The Gift Read online

  The Gift

  Book 2

  Spirit of Christmas Series

  by

  Vanessa Miller

  Other Books by Vanessa Miller

  Our Love

  Rain in the Promise Land

  After the Rain

  Heaven on Earth

  Feels Like Heaven

  How Sweet the Sound

  Best of All

  Better for Us

  Her Good Thing

  Long Time Coming

  A Promise of Forever Love

  A Love for Tomorrow

  Yesterday’s Promise

  Forgotten

  Forgiven

  Forsaken

  Rain for Christmas (Novella)

  Through the Storm

  Rain Storm

  Latter Rain

  Abundant Rain

  Former Rain

  Anthologies (Editor)

  Keeping the Faith

  Have A Little Faith

  This Far by Faith

  EBOOKS

  Love Isn’t Enough

  A Mighty Love

  The Blessed One (Blessed and Highly Favored series)

  The Wild One (Blessed and Highly Favored Series)

  The Preacher’s Choice (Blessed and Highly Favored Series)

  The Politician’s Wife (Blessed and Highly Favored Series)

  The Playboy’s Redemption (Blessed and Highly Favored Series)

  Tears Fall at Night (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  Joy Comes in the Morning (PHA Series)

  A Forever Kind of Love (PHA Series)

  Ramsey’s Praise (PHA Series)

  Escape to Love (PHA Series)

  Praise for Christmas (PHA Series)

  His Love Walk (PHA Series)

  Could This Be Love (PHA Series)

  Song of Praise (PHA Series)

  Publisher’s Note:

  This short story is a work of fiction. References to real events, organizations, or places are used in a fictional context. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Vanessa Miller

  www.vanessamiller.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  © 2015 by Vanessa Miller

  Praise Unlimited Enterprises

  Charlotte, NC

  No part of this ebook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical—including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system—without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Prologue

  December 24, 2014

  Theresa Manning was not having a good day and it was getting worse each minute she sat in this unproductive meeting. She was a member of a singing group called the Four Ts. They had been on the top of the charts and loving life until drugs, booze and men got in the way.

  “All of my fears concerning this group have finally come to pass,” Darrell Warner, the manager of the Four Ts said to the women as they sat around the conference table.

  “You certainly never let any of those fears be known. All you’ve ever told us was that we shouldn’t worry because another record label would pick us up in no time,” Theresa said with fire in her eyes.

  “And I believed that. The Four Ts are so talented, that I didn’t think I’d have a problem placing you all with another label. But so far, I’ve had no takers,” Darrell told them.

  Theresa shot an accusing eye towards Trinity and Tara. They were the problem in this group. Tara was a drug-head and Trinity was a drunk, who couldn’t even stop herself from drinking long enough to accept an award on a nationally televised award show.

  “What if Trinity seeks help for her drinking problem?” Tara asked. “Do you think the label would take us back?”

  “Hold on a minute,” Trinity said as she put down her iced tea that had been mixed with a little something-something and turned on Tara. “Who said I have a drinking problem? Maybe you need to concern yourself with the addiction you have and leave me out of it.”

  “I never said I didn’t have problems,” Tara admitted, “but I’m not the one who vomited on the stage while we were accepting our Grammy.”

  “We weren’t on the stage. I vomited on the steps and we had already accepted our Grammy so my little incident wasn’t even on film.”

  “You are the most selfish person I’ve ever met, Trinity Thomas. Don’t you know that your little incident didn’t need to be televised,” Theresa interjected, “because the cameras had already caught you tripping and slurring your words. It was awful.”

  “And I suppose you’ve never done anything to embarrass this group… how’s your three babies’ daddies? Is the last one still on probation?”

  “For your info, Tony is not on probation. That guy didn’t press charges because he started that fight.”

  “Probation or not, he still got released from the Chargers,” Trinity was slurring words as she spewed venom.

  “Again, you need to talk what you know. Because Tony wasn’t released from anywhere. He’s been traded to the Panthers, which is a much better team for his skill set.” Theresa had called off her engagement with baby-daddy number three, but she wasn’t going to let Trinity disparage him. She wasn’t going to let anyone harm Tony Black. Not while there was still breath in her body.

  “Ladies, ladies. We don’t need to fight each other. We’re all on the same team here,” Darrell tried to calm the situation.

  “Speak for yourself,” Theresa said as she stood up. “We don’t have a contract and I’m not about to saddle myself with this group one second longer. I’m out.”

  “Are you serious?” Tara asked. “You’re really going to leave us at a time like this? We might be down, but we’re not out, as long as we all stick together.”

  “That sounds good in a song. But this is my life, and I don’t need this.”

  “We don’t need you anyway, with your half-singing self. Get-to-getting,” Trinity told her with no love lost.

  Theresa swung her Marc Jacob’s Crocodile handbag on her shoulder and walked out of the room.

  “I don’t believe she’s acting like this. When we went through that firestorm with the media because of her choice in men, she begged us to stick by her. Now she does this?”

