Robert deserved to be loved by her. Rena shook off the confusion and told herself she was ready to say “I do.”
◊
“Rena, everything is fine. Your tests came back negative again. As for the herpes, you haven’t had any outbreaks since you left Memphis, which has been what, three years now?”
Rena nodded.
That’s outstanding news,” the doctor said. “Herpes can lay dormant for years. Some people only have one outbreak their entire lives. Let’s hope you’re one of those. But, listen, this doesn't mean you can't pass on the virus, so still be careful.” She extended her hand out to Rena.
“Thank you, doctor. This is the best news since my last visit. And you don’t have to worry, I’m not taking this lightly just because I haven’t had an outbreak. But it sure does feel good.” Rena laughed and hugged her doctor.
“I’ll see you in one year. No more every six months visits. If you have a problem or think you might be experiencing an outbreak, then of course make sure you call my office and make an appointment right away.”
“I sure will. But I won’t have to.” Rena’s confidence level was at an all-time high.
It felt good to feel free; free from her past mistakes and heartaches. Free from Stiles and his conditional love. Free from Frankie and her selfish love. Free from Pastor and his I don’t have time for love, then the best one of all: free of…of First Lady Audrey and her… sick love.
When Rena arrived home she couldn’t wait to tell Robert the good news.
Robert met her with a luscious kiss just as she walked inside the front door. “How was your doctor’s appointment?”
“Another clean bill of health,” she replied. “And I don’t have to go back for one year.” She raised one finger in the air and wiggled it around.
“Wow, that is great news,” Robert said, laughing.
The kids ran and greeted her with squeals of joy. Seeing how much they’d come to love and accept her made her heart leap with happiness. “Hi, you guys. How was your day today?”
“My day was real, real good,” Isabelle said while she bounced up and down like she’d had a little too much sugar.
“I didn’t have a good day,” Robbie said and jumped in front of his sister.
Rena leaned down eye level to the three year old. ‘Why didn’t you have a good day, Robbie?” She rubbed his full head of curly black hair.
“My teacher wouldn’t let me color.”
“Robbie, remember Daddy and I told you that you won’t be coloring at school every day. You have to learn lots of other fun things to do. You can always color right here at home. You have lots of coloring books. Okay?”
Robbie still looked sad. “What about while I’m cooking dinner, you come in the kitchen with me and color.”
His eyes opened wide and a big grin came over his face. “Yayyy.”
“Okay, I’ll call you when I get dinner started. Now, let me go and get out of these clothes, and you go look through your coloring books and choose one.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said and ran off in the direction of his room.
“Isabelle,” Rena focused her attention on her stepdaughter, “will you help me with the macaroni and cheese?” Isabelle loved being Rena’s little helper.
“Yes, Ma’am,” she said loudly and proudly before she took off.
“And what do I get to do?” asked Robert.
“Oh, don’t worry. I have something special I’d like you to do after dinner, when the kids are tucked in for the night.” She gave him a sensual smile and winked. Robert reciprocated with a sly grin of his own and closed the gap between them. His lips were warm and soft. He was such a great kisser and a skilled lover too. He had a way of making her feel like she was a queen.
“Ummm,” he said. “I can’t…” he kissed her again. “Wait.”
“Neither can I. Ohhh, guess what else my doctor told me?”
“What?”
“She said she sees no reason why we can’t have a baby. Of course, she said sometimes an outbreak can occur when a woman gets pregnant, and I would have to be closely monitored if that does happen.”
“I think we should follow the doctor’s advice. Let’s start working on that right away,” His voice was hoarse as he spoke. He gently pushed her against the wall and immediately his hands and mouth were all over her.
“You are so bad,” she told him and grinned. “Let me get myself together please. I have to fix dinner you know. We can’t allow our children to go hungry now, can we?” She smiled.
Robert stepped back. “You’re right.” He raised one finger in the air. “But, you are not getting out of practice tonight, tomorrow night, the next night, or the next.”
“Boy, you are crazy. I guess that’s why I love you so much.”
“Me love you too,” he said in a boyish voice.
4
"It is so easy to be confrontive without being informative; indignant without being intelligent; impulsive without being insightful." Neal A. Maxwell
Detria opened the back door of her Prius Five and proceeded to get Baby Audrey out of her car seat. It wasn’t quite eleven a.m., but Detria had already spent a couple of hours working out at the Y, on top of going to the grocery store and back home to shower and change. Now she was parked in her reserved parking space, at none other than Holy Rock.
The church membership continued to flourish. They were practically bursting at the seams, which is why they were making some extensive renovations to the church property.
Detria was glad to see the membership growth, but she still despised the extra time it took Stiles away from her. It was the main reason she decided to take on a more active role in the church by spending more time at Holy Rock. It was time Stiles and the selfish members of Holy Rock understand that she was more than just the First Lady, and the mother of their pastor’s child, she was the Lady of the House.
She gathered a cooing Baby Audrey in her arms, closed the car door, and headed in the direction of the pastor’s entrance to the newly expanded church building. Baby Audrey pulled on her pacifier and contently clung to her mother’s dress.
