His First Lady (27 page)

Leon had taken his decision to run for county council to the church and had received overwhelming support. So much so in fact that when he announced it, the congregation came forward in droves to place money on the steps in front of the pulpit to go toward his campaign. That Sunday, Evan sat on the pulpit with overwhelming sadness watching as some gave their last to a man that they didn’t know at all.

Now that his campaign bid was in full swing, Evan had simply cooperated when he told her that the crew was coming over to take the pictures for his ad campaign. She had changed into the outfits they brought for her, sat straight and close as they instructed, and smiled.

“Mrs. Ladson, chin up,” Frederick, the photographer said walking over to Evan and placing his hand on her face lifting her chin slightly.

The staff had made up her face and continued powder puffing to remove the shine every few minutes. But beneath the beautifully made up exterior, Evan was using all of the strength that God was providing to prevent herself from vomiting.

“Mrs. Ladson, I need you to smile. Mr. Ladson, snuggle just a little closer to your wife.”

Leon leaned over and whispered in Evan’s ear. “Do not embarrass me.” He maintained his smile and squeezed Evan’s hand a little tighter as he sat closer to her.

Evan forced the skin surrounding her mouth to turn upward to mimic a smile. Leon’s touch turned her stomach. Why hadn’t she left? Why was she so scared of him? She had never been scared of anyone before but she wore a neck scarf today for a reason.

“Okay, I think we got them. They look great,” Frederick, the photographer said standing up and walking over to Leon to show him the pictures on his digital camera.

“You got them?” Leon smiled patting Frederick on the back. “Good job.”

Evan rolled her eyes and stood up from the bench. Leon looked over at her.

“Hey babe, come look at the pics. Help me decide which ones to use.”

Evan ignored him as she opened the door and walked inside the house where Rosalie was standing at the kitchen island washing vegetables.

“Do you need any help, Rosalie?”

Rosalie who was humming looked up at Evan. “Oh, no meese, you too pretty today. Meester Ladsoon on the news again?”

Evan nodded. “Something like that, Rosalie?”

Rosalie stopped humming and looked at Evan. “You don’t seem happy, meese,” Rosalie said.

Evan didn’t know it was so obvious but must have realized that their home hadn’t been a happy place for a long while and Rosalie had to feel it. With all of the broken items recently, Rosalie was sure to have seen a piece of broken glass that Evan had missed in her cleaning up. “You always seem to be,” Evan said.

Rosalie laughed. “No, silly meese.” Rosalie pulled out a gold cross hidden under her shirt. “I trust God.”

Evan looked at her and seemed stunned by Rosalie’s words as she began to hum again. Rosalie was more of a witness for Jesus Christ than she had ever been as a First lady. This embarrassed her. She realized that she had always seen her but never really looked at the woman who did so much for them every day. She could tell that Rosalie was once very beautiful with her mostly gray hair now overpowering shiny black strands and the wrinkles in her face weren’t just of age but evidence of a story with struggle and fight.

This was a woman to be admired and although she had been with them for as long as they’ve been pastor and First lady of JMC, she had never even attended one of their services and they had never discussed God with her. Rosalie had been a rock in their home seeing a lot and hearing even more but Evan had been too selfish to give her much of her energy. And she had never heard Rosalie complain, not even when Leon was awful to her.

“Rosalie, how’s your family?”

Rosalie stopped and looked at Evan as if surprised at the question. Evan was embarrassed; she had always been too busy to ask and it was long overdue.

“My family is blessed. My son Emilio was accepted to college and we are all happy,” Rosalie said.

Evan’s eyes lit up. “That’s wonderful Rosalie; Congratulations.”

“We are having a party on Friday; please come,” Rosalie said.

“Thank you. I may come,” Evan said seeing the joy on Rosalie’s face.

Evan watched Leon through the glass door laugh heartily with his hired crew. She knew that God wasn’t pleased but she’d have to deal with God later because right now she hated Leon.

“I’m going upstairs to change, Rosalie.” Evan stood up and began walking out of the kitchen.

“Meese! Wait!” Rosalie shouted out. “Someone called for you. I almost forget.”

