Could This Be Love Page 7

  Her heart went out to him and then she began to wonder if being with Marcus was what God had intended for her life’s purpose all along. She thought back to the sermon that Mama-Carmella’s pastor had preached out of Numbers 25 about Phinehas, the man who took a stand against the immorality of his day while others just stood around weeping and complaining about it. “I’ll tell you what, Marcus, if you’ll be my Phinehas then I’ll stay with you.”

  “Who is Phinehas?” Marcus asked, his eyes clearly indicating confusion.

  “Do you have a Bible?”

  Marcus opened his night stand drawer and handed her the big family Bible that had been handed down from his mother. Raven turned to the book of Numbers, chapter 25 and was astonished to see the verses the pastor had read a few weeks ago highlighted in Marcus’ family Bible. She pointed at the page. “The scriptures I wanted to show you are already highlighted in this Bible.”

  “Let me see that.” The Bible was big enough for both of them to hold either side of it. As Marcus looked at the pages he said, “That’s right, I remember seeing my mother highlight certain pages of the Bible as she read it. She would even call me over to her bed those last few weeks of her life and read scriptures to me.” His mind shifted back into the past and he saw his mother pointing at the Bible and saying, ‘Remember these words. You are a man of God and one day you will be forced to stand and declare that to the world’.

  “My mom prophesied over my life after reading from the book of Numbers. I remember wondering why God would name a book of the Bible Numbers.”

  Raven pointed at the Bible again. “She highlighted and underlined this.” She began reading from the eleventh verse of Numbers 25:

  “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

  Wherefore say, behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.”

  “That’s me… or at least, that’s what my mom expects from me.” Marcus took a deep breath. “That’s a lot to live up to.”

  Raven squeezed his hand. “We’ll do it together.”

  ***

  The next morning Marcus got out of bed and went to the kitchen to fix breakfast for Raven. They were in the early stages of being husband and wife so he wasn’t sure about all the breakfast foods she liked, but he knew that she loved pancakes. So, that’s what he fixed.

  He didn’t know whether Raven had cast a spell on him or not, but all he wanted to do was to put a smile on her face. Putting the pancakes, syrup and tall glass of ice cold milk on the tray, he headed back upstairs to the woman he married, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and have a half dozen kids if she so desired.

  “Wake up sleepy head, it’s time for breakfast.”

  Raven stretched and yawned. She then rubbed her eyes as she tried to get her bearings. “Is it morning already?”

  “I must have tired you out last night, huh?” He put the tray in front of her as she sat up in bed.

  “Whatever, man.” Looking at the clock on the nightstand she responded, “Or maybe I just don’t get up at 7 am on Saturday mornings. Don’t you ever sleep in, or did I marry some kind of machine-like man?”

  “Of course I sleep in.” He put up a finger, halting that thought. “But never past eight. Today, however, is different. You and I have some house cleaning to do.”

  “Your the governor. You don’t do housecleaning. You have people for that, remember?” Raven cut up her pancakes and then poured the syrup over them.

  “I’m not talking about here. We need to go to your apartment and get your things.”

  The fork was in her hand, moving toward her mouth as she was anxious to taste his pancake. But when he mentioned getting her things and moving them in here, the fork dropped and her mouth closed.

  “You’re my wife, Raven. For better or worse. If our marriage is going to work, we will have to make an effort. I’m all in, what about you?”

  Raven took a moment to look into the eyes of the gorgeous, successful man in front of her. He could have any woman he wanted, but he was here with her, asking her to commit to be here with him. “I’m all in.”

  Marshall leaned forward and kissed her. This felt good and right to him. Like coming home and loving where he lived. “Eat up. I’ll go see if Beatrice can help us pack up your things.”

  Beatrice was one of the housekeepers and she was always willing to help or do whatever was needed to make Marcus feel at home.

  Since Marcus was now living in the Governor’s mansion she didn’t need to bring any of her furniture. So, she and Beatrice got busy boxing up clothes and personal items. Marcus volunteered to box up her home office. While pulling files out of the draws and putting them in the boxes he’d spread out around the small room, he came across a binder that said,’ My Dreams’.

  He put the binder in the box along with the other items and tried to go back to what he was doing. But something drew him back to that binder. Marcus really didn’t want to pry into Raven’s life, but if his wife had dreams and aspirations, he wanted to know about them. Sitting down on the floor he opened the binder and skimmed through it.

  The binder had three sections” personal, business and spiritual. The business and spiritual section had a few typed pages on her goals of growing her business and a few facts about how her spiritual life had waned and steps she intended to take in order to get back on track. It impressed him that his wife was so organized.

  But when he flipped over to the personal section and noted that the only thing that seemed to matter to Raven in this section was her wedding, he realized just how badly he’d messed up by getting her to agree to simply allow a judge to marry them.

  Raven didn’t just have typed notes in this section. She’d glued a white wedding gown that strapless with a dipped neckline. An A-line skirt with delicate bedding all around the skirt. It was beautiful and Marcus knew instantly that the dress would be breathtaking on Raven.

