“What’s mine is yours, and I don’t ever want you to forget that, okay?” he’d told her.
“I won’t,” she said.
“Because what I want is for you to look good at all times and eventually be able to get anything you want.”
“Well, if you want to know the truth, I sort of already feel like that right now-like I have everything.”
“Maybe, but it’s not like we have a Bentley to drive around in, and we definitely don’t have the kind of house a first lady like you deserves to be living in. Sixty-five hundred square feet is respectable, but what we need is a house that’s at least as big as your father’s. Or larger.”
Alicia loved how ambitious JT was and how he was never satisfied with the existing conditions. She loved his unwavering hunger, his desire to succeed, and his drive toward being the best, and she knew one day he really was going to give her all that he promised and so much more. If only Phillip had had the same personality, things might have worked out so much better between them. JT never complained about her love for shopping or the amount of money she spent, so why couldn’t Phillip have felt the same way? Instead, all he’d done was swear she had some sort of addiction and there hadn’t been a thing she could say to change his mind about it. She couldn’t deny that she’d run up a few credit card balances behind his back, a number of cards that were in his name only, but still, Phillip could have been a lot more understanding than he had been. Especially since Alicia had really loved him and he had claimed he loved her just the same. But if she’d said it once, she’d said it a trillion times: Sometimes love just wasn’t enough.
After Alicia had strolled around in Neiman’s and hadn’t found anything that caught her attention, she went outside and walked down to Nordstrom. First, she looked at a pair of four-inch-heeled sandals, which she purchased, and now she was in the handbag section, picking up a small, pure-white Kate Spade tote. She turned the purse around to the other side, realizing she sort of liked it, but then put it down when a woman walked up to her.
“Alicia Valentine, right?”
“Yes,” Alicia said, feeling as though she’d seen the woman before.
“Hi, I’m Donna,” she said, shaking Alicia’s hand. “I used to be a member of New Life Christian Center until a few years ago. But I did come visit the Sunday your father was the guest speaker, and I said hello to you and your stepmother on my way out.”
“Yes, I thought you looked familiar. There were a lot of people there, but I rarely forget a face. It’s nice to see you again.”
“Likewise. So, how does it feel being first lady of such a large church?”
“Wonderful. Everyone has been so kind and that makes a huge difference in itself.”
“I can imagine.”
“I’ve been working on a project at home, but now that I’m finished with that, I’m really looking forward to getting more involved with the women’s ministry. I’d also like to begin bringing in a featured female speaker every month and then hold open discussions afterward.”
“That sounds like a great idea. When I was there they had a pretty organized women’s ministry, but when the former first lady passed away, they stopped sponsoring so many events,” she said, looking at Alicia with sad eyes.
“I’m sorry. Was Michelle a friend of yours?”
Donna sighed and then said, “Hey, I know we really don’t know each other but just the idea that you and I would bump into each other out of the blue, not to mention in the middle of a department store on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, well, I just don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in fate and that every single thing that happens is somehow in God’s plan.”
Alicia wasn’t sure where Donna was going with this conversation but kept listening.
“I hope I don’t regret this, and my prayer is that no matter how negatively this might affect your marriage to Pastor Valentine, I’m doing the right thing by telling you the truth.”
“Telling me the truth about what?”
“Pastor Valentine’s first wife and how she may not have been killed accidentally.”
“What?”
“Some people think she was murdered…and that Pastor Valentine was behind the whole thing.”
Alicia frowned, immediately taking offense to what this Donna woman was saying. “If that’s true, then why haven’t I heard anything about it?”
“Probably because when the police did their investigation, they found no evidence of foul play and had no choice but to rule it an accident.”
Alicia’s heart beat faster. “Well, if that’s the case, then why would anyone think otherwise? And who are these people you’re referring to?”
“Some of her friends and also her parents and siblings.”
“This is crazy.”
“I’m sorry, but I really thought you should know about this.”
“JT loved his first wife and would never have hurt her like that.”
Donna looked at Alicia calmly and then said, “Well, he had I don’t know how many affairs on her, and I know she wasn’t happy about it. As a matter of fact, she was so fed up that for the last four or five weeks of her life, she didn’t even attend church services and she told a few of the women she was close to that she was planning to divorce him.”
Alicia was overwhelmed. Her father had basically told her the same thing, that JT had regularly messed around on his first wife, but Alicia refused to believe any of this. She didn’t believe her father, and she didn’t believe the woman standing in front of her. Especially since JT had denied sleeping around any more than the one time he had admitted to and because he talked a lot about how much he’d loved his first wife. Plus, what could he possibly have had to gain from her death? Insurance money maybe, but as far as Alicia could see, JT didn’t have millions of dollars stashed away in some bank account. He earned quite a bit of money through his ministry, but he certainly didn’t have the kind of millions that people committed murder over.
“Look, I have to get going,” Donna said. “But again, I thought it was only right that you know. And please, please take care of yourself.”
Alicia smiled, acting as though she hadn’t been shaken one bit, and the woman went on her way.
But Alicia was shaken. And she couldn’t wait to talk to JT.
Chapter 10
Hi, baby,” JT said after walking into the bedroom and pecking Alicia on the lips.
“Hey.”
It had been four hours since that Donna woman had made those disturbing accusations about JT, and still, Alicia couldn’t stop thinking about them. She’d tried focusing on something else but no matter how much time had passed, she just hadn’t been able to. She had even tried to do a little more shopping; however, for the first time since she could remember, she’d found no interest or excitement in it. She hadn’t been able to enjoy herself because, whether she wanted to admit her true feelings or not, she was very troubled by all of this.