The Pastor's Other Woman

by Boone, Denora

  Before hopping in the shower, I got Constance up so that we could be ready on time. Had I let her just continue to lay there, we would have definitely been late. That's one thing that Jewel didn't play, and that was being on time anywhere she went. Constance was another story. She took forever to get ready, no matter how much time in advance she had.

  Once we had gotten dressed, I swung by McDonald's for a quick breakfast, Constance's treat of course, and we headed to the office. The email said that his office opened at 9am, so I was going to be there on the dot. The parking lot was empty except two cars that were parked in the space right our front. I saw the secretary walk to the door to unlock it just as Constance and I were stepping out of the car. Hopefully by noon the fund would be transferred, and we could be on our merry way.

  "Good morning, can I help you?" Smiled the secretary.

  She was a young white lady who put you in the mind of that stalker woman who was after Beyoncé's husband in that movie “Obsessed”. She was nice on the eyes, and I guess I was staring too long because Constance cleared her throat.

  "Oh, um, I'm here to see Mr. Andrews," I told her, trying to regain my composure.

  "Do you have an appointment?" She asked me as she sat down to her computer to pull up the calendar.

  "Well, not exactly. I received an email about a week ago stating I just needed to come and sign a document by today. I just got around to seeing it late last night, so I rushed in to get it done before I left town," I explained.

  "Oh yes, Mr. Webber. Give me a few moments to pull those documents, and I'll get Mr. Andrews for you," she said.

  Her attitude seemed to change from when we first walked in, but I guess the look Constance was giving her made her uncomfortable.

  I was so anxious to get this show on the road that I couldn't sit still. It seemed like forever before the secretary returned and asked us to follow her. We ended up at the end of the hallway where we entered the office of a much older gentleman. He looked to be around his early sixties, but his body looked to be well kept. He had dark skin the color of night with salt and pepper hair. I was tall, so he had to be around my height or an inch or two taller. Life as a lawyer must have been good to him.

  "Good morning, Pastor," he said as his eyes shifted from me to Constance.

  Had I been thinking, I should have left her in the lobby until this was over. I really didn't care that people knew about her now, but I didn't want this to affect getting this money. Just as I was kicking myself internally, he opened the manila folder on his desk.

  "I just need your signature on these two pieces of paper, and everything will be complete," he said, and I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face.

  I'm sure I looked just like the Grinch who stole Christmas with all of my teeth showing.

  I signed on those dotted lines so fast as if my life depended on it, and in a way, it did. This was about to be the new beginning that I had been waiting on for almost twenty years. I knew God may not come when you want Him, but He's always on time.

  "So now what?" I said as I handed him back the papers.

  "Give me just one moment so I can get this information over to the bank," he said clicking on his keyboard then picking up his phone.

  "Everything is a go," he calmly said, giving me a broad smile.

  But something wasn't right. I felt Constance grab my arm, holding it tight, and she was smiling from ear to ear, but something had suddenly sucked all of the air out of the room, and I didn't know what it was, but I knew it wasn't about to be good.

  Before I could stand up, the office door opened and in walked Jasmine.

  "What on earth are you doing here?" I yelled.

  Just the sight of her made me sick to my stomach now that she was no longer needed. I only played this game with her because she had the info I needed, and she was able to show me the side of her Jewel didn't have.

  "So, this is how you do? I help you get all of the information you need in order for us to make a come up, and once you get it, you leave your son and I out to dry?"

  By now, her face was red and stained with tears. If I cared enough I probably would have tried to comfort her, but I didn’t.

  "Man, Jasmine, you knew what it was from the jump. You couldn't have been that stupid to think that I wanted to leave one insecure woman and leave with the next," I said.

  "Insecure?" She said, like she was oblivious to that fact.

  "Some days I didn't know who was worse you or Jewel. Jewel had issues with herself, and you, on the other hand, had issues with her. Every time I turned around it was 'Jewel this and Jewel that'. We could never focus on us, even if there was to ever be an us, because you were just as bad," I schooled her.

  Jasmine may have been a good fit for me, but she wasted too much time trying to compete with my wife, to show me how down she was for the cause, that she couldn't see her own insecurities.

  After a few years I was done, and when I stumbled across a document that said if I stayed until my 10th anniversary as Lead Pastor we would receive twenty million, I knew Jasmine had no idea. If she did she would have told me. I still had to play the game though because if I walked out on her completely she wouldn't hesitate to let Jewel in on it, and I would be left with nothing.

  "But I love you, Drew. Your son loves you."

  She could have gotten an Oscar for this performance.

  "My son? Oh, you mean the one who doesn't share my DNA?"

  She had no clue that I had gotten her son tested a few months back on the advice of Constance, just to make sure we could be completely done with her after everything was done.

  Constance had a feeling DJ wasn't mine, and I was so glad that I got it done. Had I not, she would have really been in my pockets. The look on her face let me know that she didn't have a comeback for this one because she was busted.

