Fifteen Years (26 page)

“Mommy!”

Instinctively, Patrice reached up and wiped her face, making sure that there were no leftover tears to give away her earlier anguish. Thomas was a few steps ahead of her as they rounded the house into the front yard.

“What are you doing out here, princess, and how did you open that front door?” Thomas asked Arielle.

“Uncle Sam opened it for me.” Sammy appeared in the doorway behind her to prove her claim. “I was looking for Mommy,” Arielle added.

“Here I am,” Patrice said, as if the child couldn’t see her standing next to Thomas. “What do you need? You ready to go home?”

“My b-b-b-big brudda,” Sam sputtered.

“JT? What about him?” Thomas sounded concerned.

Arielle held Patrice’s closed cell phone up in the air for them to see. “Uncle JT said he’ll come over to our house for dinner tomorrow,” she announced.

“What?” Patrice shrieked. “What are you talking about?” She stormed up the steps, snatched the phone from the child’s grip, and looked at it like it would give her the answers she was in search of. “Did you call JT, Arielle?”

For a second, Arielle looked like a doe caught in headlights. Then she pointed an accusing finger into the darkness of the front yard. “Granddaddy told me I could.”

“WHAT WAS that all about?” Josiah sat alone, so the soft-spoken question went unanswered.

He stared at the face of his iPhone, not knowing what to make of the call he’d just gotten from Arielle. Why had the call been made from Patrice’s phone? Who pressed the numbers for her? Had Patrice coaxed the girl into calling him, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to turn down the invitation if it came from her? He couldn’t imagine Patrice to be the kind of mother who would use her child in such a way. Would she? And if so, what was the real reason she was inviting him to her house? Those were only a few of the questions that invaded his mind.

Josiah had half a mind to call Patrice back. The questions were stalking him, and she was the only one who had the answers. After a few moments of serious deliberation, he decided not to call. Whatever game Patrice was playing, he’d play along… for now. Besides,
now was not the time, and The Sycamore Grill was not the place to have a debate with his former foster sister.

Josiah placed his phone back on the clip on his belt and tried to focus on finishing his cranberry juice. Just before Arielle called, he had eaten the last of one of the tastiest seafood dinners he’d had in some time. Pan Seared Sea Bass was the listing on the menu, and it had exceeded his expectations. The Sycamore Grill had been highly recommended by Oneesha. That was the name of the honey blonde who worked the afternoon shift at the Hampton Inn ever since Josiah checked in on Saturday. She promised that he would be 100 percent satisfied with the atmosphere, service, and food. She didn’t lie.

The view from the outside had been highly misleading. When Josiah pulled onto the Mimosa Drive property nestled in historic Stone Mountain, he did a double-take, wondering if he were at the right place. From the parking lot, it looked like a quaint, but well-kept wooden, split-level house. Nice, but nothing to write home about. Although the outside sign was in plain sight, he still approached the front door with reservation.

Once inside, Josiah’s whole outlook did a three-sixty His sense of sight and smell assured him that there was no mistaking this place for anything other than a haven for lovers of southern cuisine. Warm colored walls sprinkled modestly with interesting artwork and photos, wooden tables draped in spotless white tablecloths and accented with candles; servers who greeted him at the door and immediately seated him, aromas that were intoxicatingly delicious. Nothing about it made him second-guess whether the person in charge of washing dishes had sanitized the tableware or whether the wait staff who served him had washed their hands. It all added up to a worthy consolation prize for missing Joanne’s cooking tonight.

Josiah looked at his watch and realized it was time for him to go. The restaurant closed at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, and it was just
ten minutes short of that time now. No wonder lingering diners all of a sudden hurried to gather their belongings and leave.

“Was everything to your satisfaction, sir?” the waitress asked upon her approach to Josiah’s table. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-one, but her beauty had caught Josiah’s attention immediately upon his arrival. She’d introduced herself as Chanella, and her service had been impeccable.

“It was remarkable,” Josiah said, half answering the question and half flirting. He handed the lovely lady his credit card and then took a swig of his juice before resting his back against the chair and looking out the window beside him.

Stone Mountain seemed to have come to a standstill. Very little movement was going on outside—a passing car here, a pedestrian there. It all looked quite peaceful. Josiah thought to himself that The Sycamore Grill would be a good place to bring a date. His mind immediately went to Patrice. She’d mentioned at the park that seafood was her favorite, and this restaurant had a great selection. Josiah wondered if Patrice would accompany him if he invited her to join him at The Sycamore Grill.

“Stop it, JT,” he whispered. “Just stop it.”

“Here you are, Mr. Tucker.” The smiling server returned with Josiah’s credit card and his paid receipt. He hoped she hadn’t overheard him as she concluded with a cheerful, “Have a great evening.”

“Thank you.” Josiah reached in his pants pocket and pulled out the cash tip that he’d tucked there earlier. “And you have a great evening too.”

The young woman eyed the crisp, folded twenty and grinned. Not a bad tip for a meal that cost only eight dollars more. “Thank you, Mr. Tucker. I hope to serve you again… very soon.” Now she was the one who was flirting.

Josiah smiled in response. When he caught himself watching
her walk away, he had to shake his head at his own folly. “Bishop Lumpkin was right,” he muttered as he downed the rest of his drink, “men are basically shallow, physical creatures, and if it weren’t for the grace of God, we’d all be dogs.”

He’d ended his call with the bishop just before leaving the hotel to find the recommended eatery. Once again, Josiah’s confiding in Bishop Lumpkin had been just what he needed. It was almost ironic that Arielle called an hour later. The child had unknowingly cut out one of the steps that Bishop Lumpkin had suggested.

