JT hated the way Curtis was dismissing him but realized he had no choice except pulling out the big guns. “Well, if you can’t do it for the reasons you mentioned, then can you do it because I’m your son-in-law and because, with the exception of God, I love your daughter more than life itself?”

“No. I can’t.” Curtis spoke callously, and it was all JT could do not to slam the phone onto its base.

But instead, he said, “Okay, fine. I understand your position, and while I’m a little disappointed, I completely respect your decision.”

JT waited for Curtis to respond but when he didn’t, he said, “Well, I should go, but thank you for taking my call.”

“No problem.”

JT hung up the phone, but only long enough to end Curtis’s call and then dial his assistant. “Janet, can you come in here for a few minutes?”

“Sure. I’ll be there in a few seconds.”

When she walked in, JT asked her to shut the door, and then she took a seat directly in front of him.

“First, I’d like you to call the florist and have them deliver two dozen long-stemmed roses to my wife every day for the rest of this week. And I’d like them to start this afternoon.”

“How romantic.”

“Then I need you to work on another project for me.”

“Okay.”

“I want you to go online and research the top one hundred churches in the country according to the size of their congregations, as well as all of the ministries that broadcast on television. Then, once you’ve compiled a list and you and I have had a chance to go over it, I want you to draft a cover letter to each of the senior pastors. I’ve been thinking about this a lot because, even though I get a respectable amount of invites from various churches throughout the year, it’s now time I seek out as many upper-echelon churches as I can. It’s time I become a lot more well-known in those kinds of circles.”

“That’s understandable and I think very doable,” Janet said.

“In the letter, I want to introduce myself to them, let them know I’m the Reverend Curtis Black’s son-in-law and that if they’re interested in having me serve as a guest speaker at their respective churches, I would love to come. I also want you to include some of my personal history as well, such as how my mother was a drug addict, how I have no idea who my father is, and how I was tossed around from one foster home to another until I finally ran away from the last one when I was sixteen. Then mention how after that, I basically raised myself on the street and for about a year, I even got mixed up with a gang. But thankfully, when I turned twenty-seven, God called me into the ministry, and after hearing my father-in-law for the first time on television, I was inspired to found New Life Christian Center. Of course, you already know to include how many people I started out with and what we have now.”

“Definitely,” she said, writing down a few more notes. Then she looked at him with a confused gaze.

“I know all of this is a shock to you, but if I want to get people’s attention, it’s time I market myself through my own personal testimony,” JT said, knowing he had exaggerated his story quite a bit in comparison to the true scenario he’d shared with Diana a little over a week ago.

“I had no idea you’d had such a hard childhood, and I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, it was what it was, but now I want to share it with everyone. Most ministers share their entire histories, but I don’t think I ever did because I’ve always been ashamed of what I went through. I’ve always felt like no one would respect me if they knew I had parents who cared nothing about me and that I’d even been homeless for a period of time.”

“But it wasn’t your fault,” Janet said with tears in her eyes, and JT felt somewhat guilty for telling her such a fraudulent story. However, he didn’t have a choice if he wanted to move forward with his plans.

“I realize that now, but it’s taken me years to come to terms with that. Still, I haven’t even shared this with my wife or anyone else, so for now, I want this information to remain between you and me and the pastors you’ll be sending the letters to. Then, once they begin calling to schedule engagements with me, I’ll tell my wife and our church family so that they’ll hear my testimony first.”

“I won’t say a thing. You have my word.”

“I really appreciate your help with this.”

“No problem at all,” she said. “There is one other thing, though. Since you’re going to mention Reverend Black’s name in the cover letter, do you think he would write you a letter of recommendation? Because I think it would do wonders for you if we were able to include something like that in the package.”

If JT hadn’t known any better, he’d swear Janet was reading his mind. Which was the reason he smiled and said, “He’ll be writing it this week. I just got off the phone with him, and he was more than happy to do it.”

Hey, girl,” Alicia’s best friend, Melanie, said.

“Hey, Mel. How are you?”

“I’m fine. I hadn’t spoken to you in a few days and thought I’d give you a call.”

“I’m glad you did, and I’m so sorry we haven’t been able to talk very much over the last few weeks. First it was the wedding and then the honeymoon, and then I had to work daily on the revisions for my book.”

“You know I completely understand. So, did you get it finished and sent off?”

“Yes, just yesterday, and actually I was going to ask you to read it one last time but didn’t want to bother you.”

“Bother me? Now, Alicia, you know I’m happy to read it as many times as you need me to and all you had to do was say the word.”

“I know. But my mom reread it, and so did I, and I think it’ll be fine.”

“Well, I still want you to send me a copy.”

“I’ll make sure to put one in the mail tomorrow.”

“So, what else is going on? And how’s JT?”

“He’s fine,” Alicia said, thinking about the horrible rumors relating to JT’s first wife. She wanted so badly to tell Melanie, but she couldn’t. Melanie was her best friend and if there was anyone in the entire world she could trust with her life it was her, but she just didn’t want her thinking negatively about her new husband. She didn’t want her feeling any ill will toward him.

“Good. You seem really happy and content, and that makes me happy.”

“I truly appreciate that, Mel. You have always supported me, even when I messed up my marriage with Phillip, and I never could have gotten beyond all of that without you.”

“Girl, please. That’s what friends are for.”

“I know, but you’re the kind of friend most people never get a chance in life to have, and I just want you to know how thankful I am.”

“I’m thankful to have you as well. I sort of hate that you had to move ninety miles away, but that will never change how close we are.”

“No. It won’t. Distance is one thing, but you’ll always be like my sister, no matter what. As a matter of fact, what we should do is schedule a lunch or dinner date right now.”

“Well, actually, I have next Thursday off, so if that works for you, we can get together then.”

“Thursday is perfect.”

“Do you want me to drive over there?”

“No, I’ll just come to Mitchell because that way I can drop by to see Matthew and Charlotte before I head back home.”

“Okay, that’s fine. So, will your dad be out of town?”

“I don’t think so, but why do you ask?”

“Because you said you wanted to see your brother and Charlotte.”

“Well, if you really wanna know the truth, I’m not all that happy with my dad right now.”

“Oh. And why is that?”

“It’s a long story, and I’ll fill you in when I see you.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it now? I mean, my break is almost up, but I can extend it and get one of the other nurses to cover for me if you need me to.”