“It’s not really personal when it affects all of us,” Sonya said. “Everything that happens in every church affects all of us. You know that.”

“Yes,” Cecily jumped in. “We’re intertwined. We’re family, baby.”

Those words made the stone fill up my throat. She’d said the same thing to Rena. I wanted to jump up, toss a couple of bills on the table, and get the hades out of here. But I was stuck in my seat. It took me a moment to find my voice. “Look,” I began. “I appreciate why you formed this group and while there are some who don’t mind discussing their personal situations at the meetings, I’m not one of them. Jeremy and I are private people and....”

I had to stop when Cecily snickered. But what was worse, Sonya did, too.

Cecily said, “Private? If your husband was so private, then his business wouldn’t be all over the streets.”

I found myself once again in a dilemma. My first thought was to get up, walk out and never return to anything that had to do with the First Ladies Council. But that wouldn’t have been smart. They knew something and I needed to know what they knew.

Sonya said, “Cecily, please.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, not sounding sorry at all. “It’s just that, Ginger, you sit in judgment of us so much.”

“No, I don’t. I’ve never said anything about anyone in our meetings. I don’t participate when you’re gossiping and bringing someone down....”

“See, that right there.” She pointed her finger at me. “That’s what I mean,” Cecily said. “You’re always sitting back, always acting so self-righteous. We can all see the judgment in your eyes, we can all hear it in your voice. But we’re not gossiping, we’re simply trying to help each other out because none of us are immune.” She stopped and sat back as if she’d just dropped the mic. But then, she added, “Including you.”

Really, I just wanted to walk out, but I couldn’t without finding out what they knew. Looking straight at Cecily, I said, “If you,” then, I turned to Sonya, “or you have something to say, I wish you would just say it rather than going through all of this.”

“All right.” I guess Sonya was designated to be the spokeswoman because Cecily sat back and nodded. “But first, I want you to know that what Jeremy has done has nothing to do with you. You don’t have anything to be ashamed of.”

At this moment, I knew how Katrina felt the day I stood in front of her. I wasn’t going to confirm or deny a thing.

It was shocking to hear all of this, though. Jeremy had kept his affair from me, but the women on the First Ladies Council knew?