The entire table looked at her.
“You are?” Lance asked her.
She nodded her head. “Yeah. I ain’t doing nothin’ but sittin’ at home. Oprah don’t come on anymore, and all these reality shows give me the heebie-jeebies. I could come to the church and answer the phone.”
“Well, the job is a little more than just answering the phone, Gravy,” Monique said.
Myrtle looked at Monique. “What else I gotta do?”
“The church secretary keeps the pastor’s schedule, Mother Myrtle, and my schedule too,” Arykah offered.
“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Myrtle said to Arykah.
“It’s an eight-hour-a-day job. You gotta make my coffee, update the church’s calendar, set up appointments for premarital counseling, prepare the announcements for Sunday morning, and just be my eyes and ears,” Lance said. “And there’s one important thing, Mother Myrtle. No one gets to me unless they go through you first. That’s one good thing I can say about Mother Gussie,” Lance said. “She knew how to handle crazy folks. I don’t wanna be bothered with any foolishness, Mother Myrtle. I need you to handle certain situations before I hear about them. You understand what I’m saying?”
Myrtle nodded her head. “Yep. Like if a woman calls and says that she’s lonely and needs the bishop to come to her house and pray for her.”
“You can pass that call to me,” Arykah said pointing to herself. “I’m serious, Mother Myrtle.”
Myrtle looked at Lance. “Bishop, if you’ll have me, I’m willing to give it a shot. But you know I don’t drive. How will I get to church every day?”
“Don’t you worry about that,” he said. “We’ll get you there.”
The waitress brought their breakfast to the table. Once everyone was served, Lance blessed the food. Everyone ate until their hearts were content.
“I expect to see all of you at Bible class tonight,” Lance said.
“I don’t drive,” Myrtle spoke up.
“I gotta babysit my sister’s kids,” Chelsea said.
“It’s me and Monique’s date night,” Adonis offered.
“I’m taking Miranda to register for her baby shower,” Gladys added.
“I’m going Christmas shopping,” Darlita revealed.
Lance looked at her. “In May?”
She nodded her head. “Now’s the time to buy while everything is on sale.”
Lance just shook his head from side to side. He looked at Arykah. “Don’t you even try it.”
“I’ll be there, Bishop,” Arykah said to him, smiling. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that Doctor Lovejoy called me yesterday.”
Lance looked at her. “Really?”
“Yeah, she wanted to set up another appointment with me, but I turned her down.”
“Why?” Myrtle asked Arykah.
Arykah shrugged her shoulders. “I just don’t feel that I need to talk about what’s in the past.”
No one at the table commented on what Arykah had just said. They ate their food and chose to stay out of that sensitive conversation.
Arykah inserted a forkful of strawberry crepes into her mouth. “Though, I gotta admit, I was surprised to find out that she’s married to a woman. Doctor Santana Lovejoy is a beautiful chick and could probably have any man she wants. I don’t understand what attracts a woman to another woman.”
“You’ll find that some lesbians have been hurt by more than one man,” Chelsea said. “They may feel that a woman can give them what a man can’t.”
Arykah nodded her head. “Probably. Then again, Doctor Santana Lovejoy could have that Almond Joy and Mounds mentality.”
“What do you mean, Cheeks?”
“Sometimes she may feel like she wants a nut, and sometimes she don’t.”
Everyone at the table spat their food out.
Lance raised his hand and called for the waitress. “Check, please.”
Later that evening at the church, Lance sat in his office, behind closed doors, putting the finishing touches on his Bible study lesson. Across the hall in Arykah’s office, Diva Chanel ran and fetched a small pink ball, then brought it back to Arykah. She dropped the ball at Arykah’s feet, then moved back and hunched down. She was ready to run again.
“Don’t your little legs ever get tired of running, Diva Chanel?” Arykah picked up the pink ball and tossed it across the room. Diva took off running after it.
Arykah answered a knock on her office door. “Come in.”
The door opened and she saw a familiar face peek inside.
“Hi, Lady Arykah. You have a minute? Is this a bad time?”
“Hey, Stephanie,” Arykah stood from her desk and greeted her. “Come on in, girl.”
