Church Boyz--Book 4 (After the Rain)

by H. H. Fowler

  Leroy woke with a start, frantically looking around at his enclosed space. When he saw Mackey behind the wheel of his Escalade, his disorientation began to ebb away. They’d not too long left the hospital. The last thing Leroy remembered before he’d slipped into the passenger seat and relaxed his head against the headrest was telling Michelle that he was going home to get her a change of clothing and a few hygienic items. Leroy knew Michelle was not about to leave her mother’s side or that of their sons anytime soon.

  Mackey glanced at Leroy through his peripheral view. “You seemed to have had a bad dream.”

  Leroy sat up and rubbed his eyes. “I sure hope it was just that and not a warning of what’s to come.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My dream was word for word about what the doctor had explained to us about Rachel and our sons’ conditions, except for the part where Rachel died from her injuries.”

  “I can see why that would frighten you,” Mackey said. “But I think your wife would have called you by now had there been any changes. Everyone is praying for you and your family – and of course, Rachel. I understand her injuries are not life-threatening. So she’s gonna pull through, just like your sons will. This is just a little bump in the road toward their destiny.”

  Leroy grew quiet, mostly because he did not want to lose it in front of Mackey. But it was comforting to know that he’d found a friend in the gentle giant. His words may not be as profound as the late Abraham Winder, but they were equally as warm as they were encouraging. It wasn’t long after Leroy reconnected his head with the headrest that his cell began to vibrate. Thinking that it could be Michelle, he reached for it out of his pants pocket. To his dismay, however, it was an email alert coming in from Ellie.

  Leroy spat, “Of all the times, this young child decides to mess with me.”

  “If it’s Ellie, don’t read or respond to it,” Mackey said. “Your focus should be on your sons and their recovery from this accident.”

  “How do I not respond when she is making it so hard to resist?”

  “She is doing this to lure you into a trap. Don’t fall for it, sir.”

  Leroy opened Ellie’s email message and read it, despite Mackey’s warning.

  I just want to say that I was thinking about you all day. You mean the world to me, Leroy and no matter what your wife says, I will never do anything to hurt you. I love you. If only you could remember our time together, when you introduced me to a world I never knew existed, you would see that I’m right for you. I get hot all over my body whenever I think about your kisses. Your handsome face and your gentle touch. Our son reminds me of you in so many ways. He has the shape of your head and those bewitching eyes that could stop traffic a mile back. I would do anything to be with you again…”

  “Sir,” Mackey called. “We’ve arrived at your home.”

  Leroy did not respond. He kept staring at his phone as if being held captive by a spell. Mackey could see he was distraught by the position of Leroy’s shoulders, the way they drooped in regret. He reached out and gave Leroy a pat on his back. It was enough to break Leroy’s gaze.

  “I’m sorry,” Leroy said. “This is just hard for me. I wish I could go back into my past to change some things. But we all know that it’s not possible.”

  Mackey did not know what to say. He too, wished he could change some things in his past, especially as it pertained to his ex-wife. “I will be right back to pick you up,” he said, “if that is okay with you.”

  “Trying to find Michelle’s things could take a while,” Leroy said. “Take as long as you need.”

  Mackey smiled. “Thanks, but I won’t need much time. I will be right back.”

  As soon as Leroy disappeared through the grand entry, Mackey quickly set about his agenda. About six miles from the Paxtons’ estate, Mackey pulled toward an inconspicuous spot in a middle class neighborhood where he’d once lived. In the driveway of a detached two-story home, he noticed a familiar black car he’d seen parked there on previous nights. Mackey’s initial reaction was to jump out of the Escalade, walk over to the driveway and then flatten all the tires of the black car.

  However, a stronger force was keeping his anger in check and Mackey knew it had to be the Holy Spirit. He released his foot off the brake and slowly let the Escalade drift forward. The black car belonged to the Senior Treasurer, Bernard Rockford. Mackey was no fool to believe that Bernard was there on platonic terms. The hour was completely inappropriate for a friendly visit. Clearly, his ex-wife was having an affair with a married man. But why did he care anything about his ex-wife’s sexual escapades, when he was the one who’d first cheated on her? Plus, they weren’t together anyway. He cared because he was still madly in love with his ex-wife.

