Free The Prodigal Son (A Reverend Curtis Black Novel) by Kimberla Lawson Roby

out. He would dig deep, searching for proof of whatever it was she was hiding, and he would use it against her. He would make her sorry she ever met him in the first place.

Chapter 10
    M atthew dried off MJ and smoothed baby lotion over his little body. MJ smiled joyfully, the way he always did, but Matthew could barely keep his eyes open. He’d tried his best to fall asleep—because Racquel certainly hadn’t had a problem doing so—but he hadn’t been able to. He’d had too much on his mind, and he was troubled about his future. Everything was falling apart, and to make things worse, Racquel didn’t care about any of their problems in the least. Matthew was shocked, of course, at how suddenly she’d turned into this upbeat twenty-year-old with brand-new college ambitions, but what he mostly couldn’t fathom was her lack of concern for MJ. She’d gone from loving their son, protecting him and obsessing over him, to now not paying him any attention at all? Things just didn’t add up, and for the life of him, Matthew couldn’t understand it. He wanted answers—needed answers—but Racquel wasn’t giving any explanations. At one point, she had mentioned how it was time she took care of herself, but it still didn’t make sense. This strange turn of emotions wasn’t normal, and Matthew knew she needed help.
    “So you all ready, little man,” he said to MJ and kissed him on the cheek. He finished putting on his son’s pants and shirt, and now he just had to grab his bag and get his keys. After last night’s drama, he’d called Aunt Emma and asked her if she could keep MJ for them. He hadn’t told her why, but she’d said yes and hadn’t asked any questions. He was glad about that, because he didn’t want to hear any of her lectures about his parents. She was never rude or overbearing, but every now and then she tried to talk him into forgiving his parents and going over to see them. She talked a lot about letting bygones be bygones, and she frequently reminded him of how short life was. He never said anything out of the way to her, because he would never disrespect her, but he never commented when she brought up the subject, either. He also didn’t want to tell her how bad things were between him and Racquel, because he didn’t want his parents to know about that. Before he’d ended his relationship with them, they’d both advised him to stay in school and had thought he was too young to be getting married. But he hadn’t listened.
    When Matthew carried MJ out to the living room, he looked at Racquel but she pretended she didn’t see them.
    “I’m taking MJ over to Aunt Emma’s.”
    “That’s a good idea. He loves her.”
    Matthew stared at her for a few seconds but then picked up his keys and walked out the door. There was so much to say, yet nothing to say at all. It felt like he was dreaming, but he knew this disaster was very real—it was more like a living nightmare.
    After buckling MJ into his car seat, Matthew double-checked it, making sure he was secure, and went around to the driver’s side. Before he got in, though, he just so happened to look toward the building and up at the second floor. Racquel was looking down at him from the window. He watched her, but soon she closed the mini-blinds as though she hadn’t seen him.
    As Matthew drove away, he positioned his Bluetooth and called his mother-in-law. Vanessa answered on the second ring.
    “Hello?”
    “Hi, Mom.”
    “Hey, Matt,” she said with a smile in her voice. Sometimes she seemed more like a mother to him than a mother-in-law, and right now he needed that.
    “How are you?”
    “I’m good. Just trying to get a little work done, but how are you? And how’re Racquel and my little grandson?”
    Matthew felt tears filling his eyes and though he had his sunglasses on and no one could see them, he was ashamed. Here he was, some six-foot-two twenty-year-old, yet he was hurting and wanting to cry like a child. It was so