title: What God Brings Together: A Christmas Wedding: Novella (Promises from Above)
author:  Melissa Wardwell 
description: Melissa resides in a small mid-Michigan farm community with her husband and three children, all of whom they home school. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, taking photos, and motorcycle rides with her husband. Her hope is that each story touches your heart, gives you hope, or just gives you a moment away from the chaos of life.
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  A Classic Alpha for
  
  
  Christmas
  
  
    
  
  
  by Shani Greene-Dowdell
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  
    
  Astalia
  
  
  
  
  
  A December Wedding
  
  
  
  
  
  December 7, 2019
  
  
  
  
  
  “Now, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the
  pastor says, officially joining my cousin and her new husband’s lives together
  forever. My mother, who is sitting next to me, chooses that moment to rub her
  finger over her wedding band. Mom then reaches over to take my hand into hers,
  and a tender moment passes between us as she looks into my eyes.
  
  
  I know this reflective gaze, have come to know it very well over the past six
  months. The agony of losing my father has become a part of her, a part of us.
  This pain is always somewhere lurking in my mother’s eyes. I never know when
  it will manifest and bring us both to tears. Watching Rena on her wedding day
  has sent a freefall of tears to Mom’s timeworn gray eyes. The permanent hurt
  she has tried to mask with smiles, make