Cherished

Advance Acclaim for
Cherished

“As I read Kim's book
Cherished
the word that came back to me over and over again is ‘grace.' Kim has the gift of being able to tell a story so vividly that you forget that the characters she portrays are fictitious and you experience deep empathy for them. You will find yourself in this story. More than that you will discover for the first time or rediscover how deeply you are loved, valued, and cherished by God.”

— Sheila Walsh, author of
Sweet Sanctuary

“Kimberly has a unique way of inviting you into the heart of her storyline. Each character feels like someone you already know or someone you wish you knew. The issues are always current, and culturally relevant, yet full of truths to help us grow spiritually. I have found myself laughing out loud and sometimes crying along with those on the pages, and I must admit that I've caught myself talking back to the book a time or two. So get ready to be changed for the better, encouraged into greatness and convinced of the knowledge that you, too, are Cherished!”

— Nicole C. Mullen, Dove Award-winning singer/songwriter

Acclaim for Kim's previous novels

“I not only enjoyed reading Kim Cash Tate's
Heavenly Places
, I was moved to act! It inspired me to begin a Bible study much like the one portrayed in her book. That says a lot about Kim as an author. She is a rare breed who both entertains AND inspires change!”

— Mandisa, Contemporary Christian artist, author, and
American Idol
finalist

“The author skillfully ties the concept of sexual purity, whether married or single, to the idea of faithfulness on a spiritual level . . . Tate avoids the unrealistic ‘happily ever after' ending while still offering a message of faith, hope, and love. Readers will not be disappointed . . .”

—
Crosswalk.com
review of
Faithful

“Tate has an amazing ability to put difficult but realistic emotions on paper and show the reader the redeeming love of God in the process.”

—
Romantic Times
review of
Faithful
,
½ Stars

“Kim Cash Tate's enjoyable novel is true to both the realities of life and the hope found through faith in Jesus. Romance meets real life with a godly heart. Hooray!”

— Stasi Eldredge, best-selling author of
Captivating
, regarding
Faithful

“Three friends. Two husbands. One Romeo
.
All are shaken to the core as author Kimberly Cash Tate peels away layers of lies and self-deception to reveal the rotten core of infidelity and its tragic consequences. But this novel is also about hope and healing as her well-drawn characters discover the freedom of being FAITHFUL.”

— Neta Jackson, author of the Yada Yada House of Hope novels, regarding
Faithful

Cherished

Kim Cash Tate

© 2011 by Kimberly Cash Tate

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Author is represented by the literary agency of The B&B Media Group, Inc., 109 S. Main, Corsicana, Texas, 75110.
www.tbbmedia.com
.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

Scripture quotations are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Publisher's Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tate, Kimberly Cash.
  Cherished / Kimberly Cash Tate.
      p. cm.
  ISBN 978-1-59554-855-9 (trade paper)
1. African American church musicians--Fiction. 2. African Americans--Fiction. I. Title.
  PS3620.A885C5 2011
  813'.6--dc23

2011019015

Printed in the United States of America
11 12 13 14 15 16 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Emanuel and Nicole Lambert

Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Thirty-Two

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Five

Acknowledgments

Reading Group Guide

A Note from the Author

About the Author

one

K
ELLI
L
ONDON TOOK HER PLACE ON THE PIANO BENCH
and waited for her cue, grateful that her jittery hands were hidden from the crowd. She shouldn't have agreed to do this, but she loved her brother and had never seen him happier. How could she say no to singing at his wedding?

But it was the song Cedric had asked her to sing, one he'd heard only by chance. He had no idea what it meant to her. He didn't know that singing it would unleash memories of the last person she ever wanted to think about.

Laughter rose from the pews, and Kelli looked up, wondering what she'd missed.

“. . . and I'm sure Cedric wants me to get to the vows ASAP,” Pastor Lyles was saying, “so they can get to that kiss they've been waiting for.”

Kelli had only met the pastor once before, at her brother Lindell's wedding last fall, but it didn't take long to love his spirit and his style. A black man in his late fifties, he'd started Living Word Community Church decades ago and watched it grow into a multi-ethnic megachurch. At least a couple hundred members were here today. Kelli guessed none of them thought twice about the various hues and accents that had gathered to see this black couple wed. She loved that spirit too.

Cedric was shaking his head with a shamefaced grin as the pastor called him out. Cyd was smiling up at him, gorgeous, beaming like the bright light she'd become in Cedric's life.

Pastor Lyles continued. “But I don't think he'll mind one last song, and it's a special one, written by his sister.”

Kelli drew a deep breath as Cedric and Cyd smiled over at her, Lindell and Stephanie too—the flip side of last fall. Then Stephanie and Lindell were the bride and groom, and Cyd and Cedric were maid of honor and best man, which was how they met. Kelli loved the story, how Cyd turned forty on her younger sister's wedding day, thinking she'd never marry herself. Now here she was—a June bride. It was romantic that her brothers would now be married to sisters, but it somehow added to her melancholy, that each of them had found the love of his life.

Kelli gazed at the piano keys, and knowing they had to, her fingers tapped the first notes. She fought to stay in the moment, in the church. Her eyes swept Cyd and Cedric, imagined the lyrics were just for them . . .

I will love you till the stars don't shine

And I will love you till the oceans run dry

I will love you till you know every why

I will, I will

Her eyes closed, and he was there. A shiver of remembrance danced down her arms. She could still see that distant look in his eyes, could even hear him, that tone of indifference that echoed forever in her head. Kelli opened her eyes to capture another image—any image—but he was everywhere now. And her heart allowed itself to be crushed all over again.

I will love you like an endless stream

A million miles won't take your heart from me

I will love you every breath you breathe

I will, I will

Almost to the bridge, Kelli could feel her emotions cresting with the song. She closed her eyes again as they took over, filling her voice, magnifying her range, powering her through. She played the final chords with the salt of tears on her lips and bowed her head at the last note . . . and heard—
applause
? She looked out and saw the guests on their feet and Cedric and Cyd fully turned, facing her—Cyd wiping tears from her cheeks. With her own anxiety about singing it, Kelli hadn't given thought to whether people might actually like the song.

She pulled a tissue from the box atop the piano, dabbed her cheeks, and blew her nose, then muscled a heart-heavy smile to acknowledge everyone's kindness. When she moved back to the front pew beside her mother, only then did the guests stop clapping and sit.

“When did you write that?” her mother asked, patting her thigh. “That was beautiful.”

“Thanks, Mom. I wrote it . . . a long time ago.”

She turned her gaze to the ceremony, her heart beating a little faster still, puzzled by the response to the song. It coaxed a different memory to the surface, and as Cyd and Cedric exchanged vows, Kelli thought about her long-ago dream of writing music that God would somehow use. Then the better part of her brain kicked in, reminding her that she'd left songwriting behind, that she knew better than to dream.