The Preachers Son

by Carl Weber

  It was kinda cute, because he insisted on choosing the outfits I was going to wear to both events. I knew Dante liked the champagne suit I was wearing for the rehearsal dinner because when I walked out of the bathroom, I caught his approving stare. I have to admit that the outfits weren’t exactly my style, but I still liked them, especially since Dante had picked them.

  “Baby, you look good,” Dante told me with a wink. “No, you look better than good. You look so…so classy.”

  He smiled and I laughed. I’d never heard my style of dress described as classy. Tight, maybe; sexy, definitely; revealing, most of the time; but never classy.

  “Just as long as I don’t look trampy. You know how bad things turned out last time I had dinner with your family. You sure you even want me to go?”

  “Of course I want you to go. And you look fine.” He directed me to the full-length mirror on the door. I almost didn’t recognize the woman in the reflection. If you didn’t know me, you might think I worked in the city as a businesswoman with my brown pumps and conservative suit. I did look classy. Over the past few weeks, I guess I had changed without knowing it. It seemed like being with Dante was smoothing out some of my rough edges. I wasn’t even cursing as much as I used to.

  “Tanisha, everything will be fine. I love you. I love my family, and I’m sure in time they will come to love you, too. But if they don’t, that’s their problem, because I wanna be with you for the rest of my life.”

  “Do you really mean that? ’Cause that’s how I feel about you. Baby, I’ll walk through walls for you.”

  He smiled and kissed me.

  “Well, why don’t you walk your pretty little behind over to that bed and take off your clothes?”

  I smiled seductively. “I’d love to, but aren’t we going to be late for your sister’s dinner? I don’t think your mother’s going to appreciate that.”

  He frowned. “Good point, but when we get back, you owe me.”

  “Don’t worry. You know I always pay my debts.”

  On the way to meet the family, Dante filled me in on the events of the wedding rehearsal he had just come from. It was a tense situation for everyone there, but they had gotten through it without any major blowups. His mother had managed to control her tongue, and Dante had managed to control his fists, so considering what could have happened, it was a successful rehearsal.

  The rehearsal dinner was being held at Peter Luger’s, a fancy steak house in the city. One of the things I liked about Dante and his family was that they sure knew how to live in style. When I stepped into the restaurant, I could almost feel the first-class service that would be provided. I was glad I’d let Dante choose my outfit, too. I looked just as classy as the other women in the restaurant, and though I was dressed conservatively, the admiring glances from several men in the restaurant told me I still had it going on. Dante held my arm and walked proudly as we approached his family and their guests. He made me feel so good. Right away, he began to introduce me to everyone. I’d never met so many ministers, reverends, deacons, and deaconesses in my entire life.

  The thing that made me feel the best was Dante’s father, who gave me a huge hug. “I noticed I’ve been seeing you in the pews almost every Sunday. I’m very proud of you, young lady. Hopefully we’ll be having one of these dinners for you and Dante one day.” He gave Dante a wink then smiled at me.

  Believe it or not, even the first lady eyed me up and down with an approving look on her face. She complimented me, too. Well, sorta. “You’re looking very ladylike today,” she said. Her mouth twisted a bit in the corner, but I was still willing to think of her words as a strange brand of acceptance. “I love your suit. Let me guess. Dante picked it out, didn’t he?”

  “Yes, he did. He has wonderful taste in clothes. Don’t you think?” I was determined to maintain an attitude to match my classy attire.

  “Yes, he does, but the jury is still out on his taste in women.” So much for thinking this woman had the potential to be human.

  “Mother, are you still harassing her?” Donna slipped past her mother and wrapped her arms around me. “Tanisha, I’m so glad you came. Dante told me you weren’t going to be here.”

  “Thanks for inviting me.” I wanted to thank her for saving me from the wicked witch, aka her mother, but I bit my tongue. The first lady would not goad me into showing my ass tonight. “Congratulations on your wedding, Donna.”

  “Thanks,” she replied quickly then turned and beckoned to a short, stocky man who was standing in the background. “Let me introduce you to my fiancé. Shorty, come over here. Meet Tanisha, Dante’s new friend.”

  As soon as I saw Shorty, my heart started to race. I had known him as John, but this was definitely the man who used to be a regular at the club. He’d seen me dance before. Matter of fact, I’d given him a few lap dances. One of the girls at the club used to make a lot of money off of him, and it didn’t seem like too long ago that she mentioned he had just kind of disappeared. Now I knew why he hadn’t been around. Donna probably wouldn’t be too happy with a fiancé who frequented a bar full of naked women, so he had stopped coming.

  “Tanisha, this is Shorty,” Donna said.

  “Nice to meet you,” I told him, wishing I could crawl into a hole somewhere far, far away. I was praying that he wouldn’t recognize me with my conservative clothes on. My only other hope was that if he did recognize me, he would want to keep his mouth shut. It wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world to explain how he knew me.

  Shorty’s eyes widened when they met mine, so I knew I was busted. He shook my hand coldly. I didn’t know if I was safe, but I know I nearly fainted when I saw Dante approaching us. Luckily, the two of them had their own issues to work through at the moment, so Shorty didn’t say anything about me. My job would remain a secret for the time being. Now I would spend the rest of the night walking on eggshells around Shorty. I knew I had to tell Dante the truth, but I wanted to do it when I felt the time was right.

