Silent Night. Preview.

A Story by

This isn't quite finished yet, but it'll have a twist to it. Can you figure out what it'll be? :)

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The monitor revealed a healthy being, its' lifeline seeming neither short nor long. I gazed down at the little girl in my arms, snuggling closer to her. Her wails faultered as she curled her fingers together, blindlessly trying to find just where I was. A laugh escaped my throat, one so calm and carefree, that it almost surprised me. Her eyes remained closed and, when she registered my laughter, her expression turned into a rather fierce and determined one. I couldn't help but to smile at this miracle. She was suddenly lifted from my arms and taken into another room to be checked out. My husband squeezed my shoulders reassuringly and I met his piercing blue eyes, setting a hand on his own calloused ones.

My husband and I had been together for 10 whole years and married for about 4. We met in High School - I a Freshman and he a Junior - and one event lead to another. Of course, not everything had been all perfect and happy, we had our share of fights, but they were usually nothing major. Our determination and passion was what kept us both alive. Not only passion for each other, but God Himself. We had gone to the First Church of God for the first year of being together, but nothing seemed to work out, so we headed off to find a Church really full of God. One that kept His spirit alive and well.

We stumbled across a specific Church here in Morrow, Georgia; Faith Christian Church. It was a pretty small Church, but it wasn't the size that we were worried about. Every one of the members were genuine and loved the Lord with all of their hearts. When we finally decided to make it our home, they all had congratulated us and introduced us to whomever we might have missed before.

Peter - my husband - was originally from Nashville, Tennessee, but had moved down to Chicago - where I was born - because of his fathers' employment. I had lived in Chicago all of my life, but I wanted to go out of the boundaries. Trapped inside my parents house for 18 whole years, I wasn't allowed to. Having Peter not only gave me the excuse, but also gave me the chance. Now, Atlanta was our home sweet home. While I was occupied being the Youth Minister at our Church, Peter was a Salesman.

He could be pretty persuasive and convincing and I just had a talent for taking care of kids. I would give my life away to save a mere baby left out in the cold. All of the teens in my group came to me for advice and motivation, and God would give me just the right words to say to speak to their hearts. With a content smile, they would leave or carry on a casual conversation for the rest of the free time that they could.

I spent a few weeks planning out when I could either go to one of their houses or bring them all to mine and have each and every one of them doing things together. Slowly, we were all being brought together and sharing connections. When one fell, we were all there to lift them back up. Our teenagers were much different than the ones I saw out on the street either in Chicago, or even occasionally here, at times. The ones doing drug deals, ganging up on a single person, beating each other for the heck of it, backtalking their parents and using words that I would've got grounded for at least a year for. Our teenagers were there for each other and even there for others. They themselves were blessed by Gods' mercy and each had a gift of their own.

However, there always seemed to be one girl that chose to sat alone. She separated herself from not only me, but also the rest of the group. When I called on her to answer a question, she would simply shrug and look away. Still, none of us gave up hope. We invited her to youth rallies, movies and just a day full of relaxation and hanging out. She would either come and stay away from us or she'd make up an excuse and ignore us.

One day, I felt myself getting frustrated with her. I didn't understand why she was this way, nor what was wrong with her. God gave me a vision that night and my heart instantly softened. Her life at home wasn't the greatest. Laura, that was her name. Lauras' parents often would leave her alone and attend parties, beat her when they came back, kept her in the house to do nothing but chores and wouldn't go to the grocery store as often as a parent should. I even heard that she wouldn't accept food anymore, which had me worried. Slowly, however, I got her back in the habit of eating healthily and began working with her one-on-one. The others would either be outside or mingling with Peter while just the two of us talked everything out.

Laura began to become more outgoing and she would even offer to bring in what was needed for services and to preach to the others. I watched her progress into a beautiful, motivational young lady and couldn't help but wonder if this was what it was like to have a daughter. Soon enough, I surely found out that I was close. I could wrap my arms around her and pretend all I wanted to, I could be proud of her and encourage her all that I needed to, but she wasn't actually my daughter. Peter didn't necessarily tamper with things, but distanced himself from us if he saw that we were having a serious conversation. At times, he got jealous, beings as though I spent a lot of time with the kids and it was always hard to reassure him that he meant just as much to me as the teens did, but we made it through each time.

Sometimes, Peter would come home cranky, usually having a bad time associating with a customer or tired of hearing what the younger people gossiped about while he was around. I was proud of him for keeping his cool at work, but he did have a habit of losing it when he came home. Either way, we tried for what was best for the other and ended up deciding that it was finally time to start a family of our own. All of him was enough for me and all of me was enough for him, but we needed something more.

A child. A precious, marvelous child to bring laughter and more light to our world. For several months, we hoped and prayed that this was the right decision and finally witnessed one of the most beautiful babies that we had ever seen.

Grace. That was the name that I had picked out. It just came to my mind and I simply adored it. It had to be her name.