Nate didn’t have an answer for him.
“A man of God must be above reproach,” Stan continued. “So that your congregation can follow you as you follow Christ.”
Nate nodded, but couldn’t have disagreed more. He was sorely tempted to ask Stanley about his divorce, and what reproach he was above that had led to his big pretty ex-wife stepping out on him. What was lacking in their bedroom that made her seek pleasure elsewhere? But he didn’t. Stanley was a Total Truth board member and as such, deserved respect. Plus, Nate was barely in. This was not the time to ruffle any feathers, or bedspreads.
“Look, Nate,” Derrick said. “Your profile is increasing, your star is rising, which means more eyes, especially female ones, are going to be fixed on you. Be careful not to let a moment of pleasure ruin a lifetime of plans. Be wise and prudent in what you’re trying to do. You’re an intelligent man. I trust that you know how to handle yourself…and how to handle your business.”
“I appreciate that, Derrick. I’ll try and do the association proud.”
As the men made their way out of the restaurant and to the stretch limousine that had brought them to Dallas, Nate’s mind was on one thing: which piece of “business” he was going to handle just as soon as he got back to Palestine.
12
Tell Me the Latest
“Mama Max!” Nettie yelled as soon as she saw one of her favorite people in the whole wide world coming through the hotel’s lobby.
“Nettie Jean!” Mama Max responded, working to move her size-eighteen frame just a little faster. Nearing three score and ten, she still liked to think she was as fast and feisty as any forty or fifty year old, and thanks to the twice weekly workouts she did with her daughter-in-law, Tai, this was sometimes the case.
“Lord, you’re a sight for sore eyes, Mama,” Nettie said, her eyes unexpectedly welling up with tears.
“Well, your eyes sure been viewing some sore situations lately,” Mama Max said as she enveloped Nettie in a long bear hug. “But you just rest your soul,” she added as she patted her coiffed bun and followed Nettie to the car. “Mama’s here!”
Mama Max, her husband, the retired Reverend Doctor Pastor Bishop Overseer Mister Stanley Obadiah Meshach Brook Jr., along with their son and daughter-in-law, King and Tai Brook, KCCC pastors Derrick and Vivian Montgomery, and a host of others, had descended on the tiny town of Palestine for Nate’s momentous fifth anniversary as senior pastor of the Gospel Truth Church. Nettie had been busier than she could remember ever being. It seemed as if she’d blinked and it was June, and time for the week of faith-filled festivities. Truth was, there had been a lot on her plate. She was glad to finally have Mama Max here in the flesh, her ever-ready and ever-resourceful sounding board.
“So, girl, tell me the latest,” Mama Max encouraged as she got into Nettie’s black on black Infiniti SUV and pulled the belt over her sizable stomach. She pulled her “sunshades,” as she called them, out of her purse and put them on. The large white glasses completed her summer-go-to-meeting ensemble of an oversized, floral top in greens, pinks, yellows, and lavenders over white capri pants and one-inch flat sandals. Mama Max might be getting older but as she often told the younger women: “I’ll carry style to my grave, honey-chile…. That and my purse!”
“Whew, Lord, it’s hot here in Texas,” Mama Max rattled on when Nettie failed to answer her question. “Hotter than red pepper sauce on a fireman’s backside, and that’s while he’s fighting the fire!” Mama Max hooted at her own joke, generated purposely to lessen the uptight atmosphere.
“Mama Max, I’m so glad you’re here,” Nettie said, taking her right hand off the wheel and squeezing Mama Max’s left one. “I thought I’d seen and heard it all, but what’s going on in Palestine right now? It’s a soap opera for real.”
“Girl, you ain’t telling me nothing. I been in church a long time. People watching As the World Turns think they’re getting some drama. Hmph. They need to tune in to As the Church Turns, baby, walk into the nearest sanctuary and stay there for a Sunday or two. They’d see performances worthy of Grammys, Emmys, and everything else, and more mess than one can gather from a chicken coop first thing in the morning!
