The Pastor's Wife (10 page)

“Y
ou see, that’s exactly what I’m talking about, Terrance. It’s like they’re obsessed with finding you a woman,” Mamie muttered as she walked down the long hallway behind Terrance.

Terrance fought back a groan. It was bad enough he’d spent two hours meeting with the deacons and the rest of the Christmas committee, but now he had to continue to hear about it as his aunts followed him back into his office.

“If you would just give Rosolyn a chance, I think all of your problems would be solved,” Mamie tried to reason.

Terrance glared at his aunt. “It doesn’t look like the deacons are the only ones obsessed with finding me a woman.”

Mamie was just about to protest when Raquel stuck her head in his office.

“Pastor, don’t forget about your seven-o’clock meeting. You don’t want to keep them waiting.”

For a minute, Terrance looked confused. Then he said, “Right, right. Thank you for reminding me, Raquel.” He quickly started gathering up his things. “Ladies, I don’t mean to rush you, but I’ve got to get these papers ready for my meeting.”

Eva sighed. “Fine. We’ll finish this discussion Sunday over dinner.”

Right about now, Terrance had no desire to come over for dinner. But he knew the sooner he agreed, the sooner they’d leave. “Fine, see you Sunday.”

Terrance met Raquel in the hall. “Have I told you you’re the greatest?” he leaned in and whispered.

“Not today you haven’t.” She smiled. “I hate lying to your aunts, but I knew you wanted to get out of there. I could see it all over your face.”

“You know me so well.” He chuckled. “It’s been such a long day and I just want to go home and rest. All this woman talk is driving me crazy.”

“Well, the sooner you find you one, the sooner they’ll leave you alone.”

“Don’t you start, too,” he groaned.

“You know I’m just messing with you. They’re trying to use this Christmas celebration as a reason to get you a woman. You don’t do anything until you’re ready,” Raquel warned.

“I’m glad you see things my way.”

“Of course.” She leaned in and adjusted his tie. “Now, you go on home, get you some rest, and—”

“Awwwwww, so is this why you kept blowing me off!”

Both Terrance and Raquel turned toward the loud screaming coming down the hallway. Terrance looked on in shock as the bellowing woman came at him like a raging bull.

She stopped right in front of him, a look across her face like she wanted to claw his eyes out. “You know I thought we connected, but you just like all the rest of them trifling, no-good men I’ve dealt with.” She spun on Raquel, who stood with a look of horror on her face. “And who is this trick?”

Terrance tried to shake off his shock. “Excuse me, Debra, but I’m going to have to ask you to lower your voice.”

“I ain’t lowerin’ jack. You think you can just play with people’s emotions. Lead me on, then just not call me and try to blow me off.”

Terrance stared at her. She had to truly be insane. “Debra, I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression.”

“Excuse me,” Raquel interrupted. “Maybe I’d better leave you two alone.”

Debra snarled at Raquel, “Maybe you’d better.”

“No, Raquel, you don’t have to go anywhere. Miss Wright here was just leaving.”

Debra folded her arms across her chest and wiggled her neck. “I ain’t leaving nowhere.” It’s like she was a different person from the woman he’d initially met.

“Maybe you should take this out of the hallway,” Raquel said, looking nervously around.

“Nah, we can do this right here,” Debra announced, her voice getting louder. “Because everybody needs to know their pastor is a
d, o,
double
g
!”

“What in God’s name is going on out here?” Eva asked as she made her way into the hall.

“Debra?” Dorothy Mae said, peering at her friend’s daughter.

“Hey, Mrs. Dorothy Mae,” Debra said, her voice still laced with attitude. “I’m here to give your jackleg nephew a piece of my mind, let him know he’s not gon’ play with my emotions and just toss me aside.” She raised her voice at a still-stunned Terrance.

“You got me messed up,” Debra continued, wiggling her neck. “I don’t care what kind of big shot you are around here, that doesn’t give you the right to play with people’s feelings.”

Eva gasped. “Good Lord.”

“Debra,” Terrance said, seeming to finally come out of his shock, “I don’t know what you think I did to lead you on. We had a cup of coffee and a few conversations. That’s it. Nothing more.”

“That’s it?” she barked. “We bonded. We talked on the phone about stuff I’ve never talked to another man about. You prayed for me and everything, and you talking about that’s it?”

“I pray for everybody,” Terrance calmly responded.

“You told me you were ready to settle down as soon as you found Mrs. Right,” she whined. “Well, I’m Miss Wright, and I’m your Mrs. Right! If that ain’t divine, I don’t know what is!” Debra was shaking, she was so worked up.

Dorothy Mae stepped up and gently placed her hand on Debra’s arm. “Baby, did you take your medication today?”

Both Eva and Mamie snapped their heads toward Dorothy Mae and said in unison, “Medication?”

Terrance looked at Dorothy Mae, confusion etched across his face. “How do you know Debra?”

