“But Psalm had to have the surgery,” Nikki pleaded. “I was just trying—”
“I keep telling you, I will take care of this family!” William said. “We would have figured something out. Did you think I’d let my child die? Did you think I’d let my wife go and get herself—get us—into some stupid trouble? Nikki, I wish you’d listen to me sometimes!”
“Look, you’re not my boss!” Nikki said. “You can’t keep me under your thumb and tell me what to do all the time.”
“Obviously, somebody needs to!”
“Will, I did what I thought was best.”
He glared at her. “Is that why you lied to me?”
She cast her eyes down. When she looked up, he was putting on his jacket.
“Will, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie to you.”
“Oh, yeah, I saw your picture from the accident in the paper the other day,” he spat. “I guess that’s another thing you kept from me. What else have you lied to me about?”
“No, baby, it’s not like that,” she said, following him to the door. “I was caught in traffic when the accident happened, and since I had my camera, I just took a few shots. I didn’t mean to—”
“Forget it, Nikki. I’ve got to get out of here. I don’t want to say another thing to you right now, or it might be something we’ll both regret. I can’t believe you lied to me.”
Nikki sat down hard in the overstuffed lazy chair after William stormed out. I didn’t have a choice. I had to take care of my child, she reasoned. But uneasiness bubbled in her stomach.
She knew she had acted hastily because she hadn’t trusted God to clear the way for the insurance company to approve her request or for God to provide another answer. The way had seemed so dark, and her child’s needs had seemed so pressing that she had convinced herself that this “hookup” was the best way.
Nikki bit her lip and she sucked in a deep breath through her nose to keep from crying. As she sat there in the silence of night, she remembered one of the first conversations she and William had. It had been on their first date. Following a movie, they decided to go to one of the city parks since they couldn’t have members of the opposite sex in their dorm rooms at night. It was late, after midnight, but she hadn’t minded.
As they sat on the swing, sipping Icees and enjoying the breeze, he told her about his childhood, growing up with a mother trying her best to take care of his brother and him. His father had shown up infrequently, and had made numerous promises to get his brother and him for various holidays, events and occasions. He always got William’s hopes up. William finally realized the promises always fell flat, as their father made excuse after excuse for not making good on his word.
Watching his mother struggle to take care of her family had produced in William a strong desire to take care of his own family—if ever he had one. His father’s lies had made him especially averse to being lied to—about anything.
Now, not only had his wife broken that all-important rule, she might very well have cost him his career. And perhaps their chance for a better future.
Her husband had walked out the door. Would he come back?
Chapter 34
William drove around, angry thoughts swirling in his mind. He didn’t know where to go. He didn’t want to go to his mother’s and knew his brother’s family was likely getting ready for bed, and with four small children, they had no room to spare anyway. His good friend Winston would welcome him, but after spending so much time working with Winston on controlling the spin on this story, he knew the man likely needed some time away.
“I don’t know what she was thinking!” William jabbed at the horn to urge the car ahead of him to get going after the light turned green. He drove aimlessly, too angry to return home. “I don’t know why she does stuff like this. If she’d just listened to me in the first place.”
He seemed almost startled when he shut off the engine and stepped out of the car at the campaign office. There was a cot in a back room. Maybe he would crash there for the night. He let himself in, but stopped short as he realized the light was on.
“Hello?” he called, immediately on guard.
“Oh, hi,” Olivia said, looking up from a thick stack of papers.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, smiling and letting his muscles relax again.
“I could ask you the same thing,” she said, wryly. “Looks like you’re not too happy of a camper right now. What’s got you in a funk?”
Olivia could always pick up on his moods. “Oh, it’s nothing,” he said, shrugging off his jacket.
Olivia strode to the coffee pot and poured a cup, which she extended to him. “Want some coffee? It’s fresh. I just made it when I got here. I figured I’d get a few hours of work done, since most of the day was lost to that silly story.”
At the mention of the story, William’s countenance clouded.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” Olivia said, cutting her eyes at William.
He took a sip from the coffee. “I’m sorry,” he said, sitting down heavily in a chair. “I just found out the story has merit.”
“What do you mean?”
He quickly told Olivia the highlights of the conversation with his wife. Olivia’s eyes widened. “Wow,” she said. “What was she thinking?”
“That’s just it. She wasn’t.” William slammed his fist down. “I can’t believe she would do something that didn’t make any sense at all.”
Olivia spoke carefully. “Well, I’m sure she had her reasons.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Well, it’s not something I would have done,” Olivia said, pulling up a chair next to William. “But then, I guess she and I are different that way.”
Olivia rubbed William’s shoulder. “I sure wouldn’t do that to my husband.”
Chapter 35
Nikki stood next to the burgundy curtains in the living room, staring out the window into the darkness. Each approaching car made her hopeful, but none slowed. Where was William?
He had never stayed away longer than a couple of hours, and now five hours had passed and it was after two in the morning. She tried his cell again, but it went directly to voice mail. She sighed and walked back across the living room, hugging her arms around herself. “He might really be gone this time.”
