CHAPTER 1
"Who's That on the Phone?"
"Melissa, do you have everything?" Diana asks, walking through the house one last time.
"Yes! Yes, I do, big sister. You know you act more and more like momma everyday" I say.
"Yeah, well, we have to be like that with you because you know you'll lose your head if it wasn't attached to your body", she comments.
Diana and I walk though my bedroom one last time just to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. I can't help but remember a few months ago when Diana was here doing the same thing when I was scheduled for my trip to London with Patrick. Scouring the room, it looks like I did a good job of packing. During this time of year, the weather is very cold in London, so I've packed for the weather. I'll finally get a chance to wear some of the boots that I don't get to wear here in sunny Florida. I can tell that the kids are excited for me. They have always just wanted me to be happy. Surprisingly, they help take my luggage out to the car.
"Mommy, please don't forget to bring us something back", Justice says, with Amber close by chiming in. "That's right, Momma!"
"Girls, now you know I won't forget! When have I ever gone out of town and didn't bring you something back?" I ask them.
"Ok, girls, give yo' momma a hug because we need to get on the interstate. It's usually crowded during this time of the day and we don't need anything to hold up this trip", she says, playfully hitting me in the side, as if she knows I have another agenda for this trip.
Amber, Sharelle, and Justice watch me and Diana drive down the driveway. They're standing in the front window waving goodbye until we're completely out of sight. Within 15 minutes, we're on I-95 heading for the Miami International Airport. Traffic is cooperating well with us and based on the traffic report, we shouldn't run into any delays.
"And you're sure you want to do this, Melissa? This is a big step, girl", Diana tells me after moments of silence in the car.
"Yes, sis, I'm sure. I've had more than enough time to think about this. He makes me happy and I make him happy and we're good together. He's who I want, Diana. Honestly, I can't wait to get off the plane and run into his arms", I tell her.
"Well, we're here. And on schedule, I might add."
Diana and I park the car in the '1hour parking' section. People are rushing back and forth getting luggage out of their cars. Children have this look of expectancy and excitement on their faces. The airport staff is busy checking people in. I realize that I need to put my phone on "silent" and as soon as I do, I get a text message that changes everything. The wind is knocked out of me. I can't help but gasp after reading this message. Diana notices me right away.
"Melissa, what is it?" she asks. "You look as if you've seen a ghost", she comments.
"I can't speak right now. I just can't....", I say, but she interrupts me.
"What is it? Who is that on the phone?" she asks, looking worried and scared.
"Diana, why? When will I ever be happy, sis?" I ask her.
"MeMe, you're scaring me. Who is it and what did they tell you?" she asks, reaching for the phone.
Diana grabs the phone away from me and immediately covers her mouth with her hand.
CHAPTER 2
The Ride Home
"Melissa, I'm so sorry about all of this", Diana says, trying to comfort me.
The pain in my heart right now is indescribable. The right words can't come to my mind to begin to explain to my sister how I feel at this very moment. Although I know that her intentions are to be here for me, I don't want to hear any sounds, I don't want any comfort, nor do I want to talk. I hope that when I get back home, she intends to leave me to be alone. That's what I want right now. How can I tell my sister to just drop me off and leave me be? I already know that she won't go for it. She'll tell me that I shouldn't be alone right now.
"Sweetheart, please say something. Did you see this coming at all? Why would Morgan do this to you?" she asks, trying to get me to speak.
"I didn't see this coming. How could I have seen it coming?" I say, barely above a whisper.
"How did he get your information, Melissa? Please don't tell me that you shared your personal information with this man?" she asks, finally getting close to my home.
"I really don't want to talk about this right now, Sis", I say, starting to cry.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. We don't have to talk about this right now. We don't have to, ok", she says.
"D, I just want to be alone right now. I don't want to talk. I don't even want to cry, but I just want to sleep. I need to take a sleeping pill so I can get past this painful and agonizing moment. I can't deal with this right now", I tell her. "I can't do this anymore, D. I can't do this again. My heart is not meant to take this much punishment. Is this what I get for being a caring woman? Is this how it is?" I ask, feeling completely helpless.
"It's not your fault that this man chose to betray you this way", she tells me.
"D, seriously, out of the 6.5 billion people in this world, why is it that I always choose the men who don't understand what it means to love?" I say, walking to the trunk to grab my things.
"I know that it seems that way, MeMe. I know it does", she tells me.
"Kalin hurt me, Patrick hurt me, and Morgan hurt me. Should I open my eyes and just realize that this love thing is just not for me? I don't think I'll be able to love again after this", I say to her, walking towards my front door.
"MeMe, don't say that", she says, walking closely behind me. You'll find love again, Sis. You're just hurting right now. You don't really know what you're saying. I'm just so shocked that this guy could do something like this", she adds.
