Forgiven (20 page)

She’d forgotten to tell JT, but he didn’t
have to cook the meal anyway. She looked at her watch and realized
that she had two hours before her guests arrived. JT would be back
home in about an hour. He had taken the kids to the airport with
him. Even though they had a lot on their hands, JT was excited to
finally be able to bring Lamont home.

The couch that had been in the family room
had a bed inside it. Since Cassandra had already put the couch and
chair in the basement, they’d agreed that Lamont would stay down
there. JT picked up an extra TV from Mattie’s house and put it in
the basement. Now all Cassandra had to do was fix dinner.

It was going to be a pasta night. Penne
noodles with shrimp, chicken and alfredo sauce. She couldn’t put
the shrimp or chicken in her mom’s portion though. Mattie’s food
had to be pureed because she was having trouble swallowing food
that wasn’t crushed up. Cassandra put the noodles on to boil and
went back in the family room to check on Mattie. She was still
sleeping, so Cassandra went back into the kitchen and put chicken
and shrimp on the stove. She had cooked this meal numerous times
because JT loved it. He also liked salad, garlic bread and broccoli
with it. So, she fixed all of it. He had done so much for her
mother these last few weeks that Cassandra looked for things to do
for him. They’d even made love again. That is, when she didn’t fall
into bed dead tired from taking care of the kids and her
mother.

The doorbell rang, Cassandra looked at her
watch. It was ten before six and JT still hadn’t gotten back home
yet. She ran to the door and opened it. Ellen Peoples was standing
there with a bottle of red wine in her hands. She handed it to
Cassandra. “I hope red is okay. I didn’t know what you were fixing
for dinner.”

“Thank you, but we don’t drink,” Cassandra
said as she handed the bottle back to Ellen. “We have iced tea and
lemonade. I hope either of those will be okay with you.”

“That’s fine,” Ellen said as she strutted in
the house in her three inch heels, tight fitting jeans and low cut
blouse

Cassandra looked toward their driveway and
then asked, “Are you and your husband driving separate cars?”

“He had to work.”

“Oh, I wish you had told me. We could have
planned our dinner for another time. I think JT would really enjoy
connecting with Eric.”

“I started to call when I found out. But I
really needed to get out of the house. So I decided to come by
myself. I hope that’s not a problem.”

Cassandra watched Ellen sit down on the couch
in the living room. To her horror, she noticed that Ellen’s breasts
were even more exposed when she sat down. Cassandra wanted to hand
her a jacket to cover up with, like the old mothers at church
handed out embroidered handkerchiefs to women sitting on the front
pew with short dresses on. “No it’s not a problem. I’m sure JT will
have plenty of time to get to know Eric.” She pointed toward the
back of the house. “I’m going to call JT and find out what’s
keeping him and then I’ll get my mom up so we can all have a little
chat before dinner.”

Ellen crossed her legs and leaned back on the
sofa. “Don’t worry about me. I know how to make myself
comfortable.”

Cassandra was getting a bad feeling about
having a stylish and overly exposed woman like Ellen in her home.
But then she reprimanded herself. Either she trusted JT or she
didn’t. She picked up the phone in the kitchen and called him. When
JT picked up, she said, “Where are you?”

“Around the corner. I should be home in less
than two minutes. What’s up?”

“Did Lamont’s plane get in late or
something?”

“No, I took the kids to the park and for some
ice cream after I picked Lamont up.”

Cassandra laughed. “You’re not slick, JT. I
know that you’re just trying to tire them out so they won’t have me
running back and forth all night long.”

“Hey, whatever works.”

“Okay, just hurry up. We have company,” she
told him as she hung up the phone. Cassandra opened the fridge and
took the pitcher of iced tea out. She poured the tea in a glass and
took it into the living room and handed it to Ellen. “JT should be
here any minute. I’m going to get my mother up so she can sit in
the living room with us for a little while. I’ll be right
back.”

***

JT pulled up in the driveway. He and Lamont
got out of the car. Then Lamont helped him get the kids out. Jerome
and Aaron ran toward the front door while JT carried Lily. “Slow
down, boys. The house isn’t going anywhere.”

“Open the door, Dad. Come on. I want to show
Mommy the cut I got when I fell off the swing,” Jerome told
him.

