Praise Him Anyhow - Volume 1

by Vanessa Miller

  Dontae stood flat footed and looked around the lobby area. “Why would you sign us up for golf? Jewel doesn’t play and won’t be anywhere near the greens.”

  “Will you stop thinking about your love life for a minute? We can do a little networking on the golf course and then we can do lunch on the beach at the Loggerhead Grill. They are supposed to have really good burgers and Dawn said that she’ll have Jewel on the beach as we stroll towards the grill.”

  “All right, all right. That sounds like a plan.” Dontae was anxious to see Jewel and make things right. But he didn’t want to blow his chances. She’d been refusing to see or talk to him for two weeks now.

  They went to their rooms to get changed. Dontae showered, threw on a pair of tan shorts and a white polo shirt. He pulled out his iPad to check his emails, never know when another endorsement deal might come through for one of his clients. Dontae didn’t like to sleep on those types of things. His clients were pro-ballers, they made good money in the NBA and NFL; however, most of them longed for the big money that endorsements could bring, so he was always on the lookout.

  While scrolling through his emails, Dontae noticed that someone from his old high school had emailed him concerning Coach Linden’s awards banquet. Dontae deleted the email without opening it.

  He then went through the rest of the emails, quickly answering questions and jotting down notes. As he was finishing up, he received another Praise Alert from his mother. Dontae was about to close down his computer without even opening it, but then he remembered how excited Ramsey Jr. and Ronny were to receive the Praise Alerts and he felt a little guilty.

  He opened the Praise Alert and read from Psalm 150 again:

  ... Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

  The Praise Alert read, ‘I found an article in a reader's digest when I was 13; it was a guaranteed formula for getting the results you want from prayer. So I said this prayer believing for a miracle, and it worked, and I heard the voice of Jesus in a dream, assuring me that everything would be okay. This would be the first of many miracles over a span of nearly two decades. You see, ever since that very first miracle, I never had peace, contentment or fulfillment in my life. In fact I was unhappy and depressed for most of that time because God was only in my life as a provider of material needs, like a year-round Santa. But I praise Him today, because He stayed faithful giving me miracle after miracle after miracle, because he never changes or writes us off, even when we deserve it. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and his word is infallible, claim it in faith and it never fails you. Mark 11:24 reminds us that Jesus never told a lie. Whatever you ask for in faith, you will receive. But remember that things can never take the place of God in your life. If you want the peace that surpasses all understanding, seek Jesus, not just as savior, but also as Lord.’

  Where does she find this stuff? Dontae wondered. But then he just put it out of his head. He’d read the Praise Alert. Now if one of his step-brothers mentioned his mother’s Praise Alert at least he’d be able to say he read it also... read, but that’s about it. Nothing in the email spoke to him or caused him to bless the Lord. Dontae had grown up in church, but sometimes he felt numb to it all.

  He turned off his iPad, put it back in his suitcase and then grabbed his golf clubs. He was almost out the door when his cell phone rang. It was his mother. He opened the door to his hotel room as he answered the phone. “Hey Mama, what’s up?”

  “And how are you on this most wondrous day?” Carmella asked her son.

  “I’m doing all right. Getting ready to golf with Ronny.”

  “That’s good. Well, I don’t want to hold you up. I was just calling to tell you that your sister said that your father will definitely be released on Tuesday.”

  “I didn’t think he’d be out until Thursday. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll try my best to get back there so I can see him next week.”

  “Good. Your father will need you and your sister even more than you know. And I’m proud that both of you have a mind to be there for him.”

  “Careful Mom, you actually sound like you care.”

  “Of course I care about your father. I was married to the man for over twenty years.”

  And then he left you for a woman who was barely in her twenties at the time, Dontae thought but wouldn’t dare say to his mother. So he chose to say instead, “I just got your Praise Alert.”

  “What’d you think of that one?”

  “Honestly Mom, I really don’t know what to think. I don’t even know why you send those alerts.”

  “You really don’t know?”

  “I really don’t, but I wish you would enlighten me. And where do you get all those stories from?”