  "Yeah, that's right, tramp. I made my man get that ugly little boy tested. You won't trap this one ‘cause he came into some money," Constance stepped in.

  Just as Jasmine charged towards Constance, the door flew open and I heard, "Had I known it was going to be another WWE match so early I would have brought me some popcorn."

  It was Jewel.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Drew

  This was all bad. How did she even know that I was here? I looked over at the lawyer and knew that this must have been planned. He sat there in his seat unbothered by the whole thing. But one thing I did know was that there was nothing anyone could do once those papers were signed and the transaction was complete. I was the only one who had access to that new account and couldn’t care less how anyone felt about it. That thought alone made me smile as I sat down in the chair next to Constance. She must have been thinking the same thing because her face held the same smirk that mine did.

  I looked at Jewel, and in twenty-four hours, she looked so different. Her face held this glow that I had never seen. The confidence that illuminated from her was radiating, and I found it breathtaking. Fine time for me to be thinking all of this while I was about to walk out on her. I couldn't front though, in all of the years of us being together, I had never seen her look this good.

  "Look at you. I guess you can clean yourself up nice," I said admiring her.

  The sundress she had on complemented her skin tone, her hair was flowing down her back in lots of curls and she even had light makeup that brought out a side of her I had never seen. She must have had on one of those girdles that held everything in place because her body was stacked.

  "She has always cleaned up nice. You just never took the time to notice," I heard Bryce say, walking in with a smug look on his face along with Jewel's parents and her brother, Chris.

  "What is this, a family reunion? Bryce, you're not family, so why are you here. Why are any of you here? There is nothing anyone can do now. I just signed everything that's needed in order to receive that inheritance, so you all are late," I said, standing up to get ready to leave.

  "You know what? A
fter all of these years, you still don't pay attention to details," Jewel said, walking over to the desk.

  "What are you talking about, Jewel?" I asked, tired of the merry-go-round that we were on.

  I wanted to know why everyone was here, but no one was looking nervous or flipping out over the information I had just given them. You would think that she would be losing her mind to know that I had walked out of her life with all of her family's money and my new woman.

  "Did you even bother to read what you were signing? I used to always get on you for not reading things before you signed them," she said, handing me the papers that I had just held in my hands not even ten minutes ago.

  "Go ahead and read, Drewsey."

  All of my life I was told not to go signing papers without reading them in their entirety. I looked down and started reading just as Constance stood over my shoulder to see what it said. She too had warned me, but we all know how I don't take heed to warnings like I should. At the very top of the page I saw the words "Divorce Decree", and at the bottom was both mine and Jewel's signatures. I had just unknowingly given my wife a divorce.

  "Ha. OK, I see. Well, that's one thing I won't have to worry about later on down the line. Come on baby, we got money to blow and a happy life to live."

  I grabbed Constance by her hand ready to leave.

  "Well, you two have a nice life. I hope you have a nice savings or a good job, Constance, is it?" Jewel said, stopping me in my tracks.

  She may have gotten one over on me with the divorce, but I had her with the money being transferred.

  "What do you mean by that?"

  I was getting heated now because I was ready to go. Everything was signed, so I no longer needed to be here, but I needed to know what she was talking about. Something just wasn't right.

  "What she means is that money you thought you were going to get transferred into that account she didn't know about, won't be transferred after all. So whatever savings you have, you may want to spend it wisely," my father-in-law said.

  I felt like he was just blowing smoke out of his behind.

  "That's where you're wrong, old man. I just signed for that transfer to hit the new account, didn't I, Mr. Andrews?"

  Checkmate, I thought until Jewel shook her head and held up that other piece of paper. It was indeed a money transfer slip, but the account number was for an account that I had never seen before.

  "How di-" I started to ask before I was interrupted by Bryce.

  "You never could hold your liquor well. Two drinks in and you will tell everything that you know and the next day remember nothing that happened. When you left to go to Atlanta the other week something in my spirit told me that I needed to give you a call. So, I did. You were so tore up I was surprised that you could even speak. I thought God was leading me to call and check on you so that I could pray, but He led me right to you confessing," he said, bringing that night back to my remembrance.

  *****

  Jasmine and I had just gotten in from the club and were about to have a party of our own. Her son was gone, and I knew that this was the last time that I would be with her in this way. I rarely drank anymore, but since I knew this was the end, I decided to go out with a bang.

  We were throwing back shots, and Jasmine had fired up something that she wrapped as soon as we hit the door.

  Now drugs wasn't my thing, but whatever it was had given me a contact so good I felt like I was floating. Whatever she put in the air mixed with that liquor had me feeling right.

  Hours had passed, and we were still going at it when my phone rang. I looked at my screen to see it was Bryce calling. I figured that he was calling to let me know that Jewel was worried ‘cause it had been at least four days since I talked to her.

  "What's up, my boy?" I said, as I watched Jasmine wind her body in front of me.

