Too Little, Too Late
Read Too Little, Too Late Online
Authors: Victoria Christopher Murray
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Romance, #Religious
Victoria Christopher Murray
“Murray has always impressed me with her ability to live the life of her characters and make them come alive with each turning page.”
—Indianapolis Recorder
“Victoria is an exceptional writer who knows how to deliver a story.”
—Kimberla Lawson Roby, author of
Changing Faces
Praise for
The Ex Files
“A moving-on song in four part harmony.”
—Donna Grant and Virginia DeBerry, authors of
Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made
and
Gotta Keep on Tryin’
“My girl, Victoria Christopher Murray, has done it again! I love her work and this book will bless you, so read it.”
—Michele Andrea Bowen, author of
Church Folk, Second Sunday,
and
Holy Ghost Corner
“The lessons of growth, love and faith are what Victoria does best…. [An] excellent read.”
—Naleighna Kai,
Essence
best-selling author of
Every Woman Needs a Wife
“The engrossing transitions the women go through make compelling reading…. Murray’s vivid portrait of how faith can move mountains and heal relationships should inspire.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This is a book everyone can enjoy…and more important, this is a book that can reach out to the brokenhearted no matter who they are and where they are.”
—Book Bit (WTBF-AM)
“Reminds you of things that women will do if their hearts are broken…Once you pick this book up, you will not put it down.”
—UrbanReviews.com
“Murray does it again and definitely delivers a great story. This one will grip your heart.”
—APOOO Book Club
“Victoria Christopher Murray continues to confront real-life issues in her latest novel…. A heartfelt read.”
—AOL Black Voices
Praise for
A Sin and a Shame
“As with Murray’s previous novels,
A Sin and a Shame
is intriguing and well written. If you loved and hated Jasmine in
Temptation,
you’ll love and hate her again.”
—Indianapolis Recorder
“Victoria Christopher Murray at her best…A page-turner that I couldn’t put down as I was too eager to see what scandalous thing Jasmine would do next. And to watch Jasmine’s spiritual growth was a testament to Victoria’s talents. An engrossing tale of how God’s grace covers us all. I absolutely loved this book!”
—ReShonda Tate Billingsley,
Essence
best-selling author of
I Know I’ve Been Changed
“Riveting, emotionally charged and spiritually deep…What is admirable is the author’s ability to hold the reader in suspense until the very last paragraph of the novel!
A Sin and a Shame
is a must read…. Truly a story to be enjoyed and pondered upon!”
—RomanceInColor.com
Praise for
Grown Folks Business
“You know a book is good when you hate to see it come to an end.
Grown Folks Business
is a well-written novel about a faith-filled woman’s struggles to rebuild her shattered life—a novel that readers should widely embrace.”
—Cydney Rax, Book-Remarks.com
“Victoria Christopher Murray provides a richly detailed backdrop to a story of faith, hope and love in the face of betrayal sure to delight and challenge readers.”
—Jacquelin Thomas, author of
Soul Journey
and
Saved in the City
The Ex Files
A Sin and a Shame
Grown Folks Business
Truth Be Told
Temptation
Joy
Blessed Assurance (contributor)
 | Touchstone A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 |
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by Victoria Christopher Murray
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
TOUCHSTONE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-1374-5
ISBN-10: 1-4391-1374-2
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
http://www.SimonSays.com
To my sisters, Michele, LuCia, and Cecile.
Thank you for always reminding me that this author thing is just
what I do and not who I am.
JUNE
2006
“Made to Love Ya”
—
GERALD LEVERT
E
VEN WITH THE COLD METAL
of the gun’s barrel pressed hard against her temple, Jasmine’s feet would not move.
“I want you out of my house.”
Jasmine wanted to plead for her life. Beg for forgiveness and give him at least one hundred of the good reasons she had for telling her husband all of those lies. But her lips, like her feet, were frozen with fear.
“I said get out of my house.”
The venom in his voice turned her fear into fight. And she fought with her words. “Please, Hosea, please forgive me for not telling you the truth before. But I’ll tell you now; I’m forty-three, not thirty-eight.”
The gun cocked.
She dropped to her knees and cried. “And I didn’t tell you that I was married before because—”
Hosea pushed the metal into her skin.
“Please,” she begged more. “Please.”
He pulled the trigger.
Jasmine screamed. Shot up straight in bed, her skin dripping with the same sweat that drenched their satin sheets for the many nights that this nightmare invaded her sleep.
“Darlin’?”
She heard the calm of her husband’s voice, then felt the warmth of his arms. “Darlin’, it’s just a dream.” The kisses he planted on her forehead were meant to soothe, but that didn’t work.
“It’s all right, darlin’,” Hosea kept saying. “Just another one of those bad dreams.”
He’s wrong,
she thought as she settled back in bed.
This was not just a dream.
Even as the rhythm of Hosea’s sleep breathing returned, Jasmine’s eyes stayed wide open. She knew if she surrendered to unconsciousness, Hosea’s words would come back. And those words—far more than the gun—made fear rise like bile within her.
In her nightmare, Hosea was as cold as the gun he held. As cold as he’d been on the day, about eighteen months ago, when he’d
actually
told her he’d wanted nothing more to do with her—right after she revealed that he wasn’t the father of their daughter.
For the millionth time Jasmine wished that her lies had ended there. But they didn’t. And she knew if her secrets were uncovered her nightmare would turn into reality.
This dream was a sign, a warning—she was sure. She’d had it two or three times over the past year. But in the last two weeks, the ghost of her deceptive past haunted her with an almost daily vengeance.
She knew the reason why—it was because in ten days she and Hosea were renewing their vows.
“I want us to stand before God again,” Hosea had told her when he first came up with the idea. “I want us to recommit.”
Her eyes had widened with surprise. “Baby, don’t people wait until their tenth or twentieth anniversary to do that?”
“There’re no rules.” He’d embraced her. “What’s most important is the reason why. And with the way we started…” He’d stopped right there. Jasmine had closed her eyes and remembered the wonder of their first six months of marriage, and then the beautiful birth of their daughter. But when Jacqueline was barely twenty-four hours old, Hosea had walked away—from both her and the baby. Yet God’s grace had found its way to her through Hosea’s heart.
“I forgive you” was all Hosea said when he came back to her. He’d held her and Jacqueline and explained that it was God who had put them together, so they were divinely obligated to work through whatever challenges they had.
From that day, he’d loved her, claimed Jacqueline as his own, and together they’d lived in matrimonial bliss. But in the middle of her heaven, she wallowed in hell, terrified that one day the rest of her lies would be revealed.
Now, the fact that Hosea wanted to renew their vows so that they could start afresh made her tremble in terror. How could she stand before God—again—and pretend that all was well?
I’ve got to find a way to tell Hosea.
But even as her spirit longed to stop the lies, she didn’t have the faith—or the guts—to tell the truth. It was too risky; she could lose Hosea, this time for good. No, she couldn’t take that chance. Her secrets would have to stay tucked away in the dark, and she’d just pray that they never came to light.