Promise of Forever Love

by Vanessa Miller

  “Well….” Michael looked uncomfortable. “I can’t promise you that anything will change, but…I will check out these locations.”

  “That’s all we’re asking, Mr. Barclay,” Thomas said as he and Yvonne stood up and gathered their jackets. “I’m confident that once you’ve reviewed those areas, you will make the right recommendation to the town council.” Without another word, they walked out of the office and headed to the parking lot.

  Once they were in the car, Yvonne broke the silence. “You were awesome!” she cheered, leaning over to hug Thomas.

  “Oh, please. Tell me that when I’ve accomplished something. I couldn’t even get us a meeting with the mayor.”

  “But we were speaking directly with the man in charge of the project,” Yvonne pointed out. “I think that’s better.” She leaned back in her seat and adjusted her seat belt. “This is going to work—I can feel it.” A few weeks ago, when Toya had said that Thomas was her hero, Yvonne had ignored the comment. David had always been her hero, and she’d never wanted to give that title to another man. But day by day, as Thomas handled one thing after the next in order to make things easier for her, Yvonne was beginning to see exactly what Toya meant.

  “Well, aren’t we full of optimism today?” Thomas said with a grin.

  “I’ll admit that I was upset after speaking with your accountant. Who wouldn’t be after learning that a trusted deacon had stolen four hundred thousand dollars—and then disappeared? To tell you the truth, I felt like I was being ‘crucified.’ And I was so drained that I fell asleep in my office chair—”

  “Why didn’t you just lie down on that comfortable sofa? Didn’t you put that in your office for afternoon naps?” Thomas said, his grin mischievous now.

  Yvonne playfully shoved his arm. “No, Thomas Reed, I did not put that sofa in my office just so I could take naps. It’s for visitors. And I was trying to tell you something before I was rudely interrupted.”

  “Sorry. Continue.”

  “I guess God wanted to show me that I was throwing the word around a little too lightly, because when I fell asleep, I had a dream, and it was as if I had been carried back into ancient Roman times. I watched our Savior carry His cross. And I’ve got to tell you, He did a much better job of it than I’m doing.”

  Thomas put his hand on top of Yvonne’s. “You’re being too hard on yourself, Vonnie.”

  “I really don’t think I am. Yes, a lot has happened to me in the past two years: my husband died, my church has been falling apart, my daughter got pregnant, my deacon was robbing the church…and now, someone is trying to take the church from us. But even though things are difficult, nobody’s spitting in my face. No one is nailing me to a tree and murdering me without one just reason for his actions.”

  “When you put it like that, I guess that anything we have to go through doesn’t seem so bad.”

  Yvonne knew that Thomas understood her. He was a godsend, and she hoped that she would always have his friendship. “It’s like a wise man recently told me—this, too, shall pass.” She smiled at Thomas as she repeated his own words. He was smiling back at her, but then his expression changed, and she saw hunger—need—in his eyes. Those beautiful hazel eyes were drawing her in. She leaned closer, in spite of her desire to stop because, if she leaned any closer, she knew they would kiss.

  Yet she was powerless to retreat. It seemed that Thomas was under the same spell, too; although he hadn’t said a word, she still saw the desire for her in his eyes. Yvonne inhaled the strong, manly scent of his cologne and was swept away with the sudden urge to devour this man.

  Yvonne’s phone rang, and the spell was broken. She looked at the caller ID and then said with shaky voice, “It’s Toya. I was going to call and see where she was, but I forgot.” She answered the phone. “Hey, hon! Are you okay?”

  Thomas turned the key in the ignition and started to back his car out of the parking lot.

  “Mom, I’m so sorry I missed the meeting,” Toya said. “Are you still in with the mayor?”

  “Actually, the mayor never showed up. We met with one of his assistants.”

  “You’re kidding! I thought you told me that Dawn scheduled the appointment for the evening because that was the only time the mayor had available.”

