Praise for A Wife for Stephen
“ This was truly a page turning book! I couldn't put it down. Truly a timeless treasure that will be appreciated among all generations. Valcine is such an engaging writer, she leaves you wanting to find out more!”
- Sherri Huff, CA
2
Sneak Peek
Celeste decides to ask him questions in order to make the time fly by faster and get her mind off the fact that they are slow dancing together. “So,” Celeste begins but falters because she doesn’t know what to ask. Quickly she thinks of something, “What are your long term plans? I mean, do you want to perform all of your life or do you want to get more into producing?”
“To tell you the truth,” Stephen begins, weighing his words uncommonly carefully. “Actually, I want to be a family man. Of course, I always want to be a part of the music industry. I actually want to start a Christian music label, but having a family is something that is extremely valuable to me. You know, a wife, a few kids, maybe even a dog.”
“So, you want to get married?”
“Well, that is not how I planned for the question to be asked because I wanted to be the one to ask you in a romantic, more traditional manner, but since the offer has been placed on the table… I accept.”
A Wife for Stephen
VALCINE BROWN
Copyright © 2013 Valcine Brown All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be duplicated, stored or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright owner.
Book design by Rebecca Hayes www.beckypublisher.com
Published in the United States by LaChrisAnd Productions
PO Box 354
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240 www.lachrisandproductions.com
Chapter One
“Man, I am so tired of all these women wanting me just because I’m part of Class One. I want to settle down,” says Stephen to the other group members. If it weren’t for the new desire that God had birthed in him, Stephen would feel hopeless. The lyrics that he co-writes for the group are not just words to him; they come from his heart. His soul. And he has meant every word he’s ever written. But Stephen does not feel understood by the women he meets. They don’t understand that inside the performer on stage, there is a man who’s waiting for his lifelong companion, a man who’s waiting for someone upon whom he can lavish all the love that God has placed in his heart.
Stephen holds out and presses toward the mark for the high calling of God, which is in Christ Jesus, to live a life that is pleasing to God and let God take care of everything else. His only regret is that it has taken him so long to get about his Father’s business, remorseful for the wrong decisions and turns he has made in his life. His letdown is short lived for he knows that he has been forgiven through Christ and that God, some way and somehow, will use Stephen’s life experiences to minister to others. Stephen looks forward to the ending of this current tour in eight months, for then he will be able to take greater leaps and bounds pursuing the visions God has given him.
“What do you want to settle down for, when you have all these honeys fiending for you?” asks Jeffrey. As Stephen turns to face Mario, he catches the end of daps between him and Jeffrey.
“You mean you never get tired of these women and all the games they play? I know you haven’t forgotten Patrice already?” The minute the words are out of his mouth, Stephen regrets bringing up the woman’s name.
“Naw, I haven’t forgotten her.” Jeffrey’s face takes on a scowl depicting his struggle with the lingering emotions of a bitter betrayal. “I never thought I could despise a female, but I do her,” comes Jeffrey’s gritty continuation.
“I understand what you mean, Stephen, but you can’t rush it, man. Love is something that just happens. You can’t order it as you would order a pizza. Let the truth be known, I hope to settle down in the future. But, I am still enjoying life as it is right now,” confesses Mario while reaching out to give Jeffrey another pound.
Just then, someone knocks on the door, “You’re on in five minutes,” announces the stage manager through the shut door.
“While I would love to st ay here and continue this heartwarming conversation,” says Jeffrey while he heads for the door, “I got some honeys out there waiting for me to give them a good show. And we wouldn’t want to disappoint them now would we?” Jeremy says while taking one last glance in the wall mirror at his appearance and viewing their matching suits.
Class One is adorned in their black Armani silk pants, black leather loafers, shiny enough to have been spit shined, and a red silk tank top worn under their black Armani suit jacket.
“Let’s go then,” says Stephen as he follows Jeffrey through the now open door.
“Don’t sweat it, Steph. It will happen when the time and the woman are both right. I truly believe that.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it in the least. I’m just waiting on the Lord.”
Stephen learned just three years prior, what a difference having Christ in his life made. He feels certain in every step that he takes knowing that his steps are ordered of the Lord.
Ever since that day that Christ had answered his parents’ fasted prayers that Stephen would return to the Lord, Stephen has been walking in the light of Christ.
Stephen had come down with a virus that had put him in hospital with severe dehydration. He could remember that day as if it were yesterday. He had called his parents’ home, and his mom had been the one to answer the phone. “Mom,” Stephen had begun.
Right away his mother had known that there was something the matter. It was almost as if she had been expecting his call. “What’s the matter, baby?”
“I’m really sick. I’m calling you from the hospital right now.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I picked up some kind of virus while in the UK and wound up with severe dehydration. The doctors are giving me various antibiotics and steroids to boost my immune system, but they aren’t having much luck. My head is killing me despite the painkillers that the doctors are giving me. I’ve been here since yesterday, and I don’t feel any better. I was wondering if… you would pray for me. I know I haven’t taken the course that you and dad raised me to take but right now I could seriously use some prayer.”
