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 B

shrouded in misfiring synapses.
    She worried Ethan might have been put off by her surly six-year old attitude, still unable to shake her mistrust. What infuriated her more: not knowing the true motivation behind his kindness or the fact she was hopelessly infatuated with him?
    When they’d made snow angels together, she had sensed his desire for her matched her interest in him. How easy it would have been to put aside professionalism and surrender to the flesh. Instinct warned her that involvement with a celeb would only end in heartbreak. He’d be back on the road and out of her life quicker than a chorus of Auld Lang Syne .
    Just like her summer fling with the very married Daredevil Pete. She’d spontaneously thrown common sense aside to go with him on an Alaskan cruise. Afterward, they had parted ways. He then continued his stunts while she began her freshman year at California Christian University. The day Alexis discovered she carried his child, Daredevil Pete fell to his death trying to tightrope over Niagara Falls.
    The night before her scheduled abortion, she’d turned to her Bible, finding verse after verse convincing her of God’s plan for the unborn. She cancelled her appointment. The next day, she miscarried.
    She bore her secret alone; not even Jasmine knew. Certainly she couldn’t tell her parents, especially not after they adopted Gib. Though God forgave her indiscretion, the memory still burned. She could not, would not fall prey to glamour again.
    Besides, she’d been made Gib’s guardian in her parents’ will—seeming atonement. Yet, she’d messed up and now she’d lose Gib, too. She’d witnessed some of the difficulties her parents had experienced during her infrequent visits home, and she’d expected to run into turbulence. What she had not expected were the utter impossibilities within a societal structure unable to effectively treat most behavioral disorders.
    Alexis supposed at first, as the counselor suggested, that she’d harbored a secret desire to rid herself of her obligation toward Gib. Not now. Ironically, as He had done with her pregnancy, now that she’d learned to love Gib, God was going to take him away from her. He’d lost the only parents he ever knew, and now the system wanted to take everything familiar away from him. Why punish Gib for her failure?
    Alexis fell to her knees as A Christmas Prayer echoed down the stairs from Gib’s room. “Oh, God. I want to believe you have a plan in all this. If I can’t have Gib, please make sure he finds a home where he’ll be loved and not be sent into an institution.”
    The phone interrupted her tearful pleading. Maybe she should let it go to voicemail. She glanced at the incoming number. Ethan Jacobs.
    * * *
    “Hello.”
    Almost friendly. “ Um … have a minute? I know it’s late.”
    “A minute.”
    Alexis could be so cold toward him … yet … “Did Gib tell you I’d be at your church tomorrow?”
    “Yes.”
    “Don’t mind, do you?”
    “Why should I?”
    “You seemed a little annoyed with me tonight. Again, I apologize if I stepped on your toes where Gib’s concerned.”
    “Like you said, you meant no harm.”
    “I’m forgiven, then?”
    “Nothing to forgive.”
    “Then would you allow me to take you out after church tomorrow?
    “What about Gib?”
    “I know this sounds presumptuous. But, I already asked your friend Jasmine if she’d stay with Gib for the afternoon.”
    “Guess I have no excuse. Okay.”
    “I hoped you’d say something like you’d be happy to go out with me.”
    “Sorry … didn’t read the script. Of course, I’d be pleased. Will this be another concert in the limo?”
    To him, her insults tasted like honey. How could he not be attracted to her? Yet, come to think of it, after rehab, before he came back to Jasper Falls, he had very few waking moments without a guitar in his hand, either practicing songs, standing in a recording studio or on stage. He even brought his guitar