JT didn’t know if he wanted Jerome to rush in
the house and show Cassandra his boo boo. He would probably end up
in the dog house because his son thought his name was Geronimo
rather than Jerome. He opened the door while trying to think of the
best way to tell Cassandra that boys will be boys, and accidents
happened. But then he saw Ellen Peoples with her legs crossed,
leaning back on his couch sipping juice from his cup and he lost
his cool. “What are you doing in my house?”

“Well hello to you too, Pastor,” Ellen said
as she put the glass down on the coffee table.”

Lamont had his bags in his hand. He nudged JT
and asked, “Where do you want me to put these?”

JT pointed toward the kitchen. “The door to
the basement is in the kitchen. And don’t worry, I know it’s tight
quarters here right now. But we should be able to find you your own
place in no time.”

“Cool,” Lamont said as he gazed quizzically
in the woman’s direction, but didn’t say anything. He just headed
in the direction of the basement.

JT turned back toward Ellen and said, “I want
you to get up and get out of my house this instant.”

“JT, what has gotten into you?” Cassandra
asked as she rounded the corner with Mattie holding onto her
shoulder while she carried her mother’s cane.

JT turned to Cassandra. He didn’t know what
to say. He felt as if he was caught, but he hadn’t done anything
wrong.

Cassandra helped her mother sit down on the
couch, then she told JT. “I invited Ellen over for dinner. Are you
really that mad because she and her husband have found another
church to attend?”

“No. I’m the one that asked her to find some
place else to attend.”

“Why on earth would you do that?” Cassandra
was still holding Mattie’s cane. She pointed it at JT and said,
“Didn’t I tell you that we need all the members we can get.”

“We don’t need this member, Cassandra,” JT
said flatly.

Ellen stood up and approached the door.
“Well, look, I can tell when I’m not wanted. So, I’ll just be on my
way.” She brushed against JT and said, “One day you’ll realize what
you’re missing out on and come get it.”

“I’ve got everything I need already,” he said
as he stepped away from her.

With an angry brow raised, Cassandra asked,
“What did you say to my husband?”

Ellen turned around with her hand on her hip.
“Oh, Cassandra. I forgot you were standing there. Thanks for the
iced tea, but I would rather have JT.”

Cassandra raised the cane like a weapon and
aimed for Ellen’s head. Ellen ran through the door that JT had left
open and Cassandra tried to follow her, but JT grabbed her. “Just
let her go.”

Cassandra snatched her arm out of JT’s grasp
as she told him, “You can go with her.”

His eyes bugged out. “I didn’t do
anything.”

“You didn’t do anything,” Cassandra repeated
as she lifted the cane again. She hit at JT but he grabbed the cane
and wrestled it out of her hand.

He held Cassandra close as he tried to
explain. “Listen to me. I didn’t do anything with that woman.”

“Let me go, JT.”

He released her but kept talking. “She came
to my office a few weeks back claiming that she left her Bible in
the auditorium. When I told her that we didn’t find any Bibles, she
told me that she really wanted to talk to me. She basically let me
know that she wanted to have an affair.”

“This is just unbelievable, JT. Why would
Ellen come onto you like that?”

“Baby, I have no idea why people do the
things they do, but it happened. And I told her I wasn’t interested
and asked that she find another church to attend.”

A sound behind them caused Cassandra and JT
to turn around. Mattie was laughing. Cassandra pointed toward her
mother as she said, “I haven’t heard her laugh since she had the
stroke.”

JT said, “She’s laughing at me.” He then
tried to plead his case to his mother-in-law. “I didn’t do
anything, Mattie.”

Mattie held out her hands and rubbed her
fingers together like she did when she wanted to write something
down.

“You want some paper?” Cassandra asked.

Mattie nodded.

Cassandra went back into the family
room/bedroom and grabbed the pad and pen Mattie used to communicate
with them. She handed them to her mother and stood back.

Mattie wrote on the pad and then turned it
around so Cassandra and JT could see what she wanted them to know.
“Diane’s friend.”

“Who’s Diane’s friend, Mama?”

Mattie pointed to the door Ellen had just
escaped through.

“Ellen? Are you saying that Ellen is Diane’s
friend?” Cassandra asked.

