Lady Elect Read online

  After Mr. and Mrs. Howell enjoyed each other at Lance’s favorite spot in the house, Arykah started her fashion show for him. Her first choice to wear to Sunday service was a burnt-orange wool two-piece skirt suit with Swarovski crystals decorating the collar and cuffs around the wrists.

  Lance lay in bed with his arms extended behind his head. “That’s beautiful, Cheeks. You’re showing your knees. You know I like that.”

  Arykah’s next choice was a winter-white sweater dress she found at Macy’s. “It’s a little snug but SPANX will take care of that. I’ll sport my winter-white boots with this dress.”

  “Yikes,” Lance commented. The dress, a size twenty-two W, hugged Arykah’s curves in all the right places. And the boots she spoke of were a favorite of Lance’s. Arykah’s legs were plump and round. Lance thought his wife to be extremely sexy when she wore boots because they fit her thick legs like a glove. “I like the dress better than the suit,” he said.

  “Girl, smoke was everywhere,” Arykah said to Monique. They were in Arykah’s office at the church.

  Monique sat in a chair across from Arykah’s desk. “That’s what you get,” Monique chuckled. “You know you ain’t got no business trying to cook anything. Name one time when you actually put a meal together that was edible. That’s why God blessed you with Lance. He knows you can’t burn.” Monique thought about what she just said. “Well, obviously you can burn.”

  Both women were laughing when Lance knocked on Arykah’s closed door.

  “It’s open,” Arykah spoke.

  Lance opened the door and poked his head inside. “It’s time to head down to the sanctuary.”

  That was the part of Sunday morning service that Arykah loved the most. Walking into the sanctuary with all eyes on her and Lance as they walked hand in hand down the center aisle was what Arykah looked forward to. She rose from her desk and walked around to where Lance stood.

  “Arykah!”

  She turned to see why Monique had screamed her name. “What?”

  The expression on Monique’s face was horrifying. “Your dress,” she shrieked again.

  Arykah looked down at her dress. “What about my dress?”

  Monique walked to her and studied the stain on the back of her winter-white dress.

  “You’re bleeding right through it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Arykah asked Monique, already pulling Lance into the office so that she could check herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the door. She saw a huge red stain just below the buttocks area of her dress. “Oh my God. What the heck is that?”

  Lance studied the stain. “Didn’t you just have your cycle three weeks ago, Cheeks? You’re having it again?”

  “Didn’t we get freaky this morning?” she answered Lance with a question. “You know that I’m not on my period.” The presence of Monique never kept Arykah from speaking her mind. Arykah felt comfortable discussing personal matters with Lance in front of her best friend. Arykah focused on the stain. “I don’t know what this is.”

  “Well you must’ve sat on something,” Monique said.

  Lance walked to Arykah’s chair and saw a small puddle of red liquid in the middle of the leather seat. “What the heck?”

  Both Arykah and Monique approached Lance and saw the stain on the chair. “What is that?” Monique inquired.

  Arykah dabbed her index finger in the suspicious liquid and looked at it closely. “This is red ink.”

  Lance frowned. “Ink? How did red ink get on your chair?”

  Arykah looked at Lance with a scowl on her face. She knew exactly who was responsible. “Those b#@&*es.”

  Because Arykah had referred to the mothers by that name on other occasions, Monique knew exactly who she was referring to. “You think the mothers did this?” Monique asked Arykah.

  “I know they did.”

  Lance knew Arykah was hot. And it was very possible that Mother Gussie and Mother Pansie were behind the prank, but he had no proof and neither did Arykah. “Hold on now. There is no proof the mothers are behind this.”

  Arykah exploded. “Don’t you dare defend them, Lance. Don’t you dare defend them.”

  “This is jacked up,” Monique said. She was just as angry as Arykah.

  If Lance didn’t calm both of them down, he’d have a second fire to extinguish. “I’m not defending anyone, and I’m not blaming anyone. But we gotta have proof before we can point fingers.”

  Arykah was so hot, her earlobes were burning. “Little girls point fingers, Lance. I’m a grown woman, a grown black woman, and I don’t point fingers. What I’m getting ready to point is my .357 magnum. Three holes each. When I get through capping off, those old broads’ heads will look like bowling balls.”