  I swear when I got to Heaven I knew I was going to have me a couple of angels doing these moves. I burst out laughing at my own private joke as I heard my boy ask if I was ok. I didn't realize I had accidentally put my phone on speaker, and Jasmine answered for me.

  "He's fine, Bryce, and when he gets this money we will be even better," she laughed as I smacked her on her behind.

  "What's she talking about? What money?" He asked.

  Now, had I been sober, none of this would have gone down no matter if he was my boy or not, but truth serum called Gin made me sing like a canary.

  "Man, she talking about that inheritance money from Jewel's folks. I contacted the lawyer to let him know we were changing the account that it was supposed to be deposited to because our account had gotten hacked. He said that he needed Jewel to sign the form to authorize it and that he was going to send it over to me, right? So boom, when he did I got ole girl to sign Jewel's name on it."

  "Who is Ole girl?" Jasmine yelled in the background.

  "Shet up and mind yo' bizzniee!" I yelled and fell out laughing ‘cause I sounded just like my boy Lil Scrappy.

  "Come on man, are you serious?" Bryce asked me.

  If I didn't know any better I would have sworn this dude was sounding mad.

  "You mad or nah?" I fell out laughing again.

  "Yo, I'm done. This is where I draw the line. Had I known own all these years that this is what you were on, I would have never let you get close to her!" He yelled.

  "He big mad now, baby," Jasmine said.

  "Yeah, he is. It sounds like to me that you trying to be in ya feelings. Go ahead and tell it, but when you do just know that you gonna have to tell everything. You helped me with most of it," I warned.

  "Nah, this is all you. I may have known about the women but not this," Bryce corrected.

  "Who do you think my wife is going to believe? Her husband or someone who has a little crush on her? That's alright though. When I'm long gone maybe she will let you dry her eyes," I said and hung up on him.

  "That's right, baby. You told him," Jasmine said to me as she sat on my lap and blew a cloud of smoke into my face.

  *******

  There was nothing that I could do about what was being said because now I remembered it as clear as day.

  "So, I came clean with Jewel and her family. I let them know everything. I ran into her dad one day at the store, and that's when I let him know that I needed us to all sit down before you got back. He thought because I was in town you were home as well."

  "But when I called my daughter to confirm what Bryce had let me in on she told me that you were still out of town. I always knew that you were up to no good, but after you got married, I had to leave it in God's hands. I knew sooner or later all would be revealed," her father spoke finally.

  I couldn't help but to bust out laughing to keep myself from crying.

  "After all of these years of serving the Lord and blessing His people, He does this to me? It was me that was laying hands. It was me that prophesied to the lost ones," I screamed.

  "And it's gonna be you that bust hell wide open if you don't get right with God. For real. You been playing all of these years, and your time has finally come," her mother said.

  I didn't even know that this li’l boy chest having woman was still alive.

  "Sit cho lopsided chest having self down somewhere!" I yelled as Jewel started raining haymakers on me like she was a dude.

  One punch hit me square in the jaw, and I felt the bone crack. You would have thought that jab would have made her stop, but it didn’t. I even tried to get a few locks in of my own. but what did I do that for? As soon as I brought my hand back to slap the taste out of her mouth, I felt like a herd of elephants were jumping on me. That's how hard her father, brother and Bryce were connecting those blows. After what seemed like forever, I just gave up and let the darkness consume me.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Avery

  I was on the phone with James as Kammy played in her room. We had just gotten home from school not too long ago, and I made sure that we had a snack and completed the little bit of homework we both had.
School was ok today, all the way up until I got on the bus. This one girl named Onika that went to our church just made it her business to let everyone in on what had happened at church the day before. I guess she thought she was going to make me cry, but I wouldn't give the enemy the satisfaction of seeing me bothered.

  My mama always said that the enemy doesn't know that he has you unless you show him that you are bothered. Once he gets the reaction out of you that he was seeking then he knows where to keep hitting you at. But as long as he doesn't know, he can't use it against you. But please believe he will try something else.

  This girl talked for about twenty minutes, giving her account of what happened, and I couldn't do anything but laugh to keep from punching her in the face. This nut had the nerve to say that her mama heard Drew was sleeping with one of the mothers for her social security check. At this point, things were just comical and over the top.

  "Man, what you say?" James asked me while I filled him in.

  He was laughing so hard the boy couldn't even breathe.

  I giggled at the sound of his voice. No matter how I felt, he could always make me feel better with his encouraging words and laughter. I just prayed that if it was God's will we would always be in each other’s lives. With so much hell going on around us, one would think we would be broken down, but the power of God is so amazing. He will put people in our lives to help us through. James was definitely a Godsend, and I didn't want to let him go.

  "I turned around, and in my Kevin Hart voice asked, 'Are you done?' My eyes were bucked and everything like his was, and everybody fell out."

  I laughed as I remembered the look on her face. She didn't say another word for the rest of the ride.