Love comes for christmas.., p.1
Love Comes for Christmas: A Rags to Romance Book, page 1
LOVE COMES FOR CHRISTMAS
A RAGS TO ROMANCE BOOK
BY
MALLORY MONROE
Copyright©2023 Teresa McClain-Watson
All rights reserved. Any use of the materials contained in this book without the expressed written consent of the author and/or her affiliates, including scanning, uploading and downloading at file sharing and other sites, and distribution of this book by way of the Internet or any other means, is illegal and strictly prohibited.
AUSTIN BROOK PUBLISHING
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IT IS ILLEGAL TO UPLOAD THIS BOOK TO ANY FILE SHARING SITE.
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OR OTHERWISE, OR TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE ONLINE IN ANY FORM.
THE AUTHOR AND AUSTIN BROOK PUBLISHING DOES NOT GIVE THEIR
CONSENT.
This novel is a work of fiction. All characters are fictitious. Any similarities to anyone living or dead are completely accidental. The specific mention of known places or venues are not meant to be exact replicas of those places, but they are purposely embellished or imagined for the story’s sake. The cover art are models. They are not actual characters.
THE RAGS TO ROMANCE SERIES
STANDALONE BOOKS
IN PUBLICATION ORDER:
1. BOBBY SINATRA: IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
2. BOONE & CHARLY: SECOND CHANCE LOVE
3. PLAIN JANE EVANS AND THE BILLIONAIRE
4. GENTLEMAN JAMES AND GINA
5. MONTY & LaSHAY: RESCUE ME
6. TONY SINATRA: IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG
7. WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN
8. THE DUKE AND THE MAID
9. BOONE AND CHARLY: UPSIDE DOWN LOVE
10. HOOD RILEY AND THE ICE MAN
11. RECRUITED BY THE BILLIONAIRE
12. ABANDONED HEARTS
13. HOOD RILEY AND THE ICE MAN 2:
JUST WHEN I NEEDED YOU MOST
14. DANIEL’S GIRL:
BRAND NEW VERSION UPDATED AND EXPANDED
15. THAT PLACE IN HIS HEART
16. BULLDOG BURTON AND THE WAITRESS
17. LOVE COMES FOR CHRISTMAS
MALLORY MONROE SERIES:
THE RAGS TO ROMANCE SERIES (17 BOOKS)
THE ALEX DRAKOS SERIES (9 BOOKS)
THE BIG DADDY SINATRA SERIES (7 BOOKS)
THE MICK SINATRA SERIES (18 BOOKS)
THE RENO GABRINI/MOB BOSS SERIES (22 BOOKS)
THE SAL GABRINI SERIES (12 BOOKS)
THE TOMMY GABRINI SERIES (11 BOOKS)
THE TEDDY SINATRA SERIES (5 BOOKS)
THE TREVOR REESE SERIES (3 BOOKS)
THE AMELIA SINATRA SERIES (2 BOOKS)
THE BRENT SINATRA SERIES (1 BOOK)
THE OZ DRAKOS SERIES (2 BOOKS)
THE MONK PALETTI SERIES (2 BOOKS)
THE PRESIDENT’S GIRLFRIEND SERIES (8 BOOKS)
THE PRESIDENT’S BOYFRIEND SERIES (1 BOOK)
GIRLS ON THE RUN: A GABRINI VALENTINE
BONITA SINATRA: TO CATCH A JOCK (1 BOOK)
STANDALONE BOOKS:
WHERE LOVE GROWS
MAEBELLE MARIE
LOVING HER SOUL MATE
LOVING THE HEAD MAN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
“City sidewalks, busy sidewalks,
dressed in holiday style.
In the air-
there’s a feeling of Christmas.
Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile.
And on every street corner you’ll hear:
Silver bells.
Silver bells.
It’s Christmas time in the city.
Ring-a-ling.
Hear them ring.
Soon it will be Christmas day!” Jay Livingston/Ray Evans.
The mall that evening was jammed-packed with Christmas revelers as they walked around with more bags than they could carry and looked around at more decorations than they were ever going to get around to seeing. But the mall was decked down with the tallest tree in town and every imaginable decoration on every post and bench and storefront throughout. And the carols that rang out from the rafters kept those shoppers and sightseers buying and coming back and buying some more. It was three weeks before Christmas in Dell, Alabama, and the mood for shoppers and store managers alike was decidedly festive.
Even Bree Turner was happy.
She and her little girl walked hand-in-hand looking at as many decorations as they could get to. Although her daughter was three, it was their first Christmas together and both of them were enjoying the view. With them were Bree’s best friend Andre Washington, along with his wife and their two young sons, and the mood on their end was festive too.
