The Promise of Christmas

by Vanessa Miller

  Tina closed her curtain and then went to her bedroom that was the size of an apartment. Big enough for her king-sized bed and a sitting area on the opposite side of the room. The luxuriousness of the master suite had been the reason Tina had purchased this home. She thought that having a room like this would make her feel like the princess she always wanted to be.

  Walking into her adjoining bathroom, Tina took her shoes off and placed them in her shoe closet. She then stood in front of one of the two sinks in her bathroom and glanced around. The chandelier over her soaking tub spoke of romance. The walk-in shower was made for two. There were even two closets connected to either side of her bathroom. The entire suite had not been designed for a princess, but for lovers.

  After showering and slipping into an olive colored, silk gown, Tina got into bed and pulled the duvet she’d purchased while in Italy over her body. The comforter was embossed with interlocking hexagons. The highly-textured mix of silk fabric had a luxurious sheen, because it had been artfully detailed by a master Italian weaver. As she snuggled under her five-thousand-dollar comforter, the last thing Tina remembered thinking as she drifted off to sleep was that she’d rather be any place but home.

  2

  Tina stretched out her arms as she sat up in the queen-sized bed. Her eyes darted around the claustrophobic size bedroom that she was in. “What in the world… Where am I?”

  She threw off the quilt and hopped out of bed. But as she walked around the room, her eyes went back to the quilt. She shook her head. “I know I didn’t just sleep under that patchwork quilt.”

  She picked up a photo frame on the dresser and her eyes bugged out. She was in a wedding dress and David King was in a tuxedo and he had his arms wrapped around her. The engraving at the bottom of the photo said, Mr. and Mrs. King. Tina put the photo back on the dresser and walked over to the window. Row after row of two story homes that couldn’t be more than fifteen hundred to two thousand square feet.

  She sat back down on the bed and that’s when she noticed the lumps in the mattress. Tina shook her head again. “If we’re the King’s, then why are we living like peasants?”

  There was a knock on her bedroom door and then it swung open. “How are you feeling, dear? Did that bump on your head go down?”

  Tina put her hand on her head. “What bump? Who are you?”

  The woman laughed. “Guess you need a little more rest after the way you showed your backside last night.”

  “Are you the maid?”

  The woman harrumphed. “That bump on your head is allowing you to show your true colors. Always knew you was uppity and thought you was better than everybody on the planet. But really, girl, to call your own mother-in-law a maid really takes it to a new low with you.”

  Her mother-in-law? Maybe she really did bump her head. Only she didn’t remember falling into anything but her pillow top king-sized bed last night. But Tina didn’t have anything else to do, so she felt like playing along. “Where’s my husband?”

  Her mother-in-law’s head reared backward as she bust out in laughter. “Girl, you keep this up and I’m going to take you to the hospital. Because you sound like you need your head examined.”

  “If I have a mother-in-law, wouldn’t it be logical to assume that I have a husband?” Tina’s eyes darted from one side of the room to the next. “Since he’s not in here with me, shouldn’t I want to know where he is?” During her brief conversations with David King she had never asked about his family. But it was becoming clear to Tina that her mother-in-law didn’t think much of her. Tina wondered about that, because to the rest of the world, she was a pretty impressive woman. Member of the Grammy Award winning Four T’s and heck, she’d even won a Grammy as a solo artist last year. But this woman wasn’t showing her no type of respect.

  “He’s not here because you threw him out last night, like you do anytime and every time you get a bug up your butt.”

  “Maybe he’s down at the church. Can you give me the number so I can call him?” If God was showing her a vision of what life would be like with David King, just as he had shown Trinity, then Tina didn’t want to waste any of the time she had with her husband bantering with this crazy lady.

  “What church?” her mother-in-law rolled her eyes heavenward. “You mean the one you haven’t attended in months and then threatened to divorce David if he stepped a foot in there?”

  “What are you talking about? David’s the pastor of the church so of course he has to be there.” This woman thought that she was confused, but now Tina was wondering just how confused David’s mother really was… and if this woman had mental issues.

  The woman laughed again. “If David’s a preacher then I’m the Pope.”

  Tina’s head was starting to hurt. She threw the covers back over her legs and leaned her head against the headboard. She wished that her so-called mother-in-law would leave her alone, but the woman just kept staring and giving her the evil eye. “If I threw David out last night like you say, then why are you still here?”

  “I wish I wasn’t,” the woman answered honestly. “But David begged me to stay and make sure you made it through the night after you fell and hit that fool head of yours. I started to leave you here anyways, but then my bleeding-heart sister called and said, ‘Now Martha, you know that girl ain’t right in the head and David would never forgive you if something happened to her.”

  Tina decided that she did not have a mother-in-law, more like a monster-in-law. And she was not going to entertain this evil-eyed woman for another second. She was about to get out of bed and escort Martha to the door, but luckily, she didn’t have to.

  Martha said, “Since you’re still living, I’m going to head on out. I still have two Christmas presents to buy.”

  Tina’s mind raced as she tried to figure out the date. She’d done her Christmas Special on December 23rd. Then she’d come home and gone to bed.