  Carmella hesitated for a moment, then said, “Different people send me praise reports or I find them on the internet. But I sent them because I want all of you to know God.”

  Continuing down the hall towards the lobby, Dontae said, “Oh, well then you don’t need to send those alerts to me, because I already know God.”

  “No,” Carmella said with force, “you know about my God. I want you to come to know your God.”

  That sounded strange to Dontae. After attending church all of his life, how could his mother say that he didn’t know God? He almost asked her for clarification, but then he ran into Ronny and decided to table the conversation for another time. “I’ll call you back later, Mom. Ronny is ready to take his whoopin’ on the golf course.”

  “Okay Son, I love you and tell Ronny I love him also.”

  “I’m not getting ready to tell a grown man that. But I will give him the phone so you can tell him yourself.” Dontae passed his cell to Ronny.

  Ronny gripped the phone to his ear, smiled and then said, “I love you, too, Mama Carmella.”

  Dontae took the phone back. “Love you, Mom. I’ll see you next week.” He hung up his cell and then he and Ronny headed to the golf course. Dontae proceeded to show everyone just how off focus his game was.

  By the time they reached the fifth hole, Ronny was frustrated enough to ask, “What’s wrong with you? You’re not even trying to make us look good out here.”

  “I’m here aren’t I?” He pointed at Micah and Drake, the two men they were playing against. “Go on back over there and continue telling them about your next get-rich-quick scheme.”

  “Oh it’s like that, huh?”

  “Yeah, it’s like that,” Dontae said as he lifted his club and prepared to swing and missed.

  “Maybe you’d hit a few balls if you didn’t have such a nasty disposition.” Dontae scowled at him. Ronny shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just saying.” He walked over to the other team and said, “Looks like it’s y’all’s turn again, since my partner can’t seem to hit wind, let alone a little old golf ball.”

  That was it, Dontae had taken all he could from his younger brother. He threw down his gold club, swung around and charged at Ronny like he was still playing football. “I bet I could hit you with no problem at all.”

  Ronny’s eyes widened. He held up a hand as Dontae approached. “What’s with all this aggression? I’m not about to fight you. I’ll fight the world with you, but I wasn’t raised like this. I’m not about to come to blows with my own brother.”

  Dontae backed up, took a deep breath as he unclenched his fists. Dontae and Ronny hadn’t been raised in the same household, but Ronny was right. For almost a decade now, they had been brothers, and he was grateful for the new brothers and sisters that he now had. “I’m sorry about that, bro. I just don’t know why I get so angry at times.”

  Micah and Drake both glanced at their watches and then Micah said, “Hey, we’ve had a lot of fun with the game, but we probably need to get back. Got a meeting scheduled in an hour.”

  “It’s cool,” Ronny said. The two men began walking away from them as fast as they could, as Ronny threw in, “Go ahead and chock this one up as a win for your
team, Micah.”

  “Sorry about that, Ronny. I know you were trying to pitch to the investment banker. But my heart just wasn’t in the game.”

  “Oh well. Easy come, easy go.” Ronny slapped a hand on Dontae’s shoulder and said, “Come on, let’s go grab some lunch.”

  ***

  Lounging on the beach in her purple and tan bikini, Jewel felt as if she’d been swept away to a place of peace where the problems she had back in Charlotte didn’t even matter. “Thanks for inviting me to this wonderful place. I feel so at peace here,” Jewel said as she turned to her sister, who lay beside her.

  “You’re the only person I wanted to come here with.”

  Jewel laughed. “You don’t have me fooled for a minute, Dawn. You are lying on the lounge chair right now, dreaming about Taye Diggs rounding that corner.” She pointed towards the entrance over by the Loggerhead Grill. “And then walking by us, stopping as he catches a glimpse of you, and then dropping down on one knee and asking you to marry him.”

  Dawn waved the thought away. “Get real, Jewel. In case you forgot, Taye Diggs likes white women. He’s been married to one for over ten years, so I don’t have any illusions about him or anyone else getting all excited about seeing me.”

