The Bishop's Daughter by Tiffany L. Warren Read Free Book Online Page B

chair from another table in front of us.
    Dorcas continues, “So I see you’ve met Darrin. He’s coming to us by way of Cleveland.”
    Emoni nods, her shine extinguished. She notices someone across the room and rolls her eyes. I follow her gaze and see a corny-looking guy in a sport coat and slacks making a beeline for our table. He pats his small Afro and strokes his goatee as he approaches. Dude looks like he used to work out back in the day, but now he’s soft, with a middle-aged man’s gut.
    He thrusts his hand into my face. I take it and give it a rough shake. “I’m Darrin Bainbridge.”
    “Trustee Oscar Williams,” he replies.
    Trustee? I guess it’s not the middle-aged-man gut. It’s the let’s-go-to-the-all-you-can-eat-buffet-spot-after-church gut.
    He looks at Emoni and frowns. “Your father needs you in the back,” he says.
    Emoni glances at me and reluctantly stands. Looks like she wants to sock the dude in his soft belly. “Darrin, we’ll have to finish our discussion some other time.”
    “Right … of course.”
    Oscar and Dorcas both seem pleased as Emoni strides away. Dorcas moves to Emoni’s seat, and Oscar turns on his heel, chasing after Emoni.
    Dorcas says, “Those two are a couple.”
    “Are they?” I’m shocked, because Emoni definitely strikes me as available.
    “They might as well be. Oscar is with her twenty-four/seven, and he’s basically a part of the family. He’s been in love with her for years.”
    Don’t know why, but I’m jealous. Don’t know anything about the girl except her name and the scent of her perfume, but I’m jealous. Even with a beautiful woman at my side who is clearly trying to get with me, I’m still jealous.
    After a few moments of idle chitchat, a praise team assembles at the front of the classroom. They sing a medley of upbeat old-school gospel cuts like “Jesus on the Mainline” and “He’s All Right.” Dorcas leaves my side and takes her seat next to Bishop Prentiss’s wife.
    Bishop Prentiss emerges from a closed door and goes directly into his message. “Praise the Lord, saints of God. This evening we are going to continue our study on Christian living. Turn in your Bibles to Second Timothy, Chapter Two, and we’re going to start reading at Verse Twenty.”
    Everyone stands to his or her feet and reads in unison.
    But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
    If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
    Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
    Bishop continues, “The topic tonight, y’all, is ‘Fleeing Youthful Lusts.’”
    Great. I meet two of the most intriguing women in this church, and Bishop Prentiss wants to preach on lust. That’s not even right.
    “Saints of God,” preaches Bishop Prentiss, “I get a lot of prayer requests from singles trying to live holy and from courting couples trying to have a chaste courtship. They always ask me how they can successfully remain pure and pleasing to God.”
    Here we go. I used to get my hopes up when visiting churches with my various girlfriends. I’d hope that at least one preacher could tell me how to live for God and not chase tail.
    “I’m going to start by saying that as long as you live, you will battle your flesh. That sexual drive is real. It’s necessary for the survival of the human race. The flesh is drawn to that which is sexually attractive, and there is nothing you can do to alter what the flesh wants. The flesh wants what it wants.”
    All right, now. Get real with it, Bishop. I feel myself scooting to the edge of my seat, wanting to hear more.
    “But yet as Christians, lovers of God, we are compelled to battle this flesh. Paul said that he died daily. What does it