Curtis’s cell phone rang, and Alicia’s number displayed on the screen.
“Hey, sweetheart, what’s goin’ on?”
“Hey, Daddy. I have to prepare for a conference call, but I wanted to let you know that James is in the hospital.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah, remember I was telling you last week about his finger and how it got infected? Over the weekend it got worse, and last night they admitted him so they could administer an antibiotic intravenously.”
“How’s your mom?”
“She was pretty worried because of how high his fever was, but it’s finally come down quite a bit this morning. I just talked to her, but I thought I would call and let you know what was going on.”
“I’m glad you did, and I’ll give her a call right now.”
“Please pray for him, Daddy, because James has been such a wonderful husband to Mom, and you know he’s been the best stepdad to me.”
“I know, sweetheart, and, of course, you know I will.”
“Okay, well, I’d better get going, but I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Curtis dialed Tanya’s cell, but it rang a few times and went to her voice mail. But just as he was about to leave a message, she called him back.
“Hey, I just spoke to Alicia,” he said. “How are you? And how’s James?”
“I’m hanging in there, and James is finally doing better. We had a rough day yesterday, but his fever is finally down, and not long ago the doctor said the swelling in his hand has started to go down as well. So I think they finally found the right antibiotic.”
“Praise God. Alicia told me last week that he cut his finger, but I had no idea he would end up in the hospital.”
“Neither did I. They tried different oral antibiotics but nothing worked, so I’m glad they finally got him admitted.”
“Well, I’ll certainly be praying for a full recovery.”
“I really appreciate that, Curtis. That’s very kind of you.”
For the first time in years, their conversation seemed awkward and neither of them said a word. Of course, Curtis knew it was because the last time they’d spoken, he’d told Tanya how much he still loved her.
“So where are you now?” he said for lack of anything better to say.
“I spent the night at the hospital, so I’m on my way home to shower and change.”
“Oh, okay.”
There was dead silence again.
“Curtis, I need to say something.”
“Go ahead.”
“You really caught me off guard last week when you said the things you did, and of course, it really got me thinking. I thought about old times, and it wasn’t long before I had to admit to myself that there’s a part of me that does still love you. A part of me always will… but I also love James with all my soul, and the thought of losing him has only made me love and appreciate him more. James is my rock. He’s treated me like a queen since the very beginning, and Alicia doesn’t think there’s a better stepfather in the world.”
Curtis thought about the conversation he’d just had with his daughter and how she’d basically said the same things.
“So you see,” she continued, “I could never hurt him or leave him under any circumstances.”
“I understand, and just so you know, I never should have come to you the way I did. I know you’re happily married and that you love your husband, and I completely respect that. I think I was just at a point where I allowed my emotions to get the best of me, and the next thing I knew I found myself reflecting on you and what could have been had I been faithful to you. Even now, I’m very messed up emotionally, and to be honest, I’m not sure things will ever get better. Especially since I’ve done so many awful things in my life and made a ton of bad decisions. There are times when I wonder if I’ll ever truly be happy again or even if I have the right to be.”
“Of course you do. Everyone deserves to be happy, and if you would toss that huge chunk of pride of yours to the side when it comes to Charlotte, I think you’d feel a lot better. You need to truly forgive her, Curtis, because no matter what you say, I know you love her.”
Curtis knew Tanya was right, but he wasn’t sure giving Charlotte another chance was the right thing to do, not when there was the possibility of her sleeping around on him again. “I don’t know.”
“Well, I think you should, and just like you’re going to keep James in your prayers, I’m going to pray for your and Charlotte’s marriage.”
Curtis glanced at the photo of him and Charlotte, sitting next to the one of his children, and picked it up. Despite all of the anger he’d felt toward her, he could no longer pretend he wasn’t in love with Charlotte. And now after hearing Tanya’s words, he realized it was time he stopped allowing his fury and pain to control him. It was time he stopped lying to himself and doing everything he could to mask his true feelings—time he stopped and reconsidered a few things because maybe divorce wasn’t what he wanted after all. From here on out, what he would do was look at everything a lot more rationally and then make a final decision. Hopefully, this time it would be the right one.
Chapter 27
Talk about debating back and forth and trying to weigh one thing after another. That’s what Charlotte had been doing ever since hanging up with Janine two hours ago, but now she’d decided to call Curtis’s mystery woman to see who she was. While on the phone, Janine had insisted she shouldn’t, but for some reason, Charlotte tended to agree with her mother. And why not? Why not confront the tramp who obviously saw nothing wrong with going after a married man?
Charlotte scrolled through her phone history, blocked her number, and dialed.