  Jewel sat up. She grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her up with her. “What are you talking about, Dawn? Don’t you know how beautiful you are?”

  Dawn averted her eyes.

  “I’m serious. You always put yourself down about one thing or another. But you have got it going on and I think it’s about time you accepted that fact.”

  “I know that I’m smart. But I’m just not as pretty as you and Maxine.”

  Maxine was their oldest sister and she was something to see. Long legs, slender body and a face that Halle Berry would kill for. But that didn’t mean that Jewel and Dawn were throw-backs. “Okay, our sister is a model and we’re not, but we are still desirable women. I know my worth, what about you, Dawn Henderson?”

  “You don’t know what it’s like being a sister to you and Maxine,” Dawn complained.

  “And you don’t know what it’s like being a sister to a magna cum laude graduate both in high school and college. Then that same sister becomes this awesome engineer who helped design the car that I drive every day.”

  “Okay, okay. You win. Yes, I know my worth. I am fabulous. So, don’t try to throw Taye Diggs off on me... now if Idris Elba came around that corner looking for a woman to love, I just might have to rescue that brother.”

  “Not if I see him first,” Jewel said, giggling. She liked the sound of her laughter. She hadn’t heard that sound in the past two weeks.

  “Oh please,” Dawn said, “You already have a man wanting to marry you, so you don’t need to steal my Idris Elba dreams away from me.”

  Thinking of Dontae sucked all the joy out of Jewel’s day. She stretched back out on the lounge chair and stared at the pool that was not more than a foot or two away from where she lay. She then turned her attention to heaven above, praying for answers that never seemed to come. She didn’t understand the man she had fallen in love with, not one single bit. But she prayed that the love she had for Dontae Marshall would not torment her for the rest of her days.

  “I’m sorry, Jewel. I didn’t mean to make you sad all over again. I was just joking with you.”

  Jewel wished that she was at church so she could go down to the altar and lay herself prostrate before God and allow Him to heal her wounded heart.

  Dawn cleared her throat. Tapped Jewel’s arm and said, “Look, we’re right here at the Loggerhead Grill. Why don’t we grab some lunch and then go back to our room and get dressed so we can do some shopping this afternoon?”

  Tempted to just lay there and wallow in self-pity for at least another hour, Jewel almost turned down her sister’s game plan, but then she gave herself a silent pep talk and then slapped her hands together as she sat back up. “That sounds like a plan.”

  Just as two men rounded the corner, entering the pool area, Jewel bent down to pick up the straw hat she’d laid on the ground. She put the hat back on her head and then slid her feet in her shoes, bending to adjust the strap. As she rose back up, she startled as out of the corner of her eye she spotted someone close behind her—too close. She swung around and came face to face with Dontae.

  Forgetting her close proximity to the pool, she moved back to allow more space between them, but losing her footing at the pool’s edge, her arms began flailing. Dontae reached out and tried to grab hold of Jewel’s arm, but she was, by then, too far out of his reach, so he leaned forward a bit to catch her. Jewel grabbed hold of Dontae about a second before she fell backward into the pool, taking Dontae with her.

  “Dontae, what are you doing here?” Jewel asked as they wiped water from their eyes and then looked each other in the face.

  “Looks like I’m about to go for a swim with you,” Dontae said good naturedly.

  But Jewel wasn’t having it. She smelled a rat, and had a feeling that Dawn would be ordering a bowl full of cheese for lunch today.

  4

  Jewel toweled off and then walked a few feet away from the pool to sit down at one of the outdoor tables at the Loggerhead Grill.

  Dontae pulled his shirt over his head, wrung it out a few times and then flung it over his shoulder as he joined Jewel and Dawn at the table. As Ronny sat down, Dontae said, “You remember Ronny, don’t you, Jewel?”

  Jewel gave Ronny a tight lipped smile. “Of course I remember Ronny. How is your travel business going?”

  Ronny shook his head. “People just aren’t traveling as much these days, what with the economic meltdown this country has gone through.”

