Former Rain-Forsaken Box Set

by Vanessa Miller

  ***

  Vivian had come up with a plan to get her baby back. She rented a car just in case JT had given the police the license plate number and make and model of her car. The car’s windows were also tinted, but not so tinted that she couldn’t see that a piece of cardboard now covered the red letters she had spray painted on that door. She passed the house and then parked her car two houses down the street. She had on a blonde wig and an extra bulky sweat suit. So Vivian figured if neighbors were looking out the window, they wouldn’t be able to describe her correctly to the police. She walked down the street with purpose. As far as Vivian was concerned, JT had no business covering up her handy work. She wanted everyone to know that he was a sinner and she was going to rip that cardboard off the door. She stopped in her tracks as JT’s front door opened. Cassandra walked out the door carrying a baby that was too small to be Aaron.

  She watched Cassandra put the baby in a car seat in the back of the car. She threw the diaper bag in the back seat and closed the back door. Vivian ran back to her car. She got behind the wheel and started the car. Her adrenaline was pumping as she watched Cassandra drive by. Now Vivian was angry. Not only was JT keeping her baby away from her, but he had obviously given her to Cassandra. Something had to be done to stop them. Vivian turned her car back on, put it in drive and followed the woman who’d taken her man and now her baby.

  CHAPTER 26

  Lily was cooing in the back as Cassandra drove down the street. Cassandra adjusted her rearview mirror so she could see Lily. The child was blowing bubbles as she cooed. She looked adorable. “So where do you want to go, Lily?”

  Lily’s response was to blow out another bubble.

  Cassandra laughed. “Did you say mall? Don’t tell me that you’re already wanting to shop? Okay, off to the mall we’ll go. Maybe we’ll find you a few outfits. What do you think about that?”

  Cassandra righted the rearview mirror and continued driving down the street. As she drove she thought about Susan Turner. The woman had been so awful to her when she was a child. Cassandra didn’t understand how a Christian could claim to love God and mistreat an innocent child. But Cassandra also wondered how she could claim to love God and not forgive Susan. She actually thought she had forgiven Susan, but when she discovered that Bishop was actually her father, all the hurt of her childhood came rushing back into her adult life, and she felt vulnerable again.

  She had grown up wanting to be loved so badly that she fell into one man’s arms after another. Her heart had gotten tangled up into so many bad relationships that Cassandra thought she would die if she didn’t find relief. That’s when Bishop prayed with her and helped guide her closer to God. Cassandra was so thankful for Bishop’s wisdom and she always knew that he had her best interest at heart, so when he introduced her to JT, Cassandra thought JT would be the man for her.

  She didn’t question the fact that JT loved her when they first married, but she did notice the change in him after their first child died. JT had recently explained his changing behavior by telling her he had stopped trusting God. That lack of trust in God had evidently caused him to loosen his morals and then cheating on her became easy. Cassandra wondered if that was how other Christians went astray. God doesn’t come through on some issue deemed all important, so the sold out Christian does the back stroke, and moves as far away from God as possible.

  As she parked the car in the mall parking lot, Cassandra prayed that God would heal her heart. She took the stroller out of the trunk and then put Lily in the stroller. “Well, Young Lady, let’s go run up these credit cards,” Cassandra said with a laugh as she pushed the stroller inside the mall.

  Cassandra and Lily went into The Children’s Place, Macys, Baby Gap and JCPenny. It was truly a girl’s day out, and they were putting a hurting on the Visa card. Then Lily started crying. Cassandra bent down to check on her. “What’s wrong?” she asked as if a three month old baby could answer her question. “I bet you’re hungry.” Cassandra sat down in the food court, took a bottle out of the diaper bag and fed Lily.

  When Lily was done drinking the bottle, Cassandra burped her and then took her into the bathroom to change her diaper. Her cell phone started ringing just as she finished changing Lily’s diaper. Cassandra pulled her phone out of her purse and answered it.

  “Hey, how are things going?” JT asked.

