A Good Man (53 page)

“First time I saw them was at a wedding,” Reverend Wilson said. “Beautiful wedding. About as hot then as it is today.”

Sonya saw Regina in the pew to her left dabbing at a tear. I feel you, Regina, I really do. I lost a daughter once, too.

“The second time I saw them was at a funeral,” Reverend Wilson said. “That was beautiful, too.” He stepped out from behind the pulpit. “Hmm. You’re probably thinkin’, ‘Reverend, what’s beautiful about a funeral?’ It wasn’t really a funeral. It was a home-going, amen?”

“Amen.”

“We sent Sheila and Khari home to Jesus. And now they’re here a third time.” Reverend Wilson nodded. “For a homecoming. John, we missed you. We’re glad you’re back home.” He returned to the pulpit. “Turn with me to Song of Solomon, chapter two.” He smiled. “We’re gonna talk about love today. I feel it in this room. Let’s see what God’s word tells us about love. Starting in verse four: ‘He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.’

“Jazz, if you didn’t already know, this is a banqueting house,” Reverend Wilson said. “We like to eat. But there’s more to this place than food. God feeds us from His word in this place, and we have grown strong and healthy. Look at me! I have to be the healthiest man in here!”

Reverend Wilson is a wonderful preacher. There isn’t anyone in here without a smile. There is love here. The man holding my hand does love me. He just can’t admit it yet, but I’m okay with that, Lord. He said he still loved Sheila, and he was right—love doesn’t die with the person. I still love my grandmama.

“The verse says, ‘his banner over me was love.’” Reverend Wilson looked up. “I got to thinking about the word ‘banner.’ What’s a banner? A long, skinny flag-looking thing. Businesses use them to advertise things. The big headlines in a newspaper are called banners. You may have seen a banner following an airplane. In the old days, a banner was the flag of a king—or a knight.” Reverend Wilson looked at John. “You went on a quest, Sir John, and from what I’ve seen, you were successful, though Jazz is certainly no damsel in distress.”

Laughter filled the church.

“And I can tell, Jazz,” Reverend Wilson said, “that John’s banner is flapping like crazy in the breeze above you even now.”

John’s banner over me is love, Sonya thought. He makes me feel loved even if he isn’t in love with me.

“Let’s read on. Verse five: ‘Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.’” Reverend Wilson laughed. “I hope none of y’all ever think you’re sick of love. If you are, tough. Why? There ain’t no cure for love, amen?”

“Amen.”

“Ah, but that’s not what the verse means,” Reverend Wilson said. “When it says ‘I am sick of love,’ it really means I’m lovesick. I’m infected with love. I have a bad case of love. I didn’t take that love shot, and now I’m sick with it.” He smiled. “Not the worst way to go, amen?”

“Amen!”

“Skip down to verse ten: ‘My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.’”

Reverend Wilson stepped back. “The winter is past. The rain is over and gone. The flowers are back. My yard is full of them. The birds are singing. They wake me up every morning. Even the turtle is gettin’ loud. I didn’t know turtles got loud.” He smiled. “They’re turtledoves, y’all. Birds. I went to Auburn, you know.”

Lots of laughter.

“The crops are growing. It smells good outside. It smells like life.” He stepped away from the pulpit, walked down to the floor, and stood in front of Regina. “And yet there are some who aren’t very lively these days. Regina Mosely? The winter is past. The rain is over and gone. God’s banner over you is love.”

Sonya matched Regina’s tears. She gripped John’s hand tightly. Lord, please take away some of her pain today. Please, somehow, replace her daughter and granddaughter.

Reverend Wilson moved in front of Sonya’s pew. “Jazz?” He winked.

I’ll bet he almost called me Sonya.

“The winter is past. The rain is over and gone. God’s banner over you is love.”

“Yes,” Sonya whispered. The winter is over. The past is over. All things have become new. Thank You, Lord.

Reverend Wilson stood in front of Kim. “Shani?”

Kim wouldn’t look up.

“Shani, the winter is past,” Reverend Wilson said.

Sonya watched her daughter’s eyes fill with tears.

“Shani, the rain is over and gone,” Reverend Wilson said. “Shani, whether you believe it or not, God’s banner over you is love.”

Kim looked up and nodded.

Precious Lord Jesus, make Yourself real to this child. Sonya took Kim’s hand.

