Lindsey woke up to the sound of her alarm clock, it was Sunday morning and she was quite dedicated to her Sunday service. She took a short glance at the alarm clock, switching off the 7:00 am alarm she had snoozed up till 7:30 am. She curled up from the bed and headed to the bathroom to have a hot bath.
In an hour, Lindsey walked out of her room dressed in her black church uniform with a beret. She fixed her skirt locking her room door, she wasn’t sharing a room with Keith after he had come up with a strange allergy which happens whenever he shared a bed with another person, something Lindsey considered it a dumb lie, yeah it was obvious he was lying but she didn’t care at all.
She was locking her room because she didn’t feel safe or maybe it was something she was already used to, even when she was living alone, she locked her room door before locking the apartment altogether.
“Aren’t you going to church?” Lindsey asked, Keith who was stated at the dining table, busy with some work on his laptop spared her a brief look which was enough to access her. She had a nice body shape which made everything she wore look good on her even with her short height. And her make-up was light yet beautiful, he noticed she wasn’t a fan of heavy make-up. Keith blinked his eyes wondering why he was taking his time to admire and access her, the last time he checked, he didn’t like her and was ready to break and destroy her.
“I don’t go to church,” He said fixing his eyes back on his laptop. “You don’t go to church,” Lindsey repeated walking towards him, she was stunned at his reply. The Winslow family kept a high profile about everything and always brag about doing everything right, and being one of the most religious families and here was their son saying he doesn’t go to church. “We had a church wedding to bless our marriage and you still don’t go to church,” Lindsey said and Keith scoffed. “Does that count as a marriage, we just had a white concert to mark the beginning of the contract and if care isn’t taken, there would be a black concert to mark the end,” Keith said in a hoarse voice. Lindsey stared at him, she wasn’t a child anymore so she understood exactly what he said but what she was certain of was that if there would be any black concert as he had mentioned, he would be the reason for the concert and not her.
“I will be back soon,” she said not wanting to continue with the childish and pointless argument with him. Lindsey didn’t receive any response from Keith as he left the house, straight to the car pack. She didn’t bother to take her red Audi, she was far ahead of the car so she went with the range rover.
At the church, Lindsey parked carefully at the car pack, there was only a little space left since it was Sunday and the redemption church was one of the biggest and mostly attended by rich people. She alighted from the car and meet a few people whose faces seem to be familiar but she can’t remember where she saw them. Lindsey shoved it aside concluding they might have been guests at their wedding.
Lindsey walked into people singing. She put her bag down on the chair and joined in singing happily.
She moved her body from side to side singing filled with the holy spirit. She had a sweet voice and never fails to use it in praising God. For Lindsey, no matter how bad her life turns out, she had a lot of things to be thankful for, her paternal grandmother made her understand that when every member of the Roach family including her late father rejected and insulted her for the sins committed by Angela. Grandma Susan was the only one who didn’t do the same, she accepted her and kept reminding her that she was a blessing to the family and God had a reason for bringing her into the family, as crazy as it might sound, Lindsey grew up calling grandma Susan big mummy and up till date, she still called her that and thanked God she was fortunate enough to meet her, unlike her maternal grandmother who died when she was two years.
The worship and praise ended and the pastor came forwards to preach, everyone sat down to listen to the world of God. “God is good! And all the time,” pastor Chris shouted. “The Lord is good,” the congregation shouted. “We are so blessed to be here today to worship in the lord’s vineyard, a lot want to be here but one thing or the other prevented us from coming to church today, either they were sick or in the mortuary, for me, that’s the only reason that could make someone not to be in the house of the lord but we all are this morning to glorify the name of the lord, there is no greater joy than this somebody shout alleluia,”
“Alleluia!,” The congregation shouted. “This Sunday is specially made for the youth, we have a special person in our mist today and I would like to call her into the alter to preach to us, to fill us with God’s knowledge in her, I would love to call on, Mrs. Lindsey Winslow,” Pastor Chris said and everyone began to clap.
Lindsey was more than surprised, she never expected the pastor to call out her name, if she knew she would have prepared a sermon before coming. She stood up and walked into the alter, praying she doesn’t say something stupid that would trend for days if not weeks on the internet.
