The Bride Experiment by Mimi Jefferson Read Free Book Online

have spotted the charade, but all of the members of Ebenezer Family Church knew it was an illusion.
    Their father was wealthy in a small town, due to his successful oil business. Some of the single women in the church and many of the married ones would grow tired of waiting on God to bring about their deliverance. So when the tires went bad on their car, when the light bill needed to be paid, or when the women needed a little extra money to buy a bus ticket, they would go see Mr. Reynolds. A trip to Mr. Reynolds didn’t last long, was thoroughly enjoyable, and the women always left with more money than they needed. Otherwise respectable women came from all over town to exchange sexual favors for cash. Mr. Reynolds was tall, attractive, and treated each woman like she was the only woman in the world. When they were finished, Mr. Reynolds never handed money to the women. Instead, he would place the money in a fine linen envelope and spray it with French cologne. Before sealing it, he would place a handwritten note inside, with messages like, Your eyes are as mesmerizing as your scent.
    While the pastor of Ebenezer Family Church didn’t approve of Mr. Reynolds’s actions, he didn’t do anything to stop him either. He threatened to remove him from the church many times, but then Mr. Reynolds would send a large donation to the church, a designer suit, or even a Cadillac once. The gifts kept the pastor quiet.
    The men in the church wouldn’t dare get in Mr. Reynolds’s way. While they hated him, they secretly wanted to be him. They wanted to walk into a room and own it. They wanted to have beautiful women at their beck and call, as well as what appeared to be unlimited resources. Mr. Reynolds could make one phone call and get someone a job. If they crossed him, he could make one phone call and they would lose their job. He had so much power that men who knew their girlfriends, wives, or daughters had slept with him would garner up the strength to smile in his face.
    At home, Mr. Reynolds didn’t have much to say to his wife and children. They ate all of their meals around the table while their father read the paper or documents from work. Their mother would attempt to keep the discussion going, asking the boys about school and activities, but Mr. Reynolds hardly ever appeared to be interested. After dinner, he would take a short drive back to his office, where he would work in between taking his female callers. James remembered his mother crying often in the evening.
    The people at Mr. Reynolds’s funeral pretended to be sad, but many were joyful, glad James’s mother was free of a man she wouldn’t leave. James and Miles sat near their mother at the funeral and watched her weep. They were frustrated they couldn’t make her stop. They sat there silently, embarrassed and humiliated. Their father had been shot and killed by one of the members of Ebenezer Family Church. Mr. Reynolds was having sex with the man’s daughter at the time.
    Right then, James knew he couldn’t tolerate church people. The same people who were talking about his mother behind her back were the same people who were kissing and hugging her at the funeral. The same people who broke out in shouts of praise about the Lord were the same people who would be cursing and yelling before they drove out of the church parking lot. As far as James was concerned, church people were hypocrites and he wanted nothing to do with them.
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    â€œHello, my brother.” James stepped up just as Miles was putting the ball.
    Miles jumped, surprised to hear his brother’s voice. “Brotha, would you roll up on Tiger Woods like that?”
    â€œNo,” James responded. “But since you are no Tiger Woods, we don’t have to worry about that.”
    Miles flashed his golf bag. “I might as well be. I went and got these Tiger Woods-approved golf clubs.”
    James looked at the ball Miles had just putted. He