“He’s fine, Daddy, and he’s taking very good care of me.”

There was another pause, and Alicia was losing her patience.

“Why can’t you just accept how much I love JT and how much he loves me back? Why can’t you just be happy for me?”

“What I accept is that you’re a grown woman who has the right to make her own decisions. But there’s no way I’m going to pretend I’m happy about you being married to JT Valentine. Alicia, the man has a long history of women, and word is that he messed around on his first wife the entire time they were married.”

“But, Daddy…so did you. You did the same thing to Mom.”

Curtis didn’t say anything, and Alicia immediately regretted what she’d said.

“Daddy, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be disrespectful and you know I love you, but at the same time, I want you to see that JT is no different than you. He may have done things he’s not proud of, but he’s a totally changed man just like you are.”

“Have you ever asked him about the affairs he supposedly had?”

“Yes. And he admitted that he wasn’t perfect when he was married to his wife, but also that he only went out on her one time with one woman.”

“Hmmph.”

“So, what are you saying? That you don’t believe him?”

“To be honest with you, I don’t. And I’ll tell you why. It’s because of what you just said: He’s no different than me. At least he’s no different than the old me, anyway, and I can see straight through him. I’m telling you, he’s no good, baby girl, and I regret the day I ever invited you to come with us to visit his church. I’ll regret it from now on.”

Alicia was livid. “Daddy, I have to go. And just for the record, I’m not your baby girl anymore, so please stop calling me that. It’s one thing for you to call me that because the words are endearing, but it’s another when you do it because you think I’m still some child living in your house and one you need to watch over.”

“Alicia, you’re taking all of this the wrong way, and I just wish you’d listen to me.”

“I have listened and now I think it’s best that we just agree to disagree and leave it at that.”

“Fine. But I’m still your father, I love you, and I’ll be here when you need me.”

“I’ll talk to you later, Daddy,” Alicia said, and then pressed the off button and tossed the phone onto her desk. She couldn’t remember when she’d ever been angrier.

Hi, Mom, can you talk?” Alicia said when her mother answered her phone. Tanya was the director at an abused women’s facility not far from New Life Christian Center and sometimes had little time for personal phone calls.

“Actually, I’m eating lunch so this is fine. How are you?”

“Terrible.”

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Daddy. He just made me so mad, Mom.”

“About what?”

“JT and the fact that he doesn’t like him.”

“Look, sweetheart, I totally understand your frustration, but you also have to realize that your father loves his children more than anything and he’s only trying to look out for your best interest. He’s only acting this way because he doesn’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Well, I don’t care what his reasons are because what I want is for him to stop being so ridiculously overprotective of me, and I want him to accept JT the same as he accepted Phillip.”

“He’ll eventually come around. It may take him a while, but he will.”

“Maybe, but Daddy has a lot of nerve judging JT when he did all sorts of crazy stuff when I was a child. He messed around on you all the time.”

Her mother didn’t say anything, and Alicia knew she’d hurt her feelings. She’d spoken too much too soon and without thinking, and the only thing she could do now was change the conversation.

“So, how’s Dad James?”

“He’s good. Just getting ready for golf season. Actually, he and some of his buddies have already been out to the course a few times.”

“I know how much he loves that.”

“So, how’s the revising process coming along?”

“Very well. I’m almost finished, and I really hope Dad’s agent is happy with the rewrites I’ve incorporated.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine with them. Do you want me to read it one last time?”

“Will you, Mom? You’ve read it twice already, so I didn’t want to ask you again.”

“Please. What are mothers for?”

“I really appreciate it, and I’ll print out a copy and overnight it to you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. And you should probably let your father read it again as well.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Alicia,” her mother said, obviously disappointed in her answer.

“I’m sorry, Mom, but I don’t want to talk to Daddy for a while.”

“Do you think distancing yourself from him is a good idea?”

“Actually, I do, and if you want to know the truth, if Daddy can’t accept JT, then I don’t see how he can accept me as his daughter.”

“Alicia, I know you don’t really believe that, do you?”

“Well, if he doesn’t start treating JT like a son-in-law, then I won’t be going around him as much. JT is my husband, I love him, and if Daddy can’t deal with that, then so be it.”

“I really wish you and your father would work out your differences.”

“I’m sure we will at some point but not today.”

“Well, hey, I need to get going. But make sure you mail the manuscript to me, okay?”

“I will, and thanks again, Mom.”

Alicia dialed her best friend, Melanie. Her phone rang four times and then went to voice mail, so Alicia left her a message, asking her to call her back when she got a chance. After that, she signed in to NLCC’s computer system. Since she wouldn’t be able to spend much time at the office the church had given her, at least not until she got her book shipped off, she checked her assigned e-mail account daily from home. She’d only been a member for one month but already she was getting lots of notes from members, welcoming her to the church family. Some talked about how they would eventually make it a point to stand in line to meet her one Sunday after service, and others said they were e-mailing her because they wanted her to know how happy they were to have the Reverend Black’s daughter as their new first lady. Alicia rolled her eyes with irritation. Yes, there had been a time when she loved being recognized or given special treatment because of her father’s notoriety, but not at the moment. Not when she was so perturbed with him. Actually, she didn’t like it much at all anymore because what she wanted was for people to love her for her and not because of how famous one of her parents was.

Alicia skimmed through more e-mails and smiled at all the nice things people had to say, and then she saw one that had “From a Good Friend” as the subject line. So, she opened it:

Hi Alicia,

I have a message for you from a very good friend of yours so please call me at the number below.

She wondered who the note could be from but picked up her home phone and dialed *67, so she could block her number, and then dialed the number on the computer screen. It rang a couple of times, and then a guy picked up.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hi, you sent me an e-mail and asked me to call you?”

“Are you Alicia?”

“It depends.”

“I’m assuming you are because I didn’t send my number to anyone else.”

“Okay, yes, I’m Alicia.”

“How are you? I’m Darrell, a longtime friend of Levi’s, and he wanted me to give you a message.”

Alicia’s stomach quivered, and strangely, her heart did the same. Finally she asked, “Where did you get my e-mail address?”

“Levi heard about you getting married to the pastor of New Life Christian Center and asked me if I could maybe find you online. So, when I went to the church’s website, I saw your photo and an address listed for you.”

“I guess I’m not sure why he wanted you to contact me.”