Praise Him Anyhow - Volume 1 Read online

  Sighing heavily, Jewel put her purse on her shoulder and left the room with her sister. Jewel was trying her best to forgive her sister for what she considered a betrayal of sisterhood. She had told Dawn how Dontae had boldly handed her a prenuptial agreement, moments after she had joyfully agreed to marry him. He hadn’t even let her enjoy the moment before shoving a document in her face, which let her know that he cared more about his money than he cared about her.

  Why couldn’t her family just stay out of her business and let her live her own life? But her parents thought that Dontae was a great catch. Both of her sisters gushed over how wonderful she and Dontae look together... the perfect couple they all claimed. But Jewel had her doubts because if they were so perfect for each other, why would Dontae have his mind fixated on some divorce that should never happen anyway?

  “Please don’t be mad at me,” Dawn said a second before they rounded the corner and entered the lobby.

  Jewel was about to tell her sister that she would eventually get over her anger, after some prayer and fasting, but then she saw Dontae and Ronny standing in the lobby looking at her as if she had kept them waiting for some important meeting or something.

  “Why are they waiting on us?” Jewel asked Dawn.

  “That’s why I asked you not to be mad at me,” Dawn whispered, “Dontae called while you were in the shower. I happened to mention that we were getting ready to go shopping.” When Jewel gave her the evil eye, Dawn said, “I’m sorry. I promise I won’t tell him anything else.”

  Jewel wagged a finger at her sister, the traitor. “You better not.”

  “Ladies, just consider me your driver for the day,” Dontae said as he bowed gallantly in front of them.

  “Dawn drove, so we don’t need your help.” Jewel walked past Dontae and stepped outside.

  Dontae rushed behind her. “Come on, Jewel, look,” he pointed towards his Range Rover. “My SUV is already here and waiting on you. Dawn’s car is still in the parking garage. And don’t forget, if you purchase a bunch of things while you’re out today, Dawn’s little BMW won’t have enough room to hold all your things.”

  “My car is pretty small compared to Dontae’s SUV,” Dawn said.

  Jewel gave her the evil eye again.

  “Just saying.” Dawn hunched her shoulders.

  “I’ll trade you,” Ronny offered.

  “What do you drive?” Dawn asked.

  “Ever since my car broke down, I’ve been driving these.” Ronny lifted his feet to show what he was working with.

  “And you think I would trade the Beemer I worked hard to get so that I could walk myself back and forth to work, church and the grocery store?” Dawn didn’t even wait on an answer from Ronny, she strutted over to Jewel and said, “Do you want me to have my car brought out or are we going to ride with Dontae and the foot man?”

  Throwing up her hands as if giving up, Jewel opened the passenger door and got in Dontae’s car. “Let’s just go.”

  Dontae climbed in the driver seat; while he put on his seat belt, Ronny and Dawn got in the back seat. “Which mall am I driving you lovely ladies to?”

  “We’re going to the outlet mall,” Dawn answered.

  Dontae turned to Jewel and tried to win some points by saying, “My baby don’t have to shop the outlet malls looking for discounts. We can go straight to the regular mall, because I’m going to buy you whatever you want.”

  Jewel wasn’t having it. The man shoved a prenup in her face and now he was acting like he wanted to buy her the world... if he did, she would take a shuttle to Mars. “I don’t need your money. I’m just fine with shopping at the outlets and with spending my own money, thank you very much.”

  ***

  Dontae was tempted to call his Mama and ask her to pray for him because he was striking out right and left with Jewel. He had taken her to the outlet as she suggested, walked two steps behind her as she and Dawn explored each and every store they wanted to go into. He hadn’t complained not even once about the three hours they spent going from store to store. But once they finished shopping and were back at the hotel, Dontae was starving so he invited Jewel and Dawn to have dinner with him and Ronny.

  Dawn was getting ready to accept until Jewel said, “I wouldn’t want to take up any more of your time or cause you to spend any of your precious money on someone like me.”

  Dontae put his hand on Jewel’s arm and said, “I’m not worried about my money. I just want to take you to dinner.”

