Latter Rain (18 page)

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Authors: Vanessa Miller

BOOK: Latter Rain
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Isaac looked at Nina's arm again, the one that had a sling on it, before she removed it to prove to him that she didn't need him. The look of sadness in her eyes told him that she wanted him out of her hair so he told Bishop, “All right. I'll be there.”
Isaac hung up the phone and turned back to Nina. “Well, I guess you got your wish. I might not be needed here anymore, but Bishop needs me back in Chicago.”
“Yeah, Bishop always seems to need you, Nina mumbled.
“What did you say?”
Nina didn't back down, she rolled her eyes heavenward and said, “That man means you no good. He knows you've got all these anger and unforgiveness issues—and what does he do about it? Does he pray for you; try to guide you in the right direction? No, your Bishop uses you as his henchman. He feeds on your anger issues and lets you do all of his dirty work.”
“I'm no body's henchman, Isaac said angrily.
Nina squeezed her eyes shut and then reopened them. “All right, fine. I've said what I've wanted to tell you about that man for some time now. But if you don't believe what is so very obvious, then I can't help you. Go to Chicago, Isaac. It's for the best.”
“I don't need your permission,” he told her as he walked out of the kitchen. He turned back around and said more compassionately, “I'll take Donavan with me so you don't have to worry about taking care of him and yourself.”
“That's fine. When will you bring him back?”
“A couple of days.” He turned and headed for his son's room.
A tear trickled down her face. “Run away like you always do.”
35
Isaac was in an uncomfortable place. He sat in Bishop Sumler's office thinking over his life and his ministry. Everything was up in the air. He had been praying, asking God to direct him. But he still didn't know which end was up, or where he was going from here.
He believed, deep in his heart, that God had forgiven him for his transgressions—the rest of the world may never, but God had. He believed he was still called of God, still meant to do something. He just didn't know what it was. He also thought about what Nina had said about Bishop Sumler using him as a henchman and that he wasn't able to get rid of his issues because of continued association with Bishop.
Lord, could this be true
?
Sumler greeted Isaac jovially as he rushed into his office. “Sorry I'm late. Putting out a fire on the other side of town.”
Isaac knew all about the fires Bishop put out. He'd done the same for him when he'd gotten himself caught up with Denise. Isaac still wondered how much that New York relocation had cost Bishop.
Sumler sat behind his desk and fumbled around for some papers. “Isaac, my boy, I think it is your time.”
Nina had just told him it was time for him to leave her house. He wondered what time Bishop thought it was, but didn't ask.
“I've got two churches that do not have a full-time pastor. The one in West Virginia and one here.” Bishop looked at Isaac and smiled. “What I want to know is, which one do you want to start your career as a pastor in?”
Isaac wanted to jump out of his seat and shout hallelujah. About time something good occurred in his life. But something kept him in his seat. Maybe it was the way Bishop called preaching a career. Wasn't it supposed to be a ministry? Or maybe it was the memory of Pastor Paul reaching out to people most of Christendom had given up on. Wasn't that what this walk was supposed to be about?
“I would love to pastor a church, sir. I just don't know if this is the right time for me. I've been going through some things. So I've been seeking God about what I'm supposed to do next.”
“It's time to stop seeking and become a doer. This is what God has for you. I feel it in my bones.”
Rubbing his chin, Isaac pondered. Taking over one of the churches sounded good to him. It was why he'd sat under Bishop all these years. He really didn't understand why he was hesitating.
God is this you? Or are you pulling me in another direction?
“Let me pray about it a little while and discuss it with my family.”
Bishop Sumler's brows rose. “What family, son?”
“Nina and Donavan,” he said flatly. Nina was acting a fool right now, but that didn't take away from the value he placed on her opinion. Isaac still held himself responsible for Donavan getting mixed up with the wrong crowd. He was determined to be there for his family, no matter the cost.
Sumler put his elbow on his desk and leaned in closer to Isaac. “Son, I've been meaning to talk to you about this for quite some time.” He hesitated, then just threw it out there. “You need a wife.”
Not this conversation again
. At least three times a year, Bishop got on this “Isaac, you need a wife” kick and Isaac was getting tired of it. “I'd love to have a wife, Bishop. I just haven't interviewed too many acceptable applicants lately.”
“I'm gon' be honest with you.” Bishop got up and walked around his desk. “If you leave that gal in Dayton alone, you might find a wife a whole lot sooner.”
“What's Nina got to do with anything?” Isaac asked, the look on his face daring the Bishop to say anything against the mother of his child.
Bishop raised his hands. “Calm down, son. All I'm saying is, she's not for you. She's not ministry material like some of these other women I've sent your way.”
It wasn't right to laugh in the face of a man of God. Isaac tried to contain himself. But Bishop was living in some kind of la-la land if he thought the women he'd introduced him to were ministry material.
“Don't get me wrong, Nina's a nice enough girl, but she doesn't sing. She won't be able to draw in the crowd you'll need.”
Isaac did laugh now. “Bishop, I'll take a prayer warrior over a soloist any day.”
Bishop Sumler walked over to Isaac and put his hands on his shoulder. “Son, stop sleeping with that girl and come on back home where you belong.”
Isaac jumped out of his seat and once again reminded himself that anger was an emotion, violence was a choice. But the fact that he was puffed up with anger and Bishop didn't seem all that bothered by it, didn't go unnoticed by Isaac. He unclenched his fist and stepped away from the man of God. “Bishop, that wasn't called for. Nina is not like that.”
Sumler held up his hands. “Relax, Isaac. I'm just looking out for your own good. You've got a great future ahead of you. I just don't want you to mess it up doing something stupid.”
