Ramsey's Praise Read online

  Ramsey’s Praise

  Book 4 in the

  Praise Him Anyhow Series

  by

  Vanessa Miller

  1

  She was standing about six feet away from him, holding a beautiful bridal bouquet when Ramsey Thomas first took notice of her. Long flowing hair, olive skin tone, sparkling hazel colored eyes. The gown she wore showed off every bit of her shapely body. Ramsey was almost to the point of drooling when his brother Ronny nudged his shoulder and said, “Please tell me you’re not drooling over the bride like that?”

  Ramsey turned to his brother with furrowed eyebrows. The bride was Jewel Dawson and she was marrying his younger brother, Dontae Marshall. Ramsey was the best man so it would be a bit awkward if he was standing before God and a whole congregation of folks lusting after the bride. “Shut up, idiot. I’m not drooling over Jewel,” Ramsey whispered and then turned back around so he could continue taking in the lovely view of Maxine Dawson, Jewel’s oldest sister and maid of honor.

  A few months back Dontae had tried to hook him up with one of the Dawson sisters, but he’d been completely wrong about which one Ramsey would be interested in. Dawn, the middle sister, although just as beautiful as her other sisters, she was too short for him, and their personalities leaned more toward them becoming best of friends rather than having any kind of love connection. But Maxine Dawson was a woman that Ramsey would like to invest some time getting to know.

  As if feeling his gaze on her, Maxine’s eyes met Ramsey’s just as the preacher said, “I now pronounce you man and wife.” As Dontae took Jewel in his arms, Ramsey winked at Maxine. He grinned as her cheeks turned red from blushing.

  Ramsey wanted to ask her on a date right then and there. But no matter how much Maxine was taking up space in his head, he wouldn’t do anything to spoil this moment for his brother.

  Later that evening while at the reception, Ramsey was standing with his father, Ramsey senior and his stepmother, Carmella when they started in on him. “I guess we’ll be attending your wedding next, eh, son?”

  Ramsey ignored his father and let his eyes span the room. He was looking for Maxine, but he’d never admit that to his father, and certainly not to Mama Carmella. If she knew he had his eye on a woman, she’d start praying and call down Elijah, Moses and a couple heavenly angels to get Ram to make a move. Ram was the nickname Carmella had given him. His family had taken to calling him that as a way of distinguishing between him and his father.

  “Who’s Renee talking to?” Carmella asked, pointing over by some tables in the back.

  Ramsey’s head swiveled back around. He had three sisters, Joy, Raven and Renee. And he was very protective of all of them. But he tended to watch out for Renee just a bit more. The girl made a career out of finding bad in a room full of good. Ramsey recognized the smooth talker Renee was grinning up at immediately. Marlin Jones was a high powered real-estate developer whom Ramsey had dealt with on occasion. He didn’t like the way the man did business. There was something too slick about him. “I’ll be back,” Ramsey told his parents.

  Carmella caught his arm. “Now Ram, don’t you go over there bothering your sister. She is old enough to make her own decisions.”

  “I’m not going to do anything. I know the guy, so I just want to say hello.” And goodbye, he added under his breath. As Ram pressed forward, Marlin put his hand on Renee’s shoulder, her head fell back as she laughed ridiculously at something the man said. Marlin must have been telling Renee the funny one about how his tax returns were complete fiction and how the IRS was about to audit him for all of his wrongdoing.

  “I like the way you laugh. I normally don’t come to weddings, but I’m so glad I accepted this invitation,” Marlin was saying as Ram advanced on them.

  “And why is that?” Renee asked, beaming up at Marlin.

  “Because I met the most beautiful girl in the whole state of North Carolina.”

  Ram wanted to throw up all over Marlin’s playa rap. He only prayed that Renee could see through him. But just in case she couldn’t he was about to do some playa hating. Ram tapped Marlin on the shoulder, getting his attention. “Marlin, I didn’t know you were attending my brother’s wedding.”