  Lance’s eyes bucked out of his head, and his mouth fell open. This was the first he’s heard of Arykah speak of owning a gun. “Cheeks, you own a gun?” They had been married four months and dated only for three weeks prior to the wedding. Lance was smitten from the moment he first laid his eyes on Arykah. And when she confessed to Lance that she was ghetto when he cooked dinner for her, he became more intrigued with her. Lance grew up at Freedom Temple, where the women were always so perfect and controlled. The fact that Arykah was headstrong and outspoken turned him on. She was different. The total opposite of what he’d be expected to marry.

  Arykah always stood her ground and never seem to back down from anyone. She was strong, confident, and could hold her own. Lance knew Arykah was a pistol, but he had no clue that she owned one and knew how to shoot it.

  Monique spoke. “She owns a gun, a machete, and stun gun. We both do.”

  “Oh my Lord,” Lance said. Who did he marry, a vigilante? Lance wondered if Adonis knew that his wife was packing.

  “You better call on the Lord,” Arykah said to Lance as she moved toward the office door.

  Lance blocked her from leaving the office. “Cheeks, we have no proof.”

  “The mothers hate me, Lance. What more proof do you need? Look at my dress. They jacked up my dress.” Arykah opened the door. “I’m getting ready to whoop some ...”

  Arykah’s vow to stop cursing was long forgotten.

  Lance shoved the door shut. “What are you doing? You can’t go down to the sanctuary and cause a scene.”

  “Why not?” The question came from Monique.

  “Because she can’t.” Lance grimaced at her. “And I could use a little help from you.”

  Monique folded her arms across her chest. “Humph.”

  “Let me out of this office, Lance,” Arykah demanded while pulling on the doorknob.

  Lance stood with his back against the door. Arykah’s request wasn’t an option. There was no way he would allow her and her ghetto friend to leave the office. “Cheeks, please calm down. Remember where you are right now.”

  “Screw that,” Arykah said. “Did they remember where they were when they put the ink on my chair?” She pulled on the doorknob again. “Let me out of here!” she demanded.

  “No, I’m not letting you out of this office until you calm down.”

  “This is calm,” Arykah confirmed. “But you just wait ’til I get downstairs.”

  “You know we can take you, right?” Monique addressed Lance while slowly moving toward him.

  The two of them combined outweighed Lance by more than two hundred pounds. If they double-teamed him, he wouldn’t have a chance. Lance had to think quickly.

  “I think he’s in the first lady’s office,” Lance heard Minister Carlton Weeks say from the other side of the door. Lance forcefully removed Arykah’s hand from the doorknob, then opened it and poked his head out. He saw that Carlton was about to knock.

  “Oh, there you are, Bishop. It’s time for you and Lady Arykah to make your way downstairs,” he said.

  Carlton couldn’t see Arykah and Monique on the other side of the door tugging at Lance, trying to move him out of the way.

  “Weeks, you gotta preach for me th
is morning.”

  Carlton could tell that Lance was disturbed. And he noticed Lance couldn’t keep still.

  The way Lance twitched from side to side, it appeared he had to go to the bathroom.

  “You all right, Bishop?” Carlton asked.

  Lance was losing the battle. With Arykah and Monique shoving him, he had to end the conversation with Carlton quickly and shut the door. “Yeah, um, something just came up with Lady Arykah. She’s not feeling well, so I’m gonna take her back home.”

  Lance quickly shut the door, then opened it again. “And Weeks? Get Brother Adonis up here, right now.” He needed backup.

  “Bishop, Adonis is on the organ.”

  “Now, Weeks. Get him up here now. Stop the service if you have to, but get him up here.” Lance didn’t wait for a response from Carlton. He quickly shut the door and leaned against it. He was almost out of breath from fighting against Arykah and Monique.

  “Both of you stop it right now!” he said sternly.

  Arykah and Monique took a step back from Lance, but they were still too close for his comfort.

  “I want to get to the bottom of this just as much as you do,” he said to Arykah. “Just let me figure this out, okay?”

  “The cards are faceup on the table, Lance. What’s to figure?” Arykah asked.

