My Wife My Baby...And Him

by Shelia E. Bell

  “You’d be surprised at the great sermons I pull from watching shows like this. Nothing like real life drama and people scrambling to find the answers to their life’s choices. Many of them don’t understand that what’s missing in their lives is a relationship with God.”

  Detria nodded. She didn’t feel like listening to Stiles holier than thou reasoning, not tonight. She went into the bathroom, undressed, and prepared to take a shower.

  “Any word about the house yet?” he asked.

  Detria halted just before stepping into the shower. She grabbed her robe from off the back of the bathroom door and slipped it on. “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you.” She opened the door and stepped back out into the master bedroom.

  “What did you forget?”

  Detria threw her head back, clapped her hands, and jumped up and down with excitement. “We got the house. We got the house!” she repeated, while running over to the bed and plopping down next to Audrey.

  Stiles sat upright. “We got the house? Are you serious?”

  “Yes. Riley called earlier today. She said once they do the home inspection we should be able to close in a few weeks. Oh, Stiles, I’m so happy.” She leaned over Audrey and kissed Stiles on the side of his face.

  Stiles remained pensive.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Audrey played with her toys like she had been the sweetest little girl all day instead of the temper tantrum tyrant Detria knew she could be.

  “Uh, have you forgotten that we haven’t sold this house yet?”

  “I know, but we have people who’ve expressed an interest in it. Riley said she feels confident that one or two of them will put in an offer. Surely, one of them will go through. If not, then we’ll just have to keep paying the mortgage until it sells.”

  “Humph. I guess. But you act like we have money flowing out the wazoo. I don’t want to pay a note here and plus our new mortgage is twice the amount as this one. I don’t want to be house poor.”

  “What?” Detria moved from off the bed ready to go at it again with Stiles. Sometimes he could be so cheap that it sickened her. “You know what; you always have to put a tear in every silver lining that comes our way.”

  “What are you talking about now?” Stiles frowned.

  “House poor? Puhleeze. You are paid more than some of these top of the line corporate executives, not to mention the other perks we have. The church pays our car notes, our Y memberships, and they pay for two 30-day sabbaticals a year for you.” Her voice rose as she counted each thing off on her fingers. “And, let’s see, we don’t have to pay for childcare, we practically eat free because the church keeps the fridge and pantry stockpiled with food. All we have to pay is a mortgage and property taxes and you’re complaining? Give me a break.”

  “I don’t want to take advantage of the church, sweetheart. That’s all I’m saying. I know we can make the payments, but I still don’t want to be paying two house notes. That’s all.”

  “Hey, I have an idea,” Detria said.

  “What?”

  “Hezekiah and Fancy.”

  “What about Hezekiah and Fancy?”

  “They’re still living in an apartment, right?”

  A wrinkle appeared on Stiles forehead. Audrey reached for her daddy, and he picked her up in his arms, and kissed her on the forehead. He had her spoiled rotten.

  “Yeah, but what’s this got to do with them?”

  “Maybe they would like to buy this house, or lease it. Better yet, you said you wanted Holy Rock to have a pastor’s parsonage. This house can be it. It’s close to the church and the mortgage isn’t that much, so the church board shouldn’t have a problem buying it from us and paying it off. Maybe you can just quit claim the house over to Holy Rock and make everything official. Riley can tell you how to go about it, I’m sure. If you do it like that then maybe Hezekiah and Fancy can move here.”

  Stiles stood up from the bed, still holding Audrey who seemed quite content in her daddy’s arms.

  “You know what, I hadn’t thought about that. That’s a great idea. As a matter of fact, I love it.” He walked around to the other side of the bed and kissed Detria on the lips. “Thank you, baby.”

  Detria smiled, happy that Stiles liked her suggestion.

  “I’ll talk to the trustees tomorrow and of course to Hezekiah. He may not want to move here. You never know.”

  “Oh, please. He’ll like it. Who wouldn’t want to live somewhere rent-free? And it’s not like this is a small house either. They’ll have plenty of room for when their boys come to Memphis.”

