The Pastor's Wife (17 page)

D
ay seven of Savannah, and Terrance was going out of his mind. He had tried to go into hiding, avoiding his aunts and everyone else by saying he was sick. It wasn’t a total lie. He was sick to his stomach at the thought of being blackmailed into a relationship.

And Savannah couldn’t care less. She had all but moved into his place and had literally taken over his life. She talked like she wasn’t blackmailing him at all.

“So, sweetie, what would you like for dinner?” she asked him this morning. “I have a beauty shop appointment, then I’m going to the grocery store. I want to make you a special dinner.”

He’d done what he’d been doing for the past week: glared at her, then fell back into bed. She’d shrugged and left.

That was two hours ago. Terrance suspected she’d be returning soon, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with her happy attitude, like they were blissful newlyweds or something.

He threw back the covers, climbed out of bed, and hopped in the shower. After a ten-minute, scalding-hot shower, he felt a little better. He hurriedly got dressed and headed out before Savannah returned.

Fifteen minutes later he was parked outside the church. He sat in his car, said a brief prayer, then tried to get up the nerve to go inside. He had to snap out of this daze. Yes, his life had totally been screwed up. But he’d made this bed. It was time to lie in it. And there was no sense in his walking around moping about it.

Terrance slowly made his way in the back door and down the hall to his office. He was relieved to see that Raquel wasn’t at her desk. He wasn’t ready to face her, but he knew at some point he was going to have to tell her something.

Terrance wasn’t in his office five minutes when there was a light tap on his door. He took a deep breath, then replied, “Come in.”

“Afternoon, Pastor.” Deacon Tisdale stuck his head in the door. “I saw you come in and, well, just wondered if you had a minute?”

Terrance nodded at the man, who was old enough to be his grandfather. “Sure, come on in and have a seat.”

Deacon Tisdale walked in, followed by Carl Baker and Phil Wilson. Terrance forced a smile as he noticed the extreme look of concern on all of their faces.

“Gentlemen, what can I do for you?”

“Well,” Deacon Tisdale began, “we know you been a little under the weather, and we wanted to see how you were doing.”

Terrance nodded. “I’m doing much better, but I know you three aren’t all in my office for a welfare check.”

Carl stepped forward. “Actually, we’re here to try and find out what’s going on. You’re not really engaged to that Savannah woman, are you?”

Terrance knew he owed them, as the church elders, some type of explanation. But he definitely couldn’t tell them the truth.

“Well, Brother Baker, I understand you were the main one questioning my manhood,” Terrance tried to joke. “Because I didn’t have a woman, you didn’t know if I was the right man to lead the church. In fact, didn’t all of you suggest that I might need to be replaced if I didn’t find a woman soon?”

None of the three men responded.

“Now that I’ve found a woman, seems to me you got what you wanted.”

“Yeah, we wanted a first lady,” Deacon Tisdale said, his voice hurried. “But not Miss Savannah.”

“Do you know we’d be the laughingstock of the Baptist Association if she became our first lady?” Phil added.

“Come on, now, she’s not that bad,” Terrance said.
She really is,
he wanted to say, but of course he couldn’t.

“I don’t mean to disrespect your woman, Pastor, but everybody in town knows she’s a little loose,” Deacon Tisdale remarked.

“A little?” Carl retorted. He personally knew three men who had been with her, two of them within days of one another.

“She done been with half the male congregation,” Phil added. Sure, he was exaggerating a bit, but in his mind, if it was more than two men, it was the same thing.

Deacon Tisdale shot Phil a menacing look. They’d agreed not to come in and outright attack Savannah. They just wanted to gently remind Terrance about her storied reputation.

Terrance didn’t really feel like coming to Savannah’s defense, but if this thing with her was going to work, he had to shut down all of this negativity. “Look, Matthew, chapter seven, says, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’ None of us are any better than anyone else. And that includes Savannah.”

Deacon Tisdale was just about to say something else when Terrance’s door flew open.

“Terrance Deshaun Ellis, have you lost your mind?” Eva bellowed. “You been avoiding us all week, and that hussy you call yourself engaged to wouldn’t even open the door and let us in to check on you. All up in your house like she already live there. I swear to God if I wasn’t saved…” Eva gritted her teeth as she shook her fist.

Terrance rubbed his head in exasperation. All three of his aunts stood in his doorway, looking like a pack of angry wolves. Terrance forced a smile. They obviously didn’t see anything worth smiling about, because they all stood glaring at him with scowls.

“Did you have an alarm go off or something to let you know when I arrived at the office?” Terrance joked, trying to ease the tension.

“I ain’t here to play with you, funny man,” Eva said. “I’m here for some answers.” She glared at Phil and Deacon Tisdale, who were sitting in the chairs in front of Terrance’s desk. They quickly gave up their seats. “And we aren’t leaving until we get those answers,” Eva said, sitting down in one of the chairs. Mamie took the other.

“Yeah,” Mamie added. “You got some serious explaining to do. Did you know Raquel quit? You done broke that child’s heart and run her off from the church.”

