A Miracle for Me

By Gay Winters

For more than four generations, the proud and embattled members of the Winters family have survived every threat that life could throw at them: war, death, betrayal, tragedy, and more. A Miracle for Me follows this all-American familys branches from the early years, between the two World Wars, to today. The men of the familyGene, Micheal, Jeffrey, and Kevinhave been the cornerstones of the groups stability. Now, it is to Micheal that all eyes are turned.

Micheal, a self-made billionaire, has more than made a name of himself in the oil industry. Despite his power and wealth, however, he cant protect himself or his family from unbearable losses that challenge both his professional and personal lives. It is only through the fierce dedication, selfless effort, and the loyalty of John, his closest friend and right hand man, that he has been able to survive the years.

Now John has come across some information that could bring it all crashing down around them. He learns that the most dangerous and organized gang in Chicago has something of great value to Michealsomething that John knows Micheal would do anything to protect and recover. But Micheal refuses to be blackmailed and instead hires a band of ruthless mercenaries to recover this precious itemat any cost.

Only time will tell how much these men will risk to claim what they see as theirs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475953626

Gay Winters

Gay Winters, an identical twin, turned misfortune into inspiration. After twenty-two years, she was laid off from her position at a major financial institution. She took this as a sign that it was time to realize her lifelong dream of becoming a writer. She and her family live in Houston, Texas.

Book preview

Chapter 1

From his office at the headquarters of The Winters Oil Exploration Corporation, John Welch gazed across at his boss’s huge mahogany desk adorned with a heavy brass ornament carved into a foot-high representation of an oil rig. Micheal Winters had commissioned the sculpture over 30 years ago when he discovered a sweet spot in the East Texas shale and drilled his first well.

John picked up his mug to get more coffee and paused, listening to the silence that pervaded his surroundings day after day since the CEO, Micheal Winters excused himself from the real world after learning of the missing in action status of his only son, Jeffery, who was serving in Viet Nam. This, coupled with the early death of his one and only true love, Cordie, a few years prior to their son’s disappearance, was obviously more than he could take. So, he descended into a reclusive world. Since then, John was dutifully at his post taking care of the business single handedly.

As he was making his way down the hall, passing through the lobby, he slowed down and began to notice the wall of photographs he had seen a thousand times before. This time though he studied them once again appreciating their significance. The photos showed the electric blue Texas sky and bright tangerine sunrises set behind the successful oil plays for which Winters Exploration had once been known, respected and envied. At one time, the headquarters of Winters Exploration had been full of life. The phones rang with news of exciting new oil plays throughout Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, the mayor wanted to know if Micheal had time for lunch, the rotary district was looking for volunteers for the holiday service project, and on and on. John and Micheal would escape from the clamor to the golf course where they’d talk about which projects looked the most promising and which community projects to support. Winters Exploration policy was made on the lush greens of Sawmill Golf Course. New projects were launched, budgets were approved and new hires were sealed.

Returning from the small office kitchen, John held the strong, steaming cup of coffee laced with chicory to his nose and inhaled deeply. He gazed at the familiar photograph on his desk and smiled sadly at the image of the smiling dark haired woman enfolded in the arms of a younger looking Micheal. Ah, Cordie, how are things in heaven? he asked. Is Jeffery there with you? It’s a hot one down here and the office is quiet as usual. It’s not good to live like this Cordie, he said, picking up the pile of mail that had been building up on his desk since last week.

Micheal Winters was family to John, his whole family. John’s parents, who were Cajun French, died when he was twelve. His mother, a school teacher, and his father, a blacksmith, smothered and burned to death in a fire set by a gas heater in their tiny living room in Bossier Parish, Louisiana. John and his sister Rebecca escaped from a window, choking from the heat and thick, acrid smoke, and in the days that followed, numbed by trauma and grief, found themselves separated into foster homes.

John’s foster parents, a pastor and his wife, had four children of their own. They lived on a farm where John and the other children were expected to work in the fields in the afternoons after home-schooling in the mornings. They lived a very strict and structured life. His foster parents were not demonstrative people and showed little affection toward him but provided a clean bed to sleep in every night, good food and Bible study every night before going to bed. This practice, along with daily farming duties developed important and lasting moral values and strong work ethics that John continued to live by.

