My Time in the Sun Page 7

  Tee rarely set foot in the place because there was too much going on in her life and it didn’t seem that God had time for her anymore. And when she finally did come, nothing about what Uncle Terrence did today had anything to do with God. Tee felt used all over again.

  The tense atmosphere of Pastor’s office and the fact that her mother and Aunt Leesa were both eyeing her with enough anger to land her under the dirt, quickly shut down anything else Tee had to say.

  She settled in a wingback chair off to the side to observe how things would go from this point. She also reflected on the enlightening conversation between Aridell and Leesa. Aunt Leesa had straight-up lied. Evidently, Aunt Leesa had everything to do with Auntie Aridell not being at the funeral. She said she told everyone so Tee didn’t have to be bothered by all that. And why she had pulled Tee into her madness this morning was beyond understanding. Tee had never wanted to get into it with that old woman. No ma’am and no sir. Aridell Slaughter wasn’t one to play with. Tee had learned that the hard way and still didn’t appreciate that stunt her aunt had pulled on her and her mother years ago.

  Tee was thirteen when her mother’s Thunderbird had parked in front of that fancy high rise building on South Shore Drive with all of Tee’s belongings in the trunk and filling up the backseat. All Tee had to do was make it five more years and she would be legally out of the house and wouldn’t have to share any more of Archie’s money with her mother.

  Auntie Aridell had already made it plain that she didn’t like Archie. Said there was something not quite right about a grown man of his size dating a girl that was not only underage, but one that was mistaken for a nine-year-old all too often. As far as Tee was concerned, Archie was nothing like her Auntie Aridell tried to make him out to be—a predator, a pedophile. He loved Tee and she loved him and that’s all there was to it. Tee couldn’t help that she wasn’t growing at a normal rate and people always believed she was younger than her actual age. Back then, she had the mind that she was going to keep seeing Archie. She was grown, no matter what Auntie Aridell said.

  Her mother, Cathy, had said Tee could do what she liked as long as money was coming in to pay the bills. But she’d given up on Tee the moment she got pregnant and people started asking questions about the father. Archie suddenly wasn’t coming around as much anymore. The money had dried up—for the moment.

  Once he got over being angry, he would be back. He had to. Her mother made her take large doses of some type of white pills to get rid of the first baby that he’d known nothing about. After that, she gave Tee a lecture on using condoms, but it didn’t matter because Archie never liked using them. Because of Tee’s age, getting on birth control was out of the question. The doctor would ask questions about her sex life, and they’d have to make a referral to Child Protective Services. Her mother didn’t want that because then it would come out that the family was profiting from the child’s sexual activity. The answer would have been an absolute yes, but her mother told her to lie if anyone ever asked. She was the one pocketing every slip of cash Archie sent Tee’s way. Auntie Aridell was the one who got into a heated argument with her mother and Leesa about what was going on.

  Nothing was going to keep Tee from being with the man she’d been seeing ever since he’d met her hanging out with her friends at school. He gave her a ride home, then she saw him the next day, and the next. Soon, he showered her with gifts, and gave her everything she could ever want. The only downside was the sex. It was always so … painful. Even now, the memories of being under him made her … shudder at the excruciating signals it still sent through her body. Sometimes she couldn’t walk, sometimes couldn’t speak for hours after she’d been with him. But then he’d give her things, things her family could never afford. He’d call her his baby girl. He was like a big teddy bear and he was soooo handsome and he wanted her—just her. That had to mean something, right?

  When Cathy determined that Tee needed to leave their West Side home because the police and CPS were sniffing around, Tee was not of the mind that things were going to be different simply because she was in another part of the city. No way was that old bird gonna tell her anything different. Tee already had things planned out because Auntie Aridell was rich as sin, living in that big old place on the lake, wore those good, expensive clothes—and not the kind bought in those strip malls poppin’ up all over the place. And she drove a brand-new stinking Lincoln every two years. She wasn’t fooling nobody. She was rolling in even more dough than Archie had.

