by Love Belvin
I looked at the smiling baby. “My bad, lil man.” Then I went back to his mother. “When you said you were coming up, I dropped everything and welcomed you. Don’t start tripping, Heather. Ain’t nobody beat for that.”
Her eyes closed slowly and she shook her head. It was her way of cowering. She knew I would only tolerate so much of her shit.
“I’m just stressed,” she mumbled. “That’s all.”
“About what?”
“About things!” she shouted so unexpectedly, the baby jumped in my lap and started to cry.
Heather quickly grabbed him in her arms and bounced him in a hush.
“What things, Heather? You and ya man good?”
She rolled her eyes, turning her back to me. I couldn’t care less what was happening in her marriage as long as she was good. I only brought it and him up to mess with her.
“Among other things…” She sighed. “I’m concerned about the McKinnons. You guys have been popping in my heart when I’m praying. Myisha left for a world tour without you—”
“She’s about to be thirty-six years ol—”
She spoke over me. “You with these fake Hollywood dealings, forgetting about your roots and where you come from. Forgetting about the promise God has spoken to you.”
“Look… Heather—”
“Look at how many times you’ve cursed since I’ve been here. You only use that language when angry or stressed.” She was right about that even though I didn’t recall cursing but one time since they’d been here. “And Pastor McKinnon’s been sick. Evangelist Mary has been trying to push her to the doctor, but the stubborn woman won’t go. She needs to rest.”
When her eyes were on me, searching, my head drew back. “And what you expect me to do? That’s y’all’s pastor. You guys see her a few times a week. I make sure her house is good and her pockets stay laced. The rest is up to y’all. Take care of her.”
When lil Antwan kept crying, I asked, “He sleepy or something?”
“Could be hungry. You got something here ready to eat?”
“I’m sure my chef can whip up something real quick.” I moved for the door. “C’mon.”
As we walked the halls, Heather’s eyes were on alert. Lil Antwan reached for me from his mother’s arms. I grabbed him and tossed his lil body in the air as we strolled.
When he landed on a giggle, I deepened it by singing, “It’s the R, the A, the G, the E, and the E. It’s Uncle Ragee!”
Suddenly, I didn’t feel Heather at my side. I stopped, pulling the baby to my chest before I turned back. Heather stood frozen with wild eyes. When I followed her eye level, it took me down the hall, straight ahead where Wynter was walking with workout gear on and headphones. Her waist was proportioned with her hips and her ass jiggled in fitted pink leggings. That color revealed every curve in her thick frame. Wynter wasn’t a size two, but from what I’d seen of her, she was toned, solid. Maybe she’d been able to stay that way from working out, even before we met. Either way, she had body for days. I just wasn’t beat enough to care.
I turned back to Heather. “Girl, if you don’t come on so we can feed this baby.” I smiled at her.
On a hard pull, it seemed, she tore her gaze from Wynter and her eyes landed on me.
“There’s something not right.” She blinked fast. “I feel it. Something’s wrong here.”
I forced a laugh, extending my hand. “Yeah. I been saying that for years. C’mon, girl.”
~8~
“Hold up.” I sat up in my seat at the mixing board. “Come again?”
“She said she wants me to bring her to your place in the country.”
My face opened up. “My place? She can’t stay at your crib, Evangelist Mary?”
“No, honey. She said the Lord had been on her about a retreat, and He showed her your place in the country.”
I wanted to tell her I didn’t live in the country, but I knew it would be a waste of my time. Every North Jerseyan thought any place south of New Brunswick was considered South Jersey, just like any city bred person thought just because a store wasn’t in a five-hundred-foot radius, it meant you were in the country.
That aside, I had some shit on my hands. My grandmother was coming to stay at my house!
“And how long she talking?”
Evangelist Mary sighed. “She ain’t said. I’m worried about her because she don’t know how to rest. She running around here like a mad woman, doing rerivals, praying in hospitals, visiting the county jail every week for prayer. It’s just too much. That’s why her blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar numbers is up, carrying her to the emergency room late last night. I think this might be good for her, Raj. Your chef can make sure she eats low fat meals and she can praise and worship out there in the woods.”
