“I agree,” I said and then, I nodded, wanting my sister to know that I understood her point. “So, a lot of my decision will be about my children. I’m raising them consciously, knowing that every word I speak, every decision I make, every reaction I have impacts them, even now, as young as they are. But this is what I know also — breaking vows and disrespecting me is not okay. True or not, Jeremy hasn’t said one word to me about this. All I get are lies on top of lies on top of lies and that speaks to his character. So that is part of my decision, too.”

She nodded. “That is so true.” A beat and then, “You’re really a good mother.”

“Thanks.”

“And you know what? Jeremy is a good father.” She paused, then with a sideward glance, she said, “And he’s a good man.”

My eyebrows stretched to the top of my forehead. “Wow, I didn’t expect this.”

She shrugged.

“One of the reasons why I didn’t want to tell you what was going on was because I didn’t want to affect your relationship with Jeremy.”

She waved her hand. “I’ve been involved in enough relationships to understand their dysfunction. And this is what I know — no one is as bad as the worst thing they’ve ever done. If Jeremy is the father, that will be the worst thing. But on the ledger of his life,” she paused, “he’s done so many good things. That’s the problem with people sometimes. Folks allow one bad thing to wipe out a slate that covers ten thousand good things.”

Resting my elbows on the glass table, I folded my hands and rested my chin on them. My sister had said more than a mouthful.

She added, “I feel sorry for pastors.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because they’re held to a higher standard.”

“Well,” I shrugged, “that’s biblical.”

“I know. But it seems like those men walk around with a target on their backs. I remember how it was for Daddy. Man, every Sunday temptation was being thrown his way. Every time we went out, there was some woman willing to do something for Mommy’s man. It was just crazy.”

My sisters and I didn’t talk about that time of our lives very much, but it did surprise me how observant Jada was even at that age. I said, “Yeah, but Daddy said no to all of that. He didn’t fall.”

“We don’t know that for sure, Ginger.” She shook her head slowly.

I squinted at her implication.