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!”

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without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Published in the United States by
LaChrisAnd Productions
PO Box 354
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
www.lachrisandproductions.com

“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.

“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 first 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.”

“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.