“Well you don't have to worry about that. Because it's like I said, Nina doesn't do that kind of stuff.” He wanted to add,
unlike the women you hook me up with,
but he left that one alone.
Directing Isaac to the door, Bishop told him, “Go home and pray about this. See what the Lord has to say about you earning millions of dollars a year.”
Isaac couldn't help himself. A million dollar announcement would make anybody do a double take. He almost stumbled over his words as he asked, “The church wouldn't pay me a million a year, would it?”
Bishop shook his head. “No, no. You'd start out earning about a hundred thousand. But with the books you'll write and being on the preaching circuit, you'll pull in a million easy.”
“I feel so alone, Elizabeth. Nobody wants to be around me,” Nina said as she held the telephone to her ear.
“That's not true, Nina.”
Nina sat down on the couch with her feet underneath her bottom and continued to sulk. “Charles and I would still be engaged if I could have children.”
“Nina, please don't take this the wrong way, because I know you're hurting. But would you really want to marry a man that places conditions on his love?”
“No, I don't want Charles.” She unfolded her legs, stretched out on the couch and sighed. “I don't know what I want. I probably wouldn't even be thinking about Charles if they hadn't left me.”
“Who left you?”
“Keep up with me, Elizabeth
.
I'm talking about Donavan and Isaac.”
“What do they have to do with Charles?”
“Well, if they were still here, I wouldn't be thinking about Charles. But Isaac ran back to Chicago to his girlfriend.”
Elizabeth sighed heavily. “Nina, you put the man out!”
“Yeah, right. Nobody can just put Isaac Walker out. If he wanted to stay, he would have refused to leave.”
“Nina, as long as I've known you, Isaac has been bending over backward to be with you.” She switched the phone from one ear to the other. “Now, I understand why you wanted nothing to do with him when he was dealing drugs, but he's saved now. The man loves the Lord.”
Nina laughed. “He just tried to kill someone, Elizabeth.”
“I hate to break it to you, Nina, but I wanted to kill that animal.”
“But you didn't.”
“Neither did Isaac.”
Nina harrumphed. “He tried.”
“Bottom line,” Elizabeth said, firmly, “what do you want to do?”
Nina had moped around the house for two days. She wished Donavan had stayed. She'd then have something to take her mind off the empty hole Isaac's absence left. Now she was on the phone with Elizabeth and her best friend was asking her what she wanted to do. Didn't she know that life was more complicated than that?
She gripped the phone and cried, “I don't know what I want.”
“Yes, you do,” Elizabeth's patient voice sang through the receiver.
Nina grabbed some tissue and blew her nose. “You can't always have what you want. Sometimes, it's not good for you.”
“Look, Nina, let's cut to the chase. I know that you're in love with Isaac. What I don't understand is why you won't give him a chance.”
She started to deny that love-fest thing Elizabeth was talking about. Isaac was all wrong for her—too dangerous. She needed someone stable, someone reliable, someone without issues. But in truth, her heart belonged to the man who admitted to her that he was dealing with demons. How twisted was that?
36
Isaac picked up a pizza from Gino's, and he and Donavan went back to his apartment. He desperately needed somebody to talk to. Needed to reason this thing out. Isaac just wasn't sure if it was God's will for him to accept the pastoral position Bishop Sumler offered him. Keith was all for the idea. Thought it was the right thing to do. Of course he did. Keith wanted the associate pastor position. Isaac was all right with taking the job as well. He just couldn't figure out why his spirit was in such turmoil.
His father had told him that if he needed a friend, he could talk to him. That was laughable. Isaac would rather take his chances with Nina's rage.
He picked up the phone, hesitated, then dialed her number. The air conditioner was out in his apartment. Donavan was complaining about the heat. So while Nina was saying hello, Isaac opened the living room window. “Hey, how's it going?” Isaac asked.
Silence.
He pleaded. “I really need a friend right now, Nina. Can I talk to you?”
“I'm a little busy right now, Isaac. I'm trying to finish my book. My editor has been calling for it.”
Donavan yelled, “Hi, Mom,” loud enough for Nina to hear him, then he laughed, and pointed at his dad. “Ha, ha, ha. She got you begging like a dog.”
“Shut up, boy. Go clean up that mess you made in the kitchen.” He shoved Donavan out of the room and pressed the phone back to his ear. “I really need to talk to you.”
“Tell Donavan I miss him,” Nina said, then she asked Isaac with a bit of spite in her voice, “Where is Cassandra?”
“Come on, Nina. I don't want that woman. You know how I feel.”
“Talk.”
Isaac heard the coldness of her voice, but he didn't care. His need was stronger than his pride. Numerous times, in years gone by, she had needed him. He always treated her with cool indifference. “Bishop offered me a pastoral position at either the church in West Virginia or the one here in Chicago.”
“And?”
“Well, I could earn a boat load of money. We would be set. You know. We wouldn't have the money issues we have right now.”
“I hear a ‘but' somewhere, Isaac. What's wrong with the offer?”
He hunched his shoulders. “I don't know. I'm having a hard time getting a ‘yes' from my spirit on this one.”
“If you don't feel right about the offer, turn it down.”
“It's not that simple, Nina. This is a whole lot of money to just walk away from. And how do I know this is not God's will for my life?”
“Have you prayed about it yet?”
He switched the phone from one ear to the other. “Can I come home, Nina? Can we pray about this together?”
“You don't live here, Isaac.”
“You know what I mean.” Through his open window he could hear Otis Redding singing, “
I've been loving you a little too long—I don't wanna stop now.”
Nina heard it too. He knew it from the way the line went dead silent. She was feeling Otis. A memory of their first slow dance trickled through his mind. Was she thinking about that too? “I need to be there with you, Nina. This is an important decision. I don't want to make it alone.”
With you my life has been so wonderful—I can't stop now.
“I'll wait up for you. We'll pray when you get here,” Nina told him, then hung up the phone.

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