  “We’re doing just fine. What’s up?” Cassandra asked as she picked Lily up off the changing table.

  “I was just checking on you.”

  “Okay,” Cassandra said with a raised eyebrow and a roll of the eyes.

  “Where are you?”

  We’re at the mall, okay? Now can I talk to you when I get home?”

  “Oh, sure,” JT said. Then after hesitating for a moment he asked, “Do you think you could stop and pick up a couple of burgers for me and Jerome?”

  “Sure, JT. I’ll see you all in a little bit.” She hit the end button, and then put the phone back in her purse.

  “Let’s go,” she said as she put Lily back in the stroller and headed out of the mall. As she pushed the stroller toward the car, Cassandra wondered if there was such a thing as forgiveness? As a Christian she heard people talk about forgiving others all the time. But now that she had experienced hurt and betrayal on every front, and she had such a long line of people that she needed to forgive, Cassandra didn’t know if she could do it.

  When they reached the car, Cassandra took Lily out of the stroller, put her in the car seat and latched it. She opened the trunk and threw their bags in. She folded the stroller and then put it in the trunk also. Just as she was about to close the trunk she felt the point of something digging in her back.

  “Turn around,” the woman said.

  As Cassandra put her hands in the air, she told her assailant, “I have money and credit cards in my purse. They’re yours, but please don’t hurt us.”

  “I don’t want your money.”

  Cassandra turned around and looked right into Vivian Sampson’s hate filled face. As she lowered her eyes she also saw the knife in Vivian’s hand. Her eyes widened with fear as she asked, “What do you want?”

  “I want you and JT to stop acting like you’re this perfect couple, when everybody knows nothing could be further from the truth.”

  “Well you’ve got your wish, we are far from perfect. Now, can you please leave us alone?”

  “The whole church is going to know when I’m through with the two of you,” Vivian said as she lifted her knife and slashed it in Cassandra’s direction. Cassandra jumped back as the blade slashed through her three hundred dollar Coach purse strap.

  Cassandra looked around, hoping that someone would come into the parking lot and help her. But she had parked in the back of the mall. She liked this spot in the back because it was closer to the door, and there was always less traffic. So consequently no one was coming to her rescue. “What do you want? Why are you doing this?” Cassandra screamed at her.

  Lily started crying. Cassandra tried to back up enough so that Lily could see her, but Vivian grabbed her arm and pushed her against the car. “Get away from her, she’s mine.”

  Cassandra saw the wild eyed look in Vivian’s eyes and knew that something had gone really wrong inside her head. She watched Vivian reach into the back seat and try to unhook Lily’s car seat. At that moment Cassandra was struck with the same maternal instinct she had for Jerome and Aaron. She was no longer tolerating this child simply because she was sweet and innocent. Her relationship with Lily had somehow reached another level without Cassandra realizing it. She was willing to die to protect this child. JT’s child. She pulled Vivian away from Lily. “Don’t you touch her,” Cassandra yelled.

  “No! No! She’s mine,” Vivian screamed as she lifted her arm and lashed out at Cassandra while still holding the knife.

  She stabbed Cassandra three times before Cassandra fell to the ground. “Help us!” Cassandra yelled with all her might. Vivian leaned back in the car and snatch
ed the car seat out. Cassandra pulled herself off the ground and tackled Vivian from behind still hollering, “Help! Help us!”

  Vivian turned and jabbed Cassandra with her knife and then took off running with Lily. Cassandra couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. She fell back down with her arms stretched out toward Lily. The last thing she said before slipping into unconsciousness was, “My baby.”

  ***

  JT, Jerome and Aaron arrived at the hospital with Bishop, who had been at the house waiting on Cassandra to get home so he could explain himself. There would be no explaining done that night, however. The doctor came out of the operating room and informed JT that Cassandra was out of surgery but unconscious.

  Jerome stepped up to the doctor and asked, “What’s wrong with my mommy?”

  JT adjusted Aaron from his left hip to the right as he hurriedly asked the doctor, “When can I see her?”