  Swinging around, Marlin had to lift his head to address Ramsey, who was at least a half foot taller than he. “Hey Ramsey, I had no idea that Dontae was your brother. But my mom is best friends with Jewel’s mom, so I had to come.”

  “Gotcha.” Ramsey threw a look at Renee and then told Marlin, “Well it was nice seeing you. Do you mind if I have a word with my little sister?”

  “I thought Charlotte was a big city. But look how small it’s suddenly become. I cannot believe that this beautiful woman standing next to me is related to someone with a mug like yours,” Marlin said lightheartedly.

  “Believe it.” Ram didn’t know how much longer he could hold his fake smile in place, so he quickly put his arm around Renee and began walking away from Marlin. “See you later,” Ram said while still smiling and waving.

  “What are you up to, Ram?”

  “I’m just trying to get you away from that guy.”

  With a quizzical expression on her face, Renee wanted to know, “Why in the world would you do something like that?” She pointed toward Marlin. “The guy is a dream... successful, handsome. There’s no bum stamp on his forehead.”

  “Yeah, but there ought to be a dog stamp on it,” Ram replied back.

  Rolling her eyes, Renee shoved her brother. “Don’t start this stuff tonight, Ram. Just go back to the head table with the rest of the bridal party and stay out of my business.”

  Ram opened his mouth to protest, but Renee lifted her index finger and pointed toward his table. “Go, Ram. I’m not going to let you ruin my fun tonight.”

  He tried to help her. But if his sister wanted to be foolish and fall all over herself for a man who might be in prison in the next year or so, then she could have all the temporary fun she wanted. Ram turned toward the head table and saw Maxine seated next to his chair, eating a piece of wedding cake. So he took his sister’s advice and set about minding his own business. He grabbed a piece of cake off the cake table and then took his seat. “Is this cake as good as you are making it look?”

  Maxine picked up her napkin and wiped her mouth. “Did I look like I was starving?”

  “You were getting it in, that’s for sure.”

  “I deprived myself of all sweets for over a decade. Now that I don’t have to worry about being rail thin anymore, I was probably a little too excited about eating this cake.”

  Ramsey picked up his napkin and wiped the white icing she’d missed from her chin. “Don’t worry about it, cake looks good on you.”

  “I bet you say that to all the girls,” Maxine joked as she took another bite of her cake.

  Ramsey thought about the line he’d just heard Marlin running on his sister and he didn’t want to come across like that. But if he was honest with himself, from the moment he saw her, he’d been mesmerized. He wanted to get to know this woman in the worst way and he wasn’t trying to blow his opportunity by acting like a jerk. “I’m not trying to hand you a line. The plain truth is, I think you’re beautiful and I would love to take you out some time.”

  Dontae, the groom and Ronny, the all around clown were standing behind them. Ramsey hadn’t seen them until it was too late. After he told Maxine that he wanted to take her out, both Dontae and Ronny put their hand around their ear and said, “Say what?”

  Okay, yeah, when Ramsey first came to the city and Dontae tried to hook him up with one of the Dawson sisters, he’d been adamantly against it. He hadn’t wanted to be fixed up because he’d just gotten out of an awful relationship with a bi
polar woman who made Glenn Close seem like a reasonable woman. So, he needed that hiatus. He turned to his brothers and said, “I’m gon’ tell y’all like Renee just told me, get somewhere and mind your own business.”

  Ronny held his hands up. “We know when we’re not wanted. And besides, we have better things to do than to watch you get shot down.”

  As he brothers walked off, Ramsey turned back to Maxine. “Excuse them. They don’t know much about home training, outside training or any other kind of training, for that matter.” A giggle escaped Maxine’s beautiful lips. Ramsey saw an opening and took his shot. “See, I’m already making you laugh. Imagine how much fun the two of us would have on a date.”

  “I’m sure it would be wonderful.” Maxine couldn’t stop grinning. “It’s just too bad that you didn’t ask me out before I decided to become a mom.”

  Ramsey’s eyes trailed downward and stopped at her mid-section. “I would have never guessed that you were pregnant. When are you due?”