  The next page had two bride’s maid dresses, one soft pink and the other rose. There were pages and pages of dried flowers lamented to a page. She’d even taken pictures of table settings at wedding receptions and a three-tiered cake with snowy white frosting had the words, ‘this is my cake’ written next to it. “What have I done?” Marcus scolded himself as he closed the binder and put it back in the box.

  “I hope you haven’t messed up my file system,” Raven said as she walked in the room all smiles.

  Jumping up, Marcus put another pile of folders over the binder. “You think I don’t know how to handle a filing system. Woman, I’ll have you know, you’re not the only one in this family with organizational skills.”

  She nodded. “Okay, your right, I have seen your office. And you do seem to know what you’re doing.”

  “That’s high praise coming from you.” He bent down and touched her lips to his for a quick kiss. He enjoyed kissing his wife and planned to do as much of it as she’d let him get away with.

  “I was getting ready to order some lunch. Is pizza okay with you?”

  “Sounds good. Get mine with pepperonis and sausage.”

  “Got it.”

  As she walked out of the room, Marcus wanted to grab her, pull her into his arms and tell her just how sorry he was that she didn’t get the wedding of her dreams. But he had just convinced her to give being married to him a try, so he didn’t want to throw salt in a fresh wound.

  They went to Marcus’ family church on Sunday. His parent’s sat next to them and no sooner than service was over did they start badgering him about his next meeting with the campaign manager they hand picked her him.

  Marcus stepped back and lifted a hand to get their attention. “Look, I appreciate your help, Dad. You know I
do. But you and I seem to have a difference of opinion on how my next campaign should be run.”

  “Since when do you and your father have a difference of opinion?” Liza snapped while glaring at Raven.

  “I don’t want to argue with the two of you,” Marcus said quickly, hoping to avoid another headache. “I will meet with Brian tomorrow and if he can get with the kind of campaign I want to run then he may be of use to me. But if not…”

  Senator Allen put a hand on his son’s shoulder as he said, “I’ve put a great deal of money into your campaigns these last few year. I would hate to think that I’ve wasted my money, time and effort.”

  “You haven’t wasted anything on Marcus,” Raven declared. “He is the most dedicated man I know. He wants to win this next election just as much as you want him to win. The two of you just have different vision, that’s all.”

  “This is none of your business,” Liza told Raven. Then she turned to her husband and spat, “I told you not to hire her in the first place. Now look what you’ve done. We’re stuck with her and Marcus’ campaign is about to go down the drain.”

  “Thanks for that vote of confidence, Mommy Dearest.”

  With fire in her eyes, she screamed at Marcus, “I told you not to call me that!” Rolling her eyes, Liza slung her purse back over her shoulder and strutted away from the group.

  “Why’d you have to antagonize your mother, son?”

  “She’s not my mother. She’s your wife and that’s it and all. Please stop trying to make this more than it really is,” Marcus told his father.

  Shaking his head, Senator Allen walked away from them and joined his wife.

  “That went well.” Marcus grimaced as he watched his father drive off.

  Raven put her hand in his. As they strolled to Marcus’ car, she told him, “I think we need to find another church to attend.”

  Chapter 10

  After that scene with Marcus’ parent, Raven knew that if her husband was going to do the right thing, he would need back-up so she called her youngest brother, RaShawn. He had left the mission field and was now doing his mission work right here in the United States. And Raven had a mission for him.

  “Are you sure Marcus will want me as part of his team?” RaShawn asked.

  “Marcus isn’t just my husband, he’s now my client. So, if I say he needs a spiritual advisor on his team, then that’s what he’s going to get.”

  “Okay, big sis. If you say so. Just tell me when you want me to be there.”

  “Check your email, I’ve already sent you an airline ticket. Your plane leaves in two hours. I’ll pick you up.”

  RaShawn laughed. “What if I had said no?”

  “Who are you kidding, you’ve never been able to deny me or Renee anything.”

  “I guess you’re right about that. Let me hang up so I can throw some clothes in my duffel. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Thanks, RaShawn, I knew there was a reason why I love you so much.” They hung up the phone, then Raven stood up and straightened her suit. “Time to go put out another fire.”

  She walked down the hall to Marcus’ office. He was in a meeting with Brian, and had told her he would wait until she got there before giving him the ax.

  As she opened the door Brian was saying, “You only have a month before you need to declare your candidacy for the next election, we really need to firm up your platform.”

  “Correct.” Marcus stood up, came around to the front of his desk and leaned against it as he said, “I’m looking for more of a ‘bring our family values back’ and a ‘jobs first’ platform.”

  “But Governor, the job situation has already been improving and ‘family values’ has really been overdone.”

  Raven sat down in the back of the room, silently praying that God would continue to give her husband the strength he would need to stand strong in his convictions.

