Love, Honor, and Betray by Roby, Lawson (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

“So, what is it that you want to talk about?” he asked.

“Us. We’ve been at each other’s throats and arguing daily, and I don’t want us to go on this way, Curtis.”

“Baby, I don’t want that either. I never did.”

“This entire situation has caused me to feel more animosity and rage than I’ve ever felt in my life, but what I’ve tried holdingon to is the fact that I do love you, Curtis. I have loved you with all my heart for years, and I don’t want to lose you.I don’t want to break our family up if it can be helped.”

“I feel the same way. I love you, and the thought of not being with you literally kills me.”

“But even with as much as I love you,” Charlotte said, “I can’t continue with the existing conditions. So, you need to makea choice. It’s either Curtina or me.”

Curtis’s heart dropped. He was astounded by Charlotte’s ultimatum. When she’d called him earlier, saying they’d needed totalk, he’d thought it was because she had decided to work on accepting Curtina.

“I’m sorry,” she continued. “But if you won’t send your daughter away, then I’ll have to begin making arrangements to moveout.”

“You’re not serious?”

“I am.”

Curtis leaned his head back and looked toward the ceiling. A thousand thoughts circulated in his mind. His first reactionwas sadness and great disappointment, but now he thought about all the dirt Charlotte had done and how she was suddenly tryingto play the role of an innocent victim. She had a lot of nerve coming there with some so-called final demand, but he had newsfor her. He wasn’t going for it.

“You know,” he said, “I’m not sure how many other ways I can say what I’ve been telling you for weeks now. But let me sayit again: Curtina isn’t going anywhere.”

“But I can’t live in the same house with her, Curtis. Not right now, anyway. Maybe a year or two from now, once I’ve had sometime to digest this whole idea of being a mother to her. Maybe once I’ve had some time to completely forgive you. I know Isaid I had, but you were right when you said I hadn’t. I just need time, Curtis.”

“Fine. Take all the time you want, but my daughter is here to stay. I’m her father, and her home is wherever mine is.”

“So you’d rather live there with her instead of me?”

“No, what I want is for both of you to be there. I love you as my wife, and I love my children. All of them.”

Charlotte shook her head at him. “So that’s it then. You choose your daughter over me.”

“I choose both of you, but if you can’t handle living in the house with Curtina, then that’s your decision.”

Charlotte grabbed her handbag and stood up. She never spoke another word before leaving, and Curtis felt numb. He didn’t knowif she was serious about walking out on him or not, but he was going to start planning for the worst.

Curtis went over to his desk, then remembered the envelope the woman had given him just before he’d come upstairs. He pulledit out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and opened it.

Dear Pastor Black,

I have been attending Deliverance Outreach for a little over three months now, and I must say, I have never wanted any man as badly as I want you. I’d heard you speak a year ago over at a women’s conference in Chicago, and I was drawn to you immediately. I’m totally captivated by your amazingly good looks, your charisma, your encouraging words, and even your mannerisms. So, when I saw that the company I work for had an opening here in Mitchell, I decided to apply for the transfer just so I’d be closer to you. And Pastor Black, I certainly don’t regret it. Seeing and listening to you on Sundays and Wednesday nights give me such comfort and such joy that when you allow one of your associate pastors to deliver the sermon or teach the Bible study lesson, I’m ashamed to say I feel very disappointed.

But my reason for writing you this letter is to ask that you please pray for me and these lustful feelings I have for you. I need prayer because my feelings for you have now gotten so out of control that I’m now having vivid dreams of you and me in bed. I know my feelings are wrong, but my struggle is that I also believe I’d be able to satisfy you in a way like you’ve never been satisfied before. I’d be able to show you the kind of happiness and pleasure most men can only dream about but will never experience. So, please, I ask again, that you will pray for me.

Sharon

Curtis saw that she’d also included her phone number and knew he was dealing with a deliberately bold woman. She was the kindof woman who went after what she wanted with great zeal and never worried about possible consequences. Women like Sharon werethe most dangerous kind of women for a man like Curtis because they were willing to do whatever they had to in order to bewith him. They were willing to sneak around behind closed doors and then show up for Sunday morning service, acting holierthan thou. They were even willing to smile face-to-face with the wife of the man they were sleeping with and didn’t see wherethere was anything wrong with it. Women like Sharon didn’t think they could satisfy a married man better than his wife, they knew it.

Curtis looked at the letter again. Just one month ago he would have been completely offended by it, would have put the womanin her place and then told Charlotte about it. He didn’t feel that way today, though. He felt a whole lot differently, thanksto his wife’s ridiculous ultimatum and