Forgiven (24 page)

Before Lamont could respond, the front door
opened and Cassandra walked in. She peeked around the corner, saw
Lamont sitting at the table and headed for the kitchen.

Lamont stood up. He looked like he’d just
been caught swiping the last cookie or something. “I’m going to
head on back downstairs. I’ll talk to you later, JT.”

“Wait, don’t leave,” Cassandra said as she
entered the kitchen.

Lamont waved her off as he backed away from
the table. “I’m just trying to stay out the way. I’ll be looking
for my own place as soon as I get some wheels.”

She put her hand on the chair Lamont had just
exited. “Please, sit back down. I owe you an apology.”

JT was standing at the stove. He had a
spatula in his hand, turning over the hamburger. He recognized the
change in his wife the moment she walked into the kitchen. He
didn’t know where she went when she left the house, but he knew one
thing for sure, Cassandra had been with God… and she’d found
peace.

As Lamont sat back down, Cassandra turned to
him with a smile of appreciation. “You’re cooking.”

“Somebody had to feed this family,” he joked
as he lightheartedly picked the dish rag out of the sink and threw
it at her. When she caught it, he said, “You’ve got dishes.”

“Gladly,” she said with just as big a smile
on her face as JT wore on his.

Not able to stand it any longer, JT walked
over to his wife and hugged her. She felt good in his arms. He was
so glad he had made it home before she took the kids and left. “I’m
glad you came back so soon.”

“I am too,” she said, returning the hug. “But
I owe you guys an apology and I need to handle that right now.”
Cassandra sat down.

JT quickly went back over to the stove,
poured the spaghetti in a strainer and turned the fire off under
the spaghetti pot and hamburger pot. He sat down next to his wife
and held her hand.

Cassandra looked directly at Lamont and
began, “I went to the bank this morning to take a hundred thousand
out of our account. I was going to give it to Lily’s mom so she’d
drop this case against JT and agree to not try and take Lily away
from us.

“Earlier today I wanted to leave JT. I felt
like he was ruining all of our lives by not giving that money to
Diane. But when I left here without my children, I was just driving
aimlessly. Then I went to this church and had a meeting with
God.”

“You had what?” Lamont asked with a raised
brow.

“Yeah.” Cassandra smiled, as she continued,
“The church had a special room set up with a throne and everything.
But when I left the church, I found out that the sign had been a
mistake, so I’m still trying to figure that one out.

“Anyway, once I had my meeting with God, I
realized that fear had become a stronghold in my life because I
stopped trusting God. But I am claiming the victory today. And I
want both of you to know that I am so sorry for the way I
acted.”

Squeezing his wife’s hand, JT asked, “So, are
you with me on this now, Sanni?”

She poked JT in the side as she
lightheartedly said, “You have frustrated me throughout this whole
ordeal. So I’ve decided to be with God on this one.”

“That’s good enough for me, baby,” JT said
with a smile. “If you’re with God, then you’re definitely with me
also.”

Twenty-Eight

Judge Landon took his seat. The bailiff
instructed everyone to be seated, and as Cassandra took her seat
behind JT, she determined that no matter what happened today, she
would not freak out. It had been a month since she’d had her
personal meeting with God, and Cassandra had prayed ever since that
day for the strength to get through these court proceedings without
having a panic attack.

JT turned to her and asked, “Are you sure you
want to sit in here today?”

A couple weeks ago they had found out that
although Margie had withdrawn her name from the lawsuit, she had
been subpoenaed. So, JT was worried that Cassandra was going to
spaz out when she heard Margie’s testimony. But it wasn’t Margie’s
words that sent Cassandra reeling, it was Bishop Turner’s.

Margie stepped down from the witness chair
looking like this was the last place she wanted to be. Cassandra
understood her; this was the last place she wanted to be also. She
hoped with all that was in her that no more women would decide to
sue her husband. She’d have to kill him if they did.

