Page 50 of Rewind

Jasmine’s shoulders slumped, tears sparkled in her eyes and her lips quivered.

“If you don’t want to continue, I can take it from here,” Amina whispered to her.

Jasmine sniffed and shook her head. “No. I want to do this. Look at how he’s acting.”

Jasmine pulled away from Amina and walked toward the pastor.

Mark reached out to grab her but Amina stepped in his way. “No!” She shook her head. “Jasmine deserves her say.”

Mark stared at Amina like she had grown a second head. “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you on some kind of drugs?”

“No Mark. I’m not on any drugs. I’ve just experienced a moment of clarity. How about you listen to what Jasmine has to say?”

“Because that slut is trying to slander our family. My father would never touch her.”

Jasmine stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at Mark. “I wasn’t a slut when Pastor Caldwell had me bent over his desk saying that the lord is using him. I wasn’t a slut when he wanted to heal my troubles by laying hands on me.” The young girl’s voice got progressively louder with each word spoken. The room was completely silent at this point.

“I wasn’t a slut when he was giving me the church’s money to buy something nice for myself. And I wasn’t a slut when he told me that he’d take care of me and my baby as long as I kept quiet.”

“You are a damn lie!” Pastor Caldwell yelled as sweat profusely ran down his dark face. Angry lines etched his skin, giving him the appearance of an actual demon. “Everyone in this church knows you sleep around. That could be any man’s baby. I could have a bunch them come forward to say that you’ve lain with them!”

Jasmine raised her chin defiantly. “You know what Pastor Caldwell, or should I just call you Otis because you don’t deserve to hold the title of Pastor. I was so lost and depressed when I joined Christ’s Home because I was away from my parents and family, and I was having some issues in school. I sought a church home to help me cope with the problems I was experiencing.” A tear slid down her cheek which she hastily wiped away.

“But you took advantage of me and refused to use protection because you said the lord would take care of it.”

“Eww, he’s nasty.” Candace snickered.

“But when you found out I was pregnant,” Jasmine continued. “You gave me money to get rid of my baby. I didn’t, but you came back. You said you’d take care of me and the baby if I continued to have sex with you. You gave me a bunch of money. When your wife suspected what was going on, you cut me off.”

“You dirty liar! My husband would never touch a cheap jezebel like you. Hallelujah!” Mrs. Caldwell shouted.

“Katherine, let me handle this!” Otis walked from behind the table and charged toward Jasmine.

Amina frightened that he’d actually harm the girl pulled Jasmine out of his way and stood in front of her. “You’re not going to assault a pregnant woman are you?”

Paisley stood up. “If you touch her, I’m going to call the police!”

For the first time in her life, Amina was happy to have someone using their white woman privilege on her behalf.

The pastor stepped back and snarled at Amina before shooting an angry glare toward his son. “You will not be marrying this woman.” He pointed at Amina. “I will not allow a liar and a swindler into this family. And look at her dressed like a cheap tramp. This isn’t how we raised you, Mark Joseph Caldwell.”

Amina rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I never wanted to marry your sorry ass son in the first place. Do you think I’d want to be with a man who’s almost thirty still living off his mommy and daddy? He comes over to my house so I can do his laundry, and he barely knows how to wipe his ass. The amount of shit in his underwear is disgusting.”

“I’m not going to be his slave for the rest of my life. And look at this pathetic ring. Let me take it off before it turns my finger green.” She slipped off the ring and tossed it in Mark’s direction, not caring if he caught it or not.

She was so done with him and his entire family.

Amina glared at the pastor. “Oh, and regardless of whether you claim Jasmine’s baby or not, I’m sure the courts will order a paternity test, so you’d better be prepared to start paying child support.”

“I never touched that woman!” Pastor Caldwell yelled. “She’s a liar!”

“No! You’re the liar and I have proof!”

Jasmine pulled out a stack of papers from her purse. “Here Amina. Something told me to make copies of all the checks he wrote to me. Pass them out so everyone can see.”

Amina took the papers and grinned. “With pleasure.” She looked down at the copies of the checks Jasmine made. “Wow,Pastor, you’ve got to be some kind of stupid to write checks directly from the church’s baby account with their header on them.

He instantly blustered and tried to snatch them out of Amina’s hands but she held them out of his reach. “Anyone can fake copies,” he said.

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