Page 1 of A Game-Changing Christmas

Chapter One

Pregnant.

Claudia Rose stared at the two blue lines as her heart skipped a beat. With her back sinking into the bathroom glass tile, Claudia’s hands covered her still flat belly.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, staring at her mocha brown reflection in the mirror in awe. “We’re going to have a baby.” Claudia’s mind shifted to Jaden Alexander Rose, her husband and soon to be father of her unborn child. With her mouth parted, a smirking smile tread across her full lips. “We’re going to be parents. I’m …” she paused, “going to be a mother.”

The realization tossed Claudia’s thoughts into disarray. Would she be any good at it? How was she going to have a whole baby? What if Claudia turned out loud, crazy, and spunky as she got older like her mother? Nervousness, fear, and heat swept over Claudia, just as the adulation, love, and tenderness she felt in her heart. It was too much at once, sending Claudia flying to the commode where she dropped down on all fours and regurgitated her breakfast. That wasn’t the first time Claudia found herself with a head in the toilet.

As a matter of fact, it was the fifth time. She’d counted, which is what prompted the pregnancy test that still rested in the clutch of her fingers.

A dizzy spell fell over Claudia, leaving her to sink from her knees to her hip as she slouched at the urinal. This was cause for an emergency, she thought.

As if speeding up from slow motion, Claudia sifted a hand inside the back pockets of her jeans and pulled her iPhone out, swiping frantically across the screen. Her fingers searched recent contacts for Jaden, but her finger paused as it hovered over his name.

What would he say? One thing she knew for certain, Jaden would adore her and be ecstatic about their pending arrival. He claimed to want twins a while ago, and just the thought of two lives growing inside Claudia made her fling her head back into the commode for another drawn out round of vomiting. She wheezed, then huffed and puffed, and tried to calm herself. But the erratic beat of her heart and the sweeping perspiration over her skin kept Claudia’s nerves in chaos. So why had she not gone through with the call?

Claudia swiped her finger, allowing the recent calls to scroll up the screen. She quickly pressed the display then pushed the phone against her ear.

It rang three times before being answered.

“Hey, girl, are you feeling better?”

With her free hand, Claudia rubbed her belly. “Samiyah, are you busy?”

Hearing the alarm in her friend’s voice, Samiyah Rose stood from her office chair and rounded the desk to close the door for more privacy.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. Can you meet me?”

“Sure, at your house?”

“No, no, somewhere else.”

“Okay, what about my place?”

“No.” Exasperated, Claudia dropped her head in her hand and sighed. “Let’s stop at Rumi Middle Eastern Grill on Milwaukee.”

“Okay—”

Samiyah’s voice was cut, then muffled as she spoke to someone in the background.

Claudia’s nerves were rattled, and she glanced down at the stick in her hand, willing her heartbeat to steady itself.

“Do you mind if Selena tags along?” Samiyah asked, coming back to the phone.

“No, I don’t. How long will it take you to get there?”

“This sounds like an emergency, so we’re closing early. It should only take about fifteen minutes, give or take.”

Claudia was nodding. “Okay.” She paused. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t close down. We need the business.”

Claudia, Samiyah, Selena, and their friend Octavia were the dynamic foursome that ran S & M Financial Advisors located downtown Chicago. They were also each married to a set of Chicago’s prominent renowned figures, the Rose Men. But today, Claudia left early after feeling ill following breakfast

“Our clients will be here. They may grumble a little, but they’re ours regardless.” Samiyah paused. “I mean, of course, unless this can wait.”

“No, meet met at Rumi’s.”

---