As Margie walked passed her, Cassandra noted
the brokenness of the woman and knew that JT was responsible for
her current condition. She wanted to put her arm around the woman
and comfort her. But how does one comfort the ex-lover of their
husband? Margie stopped. Cassandra tensed as she watched Margie
turn in her direction. Please God, don’t let her say something foul
to me. I was having sympathy for her. So I really don’t want to
beat her down in this courthouse.

Margie looked at Cassandra and whispered
through teary eyes, “I’m sorry.”

Unable to speak because of the knot forming
in her throat, Cassandra simply nodded. Before she could recover
from the emotions she felt at accepting Margie’s apology, Bishop
Turner was called to the stand. Cassandra rolled her eyes,
preparing herself for the lies that were sure to come out of her
secret father’s mouth.

“Do you swear to tell the whole truth…” the
bailiff said his normal lines as each new witness was put on the
stand.

Bishop promised to tell the truth and
Cassandra scoffed. “He wouldn’t know the truth if it fell on his
head,” Cassandra whispered in JT’s ear.

Luke stood to begin his examination. He
looked over some papers on his table, winked at Diane and then
turned toward Bishop. “Now, Bishop Turner, if my records are
correct, you’ve been the overseer of Faith Outreach and about nine
other churches for about thirty-seven years. Is that correct?”

“Yes, I was a pastor for five years. Then
when my father passed away, I took over his responsibilities as
bishop.”

“In your thirty-seven years as bishop of
numerous churches, I’m sure you’ve dealt with a lot of issues.”

Bishop seemed to squirm in his seat as he
adjusted his tie. “It’s part of the job.”

Luke smiled as if he was having a
conversation with an old friend. “Is it part of the job to clean up
after these pastors who can’t seem to keep their pants up?”

Bishop coughed and sputtered as if he’d just
swallowed something that went down the wrong way.

“I’m sorry, Bishop. Do you need a drink of
water?” Luke asked as he walked over to his table and poured water
from the ice cold pitcher on his table into a glass. He walked back
over to Bishop Turner and handed it to him.

Bishop Turner drank the water as if he had
just been rescued from a desert island and was dying of thirst.

“Now, can you answer the question for me,
sir? How many pastors within your fellowship have had affairs with
members of their congregation?”

With a look of indignation, Bishop asked,
“How am I supposed to know that?”

Luke took the glass out of Bishop Turner’s
hand and put it on the defense table. He then walked back to Bishop
and said, “Isn’t it your job to know what’s going on with the
pastors in your fellowship?” Without waiting for an answer he said,
“Okay then, let me rephrase the question. Are you aware of any
incidents within your fellowship of churches where a pastor was
caught having an affair with a member of his church?”

“There have been a few,” Bishop admitted.

“And of these few, how many times have you
had this issue with Pastor Thomas?”

Bishop was non-responsive as he sat in his
seat staring down at his shoes.

Luke turned to Judge Landon. “Will you please
instruct the witness to answer the question?”

Judge Landon swiveled in his chair so that he
faced Bishop Turner and said, “Answer the question.”

Bishop lifted his head. He turned toward JT
and held his gaze for a moment. His eyes filled with sympathy and
compassion.

JT nodded as if to say, It’s okay, answer the
question.

Bishop turned from JT and admitted, “Three
times.”

“Three times!” Luke said the words as if he’d
just heard a shocking development. He then turned around to face
the onlookers in the courtroom and said again, “Three times!” He
strutted around, shaking his head in disgust, then turned back to
Bishop and asked, “Would you say that is a bit excessive for a man
of God to be caught in three separate affairs?”

“Yes,” Bishop mumbled, the words barely
audible.

Luke put his hand to his ear. “What? I didn’t
hear your response.”

“I said, ‘Yes’.” Bishop was louder this
time.

“And your job is to protect these pastors
when they get caught in indiscretions, right?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Then what would you say? Because you sure
didn’t protect Margie, or Vivian Sampson, or my client.” He turned
and pointed at Diane. She clung to Joe as if she had been so
traumatized by all of this, that she couldn’t even hold herself
upright without help.

“In fact Bishop, when Margie told you what
was going on, you told her it was best that she transfer her
membership to another church, didn’t you?”

