Ex-Terminator Life After Marriage (12 page)

P
eople spilled out of the sanctuary in a hurry to get home or to their favorite restaurant. Everyone was talking about the wonderful message Pastor Goodwin preached today. The spirit was still with some of them as they continued to praise the Lord.

“Mother,” said the voice behind Sylvia.

Sylvia stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. Oh, she looked so much like Adonis—from her button nose to her petite frame. Even the texture of her wavy hair screamed his name. There was no mistake that Maya was his child.

Looking at her daughter made Sylvia queasy and prompted her to question whether she had fought hard enough to save her marriage. If there was any consolation, Maya had Sylvia’s smile and cute dimples.

“Maya, Carlos, you look wonderful. How are you two doing? Honeymoon over?”

Maya looked Kenny up and down, giving him the once-over.

“We’re doing fine, Mother,” Maya said. “And we will be on our honeymoon for a long time. The question is, how are you doing? We saw you tiptoe in late. Bet you didn’t hear a word Pastor preached today—finding a virtuous woman.”

“Mind your manners, Maya. I’m still your mama, and you’re not too big to put over my knee. Right, Carlos?”

“Whatever you say, Mrs. St. James.” Carlos tried to stifle a laugh but could not hold it back.

“Don’t laugh at her, Carlos.”

“I’m Kenneth Richmond, an old high school friend of your mother’s.” Kenny offered his hand. Carlos took it; Maya looked on with a twisted smile on her face.

“Look, I have an appointment with Pastor Goodwin, and I’m going to be late,” Sylvia said. “Would love to stay and chat.”

“Appointment for what?” Maya asked, looking from her mother to Kenny.

“Not that it concerns you, but Pastor Goodwin wants me to head up a class for some of the young members who are on the verge of divorce or have recently gotten one.”

“Why did he choose you?” Maya mocked.

“Because he found out that I had already started one.”

“Oh, so I guess it helped you get over Daddy.” Maya took another shot at Kenny with her eyes. “You are a recovered divorcee.”

“Maya, I love you, too. Now I have to go before I hurt you.”

“Mother, I…I…just want an explanation.”

“For what? If you’re talking about Mr. Richmond, he has every right to be at church as you, Carlos and me. In fact, I was telling him about the Lord and how he should give his life to Him. The Lord is happy, and you need to mind your own business.”

“Sorry, Mr. Richmond.” Maya offered Kenny her hand. “Mother has been pining over Daddy so long, I can’t believe she knows what another man looks like.”

Sylvia would not look at Kenny. If Maya only knew that Kenny had spent the night, albeit nothing happened, she would have gone ballistic—not that Maya had forgiven her daddy for running off with his ex-wife of twenty-five years ago. Sylvia smiled internally, thoughts of Kenny sifting through her head.

“Gotta go, babies. Give me a kiss. Don’t be a stranger. Stop and see your mother sometime.”

Both Maya and Carlos gave Sylvia a giant hug and swift kisses on either side of her face.

“Nice meeting you, man,” Carlos said to Kenny.

“I apologize again,” Maya said to Kenny. “The Lord loves you. Come back again.”

“It was nice meeting you both,” Kenny said, glad they were going in the opposite direction.

“Whew,” said Sylvia and Kenny at the same time.

“If they only knew,” Kenny said.

“Well, we won’t entertain that in the house of the Lord,” Sylvia said.

“Look, go to your meeting and I’ll catch up with you later on.”

“I don’t think you should come over, but do give me a call.”

“Mango soufflé?”

“No, Mr. Richmond. You better get your mind on the Lord.”

“I only came to be close to you.”

“Don’t talk like that in the Lord’s house. He might strike you dead.”

“Sylvia, you drive me crazy. I’m out.”

“’Bye, Kenny,” Sylvia said softly and seductively. “Call me.”

Sylvia watched Kenny until he exited the building. Her knees were trembling and butterflies teased her stomach. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to tell Sylvia she was falling in love. She composed herself, took a deep breath and turned and walked in the direction of Pastor Goodwin’s office.

She wasn’t sure that she wanted to take on this task now. She wasn’t sure that she could be objective considering her somewhat contradictory feelings about Adonis. And now Kenny had resurfaced in her life. There was no denying it: Sylvia was messed up.

Sylvia knocked on the door to Pastor Goodwin’s office, and he asked her to come in.

