by Janice Sims
Alex gazed up at him. “Does this mean we’re officially dating?”
“Definitely,” Jared concurred with a devastating smile and kissed her again.
The next morning was Mother’s Day. Jared had gone to bed late after leaving Alex’s place sometime around midnight. They had wound up sitting in the gazebo in her backyard for more than two hours, just talking about anything and everything. They had laughed so much his cheeks were still sore this morning.
He rolled over in bed and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was half past nine. If he got up now, he’d have plenty of time to get ready for church. Alex had invited him, but he’d told her he wasn’t certain he could make it. Actually, the thought of attending Hat Day appealed to him. He wanted to see how the good folks at Red Oaks Christian Fellowship honored the women among them. If he’d thought of it, he would have invited his mother down from Macon to join him. Emma Kyles would’ve been in her element. Jared wouldn’t lie to God, though, even in his thoughts: the real reason he was getting out of his comfortable bed was to see Miss Alexandra Cartwright again. He sat up and swung his long, muscular legs off the bed. He couldn’t wait to see what kind of hat she would be wearing, probably something chic and sassy.
Alex stood at the bottom of the steps of the church in the midst of an animated exchange between Vicky, Gayle and herself. All of them were wearing sleeveless dresses in varying shades of yellow, this year’s color. Each year they chose a certain color and then shopped separately so that their dresses would not be unveiled until Mother’s Day. Their “crowns,” or hats, were all hand-me-downs. They had been wearing their mothers’ vintage hats to the Mother’s Day service for years. It was a tradition. Alex and Vicky’s late mother, Lutece, had owned a closet full of fashionable hats which her daughters proudly wore in remembrance of her. Lutece had worn a hat to church every Sunday.
Gayle’s mother, Henrietta, who was still with them, allowed her only daughter to raid her closet with one proviso: She got first pick on Mother’s Day.
“No, he didn’t!” Gayle said as she handed around wintergreen LifeSavers. Vicky had just told her about Jared’s visit. Alex tried not to appear too pleased by the turn of events but it was obvious she was by the dreamy expression in her dark eyes.
Her solid medium-yellow dress was made of a cool linen material, with a scooped neck and a scalloped hem. Her hat, purse, and sandals were all cream colored. The hat had been one of her mother’s favorites: a wide-brimmed cloth creation with two roses on the left side. It framed her face beautifully. She wore one-carat diamond studs in her earlobes and a simple gold bracelet on her right wrist.
“Oh, yes, he did!” Vicky exclaimed. She’d opted for color in her yellow this year, and tiny lavender lilacs danced across her scooped-neck dress with a ruffled hem. Her shoes, hat, and purse were all lavender. Her purse and sandals were leather, and the hat she’d lovingly taken out of its hatbox this morning was made of straw and had a big floppy brim made of a sheer material that was practically transparent. She wore plain gold studs in her earlobes and no other jewelry.
By contrast, Gayle looked like a twenties flapper. Her dress was pale yellow and had big white gardenias on it. It had spaghetti straps, a V-neck, and she wore a long strand of bright yellow pearls with it. Her purse, sandals, and hat were in a light shade of red. The hat was a cloche. The brim almost covered her eyes, and it gave her a mysterious look. She didn’t have on any jewelry except the necklace and her wedding rings.
“I don’t know, Alex,” Gayle joked. “It’s been so long since you had a man, do you still remember what to do with one?”
Alex laughed. “I think it’s all coming back to me.”
“If you need a refresher course, you know where I am,” Gayle countered.
Vicky suddenly poked Alex on the arm and cried, “Look who’s coming this way!”
Alex followed her sister’s line of sight and almost swallowed her LifeSaver.
“Now that’s a good-lookin’ brother!” Gayle said. “Why didn’t you tell us he was coming?”
“I didn’t know!” Alex told her as she excused herself to go meet Jared.
Even from ten feet away, Jared could tell he was the topic of conversation. Women had a way of cocking their heads and pursing their lips that gave them away every time. Gayle and Vicky were both going through those motions. Alex, however, was his main concern and she was exhibiting the one emotion he’d hoped she would: pleasure at seeing him again.
