Baby Doll ran her tongue over her gums and sighed. She really wanted to do right but it was a hard thing Miss Queen Esther was asking of her. She often wondered why such requests came from people who were happily married and getting all the love and care they could possibly want or ever need. Didn’t seem fair to her.
“Give it a rest, Queen,” Mr. Lacy said as soon as he felt the pain shooting through Baby Doll over the mere thought of losing him.
“I know you mean well but you coming at it all wrong,” Mr. Lacy said to Queen. “Unlike you, Baby Doll has not had the pleasure of being wrapped up in the arms of a good-loving man when she falls asleep at night. And until very recently, she was not a part of our community—just standing outside the lines looking in at everybody else on the inside. So, back off and show some understanding that lets me know that you are the good Christian woman I have always believed you to be.”
“I’m sorry, Baby Doll,” Queen Esther said with a convicted heart. Standing on the Word and being bold for Jesus wasn’t always as easy for Queen Esther as most people thought it was. She completely understood Baby Doll’s reluctance to lose what she believed was the best love she’d ever had. But when Baby Doll put the Lord first in her life, He’d supply her every need—and that included true love between a man and woman. Plus, that kind of true love could not fully develop and flourish without Jesus smack dab in the middle of it all anyway.
Queen Esther took Baby Doll’s hands in her own and said, “I know it appears as if I am asking you to give up what you’ve been wanting and needing for so long. I wish that I could say this a better way. But I can’t do that because I can not and I will not disobey the Lord by sugar-coating what He has placed in my heart to share with you and Lacy. And truth is—you and Lacy need to get saved and married.”
Baby Doll held her head back to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks. She knew that Miss Queen Esther was right. God had to come first—there simply was no other way to get around it. She just wished that she didn’t have to give up all the love and the warmth that she got from her Big Daddy.
Mr. Lacy reached out and took her hand and said gently, “Come on, baby, let’s go down on Main Street and get a marriage license. I couldn’t stand to lose all of that good loving because you want to do right. If marrying you is what you need, then marrying you is what you got. ’Cause I ain’t never loved no woman like I have come to love you, Baby Doll.”
He took off his shades and quickly closed his eyes. He got down on one knee and raised his head toward hers.
“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife today?”
Baby Doll had been praying for this day every since Lacy had picked her up in that rainstorm. Tears fell down her cheeks as she reached into her purse for her mold teeth. Didn’t seem proper to experience this moment without any teeth in her mouth.
She popped them over her gums and said, “Yes, Lacy. I will become your lawfully wedded wife.”
“Then help me up, girl, ’cause these old stiff knees ’bout through, and we have to make it downtown in a hurry. ’Cause, girl, there so much sweetness and love in you, it’s got my blood boiling. And I don’t know how much longer I can keep my hands off of you.”
Baby Doll reached out and helped her man/husband-to-be up and said, “You so mannish and crazy, Big Daddy.”
“Heh, heh, heh.”
Mr. Lacy put his shades back on, grabbed Baby Doll’s hand, and made his way toward the door.
“Make sure you give Mr. Lamont the rest of the information, Miss Queen Esther,” Baby Doll called over her shoulder as Mr. Lacy hurried her out of the store, pausing just long enough to cut a shouting step when the store’s music came on.
Theresa made a quick exit to the back of the store before her own tears of hurt and disappointment streamed down her cheeks. She knew that not only should she be happy for Miss Baby Doll, but she was supposed to have joy in her heart for being blessed to witness God’s miracle-working power in someone’s life. It was a powerful testimony that God answered a woman’s prayers about love and marriage. But all Theresa could do was feel sad that she didn’t have what Miss Baby Doll had. Imagine a man loving you so much, he married you just so his desire to hold you in his arms wouldn’t interfere with your desire to get right with God.
Lamont started to follow Theresa. He could tell that she was very upset, but couldn’t for the life of him figure out what had triggered this response. One minute she was fine, stocking merchandise and trying to look inconspicuous while trying to listen in on the incredible exchange that just took place in her store. And then in the blink of an eye, Theresa was on the verge of tears.
