Sins of the Father
Angela Benson
This book is dedicated to absentee fathers and the children, young and old, who need them. Fathers, it’s never too late to make amends. Children, forgiveness is not always easy but it’s always worth it.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
—Exodus 20:4–6, New International Version (NIV)
Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue
I know you hate it when I call you Sonny,…
Chapter One
You can’t buy me,” Deborah Thomas told the distinguished man…
Chapter Two
You’ve got to talk to Michael, Mama Leah,” Josette said…
Chapter Three
Isaac Martin waited for his mother in the back of…
Chapter Four
That’s it,” Michael Thomas told his staff of fifteen as…
Chapter Five
Leah felt his presence before she saw him ease into…
Chapter Six
A few days later Rebecca sat on the plush couch…
Chapter Seven
That was a great meal, Mama,” Michael said to his…
Chapter Eight
Saralyn sat huddled with her son and daughter-in-law in the…
Chapter Nine
Leah held tight to her daughter’s shaking hand and strode…
Chapter Ten
Saralyn picked up her coffee cup and glared at her…
Chapter Eleven
Did I doze off?” Abraham asked Deborah, who was perched…
Chapter Twelve
It’s better than I thought,” Josette overheard Michael say on…
Chapter Thirteen
Rebecca lay in the antique four-poster bed she shared with…
Chapter Fourteen
Go to bed, Deborah,” Leah said.
Chapter Fifteen
Rebecca stood outside her father-in-law’s office on the twelfth floor…
Chapter Sixteen
Isaac saw the dapper Alan Weems, MEEG’s lead counsel, as…
Chapter Seventeen
Deborah glanced at her watch again. Alan Weems was a…
Chapter Eighteen
Leah drove around in her eight-year-old Nissan for half an…
Chapter Nineteen
Deborah sat in her plush leather desk chair in her…
Chapter Twenty
Deborah knocked on her brother’s front door. After learning that…
Banished from the hospital by her husband, Rebecca sat flipping…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Michael Thomas strode into the hospital after midnight. The hallways…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Josette looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked…
Chapter Twenty-Four
Leah stood, unmoving, outside the MEEG Building and stared at…
Chapter Twenty-Five
What are you doing here?” Isaac asked when he turned…
Chapter Twenty-Six
Smiling, Michael rubbed his jaw. “So big brother has an…
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Josette stepped off the hospital elevator, unsure she was doing…
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Deborah tried to present a calm demeanor, when she actually…
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Michael followed Alan down the hallway from the boardroom to…
Chapter Thirty
You can’t let Michael get to you like that, Isaac,”…
Chapter Thirty-One
Deborah shook her head. She couldn’t believe how her brother…
Chapter Thirty-Two
Why do women always have to clean up after men?
Chapter Thirty-Three
Isaac rubbed the back of his neck as he stepped…
Chapter Thirty-Four
Deborah sat in the passenger seat of Alan’s Benz while…
Chapter Thirty-Five
I want that one,” Josette said pointing to the white…
Chapter Thirty-Six
The bossy Nurse Ratchet reentered Abraham’s hospital room.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Michael met Alan during one of their scheduled late night…
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Abraham sat in his hospital bed reading a report that…
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Deborah stood at her desk and flipped through the slides…
Chapter Forty
Dressed in a pair of his favorite navy silk pajamas…
Chapter Forty-One
Isaac pushed back his desk chair and stared out the…
Chapter Forty-Two
Seated on one of the marble benches in front of…
Chapter Forty-Three
Rebecca stepped off the elevator wiping tears from her face.