  Lord, Mackey mumbled softly, give me the wisdom to go about this situation the right way, because the way I feel at the moment, I know I’m gon’ do something stupid. This woman knows that I still love her. Why is she trying to get even with me by having a married man in the home we once shared? Lord, please, don’t abandon me to my own devices.

  ****

  When Tayah finally made it home from the hospital, it was shortly after midnight. She was certain Dominic and the twins were asleep by now. But she checked in on them anyway, just to be sure. However, there was no way that she could go to bed now – not when her emotions were working tirelessly to send her out of her mind. She had spent a significant amount of time at her brothers’ bedsides, thinking how close she came to losing them. Then she visited her grandmother, only to ponder in her heart whether or not God really cared about her family.

  Was He punishing her for being disobedient or was He still trying to get a message through to her? Observing her family members, lying so still in those hospital beds, made Tayah realize that the sickest didn’t always go the quickest. Many people who appeared to be in good health – young and old – died suddenly, without any forewarning, which would have probably prepped them for the afterlife had they known their time of expiration was at hand.

  That got Tayah thinking strongly about Phillip and how she’d turned a deaf ear to his pleas to forgive him. The man was dying, but who was to say that she would live to see tomorrow? As healthy as she felt on the inside, she could die in her sleep with hatred and bitterness locked away in her heart. Phillip had an excellent chance of walking through the pearly gates; she, on the other hand, would probably be turned away.

  God had succeeded in getting her to see that tonight. And as she went into the kitchen to fix a cup of chamomile tea, snippets of Phillip’s words began to finally take root in her heart. How clear the message had been even then, but she’d been too full of pride to accept it as something from the divine. “You don’t think I’ve suffered enough, do you? Or is it that you can’t stomach that I’m leaving this world without your forgiveness? Do the right thing, Tayah, because it’s not easy to live with regrets…”

  Tayah sipped her tea in silence, agonizing over her next move. A move she knew would create severe tension between her and Dominic. But there was no going back. It was important that she clear her conscience.

  TWO WEEKS LATER

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ellie reread another email she was about to send to Leroy. But first, she needed to let Shaniece look it over to make sure her words were strong enough to frighten Leroy into action. He wasn’t responding to any of her messages. Maybe she was being too soft and too romantic. A powerful man like Leroy seemed to only be controlled by malicious women like Shaniece. Ellie printed out a copy of the email and stuffed it in her bag. As soon as she dropped lil’ man off at school, she would make the thirty-minute drive to Hillsborough Women’s Prison. She checked her voluptuous figure in the mirror one last time before she and her son walked through the front door.

  A little over two weeks ago at the MOSI, Michelle had insulted her and had made her feel stupid and unable to retaliate. And it had taken her this long to recover from that humiliating experience. But this rou
nd Ellie vowed she would come out swinging with everything she had. She didn’t care how hard Michelle tried to sabotage her plans to rekindle her love affair with Leroy. Leroy was the only man she wanted and she would do whatever was necessary to woo him back into her bed.

  Ellie often compared her youthful twenty-two-year-old body to Michelle’s used-up frame, who would be turning fifty in several months. And although Michelle could pass for a woman ten years younger, Ellie was certain her sexual agility would win against Michelle’s tired behind, if Leroy would be honest about it. Leroy had been married to that old flesh for almost thirty years. Michelle’s time had been served and it was now time for Leroy to replenish himself with the decadent pleasures of sex. Yes, Ellie believed she was the only one who could fulfil Leroy’s every fantasy and make him feel like the virile man that he was.

