Forgiven (8 page)

“That man wronged you. He wronged us. And I
don’t know how you can let him get away with what he did without
making him pay, but I can’t. JT is going to get what’s coming to
him, mark my words.”

“Even if you’re right, and JT needs to get
what’s coming to him, I don’t see how we’ll end up with a penny. JT
doesn’t have any money left. They moved out of that big house, he
sold his Bentley. The man is broke.”

“I know he’s broke, Margie.” Geesh, she was
so tired of having to explain everything to every dumb body. “But
Faith Outreach is not broke.”

“He doesn’t work there anymore. JT has a
little over twenty members in his church and has to rent space from
the community center he works at for Sunday services,” Margie
said.

“I see you’re still keeping tabs on the man,”
Diane said with a smirk on her face.

“I can’t help but hear things, Diane. I do
know a lot of the same people he knows.”

“And how is that?”

“Because I went to Faith Outreach all the
years he was the pastor there of course.”

“Exactly,” Diane said triumphantly. “He began
molesting you while he was pastor of Faith Outreach. And all the
leadership there did nothing but turn the other cheek while JT was
doing his dirt.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say he molested me. I’m
trying to tell the truth to myself these days. And I have to admit
that I did go willfully.”

“Call it whatever you want. Molested gets you
more money in court than to just admit you were sleeping around
with the pastor. Think about it, Margie, this was a man of
authority and he made you believe that there was some divine
privilege attached to sleeping with him.”

“True,” Margie agreed.

“That’s a molestation of the mind. I had to
leave my husband and be apart from my precious children because of
what that man did to me. So, I guarantee you, Margie, he’s going to
pay,” Diane said as her front door opened and her seven year old
daughter, Brittany, and nine year old son, Joseph Jr. walked
in.

The kids put their book bags down in the
entry way and then Joseph turned to his mother and said, “I’m
hungry. Can I have a snack before dinner?”

Diane waved him off and said, “Go in the
kitchen and ask your father.” She then turned her back on her
precious children and continued her conversation. “So what do you
say, Margie. Are you with me on this or not?”

“I guess you’re right. The fact that JT was
our pastor is probably the reason I fell so hard for him. Since
he’s supposed to be a man of God, he should have left us
alone.”

“Amen, sister! So are you with me?”

“Yeah,” Margie said. “Let’s do this.”

Nine

Lamont had been moved to a regular room by
early afternoon. He was in and out of consciousness because the
pain medication they had him on kept him groggy. When he awoke, JT
listened as Lamont talked about plans for his future and how he was
now determined to be a better man than his father had been.

For some people, near death experiences don’t
faze them. But others wake up with a new outlook on life. The same
thing happened to JT when he woke up in the hospital after Jimmy
ran him down with a stolen car. JT made up his mind to change his
life as he recuperated from his accident. The change didn’t occur
all at once, but JT had been determined. And now he listened as
Lamont did the same.

About an hour later as JT sat in the chair
next to Lamont’s bed reading Bible versus out loud, the door opened
and in walked a young lady with bright red highlights in her hair.
She wore skin tight shorts with stilettos. JT hadn’t figured out
yet how these young girls walked in shoes so high.

She stood bedside Lamont’s bed, and with
tears in her eyes she told him, “I’m so glad you’re awake, Lamont.
I was worried that you weren’t going to make it.”

Although it was evident that Lamont had a
long recovery ahead, he smiled as he told his friend, “I got nine
lives, baby.”

“Okay, Mr. Big Talk. You just better hope
Sonya’s people don’t get to you,” the girl told him.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that,”
Lamont said humbly.

JT stood up. “I’ll give you two some
privacy.”

The young lady turned to face JT. “I’m so
sorry. Where are my manners?” She held out her hand. “I was so glad
to see that Lamont was still breathing that I forgot to speak to
you, sir. I’m Shameka Owens, the person who called you about
Lamont.”

JT shook her hand and said, “I figured as
much.”

“Thank you for coming to see about him. I was
scared to death that one of Sonya’s people was going to kill him
before he got a chance to heal from his own wounds. But I figured
with you being a man a God, and in here praying and all, that
Lamont would be just fine.”

