Sister Betty Says I Do (11 page)

There was something foreign about the trustee's voice. It contained a combination of anger and sadness, which told Leotis that no matter what was wrong, Sister Betty was the last person Freddie wanted to know about it or to see.

 

While Leotis was down the block, grappling with his conscience and with Freddie, Sister Betty was grappling, too. She was trying to find a way to keep a persistent Sharvon from learning what part she'd played in the argument between her and Freddie.

“I've got to accept it,” Sister Betty told Sharvon. They'd gone from room to room, with Sister Betty fiddling around, moving things that didn't need moving. Each time Sharvon tried to get her to discuss how she figured in the argument, Sister Betty would begin adjusting lights, which would remain unlit once they left the room. Still determined not to answer Sharvon's questions, she told her, “You've got to understand. Freddie didn't just argue with me as he did weeks ago with Bea and Sasha. Tonight he frightened me.” Throwing up her hands, she declared, “He doesn't want to go through with this, and that's all there is to it.”

Suddenly Sister Betty stopped. She spun around, facing Sharvon, nearly stepping on her feet. Her voice became strong and defiant. “I've lived all these years by myself, and I don't need a man.”

“You don't?”

“No, I've got Jesus.”

To Sharvon's way of thinking, they'd played follow the leader long enough. Sharvon removed one of her pearl earrings, as though she were getting ready to fight. Instead, she reached for the cordless phone. “I'm calling Leotis. I don't want to call him, but you're making me nervous.”

Sister Betty needed to do something to stop her, but all she could say was, “Put the phone down. Don't call him!”

Sharvon ignored Sister Betty's pleas to put down the phone. She quickly dialed Leotis's home phone. After several rings her call went directly to his voice mail.

“Leotis,” Sharvon began, “I believe you might want to stop by the house and check up on
your
Sister Betty. She's in a bad way, and I believe it has something to do with Freddie.”

Sharvon didn't bother to turn around after hanging up the phone. She could feel a shift in the room. Without saying another word or looking back, Sharvon left the room, muttering, “I still don't want to see him when he gets here.”

 

A short time ago, Leotis had taken Freddie to his home, as the old man had requested. No sooner had he returned and entered his own home than he heard his phone ringing. Before he could reach it, his answering machine intercepted the call. He was about to interrupt the recording when he heard Sharvon's voice leaving a message: “I believe you might want to stop by the house and check up on
your
Sister Betty. She's in a bad way, and I believe it has something to do with Freddie.”

Leotis let the machine continue while he plopped down on his living room recliner. His head fell forward, and he held it for a few moments in the palms of his hands.
Lord, please help me. I'm glad I didn't answer that phone. What could I have said to Sharvon? What can I say to Sister Betty?

Because he'd raced through the door moments ago, trying to get to the ringing telephone in time, he'd not bothered to turn on the living room light. And as he knelt beside the chair, he still made no move to turn on the light. It didn't matter. He felt that there wasn't enough light in the world beyond Jesus Christ to bring him out of the darkness he'd just fallen into.

A frown appeared upon his young face, making him suddenly look much older than his thirtysomething years. He didn't clasp his hands together in prayer. Instead, he lifted his hands, with his open palms stretched high. Leotis began to pray. “I'm humbled before you, Lord, in repentance. Whatever I've done or said that was displeasing in your sight, please forgive me.”

Leotis's plea for God's grace and mercy was for a good reason. Earlier he had done as Freddie insisted and had not taken him to the hospital or to Sister Betty's. Instead, he'd taken Freddie home, and because he'd insisted on knowing from where Freddie's anger stemmed and why Freddie had directed it toward him, he'd learned much more than he'd wanted.

Leotis's muscular arms suddenly felt weak, and they twitched, causing him to break loose from the burden of Freddie's news. Looking around the darkened room, he glanced at the wall clock's lit panel. He didn't know how long he'd been thinking and praying. However long it'd been, he now felt completely exhausted. He'd gotten more information from Freddie, aside from his illness, after a gentle badgering. Freddie had told him what'd sent him reeling earlier. He'd said that when Sister Betty met him at her door earlier that evening, he'd wanted just a little attention after an afternoon at the doctor's in Anderson.

And because Leotis had indeed thrown himself in the middle of Sister Betty and Freddie's lives with such nonsense, he realized, there was now a price to pay.

Leotis walked over toward his living room window and looked at Sister Betty's house. Only a few yards separated his and Sister Betty's homes. Now he wondered if keeping his promise to Freddie would forge a separation between him and the woman Sister Betty, whom he loved like a mother, a separation that couldn't be measured or forgave.

He pressed his face to the window both for the coolness of the windowpane and a glance at a star or two that might appear in the night sky. Just as he started to turn away from the window, the headlights of a car entering Sister Betty's driveway caught his attention. The floodlight on the side of the house came on, triggered by someone exiting the car. It was Sharvon, and she was alone, and that was when it occurred to him that there were no lights on inside Sister Betty's home. He looked at his watch and wondered aloud, “It's not even eleven o'clock. Why is she not with Sharvon if there's no lights on inside? What if she's sick, too?”

With fear of the unknown urging him, he started for his front door. And that was when arrows of condemnation pierced his spirit. He'd almost put his hand on the doorknob when his promise to Freddie rushed into his mind. He took a step back. He'd now have to keep Freddie's serious and life-threatening illness a secret from Sister Betty.

He was more certain now than before that Sharvon's message on his answering machine had been a cry for help for Sister Betty. And after all he'd put them through, there was nothing he could do. The promise he'd made to Freddie had made him a prisoner to and a participant in a lie.

He pressed his back against the door. He was unable to move, because he knew that one of the biggest lies was the one he'd told himself, and it was about him being able to control the situation with Ima and Sharvon without ultimately damaging his ministry or his church.

He ran his fingers through his hair as a distraction. It wouldn't work, because the truth was that there were many women in and outside of the seminary and the church that had come on to him. But he'd always found a reason or two not to entertain the idea of pursuing any relationship, and none of the reasons had anything to do with how the women looked or their ages. That was one truth he could claim. His truth was rooted in his belief that he'd been set aside to do God's work, and though it wasn't so for many other preachers, for him, marriage or a relationship would've been outside of God's assignment.

And then Sharvon had entered the picture, and he'd become comfortable with going to a dinner or a movie or just chatting, without needing to take it further. He'd loved the idea that she was as dedicated to her career as he was to his ministry.