When John was eighteen years old he left the home of his foster parents. It was an amicable parting and it was then that John realized that he had no family at all, that he knew of, except for his sister Rebecca. He tried to find her, but every time he thought he was close, her trail went cold. He was on his own.

After traveling around a bit he ended up at the Sawmill Country Club in Texas and began working there. John was young, strong and fit so keeping the greens in tip top shape was not difficult for him. He rather enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and the upscale atmosphere. This is where he and Micheal Winters met. Micheal often watched John and saw a man with a great attitude and one who took pride in his job no matter what it was. John’s attitude and superior work ethics were also noticed and often discussed between the club members. They would talk about how John had a special way about him that drew you to him; and how easy it was to strike up a conversation with him. John was well spoken, well read and always genuinely interested in what everyone had to say as if he were in a class room listening to a lecture.

Eventually Micheal and John developed a friendship that culminated in John becoming Micheal’s personal caddy. This made for an unusual relationship. It didn’t seem to matter to Micheal what others thought of him, and Cordie, his wife, felt the same way. Micheal obviously saw something in John that John himself didn’t know existed, a mind for business.

Now, though, John had his doubts about how much longer he could go on and was concerned about the future of the company without Micheal’s leadership. If Micheal didn’t return to reality soon, all could be lost; and there was no one to leave it to.

Suddenly John’s deep, worrisome thoughts were interrupted by Sally, Micheal’s executive assistant who had been with the company since its inception. She brought in the mail and gave John a letter from Chicago that was marked STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. Sally had permission to screen all mail, but today, for some odd reason she just couldn’t put her finger on, she felt that she mustn’t open this one. Looking at the pile of unopened mail on John’s desk, and handing one particular letter to him, Sally instructed, I think you should open this one first, it looks important. John answered Ok, Sally, thanks, I’ll do that now. John looked at the envelope that was postmarked Chicago, Illinois. As he opened the envelope, photographs fell to the floor and as he picked them up looking at them, he was confused and questioned himself, Who would have sent these pictures of Jeffery when he was a boy? I know of no family members that live or have ever lived in Chicago. After taking a closer look, John realized it couldn’t be Jeffery because he was there almost every day of Jeffery’s early life and did not remember these surroundings, not to mention the timeframe was about twenty years later. But at the same time, this child bore a very strong resemblance to Jeffery, so much so that he could be his brother, or son! How could this be? How could we not know about this person? John was more than intrigued. He then began to read the letter. Apparently the letter was written by the sister, Kathleen Morgan, of a young woman, Natalie Morgan, who nursed Jeffery when he was in Japan after his leg injury. Their friendship developed into a romance and they had fallen in love. Kathleen, stated in this letter that she had the actual letters Jeffery had written to Natalie and some spoke of the day they would tell their families of their love for each other and that they were married and how they wanted to plan a reception in Jeffery’s home town after their tours of duty were over. But after Jeffery became missing in action, this young nurse found out that she was pregnant and returned home to Chicago. She never spoke of who the father was but decided to raise her son alone, with the help of her sister. Kathleen went on to say that Natalie had recently passed away from a heart attack. Kevin, Natalie’s and Jeffery’s son, had been rebelling for some time and they knew he was a member of a gang and they were desperate to get him out. Since all their attempts had failed, and once Kathleen found the letters from Jeffery, she decided to contact Jeffery’s dad, Micheal, for help. Micheal Winters was their last hope.

This was hard to believe and almost too much to take in. John scoffingly thought, This letter is probably from a gold digger. However, after a serious, partially silent, partially audible conversation with himself, he decided there was sincerity and something genuine etched throughout this letter, not to mention desperation, and it touched his heart and stirred his curiosity. If only this could be true. It would be just the thing to bring Micheal out of seclusion." But first, this information had to be checked out thoroughly. The last thing John wanted was to rush into this and find out later it was a horrible scam. And John knew the damage it would do to Micheal would be irreparable.

Chapter 2

Micheal Page Winters was the only child of Augusta and Gene Winters. Augusta Lillian Page and Francis Eugene Winters were married in early 1923. Gene had returned from active duty in the Army and resumed his life as a farmer, working alongside his father.