“It’s January, Evangelist. Nobody worships outdoors in January. And I don’t live in the woods,” I uttered through tightened lips.
The more she spoke the faster my heart beat. This couldn’t be. Pastor McKinnon here? While I have this chick here? My palm met my face and I slid down the chair. I wanted to say no. Could have easily said it. The problem was nobody said no to Pastor Alberta McKinnon. Not even her armor bearer here, who did everything with the woman.
“Okay, Raj. I gotta go pick up her scripts then go get her.”
My brows rose. “What time is this supposed to go down?”
“I should have her up there at six.” I slipped lower into my seat. “She wants to go pick up a new prayer pillow for her bad knee first. Could you send me your address for my GPS?”
“Can we wait until the morning? That’ll give my people more time to get a room ready.” It would also give me time to think of a way to curve her. I could put her up in a nice hotel suite anywhere in the state.
“No. She said tonight. Besides, she ain’t got no groceries. Today was grocery day until the doctor at the E.R. hit her with the bad news.”
My eyes squeezed close. “I’ll have my assistant hit you with it.”
“Okay, baby. Bye.”
I didn’t respond. Just tapped to disconnect the phone.
“What’s up with you?” Gary, my engineer, sitting right next to me asked.
I sat up in the chair and brushed my hand over my face. “My grandmother.”
I knew they heard the conversation. We killed the volume when Myisha texted me saying Evangelist Mary would be calling about my grandmother.
Leech, off in the corner where he was rolling a spliff, turned to me. “Yo, ya grams is coming?” I nodded. “Damn! She stayed here only that one time. Right?”
He would know. Leech low key lived here himself. He maintained the studio, kept it functioning and clean in between sessions. Would run it if somebody needed it when I wasn’t around. He slept in the back. I’d known him from the days I was trying to get on and we’d sleep in studios. He didn’t do music exactly, but knew lots about studio equipment and how to repair things. When I built this addition to the house, he was here so much, I had him turn one of the rooms into a bedroom and that’s where he’d been since.
I didn’t answer him. My mind ran fast with what I needed to do. I stood and left the studio, traveling the long hall for the main house. I didn’t have many options. I only knew I didn’t come this far to have this shit blown up in my face. My grandmother, a very powerful woman of the Word and one who spoke the truths of God as His mouthpiece, would have to hear it straight from Him that her grandson was full of shit with this marriage thing. I wouldn’t volunteer nothing.
I would go down swinging.
I found her in the library. It was the last place I would look, but Maria, one of my cleaning staff, told me where she was. I still didn’t know why I had a library. I wasn’t that much of a reader and even though I did when I could, I hardly had the time.
Wynter was at the long table in the middle of the room with her laptop. She was always on that thing and suddenly, my curiosity got the best of me when I walked up on her. She was so engaged, she did
n’t even know I was there.
“What the hell is that?”
She bounded around in her seat, turning to me with wild eyes. Wynter grabbed her chest.
“Shit! You scared the hell out of me!” she spoke out of breath.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
She turned to look at her screen as though she’d forgotten. “Groupon.”
“What’s that?” My brow line creased.
“It’s a coupon site…kind of.”
“What’s got your interest?” I moved closer to it, squinting for the fine print. “Teeth whitening? You need ya choppers brighter?” I chuckled.
Wynter slammed down the screen, closing the laptop. “Can I help you?” She seethed.
My eyes narrowed on her. Did I pluck a nerve?
“You can, actually.” I scratched my beard, reaching all the way to my chin. This was hard to do. Fuck it… “I need a favor.”
“Spit it so I can get back to what I was doing.”
“That’s the thing. We gotta act fast.”
“Now, we’re being demanding?” She poked her lips and dipped her chin.
I forgot how slick at the mouth she was.
“Listen,” I took a deep breath. “I know you’re probably gonna tell me to go to hell about this and I swear, lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m on a course there anyway. But I can really use a do-over with us.”
