by ANDREA SMITH
“It’s okay, darlin’,” she murmured. “Don’t you worry about it now, you hear? These things happen, you see. It’s God’s way.”
I had felt the warm tears run down my cheeks, because of the guilt that had washed over at me seeing my mother in so much physical and emotional pain. She had been so happy about being pregnant. And I had been so selfish in the way that I had reacted to it.
“Do you need me to bring you anything, Mama?”
“No, baby. I’m fine. Just please, will you see to Avery’s supper? We were at the hospital and I plumb forgot about making him something to eat.”
This struck me as odd. Under the circumstances, why the hell couldn’t Avery make himself a sandwich? My God, it was if my mother had resigned herself to being his slave. “I’ll take care of it, Mama. Don’t worry. You just get your rest now.”
She had fallen back to sleep before I had even left the room. I went downstairs and heated up some leftover meatloaf for Avery.
“How’s she doing?” he asked, taking his seat at the kitchen table.
“She didn’t say much. I guess she’s kind of out of it right now.”
“Yes,” he replied, cutting into his meatloaf, “she’ll be on some strong pain meds for the next few days. She was really lucky.”
“How so?” I asked, staring him down.
“It could have been much worse, Sunshine. Let’s thank the Lord that your mama is still alive.” He reached for my hand to join him in prayer, but I instinctively moved away from him.
“I do my praying in private, thank you very much,” I said turning my back to him and walking out of the kitchen. I went upstairs and got my shower, and then checked in on Mama once more before I went to bed for the night. Something was wrong here. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something had changed between Mama and Avery tonight. I could feel it.
Chapter 13
Bonnie knocked softly on Reverend Dawson’s office door and waited until she heard him call for her to come in before opening the door. She knew his rules by heart now.
“Excuse me, Reverend, but Mrs. Margolis-Sanders is here for her appointment. Do you want me to tell her you’re running a bit behind?”
“No, Bonnie, that’s fine. Mrs. Martin and I are just finishing up here. If you could put Stella on my calendar for next week, I’ll make a few notes and then you may send Gloria in and call it a day. Thanks for your help.”
“No problem, Reverend,” she said, giving him a meek smile. “I’ll see you on Friday then,” she finished, closing his office door softly behind her.
“Very good, Stella. We’ve made some progress today. When you schedule your appointment for next week with Bonnie, ask that she give you the last appointment of the day at five o’clock.”
“Yes, Avery, I will,” Stella Martin said, getting up from the sofa. “I’ll see you next week then. Have a pleasant evening.”
“You do the same, Stella. May the Lord be with you and keep you safe.”
Avery jotted his progress notes on the tablet belonging to Stella Martin’s counseling sessions. She’d been coming to him for a couple of months, and it was only now he felt that she’d come along enough in their counseling that they were ready to move on to the next phase. He wouldn’t deny that he was looking forward to finally experiencing the breakthrough with her. He had been anticipating it for some time.
There was another light tap on his door, and he called out for Gloria to enter. Avery watched as she stepped over the threshold, and the fact that her skirt was several inches shorter than what she typically wore to counseling did not go unnoticed by him.
“Good afternoon, Gloria,” he greeted, standing up. He walked over to where she was standing, and pulled her hands into his. “My, you look exceptionally fetching today.”
“Why thank you, Avery. I really feel good today. This past week has opened my eyes in so many ways. I really feel that this counseling is going to have a positive impact on my marriage.”
“I’m delighted to hear that,” he said, checking the outer office to make sure that Bonnie had closed up the office. He shut his office door, and turned the lock.
“Please, take a seat on the sofa. I want to hear about your week.”
Gloria Margolis-Sanders was now laying stark naked on Avery Dawson’s office sofa, watching him as his eyes gazed appreciatively at her body. They had finished their discussion and had moved on to the therapeutic portion of the counseling session.
“You have a beautiful body, Gloria. The Lord, in his infinite love and wisdom, has gifted you with a sexy body that is made for your husband’s love and respect. You have nothing to be ashamed of, on the contrary, your breasts are full and ripe. They will serve to nurse the child you and Eddie will conceive. Your legs are long, and silky smooth,” he continued, running his hand slowly from her ankle to her thigh. “Very lovely indeed. They were made to tempt a man. Even a man such as me who knows that everything about you serves the purpose of man, and of God. Do you understand?”
Her breath hitched as his hand traveled further up and rested between her thighs. “Yes,” she said, releasing a breath. “That feels good the way you touch me.”
“Does Eddie touch you this way?”
“He has,” she replied. “But somehow, I don’t know, it just feels different with you.”
“Good different or bad different?” he asked, his fingers now gently plying her folds apart.
She sucked in a hard breath at his touch. “I won’t lie. It’s good different. Is that wrong of me, Rev…Avery?” she asked, her teeth tugging at her bottom lip.
“Telling the truth is never wrong, Gloria,” he said, his fingers now stirring beneath the folds. There was silence for several moments, and then the sounds of her wetness permeated the quiet room.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, “I know I’m getting you…messy,” she apologized. “I can’t help that, you know that, right?”
