Abundant Rain Read online

  “Get out!”

  With pleasure, Kenneth wanted to tell him, but he simply turned and silently headed for the door. Lord, don’t You have sheep at the homeless shelter that need to be fed? He opened the door and stepped out.

  “Take this with you,” Tommy said as he threw the Bible at him.

  Kenneth Turned back to Tommy as if a light bulb had finally come on. He said, “Elizabeth didn’t give you the money that you used to pay off Debra did she?” Kenneth didn’t wait for an answer, he was now completely convinced that his wife was innocent. He closed the door and left for home sweet home.

  23

  Tommy sat on his sofa; well actually, the sofa didn’t belong to him anymore. He sold his five thousand dollar camel-skin sofa to some freak down the hall for a mere five hundred bucks. She was going to pick it up tomorrow. Tommy sat on it thinking about Kenneth’s last comment. Yeah, Tommy knew who Debra was, and yeah, he had gone to New York and handed that woman twenty thou to keep her mouth shut about Kenneth’s whereabouts; so what. Like he was bound for the devil because of that one simple act. Mmph, the way Tommy saw it, plenty of people had wronged him and hadn’t had their life savings stolen from them for their efforts.

  Tommy glared at the Bible Kenneth had left him, trying to figure out why everybody thought Jesus was the answer to whatever ailed him? Tommy could give all them Bible thumpers an earful of his sorrows. Jesus hadn’t ever tried to fix anything for him.

  That prostitute who stole his money was somewhere living high off the hog. Did Jesus bother to get his money back? No. Life was one big up-yours.

  He was so tired of the ‘Come to Jesus’ spiel. The next time he heard it, he’d probably throw up. His mother’s pastor preached that nonsense all the time. “If all my troubles would be over by coming to Jesus, why did one of your deacons rape me?” Tommy asked, as if the pastor of his youth was standing in his living room communing with him.

  Tommy told his mother and her pastor what that fat, sloppy deacon had done to him. His mother told him to quit defaming the good name of one of Kentucky’s prominent black citizens. His come-to-Jesus pastor prayed with him. He said, “If this abomination occurred, God will avenge you, son.” In other words, he wasn’t taking Mister Money Bags off the Deacon Board. Tommy promised himself that once he had a choice, he would never step foot in that church again. As far as he was concerned, his mother could rot in hell. He told the church secretary as much when he was twenty-five and she called to inform him that his mother had passed on.

  “I’m disappointed in your attitude,” the church secretary told him. “Your mother was a good Christian woman. She deserves to be buried properly.”

  “Where is the money from her insurance policy?”

  The woman reluctantly admitted, “It lapsed. She hadn’t paid it in a few years.”

  “Well, if she was so stupid that she didn’t pay her insurance bill, she deserves to be buried in potter’s field.”

  He heard the disapproval in her sigh. “Mr. Brooks-”

  “Look lady, I’m not forking over a dime. You tell Deacon Gridley to pay for her funeral.”

  “We can’t do that. Deacon Gridley has been dead for several years. He had a stroke. No, I’m sorry, it wasn’t the stroke that killed him. He had a heart attack after the stroke. It was a very painful ordeal, I’m told.”

  “Good. I hope both their souls rot in hell. Don’t call me anymore. If the church is so concerned about her casket, tell them to get up off that benevolence fund.”

  He hadn’t seen the old biddy since his high school graduation. The minute the ceremony was over, he took off his cap and gown, grabbed his suitcase, and bolted. He stayed with friends throughout the summer. Come fall, he enrolled at Kentucky State University. He was only a hop, skip, and a jump from home, but during Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, he stayed in his dorm and worked whatever jobs the University had for him. He’d even worn dirty draws when he didn’t have the money to do laundry. Anything to avoid going home.

  To this day, Tommy still didn’t know where his mother was buried. Nor did he care. That church, along with his precious mother, had made him the man he was today. They all should have their part in the lake of fire, and Tommy should be granted a front row seat to watch the agony they would suffer.

