by H.H. Fowler
When Leroy opened his eyes in his twenty by twenty study room, it was several minutes to noon. The white, stiff shirt and gold tie he'd wore yesterday lay in a pile next to him, along with his six-hundred-dollar charcoal suit. His Stacy Adam shoes were kicked under the table as if he'd developed a sudden distaste for his sense of style. He lay on his stomach with his nose stuck in their Persian rug, not wanting to ever get up and face the mess he'd created in his life.
He'd prayed and cried all night, which had been his only saving grace. Sitting alone in the dark without the comfort of his family, thinking about the pain he was about to put them through, had driven him up the wall. He'd contemplated heavily on taking his life, but that wouldn't have been fair to them. He owed them the truth, at least to Michelle. She deserved to know the reason behind his decision to ordain Shaniece as second in command.
He couldn't pretend anymore. He couldn't go on watching his dear wife suffer unjustly, being humiliated day after day, when she'd done nothing but maintain her integrity. She didn't lose her cool amidst the lies and the gossip of the church, but had stuck with him, even though she had the option to take half of what they'd built together and skip town. She'd been loyal to him all this time. What a fool he'd been to have kept the truth from her. He probably wouldn't have endured five years of evil manipulation and constant reminders of his sin.
Indeed, his sin had brought nothing but misery and depression into their marriage. How much worse could it get if he emptied his soul to Michelle? She would either forgive him or not, and seeing how she had weathered the storm these last five years, he was tempted to believe she would find the space in her heart to move past his mistake. Because that's all it was, a fleeting mistake. Even though Shaniece had already planted the seed of suspicion with her lies and theatrics, he knew the truth would cause Michelle to see Shaniece for who she really was. But he first had to find Michelle.
He gathered up his belongings, and though he normally didn't walk through his home in his boxers, he took the chance, and assuming the boys were out playing ball, he practically had the place to himself. But he felt out-of-synch, as he made a diversion into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Just a few days ago, the place reeked of eggs and toast. And how ever short-lived the family fellowship may have been, everyone seemed to have enjoyed Michelle’s cooking that morning. Now the stillness and the emptiness he encountered was a sharp reminder of his responsibility as head of his home. If he felt out of place it was no wonder that everything else felt as if it was out of place, too.
His family depended on his vision and his leadership, and if he weakened the foundation by consistently making poor choices, he had no one to blame but himself when things didn't go according to plan. He couldn't tell when was the last time he'd had a man-to-man talk with his sons. They were practically men now and he couldn't say for sure if he'd had much to do with their development over the last five years. It saddened him that it took that one scene, (with Michelle walking in on him and Shaniece yesterday), to get him to think seriously about the direction his life was heading. Maybe it was God's final attempt to compel him to do the right thing. Whatever the implications, he knew today would be the day he would set his soul free of the secrets he'd carried around for so long.
Same Time
Upon Michelle's insistence, Abraham had checked her into Best Western Suites after he told her she couldn't spend the night at his place. How would that be interpreted, he'd said, if it got out that the First Lady spent the night in the Youth Minister's house? Of course, she didn't care what the people thought. They were talking about her anyway. She simply wanted to stay as far away as possible from Leroy and his lies.
“Please, eat something, dear,” Brenda said, as she and Abraham gathered around her, offering her a small serving of pasta from Olive Gardens.
“I'm fasting,” she said dryly. “Get that thing out of my sight.”
“Fasting? C'mon, Lady Paxton,” Abraham said. “Obviously it's not for spiritual motivation. You need to keep your strength up.”
“No, just let me die.”
Brenda shared a look of concern with Abraham. They needed to lift Michelle out of her depression so that she could think more clearly about this situation involving Shaniece and her husband. She sat next to Michelle and rubbed her back in a motherly kind of way. “Not on our watch, hon,” she said. “We care too much about you. You have to pull yourself together. Starving and fretting yourself to death is not the answer.”
“Oh please, I have been dealing with this charade for five years. Don't tell me how I should act. I caught my husband wiggling on top of that witch!”
“But sitting here losing it won’t make–”
“What the devil you want me to do?” Michelle’s bloodshot eyes pierced Brenda. “You should have seen how she showed her teeth when I walked in on them.”
“I'm sorry,” Brenda said softly. “I didn't intend to come off as being insensitive. I simply–”
“All this time,” Michelle rambled on, “they’ve been getting hot and heavy behind my back and I was too stupid not to believe it. The signs were right there, slapping me in the face. They were always finding reasons to talk, and to 'share' church business. But Leroy assured me that was never the case. And I so badly wanted to believe him, that I'd tried to push the suspicion away from my thoughts, but now I see that was my biggest mistake…”
Abraham felt his cell vibrating in his pocket, for what seemed to be the tenth time that morning. His moves were inconspicuous as he pulled the phone out of his pocket and stared at the number. He knew Leroy would not give up until he answered. He quietly stepped outside of the room and placed the phone against his ear.
“I could see them making fun of me,” Michelle spat. She blew her nose into a piece of tissue that was already shredding with her tears. “Laughing at my stupidity. I must be the dumbest wife of the year. And I don’t even love money that much. I wasn’t staying with Leroy for the money. All I wanted was for my husband to be upfront with me…”
Brenda opened her purse and grabbed a folded manila envelope out of it. “Hun, don’t take this the wrong way, but would you quit feeling sorry for yourself for two minutes and read this?”
“Leave me alone. I don’t want to read anything.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Brenda, please. I’m not in the mood.”
When Brenda saw she couldn’t get her way with Michelle, she slapped on her glasses and began to read the contents out aloud. “These are letters of salary increases for the new quarter. I sent out four emails of notification to those concerned. I printed them for you to see.”
Michelle placed her head in one of her hands and stared at the carpet as if she were about to drop and bury her face in it.
“If this doesn’t get your juices flowing, I don’t know what will,” Brenda said, clearing her throat. She read all of the introductory details and then jumped to the paragraph she’d highlighted, “Dear Pastor Shaniece Bryant, this missive is to inform you that your annual salary of $115,000 will be increased to $225,000 with immediate effect…” Brenda peered below her glasses to catch Michelle’s reaction, which was not what she expected.
“So? They are screwing each other. Of course, he would make sure she’s taken care of.”
“Oh dear, work with me here,” Brenda said. “That’s an incredibly huge jump, whether or not he’s having, you know, with you know who…”
“What? Sex?” Michelle glared at Brenda incredulously. “Just say it, Brenda! They are having sex! What’s so hard about saying that?”
Brenda blinked away her astonishment. She’d never heard Michelle indulge in such language. “My dear,” she whispered. “Pastor Shaniece wasn’t the only one who received such an outlandish raise in their salary.”
“I don’t care to hear any of it, Brenda!”
“Oh; I disagree. I think you should.”