  “I’m not pregnant,” she said matter-of-factly.

  Ramsey took a bite of his cake, took a moment to chew it and then said, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you need to be pregnant in order to become a mom?”

  “I would love to have a husband before I become pregnant.” Maxine shrugged. “But since my husband hasn’t found me yet, I decided to adopt.”

  “A little impatient, aren’t you?”

  A tinge of regret dimmed Maxine’s eyes as she said, “The truth is, I thought that I wanted nothing more than to be a model and once my modeling career was over, I intended to parlay that success into an acting career.” She shrugged again. “But I can’t act, I’m tired of modeling and since my biological clock is ticking like a time bomb, I decided to adopt.”

  Ramsey was a bit surprised that Maxine had shared so much with him, given the fact they didn’t know each other well, but maybe she thought of him more like a brother, since her sister had just married his brother. He hoped to God that she didn’t think of him that way, because he sure wasn’t seeing a relative when he looked at her. "You look so young. I'm sure you have plenty of time to wait for the right man to come along."

  "Like they say, black don't crack," Maxine told him with a smile. "But seriously, I'll be thirty-four next year, so I don't have very many baby-making years left."

  Ramsey shook his head to that news.

  "What?" Maxine asked.

  "It's nothing. I'm just amazed that a woman as beautiful as you hasn't found a man willing to make a baby with you."

  "It's more difficult than you think. Most of the men I date are either insecure about my success or they think I'm too controlling."

  “I don't know what kind of men you've been dating, but I don’t mind releasing a little control every now and then. And I think your brand of success is very attractive.”

  That caught her off guard. She couldn’t think of a quick comeback, so she simply thanked him for the compliment.

  “Now, about that date...”

  “You are kind of cute. And I bet we’d really enjoy ourselves on a date. But I’ve already signed up for diaper duty. Sorry.” With that said, Maxine got up and walked away from Ramsey.

  Ronny walked back over to the table, leaned over to his brother and said, “Struck out, huh? Should have asked me or Dontae. We could have told you that those Dawson sisters ain't no easy win.”

  ***

  Ramsey was so tired when he arrived home that all he’d managed to do before falling into bed on top of his covers was take his jacket and tie off. Hearing Maxine talk about wanting to become a mother and being willing to adopt to make that happen, caused Ramsey to think about another woman who couldn’t get rid of her child fast enough. He’d tried for over a year to get Brandi out of his head, but on a night like this his subconscious couldn’t help but drag him kicking and screaming into that nightmare again.

  Brandi was in his face yelling at him. Tears were rolling down her face as she kept demanding that he tell her why they couldn’t work things out and be a family Ramsey wanted to yell right back at her, “Because you’re crazy.” But she had torched his best suits the last time he’d informed her of the obvious. So he tried to reason with crazy, which was also probably a bad idea.

  “Look Brandi, we gave it a go. But we aren’t right for each other. You know that.”

  “Then what am I supposed to do with this?” Lightning fast, Brandi reached into her shirt and pulled out a baby. She was holding the child as if it was nothing more than a rag doll.

  “Where’d you get that baby?” Ramsey was frantic, wondering who in their right mind would allow Brandi to watch their baby.

  “She’s ours, Ramsey. Our love child.”

  “Love didn’t have nothing to do with it. And we do not have a baby.”

  The next thing Ramsey knew, he and Brandi were standing on the rooftop of his New York apartment and Brandi was holding the baby by its leg and threatening to throw it off the roof. “If you don’t want me, then you don’t deserve our child,” she screamed.

  “What are you doing, Brandi. Put that baby down.”

  “Say you love me, Ramsey. Say it!” The baby started crying.

  Ramsey took a step toward Brandi. “You don’t want to hurt that baby. Give her to me.” He held out his hands.

  Brandi stepped back; losing her footing, she began wobbling. Ramsey rushed over and helped to steady her. He then all but begged her to hand him the baby.

  Brandi shook her head and ran away from him. “You’ll never see this child again,” she said just before jumping off the roof.

