Read Online Mistress, Inc. by Niobia Bryant - Free Book Online Page A

of her affair with her best friend’s husband.
    “Hello, Reverend Dobbins,” she said, strolling into the brightly lit office, and extended her hand to him.
    He nodded and smiled, causing his cheeks to rise and nearly close his eyes. “How are you, Ms. Bell?” he asked, patting the back of her hand while he warmly shook it.
    Jessa settled into the seat he offered with a wave of his hand. “You remember me?” she asked, setting her clutch in her lap as she crossed her ankles.
    Reverend Dobbins nodded. “Of course, and I’ve been praying for you,” he said, taking his seat. “Your story was quite unforgettable, Jessa.”
    “That’s an understatement,” she joked lightly, looking down at her hands briefly. “And there’s more.” More than I am even willing to acknowledge.
    “Okay.”
    Jessa sat back in the chair. “I truly want to be forgiven by God—”
    “You have been,” Revered Dobbins added gently.
    “Without question He forgave you as soon as you asked him to.”
    Jessa was confused. “And it’s just that simple?” she asked.
    “Absolutely.”
    “But how can he forgive me when I can’t seem to forgive myself? I honestly believe that all of my sins were the reason I was almost killed a couple of weeks ago. You know? Karma, right?”
    Reverend Dobbins shook his head. “The Lord doesn’t punish us for our sins ... and you can’t continue to punish yourself. The only way to move forward and to feel better and to do better is to say I messed up, but I see where I went wrong and I won’t do it again.”
    “But I am still dealing with my anger and I have done things since I was released from the hospital that were wrong, but in the moment it felt like I needed to pay back the people who hurt me.” Jessa thought of Renee’s dismissal, Kingston’s anger, and Jaime’s scorn.
    “Again, you recognize your misstep, you pray for strength and guidance, and you make the correction. No one is perfect.”
    Jessa fell silent.
    “Have you been reading your Bible, attending a church, or going to Bible study?” he asked.
    She shook her head, feeling conflicted. She understood the anger everyone had for her, but she had never been one to let anyone talk to her or treat her any kind of way. “I tried to apologize to these people, Reverend, and everyone threw it back in my face. So why should I still feel guilty if I am saying I was wrong?”
    “You have to be just as willing to forgive as you are to be forgiven.”
    Jessa hated the tears that filled her eyes. “But I feel like I am being punished for my sins and I don’t want that on me.”
    Reverend Dobbins leaned forward and folded his pudgy hands on top of his desk. “Are you truly regretful of your actions, or are you doing what you think God wants you to do to be forgiven?”
    “I want back in God’s good graces,” Jessa admitted with ease, blinking away her tears.
    “But are you truly regretful of your actions?”
    Was she? Jessa stood and paced in his small generic office. “This is not me. I do not feel like me, ” she stressed.
    “And so the change has to be with you, Jessa, and not with other people.”
    Jessa crossed her arms over her chest as she continued to pace back and forth. She stopped and faced the clergyman. “So I shouldn’t think of this baby as another payback for all my secrets and sins?” she asked softly.
    Reverend Dobbins’s blue eyes filled with surprise. “You’re pregnant?”
    “By the man who tried to kill me,” Jessa added before he even needed to ask. She felt overcome with emotions and tears filled her eyes. “All I can think about is this baby growing up and people pointing fingers or talking about all the scandal or that their mama was a mistress. I don’t want that for this child.”
    Jessa dropped down into her chair and covered her mouth with her hands as she tried to breathe through the tightness in her chest as her tears flowed freely. “I don’t want my sins on this baby,” she whispered