  “Actually Brian, I don’t think it’s been done enough. This country has lost sight of its values. Look at all the filth they call entertainment that fills our televisions. I don’t want my children thinking that the way these reality TV stars live is the right way to go with their lives. I’m drawing a line in the sand. We should have never allowed things to get this far, but I guarantee that I will not do anything while I’m in public office to make it worse.”

  Brian was practically sputtering as he stood. “Your father assured me that you were onboard with this Unity First campaign that I’ve started putting together for you.”

  Praying harder than she’d ever prayed in her entire life, Raven was still silently calling on the name of Jesus, asking the angels to come down and protect Marcus’ mind, body and soul and just generally begging God to help them, not now, but right now.

  “Your Unity First campaign isn’t going to work for me. I don’t believe that Christians need to let go of the convictions they have that are based on God’s word just because another group of people want to live contrary to the word of God.”

  “That Bible you keep talking about is outdated. And hypocritical.”

  “Excuse me?” Marcus said, staring down on Brian as if he was two seconds from throwing him out of his office.

  “Are you going to tell me that,” he swung his arm backward, pointing in her direction, “Raven would be okay with you deciding to marry about two, three or more other women while you’re still married to her?”

  “Of course she wouldn’t be okay with that.”

  “Several men in that Bible you’re so proud of did exactly that. Solomon was the worst offender of them all. But your God didn’t frown on that, but then he turned His righteous nose up at gay marriage… it just doesn’t seem right to me.”

  Keep your mouth shut and just pray, Raven reminded herself. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus… calling on His name all the day long.

  Marcus grinned and then said, “I’ll tell you what… when I get to heaven I’ll ask God about that. But will I be able to find you to give you the answer?”

  Again, Brian was flustered to the point of stammering. “T-this conversation is totally pointless. We need to be working on your platform. Are you willing to go with the platform your father has already designed for your campaign or do I need to report back to the senator about this?”

  Marcus sat back down behind his desk. He looked over at Brian and shook his head. “If you’re not willing to readjust to the platform I want to run on, then I don’t think we have anything else to talk about at this point in time. But do give my father my regards.”

  “Are you serious?” Brian was flabbergasted. “Do you know how many politicians would love to have my group on their team? I back winners, in case you haven’t noticed. I’ve only taken on one client in the past twenty years who didn’t win. And if I had him as a client in this day and age, he would win by a landslide.”

  Raven walked over to Marcus’ desk as she said, “We’re very happy for you, Brian. You’ve had an impressive career. Any candidate would be lucky to have you. However, the governor wants to go in a different direction. I’m in the process of finding your replacement as we speak.”

  Brian turned away from them and stormed out of the office in a huff.

  “Did you really just fire him without a replacement already picked out?” Marcus put his hands on his head and shook it. He then looked back toward his wife and said, “Tell me that I’ve got this wrong?”

  “Didn’t you hire me to put your campaign team together?” Raven answered a question with a question.

  “Yes, but…”

  “But nothing. You need to trust me. I know what I’m doing.” She waited for him to say something else; when he didn’t she asked, “Do you have time in your schedule tomorrow afternoon?”

  He opened his desk calendar. “What for?”

  “I’d like to have you meet a few potential staffers for your campaign team.”

  “You’re telling me that you can pull all the people that I’ll need for my campaign together that quick?”

  “Honey
, I’m not just good at my job… I’m the best.” Raven walked out of the office, leaving Marcus staring with awestruck eyes.

  Stepping into the hallway, she punched a number in her cell phone. When her assistant, Rebecca answered she said, “Go through our rolodex; pull together as many Christian conservative campaign managers as you can find.” As she ended the call and headed out of the building, Raven was confident that she would be able to locate the perfect person to handle Marcus’ campaign. Her client didn’t need to know that she just now started looking for his campaign manager.

  Her cell rang when she got in her car. It was Joe. She hadn’t talked to him since he left on a hunt for Britney. “Hey Joe, it is so good to hear from you. We have a new client, so, I sure hope that you have located Britney so we can put that issue to bed.”

  “I got her, Raven. And you will not believe what I’m witnessing right now.”

  “I hope it’s some good news because we can really use some of that.”

  “Oh my God, no… don’t shoot!” Joe screamed.

  “Who’s there, Joe? What’s going on?” Raven asked as she clutched the phone tighter against her ear.

  And then she heard three consecutive shots. Bang… bang… bang.

  “Joe, Joe, what’s going on?” Raven was yelling into her cell phone, then the phone went dead and she screamed as she pulled the phone away from her ear to stare at it. Had she really heard shots?

  She called Joe’s cell back. It rang several times and then went to voicemail. “Call me back, Joe. Right away… please.”

  She hung up the phone and waited a few minutes, willing her cell to ring and for Joe to be on the other end, saying that her ears deceived her and that everything was all right. She had sent Joe looking for Britney and because she was too busy with Marcus, Joe had gone alone. Raven didn’t know if she could live with herself if anything happened to her friend and business associate.