“Good Morning to you all,” Lindsey greeted and they all responded in unison. She started off by singing the song her grandmother had taught her to sing whenever she was in trouble or in a tight situation. After a while, they stopped singing and she began to preach. How the word of God entered her mouth and flowed freely was something she didn’t know how it happen but she knew she did a good job preaching and she said a good number of things advising the youth.
The church service ended hours later and everyone left the church premises one after the other, after greeting one or two people they were acquainted with. “Thank you so much for worshipping wiplkoth us, we hope to see you in the next service and perhaps have you as one of our dignitaries, with your today’s sermon, I’m certain that God wants to use you to do great things in his ministry,” Pastor Chris said. Lindsey smiled respectfully, the truth was that she used to be a worker in her previous church before her marriage to Keith, but now, she doesn’t know if she could meet up with the demand, she had a lot of things to do, running four company would be a big pin in her ass. She opened her mouth to decline politely but was stopped by Mrs Grace. “I know you are busy, we all know that and we are busy as well but you have a wonderful voice and a good spirit, working in the lords vineyard would be the perfect way to thank him for everything he has done for you, Don’t you agree? and don’t worry, we would consider your working hours,” Mrs. Grace said. She was pastor Chris’s wife and from the way she was speaking, she appeared to be a good woman. “I would love to,” Lindsey said, even though she doubted if she would be able to keep up but she felt bad saying no after the beautiful words she heard from Mrs. Grace. “God bless you, my dear, we would be glad if you lead the youth, your advice today was top notch and I’m sure they enjoyed the service,” Mrs. Grace said. Lindsey beamed “Thank you for your kind words, I would see you later,” Lindsey said before she walked out. It was almost noon and she was famished and tired.
Williams stood at the church exit and watched as Lindsey modelled her way to the exit He had never seen a church uniform look as good. The black long-sleeved top with a white sleeve was tucked in her black flared skirt that ended at her knees and inside were her black pulling socks. The long heels elevated her short height and each step she took was with determination.
“You look beautiful… like a church girl. I didn’t think you went to church,” Lindsey heard that familiar voice, she turned and meet Williams standing in front of her. She wasn’t sure if he was standing there all this while because she didn’t see him or maybe he was, she had her mind occupied with other things
Williams heard a smile plastered on his face and Lindsey couldn’t help but smile back at him. “Why?” Lindsey asked while walking towards her car, Williams chuckled walking beside her. “I mean, it’s not churchly to drink to stupor to the extent of imagining weird things you know,” Williams said. Lindsey rolled her eyes, unlocking her car. “You are allowed to think whatever you want to think, it’s none of my business,” Lindsey said. For all she know, her business with him was done, she wasn’t pregnant and nothing happened between them.
Williams smiled, “Nurse Tessy told me you are donating to the kids, thanks for that,” he said. “You don’t need to thank me, I try my possible best to help those I’m better than and those kids needed the money,” Lindsey said sparing him a look, just then she saw a group of elderly ladies looking at them smiling. Three of them started walking over.
“Mrs. Lindsey, my dear your sermon today was good, I thought the chairwoman only picked a worldly bride for her sons, she made the right choice this time around,” one of the women said smiling. Williams and Lindsey bowed respectfully and greeted them. Lindsey didn’t say anything other than the greeting, she knew whatever she says they would still be the ones to sell the information off to the press.
“But, I’m curious, why didn’t you come with your husband, he would have seen the rare gem he married and that would help him acknowledge and respect you the more,” the third woman said.
“He had something very urgent to take care of, he would have loved to come,” Lindsey lied, she felt guilty lying but she didn’t have any other choice.
“Please, make sure you come with him next Sunday and I would love to listen to your preaching,” The second woman said and they all agreed with her. “Thanks for the kind words and I would be looking forward to that,” Lindsey smiled at them, and with that, they excused themselves.
“Do you want to do lunch?” Williams asked. Lindsey stared at him and smiled “Lunch sounds great but I’m sorry, I won’t be available for that,” Lindsey declined politely. “Okay, no problem, I was just thinking of a better way to thank you for your donation,” Williams said. “You don’t need to thank me, Dr. Williams, I would see you again at the donation event or perhaps at the next service, Goodbye,” Lindsey said and entered her car.