“Of course, baby. I have never turned my back on you and I never will. I will always be here when you need me. My only question is whether you will recognize the miracle of your healing or call it luck.”
After agreeing with his mother in prayer, he hung up the phone and was able to fall asleep. The only true rest he had in the last week due to the high-grade fever that he had been running. When he woke, he found that the sheets were not dampened with sweat as they had been other times when he awoke. Neither had he tossed and turned and become tangled in the linen.
This being the only deep sleep he had gotten since falling ill, he felt much improved.
Not only had God healed him but had given him a speedy recovery. So speedy that the doctors had never seen anything like it in their medical lives. When Stephen was discharged from the hospital the following day, he called to thank his parents for their prayers. The things he learned in that conversation had taken his life on a whole different path. His mother had a determination in her voice that Stephen had never heard before.
She proceeded to tell Stephen that God had healed him and raised him because, “God has a plan for your life, Stephen.” She proceeded to tell him that God wanted to use him in His ministry to touch lives, but that first Stephen needed to get to know God on a personal level. Joyce Haule then continued to explain to Stephen God’s plan of salvation as if he had never heard it before. And Stephen listened as if listening for the fi
rst time with ears that ached for truth. Before Stephen knew it, he had tears streaming from his eyes for he knew that every word his mother was speaking to him had been the truth.
He could feel God calling him deep within his spirit. It was a call that Stephen was all too willing to answer saying, “Yes Lord!” Stephen accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at that very moment as his mother led him through the sinners’ prayer. Not once has he ever regretted making that decision.
Stephen is looking forward to the next year of his life, which will be the last year of his contract with Sonar Records. Once he is no longer obligated to them, he will break away from Class One to start his own Gospel Label. He isn’t sure what he will call it, but he knows that God is leading him through it step by precious step. Stephen is only glad that although obligated by contract, he has creative authority.
No one could make him sing or pen trashy lyrics with profanity or that depicted women as sex objects. He was free to write sincere love ballads from the Christian heart. Although none of his music was distasteful, he only felt that God had a different plan for his life. To turn his back on that calling would be his own personal sin.
The stadium is filled to capacity this evening. As they come out on stage they can hear their fans chanting, “Class One...Class One...Class One.” No matter how many audiences for whom they play, Stephen will always be astonished at the support their fans give them. It still amazes him that he has become such an influential person to so many people. People he has never met, write him letters thanking him for the feelings he inspires in or shares with them.
The performance goes off without a hitch, from the wardrobe and set changes to the grand finale light show. Class One takes their final bow. Upon rising, Stephen sees an uncommonly lovely woman sitting in the front row. The woman is exquisite. Truly the most beautiful woman he has ever seen in his life. Having been on more world tours than he dares try to count, he has seen a lot of women. This woman is different. Her eyes sparkle with joy while they twinkle a dance that holds him captive. Her full lips are partly open in a half smile that shows pearly white teeth. This is all he can admire before he snaps out of his trance and takes his exit from the stage.
“Mario...Mario, come here for a sec.,” Stephen calls. Putting his hand on the shoulder of Mario who is now standing by his side, “Do you see that woman?” Stephen asks, peeking through a crack in the closed curtain, with Mario.
“Yeah. I see a lot of women,” Mario jokes.
“No, man. The one in the first row with the navy blue mini skirt on. She’s just getting up to leave.”
“Yeah, I see her. What about her?” asks Mario as he turns his back to the curtain to look at Stephen.
“She’ll be Mrs. Stephen Haule.”
Chapter Two
“Well, Girl. We better start heading for th e car before we get stuck in the parking lot,” Celeste says to her friend Jenny while she retrieves her jacket that lies on the back of the chair she has just risen from.
“You can’t be serious?” questions Jenny with a stunned look on her face. “Aren’t we even going to try to get backstage? You haven’t been to a concert unless you have at least tried to sneak backstage.”
Jenny always amazes Celeste. “And how do you expect to get backstage without passes?” inquiries Celeste.
“That’s why we have to sneak,” expresses Jenny while rolling her eyes. “We probably won’t make it past security, but we owe it to ourselves to try. Besides,” Jenny begins to smirk while linking arms with Celeste and escorting her to the curtain that leads backstage, “We might even get lucky. Don’t try to pretend that you didn’t notice Stephen with his fine chocolate self. Girl, he was looking right at you.”
“Yeah right. He probably looks at all the women that way, keeping all of them simmering while he decides which one will be lucky enough to go home with him.”
"Hmm. That just might be you tonight,” says Jenny and throws her head back to laugh.
“Now girl you know I don’t roll that way.”
“I know, I know. I just enjoy teasing you is all.”
Celeste and Jenny have been best friends since junior high school. With a friendship this long, Celeste has come to know that Jenny doesn’t mean any harm with her off color jokes. Celeste just uses them as an opportunity to show Jenny where she stands with Christ.
“OK, but if we get kicked out of here the embarrassment is going to be on your head because it’s your idea.”
