Chapter 16
“I’m so sick of this shit,” Leah grumbled as she stomped down the sterile halls of Grace Memorial. Noah had pulled up to the entrance of the hospital, letting her out while he went to park the car. When her baby brother called her a short time ago, his panic filled voice knocked away the sleep that clouded her mind along with any anger at the disruption of her slumber. He’d overheard his mother on the phone telling their brother Malachi that their father had been shot. When she sat up ramrod straight, Noah woke with a start. Leah was quickly out of Noah’s bed, pulling on the short yellow denim shirtdress and to Noah’s credit, he didn’t ask questions, only following suit. By the time she’d finished dressing with the phone wedged between her cheek and shoulder, she pieced together the disjointed story from her brother, and the situation made her blood boil.
She could hear the histrionics before she reached his room, booming words of prayer intermingled with the speaking of tongues were being practically shouted by an unseen woman. Leah didn’t bother knocking on the door, pushing it open to get a look at the spectacle for herself. Theresa’s sister, Phyllis, was responsible for the fervent prayer she heard and was also in the process of placing prayer oil on her father’s forehead. Next to her was Theresa, her brother Mal and Deacon Lindsey all stood at the foot of the bed. The man of the hour was laying on the gurney, on his right side, awake and alert.
Leah made her way to his bedside, speaking loudly enough that Phyllis knocked off the foolishness. “Unless you want to hear me cuss this man for filth, I suggest you leave. Right. Now.”
“Be careful how you talk to the man of God,” Phyllis said, again in her booming voice. “’Touch not my anointed ones’.”
Leah turned to catch the eyes of the woman who was sneering at her with supposed righteous indignation. “Phyllis, I just got a call waking me from a dead sleep informing me that my Daddy was shot in the ass because he was caught fucking somebody who wasn’t his wife. He might do well to be mindful about who he touches.” The sputtering woman was led out of the room by the deacon and her brother and Theresa trailed out behind them, her head lowered in what could be perceived as shame. Leah whipped around to face her father who, despite his injury, looked almost relaxed. “Malcolm Vines, aren”t you tired of this? Aren”t you tired of embarrassing your wife and children? You got people in here praying over you and laying hands and all this foolishness and once you get out of this hospital, you”ll be back doing the same old thing again.
“While out on a date with my man, I had to explain that my married pastor father was out hugged up with someone that was not his wife. It has to be exhausting putting on the show of nothing but falsehoods and grandiosity. How are you going to spin this? How are you going to explain being shot by another woman’s husband because he caught y”all together? You gonna tell the congregation that you were laying hands on her? You really should be ashamed of yourself. Got folks in here crying and carrying on for nothing. You ain”t going to change. I have to say I”m surprised it didn”t happen before now. And I”m surprised that wife of yours wasn’t the one to pull the trigger. Poor long-suffering dummy. Expecting you to change after all these years and three outside children.”
“So, you”re serious about that White boy?”
Ignoring her father’s question, she trudged on. “Daddy, I can see and somewhat understand you being hot out in the streets when I was conceived, when Maris was conceived and when Miriam was conceived. You were thirty-five years younger and damn good looking. I get the hype. But you are over sixty years old now and you just got shot in the ass by somebody”s husband. Aren”t you tired of embarrassing Theresa for free? I tell you what, I want to see the shit you shovel to the people you shepherd. I want to witness it as they swallow it down like it”s candy. I want to be there so I can make note of the people that I need to avoid in life. The fools I need to make sure I don”t let anywhere near my intimate circle because if they believe the shit you’re shoveling, I don”t want them anywhere near me. Those fawning sycophants would let you lead them to Hell with smiles on their faces.
“And if I were you, I would watch out for that seemingly tolerant wife of yours. One day she”s going to feed you something that you”re not going to wake up from. Now I know you ain”t listening to me cuz your head is hard as a brick. But I don”t want you to say that you”ve never been told, that nobody ever told you even though you been a whore for going on forty years. I don”t want you to walk around with the idea that what you’re doing is right. You know damn well it”s not, but I just want to reiterate that it’s not right. And I know you don’t give a damn but you’re an utter embarrassment to your family. Do you know how difficult it was to explain to my fiancé that ‘hey, that’s my dad over there but he’s not gonna say anything because he’s out with his side piece’?”