Dorothy Mae ignored him and tried to stroke Debra’s back. “Sweetie, did you take your medication today?” she calmly repeated.

“I told Mama I ain’t taking that mess no more. It makes me drowsy and I don’t wanna be drowsy!” Debra exclaimed. “I need all my senses so I can sniff out dogs like Terrance.” She spun back toward Terrance, her eyes red with rage. “Besides, I thought I’d found me a man and I wouldn’t need those stupid pills anymore.”

Dorothy Mae gently guided Debra toward the back conference room. “Come with me, sugar. Let’s call your mama, then you can tell me all about how my nephew dogged you out.”

That seemed to pacify Debra because she sniffed, rolled her eyes at Terrance, then followed Dorothy Mae to the back.

Fifteen minutes later, Dorothy Mae walked into Terrance’s office, where everyone had gathered. All eyes were on her as soon as she entered the room.

“We’re listening,” Eva said as she crossed her arms. “I just know you did not try to fix Terrance up with a crazy woman. And I told you that little plan to pretend Debra’s car had broken down was going to backfire.”

Dorothy Mae looked apologetic. “I’m sorry.”

“You fixed Terrance up with some cuckoo bird?” Mamie asked, astonished.

Dorothy Mae plopped down in a chair. “She’s not cuckoo. She has bipolar disorder.”

“Like I said, cuckoo,” Mamie snapped.

“Her mother said she’s fine as long as she takes her medication. And besides, every time I’ve ever seen her, she’s been the perfect sweetheart.”

“Did that raving lunatic look like a sweetheart to you?” Eva questioned. “I mean, good Lord, this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yeah, Dorothy Mae. How you gon’ fix Terrance up with somebody like that?” Mamie chimed in.

“Oh, like the atheist was that much better,” Dorothy Mae retorted.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Terrance rubbed his head. He had a pounding headache.

Dorothy Mae diverted her eyes in shame.

“I can’t believe this was a setup.” He slammed his hands on his desk. “I want you all to listen up and listen up good. First of all, there will be no more blind dates. No carefully orchestrated meetings. Nothing. Understood?”

“But—,” Eva began.

“But nothing. No more dates, no more setups, no more accidental meetings. Nothing. Period. Do you understand that?” Terrance knew he’d caught them off guard with the firmness in his voice, but this was getting out of control. “I will find my own woman. And if I don’t find her, then it was not meant for me to have one. Do you understand that?”

“Fine,” all three of them muttered.

“Secondly,” Terrance continued, “I’m going home. By myself, and please, unless someone dies, nobody call me until tomorrow.”

Terrance stomped out of the church determined more than ever to end his search for the perfect wife. After all he’d been through, his future wife was going to have to find him, because he was done searching for the real Mrs. Right.

“S
o is Terrance still mad at us?” Dorothy Mae asked as she put away the last of the dishes in Eva’s kitchen. This was the second Sunday Terrance had skipped out on their weekly meal. This time he didn’t even bother to try to give them an excuse. He just didn’t show up.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Eva sighed. It looked like their plan to find Terrance a wife was falling apart at the seams.

“Well, last Sunday, I heard he was at Red Lobster having dinner with Savannah.” Mamie said Savannah’s name like it was an infectious disease.

“I wonder if he’s with her again today,” Eva said.

Dorothy Mae suddenly got an uneasy look on her face. “Well, I…ummm, I found out some information that we might be able to use to nip that relationship in the bud.”

Both Eva and Mamie spun around. “What? And you’re just now telling us about this?”

Dorothy Mae sat down, suddenly getting excited. “A little birdie might have told me that Miss Savannah McKinney might actually be a Mrs.”

“What?” Eva exclaimed.

Dorothy Mae reached over in her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. “I had a little background check done on Savannah, and as it turns out she married some hoodlum in 1999 and never got divorced.”

“So you mean she’s married?” Eva asked.

Dorothy Mae laid the marriage license on the table. “Yep. Her husband is in the pen for armed robbery. Shoot, they probably running a scheme trying to take Terrance for his money.”

All three women broke out in huge grins. “A little detail I’m very sure she forgot to tell Terrance,” Mamie said as she picked up the marriage license and scanned it.

“Then it looks like we’ll have to be the ones to break the news,” Eva announced.

“And if this doesn’t get rid of Miss Thang, I don’t know what will,” Dorothy Mae added, finally feeling like they had Savannah beat. “And after we’re done with her, we’ll just see who’s showing who.”

Mamie scurried into the kitchen. “Are you ready to do this?” she asked her sisters.

“Ready as ever,” Eva proclaimed. It had taken a lot of coaxing to convince Terrance to come by. He especially thought they were up to something when Eva invited Savannah. But he’d finally agreed. They’d arrived over an hour ago, and it had been excruciating trying to make it through dinner without saying anything. Dinner had been pure torture. Savannah would smirk at them, then plaster on an innocent look whenever Terrance looked her way. She dabbed at his mouth and fawned over him like he was Jesus himself. The whole thing was sickening. Dorothy Mae had wanted to reveal Savannah’s scam the minute she walked in the door, but Eva had convinced her that they needed to tread lightly.

