After all these years, Elizabeth still hadn’t figured out how to read her husband’s body language. She only prayed that what he had been displaying to her was the truth, and that Kenneth still loved and adored her and wasn’t willing to lose his wife over some fling. But if he wasn’t having an affair, then what was the problem? Elizabeth desperately needed the Lord to give her a clue or something.
Chapter 12
“Honestly, though, I don’t know what has gotten into Elizabeth. I haven’t given that woman one reason to suspect that I’m cheating on her,” Kenneth told Isaac and Keith, as the three of them sat around Isaac’s kitchen table sharing a bucket of chicken, greens, and baked beans—compliments of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
“Seems like it’s something in the water, because Nina has been tripping on me lately too.” Isaac shook his head. “She’s giving me more grief recently about my ministry than she ever gave me when I was rocking it in the streets.”
“What’s that about, though?” Keith asked, a perplexed look on his face.
“It started after Lou and Bobby-Ray tried to get even with me for what we did to their fathers by harming Ikee… Nina has been through so much already because of my past.”
“No doubt,” Keith interjected. “There was that other time that Mickey came after Donavan and ended up shooting both Nina and Donavan.”
Then Kenneth added, “And when that crazy woman tried to kill Iona to get back at you for killing her father, Nina and Elizabeth stayed up the whole night praying in order to get y’all out of that situation.”
“Okay, okay.” Isaac held up a hand. “I don’t need any more reminders of what my past sins have done to this family. Y’all haven’t forgotten and neither has Nina. As much as she may have tried to forgive and forget… I just don’t think she’s there yet. I really can’t blame her though. I mean, look who she married. And on top of that I know this whole thing is eating at her because the woman lives by the rule of ‘forgive and forget’. But too much has happened for Nina to be able to cast anything out of her mind. So, we’re stuck right now.”
“Looks like Elizabeth and I are stuck too. I always thought that she had not only forgiven me for the affairs I had early on in our marriage but, just like God does with our past sins, she had chosen to forget about it and count me as a new man. But when she accused me of cheating on her with no basis for the accusation at all, I realized that my wife/probation officer has had me on lock all these years, just waiting for me to step out of line so she could pounce.”
“But did you step out of line?” Isaac asked. Isaac figured that the problems in his marriage were caused by his past dirty dealings. So, yeah, he could own the fact that he had given Nina plenty of cause for the way she was acting. But Isaac also knew that Elizabeth could be a handful at times.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t dream of being unfaithful to my wife. She’s just giving me grief because according to her, I must be trying to hide some secret if I don’t want to do this reality show with her.”
“What’s your secret?” Keith asked.
“I’m an open book, man. I told her that I think this reality show is not good for us because I don’t want to put the people who come to the homeless shelter on display. And, this might be a little selfish of me, but I don’t want to be on display either.”
“From what I’ve seen of those reality shows, they seem to bust up a lot of marriages,” Isaac said.
“Thank you.” Kenneth high-fived Isaac for the comment. “And I’m not trying to lose my marriage just so Elizabeth can sell a few more CDs. That just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Keith got up from the table. He opened the fridge and pulled out a soda, all the while grinning and chuckling as he came back to the table.
“What’s got you so tickled?” Isaac asked.
Keith pointed from Isaac to Kenneth. “The two of you. My wife was supposed to be the bad girl of the bunch, but she’s not giving me half the grief your wives are giving you.”
“That’s because she brought all the drama at the beginning of the marriage. She probably thinks that you’ll pack your stuff and get gone if she causes you one more problem,” Isaac told his friend, now laughing as well because Cynda had been a serious mess back in the day.
Isaac had dated her first, but he couldn’t deal with her because she had too many issues. However, Isaac had no idea that when he and Cynda called it quits that she was pregnant. Years later he discovered that he had a daughter that Cynda never told him about. Iona came to live with him when Cynda went on trial for murdering her pimp. Once Cynda had been cleared of that murder, Keith got it in his head that God wanted him to be with Cynda. Isaac had tried to warn him that the girl was nothing but trouble. Now, Isaac was thankful that Keith hadn’t listened to him, because after all these years, Cynda turned out to be all right. They had even managed to become friends.
