Everyone gathered into the conference room for the Tuesday-morning staff meeting. In attendance were Raven, Porsha, Michelle, and also John Green, NVCC’s chief financial officer; Trudy Dennison, NVCC’s marketing and promotions director; Melvin Lane, NVCC’s media broadcasting director; and Kathy Bowman, NVCC’s online director. The church also employed a board of elders who led individual ministries, but for the most part, Raven, Porsha, and Michelle met with them separately. They only did so twice per month, and because Raven was happy with all of them, she allowed each elder to operate his or her respective ministry as he or she saw fit. Although, to tell the truth, the reason she gave them such free rein was because they ran things exactly the way she’d instructed them.
As the meeting attendees assembled in the room and began taking their seats, Raven, who sat at the head of the long wooden table, glanced to her left at Porsha. Porsha was chatting with Kathy, and Raven wished Porsha had decided to stay home today. She didn’t want to see her, and she still couldn’t believe Porsha had mustered enough audacity to call her yesterday. She’d acted as though she was genuinely concerned, but Raven wasn’t stupid. No, what Porsha had actually been trying to do was question the validity of Raven’s allegations, and Raven wasn’t happy about it.
“So,” Raven said when everyone seemed situated and ready to begin. “By now, I’m sure you’ve all seen my Facebook video. If you didn’t see it live, then you’ve likely viewed the recorded version.”
Everyone nodded, but Porsha just stared at her.
“Good. Well, I first want to apologize for not preparing all of you, but I didn’t even know I was going to share anything new about my past until minutes beforehand. I’ve never told anyone what happened to me, but yesterday, I felt led to discuss it. I believe God wanted me to share my story as a way to help many others, so I did.”
“I’m really sorry,” Michelle said. “I know I’ve already told you that, but I truly am.”
Raven smiled. “Thank you.”
“We’re all sorry,” John added, and Raven smiled at him, too. The only difference now, though, was that she forced tears into her eyes just for him. She didn’t allow them to fall down her cheeks, but she could see how hurt John was about her being raped, and she liked that. John was an extraordinary number cruncher, even better with finances than she was, but he was also ridiculously attracted to her. The only problem with that, however, was that he was far too straightlaced and wasn’t her type—he wore nerdy-looking glasses, multicolored socks, and loud bow ties with his suits—but she always treated him well. She even gave him bonuses for all his hard work…and she’d slept with him a couple of times, too. Of course, John knew, though, that she was dating Kane, and Raven believed that was the reason he never pressured her. But she also knew she could sleep with John again anytime she wanted. And she would if that’s what it would take for him to doctor a few financial statements and bank account details. She hadn’t quite figured out what she needed him to do just yet or if she would need him to do anything at all, but she kept him right where she wanted him just in case. Since hiring him, she’d known that having a CFO who was shamelessly attracted to her would eventually benefit her in some way, so she’d always subtly but regularly flirted with him for good measure. It didn’t hurt, too, that he was only thirty and didn’t prefer younger women. He had conveniently mentioned that fact on more than one occasion, knowing that Raven was nine years older than he was.
“We’re here for you,” Trudy said. “Anything you need.”
“For sure,” Melvin agreed.
“Thank you all so much. I love and appreciate you for your concern, but I’m fine. Really.”
Raven waited for someone else to speak, but when no one did, she pulled a tissue from a box of Kleenex sitting near her and dabbed the corners of her eyes. She was mostly hoping that Porsha would offer at least some sort of support or kind word—not because she cared one way or the other, but just so they could keep up appearances among their staff. But Porsha still stared at Raven in silence.
Until finally she said, “A person like that should be reported. Arrested and locked up before they hurt someone else. I mean, just think of how many other women this lunatic may have victimized.”
Raven tried to keep her composure, because it was clear that Porsha was only trying to get her to say who’d raped her.
“I just want to leave well enough alone,” Raven said. “I don’t mind sharing my story as a way to help other women, but that’s where it ends. I don’t want to identify the person, have to deal with the media, or have to testify in court. It’s just not worth it.”
“Why would the media want to get involved?” Porsha asked.
“Because people know me on a national level.”
Porsha locked her hands together and rested them on the table. “That’s even better. You just said you want to help other women, right? And if you identified your attacker, that might encourage others to do the same. It would also prevent innocent people from being accused.”
Raven wasn’t sure how to respond, but she was getting pretty sick of Porsha. None of this was even her business. Yes, Raven had gone on record saying that her rapist was a prominent pastor, but that jarring piece of information alone was all most people cared about—that he was a pastor and well…that it might be world-renowned Reverend Curtis Black. This was the only thing that mattered to Raven, too, as this kind of widespread gossip and raging curiosity could keep people talking for months. The whole scenario could do wonders for Raven’s publicity, and if the good reverend, his pathetic son Dillon, his crazy daughter Alicia, or anyone else in the Black family suffered consequences, then so be it. As far as Raven was concerned, they would only be getting what they had coming to them.
