Title: Soul Matters
Author: Yolonda Tonette Sanders
Publisher: Yo Productions LLC
Pages: 360
Genre: Contemporary Christian Fiction
With a successful husband, a
fulfilling teaching career, and a baby on the way, Wendy Phillips seems
to have it all. She’s certain God is on her side. After all, the woman
she’s become wouldn’t exist without the strength of her close-knit
family or her own determination to be a model daughter, sister, and
wife.
But one phone call shatters Wendy’s
illusion of perfection, turning her carefully crafted life upside down.
Suddenly, everything she believed about herself, her family, and her
faith is called into question.
As her marriage crumbles and her faith
wavers, Wendy finds herself needing more support than she ever
imagined. Her journey to healing will require a sister’s unexpected
strength, a mother’s surprising honesty, and a truth Wendy never saw
coming.
Now only God’s grace can help her
confront the pain she didn’t expect and discover the soul-deep freedom
she never dreamed possible.
Soul Matters is available at Amazon and Walmart.
It was
ten minutes to three, and Wendy was eager to leave work on time. “Start
cleaning up now,” she said to her first grade class. They had crayons,
markers, and books all over the place. “Be sure to put everything back
where it belongs. After you finish, line up at the door and wait until
the bell rings.”
Much to
Wendy’s surprise, her instructions were followed with little
resistance. A few students mumbled about not being able to finish what
they were doing. Still, even they cooperated without her saying
anything else. Maybe they could sense that something was different
about her. Toward the end of each day, the children usually had
exploratory time and could choose between various activities such as
reading, coloring, playing educational games, or anything else that
Wendy deemed appropriate. She usually walked around the classroom and
interacted with several students during that time. However, she sat at
her desk like a watchdog this entire week, responding only when
needed.
“Just a
few more days . . .” Wendy murmured to herself. Next Wednesday, the
school would be closed for Christmas break, and as much as she hated to
admit it, she was looking forward to having some time off. Although
only seven weeks pregnant, she was beginning to feel the effects of
this pregnancy on her body. She used to have the vitality of a three
year-old, but lately, she felt like she would lose in a walking race
against Methuselah. She was convinced that the term “morning sickness”
was deceptive. If the feelings of nausea, vomiting, heartburn, and
headaches were only confined to a few hours of the day, it would make
the first trimester of her pregnancy much more bearable. Instead, she
was liable to experience morning sickness at any given moment
of the day. While the children were cleaning up, Wendy was on the edge
of her seat, waiting for the bell to ring. Thank God it’s Friday. She
didn’t think she would be able to make it another day. She was going
straight home after work. She would not leave the house until it was
time to go to church on Sunday morning. After service, Wendy planned to
go over to her parents’ house to celebrate her father’s birthday.
Wendy hoped to feel better by next Friday when she and her husband,
Kevin, were scheduled to go to Philadelphia and visit his family for
the holidays. The Ohio native would rather spend her Christmas
vacation recuperating from her ailments in the comfort of her own home,
but there was no way she could back out of the trip now. Her
mother-in-law was ecstatic about the pregnancy and could not wait until
they got to Philly so she could show Wendy some of the things that she
had already bought for the baby.
“Keep your hands to yourselves,” she said to two boys who were shoving each other.
“He
started it!” David stated, pointing at Jeffrey. “Nuh-uh, he did!”
Jeffrey pointed back at him. “It doesn’t matter who started it. Both of
you knock it off,”
Wendy
replied sternly. Secretly, she knew that David probably was at fault,
but she didn’t feel like investigating the issue. David was bigger than
the other first graders in both height and weight. Jeffrey was one of
those children who looked like he had been born premature, making him an
easy target for David. Even though David was sometimes a bully, Wendy
liked him, probably because he reminded her of herself.
Wendy
had never been a bully, but she had been heavy and tall as a child. She
used to feel awkward standing next to other children in her class. It
irritated her when adults would ask how old she was and then say, “You
look like you should be older than that.” It wasn’t until the summer
before her freshman year of high school that she began to thin out. In
her adult years, Wendy managed to remain a size eight, but she had to
work hard at it, contrary to her younger sister, Kim, who naturally
wore a size six.
When the
bell rang, it was music to her ears. “Okay, let’s go.” Wendy jumped up
and escorted her class to the pick-up area. Once there, another staff
member stayed with them until their bus or a parent came to pick them
up. When they reached their destination, Wendy said goodbye to her
students and headed back to her classroom.
