Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
A mina stood up, taking her phone with her. “Excuse me, I need to go meet my other guest.”
Mark grabbed her arm. “You’re not going anywhere until you explain what you meant by that comment.”
Amina yanked her arm with enough force to free herself. “If you have to ask that question, you’re not as smart as you think you are. Why don’t you give it some thought until I get back.”
Hurrying out of the room without a backward glance, Amina made her way through the restaurant to the hostess stand where Jasmine was waiting.
The young girl was in a modest floral maternity dress.
“Jasmine! I’m so glad you could make it.”
“I’m sorry I’m so late. I fell a bit behind my schedule because as you can see, I can’t really move fast with this baby moving inside of me like he’s auditioning for the National soccer team. And then that accident held things up. The Uber fee was crazy. Ugh, you said you’d reimburse me right?”
“Absolutely. You should have gotten another deposit in your account yesterday. And you’ll also be compensated for tonight.”
“Thanks Amina. I could really use the money, especially with the baby coming. But actually before we go to the party, I just want you to know that while the money is nice, I’m not doing it because of that. I thought a lot about what you said. And what the Pastor did to me wasn’t right.”
“I know for a fact that I’m not the only girl he’s slept with in church because I was confronted by the church secretary who told me I wasn’t special. I didn’t understand what she meant at first but now I do. If he was having an affair with her as well, I bet there are others.”
Amina wouldn’t put it past that old pervert. “Whatever the reason you’re doing this, I really appreciate it. Maybe he won’t face any real consequences, but at least he’ll be exposed for the hypocrite he is.”
“You’re right. People deserve to know the truth and I have proof right here.” Jasmine patted the purse she was carrying.
“What’s in there?”
The young girl grinned. “Oh, you’ll find out soon enough.”
Amina wasn’t sure if this would be a good or bad thing, but she had to trust that things would work out. She took Jasmine’s hand. “Okay, let’s go to the party.”
Amina walked with her head held high but on the inside she was shaking. This was it.
The second they stepped back into the private room, all the chatter that was happening in the room ended in stunned silence.
Mark who was standing by his parents table talking furiously back and forth with them. When he spotted them, he wobbled on his feet.
The church members in attendance looked at each other with uncomfortable expressions on their faces.
Mrs. Caldwell lost all color and slumped in her seat as if she was about to pass out. Pastor Caldwell clutched his chest. Sweat beaded his forehead.
Jasmine trembled at her side and Amina gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
Mark was the first to recover. He stalked toward her with a stormy expression. Amina tensed but then relaxed. Mark might have a temper but there was no way he was going to assault her in front of all these people and tarnish his good boy image.
“What is the meaning of this Amina? Why is she here? Don’t you know she was kicked out of Christ’s Home because of her immoral behavior?” he demanded loud enough for everyone to hear.
He was clearly trying to embarrass Jasmine, but if he wanted to get loud, Amina could be louder.
“This is supposed to be a celebration for friends and family. And I wanted all of your family to be here considering you invited my so called family who I rarely hear from unless they want something from me.” She shot a pointed glare in Candace and Sharon’s direction.
“I know that bitch isn’t talking about me,” Sharon spoke with mouthful of bread.
Amina ignored them and continued with her speech. She placed her hand on Jasmine’s belly. “I think all family members deserve to be here for such a special occasion. And who more deserving than Mark’s future sibling.”
A collective gasp washed over the audience in the room. Eyes widened and there were hushed whispers. A few people even took out their phones.
Amina noticed some of the church elders, refusing to make eye contact which made it abundantly clear to her that most of them already knew about Jasmine.
“Amina, what the entire fuck?” Mark roared.
Pastor Caldwell leapt out of his seat and pointed directly at Jasmine. “I rebuke thee in the name of Jesus! Satan be gone!”
Taking the cue from her husband, Mrs. Caldwell also stood up and started speaking in tongue as if she was trying to exorcise a demon out of the room. A few of the church elder started chanting along with her.
Some of the wait staff that had been hanging in the corner to check on the guests, slowly slid out of the room as if to escape a crime scene.
Jasmine’s shoulders slumped, tears sparkled in her eyes and her lips quivered.
“If you don’t want to continue, I can take it from here,” Amina whispered to her.
Jasmine sniffed and shook her head. “No. I want to do this. Look at how he’s acting.”