  “That’s what we were told, but apparently the mayor had more pressing business out of town. So, he sent the person in charge of the project…which was just as good as meeting with the mayor, or maybe even better, as far as I’m concerned. Thomas gave him a lot to think about, so I’m praying that this will work out in our favor.”

  “It will, Mama. Just keep on believing.”

  “Thanks, sweetie. So, what happened to you?”

  “I went out to dinner with a friend, and when we left the restaurant, the valet couldn’t find his car. We’re at the police station now, filing a report. I just stepped out for a moment so I could call you.”

  “Who is this ‘friend’ you’re out with?” Yvonne asked, trying to sound less concerned than she was.

  “His name is Marvel Williams. Don’t worry, Mama; he’s a nice guy. He has his own company, and I really like him.”

  “So, when do I get to meet this wonderful man?”

  “In two weeks—at the wedding.”

  “Toya, I think I should meet this man before you bring him all the way to the Bahamas, don’t you?”

  “Oh, no. You are way too critical of my boyfriends. This time, I want to make up my own mind. So, I will introduce you to him at the wedding, okay?”

  “Whatever, Toya. I am not critical of anyone. I try to tell you girls what I see, and you just get mad because I’m usually right.”

  Changing the subject, Toya asked, “Did Uncle Thomas think the meeting went well?”

  “He seems to be a little more skeptical on the matter than I am. But I truly think it was a slam dunk! Those people are going to be thinking twice about taking our church from us.”

  They reached Yvonne’s house just as she wrapped up her conversation with Toya. Thomas pulled his car into her driveway and turned off the engine. “Before you go inside,” he said, turning to face her, “I need to talk to you about something.”

  Yvonne took her hand off the door handle and looked at Thomas, hoping that he wasn’t going to ask her about what almost happened between them. By now, she had come back to her senses and knew that kissing Thomas would have been the wrong thing to do. “What’s up?”

  “I know that you are in a happy place, believing everything will turn out all right. But I have some uneasy feelings.”

  “About what?”

  “Well, I think we need to find out who this factory owner is, and why he’s so interested in the church’s land. Who knows? We might be sitting on an oil field or something.”

  She looked at him doubtfully. “In Detroit?”

  “Okay, not oil, but there has to be some reason why these guys have picked our area of town to set up shop.”

  “Do you think we need to hire an investigator or something?” Yvonne asked.

  “Yes, I do. And I want the investigator to find Clarence Brown for us. Do you have any objections?”

  “No, Thomas. I think you’re right. We need to know exactly what we’re up against. Maybe if we find Deacon Brown, we’ll also find some of our money.”

  “And we need to file a police report against Clarence now.”

  “Do you really think so? Can’t it wait until we find him and hear his side of the story?”

  Shaking his head, Thomas said, “We’ve waited too long as it is. We need to be proactive if we’re going to get any of that money back.”

  “Okay, I’ll take care of it tomorrow.” She turned and grasped the door handle again.

  “One more thing,” he added, halting her again. “I talked to Fred Tompkins today, and he asked me if you had another book in the works. He said they’re ready to publish it whenever it’s available.”

  Yvonne pressed her palm to her brow and shook her
head. “With everything that’s going on right now, I just don’t know when I would have the time to write another book.”

  “I think you should consider it, Yvonne,” Thomas said gently. “Getting back into writing may help to take your mind off some of the things we’re dealing with.”

  Although she didn’t want to admit it, she liked the way he kept saying “we” and “us.” They were a team, and she needed him in her life at this point in time. “I don’t think I would be able to focus, Thomas. Tell Fred I said thanks for thinking of me, but right now, I’ve got a wedding to plan.”

  Chapter

  Twelve

  Yvonne had spent the past two weeks finalizing all the details for Tia’s destination wedding in the Bahamas. She was thankful that it would be just a small, intimate affair, for who knows how long it would have taken her to plan a wedding for five hundred-plus guests!

