Who Said It Would Be Easy? Read online

  Dear Reader:

  Thank you for picking up a copy of Cheryl Faye’s Who Said it Would be Easy? Every once in a while a literary voice tackles a topic that is both unique and intriguing.

  In Who Said it Would be Easy? Faye explores the mind of a young man who learns how to truly love and respect his woman through trial and error. Many men do not learn this lesson until they are in their forties or fifties. But this novel shows that it is possible to recognize the errors of one’s ways early on in life.

  Faye spins a wonderful faith-based romance that will leave readers yearning for more of her work.

  In this society, so much emphasis is placed on sex. It is refreshing to read a novel that stresses how significant other aspects of a relationship are in determining whether a couple succeeds or fails in the game of love.

  As always thank you for your support of Strebor Books. I hope that you will continue to enjoy our titles.

  For more information on Faye and other authors, please visit www.zanestore.com. You can find me at www. Eroticanoir.com or you may join my social network at www.planetzane.org.

  Blessings,

  Zane

  Publisher

  Strebor Books International

  www.simonandschuster.com/streborbooks

  WHO SAID IT WOULD BE EASY?

  A STORY OF FAITH

  Also by Cheryl Faye

  Be Careful What You Wish For

  Strebor Books

  P.O. Box 6505

  Largo, MD 20792

  http://www.streborbooks.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  © 2011 by Cheryl Faye

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever. For information address Strebor Books, P.O. Box 6505, Largo, MD 20792.

  ISBN 978-1-59309-352-5

  ISBN 978-1-4516-0800-7 (ebook)

  LCCN 2010940489

  First Strebor Books trade paperback edition February 2011

  Cover design: www.mariondesigns.com

  Cover photograph: © Keith Saunders/Marion Designs

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases,

  please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949

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  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  This book is lovingly dedicated to Rev. Dr. LaKeesha Walrond,

  Executive Pastor of First Corinthian Baptist Church,

  New York, New York. Thank you, Rev. LaKeesha, for your prayers,

  love, support, teaching, encouragement and friendship.

  You are truly a blessing in my life and the reason

  I finally finished this book!

  I love you much.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First and foremost, I give all honor to my Creator. Father, I thank You for my life—the laughter and the tears, the highs and the lows, the pruning and the watering. God, I thank You for eternal life RIGHT NOW, for abundant life RIGHT NOW, for this very second. You are, You are, Lord, You are my Everything!!! I worship and adore You.

  To my Immediate Family:

  1Mommy and Daddy, the late Barbara and James Smith, Sr.—what can I ever say that would express how grateful I am to have been blessed with parents like you? I miss you both so much but truly rejoice in having shared my life with you.

  My two precious sons, Michael and Douglas, you are proof that God loves me beyond measure and I love you both so much and am so proud of you. Thank you for being.

  My beautiful granddaughter, Mikayla. I love you, Mama, and can’t wait to see how you will impact the world with your infectious spirit. You are already a force to be reckoned with.

  My siblings, Jacqueline, Mamie, James, Jr. and Stephanie, I love y’all so much and am proud to have shared the best parents in the world with you.

  My sister-in-law, Kym—thanks for taking such good care of my one and only brother, and just for being you.

  My nieces and nephews, Stacey, Breone, Brittany, Makenzie, Torian, James III, Brandon, Jovonnie II, and Avery—don’t we just have the best family? I love y’all. We must always be sure to keep it tight.

  To my dear sister-friends: Sharón Spence, Michele Cordew and Peggy Bailey—what an amazing support system I’ve been blessed with. I love you very much and truly cherish our friendships.

  To Debra Kellman: You are truly blessed. Keep on honoring God with your photography. I love you.

  To my FCBC Family: God blessed me with so many sisters and brothers in this Walk and I am eternally grateful. Thank you for the love, support and encouragement. I love you all.

  To my fellow FCBC Trustees: I just love y’all. I am honored to be serving God with each one of you. Thanks for the laughter, the dedication and the support.

  To Michael A. Walrond, Jr., Sr., Pastor of First Corinthian Baptist Church: thank you for your phenomenal teaching, your amazing transparency, your infectious laugh and great sense of humor, but mostly for your humble obedience. I have grown so much under your tutelage and look forward to where God will lead me and all of FCBC as disciples of Jesus under your unselfish guidance. You are truly one of God’s anointed foot soldiers and I’m honored to know you. Creation is waiting…

  And last, but most certainly not least, to William Fredrick Cooper: You know I love you and that what we share defies the norm, but God doesn’t operate within the boundaries of what our small minds define as normal. So I just want to know, “Who said it would be easy?”

  PROLOGUE

  “How can you tell me you love me in one breath, and before you even get the words out of your mouth good, you’re with someone else?” she asked as tears streamed down

  her face.

  “She doesn’t mean anything to me, honey. Nothing,” he insisted, moving closer to her.

  She took a step back. “I don’t mean anything to you, obviously.”

  “No, Janine. You mean the world to me. I messed up, but please give me another chance. I promise, it’ll never happen again.”