  “Give us a little while longer. I’ll send someone out here to let you know when you can come back. But somebody was watching over your wife. One of the knife wounds was less than an inch away from puncturing her heart.”

  “Will she make it, doctor?” Bishop asked.

  “Only time will tell. We need to monitor her through the night and we’ll have a better idea in the morning,” the doctor said.

  “What about Lily? Where is she?” JT asked.

  “Who is Lily?”

  “My daughter. She was with my wife,” JT said.

  “You might want to ask the woman in the waiting room,” the doctor said as he pointed to a woman in a blue jean dress.

  JT noticed that the woman had Cassandra’s purse on her lap as he walked into the waiting room.

  She stood and asked him, “Are you Cassandra’s husband?”

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “I’m the lady who called you. You’re wife’s cell phone was in her purse and I just dialed the last incoming call. Thank God I reached you.” She handed JT Cassandra’s purse. “Here’s her purse. I don’t know if anything was stolen out of it. I just took her cell phone out.”

  Betty came running down the hall toward them. A look of horror etched across her face as she stood before them. “Thank you so much for calling me, Bishop.” She then turned her attention to JT, gave him a hug and then asked, “How is she, Pastor?”

  “Not good.” His voice broke as he added, “She’s unconscious right now.”

  Bishop turned to Betty and said, “I called you because we need your help.”

  “Anything, Bishop. Just let me know what I can do,” Betty replied.

  “I was hoping you would feel that way. JT and I might be out here all night, so I called to see if you could take the kids.”

  She took Aaron away from JT and said, “I’ll take the kids. But please give me a call as soon as you know something about Cassandra.”

  JT was touched by the fact that Betty would still be so kind to his family, even when she didn’t have to be. Bishop had basically suspended him and Betty was now taking her orders from Elder Unders. With this action, Betty was showing herself to not just be an employee of his, but a friend, and JT was humbled by that. He hugged Betty again as his eyes moistened. “Thank you, Betty. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you are doing for us.”

  “It’s not a problem, Pastor. I would do anything for you and your wife.”

  “How can you still call me that? I certainly don’t deserve to be called pastor by anyone.”

  Betty put her hand on JT’s shoulder and said, “You are what God says you are.” She then took the kids and left the hospital.

  JT turned back to the woman who had looked out for Cassandra. “Thank you, for what you did for my wife. I just hope she survives this attack,” JT said as he sat down and covered his face with his hands.

  “I’m sorry that I didn’t get there in time to stop that woman from stealing the baby,” the woman said.

  JT lifted his head. “What happened? Please tell me what you saw.”

  “Okay,” the woman said as began to tell her story. “I was coming out of the mall when I heard someone hollering for help. I ran toward the sound and saw your wife jump on this woman’s back. She was fighting like a tiger, but the other woman must have turned and stabbed her, because she fell to the ground. When I reached your wife, I heard her say, ‘My baby’. That’s when I noticed that the woman was running away with a car seat. I’m so sorry I couldn’t get the baby, because I had to get an ambulance for your wife. She was bleeding pretty badly.”

  Bishop put his hand on JT’s shoulder as he said, “They are going to be all right. You’ve got to trust God on this.”

  This is where JT stood before. He had lost a child and his faith in God. Now, with the possibility of losing his wife and another child, would he choose faith or stumble and fall all over again? “Vivian did this. I just know she did.”

  “Did you hear me, JT?” Bishop asked when he didn’t get a response.

  With determination, JT nodded. “Yeah, I heard you. We’ve got to trust God on this one.”

  The police officer that JT had spoken with earlier in the day when Vivian had spray painted his door walked over to him. “Mr. Thomas, we received the call at the precinct about your wife. Since I had talked with you earlier, I decided to come out and talk to you.”

  JT was furious. How could the police send the same man who was at his house this afternoon? He didn’t care about what Vivian had done to them this afternoon and JT doubted that he cared now. “I need to speak with someone else, Detective Grayson. My wife has been stabbed, my daughter is missing and I’m just not convinced that you care all that much.” It struck JT that he kept referring to Lily as his daughter. He hadn’t received the DNA test back yet, but somehow JT knew in his heart that that little girl was his child.

