For the first time in Jarrod’s life, he felt a tug in his spirit, like God was listening to him and was working things out. He’d never felt like that before. No prayer, he’d ever prayed had mattered to him as much as this one. Life was breaking him down and causing him to see just how much he needed God... he couldn’t do this by himself.
Princess barked and barked. Then she reached around him and blew the horn several times. Jarrod stopped the car and wiped the tears from his eyes. That’s when he saw Gina running in the street, screaming for help at the top of her lungs.
He blew the horn for her, rolled down his window and waved at her. “Gina, it’s me, Jarrod.”
Gina ran over to the car. “Thank God, it’s you. Marvel has Toya in the house. She held him off so I could run to get help.” Gina jumped in the car with him, and they turned the corner.
As they pulled up to the side of Toya’s townhouse, Jarrod noticed the car that was parked in-between Toya’s place and her neighbors. The headlights were off, but the car was still running. “Have you seen this car before. Do the neighbors have company?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention. I just started running.”
Jarrod got out of the car and slowly walked over to the other car. A shotgun was in the front seat, and a man was tied up in the back seat of the car. The man in the back seat, shook his head as if he was just waking up. Jarrod recognized him.
He tried the door, and it opened. The first thing Jarrod did was take the key out of the ignition and put it in his pocket. He then untied the security guard. The man looked like he’d been worked over pretty good.
“Did he hurt her?” The guard asked as he rubbed his arms and legs.
“I hope not. I’m going in the house now.”
“We’re going to need this.” The guard took the shotgun off the front seat. “That man has a hard-right hook.”
~~~
“What’s that?” Marvel said as he grabbed hold of Toya’s arm, getting ready to escort her to his car. But a horn was honking, just like last time. “If that old lady is out there beating on my car again, I’m going to shoot her this time.”
“What old lady? What are you talking about?” Marvel might have a gun on her, but Toya wasn’t afraid of him this time. Instead, she chose to believe God. He could protect her, and if this didn’t end the way she wanted it to, she would be in heaven, so she wins either way.
“Don’t you worry about it. Just know that I’ve got it handled.” He glanced out the window and saw that the guard was being untied. He then saw the guard grab his shotgun. “Why did I leave that,” he mumbled to himself. Then he put a tighter hold on Toya. “Come on.”
“No, let me go.”
“You are going with me. I’m not letting you get away from me this time.” Marvel tried to grip Toya’s arm tighter. But he couldn’t hold both arms since he had the gun in his other hand.
Toya decided that she wasn’t going to let Marvel trample all over her without a fight. She swung on him, connecting her fist with his jaw. It caught him off guard, so he wobbled backward and dropped the gun. Toya dived on the floor towards the gun.
“Oh no you don’t.” Marvel pulled her back as he got down on the floor with her. They tussled. Toya drug her sharp fingernails across Marvel’s pretty boy face. Marvel yelled and then snatched a handful of Toya’s hair as he smacked her.
Toya’s wasn’t fazed, she wanted to fight back. She had the Armor of God on her side and she wasn’t going down like some punk who didn’t know the power they possessed. But Marvel got hold of the gun and put it to her head. “Get up and walked out this door with me, or I will leave your brains splattered all over this floor for your mother to see.”
Toya couldn’t imagine what seeing something like that could do to a mother. She just knew that she couldn’t let it end here, so she did as Marvel instructed. As she stood, he took the electrical tape off one of the loops on his pants. He put a piece across Toya’s mouth and then pulled her out the back door. “What? Whatcha say I can’t understand you.” He mocked her as she tried to scream with the tape on her mouth. He roughly guided her through the back yard and into the woods out back.
Toya’s words could not be heard by the human ear because of the tape on her mouth. But God was hearing every word she uttered as she said, “I trust You, Lord. I know that I will soon see the salvation of the Lord. You will save me from this monster. And I thank You. Come see about me, Jesus!” She was bound and determined to keep her armor on, right now she was holding up her shield of faith, letting the Lord know that she would never doubt Him again, no matter the situation or the circumstance. “Fix it, Jesus!”
18
“The house is empty,” Jarrod said as he and the guard stamped through it.
“He must’ve taken her into the woods. There’s no light back there so we’ll have to wait for the police before we can do anything.
“I’m not waiting for nobody.” Jarrod went back to the car and got Princess. He took her to Toya’s room and picked up one of her shirts that were on the floor in her closet. Princess sniffed the shirt, then barked. “Let’s go find her, girl.” Jarrod took a flashlight out of the kitchen drawer, then walked with Princess into the woods. The guard followed behind him with the shotgun.
“Is she out here, girl?”
Princess barked and then barked again. She kept barking and wiggling as if she wanted to be free. Jarrod took her off the lease. “Go get her, Princess. Bring Toya back to us.”
Princess took off so fast that Jarrod and the guard had to run at top speed just to keep her in their sights. “Get her, girl,” Jarrod yelled as Princess bark changed to a howling sound.
“Stay back. Don’t you come any closer.”
