Free The Bride Experiment by Mimi Jefferson

her, even though I wanted to shake her until it came out.
    â€œRight after I left Minister Makita that day, I went to the church’s day care to pick up Jasmine. Kenneth was there, and he was reading a Bible story to the handful of children who were still there. Jasmine was right in front and completely engaged in the story. Well, instead of interrupting, I sat in the back, my mind racing with what Minister Makita had just told me.”
    Tisha blurted out, “Hold on! I got to go pee and can’t hold it anymore. Don’t say a word until I get back.” She ran down the hall.
    Joan shuffled around in her seat before getting up to get a glass of water. She was too involved in her thoughts to ask her friends if they needed something. Kenneth was the finest Christian man she had ever seen. He was the complete package. Once, he asked Joan for her phone number when they were working on a project for Minster Makita. Joan had gotten so excited, thinking maybe he was interested in her. But the only time Kenneth called was when he needed to get some information about something church related. He never tried to make the conversation last any longer than necessary. Joan was devastated.
    Tisha returned and Lila started again. “Well, the teenage girls who usually work in the day care started talking and giggling. Then they went and got the remaining children and took them to another part of the day care, leaving me, Jasmine, and Kenneth alone.”
    Tisha prodded, “That’s when you knew it was him?”
    â€œThat’s when I knew Kenneth had arranged for Minister Makita to hold me up, and for the day care workers to take the other children away,” Lila answered.
    â€œWell, what happened next?” Janet asked, patting her oversized stomach.
    â€œNext?” Lila paused. “Next he asked if he could take me to lunch. Girls, I could have screamed, ‘Thank you, Jesus!’ We’ve been hanging out pretty regularly for two weeks.”
    Tisha stood up. “Two weeks! How dare you hold on to this kind of information.”
    â€œI know, I know. It’s just that if things didn’t work out, I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” Lila pleaded.
    â€œAnd now?” Joan questioned, rejoining the ladies on the sofa.
    â€œWell, it’s too late, my hopes are up. Kenneth is wonderful and everything I could want in a husband,” Lila paused. “Everything God wants me to have in a husband. I’m telling you now because tonight he asked me to meet his parents.”
    Tisha started jumping up and down. “I’m going to be in a wedding! I’m going to be in a wedding!”
    â€œYou see why I didn’t tell you?” Lila laughed. “Kenneth hasn’t asked me to marry him.”
    â€œHe hasn’t asked you yet,” Janet said. “Jerome told me he knew right away I would be his wife. Men know right away if they are going to make you a wife. Meeting the parents? Girl, that means you are in.”
    Janet waddled up and gave Lila a hug. “I’m so happy for you.” Tisha joined the hug. Joan looked around first. Sensing no way to flee, she joined the hug too.
    As Joan embraced her friends, her mind wandered to the day Minister Makita announced she was launching a new ministry: Wife Preparation class. She said the women would search and study the scriptures and learn what God said about being a wife. In addition to Bible Study, they would have homemaking and money management classes. They would get training on raising godly children and having a vision for their families.
    Joan and Tisha couldn’t join the class because it was a six-month commitment, and with their work in the bakery, they wouldn’t have time. But Joan wondered if that was what had attracted Kenneth to Lila, and why wouldn’t it? A woman who had made the commitment to the extensive schedule Minister Makita had proposed for the class—and the personal