Torn Apart (African American Romance) (12 page)

“Oh, hi Rhonda,” Dana said as if she could not believe Rhonda was actually there in front of her.

“Hey Dana,” Rhonda reached and hugged Dana before she realized Dana wasn’t hugging her back. Rhonda politely pulled away although her first reaction was to yank away from her.

“What a surprise
—what are you doing here?” Dana asked looking somewhat confused. Rhonda assumed that maybe Dana felt that Rhonda would never step foot in any place that David would be present in. Her first thought was to mention that she and David were back on again, but she decided against it.

“Well me and my parents decided to come here today for the service while I was here this weekend.” Rhonda had turned around looking for them but they were already making their way inside to get a seat in the already packed church.

Dana didn’t respond and seemed uncomfortable, to be quite honest, so Rhonda ended the strange interaction by saying how nice it was to see her and congratulations on her pregnancy. Dana responded with a quick thank you and turned around without another word. What the heck was that about, Rhonda thought to herself. Rhonda was hoping that this isn’t the type of behavior she was going to have to put up with from the majority of the congregation once they learned she was going to be the future Mrs. Barnes.

             
Rhonda joined her parents just in time before the music began and David began to take his place in the pulpit along with the other preachers. Rhonda thought that David looked very handsome in his robe, like a younger version of his father. Rhonda noticed that David’s father and mother were both present up front. After everything that happened with David Jr. walking in on his father, his mother decided to stay with her husband, again. David Sr. was genuinely feeling what his actions had done to his son and how it may have even affected his wife. He beat his son to the punch and confessed to his wife what David Jr. had walked in on. Mrs. Barnes was angry more about the fact that her husband had slipped up and let David Jr. witness him in such a predicament. She told her husband that she already knew what he had been up to all along, even from the very first affairs after David Jr. was born. David Sr. was shocked by his wife’s revelation; he had really underestimated her. Although he never confessed to his wife that he had been unfaithful over the years, when he got sick they had a heart-to-heart talk and he thanked her for being by his side and sticking by him even when he didn’t deserve her love and support. She kissed him and simply said, “For better or for worse.” David Sr. had made a vow to her then and there that he was going to change and be the husband she deserved, and had even started their marriage being many years ago. He was still not fully recovered from being sick but he was on his way. A couple of months went by as he became stronger and able to move around and start back to living his life without tiring himself. When David Jr. came back home to help him out at the church that helped boost his spirit even more and gave him time to heal and also renew the spark in his marriage. Everything seemed to be turning around; his strength was returning and he was able to return to the church and assist his son as David Jr. slowly but surely got comfortable in the role of spiritual leader of his congregation.

Within
a year’s time David Jr. was the spitting image of his father in his youth when he began preaching, showing a confidence, slight cockiness, and charm that attracted many and made them want to be in his presence. David Sr. loved seeing this side of his son following in his footsteps but as time gradually passed David Sr. began to miss this attention and responsibility that he once had. When he was fully recovered, David Sr. was restless and anxious to get back to his life. His wife pleaded for him to take it easy so he would not run himself ragged again. She also suggested they go on a long overdue vacation and enjoy each other. They did go out the country for a two-week vacation—their first vacation unrelated to church business since their honeymoon. They returned appearing to be even more in love than they had ever been but eventually David Sr. was becoming restless again. That is when he began counseling again. He renovated his home office and study to look professional enough to welcome guests and he assisted his son from home with his work in the church; this was a solution that would make Mrs. Barnes happy so she could have her husband close and near more often, and it also gave David Jr. the space at the church so it did not seem like he was sharing his office space with anyone. As he got settled into his role working primarily from home, this is when David Sr. started becoming tempted to step outside of his marriage again. Word had gotten out about him being back in good health and working again, so temptresses from the past made their way back into his life. His office was outside of the main house, which meant people could come and go to their sessions without Mrs. Barnes even knowing or seeing who her husband counseled, if she was even there. Mrs. Barnes was quite active in the community serving on many boards and service projects, so she was even busier than her husband these days. Before he realized it, David Sr. had gotten caught up and back to his old philandering ways. He knew what he was doing was wrong, and now it looked like it was about to cost him his family; not completely though—Mrs. Barnes stayed but things were still not the same with him and David Jr.

Morning service went on as usual until the last few minutes when David led the congregation in closing pr
ayer and then announced that he had an announcement that he wanted his parents to join him up front for. Rhonda’s nerves had the best of her, as she knew this was the announcement she had been waiting to be revealed to everyone else. David and his parents had been discreet in sharing the engagement news; even Rhonda had not let her parents know until two days earlier when she came to town. Although they were happy, they were concerned because they had not realized that Rhonda had been communicating with David. They were worried that maybe the reunited couple was moving too fast, but Rhonda asked them to trust and support her decision, which they said they would.

Once his parents were by his side, David got straight to the point. He asked Rhonda to stand up and asked the church to welcome her as she would be joining the congregation, not only as a member but also as his future wife
and first lady. The majority of the congregation was in awe and broke out in applause and praises that their spiritual leader was settling down, at least the elders and the men. Many of the younger women clapped and appeared to be happy, but that was all a façade for many who had hoped that David would choose them. When David asked her to join him up front, Rhonda felt so welcome and for the first time in a while she did not feel doubtful. Everything was going to be just fine, she thought.

