Amen,” Curtis said after finishing his prayer, the one he always prayed in private, just before going into the sanctuary to deliver his sermon. He was ready and admittedly feeling much better today than he had last Sunday, the day he’d had to face his congregation and give them that dreaded confession. And he was glad he had because only a few minutes ago, Elder Jamison had stopped in to say that the church was packed this morning. There wasn’t one empty seat on any pew, and they’d even had to line up chairs in the vestibule as well as down one of the aisles, just so they could accommodate everyone in attendance.
This, of course, was a good thing because it meant all of Curtis’s members had decided not to leave him. They’d heard the worst of the worst, yet still, they’d decided to stand by him, and he was thankful for it.
Curtis heard a knock at his door and looked up. He was sure it was Elder Jamison and Elder Dixon coming to get him, so without giving any real thought to it, he said, “Come in,” and then looked back down toward his desk.
But when he glanced up again, he swallowed a lump in his throat.
It was Tabitha and Curtina.
“What are you doing here?”
“Come on now, Curtis. My daughter’s father is the senior pastor of this church, and she and I are members here, remember?”
“Tabitha, you need to go. You need to leave my office now.”
“Why? Because I’m willing to bet you don’t treat any of your other parishioners this way.”
“If you don’t leave, I’m calling the police.”
“Go right ahead, because I’m not doing anything wrong. All I’m doing is having a nice conversation with the father of my child and the head of the church I belong to.”
Curtis picked up the phone.
“Don’t even waste your time, because your daughter and I are out of here. We’re staying for the service, because I wouldn’t have missed today’s service for anything, but after that, I’m making sure you don’t ever see Curtina again. Oh, and one other thing, I’m contesting that agreement you and your wife forced me to sign, so that I can get my child support increased. You make far too much money to just be paying me fifteen hundred a month and I never should have agreed to that.”
Curtis said nothing and Tabitha finally walked out into the hallway.
But now he replayed certain words such as “I wouldn’t have missed today’s service for anything” and every one of those words made him nervous. They worried him, but at this point, he didn’t see how he could do anything about it. He would warn Elder Jamison and Elder Dixon, but outside of that, he would try to prepare himself for whatever was coming.
Janine, Carl, and Tracy were sitting next to Charlotte, in that order, and Charlotte was happy they’d all been able to make it to service this morning. She was glad to have their support and actually, she couldn’t get over just how full the church was, not to mention there were quite a few faces in the crowd she didn’t recognize. Although the more she thought about it, the more she realized a lot of these “visitors” were probably only here hoping they might be fortunate enough to witness some good old-fashioned drama. They’d seen all the news coverage and since the Tabitha saga was definitely the most interesting news Mitchell residents had ever experienced locally, Charlotte was sure they couldn’t get enough of it.
Curtis walked into the pulpit, set down his Bible and notes, and grasped both sides of the podium. But before he could speak, Reverend Tolson walked inside the door at the back of the church and down the center aisle.
Charlotte and Janine frowned in confusion and the rest of the congregation spoke in loud whispers, but that didn’t stop Reverend Tolson from stepping up on the platform and removing the cordless microphone from its holder.
Charlotte looked at Curtis and while he looked back at her, he was obviously too shocked to do anything and just stood there. But each of the male elders stood up and gradually moved toward Reverend Tolson.
“I’m not here to cause any trouble,” Reverend Tolson said. “I just came here to tell each of you good people that you don’t have to put up with all of this deceit. You no longer have to believe all of Pastor Black’s lies, and if you’ll just give me a chance, I can be the type of pastor you can trust. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly the kind of pastor I was to all of you the entire time Pastor Black here was out on the road, living in total sin. He was out there trying to serve two masters, God and Satan, and as far as I’m concerned he slapped all of you right in the face. He doesn’t care about any of you and because he founded this church, you can’t even get rid of him the way his two Chicago congregations did.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Elder Jamison said matter-of-factly.
“Either you leave this church or—” Elder Dixon started, but there was an interruption.
Reverend Tolson’s wife, Vivian, was headed toward the front of the church with two slightly blackened eyes and two men in blue behind her. She said, “My husband is the one in the dark gray suit with pinstripes. He’s the one who beat me this way, and he’s also the one who threw a rock through Reverend and Mrs. Black’s house window, and here’s a copy of the agreement for the car he rented on the night he did it.”
There were whispers and gasps and Charlotte was even more stunned than she had been a few minutes earlier.
“Are you John Tolson?” one of the officers asked.
“Yes, I am, but you’ve got the wrong man. My wife is sick, and she’s flat-out lying to you about everything.”
“Please place both your hands on your head and slowly face the other direction,” the officer instructed.
“For what? I haven’t done anything.”
“I’ll ask you again. Please place your hands on top of your head and slowly turn the other way.”
This time, Reverend Tolson did what he’d been asked and the officer pulled one of his arms toward his back, handcuffed his wrist, and then handcuffed the other. At the same time, the other officer read Reverend Tolson his rights.
But when they prepared to escort him out, Vivian said, “Officers, I know you’re not required to do this, but if you don’t mind, please don’t take him until I’ve had my say.”