“Us?” Her eyes went wild. “There’s no us.”
I swallowed back my original response; my eyes squeezed. “I need there to be an us.”
“You tryna fuck, Raj?”
My eyes shot open. “For one, hell no. And two, where you get Raj from?”
“For one, I’m glad you know better. For two, that’s what everybody around here calls you. I see I can’t, but you need a favor, though.” She swiveled around to the table and opened the laptop.
“Okay!” I must have said loud enough because when I opened my eyes again, Wynter’s were on me. “I need you to stay in my room for a few days.”
“Again, I’m not fucking you.”
“It’s not for that.”
“Then for what?”
“My grandmother’s coming to stay here for a few days. I can be loose with having you in a different room with my staff, but with her…”
Wynter frowned. “How long?”
I backed up against the wall frustrated by that question. “I don’t know.” I groaned.
“When?”
My eyes rolled over to her. “In a few hours.”
“Only a few hours? That’s not good timing. What do we have to do?”
“Move your things into my room.”
“All that? That’s a lot of work. For what?”
“Because she’s gonna stay in there.”
“Why in there? You have like a gazillion bedrooms in here.”
“That’s where I put people when I need my distance.”
One brow shot up. “Thanks a fucking lot.”
I took a deep breath, realizing my slip. “If you help me,” I tossed my chin to reference her laptop. “I can hook you up with your teeth whitening.”
Wynter pushed her chair from the table and stood. “No thanks. I already copped my Groupon.” She moved past me to the door. “You’re helping me move my things. And I’m not fucking you, so don’t even think about it.”
My damn mouth dropped.
After patting the corners of her mouth, Pastor McKinnon tossed the cloth napkin on the table. Her head fell back and lashes batted as she sighed. “Whew. To God be the glory,” she whispered.
“Good?” Ragee asked, forking the last of his baked sweet potato.
The guy’s taste in food was weird. He dined on baked fished, a salad, and the sweet potato while we had juicy baked chicken breasts, creamy mashed potatoes, and fresh long string beans.
Pastor McKinnon grunted, adjusting herself in her seat as she hummed her approval. Ragee continued to clean his plate. I wondered if he was still rattled by her abrupt visit. It was comical seeing the man who owned this great estate, running from wing to wing earlier this afternoon, transferring clothes from my drawers and closets. He had his housekeeper, Maria, change the pillows and bedding. Pillows. He switched out my pillows, giving her brand new ones and storing the ones I used. And moving into his room was no easy feat. Ragee had clothes and jewelry galore. There was honestly no room for me. That required his buddy, Leech, who I’d seen around the estate, moving some of Ragee’s things to a vacant bedroom closet down the hall. That was our afternoon, into the evening: running up and down the long corridor of the second floor, transferring clothes and personal items.
Again, comical.
“Everything was delicious,” she murmured with soprano sweetness.
She wasn’t what I’d expected…and she was. Pastor McKinnon was a stout woman of average height and the same warm, cinnamon complexion as her grandson encased her skin. She was visibly overweight, creases in her wrists, and hanging rolls from her elbows. She walked slowly and on a limp, making me wonder how she’d get up and down the stairs here. Earl mentioned a service elevator off the kitchen, but I didn’t know where it led to. I’d been observing the woman with the things her grandson worried of in mind. Ragee bore some resemblance to his grandmother, though not as much as he did his father. That made me curious as to what his mother, Pastor McKinnon’s daughter, looked like. I didn’t see pictures of her on the Internet when I googled him months ago. Her full nose was half an inch wider than his and he inherited her thin and faded brows.
As soon as she stepped inside, she handed her things to Leech, who ran them up to my ro—her room. She wasn’t very talkative, her friend or assistant did most of the talking, often speaking for her. I could tell she was waited on often, but not in an aristocratic manner. She appeared simple, everyday in style. She wore an old fashioned bun slicked down by gel and no jewelry to speak of. I assumed her position as pastor gave her the assistant and the need to be fussed over.
