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airport.”
    Charlotte couldn’t believe this. She’d been so sure that since the baby was doing much better, Matthew would just wait until this weekend to fly home. “Honey, it’s already Tuesday, so why don’t you just wait another three days? Why don’t you finish out the week?”
    “No, Mom. And I never should have listened to you on Saturday, either, when you told me not to come.”
    “I was just trying to get you to do the right thing.”
    “This is the right thing. But on a different note, I need to talk to you about something else.”
    “What?”
    “Saturday, and what happened at the shower.”
    Now Charlotte wished she hadn’t called him. “I’m not sure I understand.”
    “Mom, just stop it. Racquel already told me everything. About the way you got into it with her mom at the shower and the things you’ve said at the hospital. She said when you and her mom got into it, she got so worked up, she went into labor.”
    “It wasn’t that serious. Vanessa and I had a couple of disagreements, but—”
    “But nothing, Mom. When you and Dad were at the hospital, I asked you what happened. I asked why Racquel had suddenly gone into labor, and you claimed you didn’t know. You lied without even flinching. You do that stuff all the time.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “You’re always sorry. You do stuff and then you think apologizing for it is enough. But it’s not, Mom. You caused a scene at that shower, and that’s why Racquel went into labor. We could have lost little MJ, and I’m doing everything I can not to blame you for it.”
    Charlotte’s heart beat frantically.
    “Are you hearing me, Mom? I could have lost my son.”
    Charlotte was so shocked, she hadn’t even noticed the tears flowing down her face and onto her pants. Matthew was actually blaming her for everything and hadn’t said much of anything about that witch, Vanessa. He acted as though she’d been arguing with herself. She needed to make him understand that Vanessa was just as responsible as she was.
    “Honey, you do know that it wasn’t just about me, right? Vanessa didn’t even send me an invitation. Then, she admitted that she never wanted me at the shower in the first place. She treated me like some animal the whole time I was there.”
    “Mom, you really don’t see yourself, do you? You have no idea how controlling and self-centered you are and how you offend people. But you know what? I have to go.”
    “What time are you getting in?” she said.
    “I’ll let Dad know when I get to the airport.”
    “Okay…travel safe.”
    Charlotte waited for a response, but when she pulled her cell phone away from her ear and looked at it, the call had already disconnected. Matthew had ended the call without so much as saying good-bye. He was beyond angry with her, and she had to fix things when he got home; make him see that she wasn’t the heartless, self-centered mother he believed her to be. If necessary, she would smile in Vanessa’s face and treat her like royalty the whole time Matthew was in town, but she wouldn’t forget any of this. Now she owed that witch more than ever before—she and her tattling daughter. They were both doing all they could, trying to turn her wonderful son against her, and they deserved whatever they got. At this point, they were literally asking for it.

Chapter 7
    E veryone gathered around the shiny wood conference room table: Curtis; his executive assistant, Lana; his two assistant pastors, Minister Simmons and Minister Morgan; his two lead elders, Elder Jamison and Elder Dixon; his director of radio and TV broadcasting, Riley Davison; his new CFO, Kendra Smith; and Anise Miller, an elder and director of expansion projects, who was also Charlotte’s first cousin. There were four other elders and two administrative assistants there as well. It was time for their weekly staff meeting, but today they’d be meeting longer than usual, as they had a lot to discuss. Their congregation of nearly four