“Attention,
all teachers and staff: Mrs. Phillips, please come to the office.
Wendy Phillips to the front office, please,” she heard Donna Burchett,
the office secretary, announce over the PA system.
For
what? Maybe I should go ahead and leave. No one would be able to say
for sure that I was in the building during the announcement. Wendy
was only a few doors away from her classroom, so all she had to do was
grab her stuff and head home. However, she reluctantly turned around
and walked toward the office at a medium pace. Her shoulder-length hair
often bounced as she walked. Today, it was pulled back in a ponytail.
Wendy hated ponytails and only wore her hair in that style when she
worked out. However, since she had been experiencing morning sickness,
she devoted less time to her appearance. She even had her glasses on,
and Wendy normally wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of glasses.
“Wendy Phillips, please come to the office,” Ms. Burchett repeated.
Coming! she wanted to yell. I hope it is something simple like a signature needed on some paperwork that I filed. She dreaded the possibility of a parent waiting to speak with her about a child’s behavior.
“Hi, you paged me?” Wendy inquired as she burst through the door into the administrative office.
“Yes,
dear, you had a telephone call,” Ms. Burchett replied, exposing the gap
between her stained teeth resulting from years of smoking.
“A telephone call? From whom?” Wendy asked, scrunching her eyebrows to indicate confusion. No one ever calls me at work. Her
friends and family knew she taught and was unavailable during the day.
“It must be from a parent. I’ll take the message, but I’m not calling
anyone back until Monday.”
“No, honey, it wasn’t from a parent. Someone called from Dr. Korva’s office.”
“Oh,” she said nervously, trying hard to keep her composure and not panic.
“I wrote
down the number.” Ms. Burchett handed Wendy a piece of paper and
pointed to the phone on her desk. “You can call from here if you’d
like.” She carefully studied Wendy’s response.
“That’s okay. I’ll wait and call later since I’m getting ready to leave anyhow.”
“The lady didn’t tell me why she was calling, but it sounded important.”
Wendy
could tell that Ms. Burchett was fishing for information. Odds are, she
had already tried to gather as much as she could from the person who
called. Wendy hadn’t told anyone at the school about her pregnancy yet,
and now was not the time to make that announcement. “Thanks so
much, Ms. Burchett, but I’m sort of in a hurry, so I’ll call back from
my cell phone on my way home.”
“Okay. I
just hope everything is fine,” she said with narrow, bluish-green eyes
peering from the top of her glasses. “Are you sick, honey?”
“No,
ma’am,” Wendy said honestly. Her mind was so boggled with getting to a
phone to return Dr. Korva’s call that the feelings of morning sickness
had been temporarily suppressed.
“Then why would someone from a doctor’s office call you?”
As much
as Wendy wanted to tell Ms. Burchett to mind her business, she
couldn’t. The woman was at least in her late fifties or early sixties,
and Wendy couldn’t strike up the nerve to tell her off. If only I were a little more like Kim, she
thought, because her sister would not have wasted any time putting Ms.
Burchett in her place. The two sisters had similar characteristics
with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and dimples. However, Wendy’s
complexion was just a little lighter than Kim’s, and she was also a few
inches taller than her younger sibling. Both ladies favored their
mother, but Kim had been blessed with a high metabolism and the ability
to speak her mind audaciously. Wendy wasn’t as outspoken. Besides, she
generally liked Ms. Burchett, although this interrogation tested her
patience. “I’m not sure, but I’d better run so I can find out, huh? You
have a good weekend, Ms. Burchett,” she said, backing toward the
door.
“Okay, you too—and I’ll talk to you on Monday.” Not if I can avoid it, you won’t! Wendy
walked out of the office and raced back to her classroom. She was so
disturbed by the call that she rushed past several of her co-workers
without speaking. Why did Dr. Korva call me at work? She didn’t know, but she was desperate to find out.
When
Wendy returned to her classroom, she grabbed the cell phone out of her
purse only to discover a message waiting. That was nothing unusual
because her phone stayed on vibrate during the day. A lot of times, Kim
called her from the hair salon where she worked and left messages when
she was between clients.
“Hi,
Wendy, this is Susan, Dr. Korva’s nurse. She would like you to come
into the office today, if possible, to discuss your test results. She’s
leaving around four this afternoon. If you can’t make it before she
leaves, then you need to come sometime early next week. Please call the
office and let the receptionist know what works best for you. The
number here is 555-3794. We hope to see you soon.”
