From Sinner to Saint

by Jones, Janice

  Tony, again I apologize for my unwelcomed intrusion. After all these years, I’m sure you know me well. And as such, you know that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. It is my sincerest wish that you forgive my indiscretion today. Your friendship means the world to me. Please accept this gift as a token of my heartfelt admission of guilt.

  Lynn

  She folded the note and slipped it, along with the wrapped package, into his mailbox. As she mentioned in the letter, the two of them knew each other pretty well. Lynn was therefore positive that she would be hearing from her future husband real soon.

  Antonyo admired the watch as it gleamed brightly on his wrist. Lynn had really outdone herself this time. She had been generous throughout the run of their relationship, but this watch was the icing on the cake.

  Antonyo had not thought much else about Lynn after he slammed the door in her face yesterday evening. In fact, he took his mind completely off her antics by inviting Jessica over. The way Jessica would lie to get away from her husband whenever Antonyo called was a turn-on in itself. The girl could work miracles to get out of the house to come and get with him. Antonyo had, of course, been with married women before. Most of them at some point had been willing to leave their husbands if he had given them the word that he wanted an exclusive relationship with them. Since Claire, though, he had not met a woman as eager to get away from her marriage as Jessica.

  The thing about it was Jessica didn’t necessarily want to be with Antonyo permanently. She just wanted to not be with Scott. She never talked about her husband in a negative manner; she actually didn’t talk about him at all. So, Antonyo had no idea why Jessica resented her husband as much as she did. The fact that she didn’t talk his ear off about it intrigued him. But what the heck? As long as he benefitted from her broken relationship, who cared why it was broken?

  Antonyo had woken up this morning, washed away last night’s indiscretion in the shower, and prepared himself to meet Clarke, LaToya, and possibly Greg, at LaToya’s preschool. As he walked out of his front door, he had noticed his mailbox slightly ajar. At further inspection, he’d found Lynn’s note and the beautifully wrapped watch he now gazed lovingly upon. Lynn was a headache, a nuisance, a prima donna, a spoiled brat, a jerk, but she sure gave great presents. The watch had been the best thus far.

  After gazing at the diamonds on the wristwatch for several minutes, Antonyo pushed forward with his day, heading to the preschool to meet LaToya’s teachers and to take plenty of pictures. Eventually, he would forgive Lynn. He always did. He would simply make her suffer a little longer than usual as punishment for the severity of her actions. The rules set regarding his child were non-negotiable. Lynn being silly and reckless in this regard was a serious breech of their friendship, definitely warranting the ending of their association. The watch, however, went a long way in assuaging his anger.

  Antonyo continued on his trek to get to his daughter’s preschool, beaming brightly as he drove the streets to get to his baby girl. When he arrived, he spotted LaToya and crew, then immediately made his way over to the classroom, where they stood outside speaking with an older, white-haired black woman. She looked as motherly and as nurturing as anyone Antonyo would have hand-picked himself. This day thus far was working out great.

  “Hey, gang,” Antonyo spoke as he approached the group as they chatted with the teacher.

  “Daaaaaddyyyyyy,” LaToya screamed and leaped into her father’s arms.

  “Girl, you are so dramatic when it comes to your daddy,” Clarke said to LaToya then turned to her daughter’s teacher. “Please excuse her, Mrs. Collins. My daughter is a certified Daddy’s girl.” Clarke laughed at her ex and her child as they loved all over each other.

  Antonyo took a moment off from kissing and squeezing LaToya to acknowledge her stepfather. “What’s up, Greg? How was your honeymoon?” Antonyo approached Greg while still holding LaToya in his arms. He shifted his daughter in order to shake Greg’s hand.

  Greg felt a little awkward talking to his wife’s ex-boyfriend about the beautiful time he had on his honeymoon, but in keeping with the history of this entire relationship, he decided to keep in line with the status quo. The three of them usually got along pretty well. Greg didn’t want to begin rocking the boat. “The honeymoon was absolutely fabulous.” For emphasis, he cuddled up next to his wife and gently kissed her cheek.