“You’re a sly one,” she accused lightly as he approached. He caught her checking out his dark blue summer-weight suit. He had his suits made by a tailor in Macon so they all hung beautifully on his frame. Her gaze settled on his striped yellow tie.
She smiled, and he figured she was wondering how he’d known she’d be wearing yellow today. Fact was, he hadn’t; it was purely coincidental.
She walked right up to him and touched his tie. “Nice.”
Jared wanted to embrace her and kiss her right there in front of everybody, but he settled for grasping the hand she’d touched the tie with and gently squeezing it.
Their eyes met. “You look beautiful in that hat.”
Alex’s cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. Not because of the compliment, but because of the state her body was in due to his nearness. In less than a minute after seeing him, she was tingling all over. It didn’t help that vivid images of the passionate kisses they’d shared last night in the greenhouse and the gazebo were going through her mind.
“This old thing?” she asked, lightly touching the brim of her hat.
“I wish I had a picture of you in it,” he told her. He fairly devoured her with his eyes. Alex, unused to such intimate perusal by a man, felt she might turn into a puddle right there on the sidewalk. She took him by the hand. “Come on, let’s go inside before I forget we’re on church grounds and kiss you!”
Jared laughed softly and let her lead him back to where Gayle and Vicky were waiting.
The service that day was a mixture of the traditional and the contemporary. The mass choir sang several emotion-filled spirituals which reminded them all of the sacrifices mothers make for their families. Then the children got up and gave their Mother’s Day speeches. The really young ones, such as Madison Avery, age four, the reverend’s youngest daughter, and Ruben, Junior also four, were performing in front of the congregation for the first time. They fidgeted, forgot their lines, and finally dissolved into tears, which made them even more precious to their audience, who gave them standing ovations. Some of the older children were seasoned pros who gave impassioned recitations and evoked tears of joy from a grateful congregation.
After the children presented their offerings, the youth choir got up and sang two Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers songs, “Were You There?” and “Must Jesus Bear This Cross Alone?” The boy who sang lead was a tenor, and his young voice was so lilting and sweet that nobody was unmoved by his performance. Both songs were about the death and resurrection of the Lord and made several parishioners cry out, “Amen, amen!” in recognition of the passion the sentiments provoked within them.
Finally, Reverend Avery went to the pulpit and began his sermon: “Good morning, beloved!”
“Good morning, Brother Avery!”
“Church, as I look out amongst you in all of your finery on this beautiful morning the Lord has given us, I’m reminded of how blessed we all are. Yes, blessed to be able to come together as a family under the Lord. But, lest we forget, allow me to remind you why we’re really here. To show appreciation for the Lord’s blessings? Yes, that’s why you got out of bed this morning and came here. But you could have thanked Him at home. No, the reason you’re here is because Christ personally asked you to keep gathering together in His name until He came back, and, as we know, He hasn’t come back yet. He also gave us step-by-step instructions on what kind of observance He required of us. He said, ‘This bread is my flesh,’ and ‘This wine is my blood, keep eating it and drinking it in remembra
nce of me.’ Therefore, brothers and sisters being passed among you now are the sacraments of His body. The body that suffered so much on the cross, the body that was raised on the third day and was transformed into something that was more than physical: a spiritual body.”
A small army of attendants lined the aisles, carrying trays with tiny glasses of red wine on them, and other trays with unleavened bread on them. The trays were passed down the rows by the parishioners as they partook.
When it was over, the reverend said a prayer of thanksgiving, and the mass choir rose and sang “This World Is Not My Home,” whereupon the reverend got happy and joined them, his big bass voice rising to the rafters. There was a running joke among the flock that whenever his wife, Cheryl, wanted to see him show off, she would always ask the choir director to add that particular song to his line-up.
The reverend, who was usually rather understated in his delivery, would be touched by the spirit, which in turn infused the church, and everyone ended up getting out of their seats and singing along.
By the time the song ended, Reverend Avery was washed in sweat, and Cheryl went up to the pulpit and presented him with a pristine handkerchief.
Cheryl sat back down, and the reverend smiled at his wife. He was on to her ruse after all these years. But nothing pleased him more than making her smile.