When Ragee introduced us, she hugged me tightly and whispered, “God bless you, daughter.” Her frame was wide and incredibly soft, downy. She made a remark about not knowing about the wedding to attend, and Ragee readily delivered an excuse of us being so ready, we didn’t want to delay it with extensive wedding details or projecting the date. That Ragee was a smart one, I saw. This woman had him on edge, though she offered a peaceful presence.
“Did Bishop Carmichael perform the ceremony?” Pastor McKinnon asked, across from me.
Only my eyes lifted from my plate. “Who?”
“Oh,” Ragee interjected quickly. He smiled at me then his grandmother. “No. And Pastor Carmichael isn’t a bishop.”
“Yet.”
His smile turned knowing, eyes shrinking. “If you say so, Pastor.”
“I know so, son. And the day shall come to past,” she declared, now in an alto tone.
Ragee must have read the confusion worn on my face.
His eyes dipped. “Pastor Carmichael is the pastor of my church,” his tenor was lower.
Oh…
“You don’t go to Gee-Gee’s church?” she asked.
I snickered in Ragee’s face.
“No, ma’am. I don’t attend his church.”
“Which one do you go to?”
That flicker of nervousness returned in his eyes. I didn’t know if I should answer honestly. My family didn’t go to church. The closest I got to it was the Kingdom Hall I attended with my girlfriend, Mya, on occasion.
“We didn’t meet at church,” Ragee answered, and by her expression, I could tell Pastor McKinnon caught on to my heathendom.
I snickered inside.
Earl came into the dining room, a place I’d never engaged in a formal dinner with Ragee before tonight. Even Earl seemed to be on his best behavior, cutting the jokes and shenanigans.
“Can I offer you gelato for dessert, Pastor McKinnon?”
His formality around her made me wonder what she thought of his se
xuality. I was now sure Earl was gay. He all but told me the other day.
“No thank you.” She sighed. “I’m tired. Don’t wanna hold the house up any longer. We can turn down now.”
Huhn?
Ragee checked the time on his diamond watch. “You mean you’re done for the day, Pastor?” His face opened in shock and understanding. “Grandmother, it’s not even nine. I’m sure Wynter has stuff to do,” he spoke politely and scoffed. “I got work waiting on me in the studio.”
She laughed…giggling shyly, something I now realized was her passive aggressive manner. “Gee-Gee, when you have company over, you don’t overwhelm them by keeping energy going when they need to turn in, baby.” She nodded toward me. “You got a new bride, here. You need to retreat with her at night, not work. I read the gossip blogs when you’re in it. People send them to me. I know you stopped your shows to…build your ministry, so to speak.” She covered her mouth with her sausage fingers and giggled again.
Pastor hasn’t been touched since The Temptations had their first drop from the group…
Raj’s defeated eyes brushed against mine. All I had planned for the night was getting a few words in for the latest piece I’d been working on.
“Amen,” he breathed, conceding.
“Amen,” Pastor McKinnon perked up, ready to leave the table. “Do me a favor and help Pastor up to her room, you two.” Though requested sweetly, there was a bite of authoritarianism to that command.
Without further words, Ragee stood from the table and I followed suit. The next time I heard his voice was when he hummed a song on the way up the stairs. It was clear it was something gospel by the way she carried on with him, praising God along the way.
She grunted, dropping her weight onto the mattress. Grandmother always seemed out of breath…in pain.
“You need anything?” I asked.
She didn’t answer right away, her eyes across the room, seeming to still be adjusting her lungs. Then her thumb reached up to scratch her nose. “You know,” she began then took another breath, “…the Lord’s been speaking to me about due rest. Been doing it for some time now.” Her eyes rose to us, more to me. “You know, I can be disobedient in that area,” she tried to joke, voice gentle as a child. “But then my blood pressure and sugar flew off the charts and I was doing revivals back-to-back, weddings, conferences, shut-ins, and all that. When Evangelist Mary took me to the emergency room, I said, ‘Okay, God. Amen.’ That’s when I had her reach out to you.”