“So, you’re marrying that White boy?” Malcolm said, his brows dipping in anger.
Leah palmed her forehead. “Out of all the shit I said to you the thing you cleave on to? The fact that I mentioned that Noah was my fiancé is the one thing that elicits emotion? Not the fact that you embarrass your wife like you’re getting money for it. That your congregation is nothing but a bunch of blind, deaf and dumb sheep. You hold tight to the fact that the man I love is White. And just so you know, he’s downstairs parking the car. You know what Daddy, I almost missed out on the blessing that is Noah because of you. Because of you and the way you lived your life, I turned my back on marriage, love, having my own family. In less than a year, Noah restored everything that you took from me.”
“No one is perfect, Leah. Your father included. We all make mistakes.”
“You know what’s odd, Dad? Hearing that would have taken such a load off me when I was growing up. If I’d received those words of comfort and a hug or two when things didn’t go perfectly for me, it could have made all the difference in whether or not I needed therapy. Feeling supported and being allowed to make mistakes with the people who were supposed to guide and correct me could have mitigated some of the disdain I have for you and your wife. But the only time I’ve ever heard you use those words was to excuse the actions of an ain’t shit person with no intentions of changing, present company included.”
“I can’t believe you’re gonna marry that White boy.”
“And I can’t believe I’m standing here with my father, the Right Reverend in a hospital bed because he was shot in the ass by his girlfriend’s husband, but here we are.”
“I can’t believe you have a man with that foul mouth of yours. All that cursing is unnecessary. No decent man wants a vulgar woman.”
“And just what would you know about being a decent man?” Leah laughed. “Just because you can speak eloquently and recite the Bible backwards and forwards, and can bring a crowd to its feet, that doesn’t make you a decent man. Jim Jones could do the exact same thing and he was a psychopath that murdered hundreds. Placing too much trust and adoration in a narcissistic person is dangerous.
“You have no idea what it’s like to hear that no man would ever want me because I wasn”t Godly enough because I wasn”t living up to the Christian values. For eighteen years it was drilled into my head that I would not have these things if I did not live the way you wanted me to. And here”s the gag Dad, I should have learned how a man truly loves his woman from watching you, the man of God, love your wife. Instead, I’m having to live that experience with Noah. You were supposed to be my shining example of what manhood looked like. We were supposed to be the shining example of what a family looks like. A Godly family. I saw nothing but lies. Unfaithfulness. Manipulation.
“Everything that I have is in spite of you, not because of you. My businesses my degrees, my successes, and the relationship I have with God. I know you don”t think I have one, but I do. I am undoubtedly one of his favorites if my life is any testament. As you can see looking over my life, God don”t play about me. Most of my life I felt like my Biblical counterpart. Unloved. But I’m about to be married to a man that loves me from head to toe.” Leah raised her hand, letting her father see her newest piece of jewelry. “And yes, my man proposed to me and I said yes.”
“He didn”t ask me for your hand. I don’t know anything about him.”
“No, he asked Uncle D for my hand. The man that”s going to be walking me down the aisle. The man who was a shining example of what a man was supposed to be. And he really likes Noah. And no, you will not be officiating my wedding. The last thing I want is you being the one to ‘bless’ our union. As of right now you have a wedding invitation. If you”d like to keep it that way, I suggest you watch your words when it comes to my fiancé and my uncle.”
Her father’s face wore a soft smile. “You are so much like your mother. People say you look like me but I see a lot of Orisa in you. You sound just like her too.”
“I”ll take that as a compliment.”
“It is. I should have married her.”
“Well, that would have been difficult seeing that you were already married to somebody else. But that never stopped you. Your divorcing your first wife is how Theresa got promoted.”