A Christmas Prayer

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.

“She’s been pretty lonely since my dad passed away, and I sort of feel bad about leaving her alone during the holidays.”

Alexis knew a number of women who’d lost their husbands, but none of them had moved in with their children. Chase’s dad had passed two years ago, so Alexis wondered why Geneva was still living with Chase. If she’d been ill or didn’t have the financial means to take care of herself, Alexis could understand it, but Geneva had a huge mansion of her own and was extremely wealthy. Not to mention, the woman was sixty-five years old and feistier than most forty-year-old women. She was headstrong and noticeably independent, so none of this made sense.

Chase continued. “Since I’m her only child, I’m all she has. But she’s definitely moving out before our wedding. She’s already promised.”

Alexis didn’t say anything, but now she was sorry she’d agreed to go to breakfast with him. She fully understood how much Chase loved his mom, and she had the utmost respect for any man who took care of his mother the way Chase did, but Geneva Dupont was a real handful and one of the most controlling mothers Alexis had met. Geneva also didn’t seem too fond of the idea that Chase had asked Alexis to marry him, but in front of Chase, she pretended she was ecstatic about it.

Just as Alexis got up to go take a shower, Chase’s phone rang again. She knew it was Geneva, because whenever Chase didn’t answer his phone, his mother waited maybe five minutes to call him again. Sometimes she called back within seconds. She did this sort of thing all the time, calling him for no reason—especially when she knew he was visiting Alexis or they were out somewhere together.

He finally answered. “Hey, Mother…no, it was in my jacket, and I didn’t get to it in time,” he said, looking at Alexis.

Alexis shook her head and left the bedroom. She’d do anything to get out of going to breakfast with this woman, but she didn’t want to disappoint Chase. All she could hope for was that her time with Geneva wouldn’t be as bad as she was imagining. Maybe Geneva would treat her nicely for a change. It would take a miracle, but that’s what Alexis was counting on.

Geneva walked ahead of Chase and Alexis, but then stopped when they approached the entrance of The Tuxson, waiting for Chase to open the door for her. No one would realize it, but what Alexis had figured out months ago was that part of the reason Geneva usually walked so far ahead of them whenever they went out to eat or even to church was because she wanted to make sure Chase opened the door for her first and then just held it for Alexis. It was the kind of petty thing that most people wouldn’t care the least bit about, but you had to know Geneva to understand it.

As they walked closer to the maître d’, Geneva stepped to the side, admiring herself. She glanced down at her red-bottom shoes and then at her black St. John pantsuit, confirming that nothing was out of place. She even stroked both sides of her thick salt-and-pepper mane, which was pulled back in a classic bun. Alexis had never met anyone so vain. The other thing that bothered Alexis was that whenever Geneva went to breakfast, lunch, or dinner with them, it always had to be at The Tuxson. Alexis loved The Tuxson as well, but did they have to go to Mitchell’s most exquisite restaurant just to have breakfast? Especially since Mitchell had more than enough mom-and-pop diners to choose from. These were diners that had some of the tastiest food, too. But no. Geneva Dupont wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like that, because it was beneath her.

“If you’ll follow me,” the fiftyish man said.

As they wound their way through a fairly full dining room, Geneva smiled widely and waved at a table full of socialites she’d spied. They smiled and waved back, and there was no mistaking that they were just as uppity as Geneva.

The maître d’ pulled out a chair for Geneva, and Chase pulled out the one directly across the table for Alexis.

Geneva sat down and then said, “Why don’t you let the man do his job, Chase? He’s always trying to help with something.” She smiled at the maître d’.

“Uh, yes, ma’am,” the man said, clearly feeling awkward. He paused and then said, “Your waitress will be with you shortly.”

Wow. So now Geneva didn’t want Chase pulling out a chair for Alexis? His own fiancée? This woman was hopeless.