My Winning Season

John D. McCray

Description

Felecia Jones has been a hardworking mother to support her special needs daughter, Kayla. Felicia has always gone the extra mile for Kayla to take up the slack for her absentee father, Keith. Keith has always been estranged from his daughter, ashamed of her disability, and she feels she doesn’t fit in his already perfect little family. Keith thinks that just paying his child support is all that is required of him.
Kayla is desperate to have a place in her father’s life, but Keith’s perfect little world doesn’t include her. Keith thinks he’ll never need Kayla, but tragedy suddenly occurs, and the only person who can help is the one person he doesn’t want around. Will Kayla show love and be there for her father, or will she walk away and give him a dose of his own medicine? Keith will soon discover what goes around comes around, and love will always win in the end.

Sujets

• América
• American
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 11 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664176607
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

My Winning Season
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
John D. McCray
 
Copyright © 2023 by John D. McCray.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022922871
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6641-7662-1

Softcover
978-1-6641-7661-4

eBook
978-1-6641-7660-7
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 12/09/2022
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
830926
Contents
Dedication
Introduction   Sixteen Years Ago
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Dedication
First and foremost, I would like to thank God for blessing me with my special talent to be able to write my third book. I would like to thank my mom and dad for always encouraging me to do my best in whatever I do and my siblings, Lamont, Brian, Shakelia, Tyra, and Leana, for their support. I would also like to thank my friends Erica Capers, Matthew Collins, Johnasia, and Misa Griffin, as well as two of my closest friends who had went on to glory, Lee Pickens and Tyrone Fogle, who were both my bigger supporters. Last but not least, i would like to thank my grandparents who are no longer here, the late John and Daisy Carraway and Richard and Ida Mae McCray. Thank you all for your love through the years.
Introduction SIXTEEN YEARS AGO
I glanced at my watch and saw it was four o’clock in the afternoon. I asked Keith to meet me here at Finlay Park in downtown Columbia. I love this park, and besides, it’s only fifteen minutes from my house and ten minutes from my job.
I couldn’t help but take in the fresh flower scent that the breeze brought in. I love springtime in the beginning of April. Anytime later it seems like the sun starts to burn your skin. The children were out for spring break, and I was preparing to graduate from high school at the end of May. Most of my classmates were ready to get out in the real world of the workforce or prepare for college. Most of them were talking about different sororities and fraternities they wanted to join, but not me. I was preparing myself for motherhood at eighteen years old.
I knew something was wrong when I was a few months late with my monthly cycle and then it didn’t come on at all. I asked my best friend Kendra to go with me to the community health clinic about a month ago. I’ll never forget when the doctor came out to confirm my suspicion that I was indeed pregnant. The doctor told me I was two and half months pregnant. I think I cried the entire ride home on the bus. Kendra is a great friend, but not the most supportive person when you need her to be. She told me it was too late to be crying now. I looked at her like I could knock her head off. She smiled and told me not to get mad at her; she wasn’t the one who got me in my situation.
Kendra’s words were definitely true, but it just wasn’t something I needed to hear at that time. I felt like my entire world had just ended right before my very eyes.
I went home and told my parents and family about my situation. My mom tried not to fuss and yell too much, but I could see the hurt in her eyes when she looked at me. She told me I knew what I had to do, but she would help me the best she could. My father, on the other hand, didn’t say a word to me; he just walked off into their bedroom.
I tried several times to talk to him, but he just put up his index finger and told me to give him some time so he could calm down because he didn’t want to say the wrong thing to me. My parents had always had such high hopes for me growing up, especially with me being the only daughter and the youngest of their three children. My two brothers, Ronald and Dwayne, told me they would help as much as they could as well. Something about my family that most people wouldn’t understand was that we might get angry enough to want to hit one another, but we would all chip in to help each other the best way we could.
I quickly reflected back to reality, when I happened to look over my shoulders and saw Keith walking towards me. I stood up and waved my hand so he would see me. He waved back, and I sat back down on the bench. I watched as Keith walked his bowlegged self toward me, feeling disgusted. If someone had told me that Keith was a liar and a cheater, based on his looks, I swear I wouldn’t believe them. Keith and I first met when I was at work, stocking my shelves at Kmart. He asked if I could please help him find some lotion and perfume for his mom. He told me it was her birthday. I later found out that it was actually a gift for his pregnant wife. His wife, Lydia, is pregnant with their son, and they have a four-year-old daughter as well.
I never knew he was married because he was always around. We constantly went out to dinner, movies, and bowling. I later found out that his wife worked for American Airlines, so she was constantly out of town and traveling, which was why he was able to spend as much time with me as he wanted to.
Keith finally stood across me and had the audacity to extend out his arms toward me like I was really going to give his lying behind a hug. With the look I gave him, he quickly put his arms back down, knowing a hug wasn’t about to happen. “I see you’re still angry with me, which you have every right to be. I want to tell you again, even though I know it won’t help, but I’m very sorry for how I treated you, Felecia,” Keith said, dropping his head.
He actually could have fooled me to make me think his apology was sincere and genuine, but I know this fool doesn’t know what the truth is if it were to slap him in the face. I wish I could go back and erase the day when Keith walked in Kmart and saw me working. Why couldn’t I have been anywhere else but there? Maybe even off, lounging on my couch and watching Law & O rder .
I sat down on the bench, and Keith sat next to me. “So what pleasure do I owe you for calling me, wanting me to meet you here at this park? I mean, if you wanted to see me, all you had to do was say so,” Keith said, grinning from ear to ear. I bet I can make that stupid smile vanish off that smug little face of his without even a blink , I thought to myself. “I’m pregnant!” I blurted out without holding my tongue. Keith’s mouth dropped, and his eyes stretched so big, I just knew in a matter of seconds they would pop out his head. “What did you say?” Keith asked. “You heard me the first time. I said I’m pregnant,” I replied, even more stern than the first time I blurted it out. “Pregnant? How in the world did that happen?” Keith asked like he had no idea how it happened. “Well, if you don’t know by now, I sure don’t know what to tell you then,” I said with a smile on my face. “What are you planning on doing about this?” Keith asked. “Well, me having an abortion is not an option. I’m having this baby,” I said.
Keith jumped up from sitting on the bench across me. “Felecia, what in the world am I going to do with three children, two unborn children!” Keith demanded. “Well, that might be something you should’ve considered before you approached me in Kmart to help you. Something you should have considered before you asked me for my phone number and to take me out on a date, knowing you had a wife, a daughter, and a son on the way. Well, Keith, I sure hope you figure out something quickly and fast because whether or not you do, I’m having our baby,” I said.
Keith looked at me, and if looks could kill, my pulse would have stopped like twenty minutes ago. “I’m leaving, Felecia. Please don’t let your decision be because you’re still angry and you just want to see me suffer,” Keith said. “Boy, bye. I’m not giving you that much power to think you’re controlling anything in my life,” I said, rolling my eyes.
I watched Keith walk to his car, with his head dropped down like he lost his best friend. “I know I might have been a little nasty due to how he used and treated me, but I have to make the decision that’s best for me and my baby,” I said, rubbing my stomach.
Chapter 1
I just got in from my part-time job and stretched out on the couch. Kayla’s birthday is today. I can’t believe my baby is sixteen years old today. Kendra, my best friend, took Kayla out for dinner to celebrate, which was good since I ended up getting off much later than I expected to.
I grabbed the remote off the c