Wendy’s heart sank. Dr.
Korva told me that they take blood and vaginal swabs to run tests on
all expectant mothers. The only reason they would call was if something
came back abnormal.
She
looked at her watch. The time was now three fifteen. It would be a
stretch to make it from the southeast side of Columbus to the northern
suburb where her gynecologist’s office was located. Such a trip would
take forty minutes this time of day, at the very least. Still, she
tried to call the doctor’s office anyway, hoping that, with any luck,
they would squeeze her in.
Shaking
and short of breath, Wendy wiped her sweaty palms on her clothing and
dialed the number. “Hi, this is Wendy Phillips,” she said, trying to
hold back tears. “I’m returning a call to Dr. Korva. Will she be able
to see me today? I can be there in about half an hour?” She altered her
traveling time, hoping to increase her chance of being seen.
“Oh,”
she said solemnly when the receptionist said Dr. Korva was running
behind schedule. Wendy couldn’t be seen until Monday morning. “Well,
can you tell her I’m on the line? Maybe she can just tell me the
results over the phone.” She crossed her fingers, praying that she
would be transferred to the doctor. No such luck. Dr. Korva preferred
to talk in person. “Okay, I’ll be there at nine on Monday,” she said,
confirming the time of her appointment before hanging up the phone in
despair.
How am I going to make it until then? She dreaded going back to the office and arranging for a substitute through Ms. Burchett. Forget it. I’ll just call in, she
opted. Sure, not submitting a request for a substitute beforehand was
inconsiderate and unprofessional, but she didn’t care at this point.
Her main concern was finding some way to make it through the weekend
without losing her mind.
Wendy
got her stuff and headed for the car. She tried to talk herself into
remaining calm, but it wasn’t working. She felt lightheaded. What if my baby has a mental disability? What if it’s deformed or has some kind of genetic defect? She
tormented herself. She was afraid of what the doctor would say. She
knew it was bad news. Her fear turned into anger toward Kevin. I told him that his smoking could cause damage to the child, but he didn’t believe me. If
Kevin just smoked cigarettes, she could probably deal with it a little
better, but he sometimes smoked marijuana, and Wendy couldn’t stand
it.
Whenever
she complained about his recreational activities, Kevin got upset. He
would tell her that he was not doing anything that she wasn’t aware of
before they got married. True, Wendy knew about his smoking when they
were dating, but it was different then. She was attracted to his
street-but-sweet personality. She had never dated anyone so successful,
yet a little rough around the edges. Plus, he was very pleasing to
the naked eye. He reminded her of a Denzel Washington wrapped up in a
Barry White voice. He was the perfect package: sexy, successful, and
single.
Kevin’s
accomplishments intrigued her most of all. He worked hard for
everything he owned and built his real estate business from the ground
up. He was very successful and made well over six figures a year. He
didn’t have parents who could afford to pay for his education. He paid
for it himself. He didn’t grow up in the suburbs of some major city but
lived in various ghettos of Philadelphia. His father left home when
Kevin was only three, and his mother raised him, his older brother, and
his sister with money she received from the federal government. He
didn’t let his life’s circumstances prevent him from making something
of himself, and Wendy respected that.
Foolishly,
she convinced herself that Kevin would change the things that she
didn’t like about him once they married, but he hadn’t. Now, nearly six
months into the marriage, the honeymoon was over, and reality had
settled in. If something is wrong with the baby, I know it’ll be all his fault, Wendy told herself.
About Yolonda Tonette Sanders
Yolonda Tonette Sanders,
Ph.D., is a storyteller at heart with a passion for both words and
people. She is the co-founder of the Faith and Fellowship Book Festival
and the author of numerous works, including novels, poetry, short
stories, and academic publications. Her writing blends authenticity,
emotional depth, and spiritual insight, often drawing from her own
journey of faith and resilience.
Yolonda earned her doctorate in
organizational leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University and is
certified in emotional intelligence. She enjoys teaching, mentoring,
consulting, and helping others discover their own voices through
writing. When she’s not creating or consulting, you’ll likely find her
spending time with her husband or enjoying heartfelt moments with loved
ones.
Her latest book is the contemporary Christian fiction, Soul Matters.
You can visit her website at www.yoproductions.net .
Watch her YouTube channel!
Connect with her at X, Facebook, Instagram and Goodreads.