  “Hey, man. Glad you could make it.” Shorty held out his hand to Dante, who just looked at it, keeping his own hand in his pocket.

  “I didn’t come here for you. I came to support my sister,” he muttered. Quickly directing Dante away from him, I made a mental note to try to speak to Shorty later in private. The last thing I needed was for him to blow up my spot before I could tell Dante about my past employment.

  As we sat down to eat, Dante held out my chair, always the perfect gentleman. I felt like a queen, and though I was still distracted by Shorty’s occasional glances, the rest of the evening went pretty well. I felt eyes on us, but not in a negative way. People at the table obviously loved the bishop and his family, so it was natural that they were curious about who his son had chosen.

  I was determined to make a good impression on these people, so when they brought wine to the table, I politely declined. I was not about to make a fool out of myself if I had a little too much to drink. Dante’s mother actually smiled at him when she heard me tell the waiter, “No, thank you.” Dante patted my knee under the table, and I knew I had just scored a few brownie points with the first lady. It was going to be a hard battle, but maybe there was some hope yet. In fact, things went so well that a few people even asked Dante if we would be the next couple headed to the altar. I didn’t know if that was definitely in our future, but if I could just convince Shorty to keep my secret, it might be possible. At the very least, I knew I would be attending the wedding with Dante tomorrow.

  32

  Donna

  “Do you, John Tyrone Jefferson, take this woman, Madonna Marie Wilson, as your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, until death do you part?” Reverend Tate asked Shorty.

  “I do,” Shorty replied, his voice quivering with emotion. His eyes, brimming with tears, never left mine.

  “And do you, Madonna Marie Wilson, take this man, John Tyrone Jefferson, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, unt
il death do you part?” My knees almost gave out on me as my brain tried to get the words “I do” out of my mouth. I tried again, but my mouth was listening to my heart, which was telling me to hold off for just a few more seconds, that Terrance was on his way to stop the wedding just like he’d promised.

  “Madonna,” Reverend Tate whispered.

  I didn’t look his way. I was staring at Shorty. Poor, sweet Shorty who was willing to marry me even though I didn’t love him. Come on, Terrance, I thought, willing him to arrive. You promised you would be here.

  I could feel RaShanda, my matron of honor, poking me in the back, encouraging me to speak. I didn’t even want to look at my parents, who were probably mortified by my hesitation. Please, Terrance, if you’re gonna come, you have to come now. To my surprise, and the surprise of the nearly two hundred guests, a cry came from the back of the church.

  “Stop the wedding! Stop the wedding!” When I turned to see who it was, my heart leaped. It was Terrance, just as he’d promised that day in Dante’s office, and he was coming toward us in a hurry. “Stop the wedding, Reverend Tate!” he repeated as he climbed onto the altar. I could barely hold myself back. I wanted to jump right into his arms. He’d come for me, like this was a fairy tale.

  The bishop rose from his seat and shouted, “Reynolds, what’s going on here?”

  “I love your daughter, Bishop, and the baby she’s carrying is mine. Not his.” He pointed at Shorty and there was a collective gasp from the crowd.

  “Do you know what you’re saying, man?” My father looked mortified.

  Terrance reached for my hand. “Yes, I do. I’m saying that your daughter should be marrying me instead of him.”

  “But you’re a married man,” my mother protested. She looked like she was about to faint.

  “Not anymore. I had my marriage annulled.” He turned to me. “That’s why it took so long for me to get down here. I was waiting for this FedEx envelope.” He handed the bishop some papers.

  “Dear Lord. You did have your wedding annulled,” my father said as he examined the papers.

  “Bishop, I love your daughter more than I love life itself. I want her to be my wife, so I’m asking you for her hand.”

  My father looked at me. “Is this what you want?”

  “More than anything in the world, Daddy.”

  “Then who am I to stop you?” he said, and I immediately hugged him tightly. “We’re going to have to wait a few more days for the license, but if Reverend Tate doesn’t mind, we can still have the ceremony.”

  “What about me, Donna?” I’d completely forgotten about Shorty and his family. “Do you think I’m just gonna stand here while you marry him?”

  “Shorty, I’m sorry.” What else could I say?

  “So am I,” he said, turning toward Terrance. Shorty’s neck muscles were bulging and I was sure there was going to be a fight. But out of nowhere Shorty turned back toward me and his hardened features softened into a forgiving smile. “I told you once before that if I really love you, then I’d want you to be happy above everything else. So if this is what will make you happy, then I won’t stop you.”

  He was being so understanding. I bent down and gave him a kiss. “I love you, too, Shorty, as a brother.”

  “Donna! Donna! Wake your ass up!”

  I could feel someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and saw RaShanda standing in front of me. Reality set in. It was a dream. It was only a damn dream. I was still getting married to Shorty, and Terrance wasn’t coming.

  “Girl, you better get up and get your dress on. The limo is here.” I wiped my eyes, trying not to smudge my makeup.

  “I was knocked out.”

