Could This Be Love Read online

  “Good deal, boss. I’ll check in with you when I’m done.” Joe waved at Marcus and then headed out.

  As Raven got into Marcus’ car, he said, “Thanks for attending this meeting with me. My step-mother will be there and whenever she starts pressuring me I end up with a splitting headache.”

  “What does she pressure you about?”

  “You name it. If my father wants it, Liza makes it her personal business to needle me until I cave in and my father has what he wants. I don’t know why it’s like that, but the two of them have been tag teaming me since my mother passed.”

  His comment made Raven feel a little guilty, because she hadn’t thought once about Marcus’ needs; she’d only agreed to come to this meeting because she wanted an audience with his father. But now she could see that her role should have been bigger than that. “I’ve got your back, don’t worry.”

  ***

  As they arrived at the senator’s house, the valet took the keys from Marcus and parked the car. The two then took the expansive stairs up to the front door of his father’s twenty room mansion. Marcus knocked on the door and it was immediately opened by a very stern looking gentlemen in a black suit with white gloves on.

  Seriously, Raven thought, who wears gloves inside the house? And who even needs a butler in this day and age… can’t these people get up and answer their own door?

  Liza floated down the hall to greet them. “Come on in, you two. Your father and I have been brainstorming with your new campaign manager all afternoon.”

  They followed her into the library. A young, hip looking man was standing next to Marcus’ father. The man extended his hand to Marcus. “I’m Brian Silverman. Your father’s been getting me up to speed on everything.” As he said, ‘everything’ he looked toward Raven as if she was the problem that needed to be managed.

  “Just what has the senator been telling you?” Raven asked, not caring that her tone was far from polite.

  “Excuse us for a moment,” Marcus said as he guided Raven back into the hallway. “What are you doing? You don’t even know this man, why are you starting the conversation with a chip on your shoulder?”

  She’d witnessed her sister, Joy and her sisters-in-law acting like total loons during their pregnancies. She’d promised herself that she would never send her husband through what she had witnessed but here she was, acting just as irritable and crazy as the rest. But that didn’t mean she had to admit that her hormones were raging out of control due to her pregnancy. Raven would rather throw the ball back in his court. “You don’t know the man, either. How can you call yourself any kind of credible candidate for office when you let your mommy and daddy dress you up and send you out to play?”

  He pointed at her, getting ready to bark back, but then he shook his head. “What’s the use, just be nice, okay?”

  She nodded, feeling as if she had gone too far with her comment, so keeping her mouth shut was probably the smart thing to do.

  He put his hand on the doorknob getting ready to go back into the library, but then he looked back at Raven and added, “And just so you know, I’ve been dressing my own self and deciding when it was time to play since I was a kid. My father won’t change that and neither will my wife.” He swung the door back open and stepped in.

  Raven grabbed hold of the door before it closed on her and followed Marcus in. She’d rarely seen Marcus angry, but she had hit a nerve. Raven realized that it was probably best to get off that nerve with the quickness, so she was all smiles and warmness as she re-entered the room.

  Marcus held out a hand to her as he said, “Brian, I didn’t get a chance to introduce you to my lovely wife. This is Raven. As I’m sure my father told you, we’ve been married for an entire day.”

  Brian shook Raven’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. But your reputation precedes you. I’m only surprised that we are just now meeting.”

  “Really?” Raven said. “Why is that?”

  Explaining himself, Brian went on to say, “I’ve handled campaigns for two of your very satisfied clients. I’ve been told that your public relations firm is second to none in this city.”

  “Thank you for the compliment, we do our best.” Feeling a little tired, Raven took a seat on the snow white sofa.

  After a little more chit chat Marcus and Brian got down to business. “My step-mother tells me that you all have been discussing my campaign this afternoon.”

  “Only in the broadest terms,” Senator Allen quickly explained. “We wanted to wait until you arrived to get down to the nuts and bolts of the matter.”

  The group sat down, Marcus joining Raven on the sofa. “I’d like to hear what you have in mind for this campaign. I think the biggest struggle I’m going to have is that I only have a year for the people in my state to get to know me before they decide if I’m worthy of another term.”

  “I agree that that could be a potential hurdle, but if we position things right, we should be able to turn that difficulty into a win for us,” Brian said.

  “What are your suggestions?” Raven asked.

  Brian turned to her. “As a PR professional you know how important having the correct image will be for Marcus’ success. So, the first thing we need to do is show his state his love for his wife and when the baby comes, we’ll do a bunch of photo ops, showing how good he is with the baby.”

  “But what does any of that have to do with his work as a governor?” Raven asked, annoyed at the fact that she and her baby would be reduced to being nothing more than photo ops.

  “We’re getting to that. But I need you both to understand how important it is for the two of you to look the part of love birds. The baby will be here before we know it and we will already have whispers about you being pregnant before the marriage. So, we need to show that this is nothing other than a love connection.”

  Raven glanced over at Marcus wondering how he felt about acting as if he was over the moon in love with her, when she knew full well that he wasn’t.

