“Are you referring to how you got someone else pregnant?”
JT lowered his head as he admitted, “That and other things. But I’ve got to tell you, Cassandra, I don’t think Diane’s baby is mine. I contacted my attorney and asked him to set up a DNA test. So if you can just hang on long enough for me to take a DNA test, I’ll prove to you that I’m not the father of her baby.”
A tear rolled down Cassandra’s cheek. She wiped it away. “Are you kidding, JT? Do you really think I care if some test proves that you’re not the father of that baby? My problem is the fact that you even have to take the test.”
“I’m sorry about that, Cassandra.”
“Yeah, you’re real sorry. And I suppose I should fall all over myself forgiving you?”
He leaned closer to her and put his hand on her thigh. She brushed it off. “I can’t turn back the clock, Cassandra. But if you give me a chance, I will try my best to make all of this up to you.”
“How in the world do you think you can make any of this up to me? My mother thinks I’m a fool for allowing you to recuperate in our home.”
Angrily, JT said, “Your mother thought you were a fool for marrying me in the first place.”
“And didn’t you prove her right?” Cassandra shook her head and stood up. “Look, maybe it’s too soon for us to try to have a civilized conversation.”
JT raised his hands again. “Please don’t leave. I’m trying to finally inject some truth into our relationship. Maybe we won’t ever be able to get back together, but I need you to know that the things I did were never about you, it was all about me.”
Cassandra sat back down. “I’m listening.”
“First off, I think the reason things began to unravel for us after Sarah died is because I didn’t start our marriage off right in the first place. I wasn’t truthful with you.”
“Are you referring to the reason you postponed our wedding two times? Are you finally going to fess up to what that was all about? Because I’d really like to know.”
“Yes, Cassandra, I’m going to tell you everything. But you have to promise to sit here and listen to me. What I’m going to say isn’t going to be easy for you, but you have to promise to stay and listen. Deal?”
She twisted her lip in contemplation, then said, “Fine.”
JT took a deep breath. He lowered his head, closed his eyes and put his steepled hands under his chin.
“Out with it, JT. You weren’t praying while you were doing all your dirt, so please spare me the theatrics.”
JT opened his eyes and said, “Remember you promised that you would stay and listen.” When Cassandra didn’t respond, JT trod on. “Okay, see, I knew you always thought that I was having second thoughts about marrying you when I postponed our wedding, but it was never like that.” He took a big gulp and blurted out, “I was married when we met.”
“What?” Cassandra exploded as she jumped out of her seat.
“You said you would listen, remember?”
Cassandra plopped back in her seat. She waved her hand impatiently in the air. “Please continue. I can’t wait to hear the rest of this.”
JT felt like a caged animal. He thought telling the truth would make things better between him and Cassandra, but maybe some truths were better left unsaid. But JT had determined that he wanted a clean heart, so this was some of that hyssop the Lord was using to purge him. If he had been honest with Cassandra before they got married, who knows what would have happened between them when Sarah died. Maybe JT would have even confided in his wife about his feelings of doubt, rather than seeking out the comfort of other women. “I told you about the night my mother died and how Jimmy and I robbed this drug dealer that night. But I didn’t tell you the reason we robbed him.” He looked over at Cassandra to see if she was listening. She was turned to the side, facing the wall, not looking his way. “When I went home to tell Mona -”
“Who is Mona?” Cassandra asked, still facing the wall.
“My first wife’s name is Mona. Anyway, when I went home to tell her what happened to my mother, she was in bed with Lester Grayson, the drug dealer Jimmy and I robbed.”
“I knew it. When you told me that story about robbing that drug dealer I knew that you weren’t telling me the whole story. You might be a lot of things, but you’re no thief.”
“Well, I became one that night,” he told her. Then Cassandra turned to face him. JT saw the mistrust in her eyes, kind of like how he had stopped trusting God. He understood her, and even felt her pain. He had already decided that he would fight his way back to God, and now he was just as determined to fight his way back into Cassandra’s heart.
“You robbed that man for her. This woman you used to be married to.” The way Cassandra said those words sounded like she was complaining that JT took someone else to the prom, while she sat at home waiting on him.
Waving his hands in the air as if calling a timeout, JT said, “Wait a minute, Cassandra. This isn’t about Mona. I’m trying to tell you what happened before we got married.”
Cassandra didn’t say anything. She just rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat.
“This guy we robbed was real angry and word got around that he wanted to kill me. So I never went back to New Orleans, nor did I contact Mona about a divorce; until I met you. I had my attorney send her divorce papers, but she contacted him and said that she wouldn’t give me a divorce until I sat down with her face to face. She asked for my address, and thankfully my attorney refused to give it to her.”
“Why wouldn’t she just sign the papers? Did she want to get back with you or something?”
“Hardly,” JT said with a bitter laugh. “She was still with Lester and she wanted me back in New Orleans so he could kill me.”
Cassandra took a sharp intake of breath, but quickly recovered so that she could continue looking a loath.