Stephanie entered the office and shut the door behind her.
“You here on church announcement business?”
“No,” Stephanie answered. “I wanted to speak with you about a personal matter before Bible class begins.”
Arykah sensed uneasiness about Stephanie. “Okay. Let’s sit on the sofa.”
The ladies sat on the sofa in the corner of Arykah’s office. Diva Chanel held the small pink ball in her mouth. As soon as Stephanie sat, Diva Chanel dropped the ball at her feet.
“She’s so cute,” Stephanie said.
“She’s cute and full of energy. She never gets tired of running after that ball.” Arykah picked up the ball and threw it across the room. “So, what’s going on with you?”
Stephanie exhaled. She hesitated before she spoke. She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Arykah could tell that Stephanie was struggling to keep tears from falling from her eyes. She grabbed Stephanie’s hand and squeezed it. “It’s okay. Let it out.”
Stephanie took Arykah’s advice and released her emotions. She put her face in her hands and cried openly. Arykah pulled Stephanie in her arms and consoled her. “Oh, Stephanie. What happened? Is it your mother? Has she gotten worse?”
Two Sundays ago, Stephanie had announced to the church that her mother had been diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. She had requested the church’s prayers. Stephanie shook her head and pulled away from Arykah. “No. Mom hasn’t gotten any worse.”
Arykah stood from the sofa. She went to her desk and retrieved a box of tissue and brought it back to Stephanie. “Then what has you so upset?” she asked when she sat down.
Stephanie pulled a tissue from the box and blew her nose. She looked at Arykah. “Three nights ago, I walked in on my husband and my sister. They were in my bed.”
Arykah’s eyes grew wide, and she gasped. “What? Stacy and Kenneth?”
Sniff, sniff. Stephanie nodded her head. Sniff, sniff.
“No way, Stephanie. I can’t believe it.” Stephanie’s sister, Stacy, sang in the adult sanctuary choir. Kenneth played the drums. Adonis often spoke highly of Kenneth and said that he was the best drummer he had ever worked with.
“It ain’t the first time,” Stephanie revealed.
Arykah’s eyebrows rose. “You mean it ain’t the first time you caught Kenneth cheating?”
“I mean it ain’t the first time I caught him and Stacy together.”
If Arykah had been standing, she would’ve fallen to the floor. “Girl , you’re kidding me. Please tell me you’re joking with me right now.”
More tears fell onto Stephanie’s face. Sniff, sniff. “I wish I could, Lady Arykah.”
“When was the first time?”
Stephanie wiped the tears. “It was last summer. My entire family took a cruise vacation. During dinner, Stacy said that she had a headache. She said she was going back to her cabin to rest. Not long after, Kenneth said that he had gotten seasick. I believed him because that night the tides were high and the boat was rocking. The captain had announced that everyone should take Dramamine. So when Kenneth said that his stomach was queasy, I didn’t have reason to doubt him. He told me that he was going back to our cabin to relax.
“When I had finished eating dinner, I headed
back to our cabin. That’s when I met Kenneth coming out of Stacy’s cabin. He told me that he was just checking on her, but I knew something was up. Her perfume was all over him. I didn’t confront Stacy, because I couldn’t fathom the thought of my own sister messing around with my husband. But for the remainder of the cruise Stacy and Kenneth avoided each other like the plague.”
A dead giveaway, Arykah thought. “So, here we are, a whole year later, and you caught them again. You know what that means, don’t you?”
Stephanie nodded her head. “Yes. That my suspicions on the cruise were correct, and that they’ve been screwing around ever since, and possibly even before the cruise.”
Arykah didn’t comment, but Stephanie hit the nail on the head. “What happened when you walked in on them three nights ago?”
“I had just come from the grocery store. I put the bags on the kitchen table and heard moaning coming from my bedroom. My heart dropped because I heard my sister call out my husband’s name.”
“Oh my God,” Arykah said.
“I burst in the bedroom and saw Kenneth pleasuring her.”
Arykah placed her hand on her heart. “Oh my God,” she said again. “What did you do, Stephanie?”
