Been There Prayed That (9781622860845) (22 page)

“Well, it's good to have you back,” Deborah said to Lorain as both Eleanor and Lorain entered the doors of New Day. “I came back from my sabbatical last Sunday. When I asked about you, Pastor told me what had happened.” Deborah paused for a minute and gave Lorain a puzzled look.

“Yes, Sister Deborah,” Lorain smiled. “I know who you are.”

Deborah laughed and hugged Lorain.

“I see Pastor didn't waste anytime putting you back to work,” Lorain told her.

“Yeah, I'm the door greeter this week, and I'm putting up Christmas decorations next week,” Deborah stated just as Unique entered the church behind Lorain. “God bless you, Sister Unique,” Deborah greeted her with a hug. “Hey, little ones,” she said to Unique's children.

Lorain turned and stared at Unique.

“Good morning,” Unique said, slightly cutting her eyes at Lorain. She'd heard about Lorain's incident and the loss of some of her memory. Lorain may have forgotten about their last encounter, but Unique sure hadn't . And although she knew it wasn't pleasing to God, she was holding a grudge.

Lorain just stood there staring at Unique. Sister Deborah noticed the confused look on Lorain's face. “Oh, yes,” Sister Deborah said to Lorain. “This is—”

“My daughter,” Lorain interrupted and finished Deborah's sentence. “She's my daughter.”

Eleanor, Deborah and Unique all shot looks at each other while Lorain stared at Unique in silent awe. Then all of a sudden each of the women, with the exception of Lorain, burst out laughing.

“Girl, you being my mama would be like Jill on
The Young and The Restless
when she found out Mrs. Chancellor was her mother,” Unique joked. “Obviously that little thing between you and me is something your mind chose to forget, so you know what, I'm going to forget it too. God bless you, Sister Lorain.” Unique hugged Lorain, and then pulled away. “Or should I say Mother Lorain.”

Once again, all the women laughed. Lorain feigned laughter as she headed into the sanctuary.
They can laugh all they want
, Lorain said to herself,
but that girl is my daughter. I just know it.

Lorain took her seat in the sanctuary. Eleanor sat down next to her.

“You okay, daughter?” Eleanor asked Lorain. “Is this too much for you? You're not going to get up in here and pull one of them stunts you pulled at Broady's church, are you?”

“No, I'm fine, Mother,” Lorain lied. Her mind was going ninety miles per hour with visions of Unique, documents, and newspaper articles. She kept seeing the words: “Baby girl found in trash can” and “Baby Doe up for adoption.” Between the visions she had regarding Broady and the visions she had regarding Unique, she thought she was going to lose her mind.

As a strong headache came on, Lorain decided she would do exactly what Sister Deborah had done, go on a sabbatical. She needed to get her mind right. She would have sweet communion with the Lord and everything would come together. For now, though, she decided not to think anymore about Broady or Unique. She knew that one had something to do with the other, and if she just sat back and waited on God long enough, He would reveal it all anyway because that's the kind of God she served.

Pastor Frey entered the sanctuary to find Mother Doreen sitting on the front pew.

She'd been praying for the past eight minutes while she waited on him to arrive. She'd been praying that God would be in the midst of the situation at hand, not only to reveal some things, but bring closure and justice if need be.

Pastor Frey took notice of Mother Doreen's calm demeanor. “You sounded quite urgent on the phone.” He now stood before Mother Doreen. He looked around the sanctuary as if there should have been some five alarm fire brewing somewhere.

“Thank you for coming, Pastor Frey.” Mother Doreen said his name as if some boundary had been placed between them. It was as if some wall that he knew nothing about had been built between them.

“Of course I'd come running when you call,” he assured her.

Mother Doreen stood. “You can cut out the shenanigans, pretending to be interested in me. I know what's going on. You're nothing more than Pastor Davidson's flunky. His sidekick. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Pastor Frey attempted to speak, but Mother Doreen cut him off before he could even get the words out of his open mouth.

“Don't even fix your mouth to say that you don't know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about you playing the good and faithful servant by always being at my sister's bedside, just so no one would suspect that it was your leader who was the one actually in her bed. And then your so-called taking the time to have these working dinners with me to discuss the church's business just to keep me out of the way. And the phone call you made on Pastor Davidson's behalf to the place that gives Uriah his truck runs.” Mother Doreen looked at him with such disgust. “And you call yourself a man of God. Humph.”

