Read Heaven Forbid for Free Online Page B

Brandon; Joni; Kelvin’s mother, Tootie; and a few people in Germany, nobody knew just how bad Princess had been.
    “Look, you’re always telling the girls that who the Lord sets free is free indeed. Am I right? Well, you’re not going to be totally free of your past until you are ready to not only face your history but also embrace it. You know that there are other girls out there just like you, suffering from the guilt and shame of their secrets. These are the same women who look up to you, because in their eyes you’ve got it so together. Just think of how much more they will respect you once they find out how far you’ve come. They’ll figure that if you did it, turned your life around, then they can do it too.”
    “I agree with everything you’re saying. It just seems so hard to put everything out there. Grandmama Max will be so disappointed. And I don’t even want to think about Mama, or Tee…”
    “That’s exactly who you should be thinking of. The best way for your baby sister not to follow in your footsteps is for her to know about the path that she shouldn’t go down.” Joni softened her voice. “Princess, you can do this. You’ve got to do it. Because only then can you follow the voice of the Spirit…and write that book.”
    After a few more minutes, Princess disconnected from Joni and dialed her grandmother. She paced the floor, waiting for the phone to be picked up on the other end. After five rings, she was about to give up. What she had to say could not be left on voice mail.
    “Hello?” Mama Max sounded out of breath as she answered her phone.
    “Hey, Grandmama.”
    “Princess! Child, as I live and breathe, I just asked Tai about you this morning. Whew, let me catch my breath. I was just coming in from the store.” Mama Max was quiet for a moment, taking off her shoes and fanning herself with a hastily grabbed newspaper. She plopped down on the sofa and took a long swallow from the ever-present glass of water on the coffee table. “Now, that’s better. Okay, baby. You’ve been coming to me in my dreams. I was wondering when you were going to call and tell me what’s what.”
    Princess smiled in spite of her nervousness. “Well, since you knew I’d call, do you know what I’m calling about?”
    Mama Max’s pause was short. “My guess is that it involves God, men, and probably some stuff you either should or shouldn’t have been doing with one or the other. How right am I?”
    Too right. “I’ll have to talk to God about His sharing my business with you. But since you’ve pretty much sketched out the general picture, you might want to sit down, Grandmama Max. Because I’m getting ready to color it in for you.”

8
His Baby’s Mama
    Kelvin Petersen leaned his lanky, six-foot-five frame against the shower tiles. He closed his eyes as the water pulsated over his body, and then turned so that his knee would feel the liquid massage. He’d just finished another round of physical therapy with the team doctor and wasn’t too happy with what he’d heard: It would be another month before his knee was a hundred percent. The doctor was recommending that Kelvin’s modified practice schedule continue and wouldn’t confirm that he’d be ready to start at the beginning of the NBA season.
    Kelvin turned so that the hot, pulsating water worked the muscles in his back, much as his masseuse would do in another hour. He didn’t want to think about what the therapist had said, because that would mean thinking about Guy Harris, the man who dared threaten him for the position that last year was his alone—right point guard. Nobody questioned that Kelvin started in this position, every game. Not only did he dominate it on the team, but he was a dominating force in the league as well—that is, until the benefit game played a month ago, when the Denver Nuggets’ lumbering center had become a tree, one that had sent Kelvin’s attempted layup into the stands while the center became entangled