All This Love (Stoneworth Series Book 2) Read online

  “My mom. My little sister. They kept all their stuff far from me and my three brothers, and we were grateful.”

  Jada inquired, “You’ve never lived with a girlfriend?”

  “No.”

  From his peripheral vision, Knox could see that Jada was finished handling her lady-items.

  He took the wet clothes from her now.

  Jada’s eyes narrowed hard at him.

  “What?”

  “Are you serious? How old are you?”

  “Thirty-one next month.”

  “And you’ve never lived with a woman?” she quizzed.

  “No. Why is that so hard to believe?”

  Before he knew what was happening, Knox felt a sting on his arm. Jada had pinched him.

  “Ow!”

  “Are you real?”

  “Of course I’m real.” He rubbed the spot like it hurt, though it would take a lot more than a little pinch to do damage to his biceps.

  “Well let me pinch myself, then, because I’ve never met a man my age or over who hadn’t spent at least a few weeks or months living with his girl.” Jada stopped, her eyes calculating. “Unless he lived with his mother.”

  “I don’t live with my mother. I’ve never lived with a woman. And have no idea how old you are or who you know, so I cannot respond intelligently to your observation. Is there a problem?” The question came out more sharply than he’d intended. He’d had enough of her attitude.

  Jada blinked slowly. She pulled at one of her hair’s coils. “I’m sorry. You’ve been nothing but nice to me all evening. I just…I’ve never met anyone like you.”

  Their eyes locked in a gentle, unspoken truce.

  Knox nodded acceptance of her apology and decided to offer an explanation he hoped—prayed—she would understand. “It might help to let you know that I’m a believer.”

  “A believer of what?”

  “Jesus Christ. He makes me who I am. I’m not saying I’m perfect—”

  “I know. Nobody is,” she cut him off. Then a smile spread across her face and she said in nearly a whisper, “I know Jesus, too. Not for long.” She bit her lip. “I think it’s pretty amazing to see Him in you.”

  Knox could have kissed her full lips right then and there. Probably wouldn’t have been very Jesus-like, however. “Goodnight, Jada.”

  “Goodnight.”

  Knox nearly ran back to the main house with Jada’s wet clothes in hand. He had to get out of there before something he didn’t want to happen happened. No less with a woman he’d just met. Scary sometimes how quickly his body reminded him that despite his close relationship with Christ, he was made of flesh.

  He unlocked the side door of the main house and called, “Hello!” so as not to scare his sister.

  She didn’t answer.

  He walked past the laundry room and into the kitchen. “Rainey? You here?”

  The sound of his voice bounced off the stainless steel pots and pans hanging from the rack above the island. Still no answer.

  He checked his phone. Twelve forty-two. Knox dialed his little sister’s number, a lecture ready to roll off his tongue.

  “Hello?”

  “Rainey, where are you?”

  “I’m coming in the door.”

  He looked over his shoulder and saw the knob turning. He set his phone and Jada’s clothes on the counter, crossed his arms, and watched as Rainey, with her long flowing hair and form-fitting dress, waltzed past the door looking like a grown woman.

  Rainey gave him a giant hug. “Great party, Knox. Mom and Dad were so proud.” She kicked off her too-tall-to-be-my-little-sister heels, then picked them up off the floor.

  “Yeah. But where have you been?”

  “I took Elvin back to his hotel. And now I’m home. So glad to be here.” Her sweet voice vibrated against his chest.

  “What time did you leave the party?”

  She raised up. “Why?”

  “Because it doesn’t take two hours to drop Elvin off at a hotel and make it back here.”

  “Wait.” She stepped away from him. “Why aren’t you at your place anyway? Did Dad send you to spy on me and make sure I wasn’t staying in Elvin’s hotel room?”

  “No. But you didn’t answer my question. What took you so long to get back home?”

  “I don’t intend to answer your question,” she snapped. She walked to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. “I’m twenty-four years old. You all need to stop treating me like a child.”

