Read Online When Sunday Comes Again by Terry E. Hill - Free Book Online Page B

you, but you need to understand that I did everything for Natalie, and for that I won’t apologize. If you want to leave, that’s up to you. I love you and I want you to stay, but I will understand if you choose not to.”
    â€œWhat does Samantha have to say about it?” Scarlett did not respond. She turned her back to David and sat on the edge of the bathtub. The pain that had simmered just beneath her thin veil of confidence began to seep to the surface. She took a deep breath before she spoke. “I’ve already told you how she felt. She tried to force me to have an abortion. She threatened to publicly humiliate me and to say that I had seduced Hezekiah. At the time I was his assistant. She fired me and forbid Hezekiah to have anything to do with the baby.”
    â€œSo why did you stay? Why didn’t you leave the church?”
    Scarlett stood abruptly and walked to him. She put her hand on his cheek and pleaded, “David, please don’t dig this up again. Why are you torturing yourself? This happened years ago. Hezekiah is dead, and we have each other. Why does any of this matter anymore?”
    Scarlett reached for his hand, but David grabbed her wrist roughly and pushed her hand away. “It matters because you lied to me. It matters because Natalie will eventually need to know who her real father is. It matters because the Cleavelands need to pay for how they walked away from her.”
    â€œPay?” she asked. “I’ve never asked them for anything, and I never will. I’ve made it on my own for this long, and I will continue to do so with or without you.”
    â€œWhy do you insist on making me the bad guy in this? I’m not the one who’s been lying to you all these years. I’m not the one who’s been lying to everyone that ever gave a dime to New Testament Cathedral, like Hezekiah and Samantha have been doing. Remember, I’m the guy who’s been made a fool of while the three of you exchanged knowing glances behind my back. I’m the one whose wife has been in love with someone else for years. You’ve been acting like the grieving widow all this time, and now I understand why.”
    â€œYou’re not being fair, David. I love you.”
    â€œDon’t give me that bullshit,” he snapped. “You’ve hardly known I was in the house since he died. It was probably a relief that I didn’t speak to you for the last two days.”
    â€œIs this about money? Because if it is, I told you I survived before I met you and I’ll survive after you’ve gone.”
    â€œIt’s not about money!” he yelled with indignation.
    She matched him tone for tone. “Then what is it? Is it about your ego? Are you afraid that he might have been a better lover than you? Are you concerned that his dick might have been bigger than yours? What is this all about?”
    David froze in the middle of the bathroom floor. Her shocking words mingled with the thick shower steam and invaded his lungs. He didn’t recognize the woman who stood before him. Although her face was distorted by the fog, he could still see her puffy eyes and sneering lips. The woman glaring at him through the mist was not the Scarlett he loved. She was not the woman whose gentle touch alone could make him forget all his troubles.
    David had served as Scarlett’s attorney when she divorced her first husband. The first day he saw her in his office, he knew professional boundaries were in jeopardy of being crossed. She had looked so fragile sitting across from him at the large mahogany conference table. From the moment the beautiful woman began to recount the physical and emotional abuse she had endured at the hand of her first husband, he was overwhelmed by a need to protect her and to destroy anyone that would do her harm.
    And destroy he did. The eventual divorce settlement David won left Scarlett’s first husband almost destitute. David was