Although the Washingtons were there to shop more than sightsee, Bree didn’t even consider purchasing anything in that upscale mall. She had four bucks to her name, which was just enough to put gas in her piece of car to get her to her piece of job tomorrow. And even though tomorrow was payday, she wouldn’t have a dime for shopping. Keeping a roof over her and her daughter’s heads, and food in their bellies, was as far as that paycheck would be able to go. And it was barely able to go that far.
“There’s Santa Clause!” Andre’s youngest son Ricky began jumping up and down when he spotted Santa Clause over in Macy’s. “Can I go, Daddy? Can I go, Mommy?”
Their mother, Sharon, looked at their father. Bree learned long ago that what Andre said was what went down in the Washington family. Otherwise, Sharon would have kicked Bree out of Andre’s life years ago. “It’s up to your father,” Sharon said to Ricky.
Ricky then turned excitedly to his father. “Can I go, Daddy, please? I wanna see Santa Clause. I haven’t seen him for a whole year!”
Andre laughed that booming laugh Bree loved. “Only if all three of you want to go,” he said, “then you can go.”
Everybody looked at Junior, who at ten was Andre’s oldest child and who was already over that Santa Clause nonsense he used to adore too. But his baby brother was so excited. “I guess so,” he said reluctantly, which caused Ricky to hug him in appreciation.
But Andre said all three had to agree. Which meant Danica, Bree’s three-year-old, had to agree too. And Sharon, who tolerated Bree but loved Danica as if she was her own child, knelt down to the little girl. “Would you like to go see Santa Clause with us, Dani?”
Danica, or Dani as they called her, looked at her mother, whom she knew even at that young age was the boss of her. “Mommy please,” Dani said, jumping up and down like Ricky. “Please mommy!”
Bree smiled. Her entire life’s mission was to make certain her daughter had the happiest life she could give to her. “Of course you can go,” she said. Then Bree looked at Sharon. “Want me to come too, Share?”
“I think I can handle it,” Sharon said in her nice-nasty way as she took Dani’s hand and, with the boys in tow, hurried into Macy’s to wait in the ever-growing long line.
Bree and Andre remained outside of the popular department store that took up half of the mall’s second floor, and watched Sharon and the children. “She always wanted a little girl,” Andre said as he watched his wife with a combination of love and sadness in his eyes.
Bree was watching Sharon too. With her smooth, deep-dark black skin, she’d always been the “it” girl, even when they all were kids together running around Dell, and she still had that beauty men craved. Bree had a few admirers herself, but every boy wanted Sharon. Most of them, if Bree were to be honest, had her too. But Andre won her heart.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you and Share for taking care of Dani while I was gone. And considering where I was when I delivered her? You guys came through for me, Dre. For real. You’re a true ride or
“You needn’t thank me, Bree. You’re family. My boys call you Auntie for crying out loud. You and Dani are family. That’s what I don’t want you to ever forget.”
Bree smiled. “Thanks.”
“And speaking of family,” Andre said as he reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and began to pull out a few bills.
But Bree stopped him. “Don’t you dare, Dre, I mean it.”
“Come on, Bree, take it. Just so you can get her something for Christmas.”
“I’ll get her something. When I can.”
“And when will that be? After Christmas? You can barely meet your rent, Bree.”
“And you’re a schoolteacher with a wife and two boys to take care of. You can barely meet your own obligations. So put your money away. She’ll be fine. I’m just getting back on my feet. I’ll get it together. You know I will. I’m just glad your uncle gave me that waitress job. Because if he hadn’t?” She couldn’t even finish her thought. She just shook her head.
Andre touched her hand and nodded his head. “I know, Bree. I know. He was glad to help you out. He’s known you since you were a baby.”
They suddenly heard snickering behind them. When they turned, they saw a group of girls that attended the high school where Andre taught and where Bree used to teach. All four girls were gawking at them. Bree knew why. She was getting a lot of that ever since she returned to town.
But Andre tried to play it off. “May we help you?” he said to the girls in a loud baritone that reminded them that he was their teacher and not their equal, as if he had no clue what their snickering was about. All three of them, although still giggling, hurried away.
Then he turned to Bree. “They think you and I are an item. They’ve always thought that.”
Although Bree knew that was true too, they both also knew those girls’ snickering and gawking and pointing fingers had nothing to do with that misconception. At all. “There’s still time, you know.”
Andre wondered if he had missed something. “Time for what?”
“For you and Sharon to have a little girl since that’s what she wants. She has been a great wife to you, Dre. You should give her whatever she wants. And don’t come at me with that I’m too old line either. Because that’s sick. You’re only thirty-nine.”
“No, you’re only thirty-nine. I’m forty already. And forty is the new fifty.”
“Boy bye!” Bree said with a playful shove, and Andre laughed. A smart, hardworking, God-fearing black man, every female teacher at the high school admired him and wanted him as their own. Bree could not have dreamed up a better best friend. She only wished his jealous wife would stop forgetting that she and Dre were best friends since childhood and friends were all they were ever going to be.