“We’ll have closing comments from Reverend Hunter Danforth.” Terrance turned to smile at the assistant minister. Hunter was a tall, rugged, good-looking and sophisticated single brother in his mid-thirties. Many of the unattached sisters in the congregation made it more than clear to him that they would love to be the future Mrs. Reverend Danforth, but, so far, he wasn’t biting. “Reverend Danforth…”
Terrance went to sit in one of the tall chairs behind the pulpit while Hunter closed the service.
“You are coming to the house for dinner, aren’t you?” Ruben asked Jared after the service ended. He was holding Tyler in one strong arm and had hold of Ruben, Junior, with his other hand. Ruben, Junior, wiggled mightily. “I wanna go play with Madison!” He was at that stage where he wasn’t averse to making a scene to get his way. Ruben looked at Jared. “Would you mind?”
He placed Tyler in Jared’s arms and snatched up Ruben, Junior. He stopped short of shaking him. He never got physical with him because he thought striking a child only convinced him that striking someone else got you what you wanted in life. He held Ruben, Junior, at eye level and said, “Listen, boy, I know you’re cranky from having to sit for so long, but if you don’t behave, there will be no Nintendo for you for the rest of your natural life, comprende?”
Ruben, Junior’s eyes stretched wide with fear. “Okay, Daddy,” he said in a tiny voice.
Ruben set him back down and patted his head. “Okay, Daddy won’t be much longer, then I’ll take you to Mickey D’s for a burger.”
Ruben, Junior, immediately brightened.
In the meantime, Jared was bonding with baby Tyler. He couldn’t believe the kid hadn’t started bawling the moment his father had placed him in his arms. But he hadn’t. He’d given Jared a crooked grin instead and commenced passing gas. Being male, Jared understood that fully and whispered, “Better out than in, huh, buddy?”
Ruben had sniffed the air and reached for his son with a grin. “I should take him. He’s getting ready to load his diaper.”
Jared didn’t have to be told twice.
Ruben cradled Tyler in his muscular arms. “Alex and Vicky are coming to our house for dinner. We do it every year on Mother’s Day. You’re invited.”
“I’d hate to intrude on such short notice,” Jared began.
Ruben gave him a stern look. “Are you, or are you not, dating Alex?”
“I am,” Jared said with a smile.
“Then from now on you have an open invitation. Don’t be a stranger.”
Jared could say nothing to that except, “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
“Alex is my girl. We—she, Gayle and I—have been friends since we were in the second grade together. Alex has impeccable taste in friends. So I suspect you’re good people, too. Bring your appetite. We always cook too much.”
Standing across the room, watching Jared and Ruben, Alex’s attention drifted away from her own conversation with Gayle, Vicky, and Mother Maybelle. Mother Maybelle promptly got it back, with: “She told me to mind my own business. Yes, she did, and I’ve loved her ever since.”
Alex laughed because she’d heard that story numerous times. It was about her encounter with Mother Maybelle at age seventeen, when Mother Maybelle came snooping around to check on her and her siblings after their mother’s death. Mother Maybelle had insisted on seeing the adult who was living with them. Alex had dragged her inside because she didn’t want any of the neighbors to overhear what she had to say to her, then she’d confessed to what they’d been doing: hiding from Social Services, even when they should have been collecting their parents’ Social Security payments.
After patiently listening to Alex’s reasons for not getting in contact with the proper authorities, Mother Maybelle had surprised her by not turning them in. Instead, she’d insisted that they rely on her in case of emergencies, come to church every Sunday except in case of illness, and have Sunday dinner with her so she could see for herself, every week, that they were fine. Even though she was a Christian woman, she’d helped them pull the wool over the government’s eyes. “Sometimes,” she said now, “a person has to listen to a higher power.” Meaning God’s rules were more important than man’s.