  Ellie giggled to herself as she recalled that night when Leroy messaged her for the first time over the internet. He had been so open about his feelings, revealing to her his deepest sexual secrets. He feared that she was younger than eighteen and at the time she was, but she had convinced him that she was old enough for them to meet and could indulge in as much sex as they wanted. A devious move on her part, but Leroy fell for it and since then Ellie’s body had never been the same with all its unruly cravings and desires. In Ellie’s mind, Leroy’s fiery touch felt just as hot as it had seven years ago.

  At exactly eight-thirty in the morning, Ellie pulled into the parking lot of her son’s school. Her gaze casually moved to the left and for a second she absorbed the scene in silence. Some kids, who looked about the same age as her son, were walking and holding their fathers’ hand. How beautiful it was to see men invested in their children that way. Ellie felt her eyes stinging with tears, because it was exactly the kind of life she wanted for her son.

  “Mummy,” he prompted her, “why are you staring?”

  Ellie smiled in turning to her son. “You are so observant. And so smart and soooo handsome –just like your father. What I’m gon’ do with you?”

  Lil’ man shrugged his little shoulders and said, “I don’t know.”

  Ellie laughed at how mature his expression appeared for a six year old.

  “I want to see my daddy. You remember you promised to take me to see him?”

  “Of course I remember, sweetie,” Ellie said. “I would want you to see your father every day, if possible. But right now it is not so easy.”

  “Why?”

  Because of that witch of a wife Leroy has hanging around, Ellie wanted to say, but instead, she kissed her son on his forehead and said, “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about a thing. Mummy has made you a promise and I will see to it that it’s taken care of. Okay?”

  Lil’ man simply nodded, despite his wanting to ask Ellie a dozen more questions.

  “That’s my big boy. Now give Mummy a hug.”

  ****

  By the time Ellie made it to Hillsborough Women’s Prison, her determination to pursue Leroy had strengthened, more so because of her son’s desire for Leroy to be a part of his life. Wanting Leroy for herself was one thing, but it was another thing to watch her son grow up without a father. Ellie did not get why Michelle would want to stop a little boy from getting to know the man who’d helped bring him into this world.

  It wasn’t Ellie’s fault that Leroy had cheated on Michelle and did not tell her that he’d gotten a fifteen-year-old girl pregnant. At the time, Ellie didn’t even know that Leroy was married with a family of his own, or that he was the influential bishop of a mega church. Leroy had passed himself off as an unmarried businessman, who had a lot of money to spend on pleasing the pleasures of his flesh.

  So, Ellie didn’t feel as if she was doing anything wrong in pursuing the man who’d given her so much to live for. Michelle had had thirty years with him. Surely, she would be considerate enough to let Leroy enjoy his later years with the mother of his six-year-old son. Those thoughts faded into the background of Ellie’s mind when she heard the steel door crank open. In wheeled Shaniece, looking as miserable and as fat as the last time Ellie had seen her.

  Ellie picked up the receiver and said into Shaniece’s ear, “You could at least smile when you see me.”

  “What the hell is there to smile about?” Shaniece snapped. “You’re out there and I’m in here, stuck in this stupid wheelchair.”

  “Don’t be such a grouch, Shanny. It is all your own doing.”

  “Why must you remind me of that every time you visit me? Get over it or don’t come back here.”

  Ellie cut her eyes away from Shaniece to tame her own anger. When she looked back at her sister, she was sporting a wicked smile. “I want you to read something,” she said.

  “I’m not in the mood,” Shaniece spat.

  “What’s the matter with you today?”

  “You think the world revolves around you and your silly dreams of getting back together with Leroy. Well, I don’t want to hear it. I’ve got more important things to think about.”

  Ellie tilted her head and smiled. “Like what? Breaking out of prison?”

  “Don’t be an idiot, Ellie. Even if I was planning to do that, you have already spoilt it for me by saying it. Our conversations are being monitored.”

  “Well, I was only trying to be sarcastic,” Ellie said in her defense.

  “It didn’t work.”

  “You are so mean and disgusting. Phillip was the total opposite and to this day I don’t understand how he ended up with the same fate as you.”