“Hello?” the woman said.
“Hi, this is Charlotte Black, Curtis’s wife.”
“Really, now. Well, what can I do for you on this fine day?” She was being sarcastic, and Charlotte wished she could yank this tramp through the phone.
“I’m not sure who you are, but I’d just like to know why you feel the need to talk to my husband when you know he’s married.”
“I talk to a lot of people.”
“Oh yeah, well, sweetheart, I’m not talking about a lot of people, I’m talking about my husband.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“I just told you.”
“I really don’t have time for this.”
“Well, you sure seem to have a lot of time when it comes to Curtis.”
The woman ignored her comment and said, “What is it you want?”
“I wanna know why you’ve been talking to my husband for months now.”
“Maybe you should ask him about that.”
“Right now I’m asking you, and that’s who I want answers from.”
“You know, I really don’t appreciate you calling me.”
“And I don’t appreciate you messing with my husband.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“You’ll never get him,” Charlotte took a chance on saying.
“Humph. Yeah, okay.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You seem to have everything all figured out, so you tell me.”
“Are you sleeping with him?”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” the woman said.
Charlotte wished she could strangle her. “Are you?”
“You know, it’s always interesting how some women have no problem sleeping around on their husbands but then they get upset when he goes looking elsewhere.”
“Excuse me?”
The woman laughed. “You’re pathetic.”
“No, you are. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty obvious that you’re the one who’s desperate, miserable, and willing to settle for a man you’ll never be married to.”
“Think what you want… Oh, and just for the record, do you really believe your husband could talk to me every single day and not be sleeping with me? I mean, come on now, let’s be logical about this.”
Charlotte’s heart crumbled. She’d been thinking that same thing all along, but now that she was hearing the actual words from this whore’s mouth, she was crushed. She would never let on how hurt she was, though. “No matter what you say, all I know is that Curtis doesn’t want you. He won’t be calling you or having anything else to do with you.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“I guess we will, trick.”
The woman hung up, but now Charlotte wondered if she was telling the truth or if she simply had been trying to torment her. Had she really slept with Curtis? Would Curtis look her straight in the face the way he had last night and still lie about it? He’d claimed all he’d done was talk to her and nothing else, but years ago when he’d messed around with Tabitha, he’d told more lies than Charlotte could count. So Charlotte didn’t know what to think or who to believe and just wished none of this had happened. She wanted this nightmare to be over so she wouldn’t have to deal with it.
Janine smiled and squeezed her hand, and Charlotte was glad she’d decided to attend Bible study. Actually, Janine came a lot more often than she did, and since Charlotte was the first lady, she knew that was pretty pitiful. But her lack of attendance was basically a result of the problems in her home life and of how troubled she was about it. She hadn’t wanted to do much of anything because of how sad she’d been, but tonight she’d made the decision to come.
Curtis strutted across the front of the sanctuary with a microphone attached to the lapel of his blazer. He wore a round-neck knit shirt under it and jeans. Charlotte had always loved when he dressed a little casual. Funny how she still did after all these years. He looked good even in a T-shirt and also when he dressed in elegant suits, but it was the kind of outfit he wore now that took her breath away. Her feelings hadn’t changed about that, regardless of how terrible their relationship was.
Curtis flipped through his Bible. “Tonight, I want us to take a look at the Book of James, chapter one, verses two through eight.” Curtis waited a few seconds for everyone to turn to the appropriate page and then said, “The first chapter of James focuses on faith and endurance, and what I’ve come to realize more than ever before is that if you keep your faith strong, you can endure just about anything, if not everything.” He looked at Charlotte and smiled and then said, “I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation side of my Bible, and verses two through eight read as follows: ‘Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask Him, be sure that you really expect Him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.’ ”
Charlotte watched Curtis walk to the other side and knew with everything in her that he was talking about himself. He was now trying to make up his mind about her, because he was no longer sure about a divorce. She just knew that’s what he was thinking, and it was the reason he’d smiled at her before he’d begun reading, something he hadn’t done while standing in the sanctuary for a long time now.
She was so excited and prayed things were finally going to turn around for them. She prayed he hadn’t slept with that woman and that he truly wouldn’t be talking to her again. But then Charlotte looked over to the next section of pews and saw a female parishioner staring at her. Charlotte had seen this particular woman a number of times at the church and knew she was a member, but for some reason she seemed familiar because of something else. Maybe it would come to her eventually.
“I love the entire passage,” Curtis said. “But I especially love the part that says, ‘Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.’ I love it because it says everything, but also because when I was a child, my mom used to say, ‘From everything bad that happens, something good always comes out of it.’ She would say that all the time, and as I look back over my life and all my many experiences, I realize she was right and not once have I seen her proven wrong.”