“I was sorry about postponing our wedding, but I was trying to find a way to get this divorce done without getting myself killed. But then about a month before our third wedding date, Lester was murdered and Mona needed money. She asked me for my entire score from that robbery, the whole hundred and twenty five thousand, and I gave it to her without blinking an eye.”
With an eyebrow raised, Cassandra said, “How could you have held onto that money for all those years?”
“You don’t get it, do you? After I gave my life to God I didn’t want the money. I really can’t tell you why I held on to it. Maybe I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make an honest living. I put the money in a safe deposit box and left it alone. But I wanted you so bad, that when Mona asked for my cut, I gave it to her without a second thought.”
“Do you think that moves me, JT? I wish you had never given her the money. I wish you had stayed married to her. It sounds like the two of you deserve each other,” Cassandra said as she stood up and walked out of the room.
JT wanted to call her back. He had so much more he wanted to tell her, but he recognized that he’d already unloaded a ton of manure on her and Cassandra needed to get away from the stench.
CHAPTER 19
On Tuesday morning, JT received two calls that were supposed to be good news, but the calls only made him think more about his misguided past. The first call came from Elder Unders. JT had a great deal of respect for this man. He had been married for twenty seven years and had not compromised his marriage with adultery like he had. Elder Unders was a man that God would be proud to call his servant.
“Pastor, I hope this isn’t a bad time, but I wanted to let you know that I had to let Vivian Sampson go today.”
JT had told Betty to have Unders fire Vivian last week, so he asked, “What took you so long?”
“Well,” Unders began with a bit of hesitation. “From what I was told, Vivian had reason to say some of the things she’s been saying. So, I tried to work with her, by first telling her that her behavior was unacceptable and that if it continued she would have to find other employment.”
Had things really gotten this bad? Was JT now expected to put up with an elder at his church talking down to him? JT shook off the anger at the situation as he realized that he had brought all of this on himself. He then asked Elder Unders, “What was the final straw with her?”
“Look, Pastor, I’d rather not go into all of this with you. I called Bishop Turner and told him what’s been going on around here, so you might be receiving a call from him soon.”
“He already called. I’m having lunch with him later this week,” JT said.
“Well all right then, Pastor. I hope you come back to church real soon.”
“As a matter of fact, I was going to see if Cassandra would bring me to church this Sunday. You’ve always preached some good messages, and I need to be ministered to right now.”
There was silence on the line for a moment, then Elder Unders said, “I think the Lord would be pleased with that, Pastor.”
“See you soon, Unders,” JT said.
Unders hung up without saying goodbye. JT respected Unders, but he realized from the way their conversation had gone that Unders had lost respect for him. JT was busy working on regaining respect from God and Cassandra, so he didn’t have time to add anyone else to the list right now.
JT stood up and grabbed his cane, getting ready to walk out of his office when the phone rang again. He sat back down and picked up the phone. “This is JT.”
“Hello, Mr. Thomas, this is Officer McDaniel. How are you doing?”
“I’ve been worse,” JT said.
“Well, I’m calling to give you some good news. I think we caught the guy who ran you over.”
“You’ve got Jimmy?”
“Yes, sir. But he already had a warrant out for his arrest when we picked him up, so we need you to come down here and identify him before we have to release him to New Orleans.”
“When do you need me?”
“Today, if you can get down here. How about three o’clock?” Officer McDaniel asked.
“I’ll see if my wife can drive me,” JT told him just before they hung up. He then went to find Cassandra. She was upstairs, and JT tried not to climb up and down the stairs all day since his leg was still giving him problems. At the bottom of the stairs, JT yelled, “Cassandra, can you come down here for a minute?”
She yelled back, “Give me a minute. I’m changing Aaron.”
“Okay, I’ll wait for you in the living room,” JT told her as he headed to the living room to sit down and wait.
“What’s up?” Cassandra asked as she entered the living room carrying Aaron, while Jerome walked behind her flying his toy airplane.
“The police just called. They have Jimmy, but they need me to come and identify him as the person who ran me over.”
“Thank God,” Cassandra said.
JT laughed as he said, “I’m surprised that you’re happy about that. I thought you might want Jimmy to run me over again.”
Cassandra’s hand went to her heart. “How could you say something like that?”
JT waved away his comment. “I’m sorry about that, Cassandra. I’m battling myself on this one. I’m the one that’s not as happy as I should be.”
Cassandra handed Jerome Aaron’s bottle and asked him to put it on the kitchen table. When Jerome shot out of the living room, Cassandra sat down next to JT. “What’s going on? Why are you upset about this guy getting arrested?”
JT ran his hands through his wavy, low cut hair. “I kind of feel like it’s my fault that he ran me over.”
“That’s nonsense, JT.”
“No, no, now listen to me. The past few weeks I’ve been challenging my integrity and I’ve been holding myself accountable. And when I last met with Jimmy I lied to him.” JT looked at Cassandra to gauge her reaction to his admitting that he had lied. There was no surprise on her face, but it wasn’t news to him that she knew him to be a liar. He continued, “I told him that I gave his money to Mona so that she would give me a divorce. But that wasn’t true. I gave Mona my money, I had held onto Jimmy’s money for years. I really didn’t want it, and just wanted him to get out of prison and come and get his money.”