  All thoughts of Tee living in Auntie Aridell’s house came to a screeching, record-scratching halt the minute the old woman said the word “contract”. Contract? What was a piece of paper supposed to do? Well, it must’ve been something because her mother had voiced exactly the same reservations Tee was unable to vocalize. Something about seeing those rules and requirements in writing seemed so much more … frightening. Even more than her mother constantly arguing with her about what she was supposed to do. Tee easily played on her mother’s mental lapses by saying “You didn’t say that”, twisting her words and throwing them back. That confusing move worked every time. Tee could do whatever she wanted, including sneaking out to be with Archie.

  Somehow, that changed the moment she got pregnant again. This time, she insisted on having the baby because then Archie would have no choice but to stay with her. After she told him about the baby, first he stopped talking to her, wouldn’t return her calls, then he seemed to disappear altogether, making Tee doubt she’d made the right decision in keeping the baby. To add insult to injury, he didn’t want to sign the birth certificate. He’d only done so because one of her uncles hunted him down and damn near threatened his life if he didn’t come. Not to mention Cathy had promised to make his life hell if he didn’t lay down more cash to support his child.

  Archie was there in her hospital room, but didn’t say much or hold the baby. His actions made Tee feel less than worthless. Then he made it worse by leaning over that silver rail to whisper so only she could hear, “I don’t know why you keep calling me. I don’t want to go up in you after all of that.”

  Tee had cringed from his harsh tone and followed the direction of his gaze to where her belly raised the hospital blanket a little.

  Like he didn’t have anything to do with her getting pregnant.

  “Yeah, you a woman now,” he growled, and it finally settled in her mind that she had become less important for having his child.

  Well, hadn’t she been a woman to him all along? What did he mean by that?

  Archie’s mother, Mary Beth, narrowed an eagle-eyed gaze at Tee, then asked, “He said you were small because you have a growth deficiency gene. How old are you?”

  The nurse, who had just walked in with Auntie Aridell bearing a basket of gifts, froze in the middle of giving Tee a small clear cup of pain pills when the answer echoed in the room. Suddenly, several of her family members had looked uncomfortable. The nurse angled her body to give Archie and Mary Beth a glance that didn’t hide her disdain—or was that horror?

  Mary Beth met the nurse’s angry glare head on, making Tee realize now, years later, that she had actually known all along that something wasn’t quite right about her son and was only inquiring about Tee to save her own tail or to get Tee out of his life for good. Auntie Aridell blocked the nurse’s path to the door and whispered something that sounded like, “Not the first time they’ve been notified. I tried my best, but maybe you could … ”

  The nurse tilted her head as though considering what had been said. She nodded at Auntie Aridell before leaving the room.

  Cathy turned on Auntie Aridell and said, “What did you just do?”

  “I did what all of you should’ve done,” she replied, scanning the anxious faces of the adults in the room. “Somehow, you managed to scheme your way out of CPS doing what it took to protect your daughter because everyone in this room lied—including you. Hosptial staff are mandated reporters. Might carry a little more weight than little old me.�
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  Auntie Aridell gave Archie, Cathy, and Mary Beth a look that spoke to the fact she felt they were scum. “She’s a child and everyone is looking the other way because he’s slapping some money in their hand. What about her life? What about what it’s doing to her body? What about the fact that she now has a child by a man nearly twice her age and she’s not even in high school?”

  “I’m leaving,” Archie said, grabbing his mother’s arm. “Don’t call me or my mother again. Y’all deal with this.”

  “Oh, you’re not getting off that easy, stud,” Cathy shot back, gripping the steel rail of the hospital bed. “You owe me. I mean, you need to pay us for this child.”

  “And that’s what it comes down to,” Auntie Aridell said with a weary shake of her head. “Money. Money over your child’s well-being. When he goes to jail, you should be right in a cell along with him.”