Jasmine pulled away from Amina and walked toward the pastor.
Mark reached out to grab her but Amina stepped in his way. “No!” She shook her head. “Jasmine deserves her say.”
Mark stared at Amina like she had grown a second head. “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you on some kind of drugs?”
“No Mark. I’m not on any drugs. I’ve just experienced a moment of clarity. How about you listen to what Jasmine has to say?”
“Because that slut is trying to slander our family. My father would never touch her.”
Jasmine stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at Mark. “I wasn’t a slut when Pastor Caldwell had me bent over his desk saying that the lord is using him. I wasn’t a slut when he wanted to heal my troubles by laying hands on me.” The young girl’s voice got progressively louder with each word spoken. The room was completely silent at this point.
“I wasn’t a slut when he was giving me the church’s money to buy something nice for myself. And I wasn’t a slut when he told me that he’d take care of me and my baby as long as I kept quiet.”
“You are a damn lie!” Pastor Caldwell yelled as sweat profusely ran down his dark face. Angry lines etched his skin, giving him the appearance of an actual demon. “Everyone in this church knows you sleep around. That could be any man’s baby. I could have a bunch them come forward to say that you’ve lain with them!”
Jasmine raised her chin defiantly. “You know what Pastor Caldwell, or should I just call you Otis because you don’t deserve to hold the title of Pastor. I was so lost and depressed when I joined Christ’s Home because I was away from my parents and family, and I was having some issues in school. I sought a church home to help me cope with the problems I was experiencing.” A tear slid down her cheek which she hastily wiped away.
“But you took advantage of me and refused to use protection because you said the lord would take care of it.”
“Eww, he’s nasty.” Candace snickered.
“But when you found out I was pregnant,” Jasmine continued. “You gave me money to get rid of my baby. I didn’t, but you came back. You said you’d take care of me and the baby if I continued to have sex with you. You gave me a bunch of money. When your wife suspected what was going on, you cut me off.”
“You dirty liar! My husband would never touch a cheap jezebel like you. Hallelujah!” Mrs. Caldwell shouted.
“Katherine, let me handle this!” Otis walked from behind the table and charged toward Jasmine.
Amina frightened that he’d actually harm the girl pulled Jasmine out of his way and stood in front of her. “You’re not going to assault a pregnant woman are you?”
Paisley stood up. “If you touch her, I’m going to call the police!”
For the first time in her life, Amina was happy to have someone using their white woman privilege on her behalf.
The pastor stepped back and snarled at Amina before shooting an angry glare toward his son. “You will not be marrying this woman.” He pointed at Amina. “I will not allow a liar and a swindler into this family. And look at her dressed like a cheap tramp. This isn’t how we raised you, Mark Joseph Caldwell.”
Amina rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I never wanted to marry your sorry ass son in the first place. Do you think I’d want to be with a man who’s almost thirty still living off his mommy and daddy? He comes over to my house so I can do his laundry, and he barely knows how to wipe his ass. The amount of shit in his underwear is disgusting.”
“I’m not going to be his slave for the rest of my life. And look at this pathetic ring. Let me take it off before it turns my finger green.” She slipped off the ring and tossed it in Mark’s direction, not caring if he caught it or not.
She was so done with him and his entire family.
Amina glared at the pastor. “Oh, and regardless of whether you claim Jasmine’s baby or not, I’m sure the courts will order a paternity test, so you’d better be prepared to start paying child support.”
“I never touched that woman!” Pastor Caldwell yelled. “She’s a liar!”
“No! You’re the liar and I have proof!”
Jasmine pulled out a stack of papers from her purse. “Here Amina. Something told me to make copies of all the checks he wrote to me. Pass them out so everyone can see.”
Amina took the papers and grinned. “With pleasure.” She looked down at the copies of the checks Jasmine made. “Wow, Pastor, you’ve got to be some kind of stupid to write checks directly from the church’s baby account with their header on them.
He instantly blustered and tried to snatch them out of Amina’s hands but she held them out of his reach. “Anyone can fake copies,” he said.
Amina made a point to hand the copies to the elders so they could see where the church funds were going. “A simple audit would be able get to the bottom of it,” Amina countered.
One of the deacons scanned the copies and shook his head. “What is the meaning of this Otis?”