“I screamed, and they both jumped from the bed. I lost it. I ran to Kenneth and started hitting him and calling him all types of names. When I saw Stacy try to run past me, I turned and grabbed her by her hair and pulled her back. She and I started fighting, and Kenneth pulled us apart. He told Stacy to leave. She grabbed her clothes and ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. She kept calling my name and apologizing over and over again. I got a suitcase from the closet and threw some clothes and underwear inside. I left that night and went to stay at my mother’s house. I ain’t going back. Both Stacy and Kenneth have been blowing up my cell leaving messages that they wanna talk, but I haven’t returned any of their calls.”
Arykah exhaled. “Oh, Jesus. So what are you gonna do?”
Stephanie looked at Arykah. “That’s why I’m here. I want a divorce.”
Other than console Stephanie and pray for her, Arykah didn’t know what advice to give her. Though had it been Arykah who walked in on Lance having sex in her bed with her sister, the outcome would have been very different. Arykah would have stopped both of their hearts that day. As the first lady of Freedom Temple Church of God in Christ, Arykah knew she couldn’t reveal to Stephanie what her own actions would have been. “Is your marriage over?”
Sniff, sniff. “Yes.” Sniff, sniff.
“Don’t you wanna speak with Kenneth to get his side of the story?”
“He has no side of the story, Lady Arykah. I caught him in my bed with my sister.”
Arykah nodded her head. She agreed with Stephanie, but she had to make sure that she encouraged Stephanie to reconcile with her husband. That’s what God and Lance would want Arykah to do, even if she felt differently. In Arykah’s world, there was never an excuse for infidelity. “How about you and Kenneth sit with me and the bishop? We can try to get to the bottom of why he cheated.”
Stephanie shook her head from side to side. “I don’t care why Kenneth cheated. The reason he cheated is not my concern. But he did cheat, twice that I know of, with my own blood. There’s no turning back from that. I can’t stay with him. Not after I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Arykah nodded her head again. She understood. “What about Stacy? She’s your sister, your family. You can certainly divorce Kenneth, but you can’t divorce your sister. With everything that’s going on with your mother’s health, you and Stacy need each other.”
“I know. But I’m not ready to deal with her just yet. She betrayed me, Lady Arykah.”
Arykah reached out and rubbed Stephanie’s arm. “I know, Sweetie.”
“Once I’m done with Kenneth, maybe Stacy and I can reconcile, but for now, I got only one thing on my mind, and that’s getting his trifling behind out of my life.”
“Whatever you decide, I’ll support you, but I wanna give you some advice. Your mother is in the hospital fighting for her life. Don’t burden her with this news of Kenneth and Stacy. She doesn’t need to worry about anything else but beating the cancer.”
“I could never put this on my mother. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“You know I’m always here for you. Whenever you need to talk,” Arykah said.
“Thanks, Lady Arykah.” Stephanie stood. “You won’t tell the bishop about this, will you?”
“Not if you don’t want me to.”
“I don’t want him to know about my plans to divorce Kenneth. Bishop Lance will try to get me to change my mind, and I don’t want to. I’m done with Kenneth and this marriage. There is no going back.”
“I understand. I won’t say a word.”
Arykah hugged Stephanie tight. She prayed with her and wished her well. “Remember, you don’t have to go through this alone. Call me anytime, day or night.”
“I will.”
When Arykah was alone, she sat in the chair behind her desk and thought about what she really wanted to advise Stephanie to do. Cut off a pant leg from each of his suits and throw out one shoe from each pair he got. I could call Monique’s cousin, Amaryllis. She’s a witch and will put a root on both Kenneth and Stacy. Both of them would be cross-eyed and tongued-tied for the rest of their lives.
“See, God,” Arykah said out loud. “I kept my personal thoughts to myself. I’m growing.”
Outside, on their patio that night, Arykah and Lance were enjoying ice-cold lemonade with chips and salsa. They watched Diva Chanel run around the backyard.
“It’s a beautiful night, ain’t it, Cheeks?”