  “Jail?” Archie shot back. “She’s a midget. I didn’t know how old she was. She said she was—”

  “Twelve,” Tee said in a low tone. “I told you my age when you picked me up from school that first day.”

  Mary Beth’s hands went up to cover her face.

  “Oh, don’t be all up in arms about it now,” Aridell warned, placing her back against the brightly painted wall. “I’m sure Tee wasn’t the only one. She’s probably the only one whose family condoned it. But don’t worry. The nurse heard all she needed to hear to make a complaint from her end. This time, it’ll carry enough weight that no one else will turn a blind eye.” She narrowed her eyes on Cathy. “The police will sort it all out this time and not someone Archie here can pay off.”

  To the nurse’s credit, less than five minutes later, two officers extracted Archie from Tee’s hospital room and took him in for questioning. Mary Beth scuttled out of the room to follow wherever the police were taking him. Several family members attempted to attack Auntie Aridell, who along with Cathy had to be escorted from the hospital. That was a lot better her putting a parting bullet in them. Auntie Aridell didn’t play.

  Tee was snapped back into the present when Uncle Terrence said, “I didn’t expect there to be so much opposition.”

  “Exactly a point y’all didn’t consider because you didn’t have any business doing what you did today,” Brother Ray said, entering the office and putting an angry glare on everyone in the room. “I find it amazing that all this went down when I wasn’t here. Y’all knew I wouldn’t stand for something like this.”

  “Don’t even know how you found out,” Brother Thomas grumbled, rubbing his bald spot.

  “Sister Janice called me as I was leaving the airport.” He swept another gaze over all of them, causing a few to shift uncomfortably in the chairs.

  Deacon Phillip unwound his long limbs from where he stood behind the door and shrugged off Brother Ray’s statement. “Seems like you should’ve put a muzzle on your aunt, Terrence. She’s the main reason this went bad so quick. I thought you said your family was on board.”

  “I thought you was sweet on the old girl,” Terrence replied with a pointed look at Deacon Phillip. “Why didn’t you know she’d come so strong?”

  “I’m not messing with Aridell,” the man grumbled, wiping the perspiration that peppered his brow. “That woman’ll put a bullet in you quicker than she’ll smile at you.”

  “What makes you think she’d be that bold?”

  Phillip hesitated before pulling the tails of his shirt from his slacks and lifting it to show the evidence of a bullet wound that had healed over.

  Several people gasped as he confessed. “She … ah … misunderstood my intentions one night when I took her home after Bible class.”

  An array of expressions showed that several people had plenty to say about that experience, but they’d wisely keep their mouths shut. Well, all except Brother Ray. “Well, at least it was only a warning shot.”

  Brother Phillip’s skin turned a pasty shade of pale. “Actually, it was a kill shot.”

  No one could speak behind that admission.

  “She didn’t know I have situs inversus,” he confessed.

  “Sight what?” Tee said, and several pairs of eyes swept in her direction as though they’d forgotten she was even in the office.

  “My heart and organs are reversed, so my heart wasn’t where she thought it would be,” he explained, tucking his shirt back into place. “So y’all can play with that woman if you want to, but I like breathing.”

  “He’s right,” Leesa Henderson Jones said. “You need to keep the heat on Pastor Baltimore by sticking it to his wife.”

  Even Cathy winced at that reference. Brother Thomas grinned.

  “Y’all know what I mean,” she added, frowning at the fact they’d mistaken her words for something else. “His weak spot is that woman. So, we should do enough to keep her past out there, then it’ll take him off his square.”

  “You go after that man’s wife,” Brother Ray warned, brow furrowed with anger. “And you’re going to have another well whipped—”

  “He just caught me off guard, that’s all,” Terrence said, grimacing.

  Brother Ray’s chuckle resonated in the office. “Yeah, you hold to that. Sister Janice said he almost put your lights out—permanently.” He poked a finger in Uncle Terrence’s chest. “You keep coming after that man’s woman and you won’t have to worry about being in the pulpit, you’ll be stretched out in a casket.” He scanned Terrence’s suit-clad form. “But I’ll bet that suit will look pretty good on you. Even six feet under.”