Reverend Wilson stood in front of John’s father. “Mr. Bond? The winter is past. The rain is over and gone. God’s banner over you is love.”

John’s father nodded.

Reverend Wilson knelt in front of John. “John James Bond the second?”

Sonya smiled. That’s his full name? Cool.

“John, the winter is past.”

John nodded.

“The rain is over and gone.”

“Yes,” John said.

“God’s banner over you is love.”

“Amen,” John said. “Amen.”

Reverend Wilson stood and raised his hands. “New Hope? The winter is past.”

“Thank You, Jesus!”

“The rain is over and gone.”

“Hallelujah!”

“God’s banner over you is love.”

“Amen!”

“Aaaaaa-men,” Reverend Wilson sang. “Aaaaaa-men! Aaaaaa-men, amen, amen. Come and sing it with me …”

After the song and after the benediction came the hugs. Sonya had never met such hugging, huggable folks. At one point, she faced Regina. They didn’t hug each other, though Sonya wanted to. Sonya received only a nod.

I will be praying for you, Regina. You will be happy again, I just know it.

Then the entire church made a caravan down to David’s Catfish House in Monroeville for all-you-can-eat catfish, coleslaw, hush puppies, and cheese grits.

There is no way I’ll fit in my dress for tomorrow night! Sonya thought as she chowed down yet again. TV certainly does add fifteen pounds to you.

“Have you seen all of Sonya’s stats?” John Senior asked.

“Dad, call her Jazz,” John whispered.

A little biddy next to John slapped his forearm. “We all know already, John. And don’t correct your daddy.”

Sonya shrugged. “It will all be over soon anyway. So what if it leaks out.”

“Well,” John Senior said, “have you seen them?”

“No, Dad,” John said. “I know they’re good.”

“Good?” John Senior said. “Son, they’re great! She has some records. She had sixteen assists in a game.”

“That record has been tied a few times,” Sonya said.

“You were the one to do it first, though, dear,” John’s mother, Phyllis, said. “It’s still a record in my book.”

“She once had thirty-six points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and six steals in a game,” John Senior said. “Those are LeBron James numbers.”

The man knows my stats. Maybe they’re not so boring. “We lost that game, though.”

“In triple overtime,” Phyllis said. “You played forty-two minutes.”

Even his mother knows my stats. “And I was extremely tired afterward. And depressed. I had the best game of my entire career, including high school and college, and my team lost!”

“What impressed me the most,” John Senior said, “were your career averages. You averaged twenty-two points, seven assists, six rebounds, and two steals throughout your entire career. You know how many guys in the NBA did that?”

“I don’t.” I really don’t.

“Only Oscar Robertson,” John Senior said with a smile. “Only ‘The Big O’ did that in all of NBA history. Out of the thousands who have played pro basketball, only you did all that.”

“No wonder you need your feet rubbed so much,” John said.

“They don’t know about that,” Sonya whispered.

“You rubbed her feet, John?” Phyllis said.

“Yes, Mom,” John said. “She just thrust them in my hands. She’s so forceful sometimes.”

“I did not,” Sonya said.

“Yeah, you did,” Kim said.

“You weren’t there,” Sonya said.

“I know you, Sonya,” Kim said. “You’re always throwing your weight around.” Kim pointed at Sonya’s plate. “You gonna eat those hush puppies?”

“No.” She pushed her plate forward. Go ahead, Kim. Gain some weight so your skimpy clothes won’t fit anymore. “John, I don’t want to give your parents the wrong impression about me.”

“She is pretty pushy,” John said.

Sonya pushed on his arm.

“See?” John said.

“Really, Phyllis,” Sonya said, “I’m not forceful at all.”

“You sure order that Graham fella around,” John Senior said. “I’m surprised he hasn’t quit yet.”

“He’s pretty useless, if you ask me,” Phyllis said. “You host that show so much better than he does.” She looked side to side and leaned forward. “What’s going to happen Tuesday night? Can you tell me?”

“Tuesday night?” John Senior said. “Oh, that’s right. You’ll be on two nights in a row.”

Sonya looked at John. “We will?”

John nodded. “I thought you knew.”

The princess is always the last to know. Sonya looked at Kim, John, John Senior, Phyllis, and even the little biddy. “You’ll just have to tune in both nights, won’t you?”

“Just one little thing,” Phyllis said. “We won’t tell.”

