Silver Lining
Page 1
Silver Lining
Wanda B. Campbell
www.urbanchristianonline.net
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Discussion Questions
About the Author
Urban Christian His Glory Book Club!
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ORDER FORM URBAN BOOKS, LLC 78 E. Industry Ct Deer Park, NY 11729
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Copyright Page
For those who have failed,
but had the courage to get back up again,
this work of ministry is for you.
O LORD my God, I cried out, and you healed me. O LORD, you brought my soul up from the grave; you have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
Psalms 30:2–3 NKJV
Acknowledgments
I’m amazed at releasing my fourth novel in as many years. This journey has truly been awesome!
As always, I give all honor and glory to my Heavenly Father. Thank you for trusting me with this great ministry. Thank you for every mountain I had to climb. It was in the clefts and crevices that I really learned to love you and myself.
Craig, much love for loving me with your best.
My children, Chantel, Jonathan, and Craig Jr.: It has always been my prayer that you follow your dreams and strive to fulfill the purpose God has for your life.
Recently, I had the honor of becoming a grandmother. Little Dinari is my heart, and, yes, I’ve spoiled him rotten.
To Readers and Book Clubs everywhere: Thank you for your continued support. Thousands of books are placed in the marketplace every year. I appreciate the investment of your time and money to support me.
Prologue
Shivers that chilled to the bone caused Marlissa to reach for covers that weren’t there. Like the two previous attempts to cover herself, she came up empty. Frustrated, she tucked her bare arms inside her shirt and shook vigorously, hoping the friction against the musty carpet and her jeans would ignite some heat. Her frivolous effort resulted in a sore shoulder to go along with her already stiff back. Sleeping on the floor in a cheap motel definitely held its disadvantages. Yet, it beat a park bench or homeless encampment.
She moaned and turned her chilled body in the opposite direction to block out undisputed evidence that she’d lived to see another day in what she considered hell on earth. This had to be hell. Mentally, she’d died and gone to hell. She was just waiting for the physical manifestation. Desperately, she prayed that the demons assigned to transport her into the deepest, uttermost part of Hades would hurry. Just how long could a person survive on a diet of Hennessy, vodka, and Cisco, anyway? Hopefully, by evening the devil would be in desperate need of her company, since she didn’t have a dollar to her name and didn’t trust her luck at securing another bodily fluid–stained carpet to lay her head upon.
She grunted, thinking of her beloved husband resting comfortably in his king-sized bed on a pillow top mattress. Like bile, envy collected in her stomach and traveled up her esophagus. With force, she swallowed the melon-sized lump in her throat. It wasn’t Kevin’s fault that she preferred alcohol over him. She’d made her bed and now she’d lie in it, but next time she’d make sure she had an actual bed to lie in.
She peered at the snoring mass beside her and wondered how anyone could sleep so soundly on this filth. Obviously, her drunken comrade had more experience with this lifestyle than she did. The wrinkles and red hue of his skin were indications that he enjoyed the depressing effects alcohol offered just as much as she did, if not more. She wanted to wake him and thank him for the shelter, but first she had to remember his name.
Chapter 1
Marlissa stared intensely at her reflection. The woman looking back at her certainly was not the same hurting, reckless woman who tried to self-destruct almost two years ago with her friends: Hennessy, vodka, and Cisco. Physically, she was the same, except now the red eyes and ashen skin were gone and her hair was longer and thicker. She was also twenty-five pounds heavier now that she was eating her dinner instead of drinking it. Her clothing size had jumped from size eight to size ten. Marlissa didn’t mind because with the added weight, her five foot eight frame didn’t resemble that of an anorexic anymore.
Emotionally, anxiety and grandiosity, along with isolation, started their retreat the night she walked down that long aisle to the altar at Restoration Ministries. With only inches separating her and the minister, Marlissa dropped to her knees and surrendered her life to the Lord. At the time, Marlissa could not say she really believed in God, or was even sober for that matter, but the words spoken by the preacher sparked hope in the core of her wounded being. Real hope; that was something she had not felt in years.
As a child, Marlissa’s grandmother sent her to church on a regular basis. During Sunday School, Marlissa had listened intently to what she called the greatest fairy tales she had ever heard. On Christmas and Easter, although Marlissa recited her preprinted speech with style, she could not feel or relate to the words on the index card. Marlissa viewed Jesus as a Prince Charming or superhero who would one day come and clean the world of all the bad people. He would take away the rain and the thunder. The world would be covered with green grass and people and animals would live in the fields together. Jesus was the person to call on in trouble. But on her day of trouble, He didn’t come for her. Marlissa never called Him again until that night she and Leon staggered into church, sloppy drunk.