  Antonyo watched the exchange, wondering if Greg was attempting to make him jealous. If that were the case, it was a wasted effort. Antonyo couldn’t care less who or what Clarke did. As long as the two of them never tried to keep him from seeing his baby or hurt her in any way, he was cool with whatever.

  “I’m sorry. Mrs. Collins, is it?” Antonyo asked.

  “Yes, Mr. Simms. I’m Mrs. Collins,” LaToya’s teacher replied.

  “I apologize, Mrs. Collins, for our rude behavior. I assume we are keeping you from starting your class.”

  “This is quite a cute scene, but you’re right. I do need to get things started. Since it’s the first day, you all are welcomed to sit in for the first twenty minutes or so, but then I need you to leave. I need the kids to get used to being in class without Mommy and Daddy . . . and Stepdaddy.” Mrs. Collins smiled at the unconventional family and then walked into her classroom.

  The clan of parents belonging to LaToya made their way into the classroom, joining the other parents. The presence of Clarke, Greg, and Antonyo as LaToya’s parents was probably an oddity. She then realized how very blessed both she and her daughter were. She was married to a man secure enough to handle being around the only other man she had ever genuinely loved. God had taken what started out as a crazy situation and turned it into a wonderful family for her innocent baby.

  Once parent time had nearly ended, both Antonyo and Clarke became a little anxious, each worrying if LaToya would be okay with them leaving her in the classroom without them. Greg glanced at his wife as he felt the tension begin to ooze from her body. With a quick look at Antonyo, he realized the biological unit wore twin expressions. It was during times like these that Greg felt like such an outsider. He loved Clarke; he loved LaToya; he even liked Antonyo. Usually he was quite comfortable with their irregular situation; however, there were times like this when he had to pray for control over his see-sawing emotions and insecurities. Greg knew Clarke loved him and him only, but his wife shared a bond with another man that he could not compete with. For the hundredth time, he wished for two things: that LaToya was his daughter, and that he and Clarke had a daughter or son of their own.

  “Okay, mommies and daddies, it’s time to say good-bye so the children can get back to learning,” Mrs. Collins announced to the parents as discreetly as she could. She did not want to alarm the children.

  Antonyo stood and walked toward LaToya, who played contently with colored alphabet blocks along with another little girl. “Hey, Toy.”

  “Hi, Daddy. Hi, Mommy,” she added as Clarke trailed behind Antonyo, Greg a few feet away.

  “We all have to leave now. So I want you—”

  “No, Daddy. I’m not ready to leave. I want to stay here with Stacey and play.”

  “Well, sweetheart. You don’t have to leave,” Clarke jumped in, “but Daddy, Greg, and I have to go. This is your school now, remember, so you will come here every day and one of us will come and pick you up. Do you remember how I explained that to you?” Clarke said to her daughter.

  “Okay. I’m glad I don’t have to leave right now. I’ll be ready to go when you come back to get me,” LaToya announced confidently.

  The trio of parents stared at each other, all visibly relieved there would not be a scene about them leaving LaToya with her teacher and classmates on her first day. Again, Clarke inwardly praised God for blessing them with such a special child. Each adult took turns kissing the baby, then all filed out of the school.

  Once outside, Antonyo said his good-byes to Clarke and Greg. “This seems like a good school. LaToya is comfortable, Mrs.
Collins is cool. All is well.”

  “This is a nice school, and I am so happy our daughter is happy.” Clarke smiled broadly at her ex.

  Greg, again, became aware of that small tinge of jealousy. In order to not feel so left out, he added his two cents to the conversation. “Yeah, it seems as if preschool is going to work out well for our little LaToya.”

  Clarke absorbed her husband’s discomfort and decided to get him out of there. Never before had she noticed Greg being uneasy around Antonyo. For some reason, today he appeared bothered by the relationship the four of them had established. Once they were in their car, she would question him about it, hopefully finding out she was completely off base.

