Read Online Reverend Feelgood by Lutishia Lovely - Free Book Online Page A

She looked at her grandmother. “Kiki, you’re always saying that a man of God has needs. Well, this baby of God has needs too. And I’m going to be the mother who takes care of them!”
    Simone stood and faced her daughter. “You will do what’s best. This isn’t just about you!”
    “No, it isn’t!” Destiny shouted. “It’s about my baby. And the best thing for it is to be born!” With that, Destiny turned and ran up the stairs.
    “Destiny!” Simone started after her.
    “Let her be, Simone,” Katherine said, even as the sound of a slamming door added to the tension. Then, for a moment, all was silent.
    “She has a right to be upset,” Nettie finally said. “And I’m not just saying this from a Christian point of view,” she told Simone. “I’m saying it as the mother of the man you’re so determined to protect, and as the grandmother of the baby you’re so ready to get rid of. We need to get out of the way and seek God on this matter. Let His will be done. Man looks at what’s on the outside, but God looks at the heart. He knows the heart of both Nate and Destiny. If we listen to God and follow His instructions, we’ll be a lot better off. Because sitting around this table, we’ve all got ideas on who should do what. But we’re human. We may get it wrong. But God? Hmph. God never misses the mark. He never fails.”

10
Sleep in the Bed You Made
    Later that evening, Simone reclined on the chaise in her bedroom. To the observer her body may have looked relaxed, but inside she was as keyed up as she’d ever been. After Katherine and Nettie left, Simone had tried to talk to Destiny. But Destiny had feigned illness and said she didn’t want to talk. Simone had thought later that maybe Destiny really wasn’t feeling good, and had once again knocked, with a tray of tea, soup, and crackers. Destiny had finally opened the door, just long enough to take the tray and thank her mother. Also long enough for Simone to see the telltale sign of crying in her puffy, bloodshot eyes.
    Simone’s heart clinched as she battled a range of emotions. Her mind went back to a similar time in her life, when she found out she was pregnant. Those circumstances hadn’t been as different as Simone would have liked to imagine them. She too had been seventeen, about to go college, mind filled with thoughts of conquering the world. Destiny’s father had similar thoughts, which is why being saddled with a child while a standout basketball player at Texas A&M wasn’t on his agenda. He’d refused to believe Simone was pregnant with his child, and after marrying a French woman and moving abroad, she’d never seen or heard from him again—didn’t even know if he was still alive, and didn’t care to know. Back when she’d gotten pregnant, few people had abortions; it was rarely even thought of, much less discussed. There were many single mothers in Palestine, even in the church. And for those women the church and the community came together, often treating the children as their own. In those days, it was understood. You got pregnant? You had the baby. At the time her grandmother had told her to “sleep in the bed you made.”
    After the initial outcry of incredulity and anger, Katherine hadn’t said much at all. It was later, when Destiny was three or four years old, that Katherine shared the thoughts that would slowly take shape in Simone’s heart: that she thought Simone a perfect complement to Nathaniel, a woman who could bring out the best in him. Simone had pooh-poohed the idea at first. After all, she’d known Nate since he was young, had seen him at his awkward stage—tall, gangly, with a fade and pimples. It seemed that overnight he went from scrawny to scrumptious. And from that moment, women were everywhere. That’s why even after their first sexual encounter, when Nate’s oral prowess left Simone mewling like a newborn kitten and feeling oh so good, Simone kept her distance. Even after Katherine had told