Forever Daddy’S Girls: Nieve’S Story

By Kelly O. Hall

A young ladys relationship with her earthly father should be a natural reflection of her spiritual relationship with her Heavenly Father. Even when fact does not reflect truth, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, KJV). This book looks to explore a natural father-daughter relationship and the working together of that relationship for the good of the spiritual father-daughter relationship. Our sincere prayer is that this book raises an awareness in girls that their Heavenly Father is calling for them, longing to show himself to them and develop an intimate father-daughter relationship with them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512793208

Kelly O. Hall

Kelly Hall is a daughter of God, wife, mother, accountant by trade, and ministry servant by calling. Growing up a daughter of pastors, she has served in ministry practically her entire life, and has always enjoyed interacting with and serving the youth. After struggling throughout her adolescence with low self-esteem, rejection, and poverty, Kelly developed a passion for uplifting and encouraging girls that they are loved unconditionally and passionately by the Creator of the universe.

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Copyright © 2017 Kelly O. Hall.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-9319-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-9321-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-9320-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017910697

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/17/2017

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Dear Heavenly Father,

May this book minister to Daddy’s girls everywhere. May we all know that ultimately, You are our Father, and that we are forever Daddy’s girls!

I will say to the north, Give them up! And to the south, Do not hold them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

—Isaiah 43:6–7 (NIV)

CHAPTER 1

It was 5:45 p.m. on a Wednesday. The end of daylight savings time meant that the sun was already down, and as Nieve pulled her car into the driveway, her mood was just as dark as it was outside. Hopefully no one’s here, she thought as she hit the garage-door opener. Ugh, she muttered, quickly spotting her dad’s green Ford Explorer. He was the last person she wanted to see right now.

Nieve pulled into the garage and didn’t bother to let the door back down. No point letting it down when I’ll be leaving in a few minutes for church. After the day she’d had, Nieve knew that church was about the only thing that would bring a little sanity back to her life, but she still didn’t want to go. If her dad hadn’t been home, she probably would have stayed in tonight, but she’d rather be anywhere on the face of the planet than stuck in a house with him. Please, God, don’t let this man say anything to me right now. I just want to run in here, get myself together, and go to church.

Nieve’s prayer went unanswered as she opened the door that led from the garage straight into the kitchen. Her dad was at the counter and turned to greet her. Hey, baby girl.

Hey, she answered curtly, not even sending a glance his way. She walked straight past him, through the dining room, and toward the stairs. She heard him mumbling as she took the stairs two at a time. Once she finally reached her bedroom at the end of the hall, Nieve kicked her shoes off as she closed the door behind her. With no time to waste, she went straight into her bathroom and stood in front of her mirror. Good, it doesn’t look like I’ve been crying. She grabbed her brush from the vanity and swiftly brushed her hair into a loose ponytail. Holding the ponytail with one hand, she opened a drawer and pulled out a black scrunchie. Once she’d secured the ponytail, she glanced sideways at it in the mirror. She moved her head slightly to make sure her ponytail had body and that no stray pieces were sticking out. Cool, she thought to herself. She grabbed the deodorant off the countertop and sprayed liberally under both arms.

Nieve walked back into her bedroom and kicked off her blue-jean skirt. She grabbed a pair of gray sweatpants from her closet. These don’t need ironing, and I’m not even tryin’ to look cute tonight, she rationalized as she threw on the pants. She left on the light-green-and-gray cotton shirt she’d worn to school and grabbed the matching jacket to her pants from the closet. I’ll get all this stuff off the floor when I get back. Nieve reached into the closet and pulled out her green-and-gray tennis shoes and slipped them on without untying them.

She grabbed her Bible and notebook off her desk, flipped off the light in her bedroom, and headed back down the hallway to the stairs. Her mom was at the foot of the stairs headed up. Hey, Mama. I’m on my way to church.

Hey, baby. I’m not going tonight. I’ve got a headache, Nieve’s mom said as she continued up. They met each other halfway along the stairs and stopped as Brenda planted a kiss on her younger daughter’s cheek. I can’t believe you’re going out without any makeup on, honey. Either you’ve finally realized that you ain’t Beyoncé, or there is something definitely wrong with you today.

Mama, you’re a trip. Brenda had managed to bring a slight smile to Nieve’s face with her comments. I’m going to put on some lip gloss in the car. Yes, I did have a terrible day, and I’ll talk to you about it later. You just get some rest since your head is hurting. Nieve continued to walk down the stairs and turned back to add, And don’t let that man get on your nerves tonight, Mama.

"Nieve, I’m not worried about your daddy. And that is your daddy, little girl, so you’d better watch your mouth." Brenda never turned to look at Nieve as she responded to her comment. She knew Nieve was trying to protect her, and she hated that her sixteen-year-old child even felt like she needed to. Life had definitely dealt them some blows lately that they just hadn’t been expecting.