"Yes, me too. I really thought he was more mature than all the others. I thought that he had his life more together, being a doctor and all", I say. "But, now I'm starting to wonder if the man that Patrick met is the man I was talking to. Maybe this guy that I was talking to stole Morgan Smith's identity and pictures. I've heard that this happens all the time in social media", I say to her, trying to make sense of this betrayal.
"Sweetie, you're going to get through this, you know", Diana says, closing the front door behind her.
I know that the kids aren't expecting to see me walk back through the door, so when they run to the front, the expressions on their faces says it all. "Mommy! You're back. What happened?" Justice shouts.
Amber comes around the corner and chimes in. "Mommy, what happened?"
I don't want to break down in front of my girls, but I can feel the tears coming. All of a sudden, I get a sudden hot flash and I can't help it. The tears begin to roll down my face and Diana grabs me to keep me from falling. "Girls, let Mommy get some rest, ok", she says, walking me to my bedroom.
"But, what happened Auntie? What's wrong with Mommy?" Amber asks, looking scared.
"She's going to be alright. Something happened with the flight and Mommy won't be going to London after all", she explains, not sure if they're buying this story.
Diana and I make it to my bedroom and it's exactly like I left it. Just an hour or so ago, I was in here gathering my things to run off to be with a man that I love that I thought loved me. We were ready to build a life together. We had so many plans. He introduced me to his daughter and I thought we were doing just fine. In this moment, I have to think about what went wrong so that I don't make this same mistake again. To be honest, I never want to fall in love with another man. All I want to do at this point is get my relationship stronger with God and forget about men once and for all.
"MeMe, what's going on in your head right now?" she asks, sitting in the chair next to my bed.
"Hatred", I tell her. "I hate him. I hate I ever started talking to him on the phone. I hate that I allowed myself to fall for him. I regret sharing my personal life with him and letting my children become involved in this mess. I hate that I wasn't smart enough to see that something wasn't right and ...", I say, but Diana cuts me off.
"MeMe, maybe the signs were there, but you ignored them. Is that possible, sweetie? You have to deal with that thing that makes you see when something isn't right and respond to what you see than responding to what you'd rather see", she tells me.
"I know you're right, Sis. I know you're right", I repeat. "But, right now, my heart hurts like it's never hurt before. What's wrong with me?" I shout out. "There's nothing wrong with you, MeMe. You're a beautiful person inside and out, but you love so easily and give of yourself and your love before people prove that they're even worthy of it", she tells me.
"And here I was. All excited to meet a man I met over the internet when he was using me all along", I say, tears starting to fall again.
"So, exactly how much money was it that he stole?" she asks, changing the subject.
"All of the money that I had in my account, D", I tell her. "The whole $3,000 that was in my account for the trip."
"And he got it because you shared the information with him?" Diana asks, shaking her head.
"Yes, Diana. I was in love with him and he told me that we would be together forever. He gave me his personal information and I gave him mine and ...", I say, before she cuts me off.
"That account information he gave you is most likely fake. He did that just to get you to trust him", she tells me. "And, what have we learned here, Melissa Williams?" she asks.
"That I need to do better. I need to forget about men and think about myself for now. I need to get into a church and learn how to love myself again", I say, getting underneath the covers.
"I'm going to let you get some rest, Sis. I'll sit out here with the kids, but I'm not leaving you. I was planning on being here tonight anyway, so I might as well stay. I'm out here in the family room if you need me", she tells me, turning off the light.
Dear God. The pain in my heart right now is indescribable. I don't think I've ever felt this hurt in my life. I thought that Kalin was a monster for hurting me, but there are monsters out here that I was just not prepared to have to face. This man hurt me to my soul because he not only lied to me about who he was, but he stole my money. I can't breathe right now. I don't know if I care to breathe right now. Maybe I should just come to be with you where there is no more hurt and pain, Lord. This life down here is hard. Maybe if I were more selfish, I wouldn't get hurt so much. I need you, Lord. I need you to help me to breathe because every time I take a breath, I feel a knife in my chest. Am I just not going to find love? Will love find me? Why is it that all of the men that I meet are turning out to be liars and now, thieves? What is it about me that makes people want to hurt me? Lord, please give me rest right now. Please give me a peace in my mind that helps me get past this. Give me the strength to do what I need to do to take care of my children. In Jesus' name. Amen.
What hurts the most is that I was supposed to be waking up in London tomorrow morning, but instead, I'll be waking up in my bed with a broken heart and probably with tears in my eyes. My agenda for tomorrow will now be me contacting the police and my bank to see about getting my money back from Morgan Smith.