  “I’ve got to make Christmas cookies with my grandkids later on today too. Chile, I don’t have no more time to babysit you.”

  “Go on home Martha. I understand. It’s Christmas Eve, and you should go and be with your family.”

  “You’re dog gone right it’s Christmas Eve. Hopefully, my son will find his way to my house later today, so that he can be with people who love him.” With that, Tina’s monster-in-law swung around and stormed out of her room.

  “Wow.” Tina banged her head against her headboard, then tried to pull the covers up to her shoulders, but her hand got caught in a hole as the patchwork on the quilt had started separating. Tina shook her head and looked heavenward. “If this is what I’ve been missing, then keep on missing me with this craziness.”

  This was not how Trinity explained the experience she had at all. Her husband was a pastor with a beautiful home and he cherished her. She wasn’t dealing with some crazy monster-in-law and no husband in sight.

  Tina picked up her cell phone and looked for Trinity’s number in her contact list, but it wasn’t there. Tina didn’t even know if she still remembered Trinity’s cell phone number by heart, but she gave it a try anyway. The phone rang a few times and then Trinity picked up, she sounded happy… of course she was happy. Her little fairy tale panned out. Tina was the one stuck in… she didn’t know what to call her current situation. But it was not good. “Trinity, girl, I am trippin’. You need to explain to me how fairytale stuff works.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Now Trinity sounded confused, like she was trying to figure out why Tina was on her phone. “It’s me girl, Tina. Did I call too early or something? You and your man got a little somethin’ somethin’ going on?”

  “Tina who? And why are you talking like you know me?”

  “Of course, I know you. We were in the Four T’s together for about a decade… so yeah, I know you. Why you trippin’?”

  “I’m sorry if you think you know me, but…”

  “I’m Tina Jones, girl, don’t play me.”

  “I do remember someone
by the name of Tina Jones auditioning for the Four T’s. But instead of showing up to sign her contract, she decided to stay in her hometown. The last I heard she married some guy and was going to try a solo act.”

  “That’s me, Trinity,” Tina shouted. “Only I didn’t really marry David. And yeah, I did go off on my own with a solo career, which by the way is doing great. But before all that I was with you, Tara and Theresa. Don’t you remember?”

  “I don’t remember anything more than I’ve already told you. Maybe you’re having some sort of holiday delusion or something. Whatever it is, I can’t help you because I have to get down to the church for our Christmas program.”

  “Wait! Don’t hang up.”

  “Are you okay? Do you need me to call someone to come and sit with you, because if you’re having a nervous breakdown, you really shouldn’t be alone?”

  “I’m not having a nervous breakdown, Trinity. I’m having one of those holiday delusions, like the one you had about five Christmases ago. Don’t you remember? You dreamed or had a vision that you were married to this wonderful man and that you were never a part of the Four T’s, but then God showed you that all of our lives would have been trash if you hadn’t been a part of the group.”

  There was a sharp intake of breath and then Trinity asked, “How do you know that?”

  “I told you… I was a member of the Four T’s. And we had ten hit songs before the group disbanded.”

  “The group was called the Three T’s and we only had six hit songs before we each went our separate ways.”

  Tina thought about that for a minute. She had sung lead on four of their #1 hits. So, if she had never been part of the group then, that means the Four T’s missed out on being all they could have been. “So, I was necessary… you all were just as thankful for me, as I was for you?” Tina said, as she pondered on the song she’d wrote, Thankful for My Girls.

  “I wish I could say that I was thankful for you. But if this is Tina Jones, I barely know you. You never showed up, remember?”

  “Okay, I get it now. But can you just tell me one thing before we hang up?”

  “It depends on what you want to know.”

  “I’m not trying to get in your business. Believe me, I already know everything about you. I just want to know how you got out of that dream. Did you pinch yourself and then woke back up in your own bed?”

  “I wish I had thought of that.” Trinity laughed. But when the laughter ended she got serious. “Okay, if God is really showing you what life could have been like, then I suggest you pay close attention to everything that you are about to experience. Ask questions and find out who you really are. Now, I’ve got to go, so bye-bye.”

  “Trinity, Trinity.” She hung up even as Tina was yelling her name. “Now what am I supposed to do?”

  As if answering her question the bedroom door opened and David stood there, staring at her as if Christmas was the worst time of the year rather than the best.

  3

  “Can we talk?”

  “David, what is wrong with you? You look so sad.” Tina didn’t know what kind of dream like state she had fallen into, but she wanted to go to sleep and start this all over again.

  “Would you mind meeting me in the kitchen. We can sit at the table for this discussion.” He walked away, not waiting for a reply.

  She threw the covers off and got out of bed. As she stepped out of her bedroom for the first time, Tina immediately realized that there wasn’t much more to see of their home. No staircase meant they lived in a one level home. There was a small eat in kitchen and an even smaller living room. “Oh God, please tell me that we have at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms in this small place.”

  David was already seated at the kitchen table with his back to her. He swung around as he answered, “You know that we have two bedrooms with only one bathroom, which has been the reason that you hate this condo so much.”