  His phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. “Yeah, hello?”

  “Mr. Brooks, this is Kim Dukes. I talked to you about purchasing your sofa.”

  “You haven’t changed your mind have you?”

  “Oh, no,” Kim told him. “I just wanted to know if I could pick it up today rather than tomorrow.”

  Tommy’s gaze was on the Bible stretched open on the floor where he had thrown it. “Sure, why not? Oh, and I’ll even throw something extra in the deal for you.”

  Tommy picked up the Bible, threw it on the sofa, and went into his bedroom to get dressed.

  ***

  Elizabeth got out of the tub, dried herself, and put on her favorite hunter green silk nightgown. She then knelt down and assumed her fighting position. She bowed her head. “Father, I thank You for the peace You’ve given me in the midst of my trials and troubles. Things aren’t looking so good right now. I want to believe that everything will be all right, but I need Your help. Lord, I just need a little encouragement to keep fighting. Please, Lord. Anything.”

  She got off her knees and walked out of the bathroom. Her skin was soft, supple and fragrant from soaking in bath oil – her one luxury after a day of pulling weeds, planting shrubs and nurturing children.

  Kenneth was in her bed with the covers pulled just above his waist.

  “Are you tired?” he asked.

  He had turned off the lights, lit a few warm vanilla scented candles and sprinkled rose petals on the floor and across the bed. Elizabeth’s subconscious registered the ambiance because her eyes were only focused on Kenneth.

  Kenneth is actually in my bed. Things are looking up, Lord. “Not that tired,” she replied seductively. “Not if you have something other than sleep in mind.”

  He pulled the covers back on Elizabeth’s side of the bed. “Come over here. Let me show you what I have in mind.”

  She turned out the bathroom light and walked over to the bed. “You’re not upset with me anymore?”

  He lightly brushed her arm with his fingers. Eyes danced over her silk nightgown. “Get in.”

  Elizabeth climbed in the bed, their bed. Kenneth kissed her lips, but it wasn’t a peck. It was possession. As his hands glided over her body, he proclaimed that she was his.

  She smiled up at him. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “I missed you today.” His lips touched hers, softly at first. The kiss became demanding, and she surrendered.

  He told her all that was in his heart. Not with words, but in deed. Wrapped in this together groove, they motioned, I love you. I need you. I want you to be with me forever.

  When their love was spent, Kenneth nudged his wife. “Sing to me.”

  She gave him a weary smile. “Now, I am tired.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed some love into her. “I just want to hear your voice. Come on, baby.”

  She was tired. A by-product of being well loved. But she managed to whisper:

  Now I know that God has placed us together,

  and I vow to let nothing tear us apart.

  Starting today, I promise to love you forever,

  Darling, right now, I give you my heart.

  Kenneth sighed. “That sounds good, baby. Real good.”

  They slept in harmony, but not for long. Kenneth tossed and turned. He backhanded Elizabeth a couple times, until she sat up in bed, turned on the light and shook him. She remembered the discussion they’d had with Dr. Thomas. Kenneth’s memory was hiding behind his fears. If he could get pass this thing that tortured his sleep, maybe he would be able to remember the love they shared.

  Horror swept across his face. Elizabeth wanted to grab his arm and shake him, but sh
e had a gut feeling that that was the wrong thing to do. “Lord, we need Your help. Please God, deliver my husband from whatever this thing is that is tormenting him.”

  The bed rocked from the violence of his dreams. Sweat trickled down his face, as he let out a heart-stopping scream.

  “Oh my God! Oh my God! We need You, Lord! Please help us!” Elizabeth pleaded.

  Kenneth stopped moving. He lay on his side of the bed completely stiff, as if momentarily paralyzed. His eyes flashed open. He looked at his wife and smiled. “I know, Liz. I know what happened to me.”

  “What?”

  Kenneth sat up and grabbed her shoulders. “First, I’ve got to know something. Do you believe in the supernatural?”

  “I’m a Christian aren’t I?”