  “Tony, thanks for coming by this morning. LaToya loved having her daddy here. Why don’t you call me—or us tonight so we can work out a pick-up schedule? As far as drop-off, we’ll drop her off on the days we have her. You can drop her off on the Wednesdays you have her. Cool?”

  Antonyo felt the tension and realized it was the reason behind Clarke’s rambling. “All right, I’ll call later. I’m gone. Talk to you later.” Antonyo headed to his car, turning once to glance at the couple walking awkwardly toward their own vehicle. That type of drama was one of the reasons he had tried his best to avoid monogamous entanglements. He was at least glad that his one attempt had been with someone as special and as sweet as Clarke. He thanked God she was LaToya’s mother. He also hoped things worked out between her and Greg.

  When he got to his car, Antonyo realized his cell phone had fallen from his pocket. He picked it up from the driver’s seat before sitting down, noticing he had five missed calls and one voice mail message. He incorrectly assumed all the calls and the message were from Lynn. In reality, only four of the calls were from Lynn. The other call and voice mail message was from an unrecognized number. Antonyo listened to the message, re-listened, and listened one more time to be sure he had heard correctly. The smile spreading across his face grew as wide as the attraction he felt for the caller.

  “Hi, Antonyo. This is Keisha Hearn, young adult minister of Trinity Star. I am hosting an event, actually a focus group, this Thursday for young adults between eighteen and twenty-nine at the church. I’m hoping you will attend this first of three sessions. We will begin at seven P.M. I understand you are not an official member of the church . . . yet, but I’ll work on that later.” Keisha giggled; Antonyo grinned harder. “But membership is not required for this meeting, so please come. I’m praying I’ll see you on Thursday. Have a very blessed day, Antonyo.”

  Wow! Antonyo didn’t even know Keisha had his phone number. She must have gotten it from his mother. At any rate, Antonyo knew beyond a shadow of a doubt where he would be spending his Thursday evening as he drove away from his daughter’s school. He could not remember a time when he so eagerly anticipated being with a woman. Sure, it wouldn’t be an official date; they would more than likely be in a room with several other people. Make no bones about it, however. He resolved to make Minister Keisha Hearn an imperative part of his personal life.

  Chapter 18

  “Yes, Tony, Greg has been tripping since Toy’s first day of school. I’ve always suspected he was a little jealous of our friendship and the way we parent our daughter together, but ever since that day, he has been on a verbal tirade about us having our own child. Every other sentence from his lips is about how soon we can get pregnant. I’m not against having a baby with my husband, but I want to finish medical school first. I think if you and I are not in each other’s presence as much, at least for a little while, he’ll calm down.”

  When Antonyo had picked up LaToya today from Greg and Clarke’s house, Greg was downright rude. Normally, Antonyo would go into the house and sit or help prepare his child to leave. Today, however, Greg took a very long time to open the door. Then he closed the door before Antonyo could enter the house, stating he would get the baby ready and bring her out, leaving him standing on the front porch, looking like a confused idiot. He called Clarke for an explanation the moment he stepped through his door.

  “Clarke, I’ve never had a problem with Greg. I can appreciate how he cares for my daughter, but if he starts drama with me about Toy, it is not going to go well for him.” Antonyo had become loud when stating his last sentence.

  “Tony, please calm down. I don’t need you going off the deep end on me too. I will work this out with my husband. Nothing will change between you and your baby girl. I promise.”

  “Fix it, Clarke. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

  Clarke had always felt so blessed to have a relationship with both her husband and the father of her child that worked so well. Now things were starting to fall apart for no apparent reason. “Uggghhh!” Clarke thought aloud. Why did life always have to have complications? The moment the thought crossed her brain, a scripture from Bible study immediately followed the reflection: I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33.

  Clarke found so much assurance in having God talk to her when she felt distressed. She praised Him for loving her as He did, and she thanked Him. She was thankful to Ms. Trina for taking her to church and Bible study. She knew things would work out beyond a shadow of a doubt.