Stiles had everything established for the children’s center and the academy. What he hadn’t planned on was Detria appointing herself as the administrator. But he didn’t raise much of a fuss about it. He figured she would dabble around Holy Rock for a couple of weeks and that would be that. So far, it seemed that instead of growing bored with the inner workings of the church, she was growing more excited. Thus the reason she told Stiles she wanted an office at the church designated just for her.
Detria wore a mint green, fit-and-flare knit dress that had a scoop neck, cap sleeves, and a comfy pleated flare skirt, perfectly accessorized with a thin buckle belt. Like her deceased mother-in-law, Detria made a fashion statement wherever she went. Without so much as a stumble, or misstep, she strolled toward the church in a pair of stone-embellished platform heels. Her silky black Brazilian weave hung long and loose across her shoulders.
Skip, the building engineer and one of the deacons, opened the door for her and Baby Audrey. “Hello, First Lady.”
“Hi, Skip. How are you this morning?” Detria flashed what could easily have been taken as a flirtatious smile. She raised up her free hand. “Don’t answer that. I can see quite well,” she added and then turned away. “Did Stiles, I mean Pastor Graham tell you about fixing up one of the new offices for me in the children’s wing?”
“Yes, Ma’am. He sure did, and I’ve done it.” Skip smiled. Skip and Brother Jones were two of Stiles’ trusted, and loyal friends, and both of them were also deacons at Holy Rock. Skip, single and considered handsome by most women, had women at Holy Rock practically throwing themselves at the Idris Elba lookalike. “I hope you like it,” he said as he walked a step ahead of her in the direction of what was to be her new home away from home.
Detria was pleasantly surprised when Skip opened the door to her brand new office space. She inhaled a whiff of his into
xicating cologne as she passed by him and stepped inside the comforting space.
She studied the newly decorated office. Two eye-popping bubble club chairs, a grape womb chair she’d ordered online, and a striking, dark finished mahogany desk with the perfect accessories, were exactly what she’d wanted.
“Audrey, look at mommy’s new office. We’re going to spend a lot of time here.”
“Would I be presumptuous if I said that your smile means you like what you see?” Skip commented.
“No you wouldn’t. And, I definitely like what I see,” she replied.
Skip blushed. Detria noticed.
She had great plans for her newly self-apprised role. She was about to let everyone know by her constant presence that her husband was off limits. There was only one queen bee at Holy Rock, and she was it.
She often told Brooke how sick and tired she was of women calling her house all times of day and night talking about they needed prayer, or somebody in their family is sick. Let ‘em pray for themselves. Stop calling my man, she often thought. She felt like Holy Rock women were always up in her face, smiling and grinning, all the time wanting her husband. She was no naïve female; she was up on the game women in the church played.
While Stiles did his thing, she would be about doing her thing. Baby Audrey could stay in her office or go to the childcare center. If she had to use some of them to babysit Audrey while she exercised some freedom in her own life, so be it, because there was no way was she going to sit back and let one of them sneak up and grab her man from underneath her nose. She learned a lot from watching and listening to First Lady Audrey. One thing was certain, Audrey Graham made sure Pastor knew how much she adored him, and she was determined to do the same with Stiles. What better way than to work with him in the ministry.
“Skip, I love it,” she said again after pulling herself from her thoughts. “The dark hardwood floors, the window treatments, the bookshelves. Oh, and my new desk. When did it get here?” she whirled around and found herself face to face with Skip’s chest. “Oops, sorry about that.” She apologized quickly.
Skip took a quick step backward. “Yesterday evening. So you like it, huh?”
“Absolutely. Thank you so much. You’ve made my office like my own private sanctuary,” she said. Baby Audrey began to cry and her pacifier fell out of her mouth. Skip leaned down and picked it up.
“Don’t cry, pretty girl,” he told Baby Audrey. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go rinse this off.” He turned to leave but Detria stopped him.
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
“Where are you going? Remember, I have a bathroom in here. You can rinse it off in there.” She laughed seductively and pointed toward the bathroom.
Skip responded with laugher of his own. “Yea, sure thing.”
“Shhh, just hold on a minute, little girl. Mommy’s going to feed you,” she said in a soothing voice before focusing her attention back on Skip. She walked around her office and bounced Audrey on her hips. “Of course, I don’t mind. If it wasn’t for you, there’s no telling how long I would have to wait for this office to be completed. Your friend, the Pastor,” she emphasized seems to have more important things on his plate.
Skip responded by quietly going in the direction of the bathroom. A second or two later, he presented the pacifier to Baby Audrey who eyed it like she was insulted that he would present such a hideous thing to her. She was about to indulge in some real food, straight from her mommy’s breast. A pacifier no longer interested her.
“Let me feed her, Skip. We’ll talk soon,” Detria said, and sat down in one of the two leather guest chairs. Before Skip could counter, or leave, she reached inside her dress and proceeded to expose her breast of which Baby Audrey quickly latched onto.
“Uh, okay. Let me let you get to taking care of that little princess,” Skip replied like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t, and in what may have been no more than two or three steps, he disappeared.