  Detective Grayson lifted his hands to ward off JT’s verbal assault. “Hold on, Mr. Thomas. I’m on your side here. Believe me; you don’t know how sorry I am that my hands were tied earlier. I wish I could have stopped this. But I’m here to help now.”

  “You need to speak with the woman who saw the attack,” Bishop told Detective Grayson when JT didn’t respond. He then turned to the woman and said, “I’m sorry, we didn’t get your name.”

  “I’m sorry. I never told anyone my name. I’m Nina Walker,” the woman stated.

  Detective Grayson took out his notepad. “Can you give me your address and phone number?”

  “I don’t live here. My husband is preaching at a conference tonight,” Nina told him and then gave him her address and telephone number in Dayton, Ohio. Nina then sat down with the police officer and told him everything she saw. When she was finished speaking with the detective, Nina turned back to JT and asked, “Do you mind if I stay here for a while? I would like to continue praying for your wife and daughter.”

  “I would appreciate that,” JT told her.

  Detective Grayson handed JT his business card. “Give me a call when your wife wakes up or if you learn anything else that might help us with this investigation.”

  JT grabbed the officer’s arm and said, “You’ve got to catch this woman. She’s destroying my family.”

  Detective Grayson pulled his arm out of JT’s grasped as he told him, “I’ll do my best.”

  A nurse walked out of the ICU and found JT. She told him, “You can go in to see your wife now. She’s still unconscious so you can’t stay long.”

  “Okay, I just want to see her,” JT told her.

  “Do you mind if I come with you?” Bishop asked.

  JT could see that Bishop was suffering just as much as he was with everything that had happened. And to top it off, JT knew that he was the cause of everything, so how could he deny this man the opportunity to see his child? “Come with me.”

  They walked into the small room with a curtain for privacy and looked at Cassandra as she lay in the hospital bed looking like a sleeping angel. She had bandages on her arm, shoulder and her back. JT’s heart broke as tears filled hi
s eyes. This was his wife, and his sins had almost killed her. He walked around the bed and touched the arm that was not bandaged. He then intertwined his fingers with hers. Tears were spilling over as he said, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for everything I did to you.”

  He squeezed her hand tighter and continued speaking through his tears. “If you can hear me, Sanni, and I know you don’t want me to call you that anymore, but I love you, Sanni. God knows I have wronged you, but I never stopped loving you.” He wiped the drizzle that was flowing from his nose. “I’m a broken and fallen man, but I haven’t lost my faith in God this time. I’m trusting that He is going to wake you up.” He lifted his face to heaven and said, “Thank you for waking her up, Lord. You know how much I need her.”

  Bishop stepped closer to the bed, his head was lowered and his hands formed a steeple underneath his chin as he joined JT in prayer. He said, “Lord, my God and my friend, You know everything about me. You know the good I have done and all the mistakes that I’ve made. I’ve only admitted to You, and my wife that Cassandra is my daughter. But if you let her live, I promise that I will right that wrong. I will tell the world that this is my daughter and accept all the consequences that come with that.”

  “Help us, Lord. My wife is the most loving and kind woman I know. She doesn’t deserve this. And Lord, please help us to find Lily. Bring her back to us,” JT pleaded.

  A nurse walked into the room and informed JT and Bishop that they needed to leave.

  “When can I see her again?” JT asked while wiping the tears from his face.

  “Give her a few hours to rest and then you can come back in.”

  “Okay,” JT said reluctantly as he looked back at his wife. He really didn’t want leave her, but if the nurse was right and rest would help Cassandra recover, he wouldn’t be selfish. The knowledge that he was doing the right thing by leaving her room didn’t stop his heart from breaking. He lowered his head and kissed her soft lips, something he hadn’t been able to do in months. Cassandra hadn’t wanted to be this close to him, and he didn’t blame her one bit. “I love you, Baby. I swear I’ll make all this up to you.”