  “That is, if either one of them comes.”

  “But Fancy told me they were coming soon, maybe this summer.”

  “I know, but Hezekiah said they’re having second thoughts. You know how teenagers are.”

  “Anyway, talk to him, Stiles. Why don’t you call him tonight?”

  “Yeah, I guess I can do that.”

  “Good. See how everything worked out? I’m going to take my shower.”

  “You want some company?” Stiles asked with a twinkle in his eye and a naughty smile on his face.

  Detria smiled and answered quickly, “Who would watch your sweet little baby girl?”

  Stiles looked at Audrey and hugged her against his chest. “You’re right. We can’t leave daddy’s girl out here all by her lonesome now, can we?” He kissed Audrey again. “Come on, let Mommy take her shower. Me and you are going to go downstairs and get us some animal crackers. How about that?”

  “Crackus,” Audrey repeated.

  “Yep, let’s go.”

  Detria entered the bathroom, closed the door behind her, and exhaled. She was glad she managed to dissuade Stiles from taking a shower with her. One thing would lead to another and she didn’t want that, not tonight. That would be nasty, just plain nasty. A cheater she may be, but nasty with it, that wasn’t her.

  ***

  Detria stepped into the master bedroom fresh from a warm, relaxing shower. She saw a large Macy’s bag on the bed. What’s that? She was baffled as to what could be inside. She slowly walked over to the bed. Looking up again, as if she expected Stiles to walk in, she stood at the side of the bed, staring at the bag. “What is this?” She reached for the bag, opened it, and pulled out the purse.

  “It’s for you. The mother of my child. My wife. My lover,” Stiles said as he appeared at their bedroom door.

  “Stiles, I,” Detria sounded shocked. “Oh, baby. I love it! But wh…why?” she turned toward him and asked.

  “I told you. Because I love you. I know sometimes I’m not the easiest person to get along with. I know I can be stubborn, insensitive, and inconsiderate, but I love you, Detria. I really do love you, and I just wanted to do something to show you, to brighten your day.”

  Detria held the purse in her hands. She proceeded to go through its compartments. “Thank you.” She placed the purse back down on the bed, ran over to him, and kissed him.

  Stiles reciprocated with a deep kiss. He brought her into his arms and allowed his hands to travel to her most intimate places. His kiss grew more intense, and his body came alive for her.

  Detria moved out of his arms. “Where’s Audrey?”

  “In her crib, down for the night. You should have seen her. She fell asleep while she was eating her animal crackers. It was the cutest thing.

  “Good. That child has given me the blues today. Stiles, I can’t wait to show off my purse,” she said, hurriedly trying to change the atmosphere. “How did you know I wanted it?”

  “How did I know? Because, I know you. I know how much you love designer purses. I heard you a couple of times telling Brooke about some Kors handbag you wanted. I didn’t know what style; I just knew that I wanted to surprise you with something nice. Sooo, after the deacon’s meeting, Leo and I went to Macy’s and looked around. That’s when I saw the handbags. I talked to the sales clerk and got some advice from her. So, I take it, you like it, huh?”

  Detr
ia walked back over to the bed and picked up the designer handbag again. “Like it? I love it!”

  Stiles walked up behind her and nibbled on her neck. “I know a way you can thank me,” he said in a husky voice.

  Detria immediately tensed up.

  “What is it?” Stiles asked, obviously detecting her apprehension.

  “Nothing, I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.”

  “I can help you relax,” he crooned softly in her ear.

  “But, I—”

  “Shhh, relax.” He turned her around to face him and again started kissing her while at the same time, gently pushing her back down onto the bed.

  Detria had conflicting thoughts. Part of her wanted to satisfy her husband, but the other part of her wanted to do like that song Whitney used to sing, “Saving All My Love For You.”

  While Stiles made love to her, Detria’s mind raced. She had to stop committing adultery, stop cheating on her husband. She was the first lady of Holy Rock Church. What kind of example was she setting? What if someone else, or Stiles, discovered that she was being unfaithful?