  Theresa heard Tara’s comment and didn’t care one single bit. Right was right and wrong was wrong. Her having three children while not being married didn’t bring the group down. But their drugs and drinking sure did. She didn’t have time to fight with the Four Ts anyway. It was Christmas Eve and she was needed at home to bake cookies and spend time with the most important people in her world. Besides, she had other problems to worry about.

  1

  She was pregnant… again. And even though it was Christmas Eve, Theresa Manning was far from jolly about this situation. She hadn’t told anyone about the pregnancy because she just couldn’t take seeing the disappointment in everyone’s eyes. She already had three kids by three different men. Theresa had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t have another baby before a ring was put on her finger.

  Actually, she did have a ring. Her third baby daddy had given her a ring after she’d given birth to junior. Theresa had gotten busy planning the wedding but then Tony went and cheated on her. And even though she was once again pregnant, she refused to marry a cheater.

  What killed her though was how great Tony was with the kids. He had just been traded from from the San Diego Chargers to the Carolina Panthers. But he had been rehabbing his shoulder when he received the news. So, he’d asked the coach if he could stay in California over the Christmas break to continue his rehab and spend time with his kids. It wasn’t like the Panthers were going to put him on the field since he hadn’t been cleared by his doctor to play any
way, so the coach had allowed the rehab to continue in Cali.

  Theresa had been touched by the jester, because she knew that the children would miss Tony. His trade to the Carolinas meant that he would no longer be just a couple of hours car ride away. But she wasn’t about to uproot her family and follow him, so he could do her dirty all over again.

  She had allowed him to stay in the guest room while he finished the rehab on his shoulder. The kids were overjoyed to have him there. So, Theresa figured that she wouldn’t be the scrooge to her children’s happiness this one last Christmas. But after this, Tony would never be allowed to play the family game with her children again.

  “Do I have enough batter on my spoon, Mommy?” Brielle, Theresa’s second child and only daughter asked as she scooped the dough out of the bowl.

  Theresa lightly sprayed the cookie sheet with oil. “That’s good. Drop it on the cookie sheet and scoop up another one just like that.”

  Her two boys, Mikey and TJ were in the media room with Tony watching football, and more football while she and Brielle were on cookie duty. That was just fine with Theresa, because she loved baking, and hoped that her daughter would eventually love it as much as she does. Being in the kitchen with Brielle reminded Theresa of her childhood and the many days she spent in the kitchen with her grandmother. In fact, all three of the cookie recipes they made for Christmas Eve were her grandmother’s recipes. And they were delicious.

  Mikey ran into the kitchen carrying an empty bowl that had once held a mound of popcorn. “We need more snacks.”

  Theresa shook her head at the boy. “Y’all so greedy, it’s a wonder that I’m able to keep this pantry stocked.” She wiped her hands on the towel. “I’ll grab a bag of chips but that’s it until the cookies get done.”

  As she was headed to the pantry, the front doorbell rang. She then pointed towards the pantry. “You get the chips, and only one bag, you here me?”

  “Yes, Mama.”

  “Now let me see who’s at this door on Christmas Eve.” The house she shared with her children was five thousand square feet, so it took her a minute to get from the kitchen to the front door. However, whoever was on the other side of the door, didn’t seem to appreciate that fact and rang her doorbell again and again. “I’m coming,” Theresa hollered from the distance.

  “Hurry.”

  “I know you are not rushing me,” Theresa said as she opened the door and held it close to her side.

  “Look, I know you have every reason to be mad at me, but I really need to…”

  The door opened wider as Mikey, Theresa’s first child squeezed in next to his mom. Trinity stooped down and hugged him like she’d been away for way too long.

  “Auntie Trinity, you’re hurting me,” Mikey told her.

  She let him go and stepped back. “I’m sorry, honey. It’s just that I’m so happy to see you.”

  “What are you talking about? You see him all the time. He was just over to your house last weekend,” Theresa said, the annoyance ringing loud and clear in her voice.

  “Just because I saw my god-son last weekend doesn’t mean that I don’t miss him.” Trinity tickled Mikey as she reminded Theresa, “I did, after all, hang out with you all night long in that hospital while you gave birth to him.”

  Rolling her eyes heavenward, Theresa said, “And then you went on stage drunk and ruined all of our careers.” Trinity Thomas was the last person Theresa wanted to see on Christmas Eve. And Tara Owens was a close second. As the Four Ts, Theresa, Trinity, Tina and Tara had once made good music and even better money. Theresa had been able to take care of her children even though she didn’t have a husband to speak of, and things had been all good. But, Trinity’s drinking and Tara’s drug use had put an end to all of that. The record company refused to re-sign them. After that, Tina informed the group that she was going solo. So, now Theresa was feeling salty and didn’t want to be bothered with anyone with a T at the beginning of their name except her son.

  “I was wrong for that,” Trinity admitted. “All I can do is apologize and try to make it up to all of you, but I really need your help tonight.”

  “You’re actually apologizing.” Smirking, Theresa needled, “You must be sober or something.”