  Brian continued, “No fighting in public… no distance between the two of you when you’re walking into a room. Always hold hands or allow Marcus to put his arm around your shoulder.”

  “I love my wife, so I won’t have a hard time showing that no matter where we are. But you need to know that my wife has a very spirited personality, if you haven’t pinpointed that yet, so I can’t guarantee the ‘no arguing in public’ part of your request.”

  Raven poked his arm with her elbow. “I’ll give you spirited… I’m just fine and can handle my part. You just need to stop getting on my nerves and do what I tell you.”

  Pointing at his wife, Marcus said, “See what I’m talking about.”

  Brian laughed and then leaned back in his seat, “Actually I do… this could work.”

  “Okay, what else?” Marcus asked.

  “We need to work on your platform,” Brian said.

  Liza interjected, “And while Brian thinks that family life is most important, your father and I think that your platform is the thing you need to concern yourself with most.”

  Marcus nudged Raven, she glanced at him, reminding herself that she didn’t need to be at war with him, but his family was another matter. “Platform is very important, but I wasn’t aware that Marcus had decided on one yet.”

  “I haven’t,” he told her.

  “That’s why I’m here,” Brian said. “Your father and I think that now is the perfect time for you to have a Unity First platform.”

  Raven was familiar with the term. It was one recently being toss around by politicians as a way of uniting the religious right with the gay community. It was ludicrous to presume that Bible believing Christians would fall for such a scam, just because politicians put together a campaign and everything was right and good about this new world order. She sat back for a moment to see how the father of her unborn child would handle this situation.

  “What exactly is this Unity First all about?” Marcus asked.

  “It
’s basically a movement that has been gaining steam over the last few years. Christian organizations have been dropping their objection to gay marriage and even implementing inclusion practices within their policy guidelines,” Brian said as if this was the dawn of a great new day for Christendom.

  Marcus scooted up in his seat as he asked, “Are you telling me that Christian pastors are saying that gay marriage is okay even though the Bible they preach out of every Sunday says differently?”

  “The movement hasn’t really taken hold in most of the Christian churches yet,” Brian admitted, “But they have been making headway with a lot of the Christian funded organizations.”

  Marcus snapped his fingers. “I just read something about this. An organization that relies heavily on donations from Christians just tried to change its policies to be inclusive of gay marriage. But I thought the backlash from that was so severe that the organization changed the policy right back.”

  “They did. But we believe that it’s time to let the bigots of this world know that they can’t stop change. Heck, if we have to we’ll throw them out of our country and outlaw that outdated Bible they’re always pointing to.” Brian laughed along with Senator Allen and Liza at a joke that neither Raven nor Marcus seemed to get.

  “So this is only a free country for the people who wish to live against the precepts of God. But the ones who want to live for God need to find another country to live in; is that what you’re saying?” Raven demanded of Brian.

  As Brian started stuttering, Liza walked over to Marcus and put her hand on his shoulder. “Marcus, dear, the right platform can take you all the way to the White House. Your father only wants the best for you. So, be a dear and think it over, okay?”

  Marcus bent his head, put his thumbs on his temples and began massaging his forehead.

  Raven leaned closer to him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “My head is killing me. I can’t concentrate with my head pounding like this.” He tried standing up, but plopped back into his seat as if the room had spun him around.

  Raven was shaken by Marcus’ condition, but his father and Liza didn’t seem disturbed at all.

  Liza grabbed a pill bottle out of her husband’s desk drawer and began walking back towards Marcus with it. She said to Raven, “Marcus never told you about his condition. He gets these debilitating headaches from time to time. His father and I are usually left to make decisions for him… that is until he recovers.”

  Liza held out three small white pills to Marcus. Raven took them from her, “What are you giving him?”

  “Pain medication, of course,” Liza said as if Raven was being silly for even asking.

  Marcus was moaning and thrashing about, Raven felt so sorry for him that she was about to hand him the pills, but then she remembered something Mama-Carmella had made her promise to do… pray for your husband.

  Raven threw the pills on the floor and then put her hand on Marcus’ head and began calling out to God as she had heard her father and Mama-Carmella do on countless occasions. “Lord Jesus, we thank You and we praise You for Your goodness. You’re a wonderful God… You’re a healing God and so we come to You now, asking that You look down on Marcus. Heal him as only You can. We thank You in advance for all that You do for us. Marcus needs You to show up and take away the pain that is raging through his head. In Jesus’ name I pray.” Raven kept her head bowed a moment while her hands lingered on Marcus’ head.

  “Well.” Liza put her hand against her heart. “If you pray like that in public, people will think you’re some kind of religious nut or something.”

  Marcus lifted his head with a smile on his face. He told the group, “She can be as religious as she wants to be. My headache is gone and that’s all I care about.”

  Senator Allen stepped forward. “How’d you do that? I’ve had multiple tests run on him since he was a teenager. No doctor has ever been able to tell me why his headaches are so severe. But whenever one comes on him, he’s usually out for hours.”

