“Man, ain’t God good?” said one of the men sitting in the circle.
“He sure is,” Will replied. “God is so good that He restored my health after the accident I was in. The Lord also gave me a new job. And He blessed me to be able to have custody of my son. And not only that, I am back in my home.”
“What about your wife?” asked a brother wearing a blue dress shirt.
“Well, as it turns out, legally she is not and never was my wife. She is in jail right now for a number of crimes she committed, one of which was identity theft. She won’t regain custody of my son if I and the state of North Carolina have anything to do with it. One of the things I found out about her past is that she already had children taken from her by the state, for abuse and abandonment.”
Tyler King shook his head. “My brother, the Lord has truly been with you. And I am glad you are here to tell the story.”
Many of the men in the group said, “Amen.”
“You know, the sad thing is that there are so many people who do suffer from domestic violence, especially women, who go through horrible problems that sometimes even end in death. And I believe the reports are not accurate. There are more men experiencing problems with domestic violence, and it is a quietly kept secret.
“My ex-wife used the male-on-female domestic violence ploy, exploiting the women who do suffer from domestic violence. And not only did she exploit real women who suffer from domestic violence, she made the good guys look bad.”
“It is a sin and a shame,” Brother Nelson said.
“I don’t want to take up all the time here tonight, but I did want to thank you brothers for welcoming me into this support group. I never realized I was a victim of domestic violence until I came here. I had a crash course in finding out that domestic violence doesn’t just stop with physical violence, but can also include financial, emotional, and psychological abuse as well.”
Will directed his attention to Brother Nelson. “So I thank you for starting this group, and I will help in any way possible to continue to help the Secret Brotherhood in its quest to help abused men. There isn’t much help out there for men who are abused. There needs to be more help to support men in need. This group is one in a million, and I thank you.
“Most of all, I thank God for His grace, mercy, and salvation, because who knows where I would have been if it weren’t for Him,” Will said.
And the group said, “Amen.”
Discussion Questions
1. Will believed he’d found the perfect woman in his wife. She met all of the items he had on his checklist, or so he thought. Do you think there is any such thing as a perfect mate?
2. Do you think Will should have found out more about Morgan before he married her?
3. Do you think Morgan had a set agenda when she met Will?
4. Do you think that Morgan and Will’s meeting was by chance that day in the church?
5. Do you think that Will was too gullible or was he just a trustworthy person?
6. If you did think that Will was too gullible when it came to Morgan, was there really much he could have done to change his perceptions, given that Morgan went out of her way to lie to and deceive him?
7. Is Morgan a gold-digger or just plain crazy?
8. Do you feel sorry for Will? Why or why not?
9. Do you think Will’s meeting Morgan on April 1, April Fools’ Day, should have been a sign that he might later be a fool?
10. Were you aware that domestic violence does not just stop with physical force?
11. Without naming any names, do you know of any men who are victims of domestic violence?
12. Were you aware that men can be victims of domestic violence?
13. Without naming any names, do you know of any women who are victims of domestic violence?
14. Are you aware of the local and national agencies that help men and women with domestic violence? If not, a quick search on the Internet can offer a wealth of information about domestic violence resources.
15. *But, remember, if you are a victim of domestic violence, be careful in how you use your computer and other forms of communication, because information can be traced by an abuser.
National Domestic Violence Information
Anonymous & Confidential Help 24/7
Web site: www.ndvh.org
Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
Local Domestic Violence Phone Number:
About the Author
Monique Miller is a native of North Carolina. She currently lives in the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina area with her family. For more information about the author, you can log on to www.authormoniquemiller.com or contact her at [email protected].
Urban Christian His Glory Book Club!
Established in January 2007, UC His Glory Book Club is another way to introduce Urban Christian and its authors. We are an online book club supporting Urban Christian authors by purchasing, reading, and providing written reviews of the authors’ books. UC His Glory Book Club welcomes both men and women of the literary world who have a passion for reading Christian-based fiction.
UC His Glory Book Club is the brainchild of Joylynn Jossel, author and Executive Editor of Urban Christian and Kendra Norman-Bellamy, author and copy editor for Urban Christian. The book club will provide support, positive feedback, encouragement, and a forum whereby members can openly discuss and review the literary works of Urban Christian authors. In the future, we anticipate broadening our spectrum of services to include online author chats, author spotlights, interviews with your favorite Urban Christian author(s), special online groups for UC His Glory Book Club members, ability to post reviews on the website and amazon.com, membership ID cards, UC His Glory Yahoo! Group and much more.
Even though there will be no membership fees attached to becoming a member of UC His Glory Book Club, we do expect our members to be active, committed, and to follow the guidelines of the book club.
UC His Glory Book Club members pledge to:
• Follow the guidelines of UC His Glory Book Club.
• Provide input, opinions, and reviews that build up, rather than tear down.
• Commit to purchasing, reading, and discussing featured book(s) of the month.
• Respect the Christian beliefs of UC His Glory Book Club.
• Believe that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God.
We look forward to the online fellowship.
Many Blessings to You!
Shelia E. Lipsey
President
UC His Glory Book Club
**Visit the official Urban Christian His Glory Book Club website at:
www.uchisglorybookclub.net
Urban Books, LLC
78 East Industry Court
Deer Park, NY 11729
Quiet As It’s Kept Copyright © 2011 Monique Miller
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-5998-3200-5
ISBN 10: 1-60162-792-0
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living, or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
Distributed by Kensington Corp.
Submit Wholesale Orders to:
Kensington Publishing Corp.
C/O Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Attention: Order Processing
405 Murray Hill Parkway
East Rutherford, NJ 07073-2316
Phone: 1-800-526-0275
Fax: 1-800-227-9604
webkit-filter: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
Quiet As It's Kept Page 23