  “Girl, I ain’t never seen no one take a nap before their wedding.”

  “RaShanda, I just had the best dream.” Just thinking about it made me smile.

  “Well, stand up and tell me while you get into this dress. I told you not to take this thing off when the photographer left.” She lifted my dress off the hanger and held it up so I could step into it.

  I told her about my dream. “I was just about to say ‘I do’ when Terrance busted into the church and stopped the wedding.”

  “Stopped the wedding? What the hell’d he do that for?”

  I stepped into the dress. “Because he loves me. What do you think?”

  RaShanda pulled the dress up and stopped three-quarters of the way. “I hope you’re not expecting that to happen today, ’cause if you do, you just wasting your time, on account of it ain’t gonna happen.”

  I sighed. “I know, but it was a nice dream to think about. I hate that man and I love him at the same time.”

  “What about Shorty?”

  “He’s nice, but he’s not what I want.”

  “Look, girl, you already said you were having second thoughts about getting married. If you don’t wanna marry Shorty, then fuck it, don’t. You know I got your back. My car’s parked right out back. We can be in the wind in fifteen minutes.”

  It was scary, but I was actually contemplating RaShanda’s offer. I liked Shorty, but I knew I didn’t love him, and as long as I could remember, I always thought marriage was about love. I would have liked to think that it still was.

  There was a knock on the door, interrupting my conversation with RaShanda.

  “Yes?”

  “Princess, it’s me. Can I come in?”

  “Just a minute, Bishop.” I gestured for RaShanda to help me finish pulling up my dress and zipping me up. Then she opened the door for my father.

  “Your mother and the other bridesmaids are already in the ca—” He stopped himself and stood motionless as he stared at me. “My, my, my, aren’t you the prettiest sight I’ve ever seen.”

  “Daddy, are you just gonna stare at me or is there a reason you’re here?”

  “I’m here to tell you I love you.” His eyes glistened with tears. “Today, I’m the proudest man on the face of the earth. And Shorty is the luckiest.” He wrapped his arms around me, and right then and there I knew I was going to marry Shorty.

  33

  The First Lady

  The sound of silverware clinking against glasses signaled another call for the bride and groom to share a newlywed kiss. I had been standing in the corner, watching our guests enjoying the reception, and I saw Shorty lean over to kiss Donna with such tenderness that I smiled in spite of the fact that I still couldn’t believe I was now going to be calling him my son-in-law. Actually, I had been surprised by my own reactions throughout much of the day. For so many years I had seen him as nothing more than an annoying nuisance, poised to get Dante into trouble, but during the ceremony even my eyes got misty when I realized just how much Shorty clearly loved Donna.

  When I first learned of Donna’s engagement, it was devastating to think she had sunk so low as to actually be involved with someone of Shorty’s caliber. I had always envisioned her falling in love and marrying the son of some distinguished member of the clergy or a high-powered member of the church. But in the two weeks between their announcement and the wedding, I had a chance to witness Shorty in a different light. When it came to Donna, he was so gentle and attentive. In many ways, he reminded me of the way T.K. had treated me when I was pregnant with Dante, and that memory warmed my heart. I had started to get a little worried at the dress shop when Donna confessed to having jitters. To be quite frank, I thought she was going to back out of the wedding, but now my mother’s intuition told me that, with Shorty’s love and a new baby, they’d have enough to hold them together until Donna realized she had a good man. And of course, I’d be there just in case she needed a nudge in the right direction.

  Perhaps Shorty was not destined to greatness, perhaps he would always be working for the Department of Sanitation, but I was starting to think that, for Donna and her unborn child, love was a good place to start.

  “Hey, Ma,” Dante said as he approached me. “Look at you over here grinning. Proud of yourself, aren’t you?” I didn’t answer, b
ut my smile widened as he leaned down and kissed my cheek. “You did a great job with this wedding, Ma. You should be proud.”

  “Thank you, son. The circumstances may not have been the best, but as your father said, we all had to rise to the occasion. I just hope one day Donna appreciates it.”

  Dante squeezed my hand. “She might not say it, but I know Donna really appreciated the work you did to make this all happen. She loves you, Ma.”

  “You think so?” I was touched by the thought.

  “Ma, I know so.” He rubbed my shoulders and pulled me closer to him.

  My eyes misted over again and I tried to hide my face. “Now, stop it, Dante, before you make me ruin my makeup. I know your sister and I might not always see eye to eye, but that’s only because I want the best for both of you.”

  “I know you do, Ma, and I love you for that.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Hey, see you in a little bit. I’m going to run to the bathroom and then see if I can find Tanisha in the lobby. I think she’s a little overwhelmed by all the attention. You know some of these people in here can get a little too nosy.”

  “Who you telling? Sister Dunbar has already asked me when we planned on having your wedding. It seems that Miss Tanisha has made quite an impression on a few folks tonight. Tell her to keep up the good work. If she wants to spend time with this family, she’s going to have to keep up appearances.”

  Dante raised his eyebrows; he looked shocked. It was understandable, though. I certainly hadn’t been kind to Tanisha the first night we met, so I’m sure he was waiting for some more harsh words about her now.