  All business like, she responded, “You’re very kind to offer, but I’m going to do dinner with my sister tonight.” Jewel grabbed Dawn’s arm and began pulling her away. She waved at Dontae. “Thanks for taking us to the mall.”

  “Why does she keep harping on money?” Dontae asked, frustrated as he watched her walk away from him.

  “Because you gave her that prenup, stupid,” Ronny said as he put a hand on Dontae’s shoulder. “You have really made Jewel mad. I’d say you’ve got a lot of begging to do.”

  Dontae removed Ronny’s hand from his shoulder. “Get off me, man. I’ve been trying to make up with her. Didn’t you see how she was today? She won’t even talk to me.”

  “Why don’t you just let her burn that prenup and then take her in your arms and show her how much you love her?”

  “That all sounds wonderful when you’re using your feet for transportation, but when you’ve got some real money to lose, not having a prenup doesn’t make much sense.” Dontae’s dad had deserved what he’d gotten in the divorce settlement with his mother, because Nelson Marshall had cheated on Carmella. But even though Nelson Marshall was a cheater, a part of Dontae bled for his father, because he had to give up so much of his income in the divorce that the financial loss eventually became his undoing.

  “If you love her, stop thinking about divorce and concentrate on how you can make a marriage with her work for a lifetime.”

  Dontae turned to his brother. The doubt in his eyes was evident as he said, “In this day and age, who can really last a lifetime in anything?”

  5

  “Mom, come on, I need your help,” Joy whined as she sat in the kitchen with her mother.

  Carmella’s praise music was playing while she stirred the green beans she was cooking to go along with tonight’s dinner. “I can’t do it, Joy. Dontae told me flat out not to attend that awards banquet.”

  “Just because Dontae is ungrateful, doesn’t mean that we can’t go and celebrate a man who did so much for my brother and your son.”

  Carmella sat down next to Joy. “I agree with you, Joy. I think that Dontae not attending that banquet is rude beyond belief, but what can I do?”

  “You and I can go in place of Dontae. Coach Linden will be grateful to see us, since he did send you an invitation as well as Dontae.”

  “I just don’t know why it’s such a big deal to you,” Carmella said, eyeing her daughter.

  “It’s not a big deal to me. But Lance’s law firm is in consideration for the school board contract. He wants to represent them in the worst way, and thinks that his showing up at this awards banquet might just give him the networking time needed to close the deal.”

  “So my son-in-law asked you to hit me up for the tickets?”

  “Yes,” Joy admitted. Then added, “But I need you to come with us, because I’m going to be bored out of my mind while Lance is floating around the room, collecting business cards and grinning at everybody.”

  Carmella tapped a finger on the counter, thinking how hard it was to please both her children at the same time. “Okay, I’ll go. But I want to tell your brother myself, so don’t go running your mouth.”

  “I couldn’t if I wanted to. Dontae is out of town right now, and I’m not trying to bother him while he’s on his mission.”

  “What mission?” Carmella had spoken to her son yesterday and he didn’t act as if anything out of the ordinary was going on.

  “Oh he didn�
��t tell you?” Joy was practically giggling.

  Carmella shook her head.

  “I called Dontae’s house so that I could tell him about his ungrateful self. I mean, who ever heard of not wanting to celebrate the very man who helped you get into the college of your choice, thereby allowing you to get drafted into the NFL. Essentially, Coach Linden is the reason Dontae is successful today.”

  Carmella held up a finger, stopping Joy for a moment. “I have to correct that, hon, because the God that this family serves is the reason me, you, Dontae and the rest of this family is successful.”

  “Okay, okay, you’re right, Mom. So anyway, Ramsey told me that Dontae and Ronny were in Charleston trying to surprise Jewel and get her to take Dontae back.”

  One of Carmella’s hands flew to her mouth while the other touched her heart. “Dontae really loves Jewel. And she is just right for him. I so hope that he is able to save that relationship.”

  “She’s a heck of a lot better than that other one he wanted to marry. I’m just glad that Tory is out of the picture.”