“Sister St. James, it is so good to see you,” Pastor Goodwin said as he stood and shook Sylvia’s hand. “Have a seat.”

“I enjoyed your sermon today, Pastor. I’m trying to live the walk and be that virtuous woman you were talking about.”

“Are you sure you were here today? Don’t tell me you went to sleep on my sermon.”

Sylvia sat back, embarrassed at the obvious mistake she’d made. She was going to kill Maya! What did the pastor think of her now? Was she worthy to lead a group of young adults in the direction that was intended?

“Don’t worry about it, Sister St. James. Sister Goodwin nodded through the last part. ‘Faith in God
’
seemed so appropriate since we have so many young people who are just getting started and find themselves at a crossroad in life—slaves to debt, victims of spousal abuse, survivors of failed marriages, you name it.

“I don’t know what the statistics are, but I look all around me, right here at the church, and see that the number of divorces and domestic problems are astronomical.

“We have to pray for the world, Sister St. James. I want to impress upon the young people that God is their refuge and help in their time of trouble—they need not feel alone. If they need to talk to someone, there is someone they can go to. While the scriptures do not advocate divorce, the Bible, in the book of Matthew, chapter five, verses 31-32 gives legal justification to do so in the case of adultery. And for those who may want to get married again, I want them to know that God will send them what they need if they ask.”

Sylvia fidgeted in her seat. Pastor Goodwin was preaching straight to her. Forget the young adults; she hadn’t gotten that part herself. Now she had to share what she wasn’t practicing.

It was moments like this that Sylvia felt so unworthy. But how could she disappoint Pastor Goodwin, who seemed to have so much faith in her?

“Pastor, I have one question,” she began.

Pastor Goodwin’s thick eyebrows arched upward. “Yes, Sister St. James?”

“Pastor Goodwin…” Sylvia paused. “Pastor, am I weak because I struggle to loose myself from my ex-husband? I saw him on television yesterday; he was at the U.S. Open. He was with the woman who was his wife twenty-five years ago—a marriage that lasted less than a year.”

“Oh, I didn’t know…”

“It wasn’t a big deal until now. I became so angry looking at him sitting with that woman. How dare he? Pastor, how could he just get up and leave me after all the years we spent together as husband and wife? I was a devoted wife and mother. I worked hard to ensure that my marriage would be forever—in fact, I worshipped the ground Adonis walked on. I don’t know where I failed, but I didn’t see any of this coming.”

Sylvia stood up and began to pace. Her face and hands became more animated as she continued speaking.

“I loved my husband with all of my heart and soul, but I’m honestly trying to move on with my life. It seems when I make strides, something sets me off that causes me to take two giant steps backward.”

“Sister,” Pastor Goodwin cut in, “let me try and answer your first question. You’re not weak; you had expectations that you and your husband would be man and wife forever. When those expectations weren’t fulfilled, you did what most people do in this situation. You fought to save what was yours, and the more it became unattainable, the more determined you were to make it right.

“Divorce is like death. It has that air of finality, and it hurts like hell to lose someone you love. You’ve said a lot of things this afternoon, but you have to be willing to step back, step out of the familiar and see the whole picture.

“It appears that Brother St. James didn’t invest as much into the emotional side of your marriage as you did. There had to be a thread, though, that kept you together for twenty years or more. He seemed to be a good Christian and a decent man to me, but we don’t always no what goes on behind closed doors.”

“But he walked out, Pastor,” Sylvia cried. “Said the marriage was over a long time ago, that I was too fat, oh I can’t remember what else. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to go on like this.” She collapsed back into her seat.

Pastor Goodwin went over to Sylvia and handed her a tissue, then sat in the vacant chair next to her. “Perhaps now is not the right time for you to head up the young people’s support group. You seem to have a lot of sorting out of your own to do. I’ll speak with Sister Witherspoon about taking over that ministry.”

Relief washed over Sylvia. “Thank you, Pastor. That would probably be best.”

“Is your support group offering what you need?”

“We’ve only had one meeting. In fact, as soon as I leave here, I’ll be on my way to our next meeting.”

“Know that if you need me, I’m here. I’m sure it’s good to be surrounded by a group of women who have similar situations and by sharing you help each other. Just remember God is only a prayer away,” Pastor Goodwin reassured her.