“I’m being set up!” The Pastor cried out.
“I have more proof.” Jasmine pulled her phone out and tapped on the screen. She held up the phone and a recording played.
“Otis, you know I’ve never been with anyone but you. You told me you’d take care of our baby. You even told me you were thinking about leaving your wife so that we could be a family.”
“Jasmine, you know it’s not that simple. I can’t simply leave Katherine. She’s well-loved in the community and if I broke up with her, she and her followers could cause a lot of trouble for me and you. Trust me, I’m doing this for your protection. I’ll take care of you and the baby but you can’t come to the church anymore and you’d better keep your mouth shut or I’ll deny everything.”
It was clear who those voices belonged too.
Otis’s skin went ashen like he’d seen a ghost. His eyes were wide.
“I started recording our conversations when you started acting shady,” Jasmine announced proudly.
Mrs. Caldwell slammed her palm on the table. “This is some of that AI mess you hear about in the news. She probably faked this too. Are y’all going to listen to this bitch?”
Amina realized in that moment that no matter how much proof was presented they’d still be in denial. And some of their church members would believe them. But at least the seed of doubt had been planted, and they could do with this information what they willed.
Jasmine must have come to the same reckoning because tears streamed freely down her face as she hung her head.
Amina’s heart went out to this girl, and she felt bad for putting Jasmine in this situation. She wrapped her arms around Jasmine’s shoulders. “Come on, hon. Let’s get out of here.”
Amina escorted her out of the room. A few of the wait staff stood outside the door pretending as if they hadn’t just eavesdropped on the entire confrontation.
Paisley came trailing behind them. “Don’t leave me with these crazy people.” She called out.
When they were outside, Amina pulled out her cellphone and texted Ethan immediately.
911
She had a feeling they wouldn’t be able to leave the premises completely unscathed.
“Will you be okay Jasmine?”
The young girl nodded. “Yes. That was…a lot. I guess the scene was more intense than I thought it would be. How could he just continue to deny it in the face of all that proof? And to make matters worse, I could tell that people were still supporting him.”
“Like my grandmother used to tell me, some of the evilest people are church folks, but please don’t let this interfere in your relationship with God. Pastor Caldwell is clearly a false prophet.” Amina assured her.
She wasn’t particularly religious herself, but she did have a spiritual side her grandmother had helped her nurture. She could empathize with someone who grew up with a strong religious foundation like Jasmine.
“Yeah, my family is only a go to church on Easter and Christmas kinda family and even I could see through that snake oil salesman,” Paisley chimed in holding out tissues for Jasmine.
Jasmine took it and blew her nose. “Thank you.”
“I’m really sorry for bringing you into this mess Jasmine. I used you to get back at Mark and I fear I’ve caused you pain in the process.”
Jasmine shook her head vehemently. “No. I may be young but my mom always said I was stubborn. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t want to, like I told you before. People need to know who the real Otis Caldwell is and part of me wanted to embarrass him for what he’d done to me.”
“Too bad he doesn’t know the meaning of the word shame,” Amina scoffed.
“I’m kind of tired, so I’d better get home,” Jasmine sighed.
“I can drive you home. I’m just waiting for someone.”
“If you’re waiting for someone I can take her home,” Paisley volunteered.
“Are you sure?” Amina asked. “I feel bad, that you had to witness that but I appreciate the support.”
“Are you kidding me? I haven’t been this entertained in ages. Whew, it was like being in the middle of a soap opera. No offense.” She looked at Jasmine sheepishly.
“None taken.”
“You were awesome in there though.” Paisley gently patted Jasmine on the arm. “Hey, since we didn’t get a chance to eat, how about I take stop for burgers before I drop you off?”
Jasmines seemed to perk up. “I’d actually like that a lot.”
“Great because I’m starving.” Paisley turned to Amina and gave her hug. “I’m so proud of you. I’m glad you’re not marrying that jerk. He was the worst. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Alright. Thanks again for coming. Jasmine, if you need anything at all, please call me.”
Jasmine nodded with a slight smile.
Once Amina was on her own, she checked her phone. There was a text from Ethan.
On my way.
She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she’d see him soon. Amina was about to send him a text when the sound of angry footsteps drew near.
“Amina! You fucking bitch!”
She turned to see a raging red-faced Mark.