  What? It worked? was what she wanted to say, but then she remembered that the God of her parents had always been a prayer answering God. She just had never known Him to answer any of her prayers, since most of her prayers had consisted of requests for a husband. But wait, she now had the husband. Gleefully, Raven realized that although the Allen family had all the money and power they could handle, they didn’t have the one thing that could truly make a difference in a life… they didn’t have Jesus. She would never forget the lesson she’d learned tonight. “Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being a God who answers prayer.”

  Chapter 9

  “How did you know that prayer would work for my headache?” Marcus asked Raven as they got out of the car and headed into the house.

  “I didn’t. But when you started thrashing around and holding your head like that, all I could think about was the last conversation I had with my step-mother when she made me promise to pray for you.”

  “I knew that woman was an angel.” He touched his head. “I can’t believe that my headache is gone. When one of those gets started it can last all night.”

  “It seemed like your head didn’t start hurting until your step-mother stood behind you.”

  “She’s always around when I get one of those headaches.”

  “Do you have a problem with her or something? I know you said she needles you until you end up doing whatever your father wants, but she seems like a nice enough lady.”

  “Nice enough to you. But she and I have never gotten along. Maybe it’s my fault. My dad married her so soon after my mother’s death that I barely had time to grieve the passing of one mom before he was trying to shove another one in my face.”

  “My parents are real big on forgiveness. Maybe if you try to forgive Liza for whatever you perceive her shortcomings are, then you’ll be able to be in a room with her without having a migraine.”

  “Or maybe, I just need to keep you with me at all times.” He pulled her close to him, taking in the scent of her hair… her perfume. He was captivated by the woman in his arms. He could hold her for a lifetime and never get enough. He wanted to tell her that, but he saw the way she had looked at him when he’d told Brian that he loved his wife. She didn’t believe him, so words weren’t going to change her mind. He needed to show her that he was in this marriage for real.

  He leaned down and put his lips to her lips. Slowly, at first, but when she didn’t pull away Marcus became emboldened in his quest to show just how much love he was feeling for her. Wrapping her tighter in his arms as he moved her closer and closer towards their bedroom, he greedily clung to her mouth as if he hungered and thirsted for only her.

  They were both panting and out of their minds by the time they reached the bedroom, but as they stepped into the room, a bit of sanity struck Raven and she moved away from him, clinging to the wall next to the bed. “What am I doing? I’m not supposed to be here,” she said as her chest heaved in and out.

  “You’re my wife, Raven. Where do you belong, if not here?” The look of hurt and pain on Marcus’ face was unmistakable.

  “I’m sorry, Marcus, maybe we rushed into this. I never should have married you, especially since I knew what your father had in store for you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Marcus demanded.

  Raven closed her mouth and turned away from him.

  Anger poured out of Marcus as he said, “I’m your husband. Doesn’t that count for anything with you? We should have no secrets.”

  Sighing heavily, Raven took hold of Marcus’ hand and sat down next to him on the bed. “You’re right. I can’t keep this from you any longer because it doesn’t just affect you, but me and our child as well.”

  Marcus was silent so she continued, “The reason I dropped your father as a client was because he wanted me to prepare you for this campaign you’re getting ready to take on.”

  “Why wouldn’t you have wanted to work with me? I mean, we were seeing each other at the time.”


  “I didn’t have a problem with working with you,” Raven tried to explain, “I had a problem with the platform your father wants you to run on… the one Brian introduced to you tonight.”

  “My father had this planned, even before Governor Lewis resigned?”

  She nodded. “He wants you to start with this Christians-need-to-be-reasonable thing and then once you’re elected President of the US of A your father’s ultimate goal is to have you outlaw Christianity. How’d you like to be the president who’s responsible for something like that?”

  “I wouldn’t like that at all,” Marcus said, with a look of astonishment on his face.

  Raven touched her belly. “Our child wouldn’t like that either, especially since I plan to raise him or her with the same Christian values I was raised with.”

  “Who’s stopping you?”

  “Your father would love to stop me and everyone else who doesn’t agree with his agenda.”

  Marcus paced the floor, not wanting to believe what he was hearing but at the same time knowing that it was true. He had idolized his father and had made career decisions based on conversations with his father. And now he was learning that he’d just been a pawn in his father’s rule-the-world scheme.

  “So now you understand why I can’t stay with you. If we get a divorce now at least we can tell our child that we had been married and that the marriage just didn’t work.” Raven put her hand on the doorknob, getting ready to leave the bedroom.

  “And then what? You’re just going to leave me and tell my child how evil I was when everything my father wants comes to pass?”

  “What else can I do? I have my baby to think about.” Raven opened the door, put one foot on the other side.

  “You can stay with me and be my prayer warrior.”

  Raven took her hand off the doorknob and turned back towards her husband. “How can I be your prayer warrior? I have to be reminded by my family to pray as it is.”

  “Well you certainly got God’s attention tonight.” Marcus took Raven’s hands in his and pulled her closer. “If what you say is true and my father is only interested in destroying Christianity, I can’t be a part of that. My mother loved the Lord and she prayed that I would follow after God all the days of my life. I haven’t done much following up to this point, but that doesn’t mean I want to destroy the faith my mother stood on until her dying day… help me, Raven.”