The evening took off from there, with Corvus introducing Miracle to many of his friends and business associates. He coerced her onto the dance floor more than once to both upbeat and slow songs.
Miracle saw Faith and Dante enjoying themselves with the rest of the crowd and smiled. She’d been worried about fitting in with Corvus’ crowd, but they all seemed to be very happy, very sweet people. She talked with some and learned about how they knew Corvus.
The man who had her so enamored was spoken highly of by everyone who knew him. He was known to be helpful, generous, and kind in addition to being a terrible tease. When she found her way back to him, he took her into his arms and kissed her cheek.
“Are you having a good time?” he asked.
“Yes, are you?”
He nodded. “I’ve been watching you.”
Miracle looked at him as a Kem song started, and he moved with her gently. “Why?”
“Because you’re beautiful,” he answered.
She laughed. “You’ve had everyone telling me that tonight.”
“It’s true.”
Miracle sobered. “Do you really think so?”
Corvus pulled her closer. “That’s why I’ve been watching you.”
She wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, Corvus…”
“You want to sing for me tonight?” he asked.
Miracle pulled back. “NO! Do not do that. I will not sing in front of all these people.”
“I bet you sing in front of people at church,” he challenged.
“That’s different,”
He smiled. “Faith told me that you know a lot of secular songs.”
“Faith is going to get in trouble.”
Corvus laughed. “Faith said she stayed in trouble.”
Miracle joined him in laughter. “She did and I was in trouble with her, because I’m loyal.”
“You know what else she told me?” Corvus asked moving her to the music.
She shook her head. “I’m afraid to find out.”
“She said that she couldn’t have asked for a better big sister or role model. She said she loves you more than anything and you deserve only the best,” he told her and her eyes waters.
“Oh my God…that Faith!” Miracle blinked at tears before touching the corners of her eyes. “I can’t help but to love her.”
“Yeah, she’s dope.”
Miracle smiled. “She really likes you.”
“Everybody likes me.”
She looked around the crowded room. “I guess you’re right.”
He pulled her closer. “Do you like me?”
“I think that’s more than evident,” she whispered.
“Do you want to go back upstairs?” he asked with a sly grin.
Miracle shook her head. “We should stay down here.”
He laughed. “You’re always safe, no matter where we are.”
She laid her head on his chest. “I do feel that way.”
Corvus looked up as he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned then smiled as Miracle lifted her head.
“Ethan, my man. What’s up?”
“Happy Birthday!” The two men patted one another on the back.
Corvus smiled. “Thanks,” He turned to Miracle. “This is Miracle.”
Ethan laughed. “Yeah, I think everybody knows that.” He held out his hand to her. “It’s a pleasure to meet the beautiful Miracle.”
She flushed and shook his hand. “Thank you. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.”
Ethan smiled and turned to Corvus. “Hey, I’m going to stop by your office tomorrow.”
Corvus looked surprised. “Okay, what’s up?”
“It’s your birthday, let’s just talk later,” Ethan told him and Corvus understood this was more than land business.
He nodded. “Okay, just let me know when you’re coming.”
“Cool.”
Ethan looked at Miracle. “Again it’s a pleasure, I know I’ll be seeing more of you.”
Corvus and Miracle watched him mingle into the crowd and she looked up at Corvus. “Is everything alright?”
Corvus frowned. “Probably not,” he answered. “Ethan is the Field Director for the HUD office here in Detroit. Something must be going on if he wants to meet at my office.”
“Do you do a lot of work with him?”
“We’ve done a few projects in the past. He’s also helped the Negus out.” Corvus explained as the Roberts brothers approached.
“Hey, we’re taking off but we just wanted to say hello to the beautiful Miracle before we left,” Malachi said with a smile.
Miracle covered her face. “I can’t believe this.”
Mathias laughed. “Even though Corvus mandated it, it is the truth.”
“Thank you,” Miracle said with a soft smile.
Malachi looked at Corvus. “You took care of that situation in the parking lot?”
