“Well, this is going to be wonderful,” Lawrence said as if the deal was done.

“I have a question.” I raised my hand like I was in a class. “Why us?”

The matching frowns on their faces would have made me laugh if my heart hadn’t been so broken.

“What do you mean, babe?” Jeremy asked. “Lawrence just explained it and really, why not us?”

"No.” This time it was Lawrence who held up his hand, stopping Jeremy. “I think I know what your wife means and it is a valid question, Mrs. Williams. Like I said, we are impressed with your commitment, but what we also know about you and your husband is that the two of you know how to build something. You’ve built this dynamic church, a dynamic ministry. And the thing that’s most important in today’s times with social media and cell phone cameras everywhere,” he hesitated for a beat, “you’ve built a strong marriage that’s scandal free.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy said. “That’s been important to me and my wife.” He took my hand into his and I wondered how much longer I’d be able to endure this torture.

Lawrence said, “You wouldn’t believe how many pastors we had to cross off our list for having one issue or another. I don’t know how you do it.”

It’s simple, I thought. He keeps his hoes in check.

“It’s simple,” Jeremy said. “We honor our wedding vows. Both of us do.” Squeezing my hand, he added, “My wife is my everything. And the last thing I would ever do is bring scandal to her doorstep."

My mouth opened with all kinds of surprise. Jeremy was taking this too far. I needed to call Spike Lee and tell him about Jeremy’s acting abilities, because he was putting on an Oscar-winning performance, giving Denzel a run for his money. I wondered just how far he would go.

So, I said, “Yes, it's like Jeremy said, he's committed to me." I looked directly at my husband. "He would never do anything to bring shame to me or our family.”

Those words were meant to be a shot to his heart and I expected Jeremy to turn away from me, unable to look into my eyes. I expected his eyebrow to begin twitching so hard it would give him a headache.

But what he did was look me straight in my face and say, “I sure wouldn’t.”