  Now was not the time to tell Arykah. It was too soon. But Lance had no choice.

  “Okay, listen.” As he spoke, Arykah and Monique were still standing toe-to-toe with him. “Can you both please back up?”

  Monique took three steps back to give Lance room.

  Arykah folded her arms across her chest and stood her ground. “I’m not moving.”

  Lance kept his back against the door and looked into his wife’s eyes. “I believe the mothers put the ink in your chair. If they didn’t do it themselves, I think they put someone up to it. And I believe that Mother Gussie purposely gave you the wrong time to be at Brother Cartwright’s house last week.”

  Arykah unfolded her arms and placed her hands on her waist. “Well, if you believe that, then why won’t you let me do what I gotta do?”

  “Because we’re gonna beat them at their own game,” Lance said.

  “We?” Monique asked.

  There was a knock on the door. Lance opened it and allowed Adonis inside.

  “You remember what we discussed last week?” Lance asked Adonis.

  Adonis looked from Lance to Arykah to Monique, then back to Lance again. What he and Lance had discussed was private just between the two of them. Lance told Adonis that he didn’t want the ladies involved. “Yeah, I remember. But you said they weren’t gonna play a part.” Adonis put special emphasis on the word “they” and nodded his head in Arykah and Monique’s direction.

  “Things have changed,” Lance said to Adonis. “Thelma and Louise are trying to go to jail. We gotta clue them in.”

  After an hour behind the closed door to Arykah’s office, Lance, Arykah, Monique, and Adonis all left the church through the back entrance. They weren’t seen by a single soul.

  Chapter 8

  Monday morning, Mother Gussie inserted the emergency key into Arykah’s office door at the church and wasn’t surprised to find that it didn’t work.

  Yesterday when Minister Weeks had announced to the congregation that the bishop and first lady had an emergency to tend to and they wouldn’t be in attendance at morning service, Mother Gussie knew that the ink stain in Arykah’s office chair had found its target.

  It was known to all that Lance and Arykah arrived at the church every Sunday at approximately 9:30 A.M. Lance would kiss his wife’s lips, then proceed to his office and meditate before morning service. Arykah and Monique always met in Arykah’s office for girl talk before Lance knocked on her door at 10:00 to escort Arykah down to the sanctuary.

  Yesterday, Mother Gussie had seen Lance and Arykah enter the church and greet the members lingering in the vestibule. She recalled four different women complimenting Lady Arykah on how cute her winter-white boots were. One of the women was plus size, and she approached Arykah. Mother Gussie was close enough to hear the woman confide in Arykah that she could never find stylish boots that fit her calves. Arykah opened her purse and searched for something. Mother Gussie saw Arykah pull a business card from her wallet and give it to the woman. Arykah pointed to the name on the card and said, “Buy your boots and take them to this guy. He’s the best in making any boot fit big legs. All of my boots must be altered. He’s the only one I trust. Make sure to tell him that I sent you, and he’ll take good care of you.”

  The woman excitedly extended her arms toward Arykah and hugged her tightly. “Oh, thank you, Lady Arykah. You have no idea what you just did for me.”

  Mother Gussie was hot under her collar. Since Lance had first introduced Arykah to the congregation as his wife, Mother Gussie and Mother Pansie had successfully convinced the women in the church to alienate Arykah. But seeing the woman reach out and hug Arykah threatened Mother Gussie’s plan to oust her altogether.

  When the woman extended her arms, Mother Gussie saw that Arykah’s first instinct was to step backward to prevent bodily contact. Because the women at Freedom Temple didn’t hide their true feelings from Arykah, thanks to the mothers, Mother Gussie assumed that Arykah may have thought the woman was going to strangle her. But seeing the excitement in the woman’s face and hearing how grateful she was to receive the hookup, Arykah returned the love and wrapped her arms around the woman. When they let go of the embrace, Arykah asked the woman what her name was.

  “I’m Chelsea Childs,” Mother Gussie heard the woman say.

  Arykah smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chelsea.”

