Divine Intervention Read Online Free PDF Page A

had had an on-again off-again relationship with her for years, one that unfortunately didn’t stop after King’s “I do.” Shortly before Princess was born, Tai found out it was still going on and moved out of the house. King ended the affair, which devastated Tootie. King had been her one true love. Derrick went over to make her feel better. Nine months later came the proof of how good a job he’d done. But by then, Tootie had moved to Germany, got married, and began using her middle name. Tootie Smith became Janeé Petersen and life went on.
    Fast forward fifteen years. Tootie returned to Kansas City to care for her ailing mother. That’s when Tai found out that Tootie had a son who was fifteen years old—just a few months younger than Princess. This meant Tootie was pregnant while still in Kansas City, which, in Tai’s mind, meant that the baby belonged to King. She was determined to find out the truth and enlisted Vivian’s help to do it. They found the young man all right, but when they saw his face it wasn’t Tai’s mouth that fell open. It was Vivian’s. Kelvin was the spitting image of Derrick Montgomery, and that’s how the woman who’d comforted Tai regarding all things Tootie had then needed Tai to comfort her. Even now, Vivian deduced, life couldn’t get any more ironic than that.
    “Wow, sis, you’ve gone all quiet on me.”
    Vivian shook her head slightly. “Sorry, just thinking.”
    “I didn’t mean to offend you,” Tai said, misreading the slight frown on Vivian’s face. “You know it isn’t so much that Kelvin is Derrick’s son, but that he’s Tootie’s, too.”
    “I didn’t take that personally. I was just thinking about how crazy life is, and how unpredictable. No matter how much we’d like to, we can’t live our children’s lives. Princess is an intelligent and spiritually grounded young woman. I have a feeling that King will walk her up the aisle”—Vivian winked at Tai—“and Rafael will walk her back down it.”
    The waiter brought out their salads and Vivian filled Tai in on the next big SOS conference that would take place in Chicago. An idea inspired by Vivian and molded and shaped by Ladies First, a pastors’ wives group based in Los Angeles, the Sanctity of Sisterhood meetings had grown to epic proportions, bringing thousands of women together annually for networking, fellowship, learning, and support. By the time their entrées arrived, the topic had changed once again.
    “Is Doctor O in town yet?” Vivian asked, as she placed a liberal amount of butter on a warm honey-wheat roll.
    “King will pick him up later this evening.” An eye roll accompanied Tai’s answer.
    “Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”
    “I’m just hoping for Princess’s sake that for one day he and Mama Max can put on their grown folks britches and get along.”
    “Of course they can,” Vivian said, with more confidence than she actually felt. “Their separation has flown under the radar all this time, and with a national spotlight shining on Princess’s nuptials, I doubt either would do anything to shake that facade.”
    Tai thoughtfully chewed a perfectly medium-rare rib eye. Vivian was right. Most of the public had bought the story about Obadiah mentoring a new, young pastor in Palestine, Texas, as his reason for being away from home. There was some truth to the story. Obadiah had come out of retirement and pastored the Gospel Truth Church for a year before admitting that at the age of seventy-two he no longer had the stamina for full-time ministry in a church of this size. But there was no keeping a true man of God out of the pulpit, so when Obadiah returned to Texas, albeit Dallas, he still made his way to Palestine two Sundays a month to help the young man who was enjoying his first position as senior pastor. Only a handful of saints knew that on his other days Obadiah was busy enjoying something himself—adultery. Something with which Tai doubted the Lord was pleased. “You know