He was gone before she could get her mouth to work.
“Sooooo, how did it go?” her cousin Marketta asked in a silky voice.
Von growled and buried her head under her pillow, phone still held to her ear.
“That good, huh?”
She pushed the pillow out of the way and rolled over onto her back, covering her eyes with her forearm. “He came over...”
“And?”
“I had on the lingerie, the set you helped me pick out. Acted like I fell asleep and forgot he was coming over.”
“Good, good,” she said encouragingly. “Did he believe it?”
Von rolled her eyes. “Of course he did. I’m a good girl. I’d never set out to seduce a man.”
Marketta laughed. Then Von told her the rest of what happened.
“Let me get this straight. That bastard had you spread out before him like a Christmas feast and got up and left because HIS DADDY CALLED?”
Von winced and briefly pulled the phone away from her ear. “Watch the eardrum, please.”
“Sorry, girl, but dang...”
“His father, the pastor,” she reminded Marketta.
“Whom he’s deathly afraid of, but girl, it shouldn’t have mattered if it was the Pope calling if he was about to get—”
“Derrick isn’t afraid of his dad. He simply has a great deal of respect for him. You know he plans to take Pastor Wilkins’s place as head of the church one day. That’s why he went to seminary.”
“Yeah, yeah, praise the Lord and all that jazz. Von, you two are engaged, and have been for six months. God is the one who created sex and he made it gooood. ”
“He created sex for marriage,” she corrected.
“You and Derrick are in a committed relationship,” Marketta continued like she hadn’t spoken. “There’s nothing wrong with you taking a test drive. We’re talking for-ev-er here. That’s a long damn time. It’ll be too late after saying ‘I Do’ to realize you made a mistake, and with his father and your soft heart, divorce isn’t an option.”
“It’s not a mistake, Marketta. I love Derrick and he loves me,” she responded softly.
“Oh, sweetie, I know you love him, but are you in love with him? Derrick’s the only boyfriend you’ve ever had and while it’s commendable that you stuck with him while he was deployed overseas, doing so froze your social development. You didn’t date—in high school or college—and don’t get me started on that whole college business. I still say you made a mistake by not going off to school.”
“Pastor Wilkins asked me to attend college locally,” Von reminded in the tone of a person who’s had this discussion many, many times before with the same results.
“And that’s another thing. You and Derrick have been together a long damn time, since you were fifteen. The man’s going to be your father-in-law and you still call him Pastor Wilkins,” she complained.
That’s because Derrick Wilkins Senior gave her the willies. He was not a man she wanted to get on the bad side of. Fortunately, he approved of her and Derrick’s marriage. “What do you want me to call him, Dad?”
“Well, why not?”
“We just don’t have that type of relationship,” Von explained.
“That’s because the man is a stuck-up old fart who belongs in the dinosaur era. He believes children should be seen and not heard, and the only good woman is one on her back, preferably with her legs spread wide open.”
“Marketta!”
“Within the sanctity of marriage, of course,” she added wryly.
“Pastor Wilkins isn’t that bad. Yes, he’s a bit old fashioned in his views on women, but it’s all scriptural.”
Marketta snorted. “Honey, he uses that bible of his like a weapon against people, and honestly, a person could find scripture to support just about any stance they want to take. That doesn’t mean it’s right.”
Von didn’t know what to say to that. Marketta was usually flippant when it came to anything to do with religion. This flash of insight she’d spouted made Von uncomfortable, mostly because in her heart of hearts, she agreed. Troubled, she sat up and moved to the edge of the bed.
Marketta sighed, then said in a soft voice, “Von, everybody that says ‘Hallelujah’ ain’t saved, and toting a bible don’t make you a Christian. Some of them preachers are the freakiest demons in suits you ever want to meet. I haven’t decided which camp your Pastor Dee falls in, but I’m telling you something about that man ain’t right and it scares me that your boy Derrick wants to be just like him.”
Von said nothing. When the silence became uncomfortable, her cousin said, “Look, I got nothing against religion. We live in the Bible belt, after all, and Lord knows our family could use us some Jesus in our lives, me included. All I’m saying is read the bible for yourself and make your own decisions. Don’t be letting nobody control you, telling you what to believe and how to live. You’ve got a mind. Use it. And as for sex, if you want to go to your marriage bed a virgin, then do it. But make sure it’s what you want to do, not some rule someone imposed upon you, or ’cause you’re scared of being like your momma.” She sighed. “All right. Lecture over. We cool?”
“Yes.”
“You know I got your back, right?”
Von smiled, and it came through into her voice. “Of course.”
“Good. Now when’s the last time you heard from the hunk?”
“Sean?”
“Sean?” Marketta mimicked her in a high voice. “Of course, Sean. Don’t get me wrong. Your boy Derrick’s fine and all that. I’ll give him his props, but Sean? Mmm-mm! I could lick that white boy from head-to-toe. You know vanilla was always my favorite flavor of ice cream. ”
Von laughed at Marketta’s dramatics and walked over to her dresser. She picked up the picture frame holding the photo of a Sean and Derrick in Army fatigue pants and tank tops, holding automatic rifles while the hot, desert sun shone down upon them. They looked like every woman’s bad boy fantasy come to life. Derrick, with his smooth dark skin and intense golden-brown eyes, and Sean with his deep, golden tan and equally intense dark brown eyes, both gazed in the camera, serious faced and sexy.
Then she remembered and the laughter dried up. “It’s been months and I’m worried. No email, no letters—nothing. That’s not like him.”
Derrick had met Sean in boot camp and the two had become fast friends. When he learned Sean had no family, at Derrick’s insistence, she’d begun writing and emailing Sean as well. Though they’d never met face-to-face, over the last eight years they’d become great pen pals. In some ways, Sean knew her better than Derrick. With him, she could say anything and there was no censure, no judgment. Unlike Derrick, who could sometimes get a little preachy. Occupational hazard, she guessed.
“Ah, man, that bites. Hope he’s okay,” Marketta stated.
“Me, too.”
“Well, look, I know you like to get your sleep on when it’s your day off, so I’ll let you go. You think about what I said.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Von smarted, making a snappy salute in the mirror.
“Fool.” Marketta laughed and disconnected the call.
Von put the cordless phone in its cradle and went into the bathroom to shower. Though it was still early, only eight, she was too alert to return to bed now.
As she showered, Von considered Marketta’s words. Her cousin had a good heart, although the way she spoke sometimes, a person who didn’t know her would have difficulty believing it. Her main concern was that Von hadn’t experienced life. Marketta thought she was too sheltered and if she married Derrick now, Von would regret it later on. She wanted her to get out there and experiment, taste freedom, enjoy a bit of variety and then, if Derrick was still who Von wanted, marry him with a clear conscious knowing she’d made the best choice.