Love Can Be Eternal

By C. Michaele Johnson

Marsha Fonteneau is an ethical assistant prosecuting attorney practicing in a New Jersey town. Hesitant to launch a search for Mr. Right, Marsha stays busy juggling client files, immersing herself in her work, and standing on the sidelines observing the love lives of her two close friends, Tonya Mitchell and Stephanie Dixon.

Marsha’s best friend, Tonya, is a human resources manager who has been married to a handsome basketball coach for several years. Although she is devoted to her husband, Tonya cannot help but reminisce about her old flame, Duane Reed. Close pal, Stephanie, is an IT professional who has always sought love. Despite her best efforts, she still has not been able to commit to a man. Meanwhile, their mutual friend, Romare Smith, is enjoying all Manhattan has to offer while keeping his lifestyle hidden. As the friends all journey to find or keep love, their interactions continue to intertwine as secrets are revealed and life experiences are altered.

Love Can Be Eternal is a story about strength, encouragement, and resilience in difficult times as three friends journey to find or keep love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781663210722

C. Michaele Johnson

C. Michaele Johnson was born in Michigan. She earned a Pre-Law degree from Michigan State University, and an MBA in Finance from Clark Atlanta University. Ms. Johnson has worked in both the public and private business sector. When she is not writing, she enjoys listening to music and playing the piano. This is her first book.

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Copyright © 2013 C. Michaele Johnson.

Graphic Credits – L.D. Wilkerson/S.E.A.L. Graphics

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.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-1071-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1073-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1072-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020920040

iUniverse rev. date: 11/10/2020

Contents

Acknowledgements

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Part II

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Acknowledgements

Patience with others is love. Patience with self is hope. Patience with God is faith.—Adel Bestavros

First, Giving honor to the Lord, my savior and redeemer.

Second, I am so thankful for my parents Edward and Corinne (Cora). I particularly thank Motherdear for instilling in me at a young age to read. Find an author you enjoy reading and keep buying their books, said my mother Cora Johnson.

Third, to all of my siblings and those still living at the time of publishing this book – Liz, Martha, and Jeanne.

Fourth, to soldiers in the military past and present.

Fifth, to my publisher, editor, and publishing team – Thanks!

Six, to my niece(s) Mia, Jasmine, Alexandra, and great niece(s) Lana and Naya.

Seven, to my nephew(s) Alan, Kevin, David, Clifford and Peter. My great nephew(s) Omar and Tim. To my nephew(s) wives’ Darlene, Dana, Roxanne and Kristen. To my late brother(s), Lawrence (Larry) and Edward Johnson. To my late nephew Jonathan.

Eight, to my sisters in faith Robbie, Antoinette, Stella, Mary, and Cissy.

Nine, to all of my cousins including Sybil, Carol, Caesar, Cynthia, Stewart, John, Patricia, SuVant, Lawrence, Kevin, Ben, Beverly, and my late cousin Beth and all of my great cousins. To my Aunt Minnie and Ethel, truly I have been blessed to have you both in my life.

Ten, to my friends, you know who you are. I appreciate your being in my life always. To my friend Tanya, who passed away too soon, from a senseless act of violence. Your kindness was always cherished. To the love of my life. I tell you I love you as I truly do love you.

The characters and names in this book are all fictional. If there is any similarity in this book it is not intended. The characters were created for fictional purposes only.

Eleven, to my spiritual advisors. To clergy in my life, past and present. To my favorite teacher(s) in elementary school – Pearl Dudley, 2nd Grade, Miss Dooley (Choir), and Lois Hill (Piano teacher).

Twelve, a dedication to individuals and families of the World Trade Center disaster and most recently the Covid 19 epidemic/pandemic. May you find love and strength and cherish each day you lived and continue to live. We know not the time our Heavenly Father will choose to call us home.

The narrative to each chapter is a backdrop for the chapter that follows. The tone is suggestively being set for the reader. Interpretation of the narrative, to each chapter, belongs solely to the reader.

The author does not condone violence and believes parties involved in a dispute should mediate their differences through communication. When communication fails then both parties should work towards reaching an amicable resolution.