  “Tell me about it,” Dawn agreed. “This is the first time I’ve gotten out of Charlotte in a year.”

  Ronny held out a hand to Dawn. “I’m Ronny, Dontae’s younger brother.”

  Shaking his hand, Dawn said, “I’m Jewel’s younger sister... oh, my name is Dawn.”

  “Dawn.” Ronny let the name roll off his tongue and he released her hand. “Such a beautiful name for an equally beautiful woman.”

  Before Dawn had time to blush, the waiter arrived at their table with their menus. They each studied the menus for a moment and then Jewel ordered the fish tacos. Her plan was to eat them and then blow all of her fish taco breath in Dontae’s direction.

  Dontae ordered the pulled pork; Ronny ordered a burger, while Dawn ordered the Cobb salad. As they handed the menus back to the waiter, Jewel pointedly asked, “So, what brings you two here this weekend?”

  “Oh, just doing a little networking. We just left the golf course, talking with a few potential clients,” Dontae answered.

  “Is that right?” Jewel said while glancing at her sister.

  Dawn fidgeted nervously. “Isn’t this just wonderful that we all ended up here together?”

  “Yes, isn’t it just wonderful.” Jewel decided to take care of her sister later. For now, she was just going to get through the lunch with Dontae and then go on about her business. But it really bothered her that he would spend so much money on this so-called “free” weekend resort getaway, while at the same time, he was worried that she was going to divorce him and try to take all of his money. He confused her.

  They ate their meals with Ronny doing most of the talking. If she had learned nothing else about Dontae’s step-brother, she knew that he was a talker. Jewel thought he’d make a great car salesman, could probably even do well enough to buy his own dealership. But who was she to tell him how to run his life. She couldn’t even figure out what to do with her own life.

  As they were finishing up their meal, the waiter came back to the table and asked, “Does anyone want dessert?”

  Jewel wiped her mouth with her napkin. “No, thank you. Can you please bring the bill?”

  “Not a problem,” he said, then asked, “Will this be on one bill?”

  Dontae said, “Yes.” />
  Jewel quickly lifted a hand and said, “No.” She then pointed to Dawn and told the waiter, “Make it two. I’ll pay for her, and then you can give them,” she pointed toward Dontae and Ronny, “their own bill.”

  When the waiter walked away, Dontae leaned toward Jewel, put his hand on her thigh. “Why won’t you let me pay for your lunch?”

  She removed his hand. “Don’t you think you’ve paid for enough?”

  Back in their room, Jewel gave Dawn an earful. “How could you lie to me like this, Dawn?”

  “I didn’t lie to you,” Dawn protested.

  “You most certainly did. I asked you numerous times how you were able to swing not just a hotel room, but a suite in this wildly expensive resort. You never once said that Dontae paid for our room.” Dawn opened her mouth, Jewel pointed at her. “And don’t you dare lie to me again. I know that you and Dontae planned this trip.” Jewel wore out the carpet walking from one side of the room to the next. “He thinks he’s got me cornered, but I’ll show him.”

  Dawn flopped down on the bed. “Jewel, be reasonable. Dontae isn’t trying to corner you. He just wants you to talk to him. The man really loves you.”

  “The man thinks I’m a gold digger,” Jewel threw back at her sister. “I’m not putting up with being treated like that. My father never put a price tag on his love for Mama... and no man that truly loves me would do something as horrible as that either.”

  Jewel, I understand why you’re upset. And you are right. Daddy has always told us not to sell ourselves short with the men we date. But I don’t think Dontae meant anything by what he did. People in his circle have prenups drawn up all the time.”

  “Well then, maybe he needs to change his circle of friends.” Jewel shook her head and lifted her hands. “I’m getting in the shower.” She went into the bathroom and jumped in the shower. Walking out of the bathroom, Jewel threw on a sundress and was about to sit down so she and her sister could continue their conversation.

  But Dawn had other plans. She grabbed her purse. “Let’s just go shopping and enjoy the rest of our day.