Mattie nodded again.

“I knew it!” JT declared. “I knew I
recognized that woman from somewhere. I must have seen her with
Diane or something.”

“So,” Cassandra said, turning back toward her
husband, anger still etched across her face.

“Don’t you get it, Sanni. Diane tried to set
me up. I should have recognized it right off. The woman acted just
like Diane did when she…” he let his statement trail off. He and
Cassandra weren’t cool enough to have that kind of discussion.

“I am so tired of this,” Cassandra said, her
hands balling into fists.

“But I didn’t do anything.” He pointed to
Mattie and said, “Even Mattie can see that. Right?” he asked as he
turned to his mother-in-law.

She nodded, backing JT up, and even though it
shocked him, he trod on as if Mattie taking his side in anything
was a normal occurrence. “Baby, I didn’t ask that woman to come to
my office and I didn’t ask Diane to try to set me up.”

“I don’t care, JT. I’m sick of all these
tricks and lawsuits and everything else. I want this to be over.
And you better make it happen fast or I’m out of here,” she said as
she punched him in the shoulder and then went upstairs and slammed
their bedroom door.

There goes my happy night, he thought. She
hadn’t even noticed Jerome’s boo-boo, but he was still in the dog
house.

On Sundays a home healthcare nurse came to
the house to sit with Mattie so the family could go to church.
Lamont had decided to attend church with them. Since there wasn’t
enough room in JT’s car for all three kids, Cassandra and Lamont,
Cassandra said she would drive her own car this morning. But as far
as JT could tell, she wasn’t all that unhappy about not having to
ride with her husband to church.

Evidently Lamont noticed it too, because when
he got in the car, he asked, “So, what’s going on with you and
Cassandra?”

“She’s upset with me right now, but we’ll get
through it,” JT told Lamont as he drove down the street.

“It’s not about that woman who was at the
house last night is it? You’re not cheating again are you?”

The tone of Lamont’s voice was angry. But JT
knew the young man wasn’t angry with him; more like scared. Lamont
had left the only life he knew solely based on JT’s word that
things would get better for him. If he thought that JT really
hadn’t changed, that nothing had gotten better in JT’s life, then
where was his hope.?

“No, Lamont, I’m not cheating with that
woman.” JT answered. “A lot of things have happened since I turned
my life back over to God, but I trust the Lord and believe
Cassandra and I will come through all of this better than we went
into it.”

“Okay, man. I just wanted to make sure.
Because I could hang with jackleg preachers in my own hometown. You
know what I mean?”

Yeah, JT knew exactly what he meant. Lamont
was finally looking to make a change in his life and wasn’t trying
to be hindered by anyone else’s foolishness. That brought a smile
to JT’s face. “I’m glad you came, Lamont,” was all JT said as he
pulled the car up to the youth center. He waited on Cassandra to
pull into the lot and then they got out of the car and helped her
with the children.

“Thanks, Lamont,” Cassandra said as Lamont
helped Jerome out of his seat. She walked pass JT without saying a
word.

Lamont looked back at JT and said, “I guess
you done lost your amen corner today, huh?”

“Shut up, boy,” JT said as he walked into the
auditorium, trying to catch up with Cassandra so he could give
Aaron to her.

Despite Cassandra’s frosty attitude, service
went well. There were several new faces in the crowd. If this keeps
up, JT thought to himself, they would soon be able to get their own
building. After he’d finished preaching, JT noticed that Cassandra
stayed seated and didn’t bother about greeting the new people. He
knew she was gun shy after that stunt Ellen pulled, but JT couldn’t
have that. He enjoyed watching Cassandra talk visitors into coming
back to their church. He pulled her up from her seat and walked
over to a couple as they were leaving the auditorium.

“Thank you so much for coming,” JT said as he
shook hands with the man and then his wife. He nodded in
Cassandra’s direction. “This is my wife, Cassandra.”

The man said, “I’m Jarrod, and this is my
wife Serena. We’re new in town and just checking out the local
churches.”

This was normally where Cassandra started
gushing about JT’s preaching and how she wished the visitor would
come back, but she didn’t say anything, so JT told them, “Well, I
hope this won’t be your last visit to our little church.”