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“What is there to share? And what if everything I’m sharing with him will take him further from who he is? Further from being a man of God?”
“You can’t punish him for being a man of God and you can’t punish yourself for living your life. If you two are going to make it you have to try to live in both worlds, with both histories.” Tamia tried not to sound like she was still crying, but she was. It hurt her to hear her friend in so much pain. Troy had changed her entire life to try to make her marriage work. “Troy, you’re one of the most godly women I know. Forget about the church and all of that stuff. If God is love, then you’ve got more than most people. You love your family and you love your friends. And even when you’ve fallen short, I’ve seen you fight for all of us and remind us how to love one another. Now, I’m not one of those sisters in the club at the church. I’m not sanctified”—Tamia and Troy laughed—“but I know that kind of love is good and godly, and Kyle is lucky to have it.”
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The next time Pastor Kyle Hall reached for his wife in the night, she was there and reaching back to him. While he was asleep, her touch immediately and fully woke him. He opened his eyes and saw her nude breasts facing him and leaning toward the sheets. He moved his hand from Troy’s open palm to her and looked at her face. And while any other night when he’d touched her in this way, his mind tried to recall if it was a holiday or what he’d done to deserve this, this time, all he thought was “beautiful.”
“I love you,” his wife said, her arm crisscrossing his and reaching beneath the sheet.
“I love you too.”
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It’s one amazing thing when a woman is born luminescent. It’s another amazingly spectacular thing when the same woman forgets how bright and dazzling she is for a very long time and then, through some kind of intervention, is reminded.
Two weeks after the Queen Been Competition led Troy to inspire the biggest coup d’état in First Baptist history, the Virtuous Women’s annual bake sale raked in its biggest profit ever and just like that Troy had a palpable reminder of the significance of her own brand of luminosity. While she dared not contribute a cake of her making, she used her connections and wit to lead a fierce marketing campaign throughout the surrounding neighborhood that led to a line of eager customers waiting outside the church the morning of the sale. “What are all these people waiting for?” Sister Julia asked Troy, who was busy walking down the line to offer guests hot tea as they waited. “You,” Troy responded. She handed Sister Julia, whose Five-Flavor Bundt was the sweetest and softest she’d ever had, a flyer with the woman’s image on it as she held one of her cakes. Realizing that the women of the church presented the most compelling and memorable branding behind the products they were selling, Troy created flyers featuring the images of each of the women with the cakes. So they weren’t just selling this cake and that cake—it was Mother Beulah’s Sock-It-to-Me Cake, Sister Sarah’s Sweet Potato Pie, Sister Mildred’s bread pudding, Sister Junnie Mae’s pineapple upside-down cake, and Sister Lena’s 7Up Cake. Everyone in line had an order—they wanted the entire cake, wanted to meet the women who’d made them, and even when everything was gone the Virtuous Women were still taking orders. Needless to say, the mothers and sisters, who’d been reminded of their own luminosity as customers argued about who’d get their cakes and begged for pictures and secret recipes, had nothing but smiles and kind words for their First Lady. “First Lady is smart,” Sister Julia said, smiling after a reporter from the Amsterdam News Troy invited begged her for the recipe for the Five-Flavor Bundt. “I’m humble…but my cake is good.”
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Sister Julia Reid’s Five-Flavor Bundt (As Passed Down at a Card Party…Before Sister Julia Got Saved)
If you have a sweet tooth, this sweet cake is sure to satisfy. Invite a few friends over and indulge with vanilla bean ice cream.
Cake Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
3 cups sugar
½ c. vegetable oil
5 large eggs (well beaten)
3 cups flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1 tsp. each almond, lemon, vanilla, coconut, and rum extract
Directions:
Cream butter, sugar, and vegetable oil until light and fluffy. Add eggs (which have been beaten until lemon in color). Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add to butter and egg mixture and beat approximately 1 ½ minutes, adding milk for smooth batter consistency. Fold in the five flavors. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 1 to 1 ½ hours. Stick toothpick in to make sure it’s done. Leave in pan.
Topping Ingredients:
1 tsp. each almond, lemon, vanilla, coconut, and rum extract
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
Directions:
Combine in a saucepan and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Make sure cake is cool; then, pour ½ mixture over cake, wait 10 minutes, and turn cake out of pan onto a plate. Pour remaining mixture over cake.
