Delilah (14 page)

Samson burnt rubber getting out of Delilah's driveway and into his own. He checked his appearance several times before getting out of his truck and going into the house through the garage door. He had several missed calls on his cell phone from Julia, but guilt wouldn't allow him to return any of them.

All the lights were off. He took his time going up the stairs, careful not to make much noise. The sound of the television could be heard from the hallway. Julia's back was toward the door, so he didn't know if she was sleeping or awake. He tiptoed to the other side of the bed. He looked in her direction, and her eyes were closed.

He went to the master bathroom. He could still smell Delilah's scent on his body so there was no way he would get in the bed next to Julia. He would take his chances by showering first. He placed his dirty clothes in the hamper. A few minutes later, the hot water cascaded down his body as he thought about the events that led up to him cheating on his wife.

It was now official. His lustful thoughts had led him to act, and now he was an adulterer. As much as he wanted to blame Delilah for what had happened, he couldn't. He had the opportunity to walk away, but he didn't. Instead, after she said there were no cameras, he allowed his libido to control his actions. At no time did he think about the beautiful woman who now lay in his bed, the woman he vowed to be faithful to.

Although only two people knew about his affair, he was ashamed of himself. He was supposed to be better than the average man. He was a man of God. He was the leader of a flock—a flock that depended on him to be without blemish.

It didn't matter how long he stayed in the shower. The water could not wash away his sins. Samson closed his eyes and let the water flow down his body as he prayed. “Father God, I've given the enemy a front-row seat in my life. Cleanse me, Lord, so that I can serve you and be right in your eyes. Lord, forgive me for the sins that I committed. Please protect Julia so she won't find out her husband failed her.”

Tears flowed down his face mixing with the water as he continued to pray. Afterward, he turned the water off, got out of the shower and dried off with a towel, not knowing how long he had been in the bathroom. When he re-entered the bedroom, Julia's back was now in the direction of the bathroom. He slipped underneath the covers and cuddled his wife. Her body stiffened, but she didn't move his arms. He held her close and they slept in that position most of the night.

Samson's arms flapped over an empty space in the bed the next morning. He shifted in bed. Julia, fully dressed, sat at the edge of the bed staring down at him. “What time is it?” he asked, as he sat up.

She ignored his question. “What time did you get in last night?” she asked.

“It was after nine.”

“More like after ten. I stayed up as long as I could, but I knew I had a long day today, so I went to bed.”

“I'm sorry.” Samson's eyes darted away.

“So what happened?”

“Baby, I can't go into details. I vowed I would keep their situation confidential.” He wasn't completely telling a lie. Delilah's childhood trauma wasn't up for discussion. As a pastor, he had to make people feel confident that what they shared with him would remain with him and not be broadcast.

“But I'm your wife. Your mother told me that your dad would share things with her.”

Samson's mom would be a thorn in their relationship. She needed to keep her comments to herself. “I'm not my dad.”

“So are you saying you don't trust me to keep the information to myself?” Julia placed one of her hands on her hip.

“No, don't put words in my mouth.”

“Then, Samson Judges, what are you saying?”

“You have enough on your plate being married to me. You don't need all this extra drama. People's problems can weigh you down.”

Julia moved near him. “I'm your helpmate. Let me help ease some of the burden. Maybe you wouldn't be so tense.” She rubbed his upper arm.

Samson felt bad because the only thing he wanted Julia to do was stop. He didn't want her touching him right now. The guilt from last night made him want to confess, but he knew it would be the wrong thing to do. Julia didn't deserve to be hurt that way, so he kept the affair to himself.

Samson held her hand in his. “Baby, I appreciate you offering, but I think I have everything covered.”

“I'm here if you need me.” The sincerity in her voice softened Samson's heart.

“Why don't we talk later about you taking a more active role in the ministry.”

“Thanks.” Julia hugged him.

Samson closed his eyes and held her tight. They kissed before releasing each other. “You sure smell good. What's that you're wearing?”

“It's called Heat. One of my sorors got it for me. It's a fragrance by Beyonce.”

“I like it,” Samson said.

“I hoped you would. I sprayed some on last night, but we know how that ended.”

Samson broke their eye contact. If eyes were windows to the soul, he didn't want Julia to see the guilt that surfaced.

Delilah felt no remorse for sleeping with Samson—well, a little—but the feeling passed through her quickly as she thought back to the moment Samson took the first move. Granted, she made it hard for him to resist her, but he could have walked away. He didn't, though. He didn't have to come over to her place, but he did.

She didn't lie to Samson when she told him that she didn't have any cameras hooked up. She didn't need them because she had a permanent video of them and their sexual encounter embedded in her head. She lay in bed most of the morning, hugging the pillow where Samson laid and replayed their time together the previous night over and over.