“I might,” the little biddy said, “but it would have to be something really juicy.”

Sonya took a deep breath. “You’ll just have to tune in.”

“I already know what you’re gonna do,” the little biddy said.

Sonya smiled. “And what am I gonna do?”

The little biddy beamed. “You’re going to follow your heart.”

“Yes,” Sonya said. “I am going to follow my heart.”

And give John a lie detector test to make sure where his heart is.

Kim looked out the window for the fiftieth time for Tony’s arrival. She, Sonya, and John had been back in the mansion for two hours, and Tony’s flight was delayed because of fog.

“What’s taking him so long?” Kim asked.

“You’re totally in love with him now, aren’t you?” Sonya asked.

“Yes. But I don’t see any fog!”

“There was fog in New Orleans, Kim.”

“This is just … wrong.”

Sonya folded and packed some more clothes. “Kim, have you and Tony … No, I don’t have the right to ask you that.”

Kim turned. “You want to know if we’ve made love?”

“Have you?”

“No,” Kim said. “We both agreed to wait.”

Hallelujah! “Who agreed more?”

Kim sighed. “He did. I would have, you know, torn him up.”

She’s my daughter all right. If John had whispered the word, I would have torn him up, too. “Tony is a good man, Kim.”

“Yeah,” Kim said. “He’s the best. And somehow he’s in love with me despite … me, you know?”

“I know.” Sonya closed the first suitcase. “You know I’m completely in love with John, right?”

“I still don’t see why.”

“Yes, you do. You see in Tony what I see in John. A good man. A loving man. A man who will love and cherish and protect you for the rest of your life.”

“Yeah,” Kim said. “And you said I’d never get a good man.”

I did say that. Hmm. “You want to test Tony, just in case?”

“How?” Kim asked.

“Let’s get Larry to set up a lie detector test.”

“Cool.”

Mainly so I can get to the bottom of “nope.”

In the great room in front of a roaring fire, two polygraph operators set up shop, John at one table, Tony at the other. Sonya and Kim sat behind a screen where one of the couches used to be, a TV monitor in front of them.

“Although there’s not supposed to be a final challenge since we’re down to two hunks,” Graham said, “Jazz gets what Jazz wants. Jazz wants to give lie detector tests to John and Tony, so we’re going to oblige her. As Jazz gets the answers to her questions, only she and Shani will be able to see the results on a monitor in front of them. We will only get to see their reactions.”

“Tonight we’re going to see who’s a liar and who’s honest,” Sonya said. “Tony, have you ever lied to me?”

“No,” Tony said.

Sonya watched the needle jump. Oh, yes, he has. “Did you have a good time on each of our dates?”

“Yes,” Tony said.

Hmm … he did. Sonya smiled.

Kim pinched Sonya’s leg.

“Did you ever want to kiss me on our dates?”

“Yes,” Tony said.

He did!

Kim twisted the skin on Sonya’s arm.

Ow! “Why didn’t you kiss me, Tony?”

“I, um …” Tony said.

“The test results are better,” Graham said, “when you ask a simple yes-or-no question, Jazz.”

“Okay, um, Tony, did you not kiss me because you were thinking of someone else?”

Tony hesitated. “No.”

Such a liar.

Kim rubbed Sonya’s leg.

“Is there someone else you’re interested in?” Sonya asked.

“No.”

Whew. I was worried about getting punched. This is so strange. I’m a Christian woman who is glad that a man her daughter loves is lying on national TV.

Kim patted Sonya’s arm.

“Tony, are you in love with me?” Sonya asked.

“Yes.”

He’s so not in love with me! That machine is going to run out of ink.

Kim squeezed Sonya’s hand.

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?” Sonya asked.

“Yes.”

That would be another “nope.” That poor machine. “Do you want to marry me?”

“Yes.”

Whoa. The man really doesn’t want to marry me. I’m hurt. One last question to seal the deal. “Is there someone else you want to marry?”

“No.” Tony smiled. “All done?”

Kim kissed Sonya’s cheek.

I had to do a lie detector test on a TV show to get my daughter to kiss me. Ain’t life grand?

“And now it’s John’s turn,” Graham said.

Here we go. “John, have you ever lied to me?”

“No,” John said.

And he hasn’t. That can’t be right. He said “nope”! That has to be a lie! “Did you have a good time on our only date?”