  Meanwhile, Thomas had been working with a private investigator to find Clarence Brown, as well as to uncover the identity of the entrepreneur who wanted to build his factory on the land where Christ-Life Sanctuary currently resided. So far, no productive information about Clarence had turned up, but the investigator had finally found out that the factory owner was a man by the name of Edward M. Williams. The last name rang a bell with Yvonne for some reason, but with everything that was going on, she couldn’t figure out where she had heard it or why it seemed significant.

  Thomas had tried to make an appointment with the man, but Mr. Williams’s office had informed him that the owner would be out of the country for a week. So, Thomas had set up an appointment for the day after Yvonne and he would return from the Bahamas.

  Since they couldn’t get ahold of the factory owner until they returned to the States, Yvonne made up her mind to just relax and enjoy her daughter’s wedding. For the ceremony, Dawn had found a private beach that featured a beach house for the wedding party to get ready. She’d also reserved a nearby reception hall, where the twenty-five guests could celebrate before heading over to the Atlantis to spend the night.

  The groom had invited his parents, his two sisters, three of his cousins, and two of his best friends from college. The rest of the guests were close friends of Tia’s.

  As the color scheme, Tia had chosen ivory and aqua, so Yvonne had purchased a long, formfitting teal dress that actually looked good on her. When Tia had first told her the colors she’d selected, Yvonne had been worried. Aqua was not her favorite color, but the teal complemented her light skin tone surprisingly well.

  With less than an hour until the beachfront ceremony, she left her hotel room to catch a cab over to the other side of the island where the wedding would take place. She was immediately assaulted by the heat as she stepped out of the air-conditioned hotel, and she rushed past the hotel attendant to the cab, praying that the driver had the air on full blast.

  As she was about to get into the cab, Thomas called out to her, “Yvonne, am I glad I caught you!” He jogged over and opened the back passenger door for her, then slid in next to her. “We need to talk.”

  “Who didn’t do what this time?” Yvonne asked, pulling a tissue out of her purse to dab at the perspiration on her forehead. Tia had been complaining almost nonstop since they’d arrived the previous morning. The florist hadn’t sent the right color of flowers (as if there were that many different shades of aqua). Also, the caterers’ menu was not up to par, the DJ’s song list was lacking, and she feared that her tummy showed too much in her dress. Yvonne couldn’t take another complaint from her daughter’s mouth, and she had rather enjoyed the solitude while getting dressed in her hotel room.

  “This isn’t about Tia,” Thomas said. He sighed. “We have a problem with Toya.”

  She looked at Thomas as if he had suddenly grown two heads. “What did that girl do?”

  “Well, I guess the problem is not with Toya, exactly. It’s more like we have a problem with the man Toya is dating.”

  “Marvel? I met him last night. He seems harmless enough. At least he has a job, which is more than I can say for my soon-to-be son-in-law.”

  “I probably shouldn’t have said anything about this before the wedding, but something just doesn’t seem right to me. I mean, if he knew that he would see us this weekend, why didn’t he simply meet with me last week instead of putting me off?”

  “Thomas, what are you babbling about?”

  He turned to face her. “Marvel is Edward M. Williams.”

  “I still don’t understand what has you so upset.”

  “Marvel—he’s the man who wants to build a factory on the land where Christ-Life Sanctuary sits.”

  With all that had been going on recently, Yvonne’s attention span had become very short. She shook her head. “I met Marvel last night. He’s a nice guy. There’s no way he has anything to do with trying to tear down our church.”

  “It’s him, Yvonne.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Because when I met him this morning, I thought I recognized him. But I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure. I went back to my hotel room and called the private investigator. I had him fax me another copy of Edward M. Williams’s picture. It was a match. Then I called Mr. Williams’s office, and his assistant informed me that Mr. Williams was in the Bahamas and could not be reached until he returned to the States next week.”

  Yvonne’s eyebrows shot up and her mouth hung open. When she was finally able to form a coherent phrase, she said, “Are you telling me that Toya is dating the man who is trying to destroy our church?”

