Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

VANESSA DAVIS GRIGGS is a motivational speaker and the author of over a dozen novels which include The Blessed Trinity series: Blessed Trinity, Strongholds, If Memory Serves, Practicing What You Preach, Goodness and Mercy, The Truth Is the Light, The Other Side of Goodness, The Other Side of Dare, and The Other Side of Divine. A recipient of several awards, this married mother of three adult sons, mother-in-law of one daughter, and grandmother of four adorable granddaughters and one handsome grandson lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Visit her online at VanessaDavisGriggs.com.

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THE OTHER SIDE OF DARE

DAFINA BOOKS

Chapter One

"The devil sure is busy. That's really a lot going on." Tiffany Connors paced from one end of the couch to the other as she talked on the phone. "Yes, I definitely know that God is busier. Pastor Landris reminds us of that enough. But in my thirty years on this earth, I don't believe I've ever seen the devil as busy as he seems to be right now. It's like he's messing with pretty much everyone we know, all at the same time. Poor Gabrielle. She's dealing with some stuff these days, that's for sure."

Thirty-three-year-old Darius Connors sat in the den at his computer listening intently to his wife's conversation about Gabrielle Mercedes while trying to pretend that he wasn't. She was talking to Fatima Adams, a fellow dancer in the church's dance ministry. Oddly, he wasn't listening so closely because he'd once had a three-year-long affair with the now thirty-six-year-old Fatima that consequently ended about five years ago. He thought for a second. Today was April 29, 2010. He counted back to 2005, the year Fatima ended things. Yes, May 14, her birthday, it would be five years.

He felt pretty confident Fatima wouldn't tell his wife about them, not at this point anyway. Not since Tiffany and Fatima had become friends through the dance ministry. If Fatima was going to spill the Kool-Aid, he figured she would have done it already. Telling Tiffany now would most certainly put their friendship in jeopardy with questions like why Fatima didn't tell her in the beginning, and why she'd gone a whole year with them knowing each other on a friendly basis and she still hadn't said anything. It would cause more than just mere tension and not just in the dance ministry, but in church. Knowing Fatima like he had, he knew she wouldn't want to be responsible for anything like that. Not little pristine Fatima.

Tiffany glanced over at him and flashed him a big smile, then winked. He quickly realized he must have been staring harder than he'd intended. He really wanted her to think he wasn't listening at all. Generally, that's what she accused him of: not listening to her at all. He quickly began to tap on the keys on the computer to give the impression he hadn't been staring down her throat, trying to capture every word that was coming out of her mouth, but instead purely absentmindedly thinking.

"Well, it's now the end of April, and I know you were looking forward to Gabrielle's return from her leave of absence and fully taking back her position as the director over the dance ministry. But you've been doing a fabulous job in her absence these past few months. Fabulous. You have. Everybody in the ministry is saying so. And I've told you that if you need my help with anything, I'm merely a phone call away." Tiffany walked over to the end table where the base of the phone resided.

"All right, Fatima. Well, keep me informed. You know how much I love Gabrielle. Yes, we all love her. And we've all been praying for her and that precious little girl. You know what they say: If it's not one thing, it's another." Tiffany shook her head. "I don't know why things happen to good people, either. But one thing we do know, and that is that God is still on the throne. What Satan may mean for bad, God will use it for good. Yes, He will."

Tiffany listened, then nodded. "Okay. I'll talk to you later. Call me if you need me now. All right. Bye now." Tiffany carefully placed the cordless phone back into its base.

Darius continued to type as he looked out of the side of his eye. He didn't want to give Tiffany the impression that he was waiting for her to get off the phone to pounce on her. But he was definitely anxious to find out what had been said on the other end of his wife's conversation.

Tiffany walked over to Darius and placed her hand on his shoulder. "What'cha doing?" There was a touch of sweetness in the low register of her voice.

Darius stopped and turned fully toward his wife whose straight, jet-black hair was hanging down to her shoulders. "What I've been doing for the past seven months now: looking for a job. You know I need to hurry up and find something. I need a job so I can take care of my family." Darius got up from the computer, grabbed Tiffany's hand, led her over to the couch, and pulled her down onto his lap.

Tiffany let out a quick yelp, then giggled like a schoolgirl. "Now what are you doing?"

Darius smiled. "Well, according to Pastor Landris: If you have to ask, then that means I haven't been properly taking care of my business at home."

"We've both been so busy, especially lately. Me working all the time at my job, coming home and taking care of the children, cooking and taking care of our house; and you searching hard for a job. So how's the job hunt coming?"

Darius wrinkled his nose, then smiled. "About the same. But don't you worry your pretty little head about it. I'm working on something that, if I play my cards just right, I believe is going to come through. I can feel it. If it does, then financially we'll be sitting pretty, maybe even finally able to catch up on these past-due bills that are dogging us like pit bulls. And at least we can be thankful that I get an unemployment check. I know some folks who can't even get that. For now, there's something coming into our household from my end to help out so I'm not completely hating. Looking for a job these days is no joke though. It's hard out here; I ain't gonna lie."

"Darius, your unemployment check is a blessing, but we both know it's not close to being enough. We were barely making it when you were bringing in a full check with overtime." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Listen and hear me out: I saw an ad for a part-time job I'd be perfect for. It would take some doing, with me working full-time already, but if you would take care of the children while I'm not here, I could—"

Darius placed his index finger over her lips, effectively quieting her. "Woman, what have I told you already about that? Didn't I just tell you not to worry? I'm going to take care of us. Haven't I been hitting the streets almost every single day trying to secure something? I'm applying for jobs over the Internet, which apparently is the new way of putting in applications no matter who's hiring. I've been networking when and where I can, which is still fashionable no matter how high tech the world gets. There's nothing like getting out there mingling with folks, meeting someone who knows someone who knows someone who can hook you up. I'm working on it. Okay? I got this." He smiled and nodded his head with the words, "I got this."

Tiffany smiled back, her lips going from what looked like a line drawn slightly downward to an upturned curve. "If you're sure? Because you are good at getting people to do what you want. I do have to give you that much."

"Oooh! Ouch! I'm not sure if that was an openhanded front slap or a backhanded compliment."

Tiffany placed her hand on his chest. "Don't try to play me, Darius. You and I both know you can be a little slickster when you want to be. You have a gift of luring folks over to your side before they even know what hit them. If there's something locked in your targeted scope, you're going to keep at it until you bag it."

"So, was that Fatima you were talking to on the phone?" Darius wanted to get around to...