“I’m still a man, dear Gloria. Of course I understand that and there’s no reason to apologize. Your essence proves that you are a lust-driven woman who craves the touch of a man. There is no sin in that. What we need to discover here today, is how exactly you like to be touched, so that you have something to take back with you to Eddie once you two commence mutual copulation with one another, does that make sense?”
She nodded, her tongue flickering over her bottom lip. “I understand Avery.”
“Good. Let’s begin with the basics, shall we?”
Avery Dawson shed his clothes, and stood before her, his erection evident. He stroked himself several times as his gaze burned a path along her body.
“Gloria, I want you to spread your legs for me. Will you do that please?”
She nodded, but then broke the silence, “Wait—what about a condom? I…I’m not on birth control, Avery. I…we wouldn’t want me to get…pregnant.”
“There’s no worry there, Gloria. I’m sterile. I would much prefer we do this just as a man and wife would do it. A couple that hopes to conceive a child with their bodies and within the beauty and auspices of God’s love.”
“Okay,” she said, her eyes flashing now with a passion that seemed to match Avery’s. “I’m ready for you,” she replied, spreading her legs wider to allow him access.
Avery dipped one knee to the sofa, and his hands braced each side of her, spreading her legs wider so that he could take his place between them.
He brought his other leg onto the sofa, so that he was now kneeling above her. She watched, mesmerized as his hand returned to his erection and pumped it a couple of times. He was bigger than Eddie, but that pleased her. She was honestly eager to see how it would feel to have a preacher on top of her, ramming into her with the same passion he had shown so many times before in the pulpit when he preached the word of God.
She felt his closeness and warmth as he lowered his body to hers. He guided the head of his erection to her slick opening, and then he gently, inch by inch, sank himself into her until he was fully seated.
Gloria sucked in a hard breath as he totally filled her, and instinctively, her legs wrapped around his hips, taking him fully inside. “Oh yes,” she moaned softly.
“Does that feel good to you, Gloria?”
“Yes, Avery. It feels fantastic.”
He pulled out and then pushed back inside of her several times so that her body could adjust to his size. She moaned softly with his every thrust.
“Now, you need to move against me for my pleasure,” he rasped, as his mouth moved to hers. She did as instructed, her hips bucking up against him, and he began the slow, methodical, pumping in and out of her, while his mouth ravaged hers with a passion that Eddie had failed to show her.
She arched up against him firmly, and when he thrust into her even harder, she moaned her pleasure unabashedly. This was like nothing she’d ever experienced. Gloria wasn’t sure if it was Avery’s technique, or the fact that she was allowing her minister to make love to her, or maybe a combination of the two but in her mind, all she could think about was the fact that Donna Dawson was one lucky woman. And it wasn’t the first time she’d had that thought about Donna over the years.
Avery increased his momentum, his lips moved to her neck, kissing and sucking on the tender flesh as his dick moved in and out of her sex, faster and harder. His breathing was now ragged, and she could hear the sound of their wetness at her apex. She knew she was ready to come, something that didn’t happen most of the time with Eddie, but it had happened many times with Steven.
She arched her back again, and when she did, she felt something deep within her womb detonate at that moment, causing a vortex of pleasure to spread throughout her entire body as she mewled his name. “Avery, don’t stop,” she moaned. “Please don’t stop.”
He swiveled his hips, and plunged into her again and, as her orgasm continued, Avery groaned and she felt the throbbing of his erection and the warm gush as he filled her with his seed.
Their lips were still joined as they came together, and in that instant, Gloria knew that she wanted more from Avery than she had a right to and it had nothing to do with Eddie or her marriage.
They lay together for several moments, and Gloria kissed his lips and face. “That was so fantastic,” she breathed. “It’s never…never been that good, Avery.”
He pulled himself out of her, and grabbed a linen handkerchief from his pocket. “I think you did wonderfully today, Gloria,” he replied, standing up and wiping himself clean. “I think with a few more sessions, you and Eddie can resume sexual relations, and I’m hopeful that it will be every bit as rewarding for you as it appeared to be today.”
He dressed, and went to his desk to make notes for her file. Gloria covered herself with her skirt, still flushed from their lovemaking and watched as he did so. She was confused as to how suddenly detached and aloof he had become when only moments before, they had shared such an intimate sexual encounter.
“You may dress now,” he said, looking up from his tablet. “When you’re finished, come on out to Bonnie’s desk so we can set your next appointment. I’ve got to get home early this evening. Donna hasn’t been feeling well.”
He was out the door before Gloria could respond. She was still enjoying the after effects of her orgasm, but in semi-shock by his postcoital manner.
She finally shook it off, got up, and grabbed her clothes. She dressed hurriedly, telling herself that this was simply counseling and that emotions shouldn’t come into play. But how was that possible she wondered? Everything about sex was personal, wasn’t it? It was the most intimate of human interactions, but then again, it was supposed to be between husband and wife. That was what Avery was trying to show her—to teach her she supposed.
She found him in the outer office studying his calendar for next week.
“We’ll have to do a Thursday appointment,” he said, as she came closer. “I already have another appointment booked for next Wednesday at five I’m afraid.”
