Before Princess could stop her or at the very least carefully guide the “tour,” King spoke. “Tai has her reasons for being so concerned about your dating Kelvin,” he began. “There’s more to this than you understand, but she, we, have your best interest at heart.”
“I know, Daddy,” Princess said, ready to dash after her mother.
King stayed her with a hand on her arm. “You think you know, baby,” he continued. “But this is about more than your dating boys and being…Well, it’s hard for us to think of you as a woman doing…what women do.”
Princess’s embarrassment was surpassed only by her fear of where Tai was or what she was seeing. “Mama!” she said, heading toward her and Kelvin’s bedroom.
She entered her room and stopped short, halted by the look on Tai’s face and the tears in her eyes. Her mother was standing in front of the open walk-in closet, Princess’s clothes on one side, what was clearly a man’s wardrobe on the other.
“You’re shacking up?” Tai asked softly. “The girl I sent to California to get her college degree to have a better chance at a better life is throwing it all away to play house? And then lying about it?”
“I told you I was seeing Kelvin—”
“Seeing, yes…living with, no.”
King joined the ladies in the bedroom. “You’re living with a man, Princess? I thought you shared this place with—what’s her name, Tai?”
“Joni,” said Princess and Tai simultaneously.
“I do,” Princess continued.
Both King and Tai looked at Princess but remained silent.
Princess sighed and plopped down on her bed. “Our boyfriends live here too,” she added after a lengthy pause. She made a circle on the floor with her foot and did not look at her parents.
“Well, I tell you what,” King said in a tone used when no counterargument was expected. “This foolishness is going to stop, and it’s going to stop now. Do you hear me, Princess?”
Princess continued making a circle on the floor with her foot.
King took a step toward his daughter, and then stopped. He clenched and unclenched his fists, wishing he knew Kelvin’s whereabouts. “Do I need to have a talk with this young man?”
“No!”
“Well then, you’d better have a talk with him. And we want you out of this house and back in the dorm next week.”
“But, Daddy—”
“No. No ifs, ands, or buts. You are here in California to get your education, not to get ruined by some nucka feeling his testosterone.”
“What’s gotten into you, Princess?” Tai asked. “You weren’t yourself when you came home and this behavior is totally unlike you. What is going on?”
“I love him,” Princess said softly.
“Love? Girl, you are eighteen years old. Eighteen! You don’t know a thing about love; you’ve just gotten turned out by your first physical encounter. Trust me when I tell you the fairy dust will settle and you’ll find out there’s a lot more to relationships than screwing. And believe this too…you’re not the only one.”
“Oh, Mama, you’re just saying that because of Janeé.”
“What?” King and Tai cried simultaneously.
Princess felt the shift and went on the offensive. “Yes, I know all about your affair with Kelvin’s mother, Daddy. That’s really what this is all about. Y’all weren’t so mad when I was dating Rafael, but now that you know I’m seeing Janeé’s son, you’re all upset. I like Janeé,” Princess continued with a pointed look at her mother. “Maybe if you got to know her and her son, you’d like them too.”
“No, you didn’t go there,” Tai answered, her tone low and dangerous. “You’d better check that attitude and remember who you’re talking to. I don’t care what you think you know about the problems your father and I have had in our marriage, but let me tell you this. When it comes to men and relationships, I’ve forgotten more than I hope you ever learn.
“You think you know so much because you’ve discovered your sexual side? An orgasm has given you wisdom all of a sudden? No child, all an orgasm will do is give you a baby. And that’s exactly what is going to happen if the situation is as I think it is and y’all aren’t using protection.”
“Like how you and Daddy got Michael?” Princess said, referencing her older brother, who was conceived three months before her parents married.
“Oh my God, you want to die today,” Tai whispered. She walked over to the bed, grabbed Princess and pulled her up by the arm. Princess’s five-foot-four and 120 was no match for Tai’s five eight, 150. And neither of them were ready to handle the six-foot-four and 190 who walked into the room.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Kelvin asked. He stepped toward Princess and Tai.
“Careful, son,” King said as he stepped to his former lover’s child. “I don’t need much of a reason to jack you up right now.”
“You can try,” Kelvin said, all nineteen years of swagger in his voice.
“No, you can try not to land too hard when you fall,” King retorted, forty-two years of swagger and experience standing toe to toe with his daughter’s lover. Though only six feet, King was bulkier than Kelvin, not to mention angrier. He knew it would take only one good left hook to reduce Kelvin’s extra inches to no effect.
King took a step closer to Kelvin, bringing them chest to chest. In that moment he snuck a glance, gauging the distance from his fist to Kelvin’s jaw. Then he saw his daughter’s face: eyes wide, mouth open. She looked petrified.
King stepped back. His and Kelvin’s near fight had chilled Tai’s anger. She released Princess’s arm, held so tightly that a ring of red was left, which Princess rubbed gingerly.
“Kelvin,” King said, taking deep breaths. “I shouldn’t have stepped to you in that way. We are all adults here.”
“Barely,” Tai interjected.
“And we need to be able to discuss this situation as adults.”
