Everybody Say Amen (17 page)

R
achel couldn’t help but smile as she watched her brother cradle D.J. in his arms. The tiny baby was finally having a rare content moment. His jitteriness had stopped and he was hungrily sucking a bottle. David stared at him as if he’d never known such joy. Rachel enjoyed being around D.J., too. When she was focused on him, she didn’t have to think about Lester or her marriage. It had been a week since that fiasco at the church and Lester knew what was good for him because he hadn’t been beating down her door begging for another chance.

“You’re really taking to this fatherhood thing, huh?” Rachel wiggled D.J.’s toes.

“Yeah,” David replied, never taking his eyes off the baby. “I finally feel like my life has purpose. I swear I’m going to give my little boy the best of everything.”

Rachel loved seeing the love in her brother’s eyes. He hadn’t seemed so happy in years. D.J. was doing remarkably better, and Rachel had no doubt that was because of her brother’s unconditional love.

David finally broke out of the trance he seemed to be in as he watched his son. He rose from the chair. “Rachel, I’m going to go lay D.J. down, then I need to talk to you about something.”

“Of course. I’ll be right here,” Rachel said. She picked up an
Ebony
magazine, leaned back, and started flipping through the pages while she waited on David.

Five minutes later he was back downstairs and sitting beside her on the sofa. “I need your help, Rachel.”

Rachel looked at her brother suspiciously. “David, I don’t have any money.”

David stopped her before she could go off on a tirade. “Sis, this isn’t about money. I need your help in order to keep my son.”

Now that Rachel could do. “You know I’ll help with that. Just tell me what you need.”

David rubbed his head like he was really stressed out. That peaceful look he’d had just a few minutes ago was gone. “Tawny is demanding money in exchange for D.J.”

“What? That’s crazy.” Rachel sat up.

“Tawny
is
crazy. She wants ten thousand dollars.”

“I hope you told her what she could do.”

“No. I told her I would get it.”

“Why in the world would you do that?”

David got up and started pacing. “I’m desperate, Rachel. If she takes my son, she’ll end up selling him for a bag of rocks, or she’ll just leave him with some stranger while she goes and gets high. I can’t have my child on the streets. I
won’t
have him on the streets. Not for one day.”

“But, David, blackmail is not the answer. I mean, fight her for custody. I’m sure a judge would side with you.”

“Now you sound like Jonathan. Can you promise me a judge will side with me, Rachel? Or will he say neither one of us is fit and put my child in foster care? Besides, like I told Jonathan, I don’t have time for all that. Now will you help me or not?”

Rachel could tell from the determined look on David’s face that he would do whatever he could to keep his son away from Tawny. “I’ll help, but I don’t know that giving her money is the answer. She’ll just keep coming back for more.”

“I know that,” David said. “Which is why I think I’ve found a solution.”

Rachel stared at her brother. David’s plan had better be pretty good because Tawny was a hustler if Rachel had ever seen one. And she wasn’t going to go away lightly.

“She’s on her way over here. She thinks it’s to collect some of the money. I need you to help me with something.”

Rachel didn’t want to get caught up in any drama. She had enough of her own. But this was her nephew they were talking about. “Just let me know what I need to do.”

David had just finished filling Rachel in on his plan when the doorbell rang. He handed her a wad of cash. “They’re already marked.”

“You go check on D.J. I’ll get the door,” Rachel said as she dropped the money in her purse, which she set on the coffee table.

She squeezed her brother’s arm as she watched him standing there, staring at the door. “This will work.”

David looked at her with tears in his eyes. “I hope so.” He turned and made his way upstairs while Rachel went to answer the door.

“What’s up, baby girl!” Tawny sang.

Rachel’s mouth dropped open at the sight of Tawny. She wore a fire-red, strapless spandex dress and platform boots. Her long blonde and red braids were covered with a black bandana. Her braless breasts were sagging and the dark circles under her eyes made her look like she hadn’t slept in days.

“Hello, Tawny.” Rachel stood in the entrance, looking her up and down.

Tawny peeked around her. “You gon’ let me in to see my baby?”

Rachel reluctantly stepped aside. She was as determined as David now. No way would she let her nephew go with this psycho.

“Where my boo?” Tawny couldn’t say two words without rubbing her arms.

“D.J. is upstairs sleeping.”