A Long Time Coming

Days after the announcement at the church, Rhonda was befriended by every church organization leader, and them some, as they tried to welcome her to the church family and recruit her to their group. It was all a little overwhelming for Rhonda as she still was living in the city during the week trying to focus on her work obligations. LaVerne had been very supportive during this time and although she was not happy that Rhonda was in the process of moving her life back home to meet David’s needs, she tried to support Rhonda like a good friend would. Rhonda had been trying her hardest to get David to come visit again soon so she could cook dinner for her two favorite people; she wanted LaVerne to see what a stand-up guy David really was. David, unfortunately, had not been back to visit since he came up to Rhonda’s office on her last day before she started working primarily from home. As a matter of fact, although she did not share this with LaVerne, Rhonda was beginning to feel the way that she had when she was in college and going out of her way to meet David’s needs. The only reason Rhonda and David had been seeing each other was because of her trips home every weekend since she had gotten engaged.

This weekend Rhonda
decided she was going to miss the trip home because she needed to get caught up on her work. She called David as soon as she awoke that Saturday morning to tell him. Although he was disappointed, he told her that he understood. He has no choice, Rhonda thought, as she again found herself re-evaluating her decision to marry David. They spoke for another 10 minutes or so with him going over what his sermon would be about that next morning and plans for when Rhonda came to town that following weekend. She had intended on going back to sleep after she got off the phone but she was wide awake and decided to throw on her workout clothes and go for a jog around the neighborhood. Rhonda wanted to lose about 20 lbs. before the big day so now was the time to get busy with her workout plan. It had been a while since Rhonda had jogged to the park and along the surrounding path, so she decided to be smart and not go too far. About 15 minutes later, Rhonda headed back in the direction of her apartment. As she got closer, she noticed a familiar car parked next to hers in the parking lot. It couldn’t be, Rhonda thought, as she got closer and became more nervous as she noticed a figure still sitting inside a black sports car. Rhonda slowed down and walked past the car heading to her front door when she confirmed her suspicion—Ken was parked outside her apartment waiting for her.

Ken had told Rhonda that he had pulled up just as she was leaving for her jog but he decided to wait for her because he needed to speak with her. Of course she agreed to let him in so Ken followed her into her place and they both sat down on her couch. For a few moments there was an awkward silence but Ken smiled and broke the ice.

“This is a bit weird, huh?” he
nervously asked with a hint of a smile.

“Yes, it is but I am glad you came by, Ken. I have wanted to have some alone time with you anyway to just talk and clear the air. You probably won’t believe me, but I feel so bad about everything and I’m so sorry how I hurt you.”

Finally, Rhonda had the chance to say what was in her heart, and it was as if a weight had somewhat been lifted, whether he would be accepting of her apology or not.

“Apology accepted,” Ken responded as he grabbed her hand and offered her a friendly smile. It was crazy to Rhonda how
even that small, friendly gesture that he offered to show he forgave her brought back a reaction that she had not had in a long time. Ken noticed the change in her body language too when he touched her hand.

“Rhonda, I want to ask you something. And please be honest with me.”

“Ok.” Rhonda looked at Ken wondering what was on his mind.

“I asked you this before but walked out before I got an answer. But I have to ask again
—why are you marrying him?”

“Ken…” Rhonda began as she shook her head appearing to become defensive.

“Wait Rhonda, this is not an attack. I just need to know because I don’t care what you say but you can’t deny that we had something special. And don’t forget, you told me about this guy and how he treated you. You even said yourself that you hung in there when you knew you could have been doing better for yourself. So I ask, why can’t you let him go? Why have you let him back in, and then decided to marry the selfish bastard?”

Wow, Rhonda thought to herself, she had to admit that Ken was reading her like a book. Her first thought was try to defend David and do her best to make Ken see she was with David because she loved him. She did truly love David, but she could not deny that she was in love with Ken. She
had opened up to David because of the pain he was going through and the fact she was somewhat curious about how things could be between them again. Rhonda had been silly to think Ken would not be upset about her changing her plans in order to accommodate David, an ex that she had told Ken about in great detail. Really, how did she expect him to react? When Ken got angry with her, though, she assumed things were over between them, so she jumped right back into this thing with David and got caught up in the moment. For the first time since accepting David’s proposal, she was finally admitting it to herself; she was also admitting it to Ken.

“I don’t know. I guess because I thought I lost you,” Rhonda said as she looked up at Ken with tears in her eyes.

Ken looked back at her stunned. This was what he was hoping for—that Rhonda would open up and see that they were meant to be together. He just wasn’t expecting that it would go so smoothly. Rhonda leaned in closer to Ken as he still held onto her hand. She wanted to kiss him badly, but she knew it was unfair to David. Before she realized it, Ken had taken the lead and lightly brushed his lips against hers for a soft gentle kiss tasting the tears that ran down her face. At first she didn’t kiss Ken back, but as Ken leaned in more for her lips, parting her mouth open with his tongue, she gave in and started to passionately kiss him back. They kissed for about five minutes more before Rhonda stopped Ken.

“Ken, I can’t do this
—not while I’m engaged to be married to David.”

“So, what are you going to do? You don’t have to go through with this you know. If you should be marrying anyone, it should be me,” Ken said as he touched Rhonda’s face and began kissing her again.

Rhonda could not believe what she was hearing, but it made her want Ken even more. She let him kiss her until he was down on his knees between her legs lightly sucking her neck. Ken pulled off her sweatshirt and pulled her breasts out of the sports bra and took a moment to admire how beautiful her breasts looked. Ken massaged both her breasts as he began kissing Rhonda again making her nipples hard as stones. He then began licking and sucking her breasts, giving each breast equal attention as she lightly moaned forgetting about David and how she was going to deal with this situation. Ken finally stood up to undress while Rhonda pulled her pants and panties down in one tug, stepping out of them in time to hop in Ken’s arms and wrap her legs around his now nude waist. They kissed again while Ken carried Rhonda around the other side of the couch placing her ass on the backside of it while he forcefully entered her causing her to scream with more pleasure as his hands gripped her ass cheeks along with the quick motions.