  “I know, but some Christians don’t believe everything the Bible says.”

  She put her hand on his thigh. “Baby, please tell me. What happened?”

  “Remember when I woke up from one of my nightmares and I told you that I saw some type of animal?”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “Well, it wasn’t an animal at all. Hold on, let me start from the beginning.” He was talking fast, breathing like an asthmatic patient. “We were in the World Trade Center, going over my financials, when the plane hit the building. Oh and by the way, my business was worth a lot more than what you got out of it.”

  Elizabeth opened her mouth to defend her actions.

  “We’ll talk about that later,” he told her, then continued his story. “People were going crazy. They were on the phone calling their families, letting them know they might never see them again. I tried to call you, but you weren’t in your hotel room.”

  “I was on the street with thousands of other onlookers.”

  He kissed her forehead. “Now, you probably won’t believe this, but right before the building fell, a cloud of smoke covered the windows of the tower. A hideous demonic face was in the cloud and everybody in the room saw it. Bob, my accountant, fainted. I tried to carry him down the steps so we could escape, but the building collapsed before we could get out.”

  Elizabeth was about to reduce his demonic face sighting to something he ate earlier in the day. Then she remembered the newspaper article and photos she had kept since the tragedy. She jumped out of bed and ran out of the room.

  “Where are you going? I’m trying to tell you what happened to me.”

  “I’ll be right back. I want to show you something.”

  When she returned, she threw the September 16th edition of the New Jersey Daily Record on the bed. The demonic face Kenneth described to her was front-page news. “Is this what you saw?”

  Kenneth picked up the paper and stared into the hollow, evil eyes. He looked back at Elizabeth.

  “Someone took those pictures the day of the tragedy. Don’t you see, Kenneth? This is why you’ve been so tormented. You looked right into the face of Satan himself.” She pointed at the picture. “That has to be who that is.”

  “Sit down. I have more to tell you about that day.”

  Elizabeth sat next to her husband, put her hand on his cheek and waited.

  “Angels were there too, Liz. That’s why I’m alive today.”

  “Tell me, Kenneth. What did you see?”

  “As I said, the building collapsed while I was still in it. I was pretty close to death when someone pulled me out of the rubble.” His gray-green eyes pleaded with Elizabeth to believe. “It was an angel, two of them. That was the light I kept seeing in my dreams. When the demons approached, they drew their swords and they battled over my life.”

  “Wait, Kenneth. I don’t get it. Why all this drama? They had taken plenty of lives already. Why fight over one?”

  “I don’t know, but that angel refused to give up on me. And those demons didn’t like that at all.” Kenneth struck the bed. “Liz, do you know what this means?”

  She gave him a questioning stare, but said nothing.

  “All this time I’ve been angry with both you and God. I thought He’d forgotten me. Now I know that God doesn’t forsake His people. But we stop believing. Stop trusting in His Word.” He bowed his head in shame. “Oh Lord, please forgive me.”

  Elizabeth pulled Kenneth into her arms.

  “That’s why we are admonished to pray. And that’s why God tells us that our battles do not belong to us; they belong to Him. He sends angels to fight the battles we pray about,” he told her.

  “You did it, baby. You unlocked your mind.”

  “It feels good, Liz.” He hugged her tight then pulled away smiling. “I’ve got me an angel.”

  That was great news, but she needed to know something else. Something he hadn’t told her yet. “Do you remember anything else? What about us, Kenneth? Do you remember how we used to be?”

  His forehead creased, eyes squinted. “Sorry, Liz. Not yet.”

  Tears sprang into her eyes.

  He moved her closer to him. “It will come, Beautiful. Don’t worry.”

  Her eyes were moist. “You used to call me Beautiful.”

  “You are.” He kissed her. It was slow, wet, and hot. “I know you, Liz,” he told her when their lips parted. “If my memory never comes back, rest in the fact that I know who you are. And when I visited Tommy, I also realized something else about you.”

  “What?”

