“Now that was a flashback,” Marcus threw out at Bishop Perry as they walked toward the back chambers of the church. Holding the door open for his friend and bishop, Marcus held a garment bag for Bishop’s change of clothing.
“You’re telling me.” Ky wiped his forehead with his cloth he’d used while giving his sermon in the pulpit. “I just can’t wait to see what the ladies have to say.”
“Now that I can live without. That woman was almost the death of my marriage, man.” Marcus scratched lightly at his slightly tainted salt-and-pepper goatee as he shut the door behind him. “I know Gracie saw her. That woman don’t miss a beat.”
“You think so?” Bishop yelled out behind the walls of the changing room. “I don’t know if they caught a glimpse or not, Marcus.”
Taking a look at his aged image in the mirror on the wall, Marcus cut his primping short after admiring the physique he had been able to uphold.
“Are you serious? Man, Gracie is not that slick. I know that woman and she ain’t pulling no wool over nobody’s eyes. I saw the way her eyes almost bucked out of her head. And she can’t blame it on that thyroid stuff, either.” Marcus laughed at the thought of his wife, and Bishop Perry laughed because he knew his friend was telling every bit of the truth.
Coming out of his hiding place, dressed in fresh slacks and a clean and crisp white button-down, Bishop Ky Perry faced his friend with the shake of his head.
“If anyone should be upset with her presence today, it should be me.” he raised his eyebrows. “She had me fooled.” he stood with hands in his pockets. “I thought…I thought she actually was having my baby.”
He didn’t want to get caught up with history, but Marcus had once dated Michelle himself before wedding Gracie. A mid-marriage encounter with Michelle left him asking God and his wife for forgiveness for the affair he’d thought he wanted.
Around the same time, Bishop Perry, having met Michelle on his own, dated Michelle to the point of believing he was a prime candidate for being her child’s father. It wasn’t until they were in the delivery room that the features of the child confirmed in his heart that he was still childless. It wasn’t until weeks later that the DNA test authenticated his heartbreak.
“Well, bud,” the bishop said, walking closer to Marcus, “Looks like we will have to face the jury soon enough.”
“You can say that again. A jury filled with my wife and Kendra is filled to capacity. Shall you say a quick prayer for us, please?” Marcus half joked.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Bishop Ky Perry agreed.