The phone ringing interrupted her daydream. “Hi, Samson. I'm so glad you called. I missed you too.” Delilah was so excited to hear Samson's voice on the other end, she didn't give him a chance to talk.

“Delilah, I wanted to make sure things were cool between us.”

Delilah sat up in bed. “More than cool. I got your back. You know it.”

“Good. Then I don't have to worry about you telling anyone what happened last night, do I?”

Delilah knew she should be mad. He seemed to only care about what others would think. She had to look at things from his point of view. He was the pastor and now a married man. “Samson, our little secret will remain between us, okay?”

“About our next session, maybe we should—”

Delilah didn't allow him to finish. “I need our session more than ever. You helped me get through that bleak moment.”

“There won't be any repeats of last night.”

Delilah laughed. She knew and he knew that what happened between them was only the beginning. If he wanted to pretend it didn't mean a thing, then she would play along with his charade. “Whatever you want, Samson.”

“Thanks, Delilah. You have a good day now.”

“I will now that I've heard from you.”

Delilah hung up with Samson and quickly dialed Keisha's number. She blurted out what happened. Keisha repeated over and over: “You're going to burn in hell. Ooh. I can't believe you slept with him again. Girl, God is not going to let you get away with that.”

Delilah listened as Keisha went on and on about why she thought Delilah was wrong. “Are you finished?” Delilah asked.

“You ain't got to worry about me. You need to be on your knees asking God to be easy on you.”

“It's not like I made him sleep with me. He made the first move.”

“Come on. You set the stage for it, playing the ‘woe is me' role.”

Delilah couldn't disagree with her. She knew exactly what she was doing the moment she dialed Samson's number and asked him—well, tricked him by faking emotional distress—to come over. Delilah ended her call with Keisha. Her phone beeped reminding her about the Pastor's Aide committee meeting scheduled for later that afternoon. The meeting was set about an hour before Bible Study.

Delilah spent the rest of the day working on a report she owed a coworker at Trusts Enterprise. She finished the report and hit the send button in her e-mail. When she was finished with that, she surfed the Internet. “I wonder if Samson's online.”

She attempted to send him an instant message, but it wouldn't go through. She logged on to her Facebook account and sent him a private message. She typed the words:
I didn't say anything to give away what happened last night. I just said thank you for helping me. If anyone wants to read more into it, then that's them.
Once she hit the send button, she logged off her computer and headed to church.

Delilah arrived in the church parking lot at the same time the Pastor's Aide meeting was scheduled to start. She headed straight to the fellowship hall. She waited outside the door until Dorothy finished praying. When she heard Dorothy say amen, she walked into the room.

“What are you doing here?” Dorothy asked.

“This is a Pastor's Aide meeting, right?” Delilah stood staring Dorothy straight in the eyes.

“Yes, it is.”

“Then I'm in the right room.”

“I thought you dropped out.” Dorothy frowned.

“Well, you thought wrong.” Delilah found an available seat and sat down around the table with the rest of the women.

“Humph,” Delilah heard someone say.

Delilah ignored her and retrieved her notepad and pen from her purse.

“Ladies, we only have an hour, so let's get straight to business,” Michelle said.

Dorothy stopped rolling her eyes at Delilah and looked back at her notes. “As we all know, the pastor's anniversary is coming up, and unfortunately a few people can't participate in the program because of other commitments.” Dorothy read off what roles were still needed to complete the program.

Delilah raised her hand along with the other women. Each was called on. Delilah was ignored. Delilah raised her hand again. No one else did. Dorothy had no choice but to acknowledge her. “I would like to recommend Keisha Green to do one of the solos. She's a great soloist. If you've ever been to First Baptist, then you've heard her sing.”

Some of the ladies knew of Keisha and added, “She brings the Spirit with her. Not only can she sing, she can play the piano too.”

Dorothy asked, “How do you know this Keisha?”

Delilah contemplated whether to reveal their friendship or keep it a secret. Since the other ladies could vouch for Keisha, she was proud to say, “She's one of my friends.”

Marie said, “I say why not see if Keisha can do it. I mean, we did need one more soloist, and she is good.”

To Dorothy's dismay, they voted to ask Keisha to perform a solo.

Delilah left and went into the hallway to call Keisha. “Guess what? I got you on to sing a solo at our pastor's anniversary program. Please tell me you can do it.”

“When is it? Because I'm supposed to sing at this church down in Grand Cane in June on the second Sunday.”

“It'll be the following week,” Delilah assured her.

“I'll do it,” Keisha responded.

Delighted, Delilah said, “Thank you, girl. I owe you one.”

“And I will be collecting.”

Delilah caught the tail end of Dorothy's speech when she re-entered the room. “Since nobody else is going to say it, I will. In light of how Delilah treats the first lady, I don't think she should be a part of Pastor's Aide.”

Delilah looked Dorothy in the eyes. “I'm not resigning from the Pastor's Aide committee, so you might as well get used to it.”