“Give her a moment,” Queen Esther said, thinking, “Your butt is partially to blame for all of this wallowing in faithless self-pity. ’Cause if you had sense enough to take that girl in your arms, she wouldn’t have a need to run off like some silly woman in one of those daytime soap operas.”
She placed the sheets of crumpled papers in both of his hands.
“I told you the Lord would make a way for you, Lamont. Read what’s on those papers in Jethro Winters’s own handwriting.”
As he scanned the contents of the papers, he shook his head in disbelief. For the second time since he’d come in the store, he couldn’t believe that Jethro had been too dumb to destroy this incriminating information. And to have possession of these two key holders with names on them was like holding manna from heaven right in the palm of his hands.
“Auntee, please tell Mr. Lacy and his bride-to-be that I am so grateful for their help.”
“No, you tell them yourself. Go over to their house and tell them. I’m sure they don’t have a lot of company. And your presence will be just what the doctor ordered.”
“You know where Mr. Lacy’s house is?”
“Over on Dupree Street, not far from North Carolina Central University. But call before you come. They just ran off to get married and you might get your feelings hurt busting up on them unannounced.”
Lamont blushed. He could not even begin to imagine something as incredible as that. In fact, he counted it a blessing that he didn’t have the ability to imagine that.
He hugged his aunt and started to rush off.
“Where you headed to now?”
“I wanted to go over to the Cashmere and take a look around. Sometimes, I just need to walk around and remember and then think about what it can be again.”
“Why don’t you take Theresa with you? Might do you good to help somebody else see what you dreaming up.”
“You think she’d be interested in seeing the site?”
“Yep,” was all Queen Esther said as she hurried over to greet the first customer of the day. It was that worrisome Mother Clydetta Overton, who was always going on and on about her concerns over distracting her pastor during a sermon with glimpses of her legs. Queen Esther’s best friend, Doreatha Parker, had been in the store once when Clydetta was carrying on about the pastor and her legs. Doreatha gave the woman a quick once-over and then whispered, “Girl, have you seen her pastor?”
Queen Esther nodded. Clydetta’s pastor was a big fine-looking high school football coach who had every churchgoing hoochie in Durham County panting after his behind.
“Then, you’ll know,” Doreatha continued, “that this heifer buying all of those lap cloths ’cause she just stuck on stupid.”
“Mornin’, Queen,” Mother Clydetta said as she pulled a church fan with her pastor’s picture on it out of her purse and started waving it around. “Umm, y’all got some air up in here, ’cause I feel like I’m having some hot flashes.”
Queen Esther wanted to snatch that fan out of Clydetta’s hand and beat her across the head with it.
She thought, “Hot flash, my butt. That ain’t nothing but lust flashing all that heat on your crazy, lying self.”
If Mother Clydetta came up in this store one more time claiming to live like Anna the Prophetess after her husband died forty-six years ago, Queen Esther was
going to forget she was saved and beat that heifer down. She knew that Clydetta had run around on her deceased husband when he was alive, and then sneaked and slept with half of the old black men in Durham County after he died. The only reason that dried-up hoochie was “chaste” now was because she was too old, too stiff, and way too slow to be slipping in and out of hotels and other folks’ houses without being noticed.
Mother Clydetta looked at the picture on the fan, waved it across her face a few more times, and put it back in her purse.
“Queen, Theresa called and told me that my order had come in.”
“Yeah,” was all Queen Esther said, as she went behind the register, sat a box on top of the display case, and opened it for inspection.
Mother Clydetta pulled out a yellow flannel nightgown, trimmed in white satin, with “Saved” embroidered all over it in white silk thread. She stuck her hand back in the box and held up several pairs of big pastel-colored cotton panties with “For Jesus Only” printed on them. She laid the panties on the counter and removed a white satin turban with tiny Santas embroidered all over it. The turban stood almost a foot high on her head when she tried it on. And if that weren’t enough, Mother dug back in that box and pulled out a matching handbag, along with a pair of white satin gloves with little Christmas trees on them.