  Knox exhaled. How could he not treat her like a child when she was six years younger than him? When she’d begged him to teacher her to tie her shoes? When he’d snuck into her room and added extra money to the tooth fairy’s stash? Like it or not, Rainey would always be Knox, Braxton, Jarvis, and West Stoneworth’s little sister.

  “Is there a reason I should be spying on you?”

  She gulped down some of the water, twisted the top back on, and set the bottle on the counter. “Look, Knox. You’re the oldest. Everyone looks up to you. You, my dear brother, are perfectly poised to alert this entire family that Rainey Elizabeth Stoneworth is now an adult. So I’m going to say this to you one time and one time only. Anything I’ve had the desire to do has already been done at least once during the six years I’ve been away at college. Can you please send the memo to your brothers and your parents?”

  If Knox could have covered his ears and screamed “La-la-la-la-la!” he would have. He reminded himself, I’m the big brother here. “We all want what’s best for you.”

  Rainey spotted the clothes on the counter. “What’s this?”

  Knox grabbed Jada’s belongings. “Clothes.”

  Rainey quickly snatched Jada’s shirt from Knox’s arms. She held it in the air. Examined the garment. “Medium. Babydoll cut. Not your size or your cut, Knox.”

  “They belong to a friend. I’m washing and drying them for her.”

  She tossed the shirt back to him. Her chin lowered as she glared up at him. “Where is she?”

  “She’s in the pool house.”

  “And why is she in the pool house instead of her house?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I bet it is.” Now it was Rainey’s turn to cross her arms. “I’m listening.”

  “Look. It’s late—”

  “Oh!” She threw her hands in the air. “Suddenly, it’s too late for talkin’ since we’re talkin’ about you instead of me!”

  Knox shook his head. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

  “So explain to me how it’s not a double-standard that Dad allowed Jarvis’s girlfriend to stay in the pool house the whole week of Spring Break when he was a sophomore in undergrad, but my boyfriend can’t stay a weekend and I’m working on a Ph.D.?”

  His sister was wiser and much more outspoken than he remembered. “I can’t speak for Dad. I can only speak for myself. The woman in the pool house is not my girlfriend.”

  “I find no comfort in that admission, Knox. Exactly what is your relationship to the woman for whom you have afforded temporary residence in our parents’ pool house?”

  Knox hated it when Rainey went “Victorian” on him. She’d been reading one too many novels in school. “Rainey—”

  “Perhaps I should be spying on you.”

  “Enough with the old English, all right? I’m not here to spy on you.”

  Her face softened slightly as her shoulders slumped in concession. “I believe you, Knox.”

  “It’s just…man, Rainey, you grew up so fast.” He put the clothes down again and drew his sister into a hug. “Here you are now. Beautiful. Brilliant—”

  “And don’t forget blessed to have been raised by parents who taught me right from wrong. You guys have to trust that now,” she said. “I’m going to make my mistakes. God knows I watched my brothers make plenty.”

  “Truly. But, you know, men…we don’t see your personality or your brain first. We see the outside, initially. I mean, if you weren’t
my sister, I’d be tryna holla.”

  She stared up at him and cheesed the kid-smile he wished he could frame. “I couldn’t be with a guy like you, Knox. You’re way too serious.”

  “What’s wrong with me?”

  Rainey slipped out of his embrace. “There’s nothing wrong with you. We’re too much alike.”

  Knox chuckled. Yep, Rainey is much wiser now.

  Rainey yawned. “Goodnight, big bro.”

  “Night.”

  He watched his little sister clunk up the staircase to her room lamenting the fact that one day, probably sooner than later, his father would be giving Rainey away to somebody. Whoever he was had better be legit or he’d have to deal with the Stoneworth men.

  Knox scooped up Jada’s clothes and walked across the main foyer, two living areas—one formal, one informal—and finally to the washroom. Since Jada’s clothes were dark and cotton, he threw them in the wash at once, adding a dash of powder.