“So let’s start with Simone. Will she be at the program?”
Nettie sighed deeply and jumped into the muck and miry saga of Noble and Thicke. “She’s coming, and she’s on program to sing. We’re going to make the announcement at the early morning service on Sunday, and hope that will stop a few tongues from waggin’.”
“And what is the reason you’re giving?”
“Mark will be there too.” Nettie sighed again.
“Girl, this situation is either God or good God almighty!”
“Either way, the train has left the station and is headed down the road.”
“Mark Simmons,” Mama Max murmured. “I ain’t seen that boy since he was…what—a teenager I think? Lord, where does the time go?”
“Wherever it went, he’s a man now. And a good one. The more I’ve had a chance to sit with this thing, the more I believe it is God I heard that night. I think Mark believes it too.”
Mark Simmons was Nettie’s nephew, Nate’s cousin, and close enough in looks that the two could pass for brothers. Seven years older and three inches shorter than his preacher cousin, Mark lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where along with being an active member of his church, he was a bank president with political aspirations. His wife had died three years ago, just months after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The loss had devastated him, especially since they never had the child that both had so desperately wanted. Since then, he’d thrown himself into his work and, after a nasty election, won a seat on the Baton Rouge City Council. He’d immediately established himself as a leader in the group, had gotten several of his proposals passed, and was already eyeing the mayor’s job. It was this immersion in civic service, work, and counseling from his pastor that had finally started the healing from the profound grief of losing his wife.
“Mark later told me what he’d thought about that first phone call,” Nettie said. “Given my previous stance on him and women, I wasn’t surprised.”
When his Aunt Nettie had called and said there was “somebody she wanted him to meet,” you could have knocked Mark over with a feather. The Aunt Nettie he knew while growing up was the one who was always trying to keep him and Nate away from girls. And now she was playing matchmaker? Mark had been immediately suspicious.
“C’mon, Aunt Nettie, what aren’t you telling me?” he’d prodded. “There’s got to be more to the story for you of all people to be trying to set me up with a date. Not that I don’t appreciate it. I still miss my wife. Not as much as I used to, but I still miss her.”
Nettie’s heart had hurt for him when Rhonda died, and now it swelled with hope and happiness, as it often did with anything involving this gentle, soft-spoken nephew of hers.
“She’s a beautiful, smart, church-going woman,” Nettie assured him, before giving Mark a rundown of Simone’s background.
“She does sound good, Auntie. But if she is all that you claim, why isn’t she married already?”
“Maybe God was waiting to give her to you.”
“Oh, so this was God’s idea, not yours?”
“That’s right.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Look, you can be skeptical and ungrateful if you want to. I just thought you might like to have a five-foot-nine, perfect size six, long hair—her own, almost down to her waist—with a perfect little behind and nice-sized breasts and everything, but I was obviously mistaken, so I’ll just let you go—”
“Now hold on, Auntie, not so fast.” The physical description had finally awakened Mark’s genuine interest. “Tell me more.”
And she had. She’d told him almost everything—almost. She left out what she knew about the Noble-Thicke legacy. But there was one very important thing she didn’t leave out.
“Her daughter’s in trouble,” Nettie had said,
after answering every question that Mark had asked. “And honestly, Mark, that’s one of the reasons she may be agreeable to marrying you.”
“Okay, now we’re getting to it. This is to be a marriage of convenience. I knew this story was too good to be true.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Nettie countered. “Sometimes love can grow where friendship flourishes. I never would have considered it before—you and Simone—but now that I do, I believe you two can be friends…and more.”
“What’s going on with her daughter?”
“She’s pregnant.”
“Okay, Aunt Nettie, I think I’ve heard enough. You had me going along with it until you brought up the fact that I’d gain not only a wife and stepdaughter, but also the title of grandpa at the ripe old age of thirty-five.”
“It’s Nate’s baby.”