“I’m going to tell her what you said,” Keith said as he kicked his feet up on the table and leaned back in his chair like a man without a problem in the world. “But I’m real sorry that the two of you are having these problems with your women.”
“Yeah, sure you are,” Isaac said, knowing that Keith was thoroughly enjoying this moment. But he wasn’t hating, after all that Cynda put Keith through at the beginning of their marriage, homeboy deserved all the peace he could get.
“One thing is for sure,” Kenneth began, “when Elizabeth gets back here, she and I are going to have it out. I am going to make that woman understand that I’m not willing to tear down the beautiful marriage that we worked so hard for, just so she can feel like queen bee of the gospel music industry once again.”
Isaac wanted to give Kenneth a big ‘atta-boy’, because he liked the way Kenneth was talking about standing up to Elizabeth. In Isaac’s opinion, Kenneth didn’t do that enough, and that was just what Elizabeth needed. But at the moment, Isaac didn’t know how to solve his own problem with Nina, and until he could handle his own business, he wasn’t about to get in anybody else’s.
They had been sitting around Isaac’s kitchen table while they waited for an email to come through letting them know if another tent was available. Isaac’s iPhone beeped, letting him know a message was waiting. He picked up his phone, read the message, and then told Keith and Kenneth what it said. “Here’s the deal. They have an extra tent, but all their workers are already out at other locations. So if we want it, we’ll have to put it up ourselves.”
“So why are you looking like we just lost hope?” Keith asked.
“Maybe we can round up some of the young men from the church,” Isaac said, still looking as though he thought the task was too much for them.
“What are you saying?” Kenneth began to laugh. “You think we’re too old to put that tent up?”
“You two are good friends, so I don’t want to be responsible for a broken hip or your back going out.”
“What he’s saying is, we’re too old,” Keith said, then stood up and flexed his muscles. “But Isaac can speak for himself, because I still have a lot of miles left in this old tank.”
“Okay then, old man, let’s go get this tent.” But as the three of them headed to the car, Isaac said, “I think I’ll see if I can get a few of the ministers to meet us at the spot.”
Both Kenneth and Keith quickly agreed, “That’s a good idea. These young ministers need to experience the grunt side of ministry.
~~~~
After receiving their orders from the captain of the Host, Brogan, Nathan, and Arnoth descended from Heaven down to Earth. They had on white work shirts, boots, and overalls.
Isaac got out of his SUV and started passing out gloves to the workers. As he stood in front of Brogan , Nathan, and Arnoth, he smiled, “You boys came prepared to work. I like that.”
“We believe in your ministry, Pastor. So, we just want to help in any way possible,” Brogan told his charge. He’d been watching over Isaac for many years now, but this was the first conversation he’d ever had wi
th him. He was thankful that the captain of Host still trusted him when it came to Isaac’s safety.
He’d had a couple of close ones. Isaac had been shot on his watch and had been knocked unconscious, but, through it all, Brogan had kept his charge alive. He prayed that he would do a better job of protecting Isaac this go around.
They got to work building the tent. The men were in good spirits as they discussed the upcoming revival. Some had helped out at the other street revivals and they were busily giving an account of all the souls that had given their lives to the Lord. Another volunteer walked toward the back fence, pointing as he asked, “Has anyone seen this?”
He was pointing at the words ‘cancel the revival or die here’.
Isaac popped the trunk on his SUV and told the volunteer, “I’m glad you mentioned that.” He pulled out a can of white paint and a paint brush. “I almost forgot to cover that up.”
Arnoth nudged Brogan. “Your charge has a knack for ticking people off.”
“He is a much needed warrior in this fight for souls. And I’m honored to go to battle for him.”