“Well, we can definitely thank God that he
made it.” JT looked to Lamont and said, “Don’t overdo it. If you
need to rest, just close your eyes and drift off. I’ll be back up
in a little while.”

JT took the elevator to the first floor so he
could get some lunch. After ordering a ham sandwich, he sat down at
the table and opened his cell phone again. His intent was to call
Cassandra, but then he noticed that someone had sent him a
message.

“Hey you,” Erica said as she stood next to
his table with a tray of food in her hand.

“Hey yourself. I thought you had fallen off
the face of the earth,” JT told her.

“Is this seat taken?” Erica asked as she
looked at the empty chair across from JT’s.

“Nope, sit down.”

“My little boy got sick last night and my
husband was frantic with worry, so I had to get someone to take
over my shift.”

“That’s good to know… Not that your little
boy got sick. I just thought you were trying to avoid me or
something. Anyway, how is your son doing?”

Erica smiled. “Much better. My husband knows
everything about history, but very little about a boy with the
flu.”

“Your husband is a teacher?” JT asked. Funny
thing was he didn’t feel the least bit jealous about the man that
had obviously claimed Erica’s heart. All a person had to do was
look into her eyes when she spoke of her husband to know that she
was in love. JT used to see that look in Cassandra’s eyes. But he’d
stolen that happiness from his wife with his infidelity.

“Professor of History,” she answered and then
asked as she pointed to the wedding ring on his finger, “You and
Mona still together?”

JT shook his head as he touched his ring
finger. “That ended a long time ago.” He then had the decency to
show a glimmer of embarrassment as he said, “Look, I never got a
chance to apologize to you for how bad I treated you.”

Erica raised her hand to stop JT. “We were in
high school… Too young to be in love in the first place. And
anyway, Charles is the man I was supposed to marry. We’ve been
together for ten years now, and I love him more each day.”

“That’s good to know. But just so you know, I
was supposed to be in your life back then. You were the first
person to ever tell me anything about God. And I want to thank you
for that. About a year after you and I parted ways, I got into so
much trouble that I had nowhere to turn. Then I remembered the
things you told me about God and I started praying.”

Tears bubbled in Erica’s eyes as JT related
his news. She covered her face with her hands for a moment and then
looked at him with renewed joy. “You don’t know how happy I am to
hear that. I prayed for you so much the first couple of years after
we broke up. But I never knew what happened to you. I will admit,
through the years, I envisioned that something awful had happened
to you. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but every now and then the
Lord would remind me to pray for you.”

“Well, let me be the first to tell you that
your prayers worked. God saved me, but more importantly, He
delivered me. These last five years have been rough for me and my
wife.”

“What’s her name?”

Now it was JT’s turn to smile when talking
about a spouse. “Cassandra,” he answered.

“I can tell by that big grin on your face
that you love her quite a bit.”

“I do. She’s the woman God had for me,” JT
said with a smile that quickly evaporated as he finished. “I’m just
not sure if she still thinks I’m the one for her.”

Erica gently put her hand over JT’s, gave it
an encouraging squeeze and then released it. “I’m sorry to hear
that. Is there any certain thing you want me to pray about?”

Just a year earlier, JT would have taken
offense at someone offering to pray for him in the manner Erica was
doing now. He would have told them that he knew the Lord, and was
well able to pray for himself. But the past year had humbled him
and helped him to see that prayer changes things; and the more
people praying the better. “Here’s the thing, Erica. I lost my
church almost a year ago because of the multiple affairs I’ve had.”
Erica didn’t look shocked or like she was condemning him straight
to Hell for his failings, so he continued. “I have three children,
but only two of them belong to my wife. Cassandra and I are trying
to get full custody of my newest child.

“Even though I have repented and turned my
life back to God, my wife still feels the pain of my adultery. She
lives with it every day and I want her to be free from it. Can you
please pray that Cassandra will learn to trust me again?”

“I will,” Erica said, then she punched JT on
the shoulder and pointed in his face. “And you, you big jerk. Don’t
ever hurt her like that again.”