Dorothy said, “We all know you don't like First Lady Julia, so why do you want to be on the committee responsible for celebrating our pastor and his wife?”

“Has anyone in here ever heard me say that I disliked our first lady?” Delilah scanned the room. No one responded. Some dropped their heads. “Exactly. So please don't speculate. Now, we have less than an hour before Bible Study starts, so if we want our meeting to be over by then, I suggest we get back to it.”

Delilah walked back to the table and took a seat. Dorothy looked annoyed, but didn't say anything else concerning Julia. The meeting continued until it was time to adjourn for Wednesday night Bible Study.

Julia surprised Samson by bringing him dinner. “I knew today was one of your long days, so I wanted to bring you some food.”

Julia was now acting like the woman he knew before he got married. “Thank you, baby,” Samson said.

“I'm going out there to talk to Elaine for a minute, so eat up.”

Samson watched Julia walk out of his office. His entire day up until this point had been rough. He couldn't concentrate because he kept remembering his actions the night before. He had been so busy putting out little fires, he didn't have time to meditate. Julia stopping by early with dinner was the only bright spot of his day.

“Elaine said it was okay to come in,” Michael said, peeking his head in the door.

“I was just eating this good food my wife brought me. Have a seat.”

“Oh, I'm not staying long. Just wanted to let you know that I am leaving early. My wife's sister got admitted to the hospital, and I didn't want her driving herself to the hospital.”

“Oh no, is there anything I can do?” Samson asked.

“Just pray for her, please.”

“Call me later and give me an update.” Samson stared at the doorway after Michael left his office.

Thirty minutes later, Samson and Julia entered the sanctuary to start Bible Study. The pews were not filled, but there was a big crowd for a Wednesday night. After one of the deacons led the congregation in prayer, Samson stood up to start teaching. “Tonight we're going to be talking about ‘A Thorn in the Flesh.'”

Samson scanned the room. His eyes locked with Delilah's. She was seated on the third row to his right. She smiled. He didn't. He dropped his head and looked at his Bible. “Turn your Bibles to Second Corinthians, twelfth chapter. Is Paul talking about a physical ailment or is he talking about a stronghold? Let's discuss.”

Samson took questions from members of the congregation during his lecture. “I hope our discussion tonight will help you on your daily walk with the Lord. Remember, you can't do it by yourself. You must put on the full armor of God each and every day. Let us pray.”

When Bible Study ended, members of the congregation crowded around Samson. Delilah walked in his direction. Samson turned his back to her, hoping she would go the other way. He felt a tap on his shoulder. Samson took a deep breath ready to face Delilah. “Give me one minute,” he said without looking over his shoulder.

“Oh, I just wanted to tell you I'll meet you at home,” Julia said.

Samson, relieved, responded, “If you'll wait, I'll follow you.”

“There's no need to,” Julia assured him.

Julia and Samson hugged. With opened eyes, Samson saw Delilah standing near the front door. Their eyes met once again. She turned and walked out. Julia was the first to push away. “Wow. You act like I'm going away for a long time. I'll see you at home, okay?”

“I love you so much,” Samson responded.

“I love you too. See you later.” Julia walked away.

Samson remained behind to talk to some of the church members. An hour later, Samson pulled up in front of his house. The lights were off, and soft music greeted him as he made his way up the stairs. A floral fragrance filled the air in the candlelit room. He could hear the shower running, so he assumed Julia was in the shower.

Knowing Julia would expect another attempt tonight, Samson opened up his briefcase and removed a Viagra pill from the bottle and hid the container back in his briefcase. Samson headed to one of the other bathrooms to freshen up. He popped the pill in his mouth and prayed it worked. Julia was still in the bathroom when he entered the bedroom. He lay across the bed and waited for her. If he could sleep with Julia, it would erase the image of Delilah in his head.

Julia, a vision of loveliness, seemed to be gliding to the bed. “I see you made it.” Her words purred with each enunciation.

“The only person missing from the party is you.”

“Let's get this party started.”

Samson and Julia kissed. The pill hadn't kicked in, but Samson was determined to make something happen tonight. He would not disappoint Julia again. Delilah's naked body popped in his head. He shook his head several times, attempting to make those images disappear. They wouldn't. Julia increased the intensity of her kiss. Samson's body responded; he couldn't honestly tell if it was due to Julia, the pill, or images of Delilah.

Regardless, the time they both had been waiting for was at hand. He whispered in Julia's ear, “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Julia answered, not trying to mask her excitement.

Their union was more than Samson could have imagined. Samson erased any thoughts of Delilah. For the first time he and his wife were together, he finally knew what it meant to make love. If he were writing a book, he would describe it as a miraculous, earth-shattering union of two souls.

Samson smiled as he saw the satisfied look on the face of his now-sleeping wife. “Thank you, Lord,” he said before drifting into a sound sleep.