“Good, because it looks like we’re going to be doing some of that sooner than we thought,” Nathan said as he turned Arnoth’s and Brogan’s attention to the hills from which evil was lurking.
“Let’s get this tent finished so we can take care of these demon spawns before they can wreak havoc on the humans.” With that said, Nathan shoved the last three poles into the ground while Brogan and Arnoth pulled the covering above the poles and then secured the tent to the poles.
Keith’s mouth hung open as Isaac said, “We’ve been out here struggling with this tent for two hours now, and the three of you put the finishing touches on it within minutes. That’s got to be some kind of record for putting up a tent that will fit at least five hundred people underneath it.”
“We’re just doing our part.” Brogan stood staring at Isaac a moment too long. This was his charge and he prayed that he would be able to deliver Isaac from the evil that wanted to take him out. But there was no time to lose. The demonic forces were steadily approaching, so they needed to get busy kicking some demon butt. “All the best to you, Pastor. We will see you tomorrow.”
“Where are you going?” Isaac asked. “Don’t you remember? I’m treating all the volunteers to pizza.”
“We can’t stay, but thanks for the offer.” Brogan put a hand on Isaac’s shoulder, squeezed it and then released as he and his crew walked away from them.
“You weren’t supposed to touch him. You are tempting fate and Captain Aaron will not like that one bit,” Nathan said self-righteously.
“Oh, you mean the same way you tempted fate when you pulled Kenneth out of the rubble that had once been the World Trade Center?”
Nathan couldn’t answer for himself, but Arnoth had no trouble jumping in. “That was a life or death situation. Kenneth would have died if Nathan hadn’t pulled him out when he did. But you are testing fate at your whim. We weren’t supposed to even talk to these humans, but since you’re in charge we had to follow your lead. And now look at what you’ve brought down on us.” Arnoth pointed to the cloud of dust that was barreling toward them like a whirlwind.
“Save it Arnoth, because you didn’t have a problem with talking to your charge. If I recall correctly, you were even knighted for the way you handled Cynda.” Brogan had no more time for talking, his workman clothes disappeared as he pulled out his sword. “Let’s take care of business.”
Nathan and Arnoth pulled their swords out and joined Brogan as they stood in the middle of the street. Brogan lifted his sword and shouted, “By the God I serve and His son Jesus Christ, I command you to halt!”
The whirlwind stopped, but that’s when the trouble began. They were now face to face with the biggest, ugliest, grizzly-looking demons they’d encountered in years. Their heads were like bats and they had ten-inch fangs. Nathan had dealt with demons like these when he’d pulled Kenneth out of that rubble. It was the worse fight he’d ever been in. He turned to Brogan and said, “This won’t be easy.”
“It never is,” Brogan told him as he charged into the fray, screaming, “It ends here! You will not defeat the man of God!”
“We’ve already defeated him. You just don’t know it yet,” one of the demons spat the words out. They were his last, because within the next second, Brogan had split him in two.
They went on and on throughout the night. The rain descended and they kept fighting. The electricity went out in homes all around town. The homeowners call the electric companies and trucks were sent out to repair the lines, but after one line was repaired another would be knocked down, until the workers finally gave up. They decided they’d come back once the rain let up. But it didn’t let up all night long.
By morning Brogan, Arnoth, and Nathan lifted their bloody swords toward Heaven and said, “For all that is holy and for all that is right.”
Chapter 13
As Nina opened her eyes and stared at the sleeping form of her baby boy as he lay in the double bed next to hers, she was struck by how much he looked like his daddy—how much he looked like a grown man, a grown man who was capable of making his own decisions. Nina’s eyes closed as she tried to block out the facts that were right in front of her.
Turning away from Ikee, she glanced out of the window. The ocean that seemed to go on forever was romantic and inviting, and at that moment, she was struck by one singular thing—she wanted to be with her husband. Not wanting to wake Ikee up, Nina climb out of her bed, grabbed her cell phone, and went out on the balcony.
