The Preachers Wife

As far as she was concerned it was stupid for her sister to throw away her own dreams behind some man, and she wasn't about to keep her thoughts to herself. Even when she herself had gotten married she had still been in the midst of going to medical school and she hadn't let love or her man get in the way of that. As much as David didn't like her, she couldn't stand his black ass even more, she recognized that he may have had charisma and could even talk a good game but he wasn't anywhere near as saved as he or her sister thought. But in the end it had been Charles who pushed him over the edge.

Cece's husband made David feel backwards country and above all stupid, he didn't allow any man into his life that could provoke those feelings at least not if he wasn't in a position of authority. It had been easy to work his way between the sister's and use the church and God himself to keep them apart. In the beginning Makayla had been committed enough and fool enough to let him be her own personal Jesus and she didn't even know it. Now here it was seven years later and she didn't have her man and she'd turned on God just as easily as she had once turned to him.

Makayla felt like she didn't have anyone or anything and what she needed now was a friend which is exactly why she was on her way over to her neighbors house carrying a tray of sweet tea and the last of the tea cakes she'd gotten from the local bakery. (That's right there was only one bakery in this small two bit town.) She had made up her mind on a whim and now that she was halfway there she wanted to turn back. It had been so long since she'd interacted with anyone outside of the church and she didn't even know what she was going to say to this girl. "Let's be friends" seemed a little to juvenile but nothing else sprang to mind. Before she could make up her mind to turn back the woman turned to face her so she had no choice but to continue her approach or look like a jackass.

Kai turned to see a woman approaching, her breath caught in her throat for a moment as she stared at the beauty that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The sun hit the woman's face making her seem to glow in the warm afternoon. Her curly hair seemed just on the outskirts of being wild which was a direct contrast to the rest of her. She wore a sun-dress that would have seemed childlike if she didn't feel it out in exactly the right places. She had paired the flowered dress with a pair of pink pumps, her nails were short and polished in a light pink shade, and she wore no noticeable makeup. Still even when the only way to describe this women was proper there was something just under the surface that would have been downright sexy if she just knew how to work it.

The silence between them was coming up on awkward when Makayla spoke.

"Hi I'm Kayla Childress...your neighbor. I saw you out here working and figured you might want a drink."

She paused holding out the tray. Kai helped herself to a glass and would have offered thanks if the woman hadn't continued to talk.

"We, just moved in a few weeks ago and I figured it was time for an introduction."

"I'm Kai Richards..."

The woman continued to talk as Makayla remembered where she knew this woman from. She was a writer, famous by most people's standards. She had written black romances by the dozens. She had a huge following of faithful fans and she had been on more than a few talk shows promoting her work. There had been tons of backlash about four years ago when she was outed in a magazine by some vindictive ex-girlfriend. Her book sales had gone way down and her name had been on the lips of those very same talk show hosts who had always welcomed her. The fans felt cheated like a lesbian couldn't write heterosexual romance, they'd turned on the girl for a while but two books later she was back on the best seller list and in a new twist she had even included a lesbian character in the back story, the people were loving it since it was "in" to be gay nowadays.

Makayla was so lost in her own thoughts that she had missed all of what Kai had said. Kai saw the moment the woman had stopped paying attention and she knew why. Most people recognized her name by now and every once in a while she got to watch as people connected her name with the books she'd written. She'd grown used being known and half the time she didn't mind.

"You're that writer right?"

"That's me." Kai said with a laugh, she had already covered her job description while the woman wasn't listening.

"I'm just about done out here for now but I was about to get myself some lunch. You want to join me?"

Makayla could see no reason not to join the woman, and she didn't have much else to do anyway.

"Sure."

They walked into the house with Kai leading the way. She wasn't looking to make any new friends especially female ones but something about this women seemed so vulnerable that Kai wasn't even sure how to turn her away. Right now she wanted nothing more than a hot shower and some food but she hadn't known how to dismiss the woman. She guessed it didn't matter one way or the other, even if she was interested in Kayla she could see that the woman was straight as a pin and probably repressed as hell in bed.

In the kitchen Kai washed her hands and prepared a light lunch while they made conversation. Again hours flew by without her even noticing. Kayla seemed was just as shocked to find that they had spent four hours getting to know one another at first then laughing and talking like old friends. She left with a smile on her face, she would have stayed longer but she didn't want to wear out her welcome already.

Over the next few months their friendship grew and developed Kai found out that her new friend was the preacher's wife and felt like a heathen. She started attending their church and enjoyed almost every aspect of it except for the pastor himself. She knew Mema would be telling her off if she could. She recognized that she had been taught to follow a leader she trusted and she had nothing but distrust for the man. Unlike his namesake in the bible he didn't seem to be after God's heart or any part of him. He did however seem to be after every woman who set foot in his church.

Kai told herself she kept going because she was trying to get right but she knew she was there for her new friend. Kayla all but begged her to attend and there was something about the woman that made it hard to say no. She had never fully told Kai how bad her marriage was but as she got to know Kayla more and more, Kai saw how much it hurt her to be Mrs. David Childress, then she witnessed it first hand.

