Preacher's Wifey Read Online Free

want me to have an abortion?”
    â€œI cannot deny that the timing could not be any worse.”
    â€œBut why? Things are going great with the church. Cornerstone adores you. Matter of fact, the membership is at its highest, and so is your salary. The car dealerships are doing well. The funeral home business in Chicago is booming. So I know it’s not about money. You have everything just like you told me you wanted it to be when I first met you a couple of years ago.”
    â€œBaby, this is not about money.”
    â€œThen what is it about?” My level of confusion was increasing by the second. “Why is this a bad time?”
    â€œI could never make you understand now. Prior to this baby, you would have understood perfectly. I will say our arrangement did not include kids. I needed you so I could seal the nomination to be the pastor at Cornerstone. I never even thought about having a family... with you. Remember? This was an—”
    â€œArrangement. I know. You just said that, and besides, you never let me forget it.”
    â€œBut you were fine with it in the beginning. I asked you from the start if you would be able to keep your feelings at bay and see being my wife as your job—not your duty. And you assured me that you would. And I pay good money for you to be my wifey. You shop in the best stores. You eat at the best restaurants. You go on monthly excursions with the other pastors’ wives in our circle. You live in a ten-thousand-square-foot home. You drive a BMW seven-sixty five days a week and a two-door Porsche Panamera on the weekend. You have unlimited access to my platinum American Express. You are on at least three of my bank accounts.
    â€œAllyson, I have afforded you a very good life. You knew I was not in love with you. You knew that I probably never would be. This was all about me making my dreams come true. It was about me meeting one final requirement to become the senior pastor at the most highly sought-after church in the nation.”
    â€œBut . . .”
    â€œBut you thought over time you would change me, didn’t you? You thought that after living together and pretending to be a happy couple, I would somehow walk in the door and realize I was really in love with you. Allyson, I’m not. And you being pregnant just changes things. It confuses me. I am not sure how to feel about a child with a woman I am not deeply in love with.”
    â€œThat still doesn’t explain why this is bad timing. You are right. I knew you were not in love with me when we mutually decided I would be your wifey. You are also partially correct in that I figured over time we would be a real couple . . . actually in love with each other. But regardless of any of that, I am pregnant with our child. This child is innocent and has nothing to do with what can really be defined as our buffoonery. Not many people agree to have a relationship with someone based on terms and conditions. But we did it.”
    â€œI am not debating that.”
    â€œSo what, then, is your point, Byran? Why does this have to be such a bad thing? How will this affect our contractual agreement, because in my mind it doesn’t complicate things at all. What are you not saying?”
    He got up and went to lean over the balcony. He stared out into what had now become the darkness of the night for several minutes before he spoke again.
    â€œDo you really want the truth, Allyson? Because the truth often hurts.”
    â€œLet’s not talk about what hurts. It can’t hurt any worse than the hurt I’ve felt tonight.”
    â€œDon’t say that.”
    â€œByran, just spit it out. Stop the shenanigans and just say it.”
    â€œThe woman I am in love with . . . is pregnant too.” Those words froze in midair like the characters from the film The Matrix before they hit my heart like 9 mm bullets. I shook my head in hopes of waking up from what I was sure was a horrible nightmare.