She tried to ignore the fear in her gut. She shoved a movie into the DVD player to distract herself, but she couldn’t pay attention to it. “Did I hear a car in the driveway?” She sprang from the couch and rushed to the window, but sagged in disappointment as she realized it was not William.
Nikki finally fell asleep as the sun started to peek through the curtains. When a playing Psalm awakened her hours later, she realized it was after 9:00 A.M. “Oh, baby, Mama’s sorry. I’ve made you miss school today,” she said, rousing from the couch. She stretched, trying to get rid of the ache in her neck for having slept in an awkward position. “Let me fix you something to eat.”
William hadn’t come home all night. The realization made her lightheaded. Her mind raced as she quickly scrambled some eggs and made toast. He had never stayed out all night before, no matter how angry he had become. Oh man, this is serious, she worried. He really has gone. He has left me.
After Nikki cleaned the kitchen and settled Psalm in front of the computer on a learning game, she decided to see what was up with her husband. She tried him again on his cell. He answered on the first ring.
“Hi,” she said.
There was a pause.
“Hey, baby. It’s me,” she said, in case he hadn’t heard her the first time.
“Nikki, I’m in a meeting. I need to talk with you later.”
“Oh. Okay.”
The phone went dead in her hand.
Nikki’s mouth drew into a tense line as she dialed Trudy’s number. She didn’t want to call the woman, but knew Trudy could be the only person to tell her how she should proceed. Nikki was almost certain the socialite would know how to do damage control so
Nikki didn’t ruin William’s image. Nikki thought that if she could fix this situation, perhaps William’s anger would dissipate. Nikki waited for someone to answer Trudy’s phone.
“McWilliams residence.”
“Trudy, please?”
“May I tell her who is calling?”
“Nikki.”
Nikki could hear the phone being placed on a hard surface. A moment later, whoever had answered the phone returned and spoke again. “I’m sorry. Mrs. McWilliams is unavailable.”
“Can you tell her it’s an emergency?” Nikki’s tone was desperate.
“She will not be able to speak with you, ma’am.”
“I have to talk with her,” Nikki insisted. “Please tell her I’ll only take a moment.”
The person placed the phone down again. A moment later, Trudy was on the line. “Oh, Trudy, I need your help!”
“I’m sorry,” Trudy said. “I won’t be able to help you anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“Surely you do not think I can associate with someone who so obviously flouts the law,” Trudy said. “I realized you were among the middle class, but I didn’t realize the criminal element was so entrenched in your character. I cannot be associated with credit card thieves.”
“But, Trudy, you don’t understand!” Nikki pleaded.
“I’m sorry, but I must be going now,” Trudy said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Please do not call my home again.”
The line went dead in Nikki’s hand. She stared at it, dumbfounded. It took her a moment to collect her thoughts, but when she did, she knew she had to reach her husband.
“Come on, Psalm, let’s make ourselves pretty,” Nikki said with forced brightness. She dressed Psalm in a pink dress and ribbons. She herself donned a navy pantsuit and quickly washed her hair to make the natural curls more pronounced. She smoothed on lipstick and gave herself one more look in the mirror. I’m no Danielle, but I look okay.
“Come on, Psalm, let’s go see Daddy!”
“Yea!”
She stepped outside. Nikki quickly buckled Psalm in and stopped by a nearby deli and bakery.
Thirty minutes later, she waltzed into the campaign headquarters. Nobody noticed her quiet entrance. She quickly spotted William, bent over a table with Olivia, studying what looked to be a map of the city.
“Hi, honey!” She smiled brightly at a startled William, who quickly regained his composure.
“Hello,” he said to her and opened his arms wide for Psalm. “Hey, little girl!”
Psalm hopped into his arms. Nikki offered a sandwich to Olivia. “I just thought I’d bring everyone lunch.”
Olivia glanced at William and took the sandwich. “Thanks, Nikki,” she said. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
Olivia went to speak to a volunteer.
Nikki turned to William. “You didn’t come home last night.”
“I know.”
“I was worried.” Nikki could read nothing into William’s tone or expression.
“No need to be.”
She touched his arm. “Will, I’m sorry about . . .” her voice trailed off as Winston approached.
“Hey, boss, we’ve really got to get moving,” he said. “Hi, Nikki.” He turned back to William. “You have to be at the TV station in thirty minutes.”
William held up a hand. “Okay, give me a second.”
“Sure thing.”
Winston left and William turned back to Nikki. “Baby, look, now isn’t a good time,” he said. He saw her expression of worry. “Look, we’ll work it out. I was really ticked off last night. You know I can’t stand lies. And for you to do something like what you did, well, I just didn’t understand it.”
Nikki opened her mouth to say something, but he stayed her with a light touch on her arm. “But look, I’m a bit cooler now. We’ll talk about it when I get home. I know it’s a lot I don’t get, but Olivia helped me understand it a bit more from a woman’s perspective.”
“Olivia?”
“Yeah, we both stayed here last night.”
