Unfortunately, Rev. Oliver has a little problem: he just can't seem to get the senior pastor's daughter, Elizabeth, out of his mind. The beautiful teenager haunts his every thought until, overcome with lust, he catches her alone and rapes her. Elizabeth is consumed by shame and hides her pregnancy until, finally, she gives birth to a son in a bathroom at her high school. When Elizabeth's father refuses to believe her story of rape, she becomes determined to hide the father's identity and raise the child alone.

Rehoboth Road follows Elizabeth, her family, and the Rev. Oliver through the decades that follow as they try to deal with the secrets surrounding the birth. As Elizabeth's family unravels and Rev. Oliver tries to deal with his guilt, the burden of concealment becomes too much to bear until their secret explodes, marking them forever. 

Excerpt
The Inspiration Behind the Writing of Rehoboth Road

So many people have asked me if Rehoboth Road is based on my true story. My answer is, “no.” But it is based on the true story of thousands of woman, young and old, throughout the centuries.

My inspiration for Rehoboth Road came from a senior friend, who was approximately eighty-five years old when she thought it was necessary to call me aside to tell me a secret she had held most of her life. I wondered why she would tell me her secret since I was thirty years her minor, not her closest friend and not her relative? But, she had her private reason for selecting me. For the sake of this informational piece I will simply call this lady, "My Friend."

It was August 1996 and My Friend lived in a rural Southern community. She told me, one evening, when she was fifteen years old, she was returning home and was walking through the woods that separated her home from that of a close elderly friend of the family. As she approached the center of the woods, she was attacked and raped by a white man. When her attacker was through with her, he ran away. She knew the man; he wasn’t much older than she was.

She said she never told a single person about being raped. I didn’t have time to question her further because as soon as she finished speaking, she stood and left the room.


This story played in my mind for the next year. I had just finished the first draft of my manuscript for my memoir. Maybe she believed I’d find someway to tell her story. Doing the math, I figured her rape took place in 1926 or 1927. Maybe she didn’t tell anyone because she was afraid her father or brothers might have gone looking for this white man and would have probably been lynched. Maybe she believed her misery would just go away and when it didn’t, it was too late to tell anyone or it wouldn’t have serve any purpose other than to cause undue pain.


In October 1997, I began to write Rehoboth Road. It was a Sunday afternoon when I sat at my computer, and when I ended that writing session it was about 6:00 am Monday morning. I managed to get to work by 10:00 am.
Soon after the publication of Rehoboth Road, many people asked if My Friend became pregnant by this man and I said no. Then, a few months later I discovered she did become pregnant and was sent to Ohio to have her child. Because it is very hard to gather information when you are holding a secret, I had to just be observant.


Today, My Friend is in the moderate stage of Alzheimer disease and last fall I met a lovely lady who appeared to be in her late seventies. She told me she was My Friend’s daughter.
I believe My Friend told me her story because she had been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer and she didn’t want her secret to be lost; she wanted to be counted along with the hundreds of thousands of other women who had been violated and who are still being violated today. There are other messages that came from Rehoboth Road.

Among them are:

- Even when you have let go of the Lord’s hand, He is still holding on to you.

- Parents and guardians protect your children. Don’t dismiss the things they say.

- Parents and guardians teach your children that the lease likely person they come in contact with may be a child molester. With reference to their body, if something doesn’t feel right, it isn’t right.

- Parents and guardians must teach their children, ‘When to Tell’. And parents and guardians must listen and take the necessary action.