In Times of Trouble (16 page)

“No! Are you serious? I guess if anyone can afford to give away that much money they certainly can.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. In total, Chanelle raked in a little over twelve thousand. She has more than enough to buy her own car. Justin has taken her out car shopping a couple of times, but she put all the money in the bank and she's going to wait until it's closer to the start of school before she buys anything. She doesn't need it now anyhow. If I don't take her to work, RJ's picking her up. On the weekends she's usually out with Gericka or Justin.”

“Justin has been a good influence on her, hasn't he?”

“Oh yes! It wasn't until she stopped seeing that other boy that
her behavior began to change. Sometimes Justin even goes down to the center while she's working and volunteers. He claims that he wants to do community service, but Liv and I both know it's because he wants to be around Chanelle.”

“I'm so glad things are working out. I can tell a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders.”

Lisa couldn't agree more. “Amen to that!” Now that things with Chanelle had settled down significantly, Lisa was looking forward to concentrating solely on planning her wedding. Though his mama seemed a little off, it didn't change how she felt about Eric. He was the perfect man of God for her and she could not imagine living the rest of her life without him.

I
t was the second Saturday in July. RJ's chest burned with fire from a combination of hurt, anger and even the jealously he'd been tortured with ever since learning of Lisa's engagement. He recalled the day he had first caught wind of the news nearly two months ago. He had been helping Lisa's mother move into her own apartment and got a glimpse of the ring when the sunlight hit it just right, causing a spectrum of color to catch his eye. Immediately, RJ felt sick, like an invisible hand had twisted every organ in his body. Wishing. . .hoping. . .even praying that the sparkling diamond wasn't what he thought it was, but his worst fears were confirmed when Hattie informed him of Lisa's engagement.

That night RJ cried on his ex-mother-in-law's shoulder like a wounded child needing comfort. “God, did I hear you wrong?” he had wailed! He had been so sure that God had promised to bring him and Lisa back together. RJ had always thought Lisa would come back to Baltimore, but when Pastor Burlington called him about the director position at the center, RJ knew it was the confirmation he needed and set forth with one mission: to reclaim his family. Tonight, his conviction grew feeble. At
seven o'clock, the love of his life was celebrating her engagement to another man.

RJ was hoping Callie would share some insight about her sister's engagement while they were driving to and from Baltimore, but she rode silently, seemingly preoccupied with matters on her own mind. It was Lisa's mother who told him about the surprise engagement party. She had said that she really didn't want to go because she hadn't yet been sold on Lisa's fiancé, but wanted to support her daughter. RJ knew that another reason Hattie had been steering clear of Lisa was because of the news she had not yet shared with her or Chanelle; only he and Callie knew Hattie's secret.

RJ felt like a three-legged monkey for taking Hattie's concerns about Lisa's fiancé and running with them, feeling bold enough to confront Lisa at Chanelle's graduation party. Later, he realized that he'd bought into his ex-mother-in-law's suspicions about Eric for his own selfish reasons. He didn't know enough about Eric not to like him, but he didn't want to like him. RJ would be uncomfortable with anyone Lisa chose to marry because
he
was supposed to be her husband.

Tears dashed from his eyes as he clutched a picture of him and Lisa in his hand. The picture was at least ten years old, taken one night after their pastoral anniversary celebration. Lisa hadn't changed a bit. She was fine then and she was even finer now. The only difference between then and now is that RJ hadn't witnessed her beautiful smile, such as the one she wore in that picture, for quite some time. Sometimes he wished he could have kept up the façade just to make Lisa happy. Now someone else was putting a smile on her face!

“I can't take it, Lord!” he cried. Though RJ loved his job at the center, once Lisa married this man, he planned to move back to
Maryland. There was no way he could sit and watch her start a new life with anyone other than himself! It seemed like all his prayers to restore his family had been in vain.

• • •

“I wonder how long this banquet is going to last?” Eric asked as they headed downtown to the Hyatt Regency. Dressed like two teenagers going to prom, Eric was in a tuxedo and Lisa wore an elegant coral spaghetti strap gown.

“I don't know. . .”

“I hope it doesn't last all night. I'm not really in the mood to sit with a group of uptight attorneys who'll bore me to death with a bunch of legal jargon I don't understand. Isaac isn't like that, but I can't attest for the rest of the people that work for him. I don't know why in the world we were invited to attend or why you even wanted to. Neither of us knows anything about law.”

“Honey, relax. I'm sure it'll be more fun than you imagine.”

“We'll see about that,” Eric grunted.

Lisa giggled silently, wanting so badly to tell Eric that the boring banquet was actually an engagement party in their honor, but she didn't want to ruin the surprise for him.

When they walked into the ballroom at the downtown hotel, both were astonished by the number of guests and how beautifully decorated the place was. Though Lisa had technically known about the “surprise” party, she was still speechless by the lengths that Olivia and Isaac had gone. This gala far outdid any event where balloons and streamers filled the place. This ballroom was adorned with crystal, silk linen tablecloths and a live jazz band. Eric's face lit up like fireworks and Lisa was overcome with emotions that even the foreknowledge of this party hadn't prepared her for.

“This is the reason why I've been acting so crazy lately,” Olivia admitted after embracing the couple. “I was so scared that somehow you would find out and the surprise would be ruined.”

“Liv didn't think everyone would be able to keep this a secret.” Isaac winked and smiled.

Olivia gently nudged him in the side. “Oh hush. Anyhow, Lisa, I hope you like what we've done.”

“Are you kidding? I love it!”

