A test of Love - Navaura Campbell (best management books of all time .txt) 📗

it in his eyes. Hers as well. They love one another and are happy together."
"Whatever mother, I wish to not talk of this."
Mrs. Williams sighed. Going to her son's shoulders, she leaned down and kissed him on the head. "I understand what you want, but son, we are in a different land, amongst different peoples. Jordan comes from an entirely different culture than our own."
"One he really doesn't acknowledge."
"How do you know that?"
"Mother, he can't even speak Gaelic for crying out loud. That's probably the doing of his mother. She was Italian."
"Arlyn, you're no better than anyone else in the world and I don't understand why you persist on with this our culture is better than your culture attitude."
"Can't I be proud of my heritage?"
"Of course, there's nothing wrong with being proud, but when you treat everyone as if they are lesser than you are, that's when you go wrong. If you were so proud of our culture and people, then you would tell anyone who'd listen about it. But, saving it only for our family is quite prejudice."
"I'm not prejudice, I just believe Jordan should be with an Irish lass."
"Why can't you past your stories down to those who will listen instead of those who won't. I bet anything that girl would probably be more interested in your tales than any other family we have. Pass along our heritage through those who want to hear it."
"She couldn't possibly understand, Mother."
"Because she's black. You never know. Some people are more Irish at heart than color. Some people are less Irish at heart than color."
"What do you mean?" Arlyn's spat out?
"I mean that you, Arlyn williams are supposed to be Irish yet you don't have the heart of the Irish to welcome others."
"I am too Irish inside and out."
"Well, if that's so, have the heart to welcome others when they don't come from your background. Denise bleed as we bleed, and is the chosen mate of your nephew. Treat her as you do the other women in this family. At-least for Jordan's sake, he's grown into quite the young man, wouldn't you say?"
Arlyn sighed, listening to his mother. On some point, Leigha Williams was right. The Irish did have opening arms. Clearing his throat, he glanced up at his mother. "Alright mother, for yours and Jordan's sake, I will treat her like one of us."
Mrs. Williams nodded, "That's a good boy."

Jordan came out of the restroom and went into the room which had been his father's, that he now had to share with his new cousin Elliot.
Elliot had taken the bottom bunk and had earphones in his ears. Jordan sighed and went to the top one.
"Have you and Denise really been dating since high school?"
Jordan cleared his throat and laid back on top the covers. "Yes."
"And you still haven't married her? She's a really pretty girl."
"I know."
After the brief conversation, they were quiet. Jordan laid his head back in his arms, thinking about Denise, wondering what she was doing.
"You're a lucky guy for a pin head."
This caused Jordan to raise a brow. "What do you mean?"
"It's amazing how she would even go for someone like you. You don't even seem like her type."
"Well at-least I know she likes me for me."
"Hmmn, and for that you are lucky. She seems cool."
Jordan turned over on his stomach and buried his head in his pillow.