Pastor Frey put his hands up in defense. “Look, Mother Doreen, if you'll just allow me to explain.”

“Explain what? How you helped Pastor Davidson kill Uriah and made it look like an accident just so he could be with Bethany? Or maybe it was so that Uriah would never find out about the fact that the baby his wife was carrying wasn't his.”

Pastor Frey's eyes went buck. “What? Murder? Baby?”

“Oh, please.” Mother Doreen shooed her hand. “Like I said, you can stop pretending. I'm on to you. I'm on to your pastor too. Bethany told me everything.”

“Uh, Mother Doreen, I uh—” Pastor Frey stammered.

“And now, on top of everything, you are trying to come up with a lie in God's house. Lord have mercy.” Mother Doreen placed her hand over her heart, and then sat back down on the pew.

“Mother Doreen. Please.” Pastor Frey asked for permission with his eyes if he could sit next to her. When Mother Doreen didn't respond one way or the other, he sat down anyway. “I'm not going to lie to you. Yes, I knew about Sister Bethany and Pastor. And yes, I am guilty of making a phone call on behalf of Pastor Davidson in order for Uriah to be able to come home for those few days.”

“So that you two could get Uriah home so you could figure out a way to kill him. You kept him busy at dinner while Pastor Davidson cut his break lines.”

Pastor Frey stood in anger. “Mother Doreen? Do you have any idea what type of accusation you are making? I would have never participated in something like helping someone commit murder.”

“But you would participate in helping someone commit adultery? What's the difference? And by golly, you better give me Bible to back it up.”

“Now listen here.” Pastor Frey had his finger in Mother Doreen's face when a voice from the back of the sanctuary startled them both.

“He's telling the truth,” Pastor Davidson said as he slowly walked to the front of the church with his head lowered. “Pastor Frey didn't know anything about the baby, not at first, and not that it was mine. He had no idea of the real reason why I had him place the call to Uriah's trucking assignment company.”

“Pastor, don't,” Pastor Frey said with an urgent look on his face.

“No, son, it's okay.” Pastor Davidson rested his hand on Pastor Frey's shoulder. “I've asked you to do things that I know I shouldn't have. I know you only did them because I'm your pastor and you thought you were protecting me, but I can't allow you to do this anymore. I can't have your blood on my hands like this.”

“But you can have my sister's husband's,” Mother Doreen chimed in.

“Mother Doreen, when I had Wallace make that call to Brother Uriah's trucking place, it was so that he could come home and spend time with his family, mainly his wife. I knew about Bethany's pregnancy. She'd shared it with me. She also shared with me that she hadn't been with her husband in the time frame in which the child had been conceived. I only wanted Uriah back home so that he could, like I said, spend time with his wife, if you know what I mean. But he didn't.”

“How do you know?” both Mother Doreen and Pastor Frey asked out of curiosity.

 

 

“Because in so many words, I asked Brother Uriah, and he answered me. I knew then that everything had been in vain. The day he left, he'd invited me and First Lady over to dinner, and I had every intention of coming. But I was being so convicted by God about taking my wife to go over there and break bread with the woman who was having my child, and I break bread with the man whose wife I'd impregnated.” Pastor Davidson shook his head in shame. “I couldn't do it.”

“So you decided to go to the lot where Uriah's truck was parked and cut his brake lines?” Mother Doreen surmised.

“No, God no,” Pastor Davidson stated, appalled at Mother Doreen's accusations. “I decided that I'd take my wife out to dinner and tell her everything. The burden was becoming far too much to bear and a child would soon be here. I had to confess.”

“What did your wife have to say about it?” Mother Doreen asked.

“Nothing,” Pastor Davidson answered. “Before I got the chance to tell her, I received the phone call about Uriah's fatal accident. I had still planned on telling her once Bethany got through Uriah's death. I wanted the church to be there for Bethany, not shun her. I didn't want her to have to deal with an angry first lady on top of that. I was going to tell First Lady, but once the baby was gone, both Bethany and I decided to just let things be.”

