You Get What You Pray For (11 page)

“Surprise!”

“Oh, my God. Honey, what are you doing here?” Unique was surprised, all right.

“I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop in,” he replied.

“In the neighborhood? All the way from West Virginia, huh?” Unique said as she stood in her doorway with her fist on her hip, bouncing as she waited for a reply.

“Yep, and I picked these up along the way.” He whipped a bouquet of flowers from behind his back and extended it to Unique.

“Get in here, you.” Unique pulled him into her apartment and closed the door behind him.

She'd ordered a pizza, so when there was a knock on the door, she'd simply dug for a twenty-dollar bill in her purse, taking so long that she flung the door open in a hurry after grabbing the money. Instead of finding the pizza man, she'd found her man . . . all the way from West Virginia.

Unique shot him a naughty look before stepping up to him, taking the bouquet, and hugging him.

“Mmmm,” he said, relishing the comforting arms of the woman he'd fallen in love with over the past few months. “So you are glad that I'm here?”

“Yes, I am,” Unique said. “And obviously, you are too.” She made googly eyes at him.

“Girl, cut it out.” He playfully pushed her away. “You know I'm celibate, so don't try to lure me into a life of sin with them ole sexy eyes of yours.” He looked her up and down. “And them sexy legs.” He stared at Unique's legs, which were hanging out of the pajama shorts she'd been lounging in.

“Those you can forget about getting in between until we're married.”

Dead silence. First came
love,
and now the word
marriage
had been put out there.

The knock on the door couldn't have come a second sooner.

“I'll get it!” Unique said quickly, and a little loudly. She handed the flowers to her beau to hold while she opened the door.

This time it was the pizza man. “Keep the change,” Unique told him after taking the pizza and giving him the twenty. “Mmmm. Smells good.” Unique rushed into the kitchen, making no eye contact at all. She grabbed a couple plates. “Looks like you're in time.”

Unique slapped a couple slices of pizza on each plate and carried them into the living room. She sat down on the tan tweed La-Z-Boy chair, which was across from the navy leather couch, while simultaneously placing the plates on the coffee table. She gobbled a bite, still making no eye contact.

“Sit, sit.” She motioned at the couch with a hand. Good thing she used hand signals, because her mouth was so full, he wouldn't have understood a word she was saying if she'd spoken.

The second he sat, she stood, while biting off another huge hunk of pizza. She mumbled something that was unintelligible, then used her hand to lift an invisible glass to her mouth to signify that she was going to fetch something to drink. Once again, had she not demonstrated her intent, he would have had no idea what she was talking about, because her mouth was so full.

Unique went into the small kitchen. The refrigerator, stove, and sink occupied most of the space, leaving room for only a two-seater table with an extension leaf, which she never used. The space was tight enough as it was. But Unique didn't need much space. It was just her. She opened the fridge and pulled out two bottled waters. She made it halfway out of the kitchen before turning back around and exchanging the water for two cans of soda, figuring those would go much better with the pizza than some tasteless water.

“Ahhh, here we go,” she said upon returning to her chair in the living room. She placed one soda can on the opposite side of the coffee table and the other in front of her. She opened the can and began to chug down the soda. Then she placed the can back down on the coffee table and wiped the soda that was dripping down the side of her mouth with the back of her hand. “Napkins!”

She stood again, picking up her half-eaten slice of pizza as she did so.

“Please!”

The sound of his loud plea made Unique freeze in her tracks.

“Please.” He lowered his tone this time. “Allow me.” He stood. He slowly walked toward the kitchen. Once there he stood in the small space and scanned it. This was his first time ever at Unique's place, so he wasn't familiar with where things were.

From Unique's vantage point, she could see him standing there and looking around, confused. “Over by the microwave.” She pointed. “There is a roll of paper towels.”

His eyes landed on the microwave, which sat in a corner of the counter, and as Unique had stated, there was a roll of paper towels on a wooden holder next to it. He walked over, tore a couple paper towels off the roll, and then returned to the living room. He sat and handed Unique a paper towel, eyeing her the entire time.

“Oh, thank you.” Her mouth was still full, but he could understand what she was saying this time.

Unique took the paper towel, wiped her mouth, and then quickly finished off the crust of her first slice of pizza. She hadn't even swallowed the last bite before she was picking up the second slice she'd placed on her plate. Her mouth was wide open, prepared to take a bite, when she felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She looked up over her pizza and locked eyes with him.

“What? What's wrong?” she asked, keeping the pizza near her mouth.

“Oh, nothing,” he replied, leaning back with his arms spread-eagle on the couch. “Figured I'd wait for you to stop with your nervous antics, unless you really are that hungry and thirsty. Then we'll talk about the nice, big elephant in the room.”

“Elephant? I don't know what you're talking about. There's no elephant.”

“You're right. There's two. One's called love, and the other's called marriage, and you've managed to avoid them both. But not to worry. I booked a hotel around the corner.” He crossed his leg over his knee and snidely added, “So I've got all night.”

Unique looked as though all of a sudden she'd lost her appetite. She laid the slice of pizza back down on the plate.

“Go ahead. Eat up . . . before the elephant gets it.”

 

 

“Sister Unique, have I told you how glad I am that you are back for good?” Paige said, kissing Unique on the cheek as they stood in the church vestibule.

“Thank you, Sister Paige. I'm glad to be back.” She looked Paige up and down. “And you looking good . . . and after having two babies. Girl, you da bomb!”

A huge smile covered Paige's face, causing her dimples to swallow up her cheeks. Then, suddenly, the smile vanished into thin air. “What are you doing here?”

Unique was baffled as to why Paige's attitude had changed and her voice had gotten louder. A second ago she'd been expressing in this tender, loving voice how happy she was that Unique was back. Now she was yelling at her, asking her why she was even there.