  Looking around, Tina could give David several more reasons why she hated this house. But she wasn’t going there. David was a nice guy, so the last thing she wanted to do was to make him feel less than. “Hate is a strong word. I’m sure there are many things I like about this house. How long have we lived here?”

  “You know how long we’ve lived here. Why do you keep asking about things you already know?” He stood up and walked over to her.

  “Humor me, David. I really need you to answer my questions. So, let’s pretend that I forgot a bunch of things after I bumped my head last night.”

  David shook his head and looked annoyed, but he responded, “What do you want to know?”

  Still looking around, Tina hesitated, but then said, “Well, we’ve been married at least ten years, right?”

  “Try fifteen.”

  “Okay, so we got married quick.”

  “Three months after we met,” David confirmed.

  “Well, I’m sure we have kids by now, so I don’t understand why we still in a two-bedroom condo after all these years of marriage.”

  “Are you serious?” David’s voice raised a bit. “So, you want to torture me this morning. Okay, Tina, I’ll play along… we don’t have children, because you have always been more concerned with pursuing your singing career than starting a family with me.”

  “But I gave up a recording deal with the Four T’s to be with you.” That had to be the way that happened, or how else did she end up with David and decide not to sign her contract?

  David laughed at that, but it was a bitter sound. “You didn’t give up your deal for me. You thought you’d do better going solo and you needed to marry me so I could support us while you pursued your career.”

  “What are you talking about? So, you think I’ve just been using you all these years?” Tina folded her arms across her chest. She was no user.

  “What else has it been then, Tina?”

  “I must have loved you… I married you.”

  “There was a time when I thought you loved me. We worked really hard together to try to make something of that angelic singing voice that God gave you. We didn’t spend our money on expensive homes or fancy cars, it all went into your studio recording time, travel and CDs. I loved every minute of being your manager, even though I knew you needed someone more qualified than me.”

  “Then why did you do it?”

  “Because I believed in you, and the manager you originally had quit after you refused to sign the contract with the Four T’s.”

  “If you’re managing my career, then I don’t get it. Why didn’t you schedule a Christmas tour? People are really sentimental around this time of year. We could have raked in a bundle of cash and bought a new house.”

  The look on his face let her know he was stunned by her comment.

  “What? What did I say wrong?”

  “You haven’t recorded any new music in four years. Not since recovering from pneumonia.”

  “You know about my pneumonia?”

  David held up a hand. “Stop Tina. This isn’t funny.” Just come over to the table so we can get this over and done with.”

  He pulled up a chair at their table. Tina followed, but before sitting down she said, “I really need to know how I got pneumonia. I’m not joking around, David. Please, just tell me, were we in Italy?”

  “Italy?” He side-eyed her, then stood up and checked her forehead for a fever.”

  “Okay, so I’m guessing we weren’t in Italy.” Tina sat down and David reclaimed his seat. She was getting exhausted but she needed to know what happened to her. “Just tell me how I caught pneumonia.”

  David grunted. But then said, “I took you to the Bahamas for our anniversary. You were sick the whole trip.”

  “So, did I get sick in the Bahamas or did I get sick before we left for the Bahamas?”

  David looked away, as if thinking. When he turned back to Tina he said, “I never thought about it before, because while we were on our vacation, we both thought you’d come down with the flu, but it was another mon
th before you had to be hospitalized and we realized you had pneumonia… We had been on tour just before we went to the Bahamas. The last city we hit was Los Angeles. They had a terrible storm that we got caught in the night before we left.”

  “I remember that storm.” Tina’s eyes got wide as she realized that she wouldn’t have been able to run or hide from what happened to her voice. She lived in Los Angeles, and had gone out for drinks with friends with no coat and no umbrella. The storm caught them all by surprise, but Tina hadn’t been feeling sick, so she got on the plane the next morning headed to Italy.

  “Your medical bills and the therapy on your throat were so expensive that we sold our old house to pay for them. It’s only you and me so I figured we didn’t need a big house to make us happy. But I guess I was wrong.” David passed a manila envelope over to Tina.

  “Condos aren’t selling too well right now, but if we are able to sell it, then we should be able to walk away with a couple thousand each because we’ve got a little bit of equity in it.”

  “What’s this?” Tina asked as she opened the envelope.

  “It’s what you’ve been asking me for ever since we moved into this condo.” David lowered his head, steepled his hands on his forehead as if praying. When he looked back at Tina he said, “I’m sorry that your vocal cords are messed up and I’m sorry that I took you to the Bahamas. But I can’t live this anymore. You blame me for your career going nowhere and I’m becoming bitter.”

  She pulled the paper out of the envelope as he said, “I never wanted it to end like this, but I don’t have any fight left in me. You can have your divorce.”

  4

  “Noooo!” Tina wanted to scream. Why would she want to divorce a man who had been willing to sacrifice everything just so she could shine? David King seemed like a wonderful man. Hadn’t his mother said that even after she threw him out last night, that he had begged his mother to stay with her. If he had been so concerned for her well-being, then why on earth would he have rushed out to get divorce papers on Christmas Eve.