Chapter Forty-Four
Whoa,” Michael said to Rebecca, who had practically run him…
Chapter Forty-Five
Abraham stopped abruptly when he opened the bathroom door and…
Chapter Forty-Six
Michael didn’t like being summoned to Alan’s office like he…
Chapter Forty-Seven
Leah and Melvin sat huddled in the back of the…
Chapter Forty-Eight
Josette couldn’t get Isaac’s words out of her mind. Had…
Chapter Forty-Nine
It’s good to have you home, Mr. Martin,” Mrs. Hall gushed…
Chapter Fifty
Saralyn arrived home later than planned. It had taken longer…
Chapter Fifty-One
Josette drove around the block where Isaac and Rebecca lived…
Chapter Fifty-Two
Leah sat at the desk in her cramped office at…
Chapter Fifty-Three
Since Michael’s secretary wasn’t at her desk, Deborah went directly…
Chapter Fifty-Four
Isaac rubbed the back of his neck as he entered…
Chapter Fifty-Five
Abraham had been holed up in his study since he…
Chapter Fifty-Six
Abraham spotted Rebecca as soon as he and Saralyn stepped…
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Deborah and Alan sat at the small conference table in…
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Leah paced in front of the couch where Melvin sat…
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Abraham sat in his son’s hospital room with Saralyn and…
Chapter Sixty
Josette sat at the foot of her bed and stared…
Chapter Sixty-One
Did you see this coming, Ma? Abraham thought as he…
Chapter Sixty-Two
Deborah walked hand in hand with Alan through the hospital…
Chapter Sixty-Three
Don’t ask Michael, Dad,” Isaac told his father. He sat…
Chapter Sixty-Four
Abraham stepped out of Isaac’s hospital room for a few…
Chapter Sixty-Five
Michael’s mood had certainly improved by the time they reached…
Chapter Sixty-Six
I’m gonna be a match, Michael thought as he walked…
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Deborah hadn’t known what to expect when Alan offered to…
Chapter Sixty-Eight
A couple of days later the hospital called Michael with…
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Michael was surprised when he received the signed contracts from…
Chapter Seventy
Michael’s day was off to a good start. It had…
Epilogue
That was a wonderful meal, Rebecca,” Alan said, patting his…
Acknowledgments
A+ Author Insights, Extras, & More…
Reading Group Guide Questions
An Excerpt from Delilah’s Daughters by Angela Benson
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
About the Author
Other Books by Angela Benson
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Prologue
Sonny,
I know you hate it when I call you Sonny, but if you’re reading this letter, I guess it’s okay since I’ve gone on to glory. I picked up the pen to write on Tuesday, November 15, 2006, right after you left my apartment, the one you bought for me. I had to write because I couldn’t tell you all the things I wanted to say. I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the line I stopped being your mother and became your dependent, one of the people in your life who received money from you but very little else.
You’ve done a lot for me, Sonny, and I appreciate it more than you will ever know, but I don’t think I’ve been a good mother to you. It was much easier when you were a boy and we had very little when it came to material things. My job then was to keep you off the streets and out of trouble, to make sure that you went to school every day and that you got your homework done each night. I cheered you on when your football or basketball team won and encouraged you when they lost. I went without so that you might have the little extras that most kids took for granted—a new pair of off-brand sneakers or a new CD. I celebrated your every accomplishment and always told you that the world was yours if you worked hard and believed in yourself.
You made me so proud. When I sat in the coliseum at that fancy Ivy League school and watched you walk across the stage, I knew I had done my job and done it well. A single, uneducated mother with only her faith in God for support had raised a son who had not become a statistic—dead or in jail before twenty. I thanked God because I had done my job so well. I even took a bit of pride in what I had achieved. My pride increased with each of your accomplishments. That’s my boy, I would tell folks, and watch their eyes widen in surprise, as though they couldn’t believe it. You went beyond what I’d prayed when you started keeping the promises you’d made to me.
One of these days, Ma, you’re going to have a big house in one of those fancy neighborhoods.
Ma, you’re gonna have one of those foreign cars. I’ll make sure you get a new one every year.
Once I make it big, Ma, you’ll never have to worry about money or work again because I’m gonna take care of you.
You’re gonna visit the places in those travel books, Ma, just you wait and see.
Every promise you made to me you more than fulfilled.
So why am I writing this letter? Because today I realized that I had failed you. Somewhere along the line I forgot to warn you to take care of your heart. Sonny, I fear you’ve lost it in your quest to make money, to fulfill the promises you made to yourself and me. I worry that money and power have become your gods.
I tried to tell you some of this today, but you didn’t hear me. It’s been a long time since you’ve heard me. I’ve become another check you write each month. Oh, how I wanted more for us than that! But it’s too late for us. I realized that today.
But it’s not too late for you. While in many ways, you’ve been a wonderful son, you’ve also been a disappointment. I blame myself for not providing you with a male role model who could show you what it meant to be a man. I tried to show you, but I failed. All you learned from me was that a man provided for his family. You didn’t learn that a man also cherished his family. Maybe you mistook providing for cherishing. But they’re not the same. Not by a long shot. You’ve got some housekeeping to do, Sonny.
You met your match in Saralyn. She’s put up with more from you than many wives would have. Unfortunately, in order for you to straighten up the mess you’ve made of your life, you’re going to have to cause her and Isaac more pain. You’ve got to deal with Leah and those kids. Yes, I know about Michael and Deborah, have known for years, but I never said anything. I kept waiting for you to say something and you never did. I have two grandchildren that I never got to know because I was too intimidated by you to challenge you on your decisions. A good mother would have challenged you and made you do the right thing. A good mother would have welcomed her grandchildren even if her wayward son didn’t. God help me, but I haven’t been a good mother in a long time.