  Shaniece held her peace as the last seven years of her life came into focus. She’d schemed, lied and manipulated her subjects into her evil plots. It didn’t even matter if they were members of her own family. But it was too late to feel any real remorse. How sad it was that Phillip was dying from colon cancer while still being incarcerated, but that didn’t make her punishment any less tragic. Even if she got out of prison one day and tried to have a normal life, she couldn’t get around much with two fat legs that didn’t work.

  The fact that her plan with Phillip wasn’t making any real headway was the reason behind her foul mood. She’d just received another letter in the mail from him, complaining about how broken he was over this situation with Tayah. Shaniece didn’t care about Phillip’s senseless need to be reconciled with his ex-wife. She was trying to get her behind out of prison. But how silly of her to assume that her weak, pathetic brother could offer her any help.

  “Tayah showed up,” his letter began. “So I guess I have you to thank for that. But I’m afraid that I may have made matters worse. She wants nothing to do with me and I can’t tell you how much that pains me. How will I know if she has forgiven me, when it feels as if I’ve seen the last of her? I pray the Lord will continue to work on Tayah’s heart because she is too much of a good person to let unforgiveness sit on her conscience.

  “Anyway, if these happen to be my final words to you, I just want to say thank you for helping me to get my wish – even though it didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped. Know that I love you and will be praying that you will listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit…”

  “Shanny,” Ellie called for the third time.

  “What?”

  “I asked you about Phillip’s condition. How is he doing?”

  “Last time I heard, he is still dying. Who cares, anyway? He can’t help me.”

  “Shanny that is so heartless of you to say!”

  “It’s the truth. If that unfaithful wife of his doesn’t get him out of prison on compassionate release, my chances are shot.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “You ask too many questions. This is my problem, not yours.”

  “Okay, but you’re forgetting one thing, Shanny. Phillip doesn’t have a wife anymore, remember? Tayah divorced him and married a guy named Dominic.”

  Shaniece scrunched up her sanctimonious nose and spat, “In the eyes of God, Tayah Paxton-Benjamin will always be Phillip Benjamin’s wife. And she
needs to do the right thing by getting him out of prison and into her home, where she can properly care for him until the last breath leaves his body.”

  “No, Shanny. Our brother is not Tayah’s responsibility anymore. Leave that woman alone, because you and my brother have caused her enough pain.”

  Shaniece leaned forward, her gaze as hard as steel. “You listen to me, you duplicitous moron. As soon as you ditch your dumb pursuits of going after Leroy, I will withdraw my efforts of destroying that family. But until then, don’t you dare reprimand me about my actions. Isn’t that the reason why you’ve come to visit me today? To read the words of a lovesick idiot who doesn’t have sense enough to know when to quit and move on with her life? Wake up, Ellisa. Leroy will never be yours! Never!”

  “Shanny, you are so cold…”

  Tears quickly filled Ellie’s eyes, but before the droplets had a chance to crawl to her quivering lips, Ellie violently pushed to her feet and then dropped the receiver. She rushed away without looking back. She made up in her mind that it would be a long time before she ever visited Shaniece again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Each time Michelle entered Sean’s hospital room, she noticed the amount of flowers kept increasing, as well as the fruit baskets, the get-well balloons and other expressions of support. In all the years she’d been their mother, Michelle had never seen such an outpouring of love and concern for her children. The youth arm of the church had pretty much outdone themselves, with audio and video footage of their kind words and warm greetings. Unfortunately, Sean could not hear or see any of it because he had not yet roused from his coma.

  Michelle’s gaze hovered over her son, observing the steady rise and fall of his chest. It seemed as if he were enjoying a peaceful nap and that a touch from Michelle’s concerned fingers would be enough to open his eyes. But the doctors explained that it could be days or even weeks before Sean would be able to shake himself out of this coma. He’d suffered a significant blow to the head when it smashed into the windshield, causing quite a bit of swelling to the brain. The abrasions on his face and arms were healing nicely, a far cry from how wounded he’d looked the day of the accident.