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One

One may think you have heard or seen it all and then your eyes and ears are awakened to a new reality.

Marsha Fonteneau’s day was turning out to be busy and challenging. Marsha had gone to law school and graduated from Seton Hall University in New Jersey. In the past two years she held the position of assistant prosecuting attorney, in a town located, in the north central area of New Jersey.

Most of the cases she handled were drug offenses, white collar fraud, robberies, and petty and grand larceny. Marsha had grown up in north central New Jersey. She often recognized a name, when a new case was listed, on the upcoming docket of cases.

Marsha sat at her desk perusing through several case files. She and another assistant prosecutor named Todd Jones were due in court at 1PM for a pre-trial hearing for Duane Reed. The preliminary hearing or pre-trial examination was to determine if there was enough evidence to go to trial. Marsha set aside the other case files and glanced through Duane Reed’s file. Marsha sat at her desk reflecting on what she knew about the defendant. Duane Reed had dated her best friend, Tonya Porter. Tonya did not have any siblings. Tonya had dated Duane Reed, while in high school. Her friend Tonya had stopped dating Duane Reed shortly after going away to college in Atlanta, Georgia.

Duane Reed was a star football player at Teaneck Central High School. Teaneck, New Jersey is a town located in Bergen County, New Jersey. Marsha was well aware that Bergen County is considered a very affluent county in New Jersey. She viewed Teaneck, New Jersey as a mixture of working- class citizens and old money. Marsha had grown up in Teaneck, New Jersey and after high school her parent’s had moved their family to Alpine, New Jersey.

Duane Reed was of medium height, well built, athletic and well groomed. Women always noticed and commented on his good looks. Duane Reed’s mother was a local high school teacher. Duane’s mother had been married to Duane’s father but, she divorced him when Duane was around six years old. The sole stable male figure in Duane’s life is an Uncle on his mother’s side of the family named Barry Strong. Duane was an only child. He had been spoiled by his mother as Duane was her only child and son. Marsha thought about mother and children family dynamics. Marsha felt mother’s often put a premium on providing more affection and attention to a son. In a multiple sibling family a daughter often gets short changed. The son gets short changed too, because more attention has been placed on the male in the family. Marsha believed this can skew a man’s sense of emotional balance and make it difficult when they relate to other women that enter their lives.

Marsha knew her best friend Tonya met Duane, while she was a cheerleader for a local high school. Their other close friend named Stephanie Dixon and Tonya Porter were cheerleaders in high school. Cheerleading squad participation helped to bond Tonya and Stephanie’s friendship. Tonya and Stephanie were both on the track team. Marsha was on the track team and the school pep squad. Marsha, Tonya, and Stephanie enjoyed attending school games, and keeping the football or basketball teams, spirit ramped up in order to win games.

Marsha’s mind took a stroll down memory lane and went back in time to seeing her best friend Tonya and Duane Reed holding hands and sneaking a few kisses in the back of the bus immediately after a football game was over between two rival teams in high school.

There was a delay before the bus driver would pull off to take the football players back home. All of the football players, had to be accounted for, before the bus driver would leave. The girls would sit on the bus and make sure they jumped off before the bus driver headed back to Teaneck, New Jersey. Marsha reminisced on how the trio of friends spent so much of their time together. The trio of friends were Tonya Porter, Marsha Fonteneau, and Stephanie Dixon. Marsha would secretly envy her friend Tonya for dating such an athletic, good looking, and well respected young man.

During high school Tonya would sneak away, after school ended, and take the local bus to Hackensack, New Jersey. Tonya used the money her parents had given her to buy lunch, for bus fare, in order to meet up with Duane Reed. Duane would pick Tonya up from her arrival point when she got off the bus.

Duane had managed to get his Uncle Barry to provide him with a used vehicle. Duane became adept with his training in automotive skills. He acquired the skills from helping his Uncle in his automotive repair shop. He also used the skills to barter the purchase of a jeep through assisting his Uncle on automotive repairs.