But she decided to forget all that drama and started looking elsewhere. They were on the second floor of the triple-decker mall, and the entire place was a sight to see. “This is such a beautiful place,” she said as she walked over to the railing that provided a more expansive view of the first and third floors. “And so big. Dang!”
“Ah that’s right,” Andre said, following her. “This is your first time here.” He leaned against the rail beside her. With the Christmas lights reflecting from the rafters and hitting the side of Bree’s smooth, dark-brown face just so, she looked angelic to him. But what he loved most about her was how she never understood how uniquely beautiful, how drop-dead gorgeous, she truly was. “I’ve been here a few times since it opened. But this is your first time.”
“Very first.”
“Never thought you’d see something this grand in Dell I’ll bet.”
“Never ever.” She leaned over and looked up at the third-floor Christmas decorations. They both were born and raised in Dell, Alabama and never left. They’d never seen anything like that mall anywhere near their hometown. “I can’t get over how fancy it is,” Bree added.
“Does it seem strange that you once knew the . . .” Andre almost slipped and said it. He and Bree exchanged a hard but sad glance. And in her beautiful, still fragile eyes, he could see her begging him not to go there. She wasn’t ready to go there. He doubted if she ever would be.
But because he would never hurt her no matter what, he left it alone. “How’s my Uncle Slappey been treating you?” he decided to ask her instead.
“I’m grateful he hired me. Don’t get me wrong. He’s the only somebody in this whole town that would hire me after what happened. But he’s working me to death,” she added, and Andre laughed. “Real talk,” she continued. “I work the morning shift and Lisa works the evening shift, but the two of us aren’t enough for the crowds he gets. And Lisa hardly ever shows up on time to relieve me. Which means I’m late picking up Dani from the daycare. He needs to hire more people.”
“I agree. But it won’t happen. Unc is the stingiest man I know. He’ll be out there waitressing before he hires another one,” Andre added, and Bree laughed.
Then they continued to look at the view. “I still can’t get over how fancy this place is either,” he said, easily forgetting the elephant in the room as he looked up at the third floor too. “And the decorations are out of this world. How did they get them up in the rafters like that anyway? It’s like a Broadway production they’re putting on for us common folk.”
“They ain’t putting this show on for us,” Bree quickly pointed out with a serious look on her face. “Are you joking? All of this is for all of those rich white folks in those mansion-like houses they built all around this mall, and for those upper-class black folks that come up from Huntsville to do all their shopping. But for us Shantytown folks? No way. They’d close this whole thing down tomorrow if they were depending on people like us to stay in business.”
Andre laughed. “True that,” he said.
But then they both heard a commotion and looked toward the mall entrance as a large contingent of all-white men came marching through the revolving doors as if they owned the place.
“Who are they?” Bree wondered.
“I see our crooked mayor is with them,” said Andre. “So they must be big shots. But I don’t think I know anybody else.”
The group, at first, stood near the entrance as the man Andre recognized as the mayor of Dell seemed to be pointing out the magnificence of that massive Christmas tree that greeted shoppers as they entered the mall.
But as the group started walking further into the mall, toward the courtyard, Bree thought another one of the men looked familiar too. He walked like somebody she used to know. And that thick, chestnut-brown hair. And that rich, tailored suit that was a cut-above the suits the other men wore. And those big, expensive shoes that shined even from where she stood. But it couldn’t be. She knew it actually could be because of where they were, but it couldn’t be!
Until the mayor pointed up to the second floor, as if to point out how grateful they were to have a prestigious store like Macy’s as a part of the mall family too, and the entire group, including the man Bree found most familiar, looked up as well. And when Bree’s eyes saw the face of the man, her heart nearly stopped. And when his eyes met her eyes, and it was no doubt who that was, she thought she was going to die where she stood. Because he recognized her too. But he didn’t know the half of it. Because she never told him!
By the time Andre recognized who it was too, and he turned to Bree out of concern for her, she was already gone. She was already hurrying inside of Macy’s to grab her kid and run. That was all she could think to do: grab Dani and run. Run, Bree, run. Get out of there!
But the man downstairs had recognized who she was too. He’d never forget that face. That same beautiful, dark-brown face that had haunted his dreams for four whole years. He knew he might run into her one of these days. He knew he might have to face what he did to her sooner or later. But he never dreamed it would be within the first minutes of his arrival in town!
To have her right there, just one floor away, floored him. Because that same feeling of connection returned. Because his every instinct that once told him that she was the one, forget everybody else and pursue her, overtook him again. And even as the mayor was still pointing out how the different stores and the very mall itself had given a massive financial boast to that entire region of the country, he took off. The mayor and the rest of the contingent were confused. What was his problem? But those in his entourage, who would jump off a bridge if he ordered them to, broke away and ran after him. But they were no match to keep up with his speed. Pure adrenalin was steering him. Unrequited love was driving him.