I love you, Sonny. No mother could love a son more. But I want more for you and expect more from you than you’ve shown. I want you to know love, that sacrificing kind of love that a poor single mother shows her only son. With all your money and all you’ve achieved, I don’t think you know that kind of love. How can you? Everything and everybody in your life have been second to your work and your goals.
I hope to be a better mother now than I was when we were together. Know that I’m watching from heaven and looking for you to become a better man than you are. You know where to start. Take that first step. God will lead you the rest of the way.
Your always loving mother.
Chapter One
Four months later
You can’t buy me,” Deborah Thomas told the distinguished man with salt and pepper hair seated across the table from her in Justin’s, Diddy’s trendy Atlanta restaurant. The previously tasty salmon she’d been eating unsettled her stomach. She met Abraham Martin’s dark brown eyes. “Or my love,” she finished as she put down her fork. She picked up her white linen napkin and blotted her lips, fighting back the bile that rose in her throat. “Neither is for sale.”
She put down her napkin and was about to push back her chair when he reached out and grasped her hand. She looked at his well-manicured nails, the expensive gold Rolex watch on his wrist, and then back up at his face, making sure her displeasure was evident in her glare. The mirth she saw in the eyes that met hers only added to her rising ire.
“I’m glad you find this humorous,” she said. She attempted to pull her hand away but he only held it tighter.
The mirth still in his eyes, he said, “You remind me so much of my mother. You have no idea what it does to me to see my mother’s face in your face, to know that her spirit lives on in you. She would have loved you so.”
Deborah snatched her hand away, remembering the contradicting emotions of joy and pain she felt the day he’d shown her pictures of her now deceased grandmother, Iris. Those pictures had answered questions she’d held for a long time. They told her why she was short and big breasted while her mother and brother were tall and lean, why her complexion was light while her mother’s and brother’s were dark. Those pictures had also made her ache for what she’d missed. “And whose fault is it that she never had the chance?” she asked him. “Whose fault is it that I never knew my own grandmother?”
He sobered, releasing a deep sigh. “I’ll go to my grave regretting the mistakes of the past.”
Good, she thought, but she didn’t voice the word. The sincerity and pain in his voice stopped her from taking any pleasure in his regrets. A part of her was glad he felt remorse, because it meant that he cared a little, maybe. For so long, she’d never dared to hope that he would care, couldn’t even dream that he loved her. His absence from her life year after year after year had been too much evidence for a young girl’s wishes to overcome. He didn’t love her. He never had.
“I’m not trying to buy you or your love,” he said, his gaze holding hers. “But there was a time when that would have been my strategy.”
Deborah didn’t
respond.
“Look,” he said, leaning toward her. “I made you the offer because I think you’re right for the job. If nothing else, I’m a businessman. I don’t take the future of my company lightly. Even though Running Brook Productions was a steal and brings needed diversity to my existing holdings, I admit that I had you in mind when I bought it.”
Lord help her, her heart beat faster at his words. She felt like the little girl she’d once been, the one who longed for a daddy to make her hurts go away. “I have a job that I love,” she said, overstating the truth. “Why should I even consider your offer?”
That sparkle returned to his eyes. “You might love your job, but I’m offering you your own production company. Will Pearson Entertainment do that for you? Though you’ve been in and around the broadcast world since you were in college, you’re young yet, only twenty-eight, and Pearson is a big company. You’ll have to wait years there to get the kind of responsibility I’m offering, and you know it.” He reached for her hand again, squeezing it lightly. “It’s a great offer, Deborah. Think about it. Running Brook is established enough that it has name recognition in the direct-to-DVD market so you wouldn’t have to start at ground zero, yet it’s new enough for you to make your mark both on it and with it. I’d even like you to collaborate on television and film projects with other MEEG entities.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze, released it, and sat back in his chair, the twinkle in his eyes gone.
Deborah tried to stare him down, but his eyes had turned to that innocent pleading that reminded her so much of her brother Michael when he wanted her to agree to one of his outrageous schemes. She looked away, toward the piano where a balding man fingered the keys to a jazz oldie.
“I know it’s too late for me to play Daddy, Deborah,” he said, causing her to turn back to him, “but I hoped we could at least become friends.”
Friends, she thought. I have enough friends. I could still use a father, she admitted to herself. How she hated that weakness! “So you want me to work for you so we can become friends?”
“I want you to work with me so we can continue to get to know each other. I’ve enjoyed spending time with you these last few months, and I sensed you felt the same. I’d also like to think you could learn a few things from a fossil like me.”