  Get your act together. If you want your marriage to work, you have to cut it off with Skip. Thought after thought raced through her mind. With each stroke, with each groan of satisfaction coming from her husband, she retreated to a place where guilt did not exist. Only this moment, and right now, she had the responsibility and the duty to please her husband.

  When their lovemaking session ended, Stiles insisted that they shower together. This time Detria didn’t put up a fuss. The warm jets of water streaming down the contours of her body somehow gave her a sense that she was washing away her sinful acts of betrayal.

  “Penny for your thoughts….”

  “Huh?” Detria turned in the shower and faced Stiles.

  “Wow, where is your mind? I only said it twice.”

  “Said what twice?”

  “Penny for your thoughts.”

  “Oh.”

  “So, tell me. What’s on your mind? You seem preoccupied.” Stiles turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Detria followed. He passed her a towel and she eagerly took hold of it and started drying off.

  “I was thinking about how blessed I am.”

  “Is that right? Are you sure that’s what you were thinking about?”

  “What kind of question is that? Of course, I’m sure.” Detria chuckled lightly.

  “So I take it you really loved the purse.” Stiles laughed.

  “It’s not just about the purse. I’m blessed to have a thoughtful, kind, considerate husband who also happens to be a great father. And who also has a birthday coming up in a couple of months. Maybe this is your way of making sure I get you something extra special.” Detria laughed and continued drying off.

  “That is not why I got it. I told you; I wanted to show you how much I love you. You’re the mother of my child.” Stiles dried off his lower legs and feet, walked out of the bathroom, and stood next to the chest of drawers. “Hey, maybe we made a baby tonight. You think so?”

  “Uhhh, I don’t know about that, but I was thinking that for your birthday me and you could go—”

  “Daaada. Daaada,” Audrey screamed, halting their conversation.

  Stiles and Detria looked at each other.

  “Umm, wonder what’s she’s doing awake? I’ll go check on her,” Stiles said.

  “She should be sleep for the night,” Detria retorted. “I don’t understand that child. She’s two years old and she still wakes up at night. For goodness sakes. Gimme a break!”

  Audrey belted out her signature scream. Stiles hurried and finished drying off.

  “Daddy’s coming, sweetheart. Hold on, precious.”

  How can he be so patient with her when she behaves like a little tyrant? “You sure you don’t want me to go check on her?” Detria asked, knowing full well that she did not intend to cater to her daughter tonight. She was exhausted, and the only call she was going to answer was the call of sleep.

  Chapter 4

  “Everybody’s got a past. The past does not equal the future unless you live there.” Tony Robbins

  Hezekiah and Fancy McCoy were a private couple. When Stiles asked if their sons were moving to Memphis, he had no idea how much that inquiry pricked at Hezekiah’s spirit. If he had his way, his sons would most definitely come to Memphis once he and Fancy were better established.

  Unlike his younger brother, Khalil had always been somewhat of a wayward child. Hezekiah and Fancy didn’t want to think that they could be at fault for the manner in which their sons were growing up. They hadn’t exactly been ideal parents or role models.

  Hezekiah had served six and a half years in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago and Fancy five. They committed fraud and started embezzling small to larger sums of money from several churches in the past, without being caught, but like many criminals, they became comfortable in their crimes. Their luck ran out at the last church where Hezekiah was financial administrator and Fancy was his secretary. Auditors discovered the couple had embezzled tens of thousands of dollars.

  While incarcerated, Hezekiah started a preaching ministry. He studied the Bible, having been brought up in the church since infancy by his parents, as was Fancy. That’s actually how the two of them met. They attended the same church as youth and went to the same school. He was weeks shy of turning seventeen, and she was fifteen when they started dating.

  Hezekiah always had the desire to make plenty of money. He grew up in the worse housing project there was: Cabrini–Green located on Chicago's North Side. It was where his father was gunned down after getting off work one evening. Some thugs robbed and shot him dead when Hezekiah was thirteen years old. Cabrini-Green had since been demolished. After his father’s murder, Cabrini-Green was where Hezekiah learned the game of hustling, drug dealing, and gangbanging. He was a great mathematician when he was in school and he had the gift of gab to add to those skills. He could convince anybody to do just about anything, even if it was wrong. By the time the person realized the error of their ways, Hezekiah had done his dirty deeds and gotten away with it.