  She shook her head as she walked over to the window. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Why? Why don’t you believe me?”

  “Because you’ve lied to me before, Stefàn. I’m tired of your empty apologies. If you really loved me as much as you claim, you’d never have to apologize for doing me wrong.”

  They were in her bedroom at her parents’ house. Her mother and father were out at the time and she was home from college on spring break.

  “Oh, come on, baby. Don’t act like you never make mistakes,” he cried.

  “I’ve never cheated on you!” she yelled in frustration.

  Knowing he needed to take another approach, Stefàn said, “No, you haven’t. You’ve been real good to me and I don’t even deserve a woman as good as you, but if you give me one more chance, Janine, I promise things will be different from now on.”

  She looked across the room at him from where she stood and knew, in this very moment, that he was sincere. He was always sincere at the instant the apology left his mouth. It was when they were apart and he was left to his own devices that things went awry.

  He was beautiful; twenty-one years old and already on his way to being the successful businessman he would one day be.

&nbs
p; Fresh tears sprang to her eyes and spilled over her lids as she thought about how much she genuinely loved him.

  They had been together since right after her senior high prom. Another boy had been her date, but she and Stefàn met that night when he defended her girlfriend, Sarah, after Sarah’s date had tried to force himself on her in the parking lot.

  To her, he had been like something out of a dream. Tall, slim but muscular, and very well-groomed. He and his best friend and running buddy, Julian Walker, had just arrived at the prom when they had come upon Sarah and Oscar.

  Seeing Sarah run into the bathroom in tears, she followed and soon discovered what was amiss. Highly agitated, minutes later, she rushed from the ladies’ room to confront the jerk who’d hurt her friend and crashed right into Stefàn.

  “Whoa, baby, slow your roll. You almost knocked me down,” he flippantly stated.

  “Sorry,” she replied, as she collected herself and attempted to continue on her way.

  “Wait a minute.” He reached for her hand. “Where’s your friend?”

  Perplexed, she asked, “What?”

  “You know, the girl I always see you with. The one who was with that jerk, Oscar.”

  “Sarah? She’s inside,” Janine answered as she gestured to the women’s restroom.

  “Is she okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah. I was just going to give Oscar a piece of my mind, if that’s okay with you,” she snidely commented.

  “Oscar’s being detained. Principal Davis called the police. I don’t think you’ll be able to say anything to him for a while.”

  That surprised her. How did this guy know so much about what was going on anyway?

  “Who are you?” she finally asked.

  “Who am I? You don’t know who I am?” he asked, in mock insult.

  “Should I know who you are?”

  He smiled at her, exposing a solitary dimple in his left cheek. “I’m just messing with you. No, I don’t expect that you should know who I am, but I happened to come upon your friend when she was trying to fight that creep off. I took care of him for her. I’m Stefàn Cooper. What’s your name?”

  “Janine Taylor. You said you see me with Sarah all the time. Where?”

  “You’re a cheerleader for Norman Thomas’ basketball team, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “I know. I’ve seen you at the games.”

  “You go to Norman Thomas?”

  “No, I graduated from there last year, but I was invited to the prom by a friend.”

  She hadn’t had an opportunity to spend much time talking with him that evening because her date had come looking for her, but she managed to give him her telephone number before the night was over, since he’d asked her for it.

  When Sarah told her that he had punched Oscar out after he jumped bad when Stefàn tried to rescue her, she knew there was more she wanted to know about the fine young defender of her friend’s virtue.

  But the past two years had been turbulent, to say the least. On one hand, Stefàn treated her like a queen—buying her gifts, taking her out to fancy restaurants, etc. On the other, however, he was an undeniable player. She’d heard people talk about his escapades with other girls and on one occasion had even been confronted by some chick who claimed to be his girlfriend. Stefàn quickly squashed that situation by letting the girl know—right in front of Janine—that Janine was his main squeeze. But that wouldn’t be the last time she’d have to deal with another girl and Janine cried each time one of these incidents took place. She couldn’t understand, if he claimed to love her, why did he feel the need to be with anyone else?

  But she’d had her fill of all that. Janine had finally come to realize that she deserved better than Stefàn. Yes, he was gorgeous, with his meticulous appearance and unabashed self-assurance. He held a black belt in karate and often competed in tournaments, which Janine usually attended along with his parents. In the time they’d been together, she’d witnessed him winning four tournament championships. He was ambitious. Stefàn was not one to sit around waiting for things to happen; he made them happen. He attended classes at Rutgers University, but was also preparing to take the test to get a real estate sales license. He’d told her that he planned to own his own real estate company one day. And she didn’t doubt it, because whatever he set his mind to, he accomplished and he would never allow anyone to convince him that he couldn’t. His mistake, however, was assuming she needed him so much that she would put up with his lies and unfaithfulness indefinitely.

  Looking at him now, as he feebly defended the indefensible once more, and knowing that if she gave in to him, this scene would be replayed again sometime in the future—maybe several times—she couldn’t deal with the hurt anymore.