Evan turned around as Rosalie handed her a paper. She could barely read the number but she knew it and was very relieved to see it.

“He say to call him.”

She could have hugged Rosalie. “Thank you so much Rosalie,” Evan said walking off.

Greg walked out of his condo garage to his truck and was startled to see Evan sitting inside her car parked right next to his truck. He stopped to get a good look, just to be sure it was her. It was. He stood speechless wondering why she was at his condo again. She was looking down and hadn’t seen him yet. He could have just turned around hoping that she didn’t see him at all. But he didn’t.

He continued walking toward his truck wondering whether to just open his truck door, get in without a word, then drive off or at least give her the respect to hear her reason for being there...again. Before he could make any decision, their eyes met. Evan unbuckled her seatbelt, opened her car door and got out.

Greg stood by his truck and folded his arms. He wanted to be stern with her but seeing her get out of her car as stunning as she was literally left him speechless.

“Hi,” She said. “I know how it looks but I promise you that it’s not that way.”

“What way is that, First lady?” Greg asked.

“Not like last time.”

Greg took a deep breath not liking the fact that she was there; it could all look so inappropriate. There were feelings that he felt around her that he knew he shouldn’t have and feelings he was determined to let die.

“You’re parked in my condominium’s garage sitting by my truck.”

Evan sighed. “Only because I didn’t want to knock on your door and I was praying that I didn’t have to and then you came out.”

Greg shrugged. “I’m kind of in a hurry, First lady,” He said opening his truck door.

“It’s Leon.”

Greg laughed a little. If hearing Leon’s name was what she had thought was going to make him talk to her; she picked a poor choice of words. That was the last name on the planet he wanted to hear about. And he certainly wasn’t going to sit around and listen to her vent about another fight they’d had. “Pardon me for seeming rude but I don’t care to hear anything about him.”

Greg climbed in his truck and put his key into the ignition but the more he thought about her coming to him about Leon, the angrier he got. “First lady, I’m not sure what you think but I thought I made myself perfectly clear that I’m not the one for you to run to when you have a fight with your husband,” Greg said shutting the truck door as Evan stood looking stunned.

Greg started the ignition. The truck was loud and it roared in the garage. Evan winced at the sound so he was sure that he was getting his point across. Still resolute to have a conversation with him, she walked up to his driver side door.

“Please just hear me out,” She pleaded but he didn’t seem to budge.

Greg put the gear in reverse.

Evan hit the hood of his truck with her hand which got his attention.

“I just need a quick minute because I have nowhere else to turn, Pastor Greg,” Evan pleaded.

The look of desperation covered Evan’s pretty face and he immediately regretted his decision to treat her as he had. It wasn’t purposeful, just protective as she seemed to have some kind of power that mesmerized him. He turned off the ignition.

Evan looked down at the ground then back up at Greg. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

A quick look in Evan’s eyes told him that she was serious. Evan backed away from the truck door as Greg opened it and got out. “What is it?”

Evan closed her eyes as she began to tell Greg everything that had transpired, dreadfully gasping for air recalling the details.

Greg leaned against the tan painted living room wall watching Katie stare out of her brother’s living room window. Furious; he had fought the rage of going after Leon himself after finding out about Sundi. Instead, he listened to Evan and followed her to Katie’s brother’s home to speak with Katie. When they appeared at her door, she opened it as if expecting them. She offered them a seat even something to drink just in case they were thirsty.

“I don’t want to be involved,” Katie said with her arms wrapped around her body as if protecting herself. “That’s why I left. How did you even find me?”

Evan sighed. “I hired a private investigator. He tracked down your brother.”

Katie rolled her eyes. “My priority is my child and that’s all I’m concerned about right now.”

“We understand Katie but we need your help,” Greg said.

Katie wearing an oversized mustard colored sweater over her boney frame turned from the window and looked at the two of them. “You don’t know what you’re asking. Sundi’s very fragile. She can’t do it and I won’t let her.”

“Is it you or Sundi that you’re worried about?” Evan asked sitting on the flower patterned couch.

Katie frowned. “What kind of question is that?”

