Love, Honor, and Betray, Roby, Lawson [i have read the book a hundred times .txt] 📗

who’d been down in his study working onthe last part of his sermon, and then she had gone straight up to Matthew’s room to talk to him. But when she’d knocked onhis door, he’d asked who it was, she’d told him, and he hadn’t responded. So Charlotte had eased his door open and gone inanyhow. As soon as he’d seen her, though, he’d turned his back to her and slipped on his iPod earbuds. He’d wanted nothingto do with her, and she’d had no choice but to leave him alone.

Curtis strutted into the bedroom, dressed in a charcoal suit, pure white shirt, accented with a turquoise tie and matchingsilk handkerchief. “Don’t you look gorgeous on this beautiful and very blessed Sunday morning,” he said, complimenting hernewest cream-colored, custom-made suit and matching four-inch, pointed-toe pumps.

“Thanks,” she said, trying to sound upbeat. “You look pretty handsome yourself. Same as always.”

“Here,” he said, passing her an exquisitely wrapped silver box.

Charlotte was a little surprised because he’d already had the florist deliver two dozen roses to her this morning and hadalso given her a five-hundred-dollar gift card to her favorite local spa, along with a Jimmy Choo handbag. So she wonderedwhat this was.

“Wow,” she said, untying the wide red ribbon and removing the lid. She felt like melting when she saw a stunning pair of diamondand sapphire earrings. “You didn’t have to do this,” she said, hugging him. “Baby, thank you.”

“I wanted to do it. You deserve that and so much more, and that’s why I spent the better part of the afternoon yesterday lookingfor them. So, as it turned out, I was glad you spent the day with your mom because it gave me an opportunity to go shoppingfor you.”

“Now I feel like I should have gotten you something more, too.”

“Please. You got me a Cartier watch, so what more did you need to get?”

“Still,” she said, feeling even worse about taking a shower last evening and then telling him she was too exhausted to makelove. But she just hadn’t been able to fathom doing something like that all the while knowing she’d had sex with that jerk,Tom, only a few hours before.

“You’re funny,” he said, pecking her on the lips. “But hey, since we still have a little more time before we have to leave,I’m going to head back downstairs so I can trim down my sermon a little more.”

“Okay. I’ll be down soon,” she said, still fighting back tears. She was terribly distraught, but when Curtis was out of sight,she went down to Matthew’s room. The door was slightly ajar, so she knocked and walked in. “Matt, I really need to talk toyou.”

Matthew acted as though he hadn’t heard her and never stopped looking at the television. He also still had on pajama bottomsand a T-shirt, so his decision to skip church was pretty evident.

“Matt, please. I never wanted to be there. You have to believe me.”

Matthew still ignored her.

“Sweetie, you have to talk to me about this.”

Matthew put on his earphones, the same as he’d done last night, and Charlotte knew there was no sense staying. As she walkedback to her room, tears flowed down her face, and she couldn’t stop them. When she was back sitting on her bed, she criedmore. Oh God, please give me strength. Father, please console my heart, and give me peace of mind. Charlotte prayed and then, suddenly, Curtina appeared out of nowhere. Charlotte looked at her and wiped her face with bothhands.

Curtina walked closer. “Mommy cry.”

Charlotte wasn’t sure what to say, but Curtina took her little hand and now she wiped one side of her stepmother’s face, too.

“Mommy cry,” she said again and Charlotte grabbed her into her arms, crying uncontrollably.

Charlotte held her close, and to her surprise, she was comforted. She cuddled this child whom she’d walked around ignoring,resenting, and hating—this child she’d wanted out of her life forever. Charlotte hugged her, and Curtina finally said, “UpMommy.”

Charlotte knew what that meant, so she lifted her onto her lap, and Curtina tried wiping her tears away again. She strokedCharlotte’s face with both her tiny hands, and Charlotte had never been more grateful for anything. She also couldn’t rememberhaving her prayers answered so quickly. She’d asked God for peace and consolation, and He’d given it to her through Curtina. It was all verystrange, but it just went to show that God truly did work in mysterious ways. He was true to His Word, and Charlotte was quicklyreminded of one of her favorite Scriptures, Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,and I will give you rest.”

Charlotte had gone to Him, and He had delivered, like always.

Chapter 38

They’d been sitting and having breakfast for nearly an hour, yet Matthew still hadn’t said a single word to Charlotte. He simplyhad nothing to say, and there was only so much opportunity she had to try to talk to him when Curtis wasn’t around. She certainlydidn’t want to beg and plead for his forgiveness and then have Curtis asking what she needed to be forgiven for. So she’dbeen very careful about the times of day she’d approached Matthew. Actually, she hadn’t thought she would have any chancetrying yesterday evening at all, but then she and Curtis had decided not to drive over to Chicago the way they’d planned.They hadn’t gone because Curtis had insisted something was wrong with Matthew, and he hadn’t thought they should leave him.Charlotte had agreed wholeheartedly because she knew there was something wrong with him. Something major and extremely heart-wrenching. Curtis, of course, had thought maybe he was havinga minor setback relating to Mr. Rush’s passing, but Charlotte knew otherwise. She knew Matthew was mainly distressed abouthis mother.

She was just sick over Matthew making that trip up to Wisconsin and then finding her with another man, because she knew hewould never forget it. Even when years passed and he had found a way to forgive her—she hoped—he would always remember thatcold Saturday night in February when