Queen Esther took one look at that merchandise and thought, “I’m gonna have to have a little talk with Theresa about this new made-to-order policy of hers.”
When Mother Clydetta pulled out lap cloths shaped like Christmas trees, Queen Esther thought, “I am really going to have to sit down and talk to Theresa about this.”
Chapter Ten
THERESA COULDN’T BELIEVE THAT SHE HAD GOTTEN so torn up over Baby Doll becoming a bride-to-be right in her store. Folks in the community always joked that you could get blessed simply by setting foot in Miss Thang’s Holy Ghost Corner and Church Woman’s Boutique. But until today, she never imagined just how much a blessing being in her store could be. If only she could step up in here and get a blessing like that, all would be just fine.
“You okay, girl?”
Theresa closed her eyes a moment and thought, “Great. I’m back here buggin’ out over Baby Doll and now Lamont is all up in my grille.”
She swirled her prized lavender leather chair around to face him with what she hoped wasn’t too tight a smile plastered on her face.
“Sure. I’m fine.”
“Well, to be honest,” he said, “you don’t look so sure, even though you sure are fine.”
Theresa relaxed instantly and said, “Boy, pleaz,” and hit his arm playfully, laughing.
“Can you get away from the store for a while?”
“Yeah. Thanks to Miss Baby Doll, I don’t have to do any cleaning or straightening up. She is very efficient. Everything in the store that is not ready to be shelved is now back here, categorized and arranged by what section of the store it is to be placed in.”
“Kind of makes you wonder why all of that efficiency does not extend to her wardrobe, doesn’t it,” Lamont said.
“Stop it. You know good and well that Miss Baby Doll is kind of special.”
“Yeah, she is definitely that, judging from those ‘sexy mama’ socks she was sportin’,” he said with a laugh.
“Mr. Lacy don’t seem to have a problem with those socks. Remember, he just ran off to get married so his love supply won’t be cut off when Miss Baby Doll gets saved.”
“Mr. Lacy is also quite blind,” was all Lamont could say. It was pretty hard for him to imagine running off to marry somebody to stop the booty from being shut down ’cause your woman suddenly caught a case of “some of that old-time religion.”
“Yeah, he blind,” Theresa said. “But I’ve never known him to be crippled or crazy. So, she must be working something in those socks and yellow jelly shoes.”
Lamont was cracking up with laughter.
“Theresa, can you imagine Miss Baby Doll doing a ‘sexy mama’ dance in those socks and shoes?”
“No . . . but I have one even better than that,” she said, thoroughly tickled at that thought herself. “Can you imagine Mr. Lacy watching her do that dance in those socks and shoes?”
“You know you are so wrong, Theresa Hopson,” Lamont told her, dabbing at his eyes. He pulled on Theresa’s arm to get her out of that chair. “Come on. Get up. There’s something I want to show you—won’t take too long.”
Theresa grabbed her purse and followed Lamont out the back door.
“I need to tell your aunt that I’m leaving.”
“Call her on your cell. You don’t want to go up front because her favorite customer, Mother Clydetta, is out there giving Auntee a fit.”
“I hear you,” was all Theresa said, as she flipped open her cell phone and dialed the store’s number.
As soon as Theresa heard, “Miss Thang’s Holy Ghost Corner, your one-stop shop for the best in church lady merchandise,” she said, “Miss Queen Esther, I’m gonna take . . . wait . . .”
Lamont tapped Theresa’s arm until he knew he had her attention long enough to mouth, “I’m going to get the car.”
She nodded and went on, “I’m going with Lamont to take a look at something. Won’t be gone long.”
“Okay, take your time,” Queen Esther said, wishing they would take Clydetta Overton with them.