Tonya and Duane would spend a great deal of time driving around Bergen County in his used Jeep. Many times the young lovers would admire the sprawling mansions in surrounding towns. Well-known celebrities lived in a nearby town. They would drive slowly near the homes of the celebrities. Tonya told Marsha that she and Duane dreamed of a day when they could live in one of the homes. The young lovers both knew they were stretching their imagination. They could not comprehend how it would ever be possible to have enough money to afford one of the lavish homes. Their eyes would linger on the mansions. They would drive slowly near the homes of the celebrities. They would not stop. Duane would drive by and tell Tonya to look at the celebrity owned home. A fence or gate around the home would impede any serious observance of the property.

Duane would drive Tonya back to Essex County. Tonya would manage to get home, before it was too late so that her mother would not be concerned about the location of her teen-age daughter. Tonya would say to her mother, I’ve been over to Marsha’s house working on my homework.

Marsha thought about her family with three brothers and two sisters. Her mother did not work. Her father worked outside of the home. Marsha would always cover for Tonya, if Mrs. Porter called, looking for Tonya. If Marsha’s parents or siblings answered the phone they would politely hand the phone over to Marsha. Marsha and Tonya had a pact, each night she returned from being with Duane, she would make sure she let Marsha know she was home safely.

Marsha knew her best friend Tonya always managed to keep up with her studies. She was on the honor roll. She regularly made A’s or B’s in her subjects. Both friends were enrolled in college–prep in high school. Tonya said, Marsha, I am destined to go to college. My father was a college graduate. My mother attended college but had stopped going when she married and brought me into existence. Tonya had also mentioned to Marsha that her father, Mr. Porter was always with his family, except when he had to go away, for military or work assignments.

Marsha reflected on the fact that Duane Reed was a well-mannered young man. He always seemed to like nice and expensive things. He wore the latest fashions and the most recently advertised popular sneakers. Marsha would wonder where he got the money to afford those expensive sneakers. Even though his mother was a school teacher she knew Duane’s father was absent from his home and undoubtedly not contributing to the family budget.

The three friends completed high school in their respective home towns. Duane completed high school at Teaneck Central High. Tonya told Marsha that Duane had moved out on his own after high school to a nice apartment in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The apartment overlooked the George Washington Bridge (GWB), which was affectionately known and labeled as the Cash Register, since the cost of traveling over the bridge to Manhattan seemed to continuously go up and remain expensive.

Marsha wondered how Duane could afford the nice apartment and the fairly new Lexus he had purchased. Tonya told Marsha, Duane had purchased the Lexus, with a large down payment. Duane managed to keep the cash portion under the $10,000 government red flag amount.

Marsha assumed, perhaps Duane had somehow enlisted his Uncle Barry Strong to finance the remaining balance due on the vehicle. Duane Reed did not have a full time job. Marsha, recalled Tonya telling her that her boyfriend Duane Reed, did repair jobs at his Uncle Barry Strong’s auto repair shop. The post high school Duane Reed, wore expensive brand named leather shoes. Marsha would often ask Tonya, What does Duane do for a living? Tonya would give her best friend Marsha a vague answer. Oh, Duane is helping his Uncle Barry with the automobile repair shop his Uncle owns in Teaneck, New Jersey., Tonya would reply. Uncle Barry was probably looking the other way while talking to his nephew about straightening up and flying right before, everything came crashing down upon his nephew’s head. In truth, Duane Reed was trafficking drugs.

Now, Duane had a case pending against him for selling narcotics. Duane Reed was being charged with selling heroin and cocaine from his Fort Lee, New Jersey apartment overlooking the George Washington Bridge.

Marsha locked up her desk and went to Courtroom 214 in the County Building. The pre-trial procedure had been held previously. It was determined there was enough evidence to go to trial. Duane Reed could still take a plea bargain, if one was offered, by the prosecutors. It was within the discretion of the law for the prosecuting attorney’s office to offer Duane Reed a plea bargain.

