Chapter 22
ο»ΏThe following morning Marcia received a call from Michelle. The Pastor's wife was very friendly towards Marcia, and even hinted at another intimate session soon. But the main reason for calling concerned Connor and his "prospects", as Michelle put it, within the church. Michelle explained that one aspect the leadership was exceptionally committed to was equity, especially among aspiring leaders. In short, Connor would be required to demonstrate that he was without prejudice and that he was totally dedicated to diversity and inclusivity. Words were not enough; he would need to prove that he possessed "not a fibre of racism".
Michelle said that it had been decided that he would be assessed by the way he handled a black babysitter called Divine. She had faced a lot of prejudice in her short life (she was only 23) and lacked a father figure, having been brought up by her mother after her father left them when she was a mere baby. Originally from Detroit, she had moved to the Mid-West to train at a secretarial college. After a spell at a local company, run by an elder of the church, she had impressed so much that she now worked in the main church office.
She had a great love for children, Michelle assured Marcia, and was one of the most popular babysitters in the assembly. Michelle added that a babysitter would be required later that week, as Marcia had been invited to attend an evening celebrating the ongoing missionary work of the church, where field workers would be sharing their experiences in mission fields as disparate as Uganda, Nepal and the Ozarks.
Since the meeting began at 5pm, in order to accommodate one speaker, who had an early flight the following morning, a sitter would be needed to take care of the children before Connor returned home at around 6.30pm. Michelle had instructed Divine to evaluate not only his performance and attitude towards her, but also the way in which he interacted with the children. She would also report back on any stereotypes of black people that he reinforced, his sensitivity to the needs of the oppressed, his overall grasp of what was required of a right-thinking person in modern America, and his suitability for a leadership role in a non-judgemental church that embraced values and virtues.
In order to gauge all these attributes, enough time was required. Michelle therefore suggested that she returned home to relieve Divine at around 11 o'clock. This would give her plenty of time to break bread and "commune" with participants at a prayer and fellowship gathering scheduled to take place at the pastor's house after the main meeting finished at 7pm. Michelle had handpicked Marcia to provide encouragement to a couple of the missionaries, who were in need of a spiritual boost after particularly difficult placements. Although Pastor Donaldson had returned from Seattle, he would be absent, since he would be spending the night at the church's satellite fellowship in a neighboring state. Marcia would no doubt be delighted to know that Charlene would also be part of the select group.
When Marcia told Connor of the arrangements, she wasn't sure how much to talk about the importance of his behaviour or of the church connection. She felt she could trust to his basic decency and lack of discrimination, as far as his behaviour and conversation around Divine went, but was, ironically, perhaps, more worried about whether he would be willing to show the young woman in the clearest and most practical terms that he fully accepted her as a human being, on an equal footing as his wife. For this is how Michelle had put it to Marcia: they wanted to be sure that he would show that there was no qualitative difference between the love he had for a privileged white woman and that he was expected to demonstrate for an underprivileged woman of colour.
"Michelle Donaldson has a tremendous heart for the downtrodden,' Connor said, in response to Marcia's little speech.
"She has indeed," responded Marcia. "But above all she believes that actions speak louder than words. If you were able to truly demonstrate to Divine that so far as you are concerned race and age pose no barrier so far as love is concerned, then she would know that you are ready to be considered for leadership."
"I'm being asked to show that love has no boundaries?" Connor responded - a vision of the dusky beauty filling his mind and causing his cock to swell appreciably.
"That's right, darling. And know that I will be with you in spirit that evening. I will be at a celebration that is being held to honour the work of some church missionaries who are returning to refresh their batteries. After the main meeting some of us will join Michelle at her house for prayer and fellowship, which is likely to segue into some one-on-one work with those who have suffered the most as a result of their calling to serve in foreign fields. Michelle says it's the least we can do to show how much we esteem and love them."
"Oh, that's wonderful, darling," said Connor, still think about the black girl he'd surreptitiously checked out on so many occasions at church.
"Divine by name and divine by nature," he thought. "If the Pastor's wife wants me to demonstrate the sincerity of my love for minorities, I will be more than happy to affirm it after the boys have been tucked up in bed."
On the day in question, Connor managed to move a meeting he had scheduled for late in the afternoon to the following day, so he was able to leave the office at 5 o'clock sharp. He parked the car in the driveway, straightened his tie in the rear-view mirror and sucked on a mint to make sure his breath was as fresh as possible. Then he proceeded to the front door. He had obviously been spotted by someone inside the house as the door opened just as he was about to turn the key. The first sound he heard was that of Aidan and Mark goofing around, but the first sight he saw was of the beautiful Divine, who, having opened the door, was standing in the doorway, her arms outstretched in greeting.
"Welcome home, Mr Regan," she gushed, stepping forward and hugging him warmly.
Connor returned the hug, without fully committing to it on account of the erection that had been building for the last few minutes. He wasn't sure if Divine could make it out, but he felt on balance that he'd probably got away with it. It wasn't a sensible move for two reasons: first, the babysitter interpreted it as coldness on his part, which spoke of latent racist tendencies, and, second, she could feel how hard he was in spite of his half-hearted efforts to hide it.
For a babysitter, he thought, she didn't dress very conservatively. She was wearing a rainbow-striped knit crop top, which showed off her narrow waist to perfection, with very short cutaway blue denim shorts. When she had embraced him, he had picked up an intoxicating scent of something exotic and spicy. Something African, he thought, before chastising himself for his infelicitous choice of words.
"Maybe you would like a shower, Mr Regan?" Divine said to him, as he was attempting to banish images of the girl spread naked on his bed, beckoning him in a ridiculously sultry way to join her, by turning his back to her and making a big show of playing with the boys - joking with them and cuffing them in some impromptu play fighting.
To be honest, her suggestion didn't entirely help matters, as he immediately thought of the girl slipping into the shower behind him and soaping his back before letting her hands wander to his front, where they immediately found something that needed her attention more urgently than his back.
"Thanks, Divine, that would be great," he managed to get out, with his back still turned to her, as he gave Mark a rather more forceful cuff than he intended, which resulted in the 8-year-old bursting into tears and running to the babysitter, who bent down to comfort him.