“I agree with Craig,” the bishop had said after listening to the whole story as told by Josiah. “There is nothing in the Word of God that condemns what you feel for Patrice. Your mind is your greatest enemy in this, Brother Tucker, and often times our minds are our most challenging foes. Outside forces are a lot easier to fight or simply ignore than battles within. If you choose to pursue a romantic relationship with this woman, you’re going to have to find a way to override what your mind has convinced you of. The question here is not whether a relationship with Patrice is right or wrong. She’s not a blood relative, and you’ve told me that she is a born-again Christian. There is clearly nothing wrong with it. The only real question is, are your feelings genuine?”

Josiah had scratched his chin as he pondered the statement. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you described her as very beautiful, and her multicultural features as near exotic. Good looks like that could be enough to confuse any man. By nature, men are largely physical, and quite honestly, shallow creatures; therefore, we are prone to react according to what appeals to our flesh. You need to ask yourself whether it is love or lust that you’re feeling. If it’s the latter, it’s sin. If it’s the former, it’s blessed of God. If you know that what you are feeling is pure and something you wish to build upon, then the only question becomes
whether that foundation is strong enough to sustain it.”

While Josiah didn’t want to offend his pastor, he couldn’t help but laugh at that last statement. “Bishop, I’ve been in relationships before. They all seem worth building upon or else I wouldn’t have pursued them. That proves that just because
it feels
genuine, that doesn’t mean it comes with any guarantees that it
is
genuine.”

“Well said,” Bishop Lumpkin replied. “But here is the measuring stick that I challenge every man to use. There are only a few women in the world that you would honestly kill for. Many men declare that they’d kill for this girlfriend or that girlfriend, but if they were put to the test, she’d probably have to outrun him if she wanted to escape whatever imminent death was looming. For an honest, decent man, killing another human being is beyond serious, but true love will make you do it if you have to. Your mother would probably be one woman who you’d kill for if it came down to it.”

Josiah remembered a time, not too many days ago, that he would have stiffened and become aggitated if someone had said that to him. The fact that he wasn’t reacting that way now was a true testament of the magnitude of good that his reconnection with the Smiths had already done for him. Instead of Bishop Lumpkin’s words putting him on the defensive, they brought him to a mind-boggling reality. In spite of everything, he would have killed for Reeva. It was an acknowledgment that took him by surprise. He claimed he didn’t love her like a mother, but if he had walked in while that dirty coward was strangling the life out of his mom, Josiah wouldn’t have thought twice about blowing his brains out.

“Your daughter would probably be another,” Bishop Lumpkin added, breaking Josiah’s raging thoughts. “Most any man worth anything would kill for his daughter. There’s something about a daddy and his girls.” He could hear the personal satisfaction in the bishop’s voice.

Being that he wasn’t a father, Josiah could only imagine that this one was true. But he could easily see himself killing for the sake of his daughter’s life; for the sake of the life of any child of his.

Bishop Lumpkin kept talking. “And the third would be the woman who holds your heart. I think that any stable-minded man who will make the conscious decision to put his future on the line-meaning that even if it means spending the rest of his life in prison—he would take the life of another to save the life of the woman he loves.”

When Patrice told him about her brutal violation, Josiah wanted to kill Bogart; genuinely wanted to reach into the man’s chest with his bare hand and manually dislodge his heart from any vein or artery that kept it pumping. The thought of doing the honors of killing him brought a grin to Josiah’s face because the slower and more brutal Bo’s death, the better.

Josiah had to physically shake his head to shoo the thoughts from his mind. If wanting to murder a man equaled love, then Josiah was head over heels. “Is that love, or is that crazy?” he heard himself ask. Bishop Lumpkin had heard him too.

“Both. It’s
crazy love.
It’s the closest we can get to loving like our God loves. He has crazy love for us. So much so that He sent His only Son to die in our place. But before He did all that, the Scriptures document moments that He destroyed armies of people whose intent was to harm His people. We are the bride of Christ, and He would slay giants to save us.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I know I’m right.”

Josiah smiled. “I appreciate your taking the time to call me, Bishop. I know you’re a busy man, and I know this isn’t the norm for you. I kinda put you on the spot when I asked Danielle to make the request for me. I knew you’d do it if she asked, so I admit that
I sort of took advantage of the situation.”

“Nonsense,” Bishop Lumpkin said. “I’m happy to do it. It’s true that I wouldn’t necessarily do it for everybody, but I would have called you regardless of who had passed your message along. I’ve been praying for you ever since our talk. I was glad to hear that you followed my advice and made the trip back to Atlanta. To know that you found your other leg brought me joy.”

Laughing at the remembrance of their discussion, Josiah said, “I appreciate your prayers. Yes, I found my leg, and I admit it fits beautifully.”

“As I knew it would.” Bishop Lumpkin wasn’t known for his modesty.

“I just hope I don’t lose it again over this whole Patrice issue.”

The pastor sounded assured when he said, “You won’t if you follow God’s voice. Hearing Him is how you found your leg; remember that, and hold to that same faith. If you continue to listen, the same God will also help you find your heart.”

That sounded good and all, but Josiah needed to have at least a hint. “You hear from God, Bishop?”

“I do.”

“I believe you to be a man of God, and I trust the words of wisdom and knowledge that you pass along to me. I will continue to pray as you’ve said, but if there is any guidance that you can give to me, I’d appreciate that too.” Josiah paused, and then asked. “What do you think I should do first?”

“Communication is always a key strength in any relationship, Brother Tucker.” Bishop Lumpkin had wasted no time sharing his thoughts. “That being said, I think you should call her. No doubt, she’s very confused and maybe even a little scared right now. Call her and clear the air about what happened in the park. Apologize if an apology is in order, but by the same token, be straightforward
with her, and let her know how you feel. If you find that true love is on the horizon, then you can leave Atlanta with far more than you went in search of.”