Mark groaned. “How old is this woman? And how old is the daughter?”
Nettie answered his questions, and relayed to Mark the chain of events that had led to her phone call, including the fact that while Destiny had agreed to let Simone claim the baby initially, she and Nate would eventually raise the child.
“This is getting crazier by the minute. I’m going to get attached to a baby just to have it taken away from me? I don’t know, Auntie. I don’t think I can go through losing anything again. Plus, I can’t have any type of controversy around me. You know I’m thinking about running for mayor.”
“Ain’t nothing controversial about loving a child. And you don’t have to look at it as losing, son. You can look at it as gaining, like gaining a niece or a nephew. Even after Nate and Destiny get married, you and Simone can still be a big part of the child’s life. And I don’t think Simone is thirty yet. Y’all could have a child of your own. Will you at least think about it, about the possibility of meeting her?”
Mark had answered, after a pause long enough to drive a train through. “I’ll think about it.”
Mama Max digested the incredible news Nettie had just told her. “That man has a crown in glory,” she finally said.
13
Gonna Be All Right
“Selling Simone wasn’t as easy,” Nettie continued, as she exited the highway where one of Mama Max’s favorite restaurants was located. “But after I’d done my job, it was time for Katherine to do hers.”
“Marry who?” Simone looked stunned.
“Mark,” Katherine had answered calmly. “Nate’s cousin.”
“You have got to be kidding. I’ll take care of Destiny’s child until she and Nate get married, but when I get married, it will be for love.”
Katherine was silent. Sometimes you’re too much like me for your own good, she’d thought. It was Katherine’s pride and desire to get the things she wanted the way she wanted that had her still living as a single woman at the age of fifty-three—that and Nate Thicke.
“Just meet with him, that’s all we ask,” Katherine coaxed. “What harm is there in having dinner with the man?”
“I’ll eat with him,” Simone responded. “I just won’t marry him.”
And then she’d met him, and found a man who was thoughtful, intelligent, and easy on the eyes. There was something in his quiet strength that made Simone feel protected and special. The ice around her heart, and the idea of an arranged marriage, melted just a little at this first meeting, and a little more in their subsequent telephone conversations.
“Aside from taking the fall for my daughter, why should I up and marry a man I hardly know?” she’d asked during one of their late-night discussions.
“I’ll make you happy,” was Mark’s answer. And he believed he could, and would, had felt that way from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. He’d make Simone Noble happy—or die trying.
But as usual when it came to Simone, Nate was the one for whom she’d finally made the decision. When weeks had passed and Simone had still not agreed to this cockamamy idea, Nate had called and asked one simple question: “Will you do it for me?” That’s when she’d said yes. Because for Nate, Simone would do anything.
“Plans moved pretty quickly after that,” Nettie continued. “Simone and Destiny will move to Baton Rouge. Well, Destiny is there already, taking summer classes. She’ll continue her education at a private school, and after having the baby, will stay in Louisiana until an appropriate time for Nate to announce their engagement. After their marriage, when Destiny is say, nineteen, twenty years old, the child can become a part of their household.”
Mama Max looked at Nettie as if she’d lost her mind. “Some people ain’t working with the sense God gave ’em. How in the hello Mississipppi are y’all going to explain how Simone’s baby suddenly disappears on one hand, and newly married Destiny appears with a three-year-old on the other? Folks going to put two and two together and get four for sure!”
“We’re not going to put the pregnancy and birth in the Sunday bulletin, Mama. But Gordon said we shouldn’t hide it either. Once Nate and Destiny are married, we’ll simply tell the truth.”
“Hmph. Ain’t nothing simple about that truth.”
“So that’s about it,” Nettie finished. “That’s what’s been going on in Palestine.”