The first officer nodded and the three of them, both officers and Reverend Tolson, stood where they were. Charlotte and Curtis locked eyes again, and she could tell he was just as curious as she was. Charlotte couldn’t imagine what Vivian was about to say but she was glad Matthew wasn’t here to hear whatever it was. He’d begged to stay the rest of the week at her parents and then yesterday, he’d pleaded with her to let him spend today with David, and while she hadn’t been happy about him doing that, she’d told him he could. He wouldn’t be home until this evening.
“First, Pastor and Sister Black, I just want to say how truly sorry I am for all of this. Sister Black, I tried my best to apologize to you that day I saw you at the mall, but I just didn’t have the courage to tell you why. I didn’t have the courage because for years, John has beaten every ounce of courage completely out of me, but after last night, I decided I wasn’t going to take his abuse anymore. I decided that I wasn’t going to let him get away with what he was planning to do this morning,” she said, and Reverend Tolson charged toward her.
But the officers snatched him back.
“Ever since he did that horrible interview last weekend, he’s been threatening to come before the congregation so that he could try to convince all of you here to leave Deliverance Outreach and go with him. He’s wanted his own church for years, and his plan was to try to talk all of you into helping him start one. He’s even been looking at possible sites and checking rental costs…but that’s nothing compared to the filthy and sinful personal life he’s been leading. You see, while my husband couldn’t wait to tell you everything he could about Pastor Black, he had no idea that I’ve been watching his every move. He’s always thought I was too dumb and too naive to pay any real attention to anything he did, but he was wrong. He had no idea that I would ever tell anyone that he’s HIV positive. And so am I.”
Now people spoke loudly and quickly, including Anise and Aunt Emma, and there was no way to tell who was saying what.
“Please, please,” Vivian said. “I promise I’ll only take a few more minutes of your time.”
When everyone settled down, she continued.
“It’s true, and the sad part is that he’s been having an affair with you,” she said, pointing toward the back of the church. Charlotte turned around to see who Vivian was referring to. “Yes, you, Tabitha. You’ve been seeing my husband for over three months now, and I’ve read just about every e-mail and text message you’ve sent him because John thought I was too stupid and too afraid of him to ever read them, and he never bothered deleting them. But as you can see, he was wrong about that, too.”
Charlotte hadn’t even known Tabitha was there and now everyone was staring at her in disgust.
“So if I were you,” Vivian kept on her monologue, “I would rush to the nearest medical facility I could find to get tested because chances are you’re HIV positive, too.”
“Oh, my God,” a woman sitting next to Tabitha said. “You touched my arm when you first sat down. Oh, Lord have mercy, why did you have to sit next to me?” the woman yelled and hurried out of the pew. Then another woman who was sitting on the other side of Tabitha quickly stood up and stepped out into the aisle. She didn’t say anything, but she looked just as terrified as the first woman.
“And then, as much as I hate to tell you this, Pastor and Sister Black, you need to have a nice long talk with your housekeeper because she’s the one who’s been informing Tabitha of all your whereabouts,” Vivian said, looking at Tracy. “She told Tabitha every time either of you had certain appointments or pretty much when you went anywhere and, Sister Black, that’s how John was able to send you those anonymous e-mail messages with information about Pastor.”
All eyes locked on Tracy, and Charlotte could see Tracy’s body shaking nervously. Charlotte stared at her, but when Tracy refused to look her way, Charlotte turned her attention to Curtis, whose face showed great pain. Charlotte didn’t want to believe what Vivian had just told them, but it certainly would explain how Tabitha had been able to follow them so closely. Still, though, what Vivian hadn’t explained was why Tracy would betray them this way. She’d been with them for years, and Charlotte and Curtis treated her like family, so it didn’t make any sense. It was so not like her to do such an evil thing, and Charlotte couldn’t help wondering what her excuse was going to be.
“I’m sure by now all of you are wondering why I chose to do this here when I simply could have gone to Pastor and Sister Black behind closed doors. Well, the reason I didn’t is because I wanted my husband to know what it feels like to be exposed publicly, the same as he tried to nationally expose some of Pastor Black’s mistakes on television. And, most important, I wanted all of you to hear everything I had to say from my own mouth because it’s so easy for people to hear one thing, get it twisted, and then go and repeat something totally different.”
“Amen,” someone agreed.
“You hang in there, Sister Tolson,” another said.
“I will. And I want you to know how much I appreciate the wonderful way you’ve all treated me the entire time I’ve been here. You’re all good people and no matter what mistakes Pastor Black has made, I hope you’ll do what Jesus has done for each and every one of us too many times to count. I hope you’ll forgive, forget, and go on with life. I hope you’ll continue to love Pastor and Sister Black the same as always. Finally, I just want to ask that you keep me in your prayers because I’ll certainly be doing the same for all of you. May God bless you and keep you always.”
Vivian passed Curtis the microphone, hugged him, went over and hugged Charlotte, and then hugged a slew of people on her way out. She did this in the midst of much praise, a standing ovation, and applause.
Once Vivian was no longer in sight, the arresting officers escorted Reverend Tolson out of the sanctuary and out of the building.
Then Tabitha gathered up Curtina’s carrier and left behind them.
And the congregation applauded again.