It was Mother Maybelle who’d facilitated Alex becoming Vicky and Sam’s guardian at twenty-one. She’d also made sure that they collected back Social Security payments for all of the months they’d missed getting the monthly checks. That lump sum of money had been enough to shore up the business and put some aside for Sam’s and Vicky’s college tuition. As it turned out, Sam received a basketball scholarship at the University of Florida, and Vicky received a full academic scholarship from the University of Georgia. Alex had set up bank accounts for them for incidentals that their scholarships didn’t cover. She didn’t want them to have to get part-time jobs which could interfere with their studies. In spite of her well-meaning efforts, both of them wound up getting jobs anyway. As it turned out, they were as industrious as their big sister. Therefore, the accounts that Alex had set up as checking accounts became savings accounts. When they graduated they would each have nice nest eggs.
“Mother Maybelle,” Alex said now. “Every time you tell that story, I feel like kicking myself for being so disrespectful to you that day, when all you wanted to do was help us.”
“Child, you didn’t know that,” Mother Maybelle said sagely. “You helped me to recognize what some of our children have to go through to survive. You were a blessin’ to my soul.”
“And you were a blessing to mine,” Alex said and gave the shorter woman, by two inches, a warm hug.
Mother Maybelle moved away from her after a while and smiled. “Don’t you have someone waiting for you over there?”
She didn’t miss a thing. Indeed, Jared was standing next to Ruben and his sons, but he was looking at Alex. “It seems I do,” Alex said to Mother Maybelle.
“Well, what’re you waitin’ on? God helps those who help themselves, and if you’ve got the sense you were born with, you’ll help yourself to that man. Humph, he reminds me of my dear husband, Mac. He had big shoulders and narrow hips like that, too, and that was a whole lotta man!”
“Mother Maybelle!” Vicky said, pretending to be aghast.
“Darlin’, God put woman here for man, and man here for woman. That’s the way it was from the beginning, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! And don’t nothin’ look broke on that man. He’s mighty fine. Go on, Alex, you lucky girl.”
Shaking her head at Mother Maybelle’s wit, Alex went to claim her man.
Six
Jared saw Alex’s SUV the moment he pulled up to the address in one of Red Oak’s old
er neighborhoods. He was reporting for duty for the home-repair ministry’s newest project: a porch for elderly Sister Wilhelmena Kendall.
He got out and began walking toward the house. At seven-thirty in the morning, there were four cars in Sister Kendall’s yard, and several people standing around the sagging porch. Alex saw him and waved him over. Jared’s heart did a somersault at the sight of her. She looked beautiful, in a pair of well-worn jeans, a white tank top tucked into the waist, and a pair of tan work boots. Jared smiled. They’d worn the same colors today. He was wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, as well. His work boots were black, though.
“Hey,” Alex said, smiling. They hugged briefly before joining the others.
Jared greeted Ruben and Gayle, the only two other people in the group that he knew.
“Glad to have a real builder join us,” Ruben said.
“Yeah,” Gayle agreed. “The rest of us are well-intentioned but only know the basics, like how to hammer a nail.”
Everybody laughed.
“Jared Kyles,” Alex said, introducing him to the other two men. “Wallace Bradley.”
Wallace was a tall, broad-shouldered black gentleman in his sixties. He had an intense stare and fairly bristled with nervous energy.
“Mr. Wallace,” Jared said politely.
Wallace pumped his hand. “C-call me Wally,” he stammered. “E-everybody does.”
“Wally, it is,” Jared said with a smile.
“And this is Patrick Wilson,” Alex said next, smiling at a stocky young man of medium height with dreadlocks down to his waist. “Patrick, Jared Kyles.”
Patrick nodded his hello. “Good to meet you, man.” He narrowed his light brown eyes at Jared. Puzzled by his attitude, Jared assumed it was simply a touch of xenophonia, or wariness of strangers, on the younger man’s part. Then Patrick’s gaze fell on Alex, and Jared knew that Patrick had a crush on her.
He didn’t have time to dwell on the revelation because as soon as Alex had finished introducing him around, she addressed the group. “Mrs. Kendall’s going to spend the night with Mother Maybelle. She’s not feeling her best and construction noises make her nervous.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s seven-forty now. The materials were delivered earlier this morning. Jared was nice enough to draw up the plans after coming last week to check out the old porch, and I estimate that we should be able to do the job in under eight hours, with a break for lunch from twelve-thirty to one. Okay! Let’s get the fun part out of the way.”