“That’s about enough,” Mama Max quickly countered. “The truth sure is stranger than fiction,” she continued after a pause, thinking how crazy life was sometimes. “Because if anybody read about this in one of them there romance novels, they’d swear it couldn’t happen! It’s a good thing y’all are announcing it in the early morning service—”
“Katherine’s idea—”
“Figures…She’s used to sneakin’ and creepin’, God forgive me for the truth I just told. Just like her mama and her auntie,” Mama Max continued, mumbling. “Pardon me, Jesus, for my gossiping tongue.” Mama Max opened her purse and popped a peppermint just to collect herself. “But back to your son and her daughter. This is probably the best time to drop this news. With everything else going on, it just might get swallowed up in the other events, like the Total Truth ceremony and Carla coming to town. The news is going to send tongues a’waggin’ for sure. But by the time they get around to talking about everything else that’s happened during the week, maybe this story will just be one more thing that went on.”
“Let us pray.”
Mama Max nodded, taking everything in. She reached in her purse for another mint. “Want one?” she asked Nettie.
Nettie shook her head no. “Destiny is carrying the baby well, so thank God she was able to finish out the year here, nice and normal like. She’s taking summer classes to hopefully graduate midterm next year, and has already filled out applications to attend either Grambling or Southern. For all that’s going on with that child, I must say she’s staying focused. She’s got a good head on her shoulders too, was always helpful at the church, attentive in Sunday School. I like her.”
“Unh-unh-unh.”
“What, Mama Max?”
“God sure has a sense of humor, don’t He? I mean, did you ever think you’d have a Noble in your family?”
“Please, they’ve been in my family a long time,” Nettie retorted.
“Girl, don’t I know that. But I mean, legitimately, by marriage, and that you’d actually be okay with it.”
“I can’t say that I would have guessed it, no. But I knew that Destiny would get pregnant, and I knew Nate would marry her. God told me that before they did.”
“Well, goodness knows the Lord works in mysterious ways. The girl’s mama, Simone, wanted Nathaniel, but who’s to say Mark ain’t the better one for her? Looks enough like Nate to be his brother. Girl could do worse. She could be marrying somebody who looks like that boy who had that there dating show. What’s his name? Tasty or Savor or something or other?”
Nettie frowned and glanced over at Mama Max. “You mean Flavor, Mama? Flavor Flav? How in the world do you know about his reality show?”
“Girl, I’ve got grandkids and teens for neighbors. I’ve got to come up.”
“You mean
keep up or catch up, because come up means to get paid.”
“Hmph. All three, child! I need to come, catch, and keep!”
Nettie joined Maxine in laughter this time, her heart feeling lighter with each moment spent in this wise woman’s company.
“I’m just glad Nate’s found someone to settle down with,” Mama Max said. “He attracts women like honey does bees, just like King when it comes to that. And being the wife of a man with all that adoration, from women willing to do anything for the ‘man of God,’ is a hard row to hoe. I hope that child is up for the type of life she’s chosen.”
“Destiny’s young, but she’s got a strong countenance. And her mother, well, I think Simone did the right thing.”
“Sho she did! She would have hated herself if the church crumbled when she had it in her power to keep the part together for the sake of the whole. Y’all only got the one other Baptist church here now, right? Mount Pleasant? And everybody knows old man Jenkins got one foot in the grave and the other on an ice cube. No, this ain’t the time to have a scandal and see everybody turn Methodist by default. Jesus would surely have to come back then.
“How in the world did y’all get Carla Chapman to speak at the ladies’ luncheon on Saturday?” Mama Max continued, changing the subject. “I mean, she always was down to earth and all, but with her show and special appearances and work with the Sanctity of Sisterhood and so on, I don’t know how she finds the time to fit it all in.”
“Jennifer Stevens, that’s how we got her. She and Carla are friends. It wouldn’t have happened without her. And that’s not all. She’s going to try and get Nate on Carla’s show, and a few others. Become his manager, in a way.”
Mama Max’s eyes narrowed. “Jennifer Stevens is a good worker, I’ll give her that. She was a dedicated member at Mount Zion.”
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