“That’s fine,” Gloria said curtly. She wondered if it was Stella Martin that had taken her Wednesday slot. She’d heard that Stella and Kenneth had been having problems over the past year. His drinking was the problem she’d heard, but who really knows?
“I’ll see you next Thursday, Avery. Give my best to Donna.”
Chapter 14
“Okay, tell me again exactly why we’re down here doing this?” Gina asked as I filled out a file request slip and handed it to the clerk in the office of the county courthouse.
“I need to see my mother’s divorce papers from my dad. I couldn’t find a thing at home.”
“That part I understand,” she replied. “But why exactly do you have to get your hands on them? Don’t you believe they’re divorced?”
I rolled my eyes as I stood at the old wooden counter and waited for the clerk to pull the file so that I could look through it. “Of course I believe they’re divorced. I can’t see my mother as a bigamist,” I snapped. “There are just some things that don’t add up.”
“Like what?”
“Just things.”
“Okay, look. You’re my best friend and I don’t know, shit. I thought I was yours. You don’t want to tell me what this is about then just say, ‘Gina, mind your own damn business.’ But please, don’t make me pull teeth here to get it out of you.”
“Okay,” I replied, “I just find it odd that my dad has had nothing to do with me since they split, and even though it’s been several years, he was a pretty good dad to me the years before he left.”
Gina started to interject, but I stopped her. “Here me out. I know some fathers suck and it could be that, but there’s more.”
“Okay. Continue.”
“So, remember how my mother has always told me my dad pays child support?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Not true.”
“And…you know this how?”
I hated to admit this to anyone, even my best friend, but I needed Gina to know that I had done my homework. “Well, for starters, I’m usually home before her or Avery and I’ve never seen a check come in. So, just to be sure, I steam-opened her checking account statement the other day, and there was nothing showing a deposit for the child support she claims to be getting.”
“Why would she lie about that?” Gina asked, her face a mask of pure puzzlement.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe she wanted me to feel as if he was at least helping to support me?”
“I guess,” she replied, still puzzled. “I just don’t get what you expect to find by looking at their divorce papers.”
“Gina,” she said with a touch of irritation. “The divorce decree will spell out the specifics of the divorce—things like custody, child support, visitation. I just need to verify what she’s told me is the truth. Plus, it should have my father’s address on it.”
“But it’s been what? Five years?”
“It’s been six since he left, but they didn’t get the divorce until a year or two later. That’s the other part that seems strange to me.”
“You over think stuff, Sunny. What makes you think that anything adults do has to make sense?”
“Yeah, I hear that,” I replied. She did have a point.
“So, how is your mom feeling?”
“She’s a little better. Most of the bruising has faded. She’s totally bummed about losing the baby though.”
“Well, she’s still young enough to try again, right?”
I didn’t answer Gina, but the look I gave her said it all.
“Well, she’s the same age as my mother and I know she and Eddie have been arguing about that very same thing.”
“What thing?”
She sighed. “Eddie wants her to have a baby, you know? One of his own? I found out that is what’s been pushing them apart. I just wish Mom would give him a kid so that things at our house would go back to normal.”
I chewed thoughtfully on my bottom lip. “Man, you and I are on opposite sides on that one I guess. I hope Mama doesn’t try
again, and here you are, hoping your mom will. That’s crazy, isn’t it?”
“Not really,” she replied. “I think it’s the difference in our stepfathers. You hate yours, and I totally dig mine. I just wish Mom would appreciate what a good guy he is and stop with her fucking nonsense.”
“Is she still in counseling with Avery?” I asked.
“I have no clue,” she retorted. “She’s awfully closed mouth about everything these days. She seems happier though, so maybe things are getting better and she’ll let him back in her bed soon.”
I shook my head, “I don’t see what all the fuss is about with sex—yuck.”
“Said the clueless virgin,” Gina replied giggling. “One of these days you will, trust me.”
“I’m in no hurry to find out, trust me.”
“Hey, did I tell you I have a date for Friday?”
“No, you did not and you do know that Friday is my birthday, right?”
“Oh shit. Yes, of course I knew that,” she lied.
“Liar.”
“Oh, for shit’s sake, it’s not like you’re having a party or anything. We can hang out Saturday night with the twins. You can stay overnight, how’s that?”
I laughed, “I’m cool with that. It’s no biggie. So, who’s your date?”
“Craig Connors.”
“That name is sort’ve familiar. Did he graduate last year?”
“Duh…the dude from the drive-in a few weeks back. Johnny Wadd Holmes, remember?”
“Ohh…yeah. The guy with the long blonde hair, right? Looks like Edgar Winter only with a tan?”
“Yep—and guess what? He’s nineteen. He’s fixing to go into the Marines next year after he gets his GED. Right now, he works and takes night classes getting ready for the test. Wouldn’t it be so cool to have a boyfriend in the service?”
I rolled my eyes. Just what Gina needed. A horny soon-to-be-Marine. I started to say something when the clerk returned with a manila folder and my request ticket paper-clipped to it.
“Here you go,” she said, handing it over to me. You can go sit at that table over there and review it here. If you need a copy of any of the documents, it’s ten cents a page.”