But now was the time. They had wrapped up dessert and Terrance had leaned back in his chair, stuffed. He had his arm around the back of Savannah’s chair and she was eating it up.

Eva, Dorothy Mae, and Mamie walked back in and stood over the dining room table.

“Mrs. Lewis, thank you so much for that awesome meal. I wish that I could cook like that,” Savannah purred. “Specially since I see how much T-baby loves your cooking.”

Eva didn’t respond as she struggled to keep a scowl from her face.

Dorothy Mae began blurting out, “Terrance, we have something we’d like—”

Eva held up her hand, cutting Dorothy Mae off. “We just wanted to talk to you guys a little bit, that’s all,” Eva said as she sat down. “Mamie, Dorothy Mae, sit down.” Eva shot them a glare to let them know she had things under control. They shot her a look back to let her know they were tired of waiting.

“Well, Savannah, it looks like things are getting a little serious between you and my nephew,” Eva said.

Savannah squeezed Terrance’s hand. “I hope so.” She smiled lovingly at him.

Eva had to fight back the bile building in her stomach. “So, is he someone you could see yourself building a future with?”

Terrance suddenly became uneasy and sat up. “Aunt Eva!”

“I’m just asking the girl,” Eva calmly responded. “You wanted us to get to know one another.”

“No, it’s no problem,” Savannah replied, thinking to herself,
Are they actually finally coming around to give me a chance?
“Terrance is definitely the type of man I could see myself spending the rest of my life with.”

“Yeah, because Terrance ain’t never robbed nobody,” Dorothy Mae spat.

Terrance shot his aunt a confused look.

“Excuse me?” Savannah said.

“Nothing,” Dorothy Mae replied, looking at Eva like she wished she’d hurry up with her line of questioning.

“I think what my sister is saying is that Terrance is a good man,” Eva continued.

“I know that.” Savannah was starting to get suspicious. Something just didn’t feel right.

“Then why are you trying to run games on him?” Mamie snapped, finally jumping into the conversation.

“Aunt Mamie, what in the world are you talking about?” Terrance asked.

Eva leaned back, giving Mamie the go-ahead to spill the beans.

“Did your little Pop-Tart here mention that she was married?” Mamie barked.

Terrance moved his hand from Savannah’s grasp. “What?”

“Yep, been married eight years to some thug in prison who’s doing time for armed robbery,” Mamie announced, as she, Eva, and Dorothy Mae all glared at Savannah.

Savannah, however, didn’t seem fazed as a small smile crossed her face. “So it seems you’ve been doing some digging?” Savannah said, finally figuring out their game.

“We sure have, you lying floozy,” Dorothy Mae said.

Terrance looked at Savannah. “What are they talking about? Are you married? To somebody in prison?”

Savannah kept her eyes glued to the three women. “If your nosy aunts had kept digging, they would have seen that
I
never married anyone. My janky cousin, who had warrants for her arrest and didn’t want to risk going to jail, stole my birth certificate and driver’s license and got a marriage license in my name so that she could marry her convict boyfriend.”

Mamie threw up her hands. “Oh, come on. You can’t come up with a better lie than that?”

Savannah shrugged. “It’s not a lie,” she replied nonchalantly. “If you’d had dug a little deeper, you would have seen that not only did I file a police report, but the marriage under my name was reversed.” She turned to Terrance. “I have the paperwork at home and it’s a matter of public record.”

Eva, Mamie, and Dorothy Mae looked like they didn’t know what to believe. Neither did Terrance, who was rubbing his head.

Savannah scooted back from the table, a victorious look across her face. She wanted to straight curse these women out, but for once, she had the upper hand. Everything she’d said had been the God’s honest truth, and when she proved it to Terrance, it would bolster her credibility to a whole other level. No sense in ruining it by going off on his aunts.

“Ladies, I’m sorry that you feel like you had to resort to digging in my past to try and find a reason to keep me from your nephew,” Savannah said as she stood up. “I care for him, I really do. And I’m sorry that that’s not enough for you.”

Savannah walked into the living room and grabbed her purse. She turned toward Terrance.

Eva sat stunned, not really sure what to say. She glared at Savannah. Was that heifer about to cry?

“Terrance, I’m truly hurt,” Savannah said, her voice cracking. “But it doesn’t change how I feel about you. Could you please take me home? I’ll show you the paperwork, which thankfully I’ve kept, and we can even call my cousin if you’d like. I pressed charges and she got probation for forgery so she can tell you everything I said is true. After that, I hope that you’ll understand I have no secrets from you.”

Terrance turned to his aunts. He wasn’t quite sure what to believe. But if Savannah was indeed telling the truth, he’d be hard-pressed to forgive his aunts for this one.

“I can’t believe you guys sunk this low,” Terrance muttered as he got up and followed Savannah out the door.