Nieve rounded the corner into the dining room and noticed her father sitting at the table, eating whatever he had been fixing when she first came through the kitchen. As he opened his mouth to speak to her, she quickly turned her head and marched through the kitchen back into the garage. Her mother had let the garage door down. She’s always messing with stuff, Nieve thought to herself as she opened her car door and immediately hit the garage-door-opener button. It had taken her only one time backing into the garage door to always remember to let it up before even thinking about starting the car.

Silence was Nieve’s music as she drove to the church. Her thoughts were louder than any music could have been. They had been louder than those of her afternoon teachers, her friends, cheerleading practice, and Greg’s phone calls all evening. God, if you don’t help me for real, I don’t know what I’m going to do, Nieve prayed as she gripped the steering wheel tightly, determined to keep her emotions under control. Nieve whipped her car into the church parking lot and headed to her usual parking spot, right beside her friend KiKi, who was, as usual, waiting for her.

As soon as Nieve pulled up, KiKi jumped out of her car and into the passenger’s seat of Nieve’s Honda Civic. Okay, girl. I know what I heard at school, but you have got to tell me yourself. What happened? KiKi exclaimed in her usual high-pitched voice.

Nieve sighed and put her head down on the steering wheel. I saw Greg kissing Nicole in the hallway after fifth period. He said she kissed him, but that’s not what I saw. I didn’t see her kiss him; I saw them kissing. I mean, we’ve been going out for seven months. He has been there through all of this craziness with my mom and dad. He knows how devastated me and my mom were when we found out that my dad was cheating on her. KiKi, that’s what makes it so bad! I know guys cheat on girls all the time, but the fact that he could do something like that to me after all of the hurt that he’s just seen us go through makes me so mad! I’d better stop talking about this stuff, because I’m getting worked up all over again, and I really don’t need to be thinking about this stuff and going into church.

Greg came up to me after school. He was really upset. He said he tried to tell you that it wasn’t like that, but you wouldn’t listen. He said that Nicole came up and said some stuff and then just grabbed him and kissed him. He said it caught him off guard, and that’s why he just stood there—because he couldn’t believe what she was doing. NiNi, he was really upset. I mean, he had tears in his eyes and everything—

KiKi, tears don’t mean nothing to me! If she just walked up and said whatever and kissed him, why didn’t he push her away? I’m not even trying to hear all that. Let’s go on into church.

Okay, Nieve. I’m not going to say anything else, KiKi continued as they got out of the car and walked to the rear entrance of the church. You know I got your back, girl. I just want you to be happy like you used to be.

KiKi, I don’t know if I’ll ever be happy like I used to be. And I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. You singing tonight?

Girl, is my daddy the pastor of this church? You know I’m singing. KiKi rolled her eyes. Girl, I’ve got to be half-dead before he’ll let me sit out in the audience. He always starts preaching to me, ‘God gave you that gift, and you better use it.’ I don’t even want to get him started.

Nieve laughed. KiKi, you’re so crazy. You know you should have a recording contract anyway, sounding like a broke Kierra Sheard.

KiKi laughed and hit Nieve on the arm. And you know I’m sho’ nuff broke! Let me get back here to consecration.

Y’all sing good.

Nieve made her way out to the sanctuary and took a seat near the back. She usually sat up toward the front on the right side so that she and KiKi could exchange glances throughout the service. However, she didn’t feel like sitting up close tonight. She still felt like her face would give her away, and she knew that Pastor Bell would ask KiKi what was wrong with her. She didn’t even want to go there with him.

The choir did sing well. KiKi led, of all things, a Kierra Sheard song, Flaws. It was all Nieve could do to keep from laughing as KiKi looked at her and winked. Pastor Bell preached a message that was right on target for Nieve. The title of his sermon was Pressure Points. He talked about how God presses us to get the oil out of our lives and how the pressure does not feel good, but that it is for our good. Nieve took lots of notes, which she promised herself she’d reread every time she began to think about how chaotic her life was right now.

After the service was over, Nieve greeted as few people as possible as she made her way to her car. A few of the kids from school tried to give her sympathy hugs or pity pats. She put on her everything-is-fine face and convinced them that things weren’t as bad as they thought. By the time she reached her car, KiKi was already waiting for her. How did you get out here so fast? she asked.

I’ve got skills! I didn’t see Greg here tonight. I thought for sure he’d be here.

He’s probably feeling so guilty he couldn’t show his face. I don’t know if he was here or not—I wasn’t looking for him. I enjoyed myself, and I’m glad I came.

The girls stood outside Nieve’s car and chatted for a while, like they normally did after services. Here comes your daddy, Nieve said.

KiKi looked