  Screaming, Ramsey woke up in a cold sweat. Putting his hands to his face, Ramsey sat Indian style, trying to sort out what had just happened to him. “Lord, why can’t I get that woman out of my head?”

  ***

  In another bedroom, about three hours away from Ramsey, Carmella Marshall was on her knees giving praise to God. He had done so much for her and seen her family through so many trials that Carmella didn’t know what else to do but be grateful. Carmella was well aware that as long as they kept on living, somebody in her family was going to go through something that might just bring tears to her eyes, but she chose to praise God anyhow. Like the bible says, weeping may endure for a night, but Carmella had discovered that joy, does indeed, come in the morning.

  Her children from her first marriage, Joy and Dontae had discovered the joy in praising the Lord along the road of recovering from their parents’ crumbling marriage. And now Carmella had her sights set on Ramsey Jr. He was the oldest of the seven grown children that she and her current husband were proud to be parents of. But Ram was dealing with something that he hadn’t yet turned over to the Lord. So, once Carmella finished giving praise to her Savior, she turned her son over to the only One who could help him. “Lord, You see all and You know it all. Something is bothering Ram and he won’t talk to me or his father about it. But I’m asking You to fix it for him. Give him peace and teach him how to lean on You. Amen and in Jesus’ name I pray this prayer, believing that it is already done, so I give You praise for Your wondrous works.”

  “Amen,” Ramsey Sr. spoke up in agreement with his wife. He lifted the covers. “Now come to bed so we can get some sleep.”

  Carmella smiled at her sleepy husband and climbed into bed next to him. She had no problems falling to sleep that night because she knew that somewhere past the clouds in the sky, God had received her prayer and He was already working things out for Ram. She couldn’t wait to shout the victory and do a praise dance over what God was about to do in Ram’s life. She decided that she wouldn’t wait, she was going to dance all up and down the church aisle on Sunday. Carmella wasn’t one of those Christians who needed to see the promise before she believed. “Whew. I praise You, Lord. Thank You for always blowing my mind with just how well You take care of us,” she shouted through the room, before turning onto her side and falling to sleep.

  2


  One Year Later

  It was almost midnight when Ronny and Dontae pulled into his driveway. Ramsey was dressed and waiting for them. How could he not be after the frantic call he’d received from Ronny, telling him that Renee had been rushed to Carolina Medical Center.

  He jumped in the car and as Dontae sped off, Ramsey started firing question at them. “Who called?” “What did she say?” “Is she all right?”

  “Calm down, Ram, you know as much as we know at this point.” Ronny rubbed his eyes and then looked at his brother. “Renee called me about twenty minutes ago. She told me that she was getting in an ambulance and going to the hospital.”

  “Did she say what happened?”

  Dontae was gripping the wheel and driving like a New York cabbie, trying to hold onto a promised hundred dollar tip. “She didn’t say what happened. And to tell you the truth, Renee sounded so scared and... and,” he strained to get out the next part, “half dead, so we didn’t want to keep her on the phone.”

  “Okay, let’s just get there and figure it out,” Ramsey said and he held onto the arm rest and let Dontae weave in and out of traffic. He and Ronny had both been crashing at Dontae’s house when Ramsey first moved to Charlotte, but Ramsey had moved out just before Dontae’s wedding. Since then Ronny had been crashing at Ramsey’s place for a couple of months and then at Dontae’s. Jewel didn’t seem to mind because they all could see that Ronny was working towards something great. His new business venture was taking off. Ronny now had money in the bank and his credit situation was back on track.

  Whenever Ronny was hanging out at Dontae’s house, Ramsey sometimes felt left out. Like now. Why in the world did Renee call Ronny instead of him? He was, after all the oldest brother and therefore Renee should have reached out to him since Dad was all the way in Raleigh. But ever since Renee had moved in with Marlin Jones, against everyone’s wishes, she had been slowly separating herself from her family. Truth be told, Ramsey was even surprised that Renee had reached out to Ronny.