Raven didn’t bother responding to Porsha, though, and instead turned to her online director. “So, Kathy, while I handle my own social media pages, how are things shaping up with the church’s?”
“Everything’s going well. And as you can probably imagine, once I shared your video on the church’s public page yesterday, it became our most shared video ever. As of this morning, people were still sharing it on their personal pages, commenting, and in some cases admitting that they’d been sexually assaulted themselves.”
Raven feigned a look of surprise because the first thing she’d done this morning was check the ministry’s Facebook page. “Really? I expected people to maybe comment, but not make this our most shared video.”
“Yes,” Kathy said, “people can relate and it always helps when someone learns that they’re not alone. That someone such as yourself has experienced the same things they have.”
“It might not hurt for you to do some sort of an internal video announcement,” Trudy said. “Not for the overall public, but specifically for our church membership. I know you’ve shared your story online, but instead of sharing it with our local members this coming Sunday from the pulpit, maybe you could go into the studio with Melvin to record it. That way we could play the video before you actually speak to the congregation.”
Raven liked this whole idea but masked her enthusiasm. “Well, if you all think it might help, then I’m more than happy to do it. I didn’t disclose my rape just so I could get a lot of public attention, though,” she said, lying. “But again, if even one person can be helped, I’ll do whatever I have to.”
“Good,” Trudy said. “And is that okay with you, Melvin?”
“Absolutely. We can do it any day this week, Pastor.”
“Sounds good,” Raven told him. “Tomorrow or Thursday should work fine, and I’ll confirm with you later.”
Michelle read aloud the final four topics on the agenda, and when all had been discussed, Raven said, “Okay, then. Unless someone has something else, I think we can adjourn.”
“Actually, I have something,” Porsha said.
It took everything in Raven not to groan, cringe, and scream at the top of her lungs. But she didn’t. Instead, she pretended to be highly interested in what Minister Harrington had to say. “Please, go ahead.”
“I’ve thought about this before, but now I believe it’s the perfect time to start a singles ministry.”
Raven half frowned. “But we already have a singles ministry. Elder Carter holds meetings for it every month.”
“I know, but that one is open to men and women. I want to create something for women only.”
“I really like that,” Trudy said. “And if you do this, I’ll be one of the first members to sign up.”
Kathy agreed. “Well, I’m not single, but my sister is, and I know she would love being able to fellowship with other single women.”
“What about you, Michelle?” Porsha asked.
“I think it’s a great idea, too. I look forward to it!”
Raven hated this. It was bad enough that Porsha had created a new message segment for Sunday mornings, and now she wanted to start her own singles ministry? What would she want to do next? Deliver all Sunday-morning sermons? Change her title from minister to senior pastor? Decide that she was head boss in charge of the whole NVM operation?
Only over Raven’s dead body.
“So what is it that you think would be different?” Raven asked. “I mean, in comparison to the singles ministry we already have?”
Porsha relaxed further in her chair. “For one, each woman could share a lot more freely about women’s issues. They could share their innermost concerns and fears about being single and also about men as a whole,” she said, and then looked at John and Melvin. “No offense.”
Both men laughed, and Melvin said, “None taken.”
“None at all,” John added.
Then Porsha continued. “They could talk about anything they wanted in more of a girlfriend sort of setting. They wouldn’t have to feel guarded or worry about saying the wrong thing in front of male participants. This would be something created strictly for them.”
“Actually, us single men could stand to have a ministry like that as well,” John said, laughing a little, but he seemed very serious. “It would be great to have one for women, one for men, and a combined one.”
“I agree,” Porsha said. “Because let’s face it, men and women are very different. Women have different needs than men.”
Trudy folded her arms. “Yes. So this will be perfect.”
Raven was speechless. For the first time since she’d started her ministry and hired everyone sitting in this room, they’d all sided with Porsha. Worse, she knew Porsha was going to do whatever she wanted, regardless of what Raven had to say about it.
“I’m glad you all like the idea,” Porsha said, “and if no one opposes, I’d like to begin writing the mission statement right away and then figure out which day and time of the week will work best. After that, I’ll start brainstorming some fun things the ladies can do together as well.”
Raven hoped and prayed that someone—anyone—would realize that this singles ministry for women was a total waste of time. But no one did. Instead, they were excited about it, and at this very moment, they were still raving over it and offering Porsha their blessings.
But nonetheless, Raven wanted to shut it all down. She wanted to object to any- and everything Porsha was proposing, except sadly, she knew it wouldn’t look good to the others. Which was the reason Porsha had to go. There was just no getting around it.