A Christmas Prayer Read online

  Begin Reading

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Will M. Roby, Jr.

  Thank you for being my soul mate,

  my confidant, my best friend.

  Thank you for loving me so unconditionally.

  Thank you for being the

  best husband in the world.

  I love you with all my heart.

  Arletha Tennin Stapleton

  Thank you for all your genuine love,

  for all the happy times at Christmas

  and for all the huge family dinners.

  Thank you for being the absolute best mom ever.

  I miss you so very much, and

  I will love you always.

  A Note from the Author

  To all my Readers:

  Thank you so much for reading A CHRISTMAS PRAYER. Because this story is very near and dear to my heart, I wanted to take a few moments to share why I decided to write it.

  For most of my life, I’ve been blessed to have a very strong connection with my family members, friends, and readers, but what many of you don’t know is that until December 2014, I hadn’t fully celebrated Christmas since the passing of my mom in 2001. As a matter of fact, for 13 years, I hadn’t as much as placed a Christmas wreath on our front door or pulled out my nice collection of angels and Santas. What many of my loved ones also didn’t know was that most of December had usually been a pretty sad time for me (there were days when I curled up in my bed or in my husband's arms crying like a child), and I found myself hoping and praying for January to arrive as quickly as possible so that all the celebrations and festivities could be over. For years, I’d even stopped watching one of my favorite TV channels (Hallmark) during the months of November and December because of the nonstop Christmas movies they air, as those made me sad also. My mom (my best friend in the world), however, was this wonderfully kind woman who LOVED everything Christmas, and this always brought such a huge amount of joy to our family. So, needless to say, I miss her in such a deep and very tremendous way.

  What I eventually learned, though, was that others who have lost loved ones feel the same as I do, and this is the reason I was finally inspired to write a story about it. A CHRISTMAS PRAYER was my 21st published title but this was the first of my books that helped change my personal way of thinking so quickly. For the first time since my mom passed, I became excited about the holiday season and I began looking forward to it the way I knew she would want me to. Then, when the hardcover edition of the book was published in October 2014, I immediately began receiving lots of email messages and social media comments from readers, sharing how much they could relate to the character in the book and how they had been greatly helped by the story. Many of those readers also approached me at speaking or signing events in tears, all while telling me about their own experiences. This is one reason I believe having the character Alexis write a Christmas prayer was so important. I say this because what I’ve learned over the years is that prayer is the number one thing that helped me through my grieving process. It is the reason that even though this story is fictional, I wrote Alexis’s prayer straight from my heart. I wrote it for myself as well as for all others who might be struggling in this area. Prayer is the reason I have a whole new outlook on the holiday season and the reason I am able to enjoy it with my family again. I certainly hope that A CHRISTMAS PRAYER proves to be a blessing to you in some way also.

  Thank you again and happy holidays.

  God bless you always,

  Kimberla Lawson Roby

  Chapter 1

  It was Black Friday, and while millions of folks were out chasing some of the most colossal deals of the century, all Alexis wanted was for this whole Christmas season to be over with. There were times when she wished she could feel differently, but ever since her mom had passed away five years ago, she hadn’t wanted anything to do with it. Of course, she did still recognize and mentally rejoice at the beautiful birth of Christ, but when it came to huge family celebrations and festive gatherings, she wanted no parts of them. What she did instead, mostly, was pray that New Year’s Day would come as quickly as possible so she could get on with her life.

  Alexis curled her body into a tighter ball, picked up the remote control, and looked toward the flat-screen television on her bedroom wall. It was shortly past one in the afternoon, yet she still lay in her dark mahogany sleigh-style bed with her pajamas on. She just didn’t feel like doing anything, and the fact that almost about every news channel she turned to showed massive shopping crowds and footage of customers and workers being trampled, well, that made Alexis want to turn off the TV altogether. As it was, she had already been trying her best to avoid every one of those sappy Hallmark Christmas card commercials, and she’d certainly been staying clear of one of her personal favorites—the Hallmark Channel itself, since they were doing what they did every year: airing those depressing Christmas movies day in and day out, twenty-four/seven.

  If only her mom were still here, Alexis would be so much happier. Even now, she couldn’t help thinking about how much her mom had loved, loved, loved Christmas. It had been by far her favorite holiday, and she’d adored it so much that she would immediately begin decorating the day after Thanksgiving. She would celebrate in various other ways, too, the entire month of December, including playing some of her favorite Christmas carols, such as “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger,” and “The First Noel.” Then, on the twenty-fifth, she would host a huge family dinner. She bought gifts for everyone, she baked and cooked and baked and cooked some more, and on Christmas afternoon, she would say, “I almost hate to see the sun go down, because Christmas will just about be over.”