  “I’m sorry, Stefàn, but I can’t do this anymore. I’m done. I really do love you, but I don’t want to see you anymore,” she tearfully stated.

  “What?”

  “I want you to go.”

  “Come on, Janine. I said I was sorry,” he replied as he started toward her.

  “No, don’t come any closer.” If she let him touch her, she would give in to him and she could not let him take her love for granted any longer.

  “Janine. You can’t forgive me?”

  She shook her head sadly. “Not right now, no. Maybe after some time, but I can’t right now. I don’t want to see you anymore. I can’t let you hurt me anymore.”

  Always the tough guy, for the first time since she had known him, Janine saw a chink in Stefàn’s armor. Tears welled in his eyes as he pleaded with her, “Please, Janine. Look, I messed up bad. I… Come on, baby, just this last time. I swear. I’ll never hurt you again. I love you. For real. I love you.”

  “No,” she cried, barely above a whisper. “I can’t.” She turned her back to him then, shutting him out of her life for good.

  Dejected, defeated and demoralized, Stefàn stood frozen to the spot for the next several minutes, trying to pull himself together. She doesn’t really mean this. She can’t. She’s angry right now, and I get that, but she can’t be serious that it’s over.

  Not willing to accept that this was the end for them, Stefàn softly murmured, “All right, J, I’ll go now, but I’ll call you later so we can talk about this, okay?”

  Janine didn’t react or respond.

  “All right, baby?”

  He stood for seconds that seemed like hours, waiting for her to answer. When she didn’t, he moved to stand behind her. Without asking permission, he embraced her from behind but immediately felt her body stiffen at his touch. He continued to hold her tightly, before brushing a soft kiss against the nape of her neck. “I love you. I’ll call you tonight,” he whispered.

  When she didn’t respond, he released her and left.

  His Honda Accord was parked in front of her parents’ house, and as he opened the door, a girl that he had flirted with many times called out to him.

  “Hey, Stefàn,” she purred. “I’m still waiting for that dinner you promised me.”

  The girl was hot, with a body that cried for his attention and a manner that let him know all he had to do was say the word and he could have his way with her. He was about to speak when something told him to look up.

  Janine was still standing at her bedroom window, only now she was watching him. Wisely, he ignored the girl, got into his car and drove away.

  Later that night, Stefàn called Janine. He was hoping she had cooled off and would at least take his call. After two rings, her mother picked up.

  “Hello, Mrs. Taylor. This is Stefàn. How are you?”

  “I’m fine, thank you.”

  “May I speak to Janine, please?”

  “She doesn’t want to talk to you, Stefàn.”

  “What?” he asked in disbelief.

  “She doesn’t want to talk to you,” she repeated.

  He could hear the indifference in her tone and was momentarily at a loss for words.

  “I have to go,” Mrs. Taylor said,
interrupting the silence. “My dinner’s on the table.”

  Realizing that she was about to hang up, Stefàn hurriedly asked, “Can you please tell Janine that I called and that I’ll call her again tomorrow?”

  “Okay. Good-bye.”

  Stefàn felt a moment of panic at the sound of the line disconnecting. Please God, make her forgive me. I won’t mess up anymore if she’ll just give me another chance.

  At least twice a day, every day for the next week, Stefàn called Janine. She never took his calls and the few times she had answered herself, she quickly hung up on him.

  Her spring break was almost over and Stefàn was no closer to working things out, so he did the only thing he could to get her to talk to him face-to-face—he waited for her after church.

  She was laughing as she came out of a side exit with her older brother, Sean, and another dude that he didn’t recognize. Stefàn got out of his car and waited since they were heading in his direction. Whatever they were discussing must have been hilarious because the sound of Janine’s laughter seemed to float in the wind, massaging his ears with its sweet sound.

  They were about three yards away when Sean saw him. Noticing that Sean immediately tensed, Stefàn tried to be as humble as possible. He didn’t want to get into anything with her brother. Stefàn liked him, but he needed to speak to Janine and was determined to not let anyone prevent him from doing so.

  “Janine,” he called to her since she still hadn’t seen him.

  When she noticed him, the smile immediately fell from her face. Taking a deep breath, she rolled her eyes as they stopped in front of him. “What are you doing here, Stefàn?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “I don’t have anything to talk to you about. I’ve already said everything I had to say.”

  “Well, maybe there are some things I need to say to you.”

  “I’ve heard everything I want to hear from you, Stefàn. I told you, I don’t want to see you anymore,” she coldly stated.

  Feeling the control of his emotions slipping away from him, he quickly averted his eyes and tried to collect himself. She didn’t hesitate to turn and continue on her way with her brother and the other dude. C’mon, Stefàn, don’t give up, his subconscious self screamed. “Janine, please. I love you. Why can’t you forgive me?” He probably looked lame standing out in front of the church begging, but at that moment, Stefàn didn’t care. He refused to let Janine walk out of his life like this and if that meant making a fool of himself, then so be it.