“I know I haven’t cooked for you in a long time,” she went on to say. “But I promise from now on, things are going to be different. I’m going to treat you better than both your other wives ever did, and you’ll never, ever want to mess around the way you had to on them. I’ve been sitting here thinking all day how if Michelle and Alicia had treated you the way any good man deserves to be treated, you never would have had a reason to sneak and be with me.”

JT had had enough of all this foolishness. “Carmen, we need to talk.”

She walked back out to the living room. “Sure, baby. What about?”

“Come and sit down for a few minutes,” he said, and she sat next to him on the camel-colored love seat.

“You seem upset,” she said, caressing his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Everything. I mean, I know you’re really happy about being pregnant, and that’s why I’ve tried my best to avoid having this discussion, but, Carmen, this isn’t going to work.”

She turned her body more in his direction. “I don’t understand.”

“I know you want this baby, but if you have it, it’ll ruin my position in the ministry for good. I’ll never be able to bounce back from this kind of a scandal, and I’ll lose everything. All of my members at NLCC will leave, and I’ll have no way of taking care of you or the baby.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” she said, raising her voice.

“I know this doesn’t make you happy, but I’m begging you to at least try and work with me on this.”

“Work with you how?”

“By terminating the pregnancy.”

Carmen got up. “Wait a minute. I know you’re not asking me to kill my baby.”

“No, I’m asking you to have an abortion.”

Carmen laughed out loud in a deranged sort of way. “Like I said, I know you’re not asking me to kill my baby.”

“Sweetheart, look,” he said, standing up. “Please try to understand what I’m saying. This is going to wreck my whole reputation as a minister. And if that happens, I’ll never go national the way you and I talked about. I’ll never make another dime.”

“Of course you will. Ministers have babies all the time, and no one says a word about it.”

“That’s because most ministers have them with their wives and not with their mistresses.”

“But that’s just it; by the time I begin showing, you and I will already be married. I know I’d said I would give you a lot more time to divorce Alicia, but now that I’m carrying your child…well, that changes everything.”

“Carmen, baby, please,” he said, holding her hands. “I’ll do anything you ask, if you’ll just agree to have an abortion.”

Carmen stared at him. “Oh my God. You’re serious, aren’t you? You really want me to kill our baby.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because you do. You want me to commit cold-blooded murder.”

JT decided to try a different approach. “All I’m saying is that we can’t do this right now and that once we’re married, we can have as many children as you want.”

Carmen jerked away from him. “I’m having my baby, JT. I’m having it no matter what, and you’ll either do right by me, or else.”

“Baby, please, please try to see my side of this.”

“I do see it. I see it very clearly. Years ago, you pimped me to other men, then started sleeping with me yourself, married two other women, got me pregnant, and now you’re trying to dodge your responsibilities. But, JT, I want you to hear me and hear me good. You are going to divorce Alicia, marry me, and be the best father in the world to our son or daughter.”

After seeing the I-will-not-be-moved-on-this look in her eyes, JT knew there was no reasoning with her. At least not tonight anyway, so he was through talking about it. He was done trying to win a losing battle, and for the rest of the evening, he would play the loving husband role just like she wanted him to. He would plaster a phony smile across his face, fabricate words he didn’t mean, and force himself to have sex with her. He would do whatever it took to keep her quiet and somewhat happy-for now. He would continue biding his time until Minister Payne handled his business.

Chapter 38

JT hung up the phone and smiled. He’d just finished talking with Veda for the second time this morning and also for the third time since yesterday, and her airline reservations were finally set. He could tell in her voice how excited she was to be making the trip with him, and he certainly couldn’t wait to see her. At first, he’d thought it might be best if she flew on a separate plane, nonstop between Minneapolis and Dallas, but then once Janet had given him his travel itinerary, he’d decided he wanted to see Veda before then. He wouldn’t sit with her at the gate or next to her on the plane, but now that she was connecting through Chicago, they would at least be able to share the same cabin-courtesy of JT’s offering to reimburse her in cash for the first-class ticket he’d insisted she treat herself with.

JT glanced at his watch, saw that it was five minutes before noon, and went online to make sure Diana had made the wire transfer. He was still scheduled to meet Weaver and Barb at three but also needed time to stop at the bank to get a cashier’s check.

He entered his user ID and password information and waited for his account summary to pop up. He scrolled through the page, but he could already see right at the top that the balance was still showing the same one hundred thousand dollars he was planning to use for the media buy. Maybe Diana had thought he didn’t need it right away this morning and was planning to make the transaction this afternoon, so he picked up his phone and called her.

“Hello?” she said after three rings.

“Hey, dear. How are you?”

“I could definitely be better.”

JT had no idea what she meant by that, but right now he didn’t have time to inquire about it. “I only have a few minutes, but I just wanted to check in to see how soon you’ll be able to make the transfer.”

“That’s just it. I won’t be.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

JT repositioned his phone. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Well, then, just let me ask you one question. Did you really think I was that stupid?”

“That stupid about what?!”

“You.”

“Diana, look. If you’ve changed your mind about helping me, then I wish you’d just say it and stop playing all these games.”

“I don’t play games. But you, on the other hand, are a master at it. Or so you thought you were, because, sweetheart, as of today, I’m completely on to you.”

“What are you talking about?” he yelled, forgetting he was at the church and that Janet sat just outside his office.

“I’m talking about the private investigator I hired and the lengthy report he just gave me from the last two weeks. I mean, did you actually think I would give you a hundred and fifty thousand dollars and then not check up on you? And my only regret is that I didn’t do it beforehand.”

JT closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair but didn’t speak.

“Yeah, that’s right. He’s been following you all over town, even to your other woman’s house. Some chick named Carmen Wilson. He saw you going in and out of her building all this week and part of last week, so finally he followed you up to the floor she lives on to see what apartment you were going into. After that, he found a couple of her neighbors who were happy to confirm that you’d been visiting her for years. Interestingly enough, though, they didn’t seem to know your name or that you were a pastor.”

JT had no idea how he was going to recover from this one but said what any man would say in this kind of situation: “Baby, I can explain.”

“No. But I’ll tell you what you can do. You can give me back my money. Every single dime of it.”

“Baby, please let me come by and explain this to you.”