but she’s on a sabbatical. You know she had some type of accident. Fell and hit her head, lost part of her memory, and came back to church thinking Sister Unique was her daughter.”
“Lord, have mercy. I didn’t hear about that. I haven’t really been staying in touch with my New Day family like I should,” Mother Doreen confessed. “Things here in Kentucky were just more than I thought I could bear, but God saw me through.”
“He always does.”
“Amen,” Mother Doreen agreed. “But go back to Sister Lorain thinking that Sister Unique was her daughter.”
“Oh, yes. Apparently Pastor had assigned Sister Unique to help assist Sister Lorain with the Singles’ Ministry. The two had obviously grown close in working together; so close that after Sister Lorain’s accident and her coming back to church, she saw Sister Unique and thought she was her daughter. Everybody laughed it off, but I don’t know, Mother Doreen. My spirit tells me that there’s something more to it.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what: you better get your master’s degree in Kneeology. Stay on your knees praying and stay on your face in the Lord to make sure you’re hearing clearly from Him,” Mother Doreen warned. “Don’t let Satan try to infiltrate your thoughts like I almost let him do while here in Kentucky. Had I not started to hear clearly from God when I did, I might have jeopardized my relationship with a good man of G—” Mother Doreen cut off her own words. She’d said too much. Way too much.
There was a moment of silence while Deborah waited on Mother Doreen to finish. Mother Doreen had no intention of finishing. The cat’s tail was already wagging out of the bag; she didn’t need the whole feline creeping out.
“Go on. You were saying, Mother Doreen,” Deborah pressed.
Mother Doreen thought for a second, trying to find a way out of the hole she’d dug for herself. There was only one way out. “Oh, well, I might as well tell you. I met someone. A man. A man of God.”
“My, my, my, so that’s what’s keeping you in Kentucky,” Deborah teased. “And here I thought you were down there on assignment.”
“I was on assignment. I am on assignment. I mean I—Oh, girl, you got me all flustered and twisted up.”
“And I bet beads of sweat are dancing all over your forehead too.” Deborah chuckled. “But don’t blame me. My spirit also tells me that it ain’t me who’s got you all flustered and twisted up.”
“Sounds like to me, child, you better get that spirit of yours in check before it gets you in trouble. It might need a tune-up or something.”
“Mm-hmm, whatever, Mother Doreen. I’m going to let you slide for now, but don’t think you’re off the hook.”
“Now, wait a minute. Who’s the elder here?” Mother Doreen reminded Deborah that she was a couple of decades her senior.
“No disrespect, Mother Doreen, but I gotta watch out for you. Black don’t crack. You lookin’ good for your age. I’m going to have to come pay you a visit in Kentucky and regulate. Let those male callers down there know who they are dealing with: a child of the King on assignment doing Kingdom work.” Deborah decided to throw in a little playful sarcasm. “And from the sounds of it, your work is never done. You’re putting in overtime.”
“Oh, child,” Mother Doreen lightheartedly scolded, “you done came back from that sabbatical fresh and brand new. Humph! And if I remember correctly from my younger days, besides turning your life over to Christ, only one other thing makes you feel that way.”
“Oh yeah?” Deborah baited.
“Yeah. L-O-V-E. Love.”
“Then I guess you would know.”
“Listen, baby, I have to go. My nephew’s baby momma is getting an ultrasound today to find out the sex of their baby.”
“Baby?”
“Child, like I said: we got a lot of catching up to do. You wouldn’t believe half the stuff that happened for those three months you were away. Just pray for us.”
“I will.”
“And we’ll talk again. Send everyone at New Day my love.”
“I will, considering you’ve got lots of love to go around.” Deborah threw in one last comment in reference to Mother Doreen’s male interest. “As Sister Unique’s generation would say, don’t hate, celebrate. Or even better, participate.”
“Oh, Lord, help her.” Mother Doreen laughed.
“Talk to you later.” Deborah ended the call with laughter on her tongue. “That Mother Doreen is something else,” she said out loud to herself as her computer beeped, signaling she had an e-mail. She almost forgot she had been sitting at her desk replying to e-mails before Mother Doreen called.
Deborah looked at her computer screen to see that the new e-mail was from Born2Write, whom she now knew to be Lynox. She shook her head, smiling at his refusal to give up his pursuit of her.
For a minute she thought to just delete the e-mail, but for some reason, that curious spirit had been guiding her decision-making process. A part of her knew that if she cracked open that e-mail, she was as good as cracking open an icky, sticky can of worms. But with that final thought, she opened and read the e-mail anyway. After doing so, she typed a reply. The reply sat on her computer screen for ten minutes before she built up her nerve to hit the send button.
She’d done it. She’d taken one of the worms from the opened can; she’d baited her hook and cast her pole. Now she sat back in anticipation, waiting on a bite.
“What am I getting myself into?”
Chapter Eight
“You did what?” Tamarra shouted as she and Paige sat on Paige’s living room sofa.
They’d had many talks on that sofa in the past couple of years. Even though the couch now sat in Blake’s premarital home instead of Paige’s, nothing had changed. They still enjoyed their sista-girlfriend talks all the same.
Paige and Blake had decided to get rid of Paige’s premarital dwelling and reside at his since it was bigger. But this was just temporary until they could get their dream house built. That was one of the reasons Blake was working exceptionally hard. He wanted to make sure that they could afford the house they desired. He didn’t want to end up like so many couples who had bitten off more house than they could afford. The two agreed that they wanted to enjoy their residence and not be so burdened by paying the note on it that they couldn’t appreciate it. Blake, especially, had been adamant about that.
As a very small child, after his father was seriously injured on the job and confined to a wheelchair, his mother grew weary of taking care of him. She grew weary and tired of taking care of them—her husband and her only son. As quiet as it was kept, she’d grown weary of taking care of her only daughter too; but because she was a female, Blake had supposed, his mother felt forced to continue to care for her. So, that’s what she did: one day while his father was in the television room and little Blake was napping, his mother scooped up his sister and left. Before doing so, she’d served his father a tuna sandwich, potato chips, applesauce, and grape Kool-Aid. She’d