  Mother Gussie noticed Lance standing next to Arykah the entire time watching the exchange between the two women. Besides Monique, Arykah hadn’t any friends in the church. Mother Gussie saw the expression on Lance’s face and knew that he was happy to see at least one lady reach out to his wife, but he was even happier that Arykah had let her guard down.

  “Let me know how your boots turn out, Chelsea,” Arykah said. “When I had my first pair of boots altered to fit my calves, it really was an overwhelming experience for me when I pulled them up my leg and they actually fit.” Arykah recalled the moment when she strutted in front of a mirror the first time she wore tailor-made boots. Elastic had been sown inside the boots and extra leather material was added to hide the elastic. No one could have ever guessed that all of Arykah’s boots were altered.

  Mother Gussie couldn’t care less about Arykah or her boots.

  “Yes, I will certainly let you know,” Chelsea promised.

  Arykah gave Chelsea one last smile; then she and Lance turned toward the stairs. But before Arykah could climb one step, Mother Gussie saw Chelsea grab her by the elbow.

  Arykah turned to look at her. Chelsea wanted to say something to Arykah, but she didn’t know how to say it. Words were forming in Chelsea’s mind, and her lips moved, but no words came forth.

  Mother Gussie didn’t know why Chelsea had prevented Arykah from going up the steps, but she sensed an uneasiness about the situation.

  Chelsea stepped closer to Arykah and Lance. “I want to apologize to you, Lady Arykah.”

  Mother Gussie frowned at Chelsea’s words. She hadn’t a clue what Chelsea was apologizing for. She and Arykah had only known each other for five minutes.

  “I’m embarrassed to say that I let all the negative talk about you influence me from getting to know my pastor’s wife. I played into what the elderly women were saying about you,” Chelsea confessed.

  Elderly women? Mother Gussie knew that Chelsea was speaking of herself and Mother Pansie.

  “And I’m sorry that I didn’t embrace you when you first got to Freedom Temple,” Chelsea continued. “I knew you were having a tough time here. I saw how the women went out of their way to shun you and shut you out completely. We were told that you were unapproachable, cold, and shady, but I know better now, and I’
m gonna make sure that everyone else knows it too.”

  If Mother Gussie could’ve screamed, she certainly would have. Did that really just happen?

  She saw that tears had welled up in Arykah’s lower eye ducts. Up until that moment, Arykah had built a wall to convince herself that she didn’t need to be accepted by the folks at Freedom Temple. She behaved as if she didn’t need any friends at the church. Arykah had let it be known that as long as she had her husband, she was all good. And that was just fine with the mothers. But looking into Arykah’s eyes as she and Chelsea shared a moment, Mother Gussie knew that was untrue. Arykah did need friends. She needed an alliance, and she needed someone besides Monique looking out for her. Arykah needed Chelsea Childs.

  “Thanks for sharing that with me, Chelsea. It means a lot,” Arykah said emotionally.

  Mother Gussie saw Arykah blink her eyes continuously to prevent a single tear from falling. I can’t stand that hussy, Mother Gussie thought to herself as she watched Arykah turn from Chelsea and sashay up the steps ahead of Lance in her winter-white dress and her winter-white boots. Mother Gussie also caught the bishop admiring his wife’s thick calves as he followed. But Lance’s lustful eyes were the least of Mother Gussie’s problems.

  Arykah had just made a friend, and that, to Mother Gussie, was something that wasn’t going to be tolerated.

  At Sunday morning worship service yesterday, as praise and worship was well under way, Mother Gussie and Mother Pansie witnessed Minister Weeks approach Adonis sitting behind the organ and whisper in his ear. Adonis had waited until the choir had finished the second and final selection of the morning before excusing himself from the organ and exiting the sanctuary.

  Adonis’s early departure accompanied with Minister Week’s announcement that Lance and Arykah would not attend morning service confirmed to Mother Gussie that drama was taking place upstairs. And it was drama that she and Mother Pansie had caused.

  So, Mother Gussie didn’t find it strange that the emergency key no longer opened the door to Arykah’s office. Apparently between morning service until the moment Mother Gussie tried to enter Arykah’s office, the lock had been changed. But a changed lock wouldn’t deter Mother Gussie and Mother Pansie’s plan to get rid of the pastor’s wife.