Chapter 36
“Danielle, your latest report was sloppy,” her supervising nurse, Jody Smart, said in the afternoon staff meeting.
Danielle looked around, wondering why the supervisor insisted on embarrassing her in front of her coworkers. “My work is always impeccable,” she countered.
“Well, you transposed numbers and some of the dosages were off—I trust the patients received the proper amounts,” Jody said. “And you left off a patient’s last name.”
“I did no such thing,” Danielle snapped, looking around at her peers. I do better work than all these stupid people, she thought.
“Danielle, it’s right here.” Jody held up the paperwork and tapped her finger against it.
“Well, then, somebody must have changed it,” Danielle snapped.
Jody rolled her eyes. “I’m noting this in your file. Meeting adjourned.”
Danielle waited until the other nurses had dispersed, then approached Jody. “Are you sure about that report?” she asked, this time with sugar dripping from her tongue. “I try so hard to do a good job and I can’t imagine I’d be so careless.”
“Well, like I said, it’s right here,” Jody said, flipping through the patient records.
Danielle touched the woman’s upper arm. “You’re right. I am so glad you caught that. You’re such a lifesaver. I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’re such a good supervisor.”
Nurse Smart smiled and her voice softened. “Well, you just have to be more careful, Danielle. I’m sorry for pointing out your mistake in front of the group, but that’s what these meetings are for.”
Danielle put on a cheery smile. “It’s all right. You were doing your job. I’ll make sure I pay closer attention next time.”
Danielle gathered her notebook and pen and walked out of the room. She paused just outside the door. “You look really pretty today. Wearing your hair down like that really becomes you.”
Chapter 37
Nikki went back home after the brief conversation with William. The phone was ringing when she stepped across the threshold into the house. She dropped her keys and rushed to pick up. “Hello?”
“Hey, Nikki, this is Keedra.”
“Oh, hi, girl,” Nikki said. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. I was calling to see how you were doing, though.”
“I’m hanging in there,” Nikki said, sinking onto the couch. She snapped her fingers to get the attention of Psalm, who had opened the bottom of the entertainment center to look for her favorite DVD. “Go change your shirt. You have mustard on it.”
Psalm looked up from her search. “But, Mommy—”
“Psalm, I don’t want to have to tell you again,” Nikki threatened, the stress of the day making her temples throb.
Psalm scrambled from the floor and disappeared.
“Sorry about that,” Nikki said, returning to her phone conversation. She held the phone away from her mouth and yelled: “And don’t make a mess in that room! Don’t put your clothes all over the floor!” She put the phone back to her mouth. “Sorry,” she apologized again.
“It’s okay,” Keedra said. “I didn’t get a chance to call you after I saw all that weird stuff in the newspaper. I meant to, but I had some assignments that kept me busy.”
“It’s all right,” Nikki sighed. “And unfortunately, the weird stuff is true.”
“Really?” Nikki could hear the shock in her new friend’s voice.
“Yeah,” Nikki said. “I was pretty desperate a while back to get some money for a medical procedure for Psalm. And I used a stolen card to pay for it.”
“Well, I’m really sorry to hear all that,” Keedra said. “We all make mistakes. I know you were just trying to protect your baby.”
The compassion she heard in her friend’s voice drew a lump to Nikki’s throat. She hadn’t expected Keedra to understand. After all, Nikki was beating herself up so much, she exp
ected everyone else to do the same.
“It just got really out of hand,” she said. “I knew better. But I just let my emotions get in the way of my common sense.”
“Well, you and William must have been backed into a corner,” Keedra said.
“Actually, William didn’t know about the card until I told him last night. After the story.”
“What?” Keedra was confused; Nikki could tell.
She quickly filled Keedra in on the details, including the part about William storming out of the house.
“Well, it probably wasn’t the best thing for you to do, but like I said, we all make mistakes,” Keedra repeated. “You just ask for forgiveness and pray God helps you grow so you are stronger next time.”
“Well, I haven’t felt too close to God lately,” Nikki confessed. “I mean, I’ve done some really bad things and I can’t see how He can keep forgiving me. Besides, I feel like such a fake sometimes.”
“We all do,” Keedra assured her. “But we just keep trying.”
“Easy for you to say, you probably haven’t done anything really bad,” Nikki said.
“We’ve all done our dirt,” Keedra said. “But enough about all that. You will be fine. And I know William will calm down and get over being mad at you.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“I’ve seen the way that man looks at you. He couldn’t stay angry with you.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Chapter 38
Danielle had a lot on her mind as she left work. She wanted to just take some time and sort through her thoughts. “Maybe I should go out to eat, have a nice bottle of wine and unwind,” she mumbled as she crossed the street to her car. She didn’t like eating out alone, though, and never had to do it. She could always call any number of men to take her out, and of course, there was always Troy. But she didn’t feel like being bothered with him right now.
She picked up the cell phone and dialed.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Nikki, it’s me,” Danielle said. “Come meet me out. Let’s get something to eat.”
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