“I was talking about David. Although I did bring this for the kid.” She held out a dirty teddy bear, which was missing one eye.

“Ummm, okay.” Rachel used her thumb and forefinger to take the teddy bear. She sat the filthy thing on the end table and turned back to Tawny, who had reached under her arm and was vigorously scratching. Rachel tried not to let her disgust show.

“David! Your baby mama is here!” Tawny shouted.

“Would you lower your voice?” Rachel said. “Your son is asleep.”

“Everybody always worried about that stupid kid. What about me?”

Rachel stared at Tawny in disbelief. She contemplated saying something but decided what was the use. If anything, she’d say an extra prayer for Tawny tonight because homegirl was gone.

Rachel shook her head as David walked into the living room. Tawny’s eyes lit up. “Hey, baby. You got my loot?”

David looked at Rachel. She nodded. “I’ll let you all have some privacy.” Rachel glanced at her purse, which was sitting on the coffee table wide open. “I’ll be in the kitchen.” Rachel walked into the kitchen, made a phone call, then immediately leaned against the door to eavesdrop.

“Tawny, I’m not going to have your money until tomorrow,” she heard David say.

Tawny’s tone immediately changed. “No you didn’t. I already gave you some extra time. I was ’posed to have this money two weeks ago and you keep comin’ up with all these excuses. I guess you think I’m playing! I told yo’ sorry—”

“Tawny, chill,” David calmly said. “I told you it wasn’t going to be easy but I got it.”

“You did?” she asked suspiciously.

“Yeah, but I can’t pick it up until tomorrow.”

“David, I ain’t playing with you. I’m taking the kid if you ain’t got my money tomorrow. Got me coming all the way over here. Bus fare ain’t cheap.”

“I’ll have it tomorrow,” David promised.

Rachel took that as her cue and quickly grabbed her cell phone and punched in her father’s home phone number. She picked up the phone after two rings, waited a minute, then stuck her head back out in the living room. “David, telephone. I think it’s that call you were waiting on,” Rachel said. She actually felt funny about lying, which totally surprised her because she used to be a master liar. But she told herself what they were doing was necessary for D.J.’s sake.

“I’ll be right back,” David told Tawny. He walked into the kitchen. “Did you call them?” he asked Rachel.

“Yeah, they’re on their way. I just hope they get here quickly.”

“Cool.” David nodded anxiously.

The two of them made their way around to the dining-room entrance so they could spy on Tawny.

Tawny stood, impatiently tapping her foot and rubbing her arms. It took her only a few minutes to notice Rachel’s purse. She glanced around the room, waited a minute, then eased over to the purse. In one swift move, she had pulled out the wallet, removed the money and credit cards, and put the wallet back in Rachel’s purse.

Both Rachel and David smiled. “How did you know it would be this easy?” Rachel whispered.

“Because I know Tawny,” David replied. He glanced out the window. “And there are the cops, right on time. Come on.”

David made his way back into the living room and Tawny jumped over to the pictures on the mantel, acting like she was studying them.

“A’ight, Tawny. It’s all set. I’ll have everything tomorrow,” David said.

“That’s what I’m talking ’bout,” Tawny replied as she headed to the door. “And just remember, I ain’t playing with you.”

“Don’t you want to see D.J.?” David asked, stalling for time.

“For what?” Tawny asked.

“Ummm, maybe because he’s your child,” Rachel offered.

Tawny laughed. “Right, right. Naw, tell him I said hi. I got a meeting to get to.” Tawny swung the door open to face two uniformed policemen. David looked on in anticipation.

“What y’all want?” Tawny snapped.

The officer looked over her shoulder at David. “Is this the woman we got the call about?”

David nodded.

“What y’all talking about?” Tawny looked around uneasily. “Whatever.” She threw her arms up. “Move, po-po.”

“Ma’am, we’ll have to ask you to empty your bag.” The taller officer motioned toward the small bag she had strapped around her body.

“I ain’t emptying nothing. You got a warrant?”

“Ma’am, I will ask you one more time.”

“You can ask a hundred more times. I ain’t emptying nothing.” She pushed the officer aside and tried to go around him.

Both officers then grabbed her and forced her to the ground. Tawny was kicking, screaming, and cursing like a madwoman.

One officer managed to get her purse. He opened it and pulled out the cash. “Well, well, well.”