  “I realized that you really did want me to come back to you. And that you had nothing to do with bribing Debra to keep me away from you.”

  Elizabeth gave Kenneth a puzzled look. “Who bribed Debra? What are you talking about?”

  Kenneth told her everything that Debra confessed the day he left New York.

  “I don’t believe that, Kenneth. Tommy knew how much I missed you. I had fallen apart – why wouldn’t he want to see us back together?” But then Elizabeth answered her own question. Tommy wanted to marry her. “That idiot. I could ring his neck.”

  “Don’t worry about it, baby,” Kenneth said. “Tommy is bringing enough pain to himself.”

  But Elizabeth wasn’t convinced that Tommy had suffered enough for what he had done to her. She would need to pray a long time before she would ever forgive Tommy Brook for his sin against her.

  Part Two

  24

  Two years later…

  This Monday was special for two reasons. The first was that Kenneth had left a note pinned to his pillow for Elizabeth. When she woke up and read it, tears swam in her eyes.

  Hey, Babe, just wanted to let you know that I went to sleep last night in love with you. I woke up this morning in love with you.

  Despite the fact that some things are still locked in my head, when I think over my life, one thing is clear. I have loved one woman, twice in my lifetime.

  Every time she thought about the note, a silly grin appeared on her face. Even in the midst of the second reason this Monday was special, she glowed with joy at the rekindled love and passion in her marriage.

  Elizabeth was graduating from deliverance class. Although Ronda and Patricia had already graduated, and were now moving in their ministry for the Lord, they were in attendance for Elizabeth’s graduation party. All the members of the deliverance group made a pact. They would show up to hear how each member found her resting place. Mary dropped out six months ago, but the group kept her on their prayer list. Three other women had joined the group, Vickie, Zee, and Michelle. Elizabeth promised to come back for their graduations also.

  “Well, I guess this is it for me. I was a little slow getting to the finish line, but I finally found my resting place.”

  The group applauded Elizabeth’s declaration. She had stood before tens of thousands singing her heart out. When she finished, the crowd would give her a standing ovation. At the time, she thought the admiration of so many was what she needed. She was happy when the crowd applauded. But sitting in Barbara’s living room, receiving cheers and hoots from six women, was much more fulfilling than anything she could have imagined. She’d made it over. That
was a good thing. No, it was a God thing.

  Tears flowed down Elizabeth’s face. Zee handed her a box of tissues. “Before I came here tonight, I was reading about Abraham and Jacob.” Elizabeth blew her nose. “The Bible tells us that God came to Abraham and told him to move away from everything he knew. He was told to find a place whose builder and maker was God. And Abraham did it. He obeyed God without question or second thought.”

  “And then there was Jacob, the trickster. He knew exactly what he wanted out of life, and he went for it – didn’t bother checking his agenda out with God. Consequently, his life was filled with misery and pain.” The women were looking intently at her. “We all would like to be remembered as an Abraham. After all, he is listed in Hebrews as one of the heroes of faith.” Elizabeth shrugged. “But I am a Jacob.”

  Zee raised her hand. “Me too, girl.”

  Elizabeth patted the tissue to her nose and continued. “I have hope in that knowledge though, because one faithful night, Jacob ran into an angel of God. He was tired of all his struggles. He wrestled with the angel, until he demanded to be loosed. Jacob said, ‘I won’t let you go until you bless my soul’.”

  Elizabeth smiled, as tears blurred her vision. “You ladies have been my angels. You have helped me defeat my demons. I just want to thank you, because I’m free.”

  “Well, for those of us who aren’t free yet, tell us, Elizabeth, how did you find your resting place?” Michelle asked.

  Elizabeth smiled again. She was doing a lot of that lately. “I guess what really helped me was that God sent Kenneth back to me scarred and bruised by the world. Before Kenneth and I were separated by the tragic events of 9-11, he had become my god. When he came back, I was able to see him as a man.

  “You see, men have frailties and weaknesses. God doesn’t. So, I chose to praise and pray to the One with the answers.”