Jarrod heard the man yell at Princess and then he heard the shot as Princess pounced on the man. “No!” Jarrod screamed.
Princess had jumped on top of Marvel, but the dog had been wounded. She whimpered as blood oozed from her belly.
The guard cocked the gun as Marvel tried to stand. “You’re done. Make another move, and I’ll end it all for you right now.”
Marvel threw the gun about five feet away from him as the guard lifted him off the ground and walked him out of the woods.
Jarrod pulled the tape from Toya’s mouth as they both clung to Princess.
“No, no, no.” Toya was beside herself with grief as Princess laid there whimpering from the pain she felt. She rubbed the dog.
Jarrod put the electrical tape that had been over Toya’s mouth on the dog’s wound. He then took his jacket off and tied it around the dog to slow the bleeding. “I’m going to need your help,” he told Toya.
Toya was beside herself with grief. She clung to Princess as if holding her tight would keep her with them forever.
“Toya, come on. I need your help.”
The tears were flowing so fast that she could barely speak. “Wh.. what are... are we going to do?”
“We’ve got to carry her out of the woods, or she won’t get any help. I’ll pick her up from the bottom, and you’ll have to get her head.”
“I can do that,” Toya said through her tears. She kissed Princess’s fur. “Thank you, Princess. But now we need to help you.” They picked her up. Princess moaned and looked at Toya with sad eyes. Toya couldn’t stop crying. She loved her dog. “Please, God, let her be alright.”
Once they were out of the woods, Gina ran over to them. Jarrod told them, “Stay right here so I can get the car and drive her to the vet.”
“The police are here. They just took Marvel,” Gina told Toya as they both crouched down around Princess.
The two women hugged. “I told you we had nothing to fear.”
“I’m so sorry about Princess. Do you think she’ll be okay?” Gina asked.
“If she lives long enough for us to get her to the vet, she might have a fighting chance.” Toya rubbed Princess and put her mouth close to the dog’s ear. “You’re going to be okay, Princess. You are m
y brave, brave dog, and you are going to be with Jarrod and me for a very long time. Stay with us, Princess. Don’t leave me now, okay. I promise I’ll take you for as many walks as you want and I won’t complain.”
Jarrod pulled up, and they took the dog to the only vet they could find that was still open. Thankfully, this vet was able to perform surgery on Princess immediately. Now, they were just sitting in the waiting room with their family as they waited to find out whether Princess would survive Marvel’s cruelty.
“I’m just so thankful that you are alright,” Yvonne said as she hugged Toya. “I don’t know what I would have done if that man had hurt you.”
“No one will be hurt by Marvel again for a long time. He is going to sit in prison and rot. And for that I’m thankful,” Gina said with that wonderful spark in her eyes that had dwindled the moment she saw Marvel in the mall.
Toya held onto her friend’s hand. “No one will ever hurt you again, Gina. We found the secret, remember.”
Gina nodded, “The Armor of God will protect us from now and evermore.”
“That’s right,” Yvonne agreed, so happy that Toya and Gina truly took hold of the message of the study.
“Wow,” Thomas said, “If that Bible study stuck like that for the women, maybe we should do something for the men. What do you say, Jarrod? You want to help your old man put a men’s program together?”
Head bobbing, Jarrod said, “I could do that.”
The vet came into the waiting room, the look on his face didn’t give away anything. Jarrod took Toya by the hand and helped her stand up. They would face whatever was to come together. “Tell us straight, Doc. How is she?”
“She’s resting. It was a good thing that the bullet missed all her internal organs. It entered and exited without damaging anything. So, all I had to do was sew her back up to stop the bleeding.”
“Praise God.” Toya was so happy, she let Jarrod pull her into an embrace even while her family watched.
He kissed her, as he pulled back, he said, “I love you, Toya, always have.”
She stood there looking at him for what seemed like forever. At first, she wasn’t sure how to respond. This was all new to her, but Jarrod had come to her rescue again as he always had and always would. “Ditto, Bubba. I love you too.”
Jarrod shook his head. “I don't know who Bubba is, but you better get him off your mind and focus on me, because I will fight him if I have to.”
“You won’t have to fight, I promise, I will leave Bubba alone for good.”
“And so, it begins for us.” Toya and Jarrod had a lot to work out, but they were on the same page now. Not only that, they had God on their side, and a threefold cord is not easily broken.
Epilogue
“Mom, are you in here?” Toya asked as she walked into the fellowship hall. Her mother had asked that she meet up with her at the church, but when she arrived all the lights were off. Toya thought that was strange, but she tried the door to the fellowship hall anyway. It opened.
When she stepped in, the lights came on, but they were dim. Glancing around the room, she saw huge balloons floating around the ceiling. The balloons had light strings that clung to them while the remaining string hung in the air creating a spectacular display.
There was a table off to the left that had punch, cake, and finger sandwiches on it. A backdrop clung to the back wall of the fellowship hall with black and blue letters that said Prom 2005. “What is going on here?”
Jarrod walked into the room wearing a black tuxedo with a baby blue shirt. He was holding out a corsage to her. “I figured since people do throwback parties all the time, why couldn’t we do a throwback of our own.”
