Everyone Has a Secret

It had been three long years of doctor's visits, arguments, secrets, and constant prayers. But today was different. Angela’s heart raced and her stomach felt like she had butterflies when she looked at the two pink lines on the stick. Angela and her husband Todd had been trying to start their own family but were having difficulty doing so. Todd knew exactly why they could not conceive, but could not bring himself to tell his wife, so imagine a surprised Todd when his wife presented to him the positive pregnancy test. Angela expressed her happiness to her husband with a big hug and kiss. They were finally having a baby. Todd was shocked but questioned this pregnancy. He took a step back and looked at his wife’s belly. She must think I’m stupid as hell, he thought. But Todd played along with the foolery.

For the last several weeks Todd had been noticing the subtle changes his wife had been making. Angela had been spending more time at the church than at home. When she was at home, she was distant and seemed to be moody. Angela had even been excusing herself when taking phone calls. His seemingly perfect wife was being very secretive. This caused him to set up cameras throughout the house and placed an air tag in her car. He had a feeling his precious wife was having an extramarital affair with another man. His suspicions were confirmed to be true when he followed her air tag location to the Jefferson hotel on Franklin Street in the City of Richmond. What the hell is going on? He thought. But deep down he already knew— his wife was getting more than the Holy Spirit in her! Pastor Levy was certainly laying hands on Angela in the most unsanctified way. Todd held his composure longer than any husband would and after 2 hours, he saw his wife leave the hotel. “That damn Jezebel thinks it’s ok to cheat on me huh!” he exclaimed hitting the steering wheel. “Let’s play the damn game then”, he said out loud. Todd started his rental car and made his way back to Enterprise where he returned the rental and got back in his car.

Eight months later…

A startled Angela shrieked when she saw her husband in the bathroom as she got out of the shower, wrapping her terry cloth towel around her belly, which had grown the size of a beach ball! She felt weird but tried to put on a happy go lucky façade. Todd just stared at her for a moment and brought Angela closer to him. He hugged her tight—too tight. This made her uncomfortable, so she pulled away claiming she was feeling nauseous. Todd nodded and let her go.

“Baby let’s invite the pastor over for dinner tomorrow evening. I want to thank him for all his prayers and support for us throughout this whole pregnancy journey. I just feel we should thank him personally,” Todd said with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Angela tried to hide her shock.

“Are you sure? I mean he is busy pastor. He has a conference to go to this weekend so…,” she started to say but stopped when her husband insisted that Pastor Levy come to dinner. Seeing that it was useless arguing with him about the dinner, she made the call and arranged for the pastor to come over.

The night of the dinner had arrived, and Angela was scared as hell! She was so scared about the dinner. After all, that was out of character for Todd to suggest an impromptu dinner at the last minute. Angela also noticed that her husband did not invite Pastor Levy’s wife. Their unborn baby started moving around as if it could feel the rising tension. She nervously twirled the potholder in her hand wanting the night to be over with already. Ding dong! The doorbell sang jolting Angela out of her thoughts. She took a deep breath and wobbled herself to the door and opened it. She greeted Pastor Levy with a hug but was stunned when he boldly kissed her on her lips.

“Pastor not here! My husband is upstairs!” Angela hissed in a hushed tone. She was right. Todd was upstairs watching the cameras. He indeed saw Pastor Levy boldly kissed his pregnant wife. He could no longer hide his disdain for this so-called man of God. Todd went down the stairs and told Angela and Pastor Levy to sit on the couch.

“Thank you for coming Pastor Levy, I wanted to thank you for your prayers and laying hands on my wife during our dark time,” he said watching both of their facial expressions.

“Angela and I have been trying to conceive for years but could not do so on our own. Now you come along and she’s pregnant,” Todd said in a sarcastic tone of voice. Todd paused and stared deeply into Angela’s eyes and told them about his true intentions for their meeting.

“Pastor Levy I know that you’ve been sleeping with my wife for the last year and a half. I know for a fact that the baby is not mine!” Todd said his anger swelling.

“What do you mean the baby is not yours?” The pastor asked his palms sweaty and his heart racing with fear of what his wife and congregation would think if such a scandal was exposed. Todd pulled out a burner cell phone and played the multiple videos of Pastor Levy and Angela together on numerous occasions—the nights they both used the “I’m going to Bible excuse”. Angela gasped when she saw the videos of her and Pastor Levy’s affair. And the most damaging evidence was the kiss Pastor Levy gave her when he entered their home. Angela was too stunned to speak. She felt like she would give birth at any minute. Looking at Angela Todd continued, “We couldn’t have kids because I had a vasectomy two years before I met you! I married you because I loved you and you told me you didn’t want kids! That you wanted to focus on your career. So now, NOW you’ve changed your mind? So instead of divorcing me, and starting your own family with someone else, you chose to sleep with our pastor and deceive me? Oh, my sweet love,” Todd said walking over to his wife, “I see I’m not the only one keeping secrets. So, this is what we are all going to do. We will raise this child as our own, but Pastor Levy you stay the hell away from my wife and child. I will be a father to this baby, and your secret will be kept. You will contribute financially to your child to the tune of $1500 a month,” Todd said firmly. His eyes dead set on the pastor. Pastor Levy looked at Todd and Angela his eyes red like the devil, his hands in a tight fist.

“How dare you!” Pastor Leevy shouted but was silenced when Todd produced a semi-automatic with the nozzle aimed at the pastor’s head.

“I know you don’t want your wife to find out about this shit. Just remember I own you now, ok? So, this little meeting stays between the three of us, ok?” Todd said motioning for Pastor Levy to get up and leave. A speechless Angela watched as Pastor Levy left their home. Right before the pastor opened the door Todd called out to him and said “Don’t forget we will need diapers and clothing for OUR baby. I trust you can keep this secret between us, right?” Todd asked. Pastor Lee nodded in agreement and drove off. Pastor Levy’s head was pounding. This was the one time he was happy his wife was away at the yearly women’s conference. He had to figure out a way to get rid of this major problem that could cost him everything he worked hard for. Picking up his cell phone the pastor made a phone call to an old friend and gave them instructions of what he needed them to do.

It had been two months since the deadly crash on Hull Street when an unidentified driver took the lives of a family of three. Their vehicle was totaled. Pastor Levy sat in his study room rereading the headlines about the accident that took the lives of Todd, Angela, and their baby boy. It killed Pastor Levy to have his own child murdered in such a vicious manner; however, he was not willing to lose his wife and church behind his cheating or any other blackmailing scandal. After all his wife and Angela were best friends. This was a secret Pastor Levy was determined to take to his grave.