It had taken David less than twenty minutes to proposition her when Kayla had invited her for Sunday dinner at their house. Kayla had disappeared into the kitchen to check on the dinner she was finishing when David had crept up behind Kai. She had been standing in the living room looking at pictures of the not so happy couple when she'd felt his hand brushing her ass. He had touched her so lightly it could have been a mistake if he weren't standing right behind her and whispering in her ear.

She had wanted to punch him in the face, she was disgusted by the type of husband he was to say nothing of the type of pastor. They had just left church less than forty minutes ago. She hadn't had time to do much more than move away from him when Kayla reentered the room. She would have told him off right there if she hadn't seen the sharp look her friend had thrown the man. She apparently knew him up and down. Later on after David had disappeared into his study Kayla had come right out and asked her if David had made a move on her. When her friend didn't answer right away she jumped right into an apology, if she hadn't been looking the woman right in the eye she might have missed the sheen of tears.

Right then she had wanted to reach out and hold Kayla, and she almost did until she realized that she wanted to do more than just hug her. Damn she knew she shouldn't have let this woman get so close now she didn't know how to put space between them without Kayla ending up hurt. She knew if she was going to really try and do right she couldn't keep involving herself in relationships that were going to tempt and test her, at least not when she was so weak. She also knew she had to get to a real church where she was receiving the word instead of just listening to the words that passed from some man's lips. If David was a messenger of God, then something was awry in the communication between them, because whatever he was putting out there it wasn't a message from God. The worst part of the whole thing was that Kai knew this and still kept right on going to his church, if she hadn't known better then maybe she wouldn't have had to fight so hard to justify her reasoning.

Kayla watched the woman's face she saw pity there which she hated but there was something more than that in her friend's eyes. She just couldn't say exactly what. She felt Kai pulling away from her as surely as if the woman had gotten up and walked across the room. She blamed David and his actions for the distance that seemed to grow from that moment and hated him all the more for taking one more thing from her. She didn't know about Kai's struggle because her friend had never shared that part of herself with Kayla or anyone else for that matter. All Kayla knew is that over the next few weeks they seemed to drift apart even though she walked the short distance between their houses nearly everyday. When she wasn't walking over there Kai was coming to her house but still there was a space between them that hadn't been there before.

Kai was trying to pull away from the attraction she felt for her pastor's wife but she found the woman in her dreams every night. The only thing that saved her was the fact that she knew the woman wouldn't welcome her advances. Still Kai haunted her dreams with her sweet face and hourglass figure. Kai knew if she could just find the faith to pray about it this wouldn't even be an issue. Yes she would still struggle but maybe she could at least find peace in the midst of all this turmoil. She knew she hadn't been reading her bible or going to church like she should, she wanted to have the faith but she just couldn't seem to keep her belief going from day to day.

Now here they were more than a year into their friendship and Kai was finding that instead of going away or resolving itself in the face of her resistance she was more than just physically attracted to the woman she found herself wanting more than the satisfaction sex would bring. She knew she cared about Kayla and now she was afraid she was falling in love with her and she didn't have the slightest idea what to do about it.

Kayla wasn't quite sure what was going on, she knew she'd caught her friend looking at her with more than friendship in mind. It had taken her months to figure out what those looks meant but instead of being put off, like she thought she would be she was flattered. At least somebody still found her attractive. She had come to like those looks and even want them which scared her more than a little. It wasn't that she was looking to get involved in an affair, especially one with a female. As many time as David had stepped out on her she couldn't do him the same way.

It wasn't about love or anything like that she just didn't see herself as the type who would commit adultery but more and more she was starting to feel like she needed some type of physical contact. David hadn't touched her since they'd moved to this town and she knew he was already getting it elsewhere. In a town this small it'd be impossible not to know. She barely even went to church anymore herself because she couldn't do so without feeling the shame his infidelity brought. In Memphis at least everyone hadn't known her business or if they did they had the decency not to rub it all up in her face. Here it was like a slap in the face every time she saw one of the women he had slept with, and she saw at least once a week.

They smiled in her face and even asked about her husband, one woman had the audacity to return one of his diamond studded cufflinks, that she had "found". Kayla could just imagine where the little bitch had found his jewelry. She just took the cufflink and smiled, she didn't care about him dicking every woman who would spread her thighs for him, she just wished he wouldn't embarrass her so damn much.

At this point she was glad he didn't even try to touch her because she wasn't even about to have that, didn't even want it. Most of the time anyway. Still there were some times when she just wanted to be satisfied and her fingers couldn't do any justice to what her body was aching for.

She found herself wondering just how it would be to be with Kai. During the time they'd known each other Kai had put out yet another book this time the Main character had been bi-sexual which had opened doors for all kinds of lesbian and heterosexual antics. Kayla had read the book at least three times and gone back to the sex many more times than that. She moved from wondering how it would be to be with her friend to imagining it. She was comfortable with the fantasy, but the wanting still scared her especially when it snuck up on her when Kai was right there in her presence. She had never even considered being with a woman, never entertained the thoughts or any of that. But something about Kai had her wondering what it would be like to kiss her lips and touch her skin to skin. More and more she was hoping something would happen between them, she wanted Kai to make the first move because she didn't know what to say and even more than that she knew she wouldn't be able to stand it if Kai rejected her.