That was a year ago. Now Marlissa had two new friends: Jesus and Leon Scott. Ironically, she had met Leon at a club during one of her drinking binges. Both being alcoholics, the two understood each other and instantly bonded. Needing a place to live other than on the streets of Oakland, the two became roommates. Together, they accepted the Lord and stopped drinking. Every day was an uphill battle, but each worked hard, and encouraged the other to lean on the Lord, stay sober, and work on mending the fences each had mowed down with a semi truck. Their first order of business was to restore the hearts and relationships their addiction allowed them to break.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to come with you?” Leon asked from the doorway of her bedroom, interrupting her thoughts.
Marlissa’s eyes traveled from her mirrored image to the legal-sized envelope on her nightstand. In slow, deliberate motion, she shook her head from side to side before answering. “Thanks, b
ig bro, but I have to do this by myself.”
Marlissa sometimes called Leon “big bro” because his last name was the same as her maiden name. At thirty-four, Leon was three years older and treated her the way a brother would treat a younger sister, always trying to tell her what to do. Marlissa molded with ease to the role of a nagging sister. Being an only child, Marlissa had always wanted an older brother, someone to look out for her. She did not have a big brother to run home to back then, but, no matter what happened today, Leon’s shoulder would be waiting for her.
“Are you sure?” Leon offered again.
Her eyes moved back to her reflection. “I’ve made my bed and now I have to lie in it. Alone, I might add.”
“Don’t remind me,” Leon responded. He was more familiar with an empty bed than he’d like to have been. His alcohol addiction had cost him his wife of five years and two small children. “Do you know what you’re going to say?”
Marlissa turned to face him and hunched her shoulders. “Other than I am sorry, what do you say to the man you promised to love until death, then twisted his heart until it crumbled?”
It was Leon’s turn to shrug. “Maybe he’ll give you another chance?”
Marlissa turned and began searching her jewelry box for her dangling beaded earrings. “I doubt if that happens. What I really want to do is clear the air. You know, take responsibility for my actions and hope he doesn’t hate me forever.”
“He’s a Christian, remember. He can’t hate you.”
“He is saved, but even saved people have their limit. And trust me; I pushed him past his breaking point.” Marlissa glanced at the envelope again and her eyes watered. “I messed up. I really blew it.”
Leon quickly entered her room and held her, and, for the third time in as many days, allowed her to cry on his shoulder. “We both have, but God is able to restore. Isn’t that what Pastor Drake teaches every Sunday at Restoration Ministries?”
Marlissa sniffled. “Yes.” She then listened as Leon prayed for her pending divorce proceedings and for his reunification with his wife. She couldn’t help but laugh when he made her recite Pastor Drake’s motto: “If God can’t fix it, it can’t be fixed.”
Chapter 2
“Do you think she’ll show?” Kevin asked his lawyer, trying to hide his anxiety of coming face-to-face with his estranged wife. Marlissa was already five minutes late, but that wasn’t unusual for her. Kevin had vivid memories of waiting into the wee hours of the morning for her to come home. Or for the police to call and say they found her passed out on the highway somewhere.
“I doubt it. Neither she nor an attorney responded to the petition. My guess is she probably didn’t read it.” Tyson Stokes pursed his lips. “Then again, I could be wrong. Now that you’re divorcing her, she might sober up long enough to try to take you for every dime.”
Kevin could not believe that, but, then again, he could not believe he had allowed himself to fall in love with and subsequently marry an alcoholic. Kevin thought he was much smarter than that. In hindsight, he saw every warning sign, every flashing red light. He heard every siren, including his mother, Pastor Rosalie Jennings, preaching.
“That woman is not saved, she’s pretending,” is what his mother constantly barked. “She’s hiding something.” Kevin made a habit of discarding anything his mother had to say about the women he liked. No one was ever good enough for her only son. During many lonely nights he reconsidered his practice of tuning out his mother’s voice.
Kevin checked his watch for the umpteenth time. “Ten more minutes and I’m out of here. I have a full schedule this afternoon.”
Riding the elevator to the sixteenth floor en route to Lightfoot & Stokes, attorneys at law, Marlissa reflected on the day she first laid eyes on Dr. Kevin Jennings.
She was rushing through the grocery store entrance as he was leaving, and she banged her leg on his cart.
“Ouch!” she screamed.
“I’m sorry, miss. Are you all right?” The deep voice was enough to make Marlissa temporarily lose focus on the pain. The face and body that accompanied the voice were more than enough incentive for her to put homeboy Cisco on hold, for a while anyway. He was six foot three, she estimated, dark chocolate, with the most developed upper body she had ever seen. It was as if every muscle in his arms and chest had been chiseled by a master designer, then slowly developed. His clean-shaven face housed soft, yet the sincerest, brown eyes she had seen. They instantly drew her into his essence.
“I’m fine. I just banged my leg a little,” she finally answered.
“Can I take a look? I’m a doctor,” he asked. “I just want to make sure the injury is superficial.”