  Uncle Terrence’s forbidding scowl almost put a smile on Tee’s face. The man could dish it but he couldn’t take it. Brother Ray was a smartly dressed man himself, and the fact that there was no love lost between the two men was legendary. Brother Ray was the main reason that Uncle Terrence wasn’t currently the pastor. From what she’d learned from ear hustling during family dinners at Leesa’s house, Brother Ray insisted that they bring in someone from the outside since the Henderson men had shoveled a lot of dirt on the pulpit and it took someone like Pastor Baltimore to sweep it off and give it some dignity again.

  Tee admired that in a man. And if she was honest, she was proud of the way Auntie Aridell had stood up to Uncle Terrence and to everyone in the family today. Same way she did years ago when Tee was so naïve and didn’t understand what she’d gotten herself into or the fact that her mother encouraged the efforts to make it happen. Tee knew better now, but she was swimming in the darkness of her choices and there didn’t seem to be any way out. Lord, she could use some help getting her life back on track.

  Brother Ray shoved his massive hands in the pockets of black slacks that fit his well-built frame to perfection. “Y’all just mad that the man made good on his promise to make things right with this church. Y’all are mad at him for bringing this church in the black. He’s done more than any other pastor who’s been at the helm. No scandals, even with his background that y’all kept bringing up when it wasn’t necessary.” He picked up the photograph of Pastor Baltimore and the First Lady on the corner of the desk. “And some of y’all have been on the wrong side of the law a time or two, so I can’t see how y’all are holding that against him now. Unless it serves a purpose. Didn’t know what that was until I received the call this morning. Disturbed my soul. He didn’t deserve any of that. She didn’t either. Y’all know that.”

  Deacon Samuel rose to his full height, which was still a few inches shorter than Brother Ray. “You don’t get to tell us how to run this church. Who the hell d’you think you are?”

  Brother Ray lifted his chin and turned an intense glare on the shorter man as he said, “My apologies for stating the obvious and you can’t handle the truth.” He shifted so he could stand face to face with Uncle Terrence. “I don’t like what you did to that man’s wife. That wasn’t nobody’s business what she used to do for living. Didn’t make her a bad first lady. Made her strong for having been able to get through it. Did any of y’all think about that? Or were you too busy
thinking about what’s between your legs because you were all up in the business of what she used to do with hers?”

  Tee let out a low whistle and her mother elbowed her in the side—hard enough to cause a flash of searing pain.

  “I’m not liking any of this,” Brother Ray said, replacing the photo in its rightful spot. “Leave that man’s woman alone before you cause everyone a whole lot of grief. Yes, she’s a way to get to him, but that’s wrong and you know it.” Brother Ray’s glance landed on Tee and she nodded to let him know someone in the room felt the same way. He smiled back. “And if you haven’t recognized that your core membership is of the female persuasion, then you’re more out of touch than you know.” His gaze arrowed in on Cathy who squirmed in the chair. “The women might not say it, but what you did made them uncomfortable. Some of them also have a spotty past. How can they trust you if you’d do that to one of the very women they looked up to?”

  “He makes good sense,” Tee said. “If I were you, I’d lay off Kari Baltimore or—”

  “What would you know about anything,” Uncle Terrence snarled. “You’re another one who can’t keep her legs or lips closed.”

  Tee’s mouth froze in mid-speech, trying to process the hurtful things her uncle had just said.

  “That was uncalled for,” Brother Ray roared, gesturing towards Tee’s tear-filled eyes. “And this is how you’re going to lead this church? Reminding people of the things they’ve done? That’s Christ-like?”

  Tee’s whole world collapsed with those spiteful words. Why did everything about her life come back to decisions she’d made about her body? The pain that filled her rendered her unable to say anything. Terrence grinned at her discomfort, and if there was any time she’d lost even more respect for him—this was it.