“I do want you to talk with someone who may be helpful to you. My sister, Margo Myles, will be coming to Atlanta next week, and she has a testimony. Her husband, Jefferson, is serving time in Raleigh, North Carolina, for embezzling lots of money to purchase weapons that he and others then sold to a rebel group in Honduras. And he had an affair with his married next-door neighbor. It nearly broke my sister’s heart. My sister chose to stay with him in spite of all these things. Margo is a strong Christian woman. Many women would have let Jefferson rot in jail. My sister loves her husband, but most important, she forgave him.”

“My goodness,” was all Sylvia could say.

“Margo is fine. Her children have been her rock.”

“I’d like to meet her.”

“You may want to invite her to your support group. I’ll set it up if you like,” the pastor offered.

“That will be fine. Again, I apologize for my outburst, and I appreciate your understanding. I was having doubts about leading this group,” Sylvia confessed.

“God always has a way of revealing what we need to know. That was the reason for this meeting, I guess—to show us you weren’t ready for this task, especially since young lives would be affected. God bless you, Sister St. James. Please stop by from time to time to give me a progress report.”

Sylvia stood and shook Pastor Goodwin’s hand. “Thank you again, Pastor. I will keep you updated. Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon.”

“Legs carry me up out of here.”

Sylvia was nearly out of breath when she reached her car. She was glad to be away from the pastor’s office. She hadn’t anticipated that her meeting with him would be so nerve-wracking. Instead of talking about the young people she had obligated herself to help, it became an “all about me” occasion. She was so exhausted, exposing herself to Pastor Goodwin that way—sharing all her inner turmoil, the soap opera that her marriage had become.

“Two-thirty-three,” Sylvia said, looking at the clock on the dash. She needed her support group as much as Rachel and Ashley did. She was glad that she had only twenty minutes before she would arrive at Rachel’s house.

A
chilled bottle of wine and a box of candy? Or was it a bouquet of flowers and box of candy that made women take notice? Whatever the combination, Marvin wanted it to be perfect. He had a lot of mending to do to get back into Rachel’s good graces. What was he thinking, taking Rachel to his and Denise’s favorite restaurant? He never expected to run into Denise, though. The last he heard, she was still in New York, hobnobbing with the rich and slightly famous. Marvin had to admit seeing Denise last night made him long for her, if only for a moment, because he knew the scorpion’s bite was lethal.

“That will be twelve dollars and fifty-nine cents,” the cashier said.

“Marvin,” came a familiar voice. He looked up to see Mona walking toward him.

“Hello, Mona, what you cooking today?” Marvin asked.

Mona sized Marvin up, taking inventory of his groceries.

“I should ask what you’re cooking with that bottle of wine and box of candy.”

“If you must know, I’m on my way to see Rachel.”

“Rachel? You might not want to go there today.”

“So she’s told you about our date last night.”

“In a roundabout way. Just a little advance warning: She’s called the ladies together to talk about your situation. And when a bunch of sisters get together and they’re dissecting a man, you can rest assured you don’t want to be anywhere near them because they’re sure to draw blood.”

“I can’t believe that Rachel would put our business out there like that. What happened should be between Rachel and myself,” Marvin said angrily.

“Your ex-wife, Marvin? Was she really at the same restaurant you took Rachel to for your very first date?”

Mona looked at Marvin as if he had lost her mind. “Let me say this, Marvin. They are probably wearing your name ouuuuuuut.”

“I’ve got to go, Mona. See you later.”

“All right, cowboy. Go on and make it up to your girl.” Mona snickered.

“Why aren’t
you
at the meeting?”

“A handsome gentleman is my excuse. I met him at a fund-raiser I catered for the Gordons. Called me up and asked if I would like to go out to dinner. So I’ll get the scoop another time. I wish you all the best.”

“Thanks a million, Mona.”

Marvin dropped his head and walked the few feet to his car. He threw the candy and bottle of wine on the backseat of his Escalade. Drama seemed to follow him, and he didn’t understand why. He was a good man with a good heart, and all he ever wanted was to find a good woman to share his life with, settle down and have a family.

Trying to move on with his life was hard, but participating in a group that would help him get over Denise had seemed the way to go. Who would have thought that while he was lamenting over an ex-wife who didn’t want him that he’d run into a beautiful woman who had also been hurt by love?

Marvin started the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. Mona was probably right. The women were probably tearing his good name to shreds. Just like females to grab you by the balls and make mincemeat out of you. It was a mistake taking Rachel out when Denise wasn’t completely out of his system. Maybe he’d just go home and drink the bottle of wine by himself.