  When he and Fancy went to prison, they left behind their boys to be raised by Fancy’s parents. Hezekiah’s mother suffered from pancreatic cancer when he went to prison and later died from the painful disease while he was still incarcerated. He had a half-brother seven years his senior who lived in Buffalo, New York, but Hezekiah hadn’t seen or heard from him in ages.

  A minister, who came inside the prison and held a weekly church service, took a liking to Hezekiah. He recognized Hezekiah’s determination to make a positive change in his life. Having come from Memphis, the minister suggested to Hezekiah to consider relocating there. He told Hezekiah that he believed he could make the perfect new start in Memphis once he and Fancy finished their sentence. The cost of living in Memphis was far below that of Chicago, according to the minister. So several months after the power couple was released from prison, they worked odd jobs until they had enough money saved, and then took a bus to Memphis where they rented a small one-bedroom apartment.

  “What if Pastor Graham finds out we’re convicted felons?” Fancy asked. “I’m worried, Hezekiah.”

  Hezekiah sat across from her in their modest living room. He looked away from the television and focused on his wife.

  “You are still just as radiant and tempting as the first time we met.” He smiled. “Remember, we were both teenagers, living a hard life on Chicago’s North Side. But at least you didn’t live in the projects.”

  “Yeah, I’m glad about that, but my family still struggled to make ends meet. It was hard back then. I’m glad they’ve finally torn those projects down. You had some near death encounters living in Cabrini-Green, but God brought you through it all.”

  True, so why are you worried about something we did in the past?”

  “So far, since being here, we’ve been blessed that no one has found out about us, but you know that can all c
hange with one good Internet search by the church staff or anybody who, for whatever reason, decides they want to investigate our backgrounds. Suppose they ask you to turn in a résumé of your past church or ministerial affiliations, what then?”

  “We aren’t the same people anymore. We aren’t going by our real names anyway, so how will anybody find out? And even if somehow they were able to find out who we really are and what we did, we have nothing to be ashamed of, Fancy. Nothing at all. It’s all in the past.”

  “Nothing to be ashamed of? If that’s the case then why didn’t you tell Pastor Graham that we went to prison for stealing from Cradle of Love Church? A hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be exact. And why haven’t you told him Khalil is locked up right today and that he’s a heroin addict?”

  Hezekiah’s nose flared open, revealing his anger. “Do you think we’re the only ones in the church who’ve messed up? Who’ve made mistakes? Do you think we’re the only ones who have a wayward child?”

  “No, I know better than that, but you know for yourself how Christian people can be. They’re the main ones that are quick to judge. And I’m just saying, I don’t want you to step into the position of associate pastor and then lose it all because of the mistakes of the past.”

  “So you want me to tell Pastor Graham about us and Khalil?”

  Fancy got up and walked to where her husband was seated. She sat down beside him. “I don’t want you to lose what you’re trying to build; that’s all. I mean, when you told me that Pastor Graham asked you to be the associate pastor, you know I was ecstatic. This will open up so many doors for you in your ministry. For that, I’m grateful. But, you know as well as I do, if he or anyone at Holy Rock for that matter finds out that we kept our past a secret, you can say buh-bye to the associate pastor role. And me, you know I’ve had hopes of one day being a first lady, and I don’t want anything creeping up from my past to ruin that.”

  “I have the position, Fancy. There’s no need to worry. We did the crime and we served our time. That’s that on that. God has forgiven us, and we’re trying to do what’s right in His eyes now. As far as Khalil is concerned, where he is, is nobody’s business. He’s in a detention center where he can get some help. Hopefully, he will come out a better person. He’s a bright young man and he can still make a wonderful future for himself. We just have to remain prayerful. I know he can kick the heroin habit, and once he does that, he won’t be out there trying to rob people.”