The presiding judge for the trial was Judge Axelman. Tonya met up with her colleague Todd Jones, the assistant prosecuting attorney assigned to the case, in the hallway of the courtroom chambers. When Marsha walked into the courtroom she could see Duane Reed sitting at the table with his court appointed defense attorney. Duane did not look very appealing sitting there in his orange colored county issued prisoner attire. A chief witness, Detective Karen Towns, had already been sworn in by Judge Axelman. She was sitting in the witness stand. Detective Karen Towns was married to the chief of police of Mount Prospect, New Jersey an adjacent town to Teaneck, New Jersey.

The trial began with the testimony of Detective Karen Towns. The defense attorney asked Detective Towns, How did you meet Duane Reed? Detective Towns answered, I met Duane Reed at a local bar in Fort Lee, New Jersey and became involved with him. The defense attorney, on cross examination asked Detective Towns, if she had sex with Duane Reed during the course of the involvement. Detective Towns answered, Yes. Detective Towns said she had been to Duane Reed’s apartment in Fort Lee many times and he would field many cell phone calls. Eventually he let her see him openly dealing cocaine and heroin to his clientele. People were coming over from Manhattan crossing the George Washington Bridge, entering New Jersey, and going back to Manhattan with drugs. People from New Jersey were purchasing drugs from Duane Reed while transporting drugs to other locations in New Jersey and perhaps into the state of Pennsylvania. The present case only dealt with drug trafficking in New Jersey. A federal case was also pending against Duane Reed for the possibility that he was transporting and selling drugs in Manhattan, New York and Pennsylvania. Ultimately, if Duane Reed was convicted he could end up doing federal time if convicted of trafficking drugs across state lines.

Duane Reed did not know, until the day of the proceeding, Detective Karen Towns was a cop or that she was married to the chief of police of Mount Prospect, New Jersey. The defense attorney told Detective Towns, the judge, and the prosecuting attorneys present that he felt the case involved entrapment. There were several other assistant prosecuting attorneys in the court room along with members of the staff and the general public. Marsha noticed no one seemed to raise an eyebrow, when it was mentioned Detective Karen Towns was married to the chief of police of a nearby town, and she openly admitted to having a sexual relationship with Duane Reed. Perhaps, due to the nature of being in a courtroom most people try to not display an outburst for fear of subjecting themselves to being held in contempt of court. The entrapment issue had been raised by Duane Reed through his defense attorney. Marsha believed Duane Reed had known Karen Towns was married. Karen Towns did not indicate her real profession or her husband’s profession while she was dating Duane Reed. In order for Detective Karen Towns to get so close to Duane Reed she had to have omitted those details. However, it can be argued that when she was hanging out at the bar in Fort Lee, New Jersey she did not know who Duane Reed was. Then later, she may have become involved with him and found out he was drug trafficking. Marital infidelity is one thing. Having begun an illicit affair and stumbling upon the fact that Duane Reed was a drug dealer would not be considered entrapment. Marsha wondered, Did Karen Towns target Duane Reed?

Detective Towns, told the courtroom during the course of visiting Duane Reed’s apartment last autumn, she had called for back-up on her cell phone. Duane was in the bedroom placing items quickly into his hidden safe. The person who purchased drugs that night from Duane was sitting on the couch watching a football game. Detective Karen Towns was whispering on her cell phone telling the policemen to come up to the apartment. A search warrant had been obtained by the officers. There was a knock at the door. Duane called to Karen from the bedroom to open the front door. Duane had previously told the doorman to let his male friends up to the apartment without calling him first. Karen opened the door and multiple police officers rushed into Duane’s apartment.

One of the officer’s immediately ran to handcuff Duane Reed. Another police officer rushed over to the man sitting on the couch named Harry Preston, and arrested him. Harry Preston, had bought drugs that evening from Duane Reed. Harry Preston had a briefcase sitting at his feet and inside on open display was the heroin and cocaine he had purchased earlier along with personal papers indicating the briefcase belonged to him. A stash of money, heroin, cocaine, and guns were found in Duane Reed’s apartment. Kilos of heroin, cocaine, cash and several weapons including a glock 9mm were found in a safe Duane Reed had hidden in a