  It dawned on him that he had no other clothes for himself. West might have a few things left in his room, but they were bound to be too small. His father’s clothes would be too wide. Knox would have to rough it until the morning.

  He parked himself on the chaise in the casual family room and turned the television to ESPN to catch up on the day’s sports activity. One glance at Serena Williams reminded Knox of the woman in the pool house. Brown. Curvy. Self-assured.

  His phone pulsed in his pocket. Curiosity about his late-night caller turned to annoyance when he saw the name on the screen. Dominique.

  “Hello,” he answered.

  “Hey, Knox, sorry to call at this hour.”

  She paused.

  He waited for her explanation.

  “What do you need, Dominique?”

  “Can I get a how are you? Obviously, something is wrong if I’m calling you this late.”

  Whatever was wrong in Dominique’s life had nothing to do with him. He cleared his throat. She’d have to continue without his response.

  “Well, I was on the computer a minute ago. Got an alert on my email about a charge to the old joint credit card. You went to an urgent care clinic?”

  Knox reached for his wallet and tabbed through the cards. In an instant, he realized that he’d pulled the wrong card at the clinic. “My bad. I’ll pay the charged amount first thing in the morning.”

  “Is everything all right? Are you hurt?”

  “No. It was for a friend.”

  “Oh.”

  Knox almost wished Dominique would ask him more questions so he could let her know that he was in the company of another woman; give the appearance that he’d moved on with his life.

  “Is your…friend okay?”

  He couldn’t have asked for a better segue. “Yes, she’s fine.”

  “She?”

  “Yes. She.” Dreams do come true.

  He heard Dominique’s lips smack softly. “That’s good.”

  He’d had enough fun at Dominique’s expense. “Like I said, I’ll resolve this in the morning.”

  “Will you call me when you’ve taken care of it?” she asked.

  “No. You should be able to see it online.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. Goodnight, Knox. I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Night, Dominique.”

  Knox didn’t want to give her any reason to call him again. He tapped and typed his way to the payment screen and cleared up the matter immediately. This account, which Dominique had opened in both their names without his permission and a little forgery when they were planning for the wedding, was their last connection.

  He’d found out about the account during mediation, which Dominique had agreed to instead of a lawsuit for sticking him and his family with most of the bills for a wedding that she literally walked out of. As the bills rolled in, Dominique admitted to the mediator that she’d gotten “caught up” in her desire to throw an extravagant ceremony and impress her friends, family, co-workers, and sorority sisters. None of whom were there for her when she’d been ordered to pay 80 percent of the wedding expenses except for the ring, which she had to return outright to Knox.

  Thankful to have found out what kind of person Dominique truly was before saying “I do,” Knox had paid his portion in the first six months. Two years later, Dominique and the dude she’d married were still making payments on their end.

  Knox checked the remaining balance. Less than two thousand dollars. He should be free and clear of Dominique soon. Thank God.

  He propped the throw pillow underneath his neck and got comfortable. His mind drifted back to Dominique and their 18-month courtship. He had met her at a funeral, of all places. One of his father’s old teammates passed away. His father had just undergone cataract surgery, so he couldn’t drive to the ceremony. Knox had done the honor of taking him and been “rewarded” by meeting the deceased man’s great niece, Dominique Wellington.

  She gave a charming speech on behalf of the “greats” in their family. “Uncle Dallas gave us kids five dollars every time we saw him. And what would he say?” She’d waited for the audience to gear up, and several of them laughed along with her as she repeated his words. “Don’t pick the wrong horse.” Those gathered had laughed, Knox included.

  He appreciated Dominique’s height, her slender build, and the way her honey-blond spikes accented her angular face. But perhaps most importantly, he liked the fact that, like him, she seemed to have a strong connection with her family. In the past, some of his girlfriends had been turned off by the fact that he and his family were so close.

  “It’s just weird,” his ex, Tamara, had told him. “I see my mom and dad, like, twice a year. You guys see each other every other week or so. And you talk on the phone to your brothers like they’re your best friends.”