CHAPTER 3
New Man in Town
Six months have passed and I still haven't received my money back from the bank. They refused to give the money back to me because Morgan Smith knew my information. They denied my claim for that reason. They encouraged me to never share my banking information with anyone. Because of that, the police wouldn't do anything. They said that this was just a mistake on my part that I need to learn from and move forward.
To build my relationship with God, the girls and I decide to join a new church. One of the reasons that I joined is because the pastor and his wife are two of the nicest human beings I've ever known. Since joining, I have become involved with New Members and have since been appointed to the leader of that particular ministry. Being involved in so much at the church means that this is where I spend most of my time. The people here are friendly. One of the good things about being here is that there are no men of which I have any interest and this certainly keeps me focused.
I haven't heard from Kalin in quite a while. He speaks to Amber and Justice every now and then, but he doesn't visit them anymore since he's gotten involved with his lady friend that he met from Facebook. I haven't seen Patrick since that last night we spent together. I've heard that he's finally dating someone else. Morgan has never sent another message to me since he stole my money. He's no longer on Facebook and has just disappeared off the face of the earth. I feel as if everything has been taken away from me.
"So, what are you thinking about?" said the very well dressed gentleman who just walked into the New Members Classroom.
"Oh, I 'm sorry. Were you asking me a question?" I ask.
"No, I just noticed that you seem to be in deep thought", he responded.
"Well, I was. How may I help you, Sir?" I ask, changing the subject.
"I was told to come here to speak with Melissa Williams about becoming a member of this great church", he says, unbuttoning his jacket.
"Of course. Of course. Your name must be Mr. Bradford James", I say, holding out my hand to offer a handshake.
"Yes, it is. How did you know?" he asks, accepting my handshake offer.
"Mr. Penn told me that you'd be stopping by. It's nice to meet you and we're delighted to have you with us today", I tell him, walking over to retrieve the new member forms.
"So, tell me more about this great church. You see, I just recently moved here from Louisiana and was referred to this church by my pastor. He had nothing but great things to say about what you all are doing here", he mentions.
"Well, of course. Faith Gospel has been around since 2007. Are you familiar with Bishop Paul K. Green?" I ask him.
"Of course. Who doesn't know of him? He's an incredible gospel artist and I've been to his church in Atlanta a few times", he recalls.
"He's our presiding bishop and stops by a few times a year. Maybe you'll get a chance to actually meet him at his next visit. Our pastor was his minister of music at one point and when he got an opportunity to come to Florida to start a new church, he took it, but with Bishop Green's blessings. So, that's how we got here", I tell him.
"Sounds good. What about the ministries here?"
"Glad you asked. We have over 30 ministries here just waiting for you to get involved. We have singles' ministries for both men and women, new members' ministry, the choir, the praise team, ushers, and greeters. We believe in having fun and I can tell you that there's nothing traditional about our church", I say.
"Sounds like I'm definitely in the right place. What about a fitness ministry?" he asks.
"It's funny that you ask that because Co-Pastor has been interested in bringing that to this church", I answer.
"Wow. That's incredible. Maybe I can help", he offers.
"Maybe you can. But first, l need to have you fill out these intake forms and a member of my team will contact you to make sure you're aware of the dates and times for the new member classes and other pertinent information you may need. They're also available to answer any questions that you may have regarding the ministry", I tell him.
"That's great, but what's your number?" he asks, without looking up from his phone. Now, why does he need my number? I don't normally contact the members because each new member is assigned to an ambassador and it's their responsibility to maintain contact with the new member. Does he want my number for personal reasons?
"Great. I got you locked in now" he says, putting down his phone.
What in the world did I just do? Something just moved in the pit of my stomach. I'm not hungry, so it must be guilt. Should I have done that? I know I can't have anything personal with a member. There's no way I can cross those lines. Under no circumstances can I do that.
"What's this? James Training?" I ask, trying to read his handwriting.
"Yes, it's James Training. Sorry about the sloppy handwriting.", he adds.
"Awesome. That's great. I could certainly use some training", I say to him, jokingly.
"Good. We should be able to work that out at some point. Just lust let me know when", he says, standing up to leave.
When Mr. James stands up to leave, I get a better glimpse of his physique. With his tight physique, I can see why he's a personal trainer and can only imagine the women lined up to get his services.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. James, and ...", I say, before he interrupts me.
"It's Bradford", he corrects me.
"I'm sorry. It was nice meeting you, Bradford. A member of my team will contact you within 48 hours", I remind him, shaking his hand.
"I'll be looking forward to it, Ms. Mrs?", he asks, waiting on my response, still holding my hand.
"It's Ms. Melissa Williams", I respond. "Recently divorced after being married for 18 years."
"Oh, I see. Same here. Divorced", he says, finally making his way to the door.