Theresa walked outside looking for Lamont and realized that she didn’t know what kind of car he drove, when he pulled up in a sweet, silver blue Chrysler 300 sedan with what one of Bug’s sons told her were eighteen-inch customized rims. A close inspection revealed that the eight-pronged chrome rims had “Green” emblazoned in the center with burnished chrome letters.
Lamont pulled right up to the curb where Theresa was standing and was about to get out when she slipped into the passenger seat with such grace and panache, he was tempted to ask her to do it again.
The platinum-colored leather seat was so comfortable it felt like it had wrapped itself around her as soon as she sat down. She rubbed her hand across the luxurious leather and inhaled the spicy and rugged smell of the car. This was definitely an “ole-skool” brother’s car.
“How long have you had this car?”
“Not long. And man, do I love this car. It drives like it’s a smooth and sexy sister,” he answered, giving her a sultry wink right before he slipped a CD into the stereo system.
“You like Kem?”
“I love that brother’s work. Have you seen him in concert? That little slender chocolate boy can work it.”
“I concur,” Lamont said as he turned on the music. “You heard this CD, yet? It’s his latest.”
“Just bits and pieces. You know he performed some of these songs the last time he gave a concert at the Carolina Theatre.”
“I was at that concert. Kem threw down.”
“I concur,” Theresa answered, making him smile at her use of his term. “So, where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise. Thought it might lift your spirits a bit. You were looking like you had the wind knocked out of you back at the store.”
Theresa bit her lip, embarrassed that he’d seen how upset she was. Lamont placed his hand over hers and held it firmly when she tried to pull away. When her hand relaxed, he slipped his fingers through hers and caressed the palm of her hand with his thumb.
Theresa sighed softly. That man’s hand felt wonderful. She could just imagine what those same hands would feel like on her arms, holding her waist, and caressing her cheeks. When Theresa started thinking about his fingertips on her lips, she pulled her hand free. She adjusted the passenger seat so that she was now sitting up straight with both hands folded primly in her lap.
Lamont thought Theresa looked like she was sitting in a lobby waiting to be interviewed for a job.
“Baby, relax. It was only your hand.”
His voice was so sexy, with a low, gravelly sound to it, Theresa started to squirm. She was feeling heat in places that heat did not
need to be.
“Are you all right?” he asked in that same sexy voice, knowing full well that he had “hit the spot,” just like he intended on doing.
“Yes,” she answered, while crossing her legs back and forth one time too many.
“You sure you all right, baby?” he asked again, making sure that “baby” had plenty of that dirty-South, black-boy drawl in it.
“I’m sure.”
“I hear you, sure,” he replied with a low chuckle that made her uncross and cross her legs just one more time for good measure.
Lamont turned into the entrance of what had once been Cashmere Estates. “I bet you haven’t been back here in years, have you, Theresa?”
“No.”
“Ever miss it?”
“Sometimes—especially if it’s near a holiday. This Thanksgiving, I had an urge to drive over here on the way to Bug’s house.”
“Why didn’t you do it?”
“Don’t know. Thought that I was being kind of stupid.”
“Nahh. Nostalgic maybe. But stupid? Never—not you, girl.”
He parked the car right in front of an old fire hydrant.
“You remember this spot, Theresa?”
She shook her head.
“It’s where you had your first business—right here on this corner during one of our many neighborhood festivals.”
Theresa smiled at him. Lamont actually remembered her very first business—a small stand decorated in red, black, and green, with all kinds of accessories and novelty items for the home.
“Doesn’t seem like it was thirty years ago, does it?” he asked.
“Nope. Time passes so fast.”
“Too fast sometimes,” Lamont said, thinking about how little time it took for his son to go from being a baby boy to a man. “But you have to admit. This was a great place to grow up in.”
“It was a wonderful place to grow up,” Theresa said. “Best-kept secret in Durham. Folks thought we lived in the projects. But where we lived was in a community full of hardworking people, and brimming over with support and love.”
“I like the way you over there talking, girl. Too many folks like Charmayne Robinson and . . .”
Holy Ghost Corner Page 14