  “They are,” he had agreed.

  Tamara shook her head. “That’s crazy to me. I was taught that when you grow up, you leave the nest. You get out there and make it on your own.”

  Knox couldn’t have disagreed more. “How can you be part of a village if you leave?”

  “Easy. When you’re finished being raised by the village, you bounce.”

  “Then who stays in the village for the next generation?”

  Tamara shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s a Stoneworth issue.”

  And she would never be one, with that attitude.

  Dominique, however, had sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, grands—people who loved her and welcomed Knox into their presence. And his family had been delighted to embrace her.

  There had been a few warning signs that Dominique was too materialistic and manipulative along the way to the altar—little “white,” exaggerated lies to her sisters about how much she’d spent on a purse or a pair of shoes, insisting that Knox be dressed a certain way when they went to her mom’s house. Jarvis had even said something to Knox once about Dominique’s motives. Of course, Knox told Jarvis to mind his own business.

  But in the end, Jarvis had been right.

  How could I have been so blind?

  He’d been wrong about a woman once before. Jumped in with his whole heart. Overlooked the warning signs and loved her beyond her faults. Tried to love her like Christ loves the church.

  Where did that get me? Nowhere.

  Knox wasn’t going to be the same fool twice.

  Wait a minute—didn’t I just do the same thing tonight? What was I thinking, picking up a woman on the side of the road?

  He knocked his forehead with a fist. He had to slow down. No matter how witty and pretty Jada was, he wouldn’t be so naïve this time.

  Chapter 4

  Jada didn’t bother pulling out the sofa bed. After taking a shower, she found a blanket and a sheet in the linen closet and curled up on the couch. She protected the light-colored sofa’s fabric from her hair with a towel and tried to get some sleep.

  Only she couldn’t. Not with thoughts of Knox Stoneworth dancing through her head.

  Moonlight lit the small ho
use, and her eyes landed on the pictures on the fireplace mantel. She couldn’t make out any faces, but there were clearly seven heads in Knox’s family portrait.

  Jada couldn’t relate. She had one sister with the same mother, and one brother with the same father. Never any peace between the parents, thus never a family picture like these Stoneworths.

  How many times am I going to say that name in my head?

  She was sick of them already with their perfect family and this pool house that was almost bigger than the apartment from which she’d been evicted two months ago in December. Two months before that, in October, she’d received a pink slip in the envelope with her last check at Texas Pipe and Iron Supply Company.

  She laughed at the patter forming in her head now. Something significant happened every two months it seemed. In August, the most important thing she’d ever done took place while attending a women’s conference with a friend. Jada had heard the gospel of Jesus Christ—the story of how He came to set people free from sin and exchange lives with him—in a way she’d never heard it before. Well, maybe she’d heard it before, but she’d never actually received the good news in her heart until it burned into her heart that day.

  As a gift, the conference host had given her a Bible and plan to read the Bible in a year, starting with 1 John. Shortly thereafter, Jada got the job offer in Texas. She’d jumped at the chance to spread her wings, move outside Memphis, and put her brand new associate’s degree in accounting to good use. This would also give her a chance to spend more time with Sam and the baby.

  Jada’s mother had fussed but, in the end, agreed that a change was good for Jada. “Don’t forget, you can always come back home. Long as I’m living, you got a place to stay.”

  Jada appreciated her mother’s loyalty but prayed to God she wouldn’t have to take her mother up on the offer.

  The first weeks at Texas Pipe and Iron were great. Jada made new acquaintances and thought she was learning the ropes. The ropes, however, turned out to be nooses. The manager over Accounts Payable, a man named Miles Rufus, had some non-standards practices that Jada questioned. The system of checks and balances seemed thwarted, and Jada brought it to everyone’s attention in a staff meeting, thinking she was doing the right thing. After all, that’s what she’d been taught at Southwest Tennessee Community College—Communication was the key to smooth and professional business operations.