A number of people nodded in agreement and offered amens, but the woman Charlotte had just looked at raised her hand. At first it seemed as though Curtis hadn’t wanted to call on her, but then he said, “Yes, you have a question?”
The woman stood up, and Charlotte noticed they had the same hair color, and it was almost as long as hers, too. She also had on a beautiful spring leather jacket with three-quarter sleeves like the one Charlotte had worn to Bible study a month ago. The woman had good taste, and Charlotte wished she could remember where she knew her from. Other than there at the church, that was.
“Actually, I do, Pastor,” the woman said. “The scripture talks about how when trouble comes our way, we should let it be an opportunity, so I was just wondering, does that apply to everything?”
“It absolutely does.”
“So for example,” she went on, and Charlotte was sure she’d heard her voice before, “if someone finds themself in a horrible marriage and it finally comes to an end, does that mean they’ll likely find real joy with someone new?”
“Yes, that’s certainly possible,” Curtis answered, but then moved away from that section of pews and left the woman standing there.
It couldn’t be, Charlotte thought. Could it? Was that the woman she’d spoken to on the phone today? Was this the woman Curtis had been consorting with? But just as Charlotte tried to gather her thoughts and figure things out, the woman glared at her, smirked, and took her seat, and Charlotte’s question was answered. It was definitely her.
Chapter 28
Over the last three days, a lot had happened—a whole lot for that matter. Much had been said, and Charlotte and Curtis were on better terms than they had been in months. Wednesday night had proven to be a humdinger of an evening, what with Sharon Green audaciously standing amongst hundreds of members making sure Charlotte recognized her. It was a good thing that not as many members attended Bible study as they did on Sunday morning; otherwise there was no telling what Sharon might have done or said with a couple thousand people present. But the good news was that Curtis had sat Charlotte down as soon as they’d gotten home and explained everything in great detail. He’d told her the woman’s name and that it had been Sharon who’d told him about her being at Chelsey’s.
And now Charlotte realized why Sharon had looked so familiar. She vaguely remembered seeing her there last Sunday afternoon but hadn’t paid much attention to her. Curtis had then gone on to reiterate how he’d never slept with Sharon and how he also regretted ever talking to her by phone. He’d insisted his dealings with her were over and that Charlotte had nothing else to worry about when it came to her. He did, however, want to know more about Greg, and Charlotte told him the same thing she’d told him a few days ago, that she’d met him at the bar and had never seen him anywhere else and that she hadn’t gone to bed with him. Thankfully, Curtis seemed to believe her—they believed each other, and that was a plus in itself.
The other great thing was that Curtis’s heart had finally softened toward her. They’d even taken Curtina out to Chuck E. Cheese last night, and Matthew and Racquel had tagged along as well. They’d had a wonderful time, and Charlotte could barely stop smiling. It was as if God had seen fit to work a miracle in their marital life very quickly, and she was monumentally grateful.
Charlotte folded the last of Curtis’s underwear and socks and slipped them inside one of the large mesh pockets in his garment bag. He hung his suit on the hook, zipped the flap, folded it, and zipped the bag up completely.
Then he slid on his silver watch and checked the time. “I’m sure the limo is already downstairs, so I guess
I should get going.”
“I wish I was going with you.”
“So do I, but I’ll be back before you know it.”
“You’re getting in at ten, right?”
“Yep.”
Curtis set his bag on the floor and pulled up the handle. Charlotte stood to the side of him, ready to cry.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why do you look so sad?”
“I guess I just hate to see you go. Especially when we just started trying to work things out three days ago… I mean, what if you change your mind while you’re gone?”
Curtis took her in his arms. “Look, sweetheart. I meant everything I said, and this trip won’t change that.”
“I hope not.”
“It won’t. We agreed to give our marriage another try, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“I really do love you, Curtis.”
“And I love you.”
They gazed into each other’s eyes, and Curtis lifted her chin and kissed her. Charlotte held back tears for as long as she could but they fell, anyway. Curtis wiped them with his hand.
“Do you think this is the last time we’ll have to do this?” she asked, sniffling.
“What?”
“Start over.”
“I hope so, because God knows we’ve done that enough for one lifetime.”
Charlotte nodded in agreement. “We have, but I promise you, I won’t ever hurt you again. I really mean that.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
They kissed again, and Curtis grabbed his bag and headed downstairs. Charlotte followed behind him and stood next to Matthew. Curtina waited at the front door wearing an unhappy face. “I don’t like it when you have to go out of town, Daddy. And why can’t I go with you?”
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