She was in her house thinking about her life and where her friendship with her neighbor when she heard a knock on the door. Kayla opened the door with a smile on her lips. It was the middle of the afternoon and she had expected it to be Kai. The smile slipped from her face when she saw the girl standing on the other side of her door. It wasn't Kai not even close , Crystal was standing there holding her son who wasn't quite two years old yet. Looking in her driveway she saw a black Ford Escort there was a man unloading what looked like suitcases from the trunk. A moment later her was standing behind the girl. The young man was just beyond being a teenager but he carried himself with more authority than his years could encompass. They stood there, no one had said a word and Kayla hadn't invited them in. After a few moments Crystal broke the silence. Her words rushed out all at once with no audible punctuation.

"Listen, Miss Childress I know I shouldn't even be here except my Grandma is really sick, and she can't watch the baby no more. I'm in school and I don't have the money and I just thought he could spend some time with his Dad..." The girl paused as she stumbled over the word.

"David ain't never even been to see him and Mark was sayin that ain't right and I think he's right. I bought all of Davey's clothes and toys and stuff and I still love him but I just can't keep him now." The girl was crying by the time she got to the end of the sentence.

Kayla just stood there, she heard the girl talking and understood she just couldn't believe it. When the girl literally shoved the baby into her arms Kayla was still in shock. The girl had just dumped a baby on her and left in tears, with a man who Kayla could only assume was Mark.

The child's bags and boxes were still sitting on the porch and the door was still open when Kai made her way across the lawn. She found her friend sitting on the sofa with a cute little boy, Kai was crying herself as she tried to console the screaming child. Kai walked over and took the little boy who was doing his best to get out of Kayla's arms. She sat beside her friend and undressed the little boy who was still wearing his jacket and hat. He was sweaty and screaming and probably panicked that he didn't know a single person in the room.

Kai rocked him and patted his small back, singing to him until he was asleep. The only songs that jumped in her mind were the ones Mema used to sing, the woman had sung so much it had seemed like Kai's childhood was set to music. It wasn't hard to guess who the child was, Kayla had mentioned David having had a son and the little boy was the spitting image of his Daddy. Judging by the suitcases and boxes it was easy to guess what had happened. Her heart went out to her friend, when the baby was asleep Kai stood and lay the baby down in the spot she had just vacated. When she turned around Kayla was standing close enough for her to feel her breath. Without thinking she embraced the woman.

Kayla fell into her arms still weeping, Kai rubbed her back and tried to console her. She held the woman tight and before she knew it they were kissing. She would have sworn that the woman had kissed her, but she wasn't sure. At first it was just lips on lips, then it was something more. Deeper and wetter as they tasted each other. Kai was the first to pull away remembering the child that lay on the couch. They didn't say anything about the kiss just as quick as they had found themselves together they broke apart. Neither woman even acknowledged the kiss, Kayla was the first to speak.

"His mother just came and dropped him off. What am I supposed to do with some other woman's baby?"

Kai answered "Take care of him."

She knew it wasn't as easy or cut and dry as all of that, but then again it was. There was nothing Kayla could do but care for the child. He couldn't very well take care of himself and David was forever missing in action.

"I'll help you if you need me to, you know I will." she went on.

"I know you will Kai, I know you will."

***************************

Over the course of the next two months Kayla found her life changing more than she could have ever imagined. Davey was a handful to be sure but he brought love into the household it was a feeling that hadn't occupied their lives in years. The house seemed to expand with the emotion. David didn't bond with the boy like Kayla did, the little boy seemed to be nothing but a nuisance to him. Or perhaps just a reminder of something he didn't want to remember. He'd managed to ignore the child's existence for close to two years and now here he was living in David's house without his say so or his desire.

David had been livid when he'd come home and found the boy there, he didn't understand how Kayla could have let this happen. She claimed that the boy's mother had just left him there but David felt like she could have stopped this mess by simply refusing to take the child. He had never put his hands on her but he'd struck other women at other times in his life and just then he wanted to beat the hell out of her and put her in her place. Usually his wife wasn't a problem but ever since they moved she was a different woman.

He blamed it on that friend of her's but try as he might he couldn't put himself between them. It didn't help that the little bitch lived right next door. She was in his house more than he was. At first he had been happy that Kayla had a friend, it at least distracted her and kept her from nagging him to death. By the time their closeness had started to get on his nerves it had been to late to halt it. He had no idea who Kai Richards was and had he known he might have taken more drastic measures. All he knew was he didn't like the woman, or the control she seemed to have over his wife and now his son.

"I don't want that woman around my son, he acts like she's his Mama or something."

Kayla was sitting in the kitchen feeding the child a bowl of applesauce. She hadn't even heard David moving about the house. She had in fact assumed that he was already gone, off doing whatever it was he did all day long. So when he stood at the entrance of the kitchen and spoke to her she damn near dropped the bowl she was holding because he had startled her.