"I'm going down... Since you ain't around..." Mary J. Blige crooned from the speakers in Denise's headset. Denise sighed, laying back into the covers. Closing her eyes, she became immersed in the music. So much so, that she didn't notice the shadow that opened her door and came into her room. In fact, she didn't notice until she felt movement on her bed. She turned over to her right to face the person. As she looked into brown eyes, her heart about jumped out her chest. Pulling away from the person, she almost fell out of the bed till she was grabbed and her headphones fell off.
"Calm down girl, it's me."
Slowly, Denise's heart beat calmed. It was only Lasaire.
"Girl, what the hell did you do that for?"
Lasaire giggled, "What? Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark?"
Denise swallowed, her chest still pounding. "I am when people enter my room without saying anything."
"Well, I suppose had you turned that blasted radio off, you would've heard my knock." Lasaire stated, sounding more like a mother than she had intended.
"Well, what's up?" Denise changed the subject.
"I just wanted to apologize for my belligerent uncle. Sometimes he can let this Irish culture thing get to him to the max."
Denise shrugged, "I almost forgot about it, Lasaire, but thanks for bringing it up."
A smile was on her face. "See that's why I love you, your sarcasm is great."
"I feel lucky." Denise whispered with a smile. "Who would've known that Lasaire Gregory, as Irish as they come, would adore Denise Renee Calloway."
"Soon to be Denise Renee Williams." Lasaire stated.
Denise sighed, "We don't know that, Lasaire."
"Yes, I do, but you can pretend you don't if it makes you feel less like hyperventilating."
"How do you know?" Denise whispered.
"Because the summer before last Jordan came to visit me and let's say, he was completely gone."
"What do you mean, gone?" Denise inquired surprised.
"I mean the boy wasn't in his right mind. He was smoking and I think he'd been dating someone back in Chicago or whatever, but it hadn't worked out. He actually broke down and cried because he wanted to forget you but couldn't."
"Really?" Denise whispered.
"Yes. I think he would've sold his soul during that time if it meant having not known you."
Denise eyes went wide in the dark. "Is that supposed to be a complement?"
Lasaire shrugged her shoulders. "I thought he was sick. You know. One time he came home and tried to hang his self."
"What?!" Denise hissed.
"It didn't work though, because he was sitting down when he got the bright idea."
Denise laughed, "Wow. How do you try to hang yourself sitting down?"
Lasaire shared this laughter, "I don't know. I always heard it worked better when you stood up."
Denise laughed some more. "Oh, my God. I didn't know that. He never told me."
"He didn't?" Lasaire whispered.
"No."
"Wow. He's always been crazy about you, girl."
Denise swallowed, "I guess that makes me lucky, right?"
Lasaire sighed, "On some aspects, yes, but on others, hell no."
"Why's that?" Denise whispered.
"Because Jordan's very soft hearted and kind in a way that he can look and see that anything is your fault. He can't handle heart ache. He's too sensitive."
"Ok."
"So, what I'm saying, De-De, is that I don't think it'll be easier for you to get away from him this time."
Denise pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and then released it. "I'm not trying too."
Lasaire sighed, "But you will. There's always something that stand in you guy's way."
Denise sighed euphorically, "Everything's going great, Lasaire. Way better than it had in high school."
Lasaire nodded her head. "What would you do if something did pop up. Something did test your love for one another?"
"I'd stay with him. It wasn't easy for me either when he and I split up after high-school."
"Oh really?" Lasaire whispered sarcastically.
Denise sighed. "I cried so much. Too much. I cried every day all day for a year. I had my hopes up that he would come back. I wanted him to come back because I knew if he did, things would be different for us. I knew I'd left him because I was angry. I'd been so angry the day I left. We'd gotten into it because he'd stumbled home drunk. I hated smelling the liquor on his breath."
"I heard."
"It was horrible Lasaire. he would come in so plastered at times that he wouldn't even make it to the bedroom. There were some nights I'd hear him crash out down stairs. I hated it. Plus, he became mean. It was like dealing with an entirely different guy. He was so mean and honery toward me. I swear he thought it was my fault because of what happened with Nicholas and his mother."
"I don't think that was the case Denise. I've known Jordan all of our lives and I can assure you, that he would never blame you for something that was not your fault. He always owned up to his mistakes. He may have blamed himself or been so grief stricken that alcohol seemed to be the only thing that dimmed the pain."
Denise inhaled swiftly, her heart going out to him. She had not thought about any of this.

The next time Denise awoke, it was almost two in the afternoon. She awoke with a startle. She and Jordan were set to leave at Six o'clock that night to head back to Virginia. She hopped out of bed, grabbed some clothes from the bag she'd bought and went to the bathroom.

When it was time to leave, Denise gave everyone a hug. Elliot held onto her tight, suffering glares from Jordan, who looked as if he wanted to kill him. When it was her turn to hug Jordan's grandmother, she smiled and grasped the woman's shoulders and whispered in her ear, "Thank you for inviting me." The woman smiled back at her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "You're welcome, sweetie. I hope I get to see you again."
Jordan smiled. He kissed his grandmother on the fore head. "I love you grandma and I will see you later."
"See you later, son. You two have a safe trip."
chapter Twenty Four

December 2, 2003

Chapter Twenty Three

"Let's go ice skating." Jordan suggested one morning after both he and Denise awoke after an all Nighter. Denise, who was tired out of her mind and suffered an already achy body, groaned, "Jordan, come on. After that work out last night, why go skating now?"
"It'll help you complete the rebuilding of your muscles." He stated, leaning in to kiss her for
e head.
"My muscles don't need rebuilding, they feel like they're about to fall off." She complained.
"Ahh, come on De-De, let's go ice skating."
"There isn't a place to go ice skating here, Jordan."
"There's Amorose Park."
"That's like way out there in the boonies."
"Please, De-De. I promise you'll enjoy yourself."
"Jordan, I haven't gotten on the ice since I was seventeen."
"Come on, De-De, don't be a hard ass."
"Jordan, you can't expect me to just give in like that. I'm not being a hard ass. I'm being realistic. You seriously can't expect me to want to go ice skating after last night."
"Not even if I have a surprise for you?"
Denise raised a brow. "A surprise?"
"Yes, but it requires you getting out of bed and going ice skating with me."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Well, I can afford to miss it today."
"You may not want too." Jordan stated, getting out of bed.
"Why's that?"
"Because it won't be too much of a surprise with out you there."
"Oh, it must be something really special." These words were pure sarcasm on her breath.
"It is, now get up." Jordan said forcefully. He left her room and went into the bathroom. Denise groaned again as she heard the shower start up.

Neema had gone over those pictures more than once, to see if anything was out of the ordinary with them. There wasn't. Nothing looked pasted or glued or as though there'd been any tampering. For a whole two days now, she tried to find out