Marlissa did not like the idea of a strange man touching her, but for reasons she could not explain, she did not want to leave this stranger’s presence, not this soon. When she did not respond, he extended his hand to her.
“Hello, I’m Kevin Jennings. And you are?”
“I’m Marlissa Scott,” she answered after bringing her mind into focus. She then gave him a light, impersonal handshake.
“Now that we’ve been officially introduced, follow me to my car and I’ll take a look at your leg.”
Marlissa wasn’t following this strange man anywhere, no matter how fine he was. “Why can’t you check me right here?” she asked, leaning against his cart.
“My prosthesis won’t allow me to kneel.” Kevin pointed to his lower right leg. “If you sit down, I’ll be able to examine you better.”
Suddenly, Marlissa wasn’t smitten anymore. “Hold on, I thought you said you are a doctor. How can you be a doctor and be a cripple? That’s a lame pick-up line and I am not impressed!” Marlissa went on a rampage, shaking her head and waving her finger in his face. “You all up in here talking about follow you outside so you can look at my leg. Humph, for all I know you could be a rapist or something!”
“Hold on!” Kevin raised his voice above hers. “I am not a rapist and I’m not trying to pick you up. I’m a doctor, an ophthalmologic surgeon to be exact. I’m impaired, not crippled. I operate with my hands, not my leg.” Kevin stepped back behind his cart. “I was just trying to help, but for all I care, you can go and sit five hours in the emergency room.” Kevin shook his head and walked away, grumbling, “Crazy woman.”
For a reason Marlissa couldn’t explain, she didn’t want him to think she was really a basket case. “Hold on,” she called after him. When he didn’t stop, she tried to run to catch him, but couldn’t ignore the pain shooting through her leg.
“Ouch!” Her agony was enough to get his attention. Against his better judgment, Kevin stopped and waited for her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I mean, you never know who to trust these days.” Marlissa hoped her smile would soften his stance.
For the first time Kevin took a good look at the crazy woman who had just called him a rapist. Touched in the head or not, she was an attractive woman; tall and leggy and the color of coffee with two servings of cream. The bob haircut outlined high cheekbones and a set of full lips. Her elongated nose revealed her African American and Indian ancestry.
“Maybe you should just go to the emergency room,” he suggested, but not nearly as firmly as before.
“No, I want you to examine me. It’ll save me a lot of time.”
“I’m parked over there.” He pointed to a silver SUV.
They walked to his vehicle in silence. Marlissa watched his every step. Aside from a slight limp, Kevin walked normally and with ease.
“Sit here,” Kevin said after opening his trunk.
Without protest, Marlissa sat down on the base of the vehicle and lifted her pant leg. As Kevin gently examined her, she tried to make conversation.
“What happened to your leg?”
“Car accident when I was a sophomore in high school, severed my right leg below the knee,” Kevin answered without taking his eyes away from her leg. “Does this hurt?” he asked, extending her leg.
“ No.”
“Point and flex your foot.”
She obeyed. “How long have you had an artificial leg?”
“I’ve worn a prosthesis since I was sixteen.” He released her leg.
“You’ve adapted well. If you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known.”
“Nothing’s broken, but you do have a slight bruise. Ice it tonight and you’ll be fine.” Kevin stood upright, signaling that it was time for her to leave. Marlissa sensed his defensiveness and made the first move.
“Kevin, excuse me, Dr. Jennings, thank you for helping me. I really didn’t mean to upset you back there.”
Kevin shrugged. “These days it’s understandable, but it still doesn’t feel good to be called a rapist.”
“It’s not exactly a compliment to be considered certifiably crazy either.”
They let down their defenses and shared a laugh. When they said good-bye twenty minutes later, they’d exchanged numbers and made plans to meet for dinner the following evening.
That was almost four years ago. After a year of dating, they were married in a lavish ceremony at his mother’s church. Marlissa had wanted a small, private wedding, considering she didn’t have much family. She’d never had the honor of meeting the man who’d participated in her conception, and her mother had died during childbirth. Her grandmother had suffered a stroke and died, suddenly, the day after Marlissa turned twenty-one. The only family members Marlissa knew of were a couple of aunts and distant cousins. However, Pastor Jennings had insisted on a grand affair. In Marlissa’s opinion, Rosalie Jennings cared more about making her church friends jealous than she did about her son’s happiness. Their wedding had more to do with her than Kevin and Marlissa. Pastor Jennings chose the colors, the flowers, and the bridesmaids and their dresses. She even selected the favors.
The elevator’s wooden doors parted, bringing Marlissa back to the present. Walking down the hall to suite 1621, she forced the tears back. In a few minutes, she would see the man she’d vowed to spend the rest of her life with. The man who was supposed to be the father of her future children. The man she had intended to forsake all others for. The only man she had ever loved and still loved.