“Mama, Daddy,” Princess said, walking over to and putting her arm around Kelvin, “there is nothing to discuss. I love Kelvin and I’m staying with him. And I’m staying here.”
Tai got ready to speak but Princess held up her hand. “Please,” she continued. “I know you and Daddy are disappointed, and that you have your own ideas about how my life should go. I know I’m just eighteen. But I don’t live under your roof anymore; I live on my own.” She turned to Kelvin. “This is who I want.” She turned back to her parents and said with resolve, “And this is what I want.”
Tai turned and walked briskly out of the room, suddenly disgusted that she was standing by the bed that her daughter probably fornicated in every night. King, Kelvin, and Princess followed to find Tai standing in the living room, looking out the large picture window.
Everyone remained silent, digesting both the words and the weight of the moment. This was their little girl all grown up. And as much as they wanted to argue, both parents knew she was right. She wasn’t under their roof anymore; she couldn’t be forced to do what she didn’t want to do.
“What about your schooling?” Tai asked, her back still to the room.
“My GPA is three point four this semester,” Princess said proudly. “I’m not slacking off on school just because I’m in love. Getting my degree is very important to me.”
King looked at his daughter a long moment. “Needless to say, Princess, I’m very disappointed in you. This isn’t the journey I would have recommended. But you have a right to make your own choices. And your mother and I will make ours. You’re on scholarship so we can’t pull you out of school. But we’re not going to support this lifestyle you’ve chosen in any way. We’re cutting off the allowance we’ve been sending you and taking you off our insurance. If you want to be grown and on your own, you’ll do it all the way.”
“Have you guys really thought about what you’re doing?” Tai asked, turning around. “You’re both young. This is a time when you should be footloose and fancy free, a time when you should be focused on discov
ering yourself before you become exclusively committed to someone else. And that brings me to this question, Kelvin. Is Princess exclusive? Is she the only one you’re seeing? Because if she isn’t, and I doubt she is, then it also brings into play the dangers of HIV and AIDS, STDs, and pregnancy. And these are just the physical dangers. The mental and emotional pitfalls are even more dangerous.
“Well…?” Tai repeated when Kelvin remained silent. “Is Princess the only woman you’re sleeping with?”
Three sets of eyes looked on for the answer while Kelvin did the only thing he felt he could do—lie. “Yes, ma’am,” he said softly. “Princess is my girl.”
“But is she your only girl?” King prodded. “Never mind, you don’t even have to answer that question. I know she isn’t the only one.” He turned to Princess. “And I hope you know you’re not the only one, baby. This is what we’re trying to save you from, the hurt that will happen when you can no longer ignore this fact.”
“Man, you don’t know me,” Kelvin answered in defense. “No disrespect, but you don’t know what I’m about.”
King looked somberly at Kelvin. There was nothing more he and Tai could say, nothing that would change the situation. He walked over to his daughter. “Princess, I don’t like what you’re doing, but I still love you. Me and your mama will always love you. Remember that.”
The front door opened and Brandon and Joni entered the living room. Upon seeing the older Black couple, they stopped short. The two newcomers felt the chill immediately.
“Uh, hi, everybody,” Joni said, recovering first and answering in her generally bubbly tone. She immediately saw the resemblance between Princess and her parents. “This must be your mom and dad. Hi,” she continued, walking over with hand outstretched. “I’m Joni, and this is my boyfriend, Brandon.”
King and Tai introduced themselves as they shook Brandon’s and Joni’s hands. “Nice to meet you,” they all mumbled. Brandon made a hasty exit to his bedroom.
Joni tried for conversation. “That’s a nice outfit, Mrs. Brook,” she said. “How do you guys like California? Is this your first trip out here? Oh my goodness, listen to me ramble. Are you guys staying for dinner or going out or—”
“We were just leaving,” King replied.
“Oh, well.” Joni began backing toward the hall to her and Brandon’s bedroom. “Then I, uh, guess we’ll hang out next time. Nice meeting you!” she said before almost running around the corner.
Tai walked over to Princess and hugged her tightly. She held back tears as she rubbed her hand across Princess’s back, tears of remembrance, of how she was just a little older than Princess when she’d gotten pregnant with Michael. And how she too thought she knew everything when she’d made her choices.
“I love you, Princess,” she said as she broke the embrace and stepped back from her daughter. “I’ll be praying for you, for everyone. I wish I’d said more sooner, shared a bit more of my life. Maybe that would have affected a different outcome here, I don’t know. It’s too late for woulda, coulda, shouldas now.” She whispered one last comment in her daughter’s ear, then reached for her purse on the couch and headed toward the foyer.
King walked over and hugged his daughter. “Don’t cut us out, Princess,” he said. “Stay in touch with your mother, take her calls. No matter what happens, we’re family. Nothing is more important than that.”
King took a deep breath and walked over to Kelvin. “Don’t hurt my daughter,” he said simply, and exited the room.
Kelvin and Princess watched through the window as her parents got in their rental car and drove off. Princess slowly turned into the arms of her man. “You’re not going to hurt me, are you, Kelvin?” she asked timidly, sounding very much like the little girl for whom her parents were mourning the loss.