“But you never told your wife. Are you not still feeling convicted?” Mother Doreen inquired. Pastor Davidson had no words. “Does this mean that you and my sister are still—”

“No,” Pastor Davidson was quick to say. “Bethany and I broke things off—for good. None of this was worth it. I've repented, and God has forgiven me. I pray that you can, Mother Doreen.” He looked to Pastor Frey. “And you too, Pastor Frey.”

There was silence. Both Mother Doreen and Pastor Frey knew that eventually they'd have to forgive him, they just didn't know if they were willing to do so at that very moment.

“Anyway,” Pastor Davidson continued, “I'm going to be sitting down for a few months. Pastor Frey, I'd like you to run things during that time. I'll still be attending Living Word because I, more than anybody, really need to hear from God right now.”

“I'll have to pray on it, Pastor,” Pastor Frey replied. “I played a role in all of this too. I need to repent and hear from God as to whether He's going to sit me down or if He finds me worthy of delivering His Word to His people.”

Pastor Davidson looked to Mother Doreen. “Mother Doreen, I promise you, I'd never do anything to take another human being's life. Uriah's crash has been ruled as an accident by the police. If it weren't an accident, I assure you I had nothing to do with it. I'm not the most trustworthy person right now, so I don't mind if you take the information you do know to the police. But I guarantee you that all it will do is open up a can of beans that I'll have to spill to my wife. You do what you have to do—or what God tells you to do.” After a few seconds of silence, Pastor Davidson said, “Well, I'm going to go clean some things out of my office. Pastor Frey, I hope to hear from you over the next couple of days with your acceptance to pastor the church.” He looked to Mother Doreen. “I do hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me.” Pastor Davidson exited the sanctuary, leaving Pastor Frey and Mother Doreen alone.

“Well, what are you thinking?” Pastor Frey asked Mother Doreen after the two had stood in silence for a minute.

“I really don't know what to think at this point,” Mother Doreen stated.

Pastor Frey cleared his throat. “Well, Pastor Davidson is not the only one who needs to apologize here. I owe you an apology too. I should have never agreed to cover another man's sins. It's just that I—”

“You don't owe me an explanation,” Mother Doreen told him. “That's between you and God.”

“Well, do you believe Pastor about not having anything to do with Brother Uriah's accident?”

Mother Doreen hated to admit that she did believe the man. “Yeah, I actually do.” Mother Doreen thought for a moment. “But I've been wrong before. But you know what? I'm going to simply trust God. This is in His hands. If vengeance is due, God will have it.”

“Amen,” Pastor Frey agreed. “Well, I better get going. Mother Headly got sent to the nursing home today. I need to go pray for her and her family.”

“Oh, so that bit about being there for the sick and shut in really wasn't part of your act?”

“No, ma'am,” Pastor Frey stated as he headed toward the sanctuary doors. “With all that has gone on, I'm sure you and Sister Bethany will be finding another place of fellowship. I mean, we'd love to have you here, but I understand if you all don't feel the same.”

“Just like you, Pastor Frey, we'll have to pray on it.” Mother Doreen let a faint smile cross her lips.

Pastor Frey responded with his own faint smile before heading out of the sanctuary doors. Before he had completely exited he turned back around and said, “By the way, I wasn't pretending; I really am interested in you.”

Pastor Frey exited, leaving Mother Doreen in the sanctuary alone—with a big smile on her face. She had to admit, she had started to get a little sweet on Pastor Frey, so it was quite fancy to hear that he felt the same way. Although deep down inside she secretly imagined what it would be like if God sent her another husband, she never imagined that He would.

As she herself headed out of the sanctuary, she couldn't help but wonder if all this time, God had really sent her to Kentucky for another reason, to meet her next husband. Perhaps while she was praying on other things such as forgiving Pastor Davidson, taking the information she knew to the police, and whether she'd continue fellowshipping at Living Word, she'd have to pray on that too. But for now, she was simply going to be the best sister she could be to Bethany, the best aunt she could be to Hudson and Sadie, and the best great aunt to Hudson's little bundle of joy that was due in just four more months. She prayed that everything would get back on track without a hitch.

She let out a small chuckle before saying, “Who am I kidding? Been there, prayed that.”

She put up her umbrella once outside the church in preparation to weather the storm.