Corvus nodded. “Yeah,”
“Let me know if you need any further assistance with that.”
“Thanks,” Corvus responded with a grin. “That was lightweight.”
Malachi agreed. “I could tell.”
As the hour got later, the party goers began to slowly file out and Corvus kept Miracle on the dance floor with him protectively in his arms.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked and she looked around.
“There are still people here.”
Corvus smiled. “I don’t have to stay until they’re gone. The club owners will close everything down.”
“Then I’m ready whenever you’re ready,” Miracle agreed.
The couple found Faith and Dante still getting their party on with some other guests. They looked up and saw Miracle and Corvus approaching.
“Don’t tell us you’re leaving?” Faith frowned.
Corvus laughed. “You can stay until they put you out.”
Dante nodded. “Okay.”
Miracle hugged her sister. “Have a good night and be safe.”
Faith returned her embrace. “I will, you too.”
The two men made plans to touch base at a later date while the women said their goodbyes. In the car, Corvus turned to Miracle, who had her head back against the seat.
“Are you tired?” he inquired softly.
She nodded with her eyes closed. “This was a lot of excitement.”
“Did you have a good time?”
Miracle turned to him. “Yes, I did, even though you embarrassed me.”
“What did I do?” Corvus asked innocently.
She smirked. “Don’t even try it…”
He continued to drive. “You shouldn’t be so fine.” He shrugged.
“You play too much,” she complained with a smile.
“I know, but I wasn’t playing then.”
Miracle shook her head. “It’s no wonder that you have women falling at your feet. You know how to make a woman feel very special.”
“Because Goddesses are very special…”
“I can’t get used to you calling me that,” she confessed. “It sounds almost blasphemous.”
Corvus turned to her. “If I called you Princess, or Queen, would that sound blasphemous?”
She shook her head again. “No,”
“Because you’re accustomed to other cultures that currently use those terms to describe their women,” he explained. “When I call you Goddess, I am showing my reverence for you as the most powerful feminine creation.”
“You make it seem like the woman is the Head,” she told him.
Corvus took her hand. “Without you, there is no union. Without you, there are no children. Without you, there is nothing to live for…so you tell me, who really holds the power?”
Miracle stared at him then turned to the window and watched the passing scenery. Corvus Shaw was a lot to take in. His ideology was intriguing to say the least.
“Do you call yourself a God?” she questioned.
“Yes,” he answered and she quickly turned to him with wide eyes.
Corvus smiled. “I was waiting to get around to this.”
“Can you explain it?” Miracle asked confused.
He nodded. “You take the word ‘god’ and you make it singular. You separate it from all other words to represent one entity. Which is your right to do…and I’m not debating that.”
Miracle waited as he continued. “I believe that we are all a part of the creator and if the creator is called ‘God’, then I’m called god too, since all the power to create is also within me.”
“I’m not saying that I’m replacing God but that I am affirming and acknowledging the power that dwells within me,” he finished.
“Where did you learn this?” she asked in awe.
He gently squeezed her hand. “From my ancestors, those that left writings on the walls that still stand today.”
Miracle remained silently absorbing his words as he arrived at her home. Corvus cut the engine and turned to her.
“Is that too much?” he asked. “Do you want to run inside and not look back?”
After a minute, she turned to him. “No, I want you to come inside so that I can give you your birthday present.”
Corvus smiled. “That’s sounds real good.”
He came around and opened her door before they headed to her porch. Automatically, she handed him the keys and waited to be shown inside. She escorted Corvus to the sofa after turning on a few low lights.
“I need to take off these shoes, and use the bathroom so I’ll be right back,” she announced. “Please make yourself comfortable.”
Corvus nodded and removed his jacket as she disappeared. He slumped down on the sofa and let out a long sigh. Never in a million years had he thought his Goddess would be a pastor’s daughter, born and raised in the church environment.
To him, it made no difference but he knew from experience that some religious believers could be extremely staunch and rigid in their beliefs to the point of alienating anyone who did not acquiesce to their ideals.