“Naw, girl,” Kelvin replied, hoping the scent of Fawn’s perfume was not on his clothes. “I got you, baby,” he said, pulling Princess into a tighter embrace. “I got you.”
Princess held onto Kelvin as if he were a lifeline, so tight that she couldn’t tell where his heartbeat began and hers ended. As Kelvin began to nibble on her ears, and caress her booty, her mother’s parting words fluttered into her thoughts. Baby, I just hope that since you’re now embracing grown folk’s pleasure, you are also ready to handle grown folk’s pain.
29
Be All Right
Lavon repositioned Carla and entered her from behind with one smooth stroke. He remained still for a moment before resuming the timeless dance of love. Carla moaned her appreciation, pressing her buttocks firmly against him, joining him in the dance.
“Did you miss me, baby?” he whispered in her ear. “Did you miss this?” A deep penetration accompanied each word. He reached around and grabbed her breast, gently massaging first one nipple, and then the other. “I’m going to give it to you real good, nice and slow, make up for the weeks I’ve been gone.”
“Oh yes, baby, just like that, just like that!” Carla whispered. Lavon felt perfect inside her, putting her mind in a sex-induced daze.
After intense orgasms, both were quiet as they caught their breaths, marveling at the happiness they felt in each other’s arms. Carla had barely been able to contain her excitement as she got her kids off to school and Stanley off to his weeklong revival engagement in Seattle, Washington. She probably shouldn’t have, but she thanked God for the timing of Lavon’s return matching Stanley’s departure.
“Man, what have you done to me?” she asked, turning over and wiping a bead of sweat off Lavon’s broad forehead. She wondered what it was about this average-looking man that did such above-average things to her mind, body, and soul.
“Well, if you have to ask,” Lavon responded, “then I probably need to do it again.”
“I’m serious,” Carla said. She sat up against the bed’s headboard and covered herself with the top sheet. “This moment is all I’ve thought about since you called. You were on my mind the entire time you were away. What are we going to do?”
Lavon sat up beside her. He took her hand in his. “I honestly don’t know,” he said, looking down at her hand and rubbing it gently. “I’ve never felt this way before, not with my baby’s mother, not with my wife.” He turned to look at Carla. “I have no right to you, to interfere in your marriage and family, yet…”
“I know,” Carla said softly. “I’ve turned the situation over and over in my mind. I know we should stop seeing each other but…being with you has helped me become honest with myself. And the truth of the matter is, I haven’t been happy with my life for a long time. Don’t get me wrong; I love Stanley, my children, the church. But I’ve been using those things to fill a place in my heart that was empty until you came. I used the SOS ministry to try and fill the void in my heart and in my marriage.
“Stanley and I are good friends, and our marriage more like a business partnership. He makes the money, I take care of home and we co-run the ministry. I’d never want to hurt him, but I don’t know if I can go back to life before you. I just don’t know….”
They were silent a moment, finding comfort in each other’s embrace. Then Lavon kissed Carla’s cheek, rolled out of bed, and put on his shorts. He stood over Carla a moment, taking in all that he loved about her, before turning away from her. “I have something to tell you.”
Carla’s heart jumped. Is this it? Is he going to tell me it’s over? Is this the last sex instead of the last supper? Carla could barely get the word out. “What?”
Lavon turned and sat at the edge of the bed. “I slept with somebody else while I was here before, someone at your church. We didn’t have actual sex, but we were intimate. It happened the week you told me it was over between us, that you couldn’t see me anymore. Someone else was available, and I tried to forget about you by being with her.”
“Passion Perkins,” Carla said evenly.
Lavon’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”
“Haven’t you heard of a woman’s radar? That and the funny wa
y she’s acted toward me lately. I’ve caught her staring at me with a strange look in her eyes. The first thing I thought was that you’d been with her or if you hadn’t, she wanted you to.”
“That’s not all.”
“Oh Lord, what else?”
“She knows about you, about us.”
At this news, Carla got out of bed. She reached for her teddy and covered her nakedness. This was not a conversation to have in the nude. “You told her?”
“She saw us, one night when you came to the hotel. She saw you come in, waited, and saw us when I walked you out. I didn’t deny you’d been at the hotel but I told her things weren’t always as they appeared.”
“And I bet she believed that as much as I believe in Santa Claus.”
“She didn’t make too big a deal out of it, said it was between us and God. But, Carla, I only spent the night once at her house. The moment you came back to me, I broke it off, told her my heart belonged to someone else.”
Carla’s eyes narrowed. Her stomach lurched. Not because Lavon had been with someone else; married women having affairs couldn’t demand monogamy. No, her reaction was because she felt something coming around the corner, and its name was trouble. “We’ve got a problem.”
Lavon sighed. “We’ve had a problem ever since I fell in love with a married woman.”
“That’s true,” Carla agreed. “And a married woman fell in love with someone other than her husband. What are we going to do?”
“What do you want to do?”
“Honestly? I want to divorce Stanley and marry you. There, I said it.”
“Spending my life with you would be my dream come true. But what about your kids and the ministry?”
A Preacher’s Passion Page 15