The Perfect Christian by E. N. Joy

Doreen walked over to the table next to them and proceeded to pick up a bottle to start throwing. “Okay, okay, okay. I’m just messing around with you, girl. You want to know where your money is? Well, here it is.” Willie pulled out a huge wad of cash from his pocket and placed it in Doreen’s hand.
    Doreen looked down at the knot of money. It was much thicker than the one that had been taken from her drawer. She had a puzzled look on her face.
    â€œThat’s all your money with interest,” Willie smiled. He then turned to one of the men at the table and ordered, “Come on, Rufus, get to dealing so I can get to taking the rest of y’all’s money.” He yelled over his shoulder toward the bar. “Another round of drinks at this table. And since these fellas barely got a pot to piss in, drinks are on me.”
    Willie and his boys proceeded to playing cards as if Doreen wasn’t even standing there. She continued to look down at the huge wad of cash. At this point, she didn’t know what her next step should be. She’d anticipated going up to the joint and finding that Willie had gambled away all her money, like he’d done with his last paycheck, forcing them to miss paying a month’s mortgage and her dodging phone calls from bill collectors. It looked as though there wasn’t too much more of a fuss she could make. She’d gotten what she’d come there for.
    Agnes showed up with a broom and dustpan and began cleaning up the mess Doreen had made. Doreen briefly locked eyes with Agnes, and then Agnes turned away. Doreen thought about speaking on Willie’s situation with Agnes; asking her husband if what Agnes had insinuated outside was true. But what good would any of that do? The deed was done. And in all honesty, that was one truth Doreen didn’t know if she could withstand.
    Perhaps both her sister and Agnes were right. Maybe she wasn’t as strong and powerful in the Lord as she thought she was. Otherwise, why did she sit back and allow Willie to disrespect her and their marriage like that? She had no answers besides the ones she’d been feeding off of: the fact that she truly loved Willie, was afraid of the pain and stigma attached to divorce, and that she had to prove everyone wrong who said she and Willie wouldn’t make it.
    She might have had her money back, but she had no other answers. So with nothing but a wad of money, with interest, Doreen headed back out the door. Dazed and confused with her mind still wrestling with unanswered questions, she missed that patch of black ice that landed her flat on her back. The last thing she saw was a twinkling star in the night sky. The last thing she said was, “God, help me.”

Chapter Sixteen
    â€œSo how many more weeks you just gon’ lay around in this bed?” Willie asked Doreen.
    Doreen didn’t so much as shrug at Willie’s question as she lay in her bed staring off yonder.
    With even less compassion in his tone than when he’d made the previous comment, Willie said, “You act like you’re the one that died.”
    Through dry, cracked lips, Doreen spoke softy and slowly. “A part of me did die, Willie, and a part of you too. Now if you’re able to function normal through life as you were before I lost the baby, then good for you. But forgive me for having not as easy of a time getting back to normal.”
    â€œI didn’t have no choice. If I stayed around this house all day instead of worked, we’d never eat because I wouldn’t be able to make no money.” Willie cleared his throat. “Speaking of work, I wanted to wait and tell you this when you got to feeling like your old self again, but it looks like that’s a long time coming.” Willie looked down, then continued. “Work is going to be carrying us away from here. West Virginia, I think—something like that. You know how the railroad business