Miracle, however, seemed to at least be open to listening. His goal was never to change what she believed, but to show her that everyone didn’t have to believe the exact same thing in the exact same way.
He looked up as she returned, barefoot with a wrapped package in her hands. “Happy Birthday!”
Corvus stood to his feet. “Miracle, you didn’t have to do this.”
She smiled. “What do you get the man that has everything?”
He touched her face. “This…”
“Well, I got you something else too.” She held the box out to him and he took it slowly.
Miracle sat gracefully on the sofa with her feet tucked underneath her and waited as he sat down to open her surprise.
“What is it?’ he asked, shaking the heavy box by his ear.
“I believe that if you open it, you can find out…” she told him and he laughed softly.
“I might take it home and open it.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because you’re so excited and if I have the wrong reaction, you might get mad or be hurt,” he explained.
“I won’t be angry,” she said softly. “If you don’t like it, please tell me.”
Corvus looked at the box. “Tell me what it is.”
“Corvus, stop…open it.”
Miracle watched as he slowly began opening the package. “Do you open all your gifts like this?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Other gifts didn’t matter.”
She studied him. “You’re serious right now.”
“Dead serious.”
Miracle moved closer as he focused on the box. She placed a hand on his arm. “Why?”
He turned dark eyes on her. “Because it’s from you.”
“I promise it’s not a big deal,” Miracle said softly. “It’s just a little something that I picked up for you.”
Corvus removed the wrapping paper and saw the box inside. Miracle waited while he lifted the top then stared at her. Gently he pulled the etched glass pyramid from the box.
“Wow, this is incredible…” he said in awe.
Miracle smiled. “I researched Khemet and when I saw that, I thought of you. I figured you could put it on your desk.”
“This is amazing, Miracle. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“So you like it?” she asked.
Corvus looked at her. “I love it.”
Miracle wiped a hand across her brow in a dramatic fashion. “Whew! I’m glad we survived that. I thought the world was going to end.”
He sat the piece on the table and pulled her onto his lap and kissed her softly. “You’re going to make me speed my plans up.”
She looked up at him. “What plans do you have?”
“To steal a little church girl away and worship her.”
“Where would you take her?”
He kissed her cheek. “I’ve told you…anywhere she wants to go. I own property all over the world.”
Miracle looked at him. “Do you really?”
Corvus nodded. “You have a passport?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never been out of the country, unless you count Canada.”
“Canada is a part of Detroit to Detroiters,” Corvus commented.
Miracle agreed then sobered. “Most of my life has been spent serving at the church. Most of my time and extra funds were spent there. I’ve never traveled.” She looked away. “I even went to school here.”
“Where were you planning to go for your honeymoon?” Corvus asked.
She moved from his lap and sat opposite him on the sofa. “I told Emanuel that wasn’t necessary.”
Corvus lifted a brow and she continued. “After college, I was consumed with building my business and working at the church. I didn’t really think about getting married because I believed that God would eventually bring that man to me.”
“Two years ago, Faith got married and then everybody started looking at me as if something was wrong with me, so I began to pray for a husband. Around that same time Emanuel came to study under my father. We were engaged a year later and we’d planned to marry sometime this year, once he’d been promoted.”
Corvus listened without comment as she looked down at the floor.
“I thought that everything was perfect. He was a pastor like my Daddy. I knew what would be expected of me and I was ready to do whatever it took to be a good wife. I did all that was asked of me and it still didn’t work out.”
Miracle lifted her gaze to his. “I was even willing to sell my house and move in with his parents until he could finance us a home.”
Corvus frowned. “What the hell?” he questioned. “He lives with his parents?”
She nodded. “He says it doesn’t look good for him to be a single man living alone. He doesn’t agree with me living on my own, but I was already doing that when I met him and I wasn’t about to move back in with my parents.”
He shook his head in confusion. “Wow, I’ve never heard anything like that before.”
