When Sunday Comes Again Read Online Free Page A

child.”
    David barely heard her last words over the lawn mower howling outside the window. His heart pounded in his chest. It took all of his strength to remain standing in the middle of the kitchen.
    â€œI’m so sorry, David. Once the lies started, I couldn’t stop them. But you have to believe I did it all to protect Natalie, not to hurt anyone, especially not you. I’ve tried a thousand times before to get up the nerve to tell you, but I couldn’t.” The sobbing began again. Scarlett placed her head on the table and cried into her arm.
    David stood frozen in the middle of the room. He wanted to speak, but the words would not come. The churning lawn-mower engine drowned out the sound of her wrenching sobs and the pounding of his heart.
    Â 
    Â 
    Dino Goodlaw, Samantha’s driver and security guard, pulled the black Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows in front of the Cleaveland estate at exactly 10:00 A.M. , just as he had been instructed.
    Dino served as the loyal bodyguard, driver, and keeper of all things secret for Samantha and Hezekiah. His muscular frame and uncanny ability to disappear into the background made him perfectly suited to stand between the Cleavelands and dangers seen and unseen. But in the silence of his world, he also blamed himself for Hezekiah’s murder.
    â€œIf only I had been closer to the pulpit, I would have been able to get Hezekiah to the floor before the second shot to his head,” he had told the police hours after the murder. “Hezekiah would still be alive if I had just been a few feet closer.”
    From that moment on, he had vowed that he would die before any harm came to Samantha. “Any bullet aimed at Samantha will have to go through me first,” he would say to his reflection in the mirror each morning while shaving.
    A steel-gray handgun in his shoulder holster was visible for a brief moment as Dino exited the vehicle. He quickly buttoned his black suit coat to conceal the weapon before Samantha opened the front door.
    The air was clear and smelled of ocean mist. Palm trees lining the winding driveway leading to the stately home stood like sentries guarding a king’s palace. A cluster of butterflies fluttered around a bed of flowers at the foot of a double elliptical stone stairway leading up to the grand entrance of the home. The neo-Baroque covered porch with cream-colored wrought-stone columns and twelve-foot double doors served as the perfect stage for the statuesque woman.
    Dino stood near the rear car door at the foot of the stairs. He checked his watch nervously and resisted the urge to pace the granite cobblestoned surface. When the front door finally opened, Samantha emerged, carrying a brown leather case. Strands of hair flowed like molten lava around her face as she walked down the stairs. She wore dark sunglasses and a mint-green pantsuit over a simple cream silk shell that only hinted of the perfect form that was beneath.
    â€œGood morning, Pastor Cleaveland,” Dino said as she descended. “Another beautiful day today.”
    â€œGood morning, Dino,” she responded with a smile normally reserved for cameras, full arenas, and six-figure donors. However, Samantha and Dino shared a unique bond. They were the last people to touch Hezekiah when he was alive, and the first to touch his body when he lay dead on the pulpit floor. “How are you today, Dino? I hope you’re sleeping better. I worry about you.”
    â€œThat is very kind of you, Pastor Cleaveland, but it’s my job to worry about you. Please don’t give it another thought. I know you have enough on your mind these days.”
    Dino opened the rear door of the Escalade when Samantha reached the bottom step. She handed him the brown case and entered the plush automobile. When she settled in the rear, he passed the case back to her and firmly closed the door.
    â€œI do have a lot on my mind, Dino,” she said from the rear as