That was the Erica he knew from high school;
straight forward and to the point. JT lifted his arms in surrender.
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve learned the hard way. I’ve
only loved two women in my life; you and Cassandra. I let you get
away, but I don’t ever want Cassandra to leave me. I don’t know
what I’d do if that happened.”

Erica looked at her watch. “I’ve got to get
back to work, but I will pray for Cassandra. Don’t worry about
that.” She stood up and took her tray to the trash can before
leaving the cafeteria.

Remembering that he had a message, JT picked
his cell phone back up, opened it and clicked on the message. It
was picture mail. JT rolled his eyes as he wondered about the
people who spent their day picture mailing folks. He normally
deleted picture mail so fast that it didn’t have time to register
with Sprint that he’d received such a thing. But for some reason,
JT couldn’t make himself hit the delete button. He’d seen this cell
number pop up on his phone before, he was sure of it. But he’d
obviously not talked to the person enough to remember whose number
it was. Curiosity got the better of him and he opened the picture
mail.

For a moment, JT thought his eyes were
playing tricks on him. The woman in the photo looked like
Cassandra, but she was holding hands with a man that JT didn’t
know. That couldn’t be his wife… could it?

He dialed Cassandra’s cell phone, and of
course it went straight to voicemail again. This time JT left a
message. “Cassandra, I need to talk to you. Call me back as soon as
you get my message.” His tone was demanding, but at the moment JT
didn’t care.

He hung up and dialed his house. His evil
mother-in-law picked up the phone again. JT got right to the point.
“Put my wife on the phone now!”

“And just who do you think you’re talking
to?” Mattie asked.

JT could picture hands on hips and the neck
roll that he was sure was being displayed on the other end of the
phone. So he gave back just as much attitude as he was getting. “I
don’t want to talk to you at all. I want you to stop answering my
telephone or do as I say and get Cassandra to the phone this
minute.”

“Boy, I don’t know what woman you are out of
town with that has given you the courage to call here talking
crazy. But Cassandra ain’t here, and if she was, I wouldn’t put her
on the phone to take abuse from you,” Mattie informed him and then
hung up in his face as usual.

JT shut his eyes as he hit the end button on
his cell phone. He couldn’t deal with this. He knew from deep
within his heart that although he had done his wife wrong multiple
times, he wouldn’t be able to take her cheating on him. He looked
to heaven and asked, “Why is this happening to us now, Lord?”

He could have understood if Cassandra had
cheated on him while he was disrespecting and cheating on her. He
wouldn’t have been able to deal with that fact then either, but he
would have understood why she would do such a thing. But now, when
he was trying to be a better man? When he was struggling through
her panic attacks and no sexual relations with his wife… why would
she do this to him now?

His eyes misted with tears as he thought
about losing his first daughter and how that had torn him away from
God. JT had promised God that nothing would ever separate him from
His love again. But this…? If God allowed Cassandra to cheat on him
while he was trying to do the right thing, JT didn’t know how he
would recover from something like this.

***

Cassandra found two dresses and a pair of
slacks that she really liked at the mall. She and JT had agreed not
to spend any money outside of paying bills for the next two months.
But JT would just have to deal with it. She was still smarting from
that comment Diane made about calling JT’s cell phone. Cassandra
had decided not to go off the deep end until JT came home and was
able to explain the situation to her. She was willing to give him
the benefit of the doubt since she figured out that it had been
Diane playing on her phone last night and not some other woman JT
had started fooling around with. But that benefit was only going so
far. If he had been talking to Diane behind her back, Cassandra was
prepared to move out.

When she got home she went straight upstairs
and put her purchases on her bed and then found her cell phone
charger and plugged it into her cell phone. She went back
downstairs and found her mother and all three children in the
family room. Jerome and Aaron said “Hi” to her as she walked into
the family room, then continued watching cartoons. Lily was in the
playpen, and as soon as she saw Cassandra she started crying and
holding her hands out, begging to be picked up. Cassandra gave her
mother a knowing look. Lily had probably been left in the playpen
the entire time, receiving none of the attention that Jerome and
Aaron had received from their loving grandmother.