“Is it strange to you?” she questioned. “Because it all seemed normal to me.”
Corvus moved closer and took her hand. “Yes, it’s strange to me but if it’s what you wanted then it doesn’t matter.”
“That’s the thing,” Miracle whispered. “How do you know what you want when you’ve never experienced anything else?”
She looked at him with confused eyes. “I’m twenty-seven years old and you gave me my first kiss because I was waiting for a man who was openly kissing other women. I’ve done everything my father has asked because I never wanted to disappoint him or God, which sometimes in my mind, became one in the same.”
Miracle dropped her face into her hands. “And I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
Corvus moved her legs onto his lap and she removed her hands.
“You’re telling me because I want to hear it,” Corvus told her. “I want to know everything about you.”
She touched his face. “I like how you listen to me.”
“I just like to watch your lips move,” he told her.
Miracle smiled. “And you make me smile all the time. I don’t think I smile at anybody as much as I do at you.”
Corvus touched her bare leg. “I love that smile. It knocked me off my feet the first time and I saw it and every time since then.”
Miracle looked at his warm hand on her leg. She’d never felt a man touch her bare skin this way.
“I tell myself that it’s wrong for me to like the way that you kiss me and touch me,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“You’re not the type of man that I should feel this way about,” Miracle said honestly.
Corvus nodded. “Explain that to me.”
She removed her hand from his face. “I want different things.”
“What did I tell you earlier?” he asked quietly.
Miracle looked confused.
“You only have to say the word and I will do whatever you ask,” Corvus reminded her, holding her gaze.
“So if I said that I wanted to get married and have a family…” Miracle watched his reaction.
“Then I’d say, tell me when.”
She looked away as her heart sped up. “You tease too much.”
“Miracle…” He waited until she turned to him. “I’m not teasing baby.”
“What?” She jumped to her feet and hugged herself.
Corvus stood slowly. “I’m not teasing you. I told you that I called for my Goddess…and it’s you.”
Miracle began to pace. “What does that even mean?”
He nodded and tried a different tactic. “Okay, you prayed for a husband right?”
She looked at him. “Yes.”
“What did you ask for?”
Miracle took a deep breath and thought for a moment. “I just wanted someone to love and cherish me, someone I could trust and someone who would listen to me.”
She looked up at him. “I listen to you, you can trust me and if you let me, I will love you Miracle.” Corvus told her.
Miracle put her hands to her head. “You’re Corvus Shaw. You can have any woman in this city and probably elsewhere.” She looked up at him again. “Why would you want me of all people? I don’t even halfway understand you!”
“I sent the call out for you because I was ready.”
She threw her hands in the air. “Ready for what?”
“To be the answer to your prayers.”
Miracle began to pace. “Oh my God! This is not happening right now. Lord, help me!”
Corvus watched her silently until she turned to him. “Is this some type of prank?”
He crossed the room with a purpose and picked her up into his arms, much to her surprise.
“It’s not prank, or a joke and I’m not teasing you,” he told her firmly.
Miracle held on as he kept her in the air, holding her troubled gaze. “Corvus…”
“Relax Little Goddess,” he soothed her and held her close. “We’re not eloping tonight.”
Holding her in his arms, Corvus glanced toward the bedroom, then got control of his thoughts and moved to the sofa. He sat and cuddled her against his chest, gently stroking her arm.
“What are you thinking?” He kissed the top of her head.
“That I’m hallucinating.”
Corvus laughed softly. “It’s very real.”
Miracle placed a hand on his chest. “You believe that you could love me?”
“I started falling in love with you when you smiled at me, Miracle. I haven’t stopped since, and I don’t plan on stopping ever,” Corvus told her.
Miracle burrowed deeper into his body, holding him tightly and Corvus began to slide a big hand up and down her back.
“If you don’t talk to me, my mind is going to come up with an entire list of other things to do,” Corvus told her.
She felt his firm body underneath her and reveled in this place that felt like home. “I don’t want to talk,” she whispered. “I just want to be here…with you.”