Terrance’s heart dropped. That was the last thing he wanted.

“Now, you tell us that you had a bad reaction to some food and were delirious or something when you agreed to be with that she-devil,” Eva demanded.

Terrance swallowed as his mind replayed Savannah’s threat.
You’d better act like you love me or I’ll tell them everything.

“Terrance,” Dorothy Mae prodded. “Please tell us this is not real.”

Terrance leaned back in his chair.
I’ll tell them everything,
Savannah sang in his head. “It’s real, Aunt Dorothy Mae. I wish everyone around here would accept that.”

It seemed everyone in the room groaned at the same time.

“I’m sorry if you all don’t like Savannah, but I’m doing what’s best for me.” He hoped his lie was convincing because he definitely didn’t feel convinced.

Eva eyed him suspiciously before saying, “So you mean to tell me you honestly think she is the lady to lead this church?”

“She may need a little work, but she has great potential. And she wants to be accepted so bad. But the bottom line is…I…she’s the one I choose to be with.”

No one in the room looked like they were buying his declaration.

“I will ask each of you, out of love for me, please try to respect my decision, and my”—Terrance struggled to get the word out—“and my fiancée. This discussion is finished,” he firmly said. “Now, if you all will excuse me, I have a week’s worth of work to catch up on.”

He buried his head back in his work, hoping they’d get the message and leave. He sighed with relief as they all left the room. But something told him their fight was far from over.

S
he has surely lost her mind
. That’s all Eva could think of as she watched Savannah as she all but took over the committee meeting for the Christmas celebration, which was all set to take place the Sunday before Christmas.

“…And I really don’t think the choir should wear those old stuffy, ugly blue robes. I would like to see them wear blue jeans and white shirts.”

Everyone in the room looked at her like, who died and made her in charge?

Eva could no longer take it. She leaned forward. “Let me get this straight. You actually think our award-winning choir should perform at the hundred-year anniversary in their street clothes?”

“Forget this,” Mamie snapped, looking around the room. “First, she come up in here talking about an outsider is gonna emcee the First Ladies’ Brunch. Now this? Y’all can sit in here and act like you’re okay with this woman coming in here trying to change and run things. But I refuse to do it.” Mamie turned her attention back to Savannah. “You can’t come up in here changing stuff.”

Savannah frowned in protest. “I’m about to be first lady of this church.”

“About to be,” Mamie challenged. “You ain’t yet.”

“And you never will be if I have anything to say about it,” Eva mumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Ladies,” Deacon Tisdale interjected. “We’re getting nowhere with this bickering. Sister Savannah, I think the proper way to handle this would be to take a vote among the committee members in regards to the choir robes.”

Savannah cut her eyes and turned up her lips. “Fine.”

Deacon Tisdale nodded. “Good. All those in favor of the choir performing at the Christmas celebration without their choir robes, please raise your hand.”

Savannah was the only one who raised her hand. The other fourteen committee members sat stoically, with the exception of Dorothy Mae and Mamie, who had smiles across their faces.

“You know what? Whatever,” Savannah said, throwing up her hands in defeat. “It’s not that big of a deal anyway.” She leaned back in her chair, and suddenly a smile crossed her face as her eyes lit up. “Besides, I should be leaving the celebration planning to you guys since I need to be planning the matrimonial part.”

“Excuse me?” Eva said.

“Oh, Terrance didn’t tell you?” Savannah said, knowing he hadn’t since she’d just now come up with the idea. “Terrance and I will be getting married as part of the celebration.”

“What?” several people exclaimed.

Savannah flashed a satisfied smile. “Yes, we thought that would be the perfect time to pledge our love for one another.” She knew she was going a bit far, but she absolutely couldn’t stand these people, and at this point she wanted to do anything to get under their skin.

“Are you out of your mind?” Eva said. “This is a highly publicized, monumental, special event to celebrate Lily Grove’s one hundred years of service.”

“And what better way for your pastor to celebrate than by using that opportunity to take his new wife,” Savannah proclaimed.

“Sister Savannah, that’s not a good idea. People are coming to help us share in our celebration, not for a wedding,” Deacon Tisdale said, again trying to be the voice of reason.

“And if they care about Terrance, they won’t mind taking twenty minutes out of the service to watch him marry the woman he loves.”

Mamie and Dorothy Mae let out loud groans.

“That will not happen,” Eva said matter-of-factly.

Savannah met her glare with just as much passion. “Yes. It will.” She stood from the table. “And I’m going to go finish my planning. I have so much to do. I’ll leave the rest of the celebration to you guys.” Savannah made her way to the door.

She was barely out of the room before Eva turned to the rest of the committee. “This absolutely will not happen. I mean, a wedding at the Christmas celebration? That is just too much.”

“So what are we gonna do?” Carl asked.

Mamie cut her eyes at him. “Shut up, Carl. This is all your fault anyway. You were the one spearheading this whole ‘Pastor needs to get a woman or go’ campaign. Well, he got a woman. You happy?”