Evan thought a moment and took a deep breath. “Katie, I just think that if Sundi knew how brave she could be and how so many people would support her then she might be willing to speak out,” Evan said.

“You don’t understand, Ben’s on leave and he doesn’t know about any of this yet. She needs him right now and he’d kill Leon if he knew. I don’t want him to even find out while he’s still home,” Katie said tightening her sweater around her and looking at Greg. “If I felt that I could do this then I would have given the journal to the police and not to the First lady.”

Evan and Greg looked at each other.

Katie continued, “Sundi has just begun talking to me again. It’s slow but she’s better,” Katie said turning back to the window. “He almost killed my baby. I won’t let that happen ever again.”

“We won’t let him near her,” Greg said. “We’ll be there with her the entire way,” Greg said reassuringly.

Katie turned around quickly. “Pastor Greg, can you guarantee me that he’ll pay for what he’s done to her?”

Greg knew he couldn’t. “No, I can’t.”

“Exactly,” Katie responded, “so, I can’t.”

“But I promise to be by your side and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that he pays for what he’s done but I can’t do that without your help,” Greg said.

Katie shook her head. “No, you don’t understand. My baby can’t survive seeing him again. Why do you think we left? She’s doing so much better and right now she’s not strong enough to face that monster again.”

Evan stood up and walked beside Katie gently touching Katie’s arm. “But if you don’t hold him accountable then Sundi will spend the rest of her life living in fear of him.”

Katie pulled away from Evan quickly. “You don’t know because you don’t have children.”

Greg could see from Evan’s face that Katie’s comment stung. Evan sat back down on the sofa.

“I’ve seen these types of cases come through the department all the time. I can tell you that they were always prosecuted to the fullest extent. But in this case, Leon destroyed the evidence and Sundi will have to tell what he did to her,” Greg said. “Without Sundi,” his voice was calm and direct, “he’ll walk away from this.”

Katie seemed unmoved. Greg looked at Evan as if pleading with her to say something to convince Katie.

“Katie,” Evan sat up straight and fumbled with her hands, “you trusted me and you know how much I love Sundi. But if Leon gets away with this, he could hurt someone else. You’re right, I don’t have any children but I love them and I want to protect them from monsters like Leon. They deserve that.”

Katie turned around and stared at the both of them.

“Do you know what it did to me to find out that one of the people I trusted the most almost destroyed the one person on earth that I loved more than my own life?” Katie asked dropping her head.

“I can only imagine and I’m sorry,” Evan said.

Greg sat down on a chair across from Evan and looked at Katie. “I need you to trust God that he will get you through this and that he’ll bring Sundi through this without harm. I promise that I’ll be there every step of the way but it means that you’ll have to come forward and you’ll have to give Sundi the same courage to speak out.”

Katie became infuriated. “He’s a man with a big church, big money, even the White house knows about his church. And I’m supposed to go up against him?” Katie scoffed. “I knew that if I went to the police that his lawyers would chew us up and spit us out. He’d destroy our lives but he’d still go on being pastor. I can’t risk my baby being tortured again by him.”

“He’s not as powerful as you think,” Evan said.

Katie chuckled looking over at Evan. “Really? You’ve been married to him so you know how powerful he is.” Katie looked smugly at Evan.

“He’s not invincible,” Evan said.

“Oh no? Then why are you so scared of him?”

Evan looked up at Katie but didn’t answer.

“Once again, I’ve made my point.” Katie turned around and faced the window again. “Sometimes no amount of make-up in the world can cover your bruises inside or out, First lady.”

Greg looked at Evan as she sat trying to digest what Katie had just said. He had always had his suspicions that Leon was violent toward her but never had any proof.

Evan stood up. “Katie, I’m not in the perfect situation but you left that journal because you knew that I was stronger than I thought and you’re right; I am,” Evan paused, “but you’re wrong if you think that you’re not strong enough.”

Katie crossed her arms. A slight smile appeared on her gaunt face toward the two of them. “First lady, Pastor Greg, thank you for finding us, but I’m not ready to submit my child to that kind of pain. I may not be making the right decision but it’s the only decision I know to make.”