“Excuse me?” Unique said, being demure and keeping her cool, because she was genuinely confused about the sudden change in Paige's attitude.

Paige was looking past Unique at the church's entrance. “Not you,” Paige said to Unique. “Him.” She pointed her index finger at the gentleman who had just entered the church.

Unique turned around and recognized the man Paige was talking about. What was he doing there?

The man spotted Unique and started walking toward her and Paige. He went to open his mouth to say something to Unique, but Paige stepped around and in front of Unique.

“Why are you back here?” Paige asked. “I know the devil goes to church too, but—”

“Paige . . .” Unique tried to calm her sister in Christ, but to no avail.

“Did you think we wouldn't recognize you? Humph! We'll never forget the face of the man who tried to ruin our beloved church mother's wedding,” Paige spat. “I thought we got all this settled the last time you were here.” Although it had been some years since she'd last seen the man, Paige would never forget his face, not after all the drama he had caused. “We ended things on a pretty decent note, so if I were you, I'd leave it that way and go on back where you came from.”

“I'm sorry,” he said, looking from Unique to Paige, then back to Unique again. His eyes pleaded with Unique to jump in before Paige pounced on him again. “I uh, came to—”

“To what? Interrupt another wedding?” Paige interrupted him. “Well, there are no weddings going on here today, buddy, so you've wasted a trip.”

The last time Paige had seen this man was back when Mother Doreen was about to say “I do.” This joker had had the nerve to jump up and talk about how he had reasons why she and her soon-to-be husband shouldn't be married.

“I have a very good reason why no man in his right mind should marry that woman,” were the exact words he'd uttered as he pointed at Mother Doreen. It was awful. No one had any idea why this stranger would show up and ruin one of the best days in the life of the church mother of New Day Temple of Faith.

They would all soon find out, though, that he was the son of the mistress of Mother Doreen's husband from years ago. He had actually been conceived as a result of the affair and thus had turned out to be Mother Doreen's deceased husband's son. He had blamed Mother Doreen for his mother's mental state and for the fact that she had had to live for years in a nursing home after the devastation she suffered at Mother Doreen's hands . . . literally.

When Mother Doreen had caught his mother and her husband, Willie, in a hotel room together many years prior, she'd jumped on the woman and beaten her to a bloody pulp. Mother Doreen hadn't realized that the mistress was pregnant until it was too late. The baby died, and Mother Doreen served time in jail. All the while Willie continued the affair. Mother Doreen serving a jail sentence wasn't enough punishment in the opinion of the son whom the mistress would later give birth to, the son of Mother Doreen's first husband, the son who was now standing in front of Paige and Unique. He'd wanted to sentence Mother Doreen to the same life of misery and loneliness that his mother was enduring, therefore destroying her chances of living happily ever after.

He'd caused such an uproar that day in the church that the women wanted to bash him upside his head with their bouquets. Unique, sure enough, practically had to be held back to prevent her from clocking him. Mother Doreen, always the peacemaker, hadn't blamed him for his actions. She'd apologized to him and asked that he take her to his mother in West Virginia so that she could give her, too, a long overdue apology. Reluctantly, he did so, and Mother Doreen was able to get the forgiveness she sought. After seeing the positive effect her encounter with Mother Doreen had had on his mother, he was able to let it go and forgive Mother Doreen as well. He also apologized to Mother Doreen for interrupting her wedding. Mother Doreen forgave him, returned to Malvonia, and proceeded with her wedding . . . all in one day.

As far as Paige was concerned, just because Mother Doreen had forgiven him didn't mean they had to keep company with him.

“No, I'm not here to interrupt another wedding,” he said to Paige. He then looked at Unique. “But if I'm lucky, I'll be here having a wedding of my own.”

All of a sudden Paige felt as if she was missing something. He and Unique were staring at each other, all starry-eyed. The two looked like long-lost lovers and were acting as if no one else was in the room except the two of them. Finally, Paige began to put two and two together.

“Hold up.” She looked at him. “You live in West Virginia, right?”

He nodded, not taking his eyes off of Unique.

Paige turned to Unique. “And you were in West Virginia for some months.” She didn't move her head once as her eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. “Wait a minute. Don't tell me that while you were in West Virginia, you two . . .” Now she was talking solely to Unique. “No way.” She shook her head.

He cleared his throat. “Go ahead, Unique. Tell her.”

Unique put her head down.

“Yeah, go ahead, Unique. Tell me,” Paige said to Unique sternly, her hand on her hip and her foot tapping impatiently.

Unique was tired of being judged for the decisions she'd made in her life. It always seemed like someone was looking down on her for the choices she'd made. But she'd made a commitment to herself—one that she was trying to keep—that she would never let what other people thought about her keep her from doing what she thought was right for herself. She looked up at the man she'd fallen in love with. Her eyes lit up as a smile spread across her face. If loving him was wrong, no way did she want to be right.

“Yes,” Unique said with confidence, pride, and authority. “Yes, Sister Paige, we did connect while I was in West Virginia. We've been seeing each other and . . .” Unique lost her courage for a moment but then found it. “And last night he proposed to me.”

After he was finally able to get Unique to stop stuffing her face with pizza and soda, he'd put his feelings on the table, letting Unique know he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her as her husband. Unique hadn't answered him at the time, because thoughts of what others might think were taunting her.

Paige stood there, listening in awe.

But right now, as Unique considered the way this man had come into the church and declared his love for her once again, she knew she had made up her mind. “And this morning I'm accepting his proposal.”

His eyes lit up in surprise. Last night, when she told him she had to think about it, he'd feared she was going to try to come up with the words to let him down gently. Well, obviously, she was done thinking about it. His fears, which had had him tossing and turning all night, nearly regretting having worn his heart on his sleeve, had been in vain.