Before Carl could respond, another female committee member interjected, “We’ve got to do something. This was supposed to be a first-class affair. We’ll be the laughingstock of the town.”

“I’ll figure something out,” Eva responded. “Give me a day or two, but rest assured this wedding will not happen.”

Eva knew trying to talk some sense into Terrance wouldn’t do any good. For some reason, that girl had his nose wide-open, and Eva didn’t think anything she said would get through to him. Nope, they’d have to find some other way to deal with Miss Savannah, and they had to find it quick.

“G
irl, you are off the chain.” Tyra laughed as she looked through yet another wedding catalog.

“Shoot, I told you those women didn’t know who they were messing with.” Savannah had come home with an armful of wedding magazines and told Tyra they needed to get into speed-planning mode. The Christmas celebration was right around the corner, and that left her with little time to get everything together.

“I’m still not understanding how you got Terrance to go for all of this,” Tyra said, shaking her head.

“I told you, he knows what’s best for him.”

“Girl, what do you have over him? It must be major. That’s the only thing I can think of as to why he’d go along with your outrageous demands.”

Savannah flashed a knowing smile. “If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.”

“Come on, tell me what’s going on,” Tyra pleaded.

“In due time, darling, in due time. Right now, just rest assured that Terrance may have reluctantly gone into this relationship, but before all is said and done, he’ll be madly in love with me.”

Tyra shook her head again. “Girl, you’re delusional.”

“Nope, just confident. He’s still a little angry that I’m forcing him right now, but he’s coming around. I think he’s warming to the idea.”

“What happened to that secretary?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care.” Savannah paused and pointed at a dress in
Brides
magazine. “Oooh, I like that one. I hope they have it in stock because I don’t have time to order anything.”

Tyra nodded her approval.

“Anyway,” Savannah continued, “I heard she quit. I haven’t seen her at church lately, so hopefully she transferred churches, too.”

“Are you inviting your mom?”

“Please. That old drunk isn’t coming anywhere near my wedding. She’d find some way to ruin it. It’s bad enough my grandmother will be there—probably in a hoochie leather dress.” Savannah snorted.

“Well, are you going to have attendants and stuff?”

“Only you—that is, if you’re willing,” Savannah said sweetly.

“Girl, who are you kidding. I told you, I wouldn’t miss that day for nothing in the world.”

“Awww, that’s so sweet. I’m so happy it means that much to you.”

“Girl, I wouldn’t miss it because all hell is gon’ break loose in the church house that day.” Tyra laughed as Savannah threw a pillow at her.

They flipped through several more magazines and catalogs. Finally, after about an hour, Tyra said, “I’m beat. I think you should go with that first dress you found and call it a day.”

Savannah had actually stopped looking through the magazines and was staring out into space. Tyra noticed the change in her demeanor.

“Hey, are you all right?” Tyra asked, sitting up.

“Huh?” Savannah said, snapping out of her thoughts.

“I said, are you all right? You seemed like you were in another place.”

Savannah let out a long sigh as she closed the magazine and leaned back on the sofa herself. “I’m okay. Just a little tired I guess.”

Tyra stared at her friend. She’d known Savannah for almost ten years and could tell when something was bothering her.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot,” Savannah said as she massaged her forehead.

“Are you sure you’re doing the right thing? I mean, making Terrance marry you and all?”

Savannah didn’t look at Tyra.

“I mean, I’m not trying to piss you off or nothing,” Tyra continued, “but I just know that deep down, you wanted things to be different.”

Savannah let out a heavy sigh. “I did want them to be different. But they aren’t. I wanted Terrance to love me, and I think he could have. I wish I could erase my past, but I can’t. I made a lot of mistakes, did some stupid things, but it’s not right for people to stand in judgment of me all the time. I don’t have anyone on my side in that church.”

“I’m on your side.” Tyra smiled widely.

Savannah returned the grin. “I know, but you don’t ever come to church.”

Tyra took a deep breath. “Okay, okay, as your best friend, when you become first lady, I’ll come to church more often.”

Savannah tried to laugh as she shook her head. “Why won’t these people give me a chance?” she said, her laughter dying down.

“Maybe because you’re being just as nasty to them as they are to you,” Tyra replied matter-of-factly.

“But I tried to be nice. No one accepted that. And I’m not just gon’ let them talk to me any kind of way and treat me like crap.”

“I’m not saying you should, but my grandma always used to say you get more flies with sugar than sh—”

“There you go with your grandma’s cockamamy sayings,” Savannah said, cutting her off. “I feel you, though. I’m going to have to do something, because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in a constant battle with the people at church.”

Tyra shuddered. “Ughhh, the rest of your life. You really think you’ll be married that long?”

“Tyra, I’m serious, Terrance is my soul mate. When I marry him, I want that to be it. I’m going to be a loving, faithful wife that gives my man everything he wants and needs.”

Tyra turned up her nose. “More power to you. Ugghhh. Forever is a mighty long time.”

Savannah glanced down at the dress she was most likely going to choose. “And it’s the only way I want it. I just hope I can get Terrance to agree.”