Detria smiled. “That’s mommy’s little girl,” she whispered. “Right on cue. Yes you are definitely mommy’s good, little girl.”
5
“The only way love can last a lifetime is if it's unconditional. The truth is this: love is not determined by the one being loved but rather by the one choosing to love.” Stephen Kendrick
Francesca and Tim returned to their spacious four-bedroom home after a seven-day stay at a place people called The Healing Place. Tim had been doing extensive research about AIDS ever since he became involved with Francesca. His research had paid off this time, he hoped when he learned about the Healing Place. There was supposed to be a natural herbs doctor near the village who reportedly said he could cure the disease. When he first told Francesca about it, she wasn’t the least bit apprehensive, which surprised Tim. She was willing to try any and everything if it meant it would make her life better and possibly longer.
The journey was long and quite tedious for Francesca, but she endured it. The healing village staff gave her one on one attention and weren’t the least bit turned off by her disease. They embraced her and Tim with unconditional love and genuine concern. The sanctuary was nestled in the hills of the coastal city of La Cieba, Honduras and was considered a tropical like haven; a place where Francesca could learn how to let go of old habits, and allow her body to go through a once in a lifetime revitalization process. She changed her diet drastically, staying away from all dairy, refined sugars, meat, fish and poultry among other things.
Tired from the return trip home, Francesca didn’t waste a moment getting ready for bed. The trip to the Healing Place had been well worth it in Francesca’s eyes. Combined with her faith, and her devoted husband, Francesca felt like she had the chance of living a full and healthy life.
Seven o’clock was early for Tim to call it a night, but he understood that his wife needed as much rest as possible. He put away their luggage and made sure Francesca was all right before he prepared himself a cup of herbal tea. He leafed through his Bible and read some of his favorite passages of scripture.
“Tim,” Francesca called, yanking him from his time of meditation.
“I’m coming,” Tim answered and hurried in the bedroom. “What is it?” he asked.
“What time are you coming to bed? You know how difficult it is for me to sleep when you’re not lying next to me.”
Tim smiled at his bride. The past two years had not been easy for either of them. Since their marriage, Francesca had been in and out of one hospital after another. It was nothing short of a miracle for her to even still be alive. She definitely had faced some scary, death harrowing moments. Living with AIDS was not easy and being the spouse of an AIDS victim was equally as difficult. Tim prayed that the products he brought home with him from Honduras would be the miracle from God he had been praying about for his wife.
Tim unbuttoned his shirt before he climbed on top of the bed sheets, and next to Francesca.
“Better?” he asked.
“Umhumm,” she responded and snuggled in closer to her husband.
Francesca still couldn’t quite grasp the fact that she was married. Living the life of a lesbian was all she’d known since she was fifteen years old, when she and Rena had their first intimate encounter. Francesca was actually shocked that Rena offered to appease her curiosity of what it would be like to be with someone of the same sex. It wasn’t the same as when Fonda molested her as a young girl. It was a far cry from the way she felt back then; dirty, disgusting and scared out of her wits. Audrey, her own mother, who saw the nasty things Fonda made her do, not once did she try to protect her. No, instead she made Francesca believe it had been her fault, that she was the reason Fonda hurt her. What kind of mother was she, Francesca often asked herself. Other folks looked down on her for not being upset when Audrey died, but Francesca could care less. They didn’t know her story; no one knew her story.
Francesca laid in Tim’s arms, but her thoughts contemplated Rena. Stiles had told he
r that Rena was supposed to be getting married, or she had already gotten married. She couldn’t remember which but she just wanted Rena to be happy. Yet, part of Francesca believed Rena could never be happy with any man because deep down inside Rena was in love with her. Rena could play the innocent one if she wanted to, and Francesca was fine with letting her play that fake role, but the bottom line remained, it was Rena who baited her in all those years ago to do what they did. She was the one who had been turned out, not Rena.
Rena was just a cleaner version of Fonda. No one would believe that because Rena always acted like she was so innocent and naïve. Francesca knew her like the back of her own hand, and she was not some poor, little victim. Maybe Stiles, Audrey, Pastor and even Rena’s own parents believed that she was, but Francesca knew better.
Francesca smiled when she heard Tim’s light snore. Tim was a good man. He adored her. I wish I could love you the way you deserve to be loved. I wish I could turn back the hands of time, and then I wouldn’t be living with this God-awful AIDS. Back then I would have fought off Minister Travis the night he raped me. I would have fought and screamed when Fonda molested me. I should have been stronger. And Rena. Why didn’t I just tell her no when she said I could experiment on her? I didn’t mean it for real. I was just talking. Why didn’t she see that?
Tears softly ran down Francesca’s red cheeks as her past invaded her present. She hated the life she’d led. She hated being the victim over and over again. She hated that everyone who should have loved her, and protect her turned out to be the very ones that hurt her. She couldn’t be the same with Tim. She may not have been in love with him, but she loved him for loving her. She loved him because he saw past all of her past and he still wanted her. She owed him so much, and her plans were to never ever let him down.
“Tim. Tim, honey wake up.” Francesca eased from next to him and sat upright in the bed.
My Sister My Momma My Wife Page 3