  “I don’t know if he thinks of what he’s doing in that manner, but yes, she is dating the man who wants our land.” Thomas paused. “He’s already at the beach house with Toya. When I get over there, I’m going to get some answers out of him.”

  “Do you think it’s a coincidence that the man dating my daughter is the same man who wants to build a factory on our land?”

  “I certainly don’t. I think Mr. Williams is playing some type of game, and we need to figure out the rules as quickly as possible.”

  When they arrived at the beach house, Yvonne and Thomas couldn’t get out of the cab fast enough. The driver yelled, “Hey, you must pay!”

  Thomas ducked his head inside the vehicle, pulled a few bills out of his pocket, and handed them to the driver. “Sorry about that. My mind is on other things.”

  The driver smiled at the cash in his hand. “No problem at all. You call me if you need a ride back.” The man handed Thomas a business card.

  Yvonne left Thomas with the cab driver. The moment she’d gotten out of the car, she’d spotted Toya and Marvel on the front porch of the beach house, wrapped in an embrace and whispering into each other’s ears. “Get away from my daughter!” she shouted as she started up the dozen porch steps, taking them two at a time.

  Toya looked startled and broke away from Marvel. “Mama, what’s wrong?” she asked, her eyebrows arched in confusion.

  Yvonne reached the top step, and she started wagging her finger as she stormed over to Marvel. “I don’t know what kind of sick game you think you’re playing with my family, but you will leave my daughter alone this instant.”

  Thomas bounded up the steps and maneuvered his way in front of Yvonne. “I need to speak with you for a moment, Marvel,” he said.

  “What’s this all about?” Toya demanded.

  “This man is trying to take the land that our church sits on,” Yvonne said matter-of-factly.

  Thomas grabbed Marvel’s arm and took him inside while Yvonne and Toya stayed on the porch.

  “Mama, why would you go and embarrass me like this?” Toya asked. “Now do you see why I didn’t want to introduce you to him?”

  “Honey, listen to me,” Yvonne said, praying for composure. “This man is not who you think he is. He is trying to take our church away from us. Just ask yourself why he would be dating you when he knows full well that what he’s doing will hurt us all.”

  “Marvel is a good guy, Ma
ma. He has nothing to do with whatever is going on at the church. Your beef is with the City of Detroit, not Marvel Williams.”

  “His name is Edward Marvel Williams. Did he ever tell you that?”

  “No, but what difference does it make? Plenty of people go by their middle name.”

  It appeared that Toya was going to defend this man until the bitter end. “He’s no good, baby. He’s got ulterior motives for wanting to be with you,” Yvonne said, shaking her head.

  “Oh, so, if some fine-looking, intelligent, wealthy man wants to be with me, he must have some reason other than the simple fact that he enjoys my company.”

  “Toya, any man would be blessed and privileged to have you—just not this man. Okay? I’m not sure exactly what’s going on here, but this can’t be a coincidence. You’re a lawyer, hon, so look at the facts. Did this man start dating you around the same time he began looking for land to build his factory?”

  Toya was quiet for a moment, but then she said, “I don’t see how that makes any difference. So what if he was looking for land? It’s not as if I could—or would—help him take our church’s land.”

  Before Yvonne could say another word, Tia came running out onto the porch. She was wearing her white satin tea-length wedding dress with pearl beads shimmering all over the bodice. Her veil was outlined in pearls. Yvonne almost lost her breath to see her baby daughter looking so radiant.

  “Mama, thank goodness you’re here! I was getting worried.”

  Yvonne opened her arms and gave Tia a hug. “You look beautiful, sweetheart. Simply beautiful.”

  “You don’t think my dress is too short?” Tia asked.

  Yvonne stepped back and studied her daughter. The dress was dazzling yet fun. “I like long wedding gowns, but you’re getting married on a beach, so I think the short dress works.”

  Tia hugged Yvonne again. “Thanks, Mama.” She turned to Toya. “Can you get everyone ready so we can go down to the beach and get this wedding over with?”