She should have been at home with her husband, helping him with his ministry, not on vacation, basking in the sun and lying around the pool in Puerto Rico. Guilt was consuming Nina’s heart, and all she wanted to do was hear Isaac’s voice. It was seven in the morning. She knew that her husband preferred to sleep until eight, but this was the morning of the street revival; he had most likely gotten up an hour ago to spend some time in prayer.
The phone only rang about one and a half times before Isaac’s deep, sexy voice bellowed a greeting into her ear. A tear drifted down Nina’s face as she confessed, “I miss you so much.”
“I was just thinking the same thing. Then I prayed and asked the Lord to send you back to me.”
Nina closed her eyes and drew in a long, deep breath. “What am I doing, Isaac? Why on earth did I even considering leaving you alone at a time like this? I’m supposed to be helping you, not on vacation.”
“You did what you thought was right, baby. I can’t be mad at that.”
There had been a time in their lives when Isaac wasn’t good to her or for her. Before Isaac gave his life to the Lord, he’d never been concerned about what made her happy, not really. Isaac wanted what Isaac wanted, and what Nina wanted had always been an afterthought. But these days, her husband concerned himself with making her happy. So, if Isaac wouldn’t put an end to those street revivals, Nina should have realized that they were bigger than what was between them. This was a God thing—that’s why Isaac couldn’t stop. “You should be mad. I left you and Keith to do God’s work, while I just ran away.”
“It’s alright, Nina. God’s got us. I have a feeling about today’s event. It’s going to be the best one yet.”
“I’ll be praying for you.” Nina truly meant that. Even through her fears, she could see that Isaac was doing good work. So, she would be praying for his event and for God to give her the strength to stop standing in the way.
“How is Ikee doing?”
“Still hopelessly in love.” Nina shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t know if this girl is some voodoo specialist or what, but she has got our son in her pocket.”
“I took her some groceries yesterday. She seemed to appreciate the effort.”
Nina smiled at how kind her husband had become. “I don’t know how you did it, Isaac Walker, but you have officially become the best man in the world.” If Ikee didn’t change his mind about marrying thi
s girl, Nina would have to eat a lot of humble pie just to keep her family intact.
“Maybe you should take her to lunch or something,” Isaac suggested.
“I think I’ll keep trying to work my magic on this end. But if your son doesn’t budge, I’ll be making those reservations.”
~~~~
“Thank you, Lord. I knew You would bring Nina around,” Isaac said as he hung up the phone. He then showered and got dressed— a button-down shirt, no tie, slacks, and a sports jacket. He didn’t like to over dress when he did these events. People were more comfortable with him and tended to relax and soak in the Word of God better when he appeared more approachable.
Kenneth was waiting for him in the kitchen. He had on a polo shirt and a pair of jeans. Isaac figured that Keith would most likely be wearing a polo shirt and some jeans as well. This was about winning souls, nothing else.
“You ready to go?” Isaac asked.
“Yeah, I just fixed myself coffee and a bagel with that veggie cream cheese you had in the fridge. I hope that was okay.”
“Of course. That’s what it’s there for.”
“Are you going to fix some breakfast before we leave?”
Isaac shook his head. “I can never eat before a revival. And anyway, I want to stop by Ikee’s girlfriend’s house to see if she wants to attend the revival with us.” Isaac grabbed his keys and they left the house.
As they drove down the street, Kenneth said, “I wonder what Elizabeth is doing right now.”
“I don’t know what your wife is doing, but my wife called this morning and said that she missed me.”
“I’m jealous,” Kenneth confessed. “Elizabeth has only called me once and that was only to tell me that she had arrived safely. I guess she’s still ticked off.”
As Isaac pulled up in front of Marissa’s house and turned the engine off, he said, “Elizabeth will come around. Her marriage is more important than some reality show.” Isaac opened the door.
Rain in the Promised Land Page 10