“T-that’s n-not true. I tried to help Margie.
I thought it would be best if she went to another church, so that
she didn’t have to continue seeing JT. But it wasn’t how you’re
trying to make it seem.”

“Really?” Luke said with an I-got-you-now
expression on his face. “Well then, when Diane Benson called and
told you that she’d just had a baby by Pastor Thomas, can you tell
the court just how you helped her?”

Bishop found something else of interest on
his shoes.

“Answer the question please,” Judge Landon
interjected.

When Bishop still didn’t respond, Luke said,
“Didn’t you in fact tell my client to keep quiet, and just let her
poor husband continue to think that the child was his?”

Gasps were heard across the courtroom as the
onlookers listened to the unthinkable.

“Aren’t men of God supposed to repent when
they’ve done something wrong? But if they have you playing God on
earth, covering up their actions, why do they need to repent to the
God in heaven?”

“I’ve never tried to play God. And under
normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have tried to cover that up
either.”

“Ah, but why wouldn’t Pastor Thomas have been
treated like any other pastor within your fellowship?” Luke paused
as Bishop squirmed. He then turned and spotted Cassandra and
pointed at her. “It’s because of her, isn’t it, Bishop?”

Cassandra saw the look of horror on Bishop’s
face. She had no idea how Diane’s attorney found out that she was
Bishop Turner’s daughter, but she knew where he was going with this
line of questioning. And she couldn’t let him do it. Yes, she
wanted her father to admit that she belonged to him, but not like
this… not being forced like this. She stood up, and for the second
time in a month, interrupted another judge’s courtroom. “Stop!
Leave him alone!” she screamed.

“Sit down, Baby-Girl. It’s high time that I
atone for my sins,” Bishop said as tears flowed down his
cheeks.

“Don’t do it. You don’t have to,” she told
him. She didn’t want to be responsible for him losing everything,
which is surely what would happen if he admitted in open court that
she was his daughter.”

Bishop sat up straighter in his seat, wiped
the tears from his face and said, “You are right. Cassandra was the
reason this situation was different. She’s my daughter and I didn’t
want her hurt by what JT had done.”

“Don’t you mean, your illegitimate
daughter?”

Gasps went around the courtroom again.
Several reporters jumped up and quickly left the room, having
received their scoop for the day.

“How long have you been married, Bishop?”

“Forty-two years,” he announced proudly.

“And how old is your illegitimate daughter?”
Luke asked with an emphasis on illegitimate.

“She’s thirty-six.” He ran his hand from his
forehead to the back of his neck. “Look, I’m not proud of what I
did. Yes, you’re right. I had a daughter by another woman, but my
wife and I love Cassandra. I’m just sorry it took me this long to
publicly acknowledge that she’s mine. Because it has been a
blessing to my soul every day she has been alive.” He turned to
Cassandra, and without caring about hidden secrets or the
consequences that were sure to come, he said, “I love you,
Baby-Girl. That’s a fact.” He then lowered his head and his
shoulders shook as his heart released years of unshed tears.

Watching her father break down like that was
heart wrenching for Cassandra. She had worshipped this man for so
long, adored him and sought only to please him. But that had been
when she thought he was her godfather. Once she found out that he
was her father, she’d been struggling to forgive him for all the
years of denial and deception. But seeing just how much his own
deception had hurt him also, broke something in Cassandra and she
found that she no longer had the strength to hold a grudge against
her father. She wanted him back in her life… needed him.

Luke appeared shaken by the apparent broken
man before him. He stepped back and told the judge. “I have no
further questions.”

Judge Landon brought the gavel down. “We will
adjourn this case until tomorrow.”

Cassandra stood up and ran to Bishop. The
bailiff held out his hand, stopping her from entering the witness
box. Bishop stood and came to her. They hugged and cried in one
another’s arms. Just as they were breaking apart, Cassandra
whispered, “I love you too, Daddy.”

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re
getting your hats handed to you in that courtroom. Now I see why
Mrs. T wanted that money,” Lamont said as he sat at the kitchen
table with JT and Bishop.