A Christmas Prayer: An Autistic Child, a Father's Love, a Woman's Heart (Christmas Romance) by Linda Wood Rondeau Read Free Book Online Page A

When he’s hungry, I let him eat whatever appeals to him. We fight over so many things that I don’t make food an issue. Of course, the counselors don’t agree with my rationale.”
    So much for getting on Alexis’s good side. Instead, he’d managed to distance an ocean between them. Once in the limo, Ethan figured he might find more congenial conversation with Gib, if singing songs counted as conversation.
    Soon, Jasmine joined in. Alexis only listened.
    Gib’s voice had not yet deepened, and his angelic tones filled the interior. Ethan looked forward to teaching his son to play the guitar. Gib must have asked Ethan to sing A Christmas Prayer a dozen times.
    “You really like the song, eh?”
    Gib leaned in and whispered. “Can you keep a secret?”
    “As long as it doesn’t involve a crime or hurt anyone.”
    Gib nearly crossed his eyes as if Ethan had stated the ridiculous. “Of course not.”
    “Then what’s the secret?”
    “ A Christmas Prayer is my favorite song ever,” he whispered.
    Getting to the meat of this secret would be like cracking a Brazil nut. “Why’s that, Gib?”
    “’Cause I have a Christmas prayer.”
    “What did you pray for?”
    “I asked God to make Alexis happy.”
    “What makes you think she isn’t?”
    Gib leaned back continuing to speak in barely audible volumes. “She cries a lot. She doesn’t think I see her.”
    “What do you think makes her sad?”
    “Me. She wouldn’t be sad if I wasn’t around.”

Chapter Six
    Alexis handed Gib the box for his boots. “Put those back in here for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll check to see how we should take care of them.”
    “I already know.”
    He probably did. If something interested him, he soaked up information like a data file. Alexis slid the box containing the boots under the table.
    “Time for bed, Gib. We have to get up early for church.”
    Gib didn’t make a move.
    “What?”
    “My ice-cream?”
    Should she let him have more sweets? Any change in Gib’s nighttime routine would probably result in a sleepless night for both of them.
    “Get ready for bed and then you can have your ice-cream.”
    He came down wearing his wet pajamas from last night.
    “Try again, Gib. Put those in your hamper and put on clean jammies.”
    “Oh, man! Do I have to?”
    “Yes. Those smell pretty bad.”
    Gib came back down with a different set, slightly too small and smelling of mothballs. Where had he found these? Not from his dresser. He probably pilfered them out from the box in the attic earmarked for a future garage sale.
    Better he smells like mothballs than urine.
    “Ice cream’s on the table, Your Majesty.” He offered her a rare smile as he swallowed his nighttime meds. Hopefully, he’d be asleep in half an hour.
    “You have a good time tonight?”
    “Yes. Ethan’s coming to hear me sing in the Christmas program at church tomorrow.”
    “He didn’t say anything to me about it.”
    “He said he was going to surprise you.”
    “Ethan Jacobs is free to go to church wherever he wants.”
    “He says I’ve got a good voice.”
    “You do. Only, you don’t like to practice very much, do you?”
    “Practice is boring.” Gib scraped the last of his ice-cream from the bowl, and headed upstairs. While he brushed his teeth, Alexis did a quick scoop of Gib’s room, looking for wanton clothing he might have taken from his dresser and stashed under his bed. They read from his devotional book and prayed together, her favorite time of the night. Then Gib turned on his CD player set for auto shut off, and climbed into bed.
    When finally able to think of something other than Gib’s needs, Alexis mulled over the dinner date with Ethan, if it could be called a date. She enjoyed the evening. So nice to taste the finer things in life again. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had lobster, let alone anything out of the sea. What she ate, as well as the rest of her life, was dictated by the idiosyncrasies of a brain