  Thursday had finally arrived. Antonyo sat in the room at the church with about thirteen or fourteen other young adults, anxiously awaiting Keisha’s appearance. He’d gotten there about fifteen minutes early, which was about thirteen minutes ago. Two minutes more and his spiritual beauty would walk through the door.

  Right on the money, Keisha arrived. She floated in to the room with her Bible in one hand and a thickly padded green folder in the other. “Hello, everyone. It’s a blessing to see so many of God’s children in the house this evening. I want to thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to spend it with me. I have some light refreshments for you, but I couldn’t carry them by myself. Antonyo, would you and Malcolm be so kind as to follow me so we can bring in the snacks?”

  Antonyo considered telling Keisha that only his mother called him by his given name, but decided he liked the way it sounded coming from her lips.

  They dutifully followed as requested, both men attracted to the beautiful minister. Antonyo could feel the others man’s attraction for “his” woman, and found himself none too happy about the obvious. He wondered if he were as transparent to Malcolm, and if perhaps the other gentleman too carried an envious grudge. No matter. Antonyo had never lost a woman to another man at any other time. He definitely did not plan on this being his first concession to defeat.

  Keisha led the men down a lengthy hallway. During their walk, Malcolm engaged the youth minister in meaningless banter, while Antonyo multitasked. He listened to the amateur’s weak rap and checked out Keisha’s beautifully toned body as she sauntered down the hallway.

  Keisha returned Malcolm’s conversation, and had the dirty nerve to sound as if she were truly interested in what he was saying. This woman was some kind of special, the kind of special that would make a player burn his card if given the opportunity. He would love to share his daughter with Keisha, to have LaToya in the presence of a woman this dynamic. Clarke was a great role model and mother, but Keisha gave special meaning to the words phenomenal woman.

  After gathering the snacks and carrying them back to the meeting room, Keisha allowed everyone to partake in the refreshments and then began her discussion while they all snacked and drank.

  Keisha hopped up on the countertop and sat down. “Again, I want to thank you all for coming out this evening. I’m sure there are many ways you would have preferred spending your time this Thursday evening. For the married folks in the room, perhaps a romantic evening with the spouse would have been more intriguing. For you single people, such as myself, maybe a date with the significant other, hanging with your boys or your girls, or just a relaxing evening at home would have sufficed. But, yet in still, you came out to lend your ears an
d voice to little ole me. I appreciate it. Really I do.”

  Luckily, Antonyo planned on having both: a late-night rendezvous with a not-so-significant other, and the pleasure of spending time with the beautiful minister.

  “I’ve asked you all here tonight to conduct a focus group, if you will. I kind of want to pick your brains a bit about your view on your personal relationship with God. In this folder, I have a brief questionnaire that I put together, which asks some pretty detailed questions. There are no correct answers. I simply want you to share with me, and later with each other, your feelings about the questions I ask. I would like you each to take about twenty minutes to complete the questions, and then we will have some dialogue about your answers.

  “I, too, will answer the questions. That way, I can share with you instead of just being the facilitator of our session here. So, why don’t we go ahead and get started with the mundane so we can move ahead to the good stuff.”

  The group of twelve began their written task, all studiously examining their questions, then giving thought-provoking answers; all except Antonyo. He studied the questions, but had no substantial answers to give.

  Question 1: How old were you when you initially believed there was a God?

  Question 2: Do you remember what triggered your recognition of our Heavenly Father?

  Question 3: Do you understand the true concept of the Kingdom of God?

  Question 4: What do you think about the Ten Commandments?

  Question 5: Where does Jesus fit into your life?

  Antonyo was at a complete loss as to how to answer these questions. These were not issues he pondered during his free time. These were not issues he pondered ever. All Antonyo believed for sure was that God was real. He believed that because intellect told him that someone had to create humanity and all its complexities. His thought process didn’t go too far beyond that.