into the airport, she was mobbed by swarms of reporters, all wanting to know how long she had been carrying on her affair with the world-renowned motivational speaker Thomas Reed.
“What?” was all Yvonne could say to the allegation. She was blinded by camera lights as one microphone after another was shoved in her face. She fought her way to her car, then fought her way to her front door, slamming it shut once she was safely inside.
“What in the world is going on?” she wondered out loud. Then her phone rang.
Yvonne picked up the phone, and before she could even say hello, the female voice on the other end said, “Pastor Yvonne, can you tell me, did you know that Robert Carter was an alcoholic when he proposed to your daughter?”
“What?” Yvonne said, just as dumbfounded as she’d been while being attacked by a swarm of reporters.
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