“Three thousand dollars. All marked,” David said.

Tawny glared at David with hatred. “You set me up? You piece of—”

“Hey, Raybo,” the taller officer said, cutting her off. “Look what else we got.” He started pulling stuff out of her purse. “A crack pipe, some weed, and what would you say this is?” He dangled a Ziploc bag.

“Looks like a hundred dollars’ worth of rocks,” the other officer replied as he slapped cuffs on Tawny.

“Nah, this is at least two hundred dollars,” the first officer said.

“That ain’t mine!” Tawny shouted. Her bandana and a couple of her braids had come off.

“And I guess this American Express card is yours, huh,” he pulled the card closer, “Mrs. Huffmeister?” he sarcastically replied. “Yep, you look like your last name is Huffmeister. Who’d you steal this credit card from?”

“That ain’t mine either. I been set up. It’s a conspiracy. Entrapment. You just doing this ’cause I’m black!” she shouted as Officer Raybo dragged her to the patrol car.

“So are you coming down to file charges?” the other officer asked David.

“You’d better believe I am,” David said. He turned to Rachel.

“Go on. I’ll stay here with D.J. until you get back,” Rachel said.

David kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you, Sis. I owe you big time.”

“You don’t owe me anything. Just make sure they lock her up. If for no other reason than to get her some help.”

David’s smile faded and Rachel could see that underneath the anger, he still genuinely cared for Tawny.

“You did what you had to do,” she tried to reassure him.

“I did. I did.” He took off toward his car, still muttering, “I did,” like he was trying to convince himself.

T
he sounds of “Joy to the World” filled the small meeting room at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Although it was unusually warm for December—74 degrees—there was still a festive atmosphere in the room.

The girls had spent the past hour hanging Christmas decorations, moving furniture, and setting up the food for the Good Girlz Christmas party, scheduled to get under way in less than ten minutes.

Rachel stood outside the doorway watching Angel, Camille, Alexis, and Jasmine as they joked around. She tried to compose herself before she walked in. This was their day; their families would be there, so she had to put on a good front and set all of her own problems aside.

“It’s so nice to see my girls working together,” she said as she entered the room. She looked at her watch. “You’ve been here, what, a whole hour and nobody’s started arguing. I must be in the Twilight Zone.”

She took pride in how well the girls were getting along. It was very different from the way they had bickered when they first started with the group.

“Oh, Miss Rachel’s got jokes,” Jasmine said, cutting her eyes.

Rachel playfully pinched Jasmine’s cheek. “You know I am so proud of you girls.” She looked around the room. “And you all have done such a wonderful job decorating this room.”

“Yeah, we wanted the party to be really nice,” Alexis said as she hung another string of garland across the window. Besides the seven-foot tree and the garlands across all the windows, there was a diverse array of angels and other ornaments positioned all over the room. Ribbons added the final touch to the podium in front.

“I love Christmastime,” Rachel said. “When I was growing up my mom used to go crazy at Christmas. She would buy us so much stuff and my daddy would always fuss, but he never made her take any of the stuff back.”

“I wish I could’ve met your mother,” Angel said as she sat down to massage her feet. “She seemed like she was really nice.”

“She was. I just didn’t appreciate her until she was gone.”

“How did your mom die?” Camille asked.

Rachel’s eyes misted up. “She had a heart attack when I was nineteen. I always wonder—if my brothers and I hadn’t made her life so hard, would her heart have given out? It was like the stress of dealing with our problems made her heart weak.” She gazed out the window as the room grew silent. She wished her mother was here to give her advice on how to handle this situation with Lester.

She caught herself and snapped out of her daze. “Look at me. This is not a sad occasion. Today is a good day. This is a celebration of how far we’ve come. Your families are coming and we are here to celebrate the progress you’ve made.”

“I hate to interrupt this tender moment here.” Everyone turned toward Lester, who had just walked in the room. “But I wanted to see if you guys were ready.”

Rachel forced a smile. The girls were all staring at her so she had to remain upbeat, not letting on that anything was wrong. “We’re fine.”

Lester looked a little surprised that she was even speaking to him, but Rachel hoped he could read the expression behind her eyes, the one that told him she still wanted to wring his neck.

“Wow, you all have done a good job,” Lester said, looking around the room and trying to get Rachel’s gaze off of him.

