Book Excerpt

Hello Followers,

I would like to share with you a project that I am currently working on. I hope to have it done by the end of the year and ready for bookstores before my next birthday. It is untitle as of yet; I've been spending most night working on it so pray with me and for me...I'm halfway done. Enjoy

Now this quilt was made with love. Every time you feel like the  world’s a hard place and people keep taking from you, you take this quilt and wrap it tight ‘roun about ya and let its power wash over and cover you...

            Nadine smiled to herself as she pulled the quilt tighter around her shoulders. It was her security blanket. When her grandmother died it absorbed her tears. It was there to comfort her after every breakup and broken heart. It soothed her temper on those occasions when nothing else seemed to calm her down. She couldn’t explain it, but Nadine felt that the quilt really did have something woven deep within its fibers. Now she found herself once again calling upon the power her Granny promised. She examined her prized possession as she fought the swell of emotions from today’s incident. She felt drained from it. Trying to forget, Nadine focused on the patchwork. Many of the patches were still vibrant and full of texture even though the quilt was almost twenty years old.

            When Nadine was a child, she’d sit with her grandmother asking questions about the quilt, listening to her Granny lovingly explain each patch: lace from her own wedding dress, a piece of the uniform from her uncle who died in the Vietnam War; a dress worn by Nadine’s mother on her first day of high school, and so many more. She pulled the quilt tighter as she looked out of the bay window of her home, noticing that the overcast clouds had finally made good on their promise of rain. Nadine loved rainy days and thunder storms. Snuggling in the oversized arm chair, she closed her eyes, listening to the steady beat of the rain hitting the window, and sighed deeply. Finally her muscles felt like they were beginning to relax and she felt the tension slowly easing away until the phone rang. Nadine jumped, caught off guard by the intruding sound.

            Annoyed, she snatched up the receiver, “Hello..?”

            “Are you pregnant or something?” It was Nadine’s best friend Tara. They had been friends for only a year but it felt like a lifetime. Tara was supermodel pretty at 5’10” and size 2 even though she ate like a madman. When Nadine first met her, she wondered if she was a bulimic but realized that she had freakishly high metabolism and actually loved working out. Tara Sinclair-Reed wore her reddish brown hair short and natural, highlighting her caramel color and high cheekbones. Most people thought that just because she was beautiful, that Tara was stupid. On the contrary, she graduated Suma Cum Laude from Spellman College with a double major, successfully completed Emory Law School, and is now one of the city’s top criminal attorneys.

            “Why on earth would you think I was pregnant?” Nadine replied.

            “Well I was downtown today and stopped by the office; imagine my surprise when Renee tells me that you left early because you fainted. Why else do women faint? Don’t play girl”

            “Could it be because Nick Hughes is our new client and guess who’s heading the account?”

            “OH….MY….GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!” Tara yelled. Nadine had to hold the phone away from her ear.

            “My thoughts exactly,” Nadine replied. She listened to Tara’s stuttering, trying to find words but failing miserably. She waited for her friend to pull it together and braced herself for the next question.

            “So what’s next?” she asked.

            Nadine intentionally changed the subject. She had no idea what was next. Tara was one of her best friends and had seen her through a lot. She had told Tara that Nick was the reason she’d moved here to Memphis and a few of the details. But she wasn’t ready to release the dam of emotion that was churning inside her now. She was afraid of what would come out.

            Tara snorted. “Whew, I recognize that defense a mile away. Okay I get it; you don’t want to talk about it.” Both women were silent. “Wanna go egg his house?”

They laughed. Nadine declined the offer, mainly because she didn’t know where he lived. She knew that when she was ready to talk, Tara would be there with whatever she needed, whether it was a tissue or a tire iron.

            “Trust me; you’ll be the first one I call when I’m ready to go postal. Let your husband know two things: one, where you’re going to be and two, it was all your idea.”

            “Child…my hubby knows me. He says he has a ‘bail money’ stash just for me. Why do you think I’m so good at what I do? I know how my clients think.” They both laughed. Nadine was glad to have Tara as a friend. She always knew how make her feel better.

            “I’ll give you a call sometime tomorrow,” Nadine said.

            “Okay, I’ll be praying for you and waiting to hear the good report...or police report. But due to conflict of interest, with you being my best friend and all, I would not be able to represent you,” she said. “However, I could refer you to one of my very capable colleagues.”

            Nadine laughed again, “Bye Tara, thanks for calling.”

            Nadine felt better. She finally allowed her mind to wander and think about Mr. Nick Hughes. She had been head over heels and thought they were soul mates because she had never opened up to anyone the way she did Nick. She thought of him as her best friend. She tried to forget the last encounter…

            It felt like someone had just kicked Nadine in her stomach. Married…Nick is getting married? How could she have been so stupid? She sat in church staring at the engraved invitation with the time and location of the upcoming nuptials of Nicholas Hughes and Laura Whitmore…wow. She felt Nick’s stare from across the sanctuary but refused to return it. He was getting married—to someone else—and never even bothered to tell her.  That was the day she decided, if offered, to take the job in Tennessee. She had avoided Nick until it was time for her to move. She half expected him to try to stop her…almost hoped he would; but, he didn’t.

            After crying for what seemed like weeks, Nadine decided to try her best to forget about Nick and Memphis, TN seemed like a good idea. She was so grateful that she had actually gotten the job at Chase Lockhart. The only thing that had been keeping her from applying for the job was Nick, hindsight, she was glad her instincts won out over her feelings. It seemed like a decent place to start over. She knew that if she stayed in Cincinnati, she would either commit adultery or commit murder. Neither was an option.

            Now here she was again. “God, how am I going to get through this? Why him, why now?! I really need You to show Yourself strong.” I’m requiring the same of you, My daughter.  She wasn’t surprised by the reply but she wasn’t sure if she was up to the test now. Nadine wiped her face with a corner of the quilt. She reached for her tattered Bible sitting on the end table and flipped to her favorite passage, I Thessalonians 5:16-24. She read silently, then Nadine read the last verse aloud, “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” Of course she found the familiar comfort in reading the Bible but she didn’t feel any better about her situation. She said the verse again, “Faithful is He…” Lord I don’t understand. Why now? Why him? What is it that you are calling me to do?  She waited. She listened. However Nadine knew that when the time was right, God would reveal to her exactly what she needed to know. She knew she needed something in the meantime.

            “Okay, girl,” Nadine said in a feeble attempt at giving herself a pep talk, “you can do this. I can do this….I can do all things through Christ, right?” She sighed deeply… “All things…” And finally she let the tears she’d been fighting all day fall, hoping these tears were the last she’d ever shed for that man.