“Thank you so much,” Eric chimed in.

Well wishes began to pour in from guests, who also seemed impressed by the caliber of the event. Besides her mother and sister, Lisa's assistant, Megan, was one of the first to come up and speak.

“It's so nice to finally meet you. Lisa is a great person. Consider yourself one lucky man,” she kidded.

“
Lucky?”
Eric cautioned.

“I'm sure what Megan is really saying is that every day of our marriage you better count your blessings, mister, and thank God for giving you such as wonderful wife,” Lisa playfully interjected to avoid the possibility of Eric embarrassing her by rebuking Megan for her vernacular.

“I definitely will do that.” He smiled.

“I can't believe so many people from the office are here,” she said to Megan.

“It doesn't surprise me. When two of the company's most influential board members send personal invitations to nearly every employee, people are going to respond.”

Lisa and Eric both laughed. “I guess I didn't look at it that way,” said Lisa.

“Even Mr. Criton is here and you know he usually never attends employee social events.”

That was true. Neil Criton was Brentson's Chief Executive Officer and was probably the board's third most influential member, inferior only to the Scotts. He was a nice man, but kept work relationships at the office. He never really seemed interested in getting to know anyone on a more personal basis. Lisa was surprised and honored that he had attended.

The engagement party was phenomenal! The evening was filled with loads of food, fun and fellowship. Lisa wasn't extremely bothered by the lack of enthusiasm shown by her mother and sister. She had expected as much since neither of them has really done any cartwheels about her engagement. Callie had been acting weird ever since her arrival to Columbus, but her mother's behavior was a little more unusual and didn't really begin until a few days after Chanelle's graduation party. Initially, Lisa assumed it was because her mother was in on the planning of tonight's celebration, but seeing how the odd behavior continued, she wondered if something else was going on. She'd made a mental note to confront her mother at a later time. What really seemed peculiar to Lisa was how quiet and withdrawn Chanelle had been the entire night. Lisa walked over to where Justin and Chanelle were sitting. Along the way, she thanked several guests for coming. When she finally reached her daughter, she asked, “Honey, is everything okay?”

Chanelle seemed to hesitate at first, but then answered, “Yes.”

“Are you sure? You don't look like yourself.”

“She's tired,” Justin spoke up. “We both are. Mom had us running around all day to get stuff together for tonight.”

Lisa could believe it. Justin had picked Chanelle up around nine this morning under the pretense of his parents needing help with the “banquet.” Lisa was tickled to death that her soon-to-be eighteen-year-old daughter had gotten out of bed on a Saturday
morning before noon. Saturdays were pretty much the only day Chanelle slept in during the summer since she worked at the center during the week, and of course they had church on Sundays. Lisa was honored that Chanelle had drudged out of bed early to help get things together for her engagement party. Lisa took her daughter's actions as a sign of support.

“Honey, you do look exhausted. Mama's car is still in the shop; she rode with Callie in my car. If you want, I'll ask Eric if he'll mind them riding back with us; then you can take my car and go home.”

“Don't worry about it, Miss Lisa. I can take her home,” Justin offered. “Matter of fact, I'm a little worn out myself because of football conditioning. You won't mind if I sneak out a little early as well, will you?”

“Not at all. You two are the youngest here. If you weren't tired, you're probably bored, huh, hanging out with all us old fogies?”

“I don't know about everyone else, but you and Mom are definitely no old fogies. You two are the most beautiful older women I've ever seen,” he said playfully.

Lisa looked at Chanelle. “Isn't he quite the charmer?”

Chanelle grinned weakly.

“Go on and get my baby out of here so I don't have to argue with her too much about getting up and going to church tomorrow. I'll let Liv know you're going home,” she said to Justin.

Lisa accidentally bumped into Eric while walking and scanning the room for Olivia. “Please watch where you're going. . .my fiancée loves me and wouldn't appreciate you mauling me over like that.”

“What else wouldn't she appreciate?” toyed Lisa.

“If I did this. . .” Eric leaned over and gave Lisa a brief, stomach-tickling kiss. She hadn't expected such a bold move from him, but she was definitely looking forward to more sparkling moments like this.

“In case y'all didn't know, this is the engagement party,
not
the honeymoon,” teased Olivia.

“I was just looking for you,” said Lisa. “Justin and Chanelle left. He's dropping her off and heading home since somebody worked them into exhaustion all day.”

“Whatever!” Olivia playfully rolled her eyes. “Knowing Justin, he left because he thought he might have to help clean up.”

“Lisa and I will stay and help,” Eric offered.

“Nonsense; you two are the guests of honor. Plus, I'm not even staying. Isaac's in charge of the clean-up crew. Check with him. He may have hired some people to take care of it.”

It was after ten and most people had already started clearing out. Lisa's mother and sister were among those saying their final good-byes before leaving.

“Callie, call me if you have any trouble finding your way back to the house after you drop off Mama.”

“I should be fine.”

“This was a lovely party,” her mother said to Olivia.

“It sure was,” echoed Lisa, surprised at how polite her mother was being. Olivia wasn't exactly one of her top-ten most liked people. It wasn't like Olivia had ever done anything to Hattie. Olivia had always treated her kindly and with respect. Lisa assumed her mother was just funny-acting. At times, Lisa probably didn't make Hattie's list, but no doubt RJ reigned at number one.

“Thanks. I wanted to do something to show Lisa how much her friendship means to me.”

“Well, we have to go,” Callie interrupted rather rudely. “I'll see you at the house.”

“I hope she doesn't get lost,” Lisa said after they had walked away.