“You are actually trying to recreate our prom.” She looked so confused as she glanced around the room again. “But how? Why? I don’t have anything to wear.”
He pointed toward the bookstore. “Everything you need is waiting behind that door.” He turned her in the direction of the bookstore and nudged her forward.
Looking back at Jarrod, she said, “But you didn’t have to do this. I mean, we are thirty-two years old. What business do we have at a prom?”
“Woman, just do what I tell you, for once in your life.”
Toya opened the door and stepped into the bookstore. Her mother and Gina were inside waiting for her. “Both of you knew about this, and you didn’t say anything to me?”
Grinning from ear to ear, Yvonne said, “Didn’t Jarrod just tell you to hush that fuss?”
“Mom you don’t care about this kind of stuff. You weren’t even home to help me get dressed for actually senior prom.”
“I’m here now,” Yvonne told her. “And I’m going to enjoy every moment of this prom with you.”
“But Mom, I just don’t get why he’s doing this. And why you allowed him to decorate the fellowship hall like that.”
Gina interrupted her friend. “Have a seat, my lady. The ball is about to begin, and we need to do your hair and make-up.”
“You’re serious. We are really doing this?”
Her mother nodded, then pointed toward the chair.
Toya sat down. On the table next to the chair was a curling iron, hair products and all sorts of make-up. “Where did you get all of this stuff from?”
“After my dad got laid off from his job, I had to model the last two years of college to pay my way.”
“That sounds exciting,” Toya said, seeing another side of her friend.
“Believe me, it wasn’t. But at least I have my degree. The make-up is a side bonus. I’ve probably thrown away half of all the goop I acquired during those days.”
“Okay, so you’re going to take care of my hair and make-up. But Jarrod is standing out there in a whole tuxedo.”
Yvonne walked over to one of the racks in the bookstore and came back carrying this amazing baby blue strapless dress with a sequin halter. Below the halter was a silky long flowing skirt. Toya would have picked this dress out herself if she had seen it. “It’s beautiful, Mom. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Jarrod picked this dress out. He knows you just as much as I do. I finally realized that when I saw the dress. I actually pictured you in this thing. And now you’re about to put it on and go to your prom.”
Toya hopped out of her seat and hugged her mother. She then said, “Okay, let’s do this.”
Within thirty minutes, Toya was dressed, her hair was in an updo, and her make-up was fresh. As she walked back into the fellowship hall, which was now the location of her prom, music began to play. Jarrod was standing in the middle of the floor, holding a handout for her. “Can I have this dance?”
“Well Bubba, since you went to all this trouble, how can I not dance with you?” Toya took his hand and allowed Jarrod to pull her into his arms. They swayed to the music and Toya had to admit that being in Jarrod’s arms felt good. Oh, so good.
“Why did you do all of this?” She asked as they gazed into each other's eyes.
“For your love, baby, I would do anything. Even go back to 2005, one of the worst years of my life.”
Her eyes questioned him. “What made 2005 so bad. We graduated high school and set off for college. We were becoming, developing, and growing back then.”
“All of that was cool. But 2005 was the year I had to say goodbye to you. All else paled compared to the pain I endured.
“Ah, baby.” She ran her hands over his head and kissed him like he was the very air she breathed, and without him, she wouldn’t survive.
They danced, ate snacks, and drank punch. Thomas even entered the room and played photographer for them. By the time she and Jarrod stood in front of their prom backdrop, she was completely convinced that this prom was better than anything she would have ever experience back in high school. Because now she was convinced that what she and Jarrod had was real.
Things got real, real when Jarrod dropped down on one knee in front of their parents and her best friend and said, “Toya, I have loved you for so lon
g that I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in love with you. I need you in my life. Will you please marry me?”
Yep, this was the best prom ever. “Yes!” She shouted and then Jarrod took her in his arms and swung her around. They were always meant to be together. Time, distance and other opportunities... nothing was strong enough to keep them apart and nothing from this day forward would ever come between them again.
The end... of this one, but the saga continues in Book 3 (Got To Be Love) Coming in September 2019... Got To Be Love (Book 3 in the Loving You Series)
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Our Love
For Your Love
Got To Be Love
Releases September 2019
Other Books by Vanessa Miller
Family Business I
Family Business II
Family Business III
Family Business IV
Family Business V
Family Business VI
Our Love
For Your Love
Got To Be Love
Rain in the Promised Land
Heaven Sent
Sunshine And Rain
After the Rain
How Sweet The Sound
Heirs of Rebellion
Feels Like Heaven
Heaven on Earth
The Best of All
Better for Us
Her Good Thing
Long Time Coming
A Promise of Forever Love
A Love for Tomorrow
Yesterday’s Promise
Forgotten
Forgiven
Forsaken
Rain for Christmas (Novella)
Through the Storm
Rain Storm
Latter Rain
Abundant Rain
Former Rain
Anthologies (Editor)
Keeping the Faith
Have A Little Faith
For Your Love Page 11