“Celeste, please. How are they going to kick us out of a concert that’s already over?” seeing that Celeste realizes the rationality of her statement, Jenny continues on, “So let’s go see if we can hook you up with Stephen.”
“They are headed for the back stage entrance,” Stephen exclaims.
“These are two women who I think we should get backstage,” mirrors Mario. Stephen and Mario have always had a remarkable bond that allows them to understand what one another is thinking even before it is vocalized.
“After you,” says Mario stepping to the side, placing one hand behind his back and bowing in a butler fashion. It doesn’t take long for them to fight their way through the crowd of people who are gathering backstage. Within minutes, they arrive next to the security guards that are checking passes and allowing those who have proper passes to enter.
“Henry,” Stephen calls.
“Yeah, Steph,” answers the security guard, turning to look at Stephen and Mario. Those who have come to know Stephen well call him by the nickname he has been branded with since he was three years old.
“You see those two lovely ladies headed this way? One is a caramel colored sister with long black hair, wearing the navy blue velvet skirt set?”
“Yeah, I see’em. You want me to get rid of them for you?” asks Henry, anxious to do his job.
“No, quite the opposite. No matter what story they give you, or how lame it sounds, let them come backstage and usher them towards our room. Okay?”
Henry scrunches his eyebrows together and tilts his head to the side the way he usually does when he is processing new orders. Henry is not a particularly bright man, but he is loyal and is not afraid of anything. Loyalty and fearlessness, coupled with his massive physic, make him an ideal bodyguard. Henry is one of the three guards that Class One takes on the road with them wherever they go. “Whatever you say, Steph.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you two now,” Stephen vows before turning and heading towards his dressing room with Mario.
“I don’t know how you expect this to work. Most importantly, I don’t know how I let you talk me into these wild plans of yours,” Celeste remarks, pretending to be upset with Jenny, all the time loving every exhilarating moment.
“Just stick close to me and follow my lead,” directs Jenny over her shoulder as she elbows her way through the crowd of fans that are trying to get backstage, all the while keeping a reluctant Celeste anchored to her side.
“Excuse me, we lost our back stage passes, but Stephen is expecting my friend Celeste here. She’s his fiancé.” Hearing what Jenny just said, Celeste couldn’t help but turn an extremely shocked face towards Jenny and glare at her. Jenny just smiles prettily up at the security guard and pretends not to notice Celeste’s shocked expression. If it weren’t for the elbow that Jenny gives Celeste in her side, Celeste would not have even known that Jenny did notice.
“No problem, ladies. Right this way,” the security guard states while stepping to the side of the curtain and pulling it back so that Celeste and Jenny can get through easier. “Just head straight up the hall. Their dressing room is the last door on the left.”
Now, Celeste cannot help but to look at the security guard with an expression of bewilderment. If a pretty face, adorned with a smile and batting eyelashes, and a cockamamie story as unoriginal as the one Jenny just told, is all it takes to gain access to Class One, they might as well do away with security guards all together, thinks Celeste as they are ushered through the curtain.
“Man, could you believe that guy?” asks Jenny when they are half-way down the hall they were told leads to Class One’s dressing room. “I never actually expected him to fall for that.”
“ Wait,” exclaims Celeste, stopping abruptly, “You don’t actually mean to go knock on their dressing room door, do you? I mean, what are you going to say. ‘Hi, I’m Jenny, and this is Stephen’s fiancé, Celeste?’”
“No,” said Jenny turning around to face Celeste. “As far as they know we actually have backstage passes. They don’t have to know what line we used to get back here. Look, Celeste,” continued Jenny on a sigh of frustration, “We’ve come this far. It would be a shame to turn back now. Come on,” urged Jenny taking Celeste’s hand with a placating smile one would use along with a cookie to bribe a four-yearold who is refusing to clean his room, “I’ll do all the talking.”
“Oh, I just bet you will,” Celeste says. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” she mumbles to Jenny’s back as they resume their walk towards Class One’s dressing room. By the time Jenny and Celeste reach their destination, Celeste is so nervous that the palms of her hands are clammy. She stands there quietly while Jenny knocks on the door, and they wait for it to be answered.
As Celeste turns to run, she hears the door creak open. “Hello there, ladies,” she hears that all too familiar voice that has kept her company on so many lonely nights via her CDplayer. “Won’t you please come in?”
“Of course we will,” Celeste hea rs Jenny say as she is turned to face the door by the hand Jenny places on Celeste’s shoulder.
All right, she’s here now. So play it cool and don’t blow it, Stephen chides himself. Man, thought Stephen, she is even more beautiful up close, looking the picture of elegance as she stands in front of him clothed in a navy blue silk skirt with matching jacket. Her black pumps match her handbag.
But why does she look so frightened? He was expecting her to be smiling at having made it backstage so easily. Stepping to the side, Stephen holds out his hand to invite Celeste and Jenny into the dressing room.
As they enter, the other two members of Class One stand to their feet and come towards them with extended hands in an offering of a handshake. This has got to be a dream, thought Celeste.
A Wife for Stephen Page 1