  “You and me both.”

  ***

  Dontae and Ronny sat in the lobby trying to figure out where they would eat dinner. They had a few places to choose from, but Dontae wanted to make sure they picked the same restaurant where Jewel and Dawn would be dining that night. He’d tried to call Dawn to get that information from her, but Dawn wasn’t answering her phone anymore.

  “So what are we going to do, man? My stomach is growling.”

  “Go on to dinner without me. I can’t get a hold of Dawn so I don’t know where I should eat tonight. But I don’t want to hold you up.”

  Ronny stood up, got ready to head out and then sat back down. “I can’t just leave you like this. I’d never forgive myself if you went off and did something stupid.” Slouching in his seat, Ronny said, “I’ll just tell Mama Carmella that we spent the night fasting and praying; that ought to make her happy.”

  “I’m not praying. That stuff doesn’t work,” Dontae remarked.

  Ronny gave Dontae a shame-shame kind of look. “Your mama would slap you if she heard what you just said. And anyway, who said anything about you praying. I’m the one over here praying for a nice thick steak, or a lobster... yeah, yeah, I’ll just sit over here and pray for lobster.”

  Dontae rubbed his index finger around his chin while he took a moment to think things over. He turned back to Ronny and asked, “Do you think I should go up there and try to talk to her?”

  Ronny laughed. “She has really got you all twisted up.”

  “Shut up, Ronny. If you’re not going to help me, then why are you here?”

  “I’m sorry about laughing. It’s just that you’re normally Mr. Got-it-all-together. I’ve never seen this side of you. Not even when you busted up your knee on the football field, and not even when you broke up with that girl, um…” Ronny started snapping his fingers trying to come up with the name.

  Suddenly, Dontae stood up and said, “Tory…”

  “Yeah, yeah, that was her name,” Ronny was saying.

  Dontae was looking at the woman in the flesh... well, not in the flesh flesh. Tory preferred to clothe herself in high end designers. And she wasn’t slacking a bit that day. Had on an off white Sophie Theallet dress with a silk shoulder strap, coupled with the Gucci purse and shoes she was also rocking, he’d say that Tory had found herself another baller. Because she was definitely sporting at least three to four thou and Tory’s credit was all jacked up, and since she’d dropped out of college, he knew that she couldn’t afford those digs on her own. Matter-of-fact, his pockets were still hurting from all the money he’d laid out on her shopping sprees.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked as she strutted over to him. She had a friend with her who was rocking Louis.

  “Hanging out with friends for the weekend.” She pointed to the woman standing next to her and said, “This is my girl, Diamond.”

  Dontae shook her hand. Ronny stood and shook hands with both women as Dontae introduced him.

  Tory stood there for a moment, looking Dontae over as if he was a prized possession she had lost and then found behind the dresser or something. She then wrapped her arms around Dontae and squeezed him like she was in the fruits and vegetable aisle and was testing for freshness. “It’s so good to see you.” She then kissed his forehead, his cheek and was about to kiss his lips, but Dontae broke free and stepped away from her.

  However, he hadn’t broken free fast enough, because Ronny was tapping him on the shoulder and pointing toward the lobby entryway where Jewel and Dawn stood. Both women had their hands on their hips and fire in their eyes.

  “Hey baby,” Dontae said, as he stepped around Tory and rushed over to Jewel. He took her hand in his and walked her back over to where Tory and Ronny stood. “I don’t think you met Tory before. But I told you about her. Remember... she was my—”

  “I remember.” Jewel pulled her hand away from Dontae and held it out for Tory. “I’m Jewel. How are you?”

  “Honey, I’m always good, believe that.” Tory shook Jewel’s hand and then she and her friend began walking away. Before leaving the lobby, she turned back to Dontae and said, “Nice seeing you again. Don’t be a stranger.”

  “Oh, I’m quite sure that he’s going to be a stranger to you from here on out,” Dawn said as Tory passed by her.

  “Cat fight,” Ronny said as he rushed over to Dawn and put his arm around her. “I’m going to keep you close to me, before you do something that will get your pretty little self arrested.”