  This was how it had always been, and it was because of these kinds of sentiments that Alexis was full of happy childhood memories. She even had fond memories from her adult life…that is, until her mom had passed. Now her heart was consumed only with sadness.

  Alexis flipped through more channels, sighing heavily. But then she came upon one of her favorite movies, This Christmas, starring Loretta Devine, Regina King, and Idris Elba. She could tell the movie had been on for a while because Chris Brown was already walking toward the front of the church, preparing to sing…“This Christmas.” Alexis watched and listened, though she wasn’t sure why she tortured herself this way, because not once had she ever watched this scene without breaking into tears. It was such a reminder of her mom and the way she had loved and doted on her family. It also reminded Alexis of how her mom had taught her children exceedingly strong Christian values. She’d raised Alexis and her younger sister, Sabrina, to treat all people the way they wanted to be treated and to keep God and family first in their lives. The two of them had been very blessed to have such a loving, caring, and compassionate mother—and it meant everything.

  Alexis watched Chris Brown singing from the depths of his soul and then saw family members standing and walking into the church aisle, embracing one another. It was after this that Alexis’s eyes welled up with tears, and she cried uncontrollably. She missed her mother so tremendously that her chest ached. Then, to make matters worse, the next scene showcased the entire family gathered around the dinner table. They looked as though they couldn’t be happier, and Alexis couldn’t help thinking how this was the wa
y she’d once felt, too.

  But as the saying went, that was then and this was now. Her mother was gone, and as far as Alexis was concerned, there wasn’t a single thing or person that could make her feel better about it, not even the people Alexis loved. Paula, her best friend since childhood, had been trying to lift her Christmas spirit for years, and so had Alexis’s fiancé, Chase, for the time he’d known her. But if anything, Alexis seemed to feel sadder with each passing year. In fact, this year she’d begun dreading the whole idea of Christmas as early as September. She wasn’t sure what had set her off exactly; all she knew was that not long after Labor Day, the thought of Christmas had entered her mind and she’d become depressed. It was as if the simplest anticipation of it all had been enough to ruin Alexis’s day, which was the reason she’d taken that particular afternoon off. This hadn’t been hard to do, since she was self-employed as a motivational speaker and her hours were flexible, but she still hated that mere thoughts of Christmas affected her so gravely.

  It also didn’t help that she and her sister, Sabrina, were usually at odds about one thing or another. Alexis and Sabrina had never gotten along the way sisters should. They were just too different, she guessed. But at least when their mom had been alive, they’d worked harder at it and tolerated each other more. Now, Alexis practically had to beg to see her niece, Courtney, and there were times when Sabrina still told her no just to be spiteful. The two of them had a lot of bad history, but that was a whole other story and one Alexis didn’t want to think about because it was far too distressing.

  As one thought after another raced through her mind, Alexis wept like a child. She was miserable, and she wished she could sleep for the next week. She knew this wasn’t logical, but she just wanted this awful pain to go away. She wanted to be at peace, and before long, she glanced over at the bottle of amitriptyline on her wooden nightstand. Her doctor had prescribed it for insomnia, and although she only took one ten-milligram pill at bedtime, and sometimes only half a pill, she contemplated taking much more. Or maybe all she needed to do was take two of them, because she knew one woman who took twenty-five milligrams for unexplained abdominal pain and another who took more than that for depression. If Alexis only took twenty milligrams, she wouldn’t be overdoing it, and she also wouldn’t likely wake up until many hours from now—meaning she wouldn’t have to think about the loss of her mom or anything relating to family or Christmas. She would simply be able to sleep away her sadness, and by tomorrow, Black Friday and all the hoopla surrounding it would be over. She was sure the media would continue covering all the shopping stories throughout the weekend as well as on Cyber Monday, but at least the biggest shopping day of the year would have ended, and she’d be one day closer to January 1.

  All she had to do was bide her time, and things would return to normal. They had to, because after all, she and Chase were getting married in June, and the last thing she wanted was to be an unhappy bride. She was engaged to the man of her dreams, and she looked forward to becoming Mrs. Chase Dupont III. This was what she kept telling herself, anyway—especially since her future mother-in-law was the most heartless woman she’d ever met. Still, what woman in her right mind wouldn’t be thrilled about marrying a man like Chase? He was gorgeous, well educated, and CEO of a Fortune 500 company called Borg-Freeman Technologies—which, interestingly enough, was the same position his father had held for years before his passing. He’d also placed a five-karat ring on her finger, and he truly loved her. By most people’s standards, Chase was everything a woman could hope for, so Alexis tried to remember that.

  But for now, she reached over and picked up her pill bottle, opened it, swallowed two pills with water, and lay back down. She closed her eyes and smiled. In a few moments, she’d be sound asleep and wouldn’t have to think about Christmas at all…and she certainly wouldn’t have to think about Chase’s mother—or the disastrous time she’d had with them yesterday during Thanksgiving dinner. She wouldn’t have a problem in the world, and just knowing that made her feel better already.