“Mommy, can I have an apple,” Jerome asked as he ran back in the room, still flying his airplane.
“Sure, Honey, just give me a minute.” She turned back to JT and asked, “I’ll bite. Why didn’t you give him his money if you had been holding onto it all this time?”
“Remember when I bought the Bentley?”
“Yeah, it was right after Sarah died. I remember how you constantly tinkered with that car while I was pretty much left on my own to deal with what happened.”
“That’s why I bought the car. That’s also why I moved us into this house. It helped me not have to deal with what happened to Sarah. I was able to tell our congregation just how much God was blessing us by all the material things we had.”
A look of astonishment came over Cassandra’s face. “I can’t believe you are finally admitting that you bought all this stuff to prove that God still loved us. I always knew it, but you would never admit it.”
JT nodded. “I’m admitting it now. But the problem is, I am now being investigated by a congressional board for using church money to fund our fabulous life style.”
Rolling her eyes as if to say, this never ends, Cassandra asked, “When did this happen?”
“The day Jimmy ran me over, the church received a fax about the investigation. But here’s the thing, Cassandra. I didn’t take any money from the church to buy that car or this house. I used the money I was saving for Jimmy.”
“So you robbed your co-conspirator? Wow,” Cassandra said. She stood up and walked into the kitchen with Jerome all the while shaking her head.
***
JT and Cassandra dropped the kids off at her mother’s house and made it to the police station by three o’clock that afternoon. McDaniel took JT in a room that had a big glass that enabled him to see into the room next door. As JT looked through the glass, six men walked into the room next to him. They each held a number in front of them. There were mostly unfamiliar faces in this line up. However, JT did recognize the person holding the number four in front of him. It was Jimmy, and he looked as if he’d been sleeping in his car with no mirror for the past three weeks since he had run JT over. His hair was matted to his head on one side and sticking up like Don King on the other. Jimmy’s clothes were tattered and torn. JT lifted his arm and pointed. “That’s him. Number four is the one who ran me over.”
McDaniel smiled as he pushed the intercom and told the officer on the other side of the glass window, “We’re done. You can take them back now.”
“What happens now?” JT asked.
McDaniel turned to JT and said, “He’s wanted back in New Orleans for armed robbery, so we’re still trying to see which location will get to put him on trial first.”
“Oh,” JT said as they left the room and went back to where Cassandra was waiting on him.
“Are you done?” she asked.
“Yeah, they’ve got him,” JT replied.
“Good,” she said as she stood up. “Let’s go home.”
They went to Mattie’s house to pick up the kids. JT stayed in the car, not wanting to have a run-in with his mother-in-law. The way he was feeling right now, he would probably hit her with the cast on his right arm and then beat her to death with his cane. With as much as he had to ask forgiveness for, he really didn’t need to add another thing to his prayer list.
Cassandra came out with the kids, buckled them in and they headed home. JT asked, “Did you tell your mom that I said hello?”
“Yes,” Cassandra answered without elaborating.
They were silent as they drove home. JT knew that his mother-in-law had probably talked against him while Cassandra was in her house, and Cassandra was probably processing everything that mean, old woman had to say. He wanted Cassandra to forgive him, but he didn’t know how to convince her that he was not the same guy he had been just t
hree weeks ago. Truthfully, JT didn’t know if the man he had once been would show back up or not. So, the way he saw it, it was best not to boast too much.
When they arrived home and got out of the car, JT noticed a handsomely wrapped package on their doorstep.
“Look, Daddy,” Jerome said as he ran toward the front door. “Somebody sent us a present.”
The box was wrapped with white paper and tied with a shimmering gold bow. Jerome picked the box up as Cassandra unlocked the door. Wondering who would have left a gift on their doorstep, JT looked around. He spotted a car parked in front of his house on the opposite side of the street. He walked down the lawn as Cassandra and the kids went inside the house. The car looked familiar to him. JT was just hoping he was wrong, but as he got closer to the car his worst fears were realized. Vivian was sitting behind the wheel.
“What are you doing at my house?” JT asked her.
She laughed at him as she started the car and sped off.
JT turned and headed back to the house. The cane and the pain in his leg made it hard to run, but he hollered, “Don’t open that package!”
When he made it to the door, Jerome had already sat the package on the table and untied the bow. The paper had been ripped off and Jerome was trying to open it. “No!” JT said as he leaped over to the table and grabbed the box away from Jerome. Agony was etched across JT’s face as he fell on the floor. He yelled out in pain.
Cassandra put Aaron in his playpen and turned to JT. “Why would you leap across this room like superman when you can barely walk as it is?”
He took two deep breaths, trying to ease the pain as he told her, “I just saw Vivian outside our house. I think she left this gift,” he said, still holding the package in his hand as if it was a football he’d just stolen from the opposing team.
Former Rain-Forsaken Box Set Page 32