  “Yes,” Trinity declared. “I’m sober and I will never… with the Lord’s help, I will never touch alcohol again.” She lifted a hand heavenward as she made this declaration.

  Theresa stepped back and opened her door wide enough for Trinity to enter. “Then by all means, come in and tell me what you need.”

  Theresa escorted Trinity to the sitting room and then told Mikey, “You go play with your brother and sister. Auntie Trinity and I have some grown folks’ business to discuss.”

  “Okay, Mommy.” Mikey trotted off without any back talk.

  “And tell your sister to go into the media room with you and the nanny,” Theresa hollered after him.

  Mikey gave her funny look, but didn’t blast her out for lying about some nanny being in the media room, when they both knew full well that it was Tony. Theresa didn’t want Trinity all up in her business. She didn’t want to explain why she was spending Christmas with Tony after calling off the wedding.

  “You’ve got five minutes,” she told Trinity the moment they were behind closed doors. “I am not going to let you spoil Christmas Eve with my children.”

  “I am sorry about this, because I know how you are about your kids and the holidays, but we have something important to do tonight so I need you to leave the kids with the nanny and come with me.”

  “My nanny has been helping me with the cookies, and the popcorn and now we’re watching TV, so I can’t interrupt my life for you… not anymore.” Theresa stood her ground.

  Trinity knew right off that she would not get Theresa out of the house unless she could convince her that Tara’s life was truly in jeopardy. “Sit down. I have something to tell you. I know this is going to sound crazy. But I need you to open your heart and listen to me.”

  As she sat down, Theresa said, “It probably doesn’t sound any crazier than the one about you getting sloppy drunk and ruining our careers.”

  Their careers had been on a downward spiral because all four of the members of the group had made poor decisions and acted inappropriately most of the time. But Trinity wasn’t going to argue the point. She started off her tale by saying, “I wished upon a falling star… I wanted so desperately to go back to a time before I knew anything about The Four Ts. The money and the fame didn’t matter to me anymore, because I was so ashamed of myself for how I had messed up my life… and God granted my wish.”

  This was starting to sound crazy. “If God granted your wish, then how can you be here with me right now.”

  Shaking her head, Trinity tried to explain, “I don’t know if it was a vision or a dream, but somehow and someway I was back home in North Carolina. And I was going to church with my parents and I was married to my high school sweetheart… and I was happy… finally, completely and totally happy because not only did I have Jarod back in my life, but I had finally reconnected with God.”

  Theresa figured she’d play along. “So, why did you come back?”

  “Because you and Tara would be dead if I didn’t come back.”

  Theresa didn’t feel like playing this game anymore. “I’m dead? What are you talking about? Have you gone from drinking to smoking?”

  Listen to me, Theresa. I told you that I wished I had never been apart of The Four Ts. That means, I would have never met you. So, I wouldn’t have been here when you were pregnant with Mikey.”

  Theresa gave her a so what kind of look, so Trinity kept talking. “You wanted to have an abortion remember?”

  Theresa nodded. Back then Theresa felt that her career was more important, because she didn’t think she could handle being a single parent and a career woman. “You told me that your mother thought that every life was precious and that abortion was nothing more than legalized murder of an innocent soul.
” Laughing as she thought about it now, Theresa said, “I had wanted to knock those words right out of your mouth that day.”

  “But you didn’t, and you kept the baby.”

  “And had two more,” Theresa added, without mentioning the fact that she was pregnant again. Abortion hadn’t even crossed Theresa’s mind this time. Once she’d given birth to Mikey, Theresa wouldn’t dream of taking the life of one of her children.

  “Anyway,” Trinity continued. “When I was back in Charlotte, being happy with my life and not being apart of our group, one single news report cut my joy to pieces. Because the newscaster stated that Tara OD’d tonight and that same newscaster stated that you had died five years ago after a botched abortion.” Trinity then went on to tell Theresa all of what God showed her about Tina and Tara’s sad future.

  “If this was meant to be a joke, it’s a bad one,” Theresa told Trinity when she’d finished her story.

  “I’m not joking.”

  “So, you’re telling me that if you had gotten your wish, I’d be dead right now?”

  “Look, I don’t know why God chose to show me this vision, or whatever it was, but nothing ever felt as real as what I experienced tonight.”

  “And Tina is a murderer and a jailbird?”

  “Since you died during the abortion, you weren’t here to stop Tina. So, when she got angry and set that fire at Drake’s house, there was no one there to stop her. She just walked away and let Drake burn up.”

  “I never thought she would actually go through with burning down that house. I’ve been cheated on, but I certainly never went all crazy like that… I only rode over there with her because I thought she was going to get in a fight with him and I wanted to help her. But when I saw the fire and then she ran back to the car, screaming at me to pull off, I just couldn’t do it.”

  “Tina owes you a world of thanks,” Trinity told her.

  “She would have done it. You’re right. I will never forget how crazy she looked that night. And all because she was angry at a man she doesn’t even think about anymore. She has moved on and is truly in love with a good guy now.”