  Chapter 2

  Alexis stretched her arms toward her headboard, yawned, and opened her eyes. She was still a bit groggy and felt as though she’d been sleeping for days, but she smiled when she saw Chase sitting next to her on the side of her bed.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” he said, smiling.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  “I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up. Even when I came by last night, I couldn’t get you to say more than a few words.”

  “You were here?”

  “Yeah. I’d been calling you all afternoon, and when you didn’t answer I got worried. So when I left work, I decided to drop by. Thank goodness I have a key. You were really out of it, though.”

  “I was tired.”

  “Maybe, but I’m sure those sleeping pills had a lot to do with it, too.”

  Alexis wondered how he knew about those.

  “You look surprised. Which means you don’t remember anything you told me last night, do you?”

  Alexis stared at him but didn’t say anything.

  “You said you only took two of them, but if you can’t even remember our conversation, then that must be some very strong medicine.”

  “I just wanted to sleep.”

  Chase caressed the side of her face. “I know this is a tough time for you, and I’m really sorry I had to go in to the office yesterday. I never expected to be there for as long as I was. I didn’t get out of there until after six.”

  “It was fine.”

  “No, it wasn’t. You sounded so sad when I called you yesterday morning, and I should have been here for you.”

  “It’s not a problem, and I’m good now.”

  “You sure?”

  “Positive.”

  “You wanna go out for breakfast?”

  Alexis paused because she didn’t feel much like going anywhere, but she still said, “Sounds good to me.” Then she flipped the comforter and sheet away from her and sat up. When she stood, Chase pulled her back down beside him.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “You know,” he said, running his hand through her long hair.

  “You know the rules, though, right?”

  “Yeah, but how about we forget those rules for a change? Just for today.”

  “Chase—” she began, but then lost her train of thought when he kissed her up and down her neck. “Chase, don’t. Breakfast ends at eleven.”

  “And?”

  “You know we can’t do this.”

  “Baby, come on. Just this once.”

  “No,” she said between breaths while pushing him away. “We agreed, remember?”

  “Some agreements are made to be broken,” he said, unbuttoning her pajama top and kissing her chest.

  Alexis closed her eyes and hung her head back, moaning.

  “Lexi, please” he begged. “I really wanna make love to you.”

  She wanted him, too, but she whispered, “No. Baby, it’s wrong.”

  “But remember how good it was when we first met?”

  Alexis could barely contain herself, because she actually did remember. She’d never felt better in her life. She hadn’t been with a lot of men, but none of them had made her feel as wonderful as Chase had. It also didn’t help that he looked so good. She hated to refer to him as tall, dark, and handsome because it was so cliché, but that’s exactly what he was. He was six foot two, and he had short coal-black hair with a slight wave to it. Alexis was five foot nine, though, so when she wore heels, that made her love his height even more.

  Chase slid her pajama top down her shoulders, lay on top of her, and kissed her on the lips.

  But then his phone rang.

  Alexis tried to push him away, but he kissed her more intensely.

  His phone rang again, and suddenly she heard her home phone ringing, too. When she looked at her caller ID and saw their church’s toll-free number, she knew it was a sign from God.
Whenever there were new church announcements she received a recorded call, and this one couldn’t have come at a better time.

  “Baby, I can’t do this,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

  Chase looked at her and then lay on his back with his hands over his eyes. “You’re killing me.”

  “I know you don’t like this, but I’m just trying to do what’s right. And having sex before marriage is wrong.”

  Chase sighed. “Maybe, but this celibacy thing is driving me crazy, Lexi.”

  She leaned over and propped her elbow on the bed. “We barely have six months to go, and then you’ll never have to go through this again.”

  “It feels like a decade. But I will say this…at least you know for sure that I’m really in love with you.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I would never deprive myself this way otherwise. I’m suffering like a starved animal.”

  “Whatever,” she said, laughing.

  “I’m serious. You have no idea what this feels like. Women can go without for years if they have to, but men? We’re in a whole different category.”

  “Like I said, it won’t be long. And anyway, you’d better check to see who called you.”

  Chase reached across the bed and pulled his phone from his black leather jacket. He must have laid it there while Alexis was asleep.

  “It was Mother,” he said. “You don’t mind if she tags along with us, do you?”

  Alexis wanted to scream. It was bad enough that she’d had to spend hours with Mrs. Dupont on Thanksgiving, so the last thing she wanted was to see her again today. Mrs. Dupont—or actually, Geneva, since that’s what she insisted Alexis call her—had even gone so far as making disapproving facial expressions when she took a bite of both the yams and the dressing that Alexis had made, even though everyone else had raved about them.