  Stepping out of Ronny’s embrace, Dawn said, “I’m not the one you need to be worried about.” She walked over to Jewel and asked, “Are you all right?”

  Jewel folded her arms across her chest as she glared at Dontae. “I’m fine.”

  “Look Jewel, I wasn’t doing anything. Tory just showed up and before I knew anything she was hugging me.”

  “Looked like she was molesting you,” Dawn said.

  “Girl, you are quick on your feet. I think I’m falling in love,” Ronny said while trying to lean closer to Dawn.

  Dontae gave him the eye.

  “Dontae is telling the truth,” Ronny said. “He didn’t do anything to provoke Tory to rub all up on him the way she did.”

  “Stop helping me, okay, Ronny?” Dontae said as he shook his head. He knew that he should have brought Ramsey Jr. instead of Ronny. His younger brother seemed to take pleasure in messing things up.

  “Look Dontae, I think it might be best for Dawn and me to head back home.”

  “No Jewel, don’t leave. I really wanted to spend some time with you this weekend so that we could talk.” He looked around at a few of the people who were walking through the lobby. Dontae wanted to hold on to as much of his dignity as he had left. He wanted to play it cool, but the woman he loved was getting ready to pack up and walk out of his life again. He had to do something.

  “What difference does it make, Dontae. We could talk all night long, but I don’t think either one of us will change our minds.”

  Dontae wanted to pull out his eyeballs. Jewel was driving him up a wall. He grabbed hold of her arm and moved her toward the back of the room. He leaned in close to Jewel so that he could whisper in her ear. “Come on, baby, we love each other. Can’t we work this out?”

  “How can we work this out when you claim you want to marry me, but you also want an easy way out if you should ever change your mind? That’s not the way it works with me. I have prayed for a forever kind of love, and I won’t accept anything less.”

  Shaking his head, Dontae told her, “I don’t ever plan to leave you.” He averted his eyes a moment and then looked back at her and said, “But who knows, maybe one day you’ll decide that you’re not in love with me anymore... maybe you’ll want to leave. Can you blame me for wanting to protect myself from that?”

  “Yes,” she said simply and then added. “I’m not going
to say that you don’t love me, because I believe that you do. But sometimes you are so distant that I don’t even know how to reach you. Now if you can explain that to me, then maybe we have a shot.”

  When Dontae just stood there staring at her without opening his mouth to explain anything, Jewel said, “That’s what I thought,” and then walked away from him.

  As Jewel and Dawn headed back to their room, Ronny turned to Dontae and asked, “So, does this mean the party is over?”

  ***

  Carmella, Ramsey, Joy and Lance were all dressed up and seated at a table in the school gymnasium eating a chicken, rice and asparagus dinner that wasn’t half bad. The dinner was in honor of Coach Linden and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Halfway through dinner, Lance leaned over to Joy and said, “The superintendent just walked in. I’m going to see if I can say hi.”

  “You go, boy, and bring back that contract so you can take me on that cruise you keep promising.”

  “You got it, babe.” Lance leaned over and kissed Joy before he left the table.

  As he walked away, Joy kept her eyes on her man. The love she had for her husband shone through her eyes as she smiled without even knowing that she was smiling.

  “You can stop staring at him. I guarantee you that he’ll be back,” Carmella said as she nudged her daughter.

  “I know, Mama. He’s just so cute, I have a hard time keeping my eyes off of him,” Joy said without an ounce of embarrassment.

  Ramsey Sr. put his arms around Carmella as he told Joy. “I know exactly how you feel because I can’t keep my eyes or hands off of your mother.”

  “TMI, okay... some things are just TMI.” Joy put her hands over her ears as if she couldn’t take hearing anymore.

  “Oh please, you are a grown woman. And from the way you were just looking at your husband, I’d say that you know the deal,” Carmella told her daughter.

  “I’ll never be grown enough to hear about my mother’s love life.”

  “Okay, we’ll leave you alone.” Ramsey took his hand off of Carmella’s shoulder and took the last bite of his chicken.