“Thank you,” Alexis responded.

“And we’re ready just in time, because here comes your mother and sister, Angel,” Rachel said.

Rachel didn’t know how she made it through the party because her heart was still in so much pain. But she managed to put up a good front and everything went off without a hitch.

Afterward, Rachel said good-bye to everyone’s families. She was grateful that she was taking the girls to a hotel for a slumber party—one room for herself and one for the girls. She’d dropped Nia and Jordan off at her dad’s and was looking forward to some alone time to think and get her head together. After all, she did have a divorce to plan.

Lester stood off to the side like a pitiful puppy dog as they packed up their things to head to the hotel. She refused to even look at him as she made her way out of the room.

An hour later, Rachel was snuggled up under the comforter at the Hilton, eating Häagen-Dazs ice cream and flipping through the channels. She had gotten the girls settled in and planned to spend the rest of the night wallowing in self-pity. She stopped channel surfing when she saw the movie
War of the Roses
on HBO. “Just what I need,” she mumbled as she popped a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

Rachel rolled her eyes when she heard a knock on the door.
Why did I think I’d actually get some peace and quiet?
She’d ordered the girls pizza and drinks and thought that would keep them occupied.

She set her ice cream on the nightstand and threw back the covers. “What do you all want?” she moaned as she swung the door open. “I thought you—”

“I want you,” Lester replied, a desperate look in his eyes.

“Why are you here?” she demanded.

“I’m here to save my marriage.”

“Whatever, Lester. You should’ve thought about that before you went off and had an affair.”

“What can I do to make this right?”

A curious couple walked by, obviously trying to figure out the drama. Rachel huffed and motioned for Lester to come inside. No use having
all
her business in the street.

“Turn back the hands of time and don’t cheat on me.” She sat down on the king-size bed and flipped off the TV.

“If I could, I would.”

“Lester, why are you here?” she repeated.

“I told you, to save my marriage.”

She sighed. “It can’t be saved. It’s over.”

“I don’t believe that.” He sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I do.” Rachel stared him straight in the eyes. “I want a divorce.”

Lester hesitated, obviously not expecting her to say that. “You can’t mean that.”

“Yes, I can, and I do. I don’t trust you and if I can’t trust you, you can’t trust me.” She folded her arms across her chest and glared at her husband.

“What does that mean?”

“It means what it means.”

“Have you been with someone else?” he asked, his voice cracking.

“You lost the right to ask me that question when you had sex with another woman.”

Lester looked like he wanted to cry as he massaged his temple.

“It doesn’t feel good, does it, Lester?” She stood up and towered over him. “It doesn’t feel good to even think the person you swore to love until death did you part is giving her body to someone else. Letting another man touch her, love her.” She was taunting him now, but she didn’t care. “Does it bother you to picture her moaning with pleasure? Does it feel like someone is tearing your heart out?”

Lester sat up, his eyes watering. “Was it Bobby?”

She replied, a smug look on her face. “Don’t worry about who it was.” Rachel didn’t know why she was doing this. She had never planned to make him think she had been with someone else, but since he went there, why not? She wanted him to know her pain. “Maybe it was Bobby,” she said. “Maybe it was somebody new.”

Lester suddenly jumped up and grabbed her by the arms. “Stop it! Stop trying to hurt me,” he said as he shook her.

Rachel gritted her teeth as she glared at her husband. “Like you hurt me?” she told him through clenched teeth. “Get your hands off of me before I scream at the top of my lungs and have your cheating ass thrown in jail.”

Lester realized how tightly he was clutching Rachel and let her go. “I’m sorry.” He stared at her, his eyes welling with tears. “I’m sorry for everything.” He headed to the door, then stopped and turned back toward her. “I messed up, Rachel. I did. But I’m not going to lose my family. I
can’t
lose my family. You can try to pay me back all you want, but I’ll still never give up on you. I moved back home tonight. I’ll sleep in the guest room, but I’m not letting you go without a fight.”

He walked out of the room and Rachel felt her stomach sink, the smugness disappearing from her face. Why wasn’t revenge—or even just talk of revenge—giving her the vindicated feeling she needed? How was she going to deal with him being back in the house? Why wouldn’t he just give up and leave her alone? She didn’t even attempt to figure out those questions as she climbed back into bed and tried to let sleep help ease some of her pain.