A Christmas Miracle

By Rose Francis

Brenda’s holiday season is looking pretty bleak.
She hasn’t spoken to her half-sister, Rachel—the only family she has left—since Rachel stole her boyfriend, and Brenda hasn’t dated since. Now, Rachel and the man Brenda once thought she’d marry herself are expecting a child, and Rachel keeps inviting her over to have dinner with them. Brenda has already turned down their Thanksgiving invitation, but she doesn’t want to spend Christmas alone, yet she’s not sure she has gotten over her ex enough to face the two of them as a couple. But then she collides with a handsome stranger in a coffee shop and everything changes!

Alex has given up on family Christmases and miracles after watching his family slowly get wiped out, his brother the latest casualty. He has settled on living life playing the field, not trusting his luck with having people he cares about stick around. But a chance encounter with a sad-looking beauty in a coffee shop arouses his curiosity.
To make up for the coffee he spilled on her, Brenda asks the handsome stranger one favor: to accompany her to her sister’s Christmas dinner. He agrees on one condition: that she go out with him in the meantime until then. They both agree to end their arrangement after the Christmas dinner is over, despite mutual growing feelings of wanting more.
Brenda is determined to keep her heart protected, but can Alex hold on to the scared beauty for longer than the holiday season?

**A heartwarming BWWM love story.**

'A Christmas Miracle' is the first book in the Holiday Hunks series—unrelated, standalone contemporary interracial romances taking place around a holiday or other special occasion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poison Arrow Publishing
• Release date: Dec 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311397065

Rose Francis

Rose Francis writes interracial and multicultural romance. She loves reading and writing psychological fiction, particularly stories addressing difficult topics. She has been writing from a very early age and is thrilled to have a platform that allows her to bring her tales to the public!

Book preview

Preface

A Christmas Miracle is my fifth published book and the first story in my Holiday Hunks series—unrelated stories involving interracial romances taking place around a holiday or special occasion.

Other books in this series include A Valentine’s Day Surprise, A Thanksgiving Dilemma, and A New Year’s Promise.

Part I

Missed Connections

Chapter 1

Thursday

Brenda glared at her cell phone, wishing it could transmit her glare. Have dinner with them…who does she think she is?

She realized she was talking out loud when she saw a few heads turn toward her, several pairs of curious eyes staring.

She quickly looked down and sipped her vanilla latte, raising the newspaper she’d grabbed from the coffee shop’s stand a little higher, hiding from the prying eyes around her.

She also kept her eyes away from her cell phone and the offending text message she’d just received. So have you thought about it? Will you join us? it said in its stupid little bubble.

Sender’s name: Backstabbing Sister where previously the sender had been labeled Rachel.

But seriously, what was her half-sister thinking? To invite her over to have Christmas dinner with her and her fiancé—a man who was Brenda’s own boyfriend before she introduced him to that buxom, hussy half-sister of hers—Rachel didn’t really expect her to ever accept such a request, did she?

Sure, it had been about six months since Ralph broke up with her on account of meeting his soul-mate as he kept calling Rachel just one month after they’d been introduced, but still, it felt too recent.

Ralph and Rachel didn’t waste much time once they decided they were meant for each other.

When all was said and done, Rachel approached Brenda soothingly, arresting her with those doe eyes and ridiculously long eyelashes, making Brenda almost forget how angry she was in the moment. It was no wonder men fell over themselves for her—Rachel was quite beautiful and had a warm, gentle manner about her that eased even wary women. It never occurred to Brenda to worry about introducing Rachel to people in her life, including her boyfriend; in fact, she’d been proud of her beautiful sister, glad to show off the last living relative she had and had only recently discovered at her dad’s funeral.

You do understand, don’t you, sister dear? Rachel had said to her. This isn’t just some fling—I’ve been waiting for him my entire life.

When she thought about it later, Brenda was amazed she hadn’t slapped her sister right then, but shock and the spell cast by Rachel’s beauty had held her still.

I mean, you do realize this has nothing to do with you, right? Rachel went on. "It’s not your fault—this goes beyond all of us. Now, I know it might take some time for you to get used to, but remember, we’re family—nothing’s more important than that. So you can’t really be mad at me. If you believe in God, that’s who you should be mad at, blame Him. He’s the one who brought the two of us together and used you to do it. Now, do you really think you can be mad at God? Rachel gave her a challenging look that clearly said she couldn’t. The circumstances aren’t ideal, but he’s clearing the way for you, sis—he’s making space for someone more suited to you, maybe even the one. He just got rid of all your distractions so you can see when that guy shows up at your door or office or whatever, okay? You should be grateful."

Bitch.

Brenda had been too shocked to speak out loud then, but afterward, she couldn’t stop thinking, how dare she? How could Rachel absolve herself just like that? And how was it that Rachel was able to approach her like she was being unreasonable, wanting to come between the new couple and their happiness by being petty? The audacity! At least Ralph had the decency to be quiet through most of the storm.

And now her half-sister was pregnant with her ex’s child.

Think of your niece or nephew, Rachel had said the first time she extended an offer to come over for dinner as if it were the only consideration. But it’d been the right thing to say—Brenda did want to be a part of her niece or nephew’s life after all, especially since Rachel was her only family—or had been before the falling out.