Arykah looked up toward the pitch-black sky. The stars were shining bright. The temperature was about seventy-five degrees. “It feels good. It’s nights like this one that I wish we had a hammock out here. It would be so nice and romantic to lie in your arms and watch the stars.”
“Mmm,” Lance commented.
“Lance, I’m gonna ask you a question, and I want you to be totally honest with me.”
He looked at her. “I’m always honest with you, Cheeks.”
“It’s about Angela Moore.”
Lance shrugged his shoulders. “What about her?” “On Sunday you told me that you would handle her. Today in court she dropped all charges against me and Monique. Even the restraining orders were thrown out. I wanna know how you got her to do that.”
It was time for Lance to confess the secret he had been keeping from Arykah. Two things could happen. Arykah could flip the table over and spray salsa and lemonade everywhere, or she could stab Lance in his sleep.
God, please let her understand. He exhaled. “I blackmailed her.”
Arykah frowned. “With what?”
“Years ago when Angela and I were dating, her brother Reginald was hit while riding his motorcycle. His leg was amputated, and it left him paralyzed. Reginald didn’t have medical insurance. Angela and her mother couldn’t afford to pay for the therapy and care that Reginald needed. I was in love with her, Cheeks. I had a very good relationship with her mother and Reginald, so I offered to pay his medical bills and therapy.”
“Okay. Well, that was good of you to do that for them, but what has that got to do with blackmailing Angela?”
“I’m still paying Reginald’s medical bills and for his physical therapy.”
Arykah’s face got heated. “What ?”
“It was a promise that I had made to Angela back then. I told her that I would always take care of Reginald’s bills and make sure he had the best care. I’m a man of my word, Cheeks. You know that. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it. And that’s what I used to blackmail Angela with. I told her that I would no longer pay for Reginald’s care if she didn’t drop all charges against you and Monique.” Lance sat and waited to see how Arykah would react. His heart beat out of his chest.
“So, I can assume that if you hadn’t had that card to play against Angela, Monique and I wo
uld be facing assault charges and possible jail time.”
“It would have been a great possibility, Cheeks. Yes.”
Arykah dipped a tortilla chip in the salsa and ate it. “Okay.” She drank her lemonade.
Lance was stunned. That was way too easy. He was dealing with an atomic bomb, a hothead. Arykah was a stick of dynamite, C-4. There was no way she was okay with what he had just told her.
“Okay?”
Arykah looked at him. “Mmm-hmm.” She swallowed more lemonade.
“Just like that?”
She chuckled. “What do you want me to say, Bishop? You are a man of your word. That’s one of the things that I love about you. When you say you’re gonna do something, you mean it. You made that promise to Angela and her family when you were in love with her. I can respect that. I’m thankful that you were able to get her to dismiss all charges. I’m happy to be back at church, I’m happy that Angela won’t be there, and I’m happy that you fired Sharonda. I’m one happy fat chick. So you go ahead and pay those medical bills. It’s not taking anything away from me and how I live my life.”
Lance pinched himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming. He was so sure that an ambulance would need to be called to their home. He just knew that Arykah was going to blow her top. But she had thrown Lance for a loop. “You are way too calm, cool, and collected about this. What you got in that lemonade you’re sippin’ on?”
Arykah chuckled.
Lance reached across the table and picked up Arykah’s glass and looked at it. He brought it to his nose and sniffed the contents. “I knew it!” he hollered out.
She laughed out loud.
Lance sipped the lemonade. “I knew it!” he hollered out again. “What’s in here?”
“Bacardi rum,” she confessed.
He looked at her. “You got liquor in the house?”
Arykah nodded her head. “And a bag of weed too,” she said nonchalantly. “When was the last time you took two puffs and passed? You wanna smoke a joint and have a drink with me?”
“Wha . . . you . . . ha . . . wha . . .”
Arykah laughed at Lance’s loss of words. She wished she had her camera on hand to capture the look on his face. “I’m just joking with you, Bishop. I ain’t got no weed.” Truth be told, Arykah wouldn’t mind smoking a joint right then. “You want some rum in your lemonade?”
Lady Arykah Reigns Page 16