Now, here Rachel was, acting like six months was enough time for everything to blow over and be done with, like Brenda only needed a few months to get over having lost all that mattered to her in a flash—beyond losing the man she’d considered marrying to the woman she introduced to him as her only living relative.

Rachel had the nerve to invite her over for Thanksgiving, too. Forget this pride of yours, she’d said, come eat with family.

Brenda had been especially tempted to go since one of the few things she’d learned about her new sister in the short time they’d spent getting to know each other was that the girl could cook.

All the better to lay her man traps, Brenda thought miserably.

On Thanksgiving Day, Brenda had to make a conscious effort not to think about the juicy turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green peas or whatever the couple would whip up for their feast.

She had a hard time not thinking about the inevitable leftovers, too—she had to distract herself the entire day, hoping the turkey sandwiches and pumpkin lattes she ordered would kill her desire for the feast.

Thankfully, the seemingly oblivious Rachel didn’t rub in what she’d missed, and Brenda didn’t hear from her until a few days ago when Rachel first invited her over for Christmas.

Her syrupy offers were back with a vengeance, and Brenda had the feeling Rachel wouldn’t let up for a while, if ever.

Brenda figured she probably just needed to block her sister’s number until she had her head on straight, and a solid hold on her life again.

Alex was trying hard to contain his thoughts and not grumble to himself aloud.

Miracles. Who really believed in miracles? Delusional fools, that’s who.

Not that miracles didn’t happen, but why did anyone think they were so special that it could actually happen to them? Why hope at all?

Alex gave his head a tiny shake as he walked toward the nearest coffee shop and realized immediately how odd it would look. Then he figured that if anyone saw him literally trying to shake off his bitter thoughts, they would probably attribute his actions to the growing cold.

Snow made a regular appearance every winter, and although Alex often dreamt of better moments on tropical islands, the bitter wind and draft, and white flakes better reflected how he felt right now—how he’d been feeling since his brother succumbed to his rare lung cancer.

The chances of someone his brother’s age being diagnosed with lung cancer were so low that it pretty much shouldn’t have happened to him; his brother had never even smoked. But chance didn’t seem to work in his family’s favor.

Winter used to be Alex’s favorite time of year—with the holiday season in tandem, the cold outside seemed to bring out the inner warmth of strangers, and he enjoyed the sight of hot chocolate in gloved hands and warm smiles, the cheerful reds and forest greens and deep blues among the white, wintry scene.

But Christmas this year would mean nothing; he had no one left to share it with. All he had remaining were the memories of the ten-plus years of childhood Christmases with his parents and his older brother, Robert; his parents always made sure they had presents to open, good food—including rare treats—and general familial joy.

Once Alex eventually left home for college, he made sure to return to his parents at Christmas, but in his junior year, the tradition of spending Christmas with his family was over: his mother was among the many victims of a department store shooting, and his father never got over it, turning heavily to drinking. Then one evening, less than a year after his mother’s death, his father had a drunken head-on collision with a tree.

His brother, Robert, having graduated and married his then-girlfriend, moved back into their childhood home with her, and invited Alex to join the two of them that Christmas and salvage what was left of their family and traditions, but Alex declined; instead, he joined his own then-girlfriend’s family for their Christmas get-together.

It didn’t take long for him to regret his decision as he observed his girlfriend’s family and saw how close they all were, and he resented how lucky she was to still have them all.

Alex snuck off to call his brother to see how he was doing and decided right then to take his brother up on the offer next time.

For the next several years the brothers made sure to see each other for the holidays—however briefly—even after his brother and sister-in-law brought babies into the world, two kids who no longer had a father as of two months ago.

Alex figured, if nothing else, he could buy the kids a gift as usual, then deliver them personally to the woman living in his old childhood home with his niece and nephew: his sister-in-law, Sheila. And then he remembered—the three of them wouldn’t be living there anymore within the week.

I can’t live here without him, Sheila had told him. "It’s been our home for the past six years, and I’m so grateful you’re willing to let us stay here, but it feels so strongly of him, and of your own family now. Look, I was only here because of him—I’d prefer to move back home to Montana. With my family. We’ll celebrate Christmas there."

Oh, he’d said, unable to think of anything else, and feeling as if he was being robbed again tremendously. He’d have to mail the presents to his niece and nephew instead.

At some point, he’d figure out how he could see them somewhat regularly, but for now, he was on vacation with nothing to do, and no one to see since he wasn’t even dating anyone at the moment.

He’d made no particular vacation plans, thinking he’d just use the time off to catch up on some reading and work on a new business venture. He’d also be able to sort out his family’s affairs—including figuring out what to do with the house his sister-in-law was vacating, a house that technically belonged to him as a result of his dad’s will. His parents had originally willed it to his brother, the eldest, but for some reason, his father changed the terms before he died, updating it in Alex’s favor. The brothers found out only after Robert made plans to move in. At the time, Alex didn’t care and just let him have it—his sibling was the one with the growing family anyway.

Alex considered moving back into his childhood home after Sheila and the kids left, but like Sheila, found the place too full of ghosts.

He tried not to think about how this would be the loneliest time of his entire life, and how, ironically, he now had two places to live in, and not a single home.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t see the woman in front of him until it was too