Grace

And then it got worse.

After the first of the year, the company I'd been working for gave me a choice. I could take a manager's position in another state or I could accept a layoff. I did neither. I tendered my resignation, and found a job working the floor for a large retail store.

It was a significant comedown from a manager's position, and I made quite a bit less than I had before. Basically, it was like starting over in my career, but it was easy work and the hours suited me, because they allowed me to be home in the evenings with my children.

I rented a small house and we moved out of my parents' house. It was in a fairly low-rent neighborhood, and there wasn't much to call it home.

All in all, that winter of 1992 was the lowest point of my life. The only good thing about it was that I resisted the siren call of drugs and alcohol. After seeing Elise's self-destruction, I knew better than to go that route, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ever tempted.

Then an angel crossed my path for the second time.

It was on a Saturday, I was in the grocery store with the kids, and they were being a handful. By this time they were 8, 6 and 5, and while they were good kids, they were kids.

I was fussing with Robert, who was really acting out, when I heard a voice from behind me.

"Steve? Steve Moreland?" I heard. I turned to see Grace coming over to where we were. We hugged in greeting, and then she dropped down and greeted all three of the children by name.

I was amazed. She'd only met them once or twice, and yet she knew their names and how old they were. That was the first time I saw just how gifted she was with children, because they calmed right down.

We chatted, and she seemed real concerned about how I was doing. Then we sort of looked up at the same time and our eyes locked. It was just for a moment, but I think in that one moment we knew the spark was there.

"Look, would you like to go to dinner some time?" I said hesitantly. "Hell, I owe you for all the care you showed me when I was hospitalized."

"Steve, I was just doing my job," Grace said. "But... I have to say it was a pleasure. And I'd love to go out with you. You have any plans for tonight?"

I just stared at her. Later, when I got to know her better, I'd learn that was her way. She's very direct, and she knows how to cut to the chase without going through a bunch of bullshit.

Anyway, we exchanged phone numbers then she gave me a little kiss on the cheek. It was nothing, really, but it sent goose bumps all over my body. And my little Allison picked up on it right away. As we were finishing our shopping, she just blurted it out.

"Is she going to be our new mommy?" she asked me.

"Oh, I don't know, sweetheart," I said. "It's way too early to say. Why? Would you like for her to be your new mommy."

"Oh yes!" she said happily.

"What about you guys?" I asked Mary and Robert. "You think you could accept Miss Grace as your new mommy?"

"Sure, Dad," Robert said. "She's pretty neat."

"We'll seen, then," I laughed. "But it's awfully early, and she may have something to say about it."

"But you do like her, don't you, Daddy?" Mary said in her typical quiet, introspective voice.

"Yeah, I do," I said. "But, like I said, we've got a long way to go before we get to that point."

That night, I took Grace to a steak house, nothing fancy, but a place with a good atmosphere and good food.

And I learned that she was everything Elise was not. I can't say she's perfect, because she does have her moments, but I've never met anyone with a sunnier disposition, never been around someone who has such a positive outlook on life.

With Elise, doom and gloom were right around every corner, and she spent endless amounts of energy worrying about things she had no control over, things that were over and done. She was so filled with regret and remorse that it always tended to drag me down.

With Grace, every day is a new opportunity. She is a forward-looking person, a planner, someone who is well-organized, and she never wastes a minute worrying about the past. Once the day is over, she puts it behind her, and only refers to it if she absolutely must.

It didn't take long before we knew we were falling fast in love. After we'd been dating about six weeks, I took her to meet my family, and they were very impressed. My father, in fact, took one look at her and told me to do whatever I needed to do to keep her.

The kids, of course, fell in love with Grace almost as quickly as I did, and she fell right into the surrogate mother role.

As the summer progressed, we started getting intimate, but we both shied away from sex, at least initially. After my experience with Elise, I was afraid of letting myself go with a woman, afraid to let my feelings loose. And she was simply not someone who engaged in casual sex.

"When I make love with you, I want it to be the sealing of a bond of love," she told me one night as we were sitting on the sofa in my house after she'd come over for dinner, the way she had been for months. It was mid-November, and we were starting to talk vaguely about a life together.

"I love you, Steve, but I don't want you to do this until you're ready, until we're both ready for this to be a long-term commitment," she went on. "I gave my virginity away a long time ago, in college, to a guy I thought I was in love with, and he broke my heart. Since then, I've waited for the right man. I think you're that man. But until you're ready to take that last step, to walk in faith with me, then it's not going to happen."

"God, Grace, I do want you so badly, but you don't know how good it makes me feel to hear you say that," I said. "After what I went through with Elise, to hear a woman equate sex with love is music to my ears."

"Soon, my love," she whispered, then she kissed me slowly and deeply.

A week or so later, I went to my mother and told her I was going to ask Grace to marry me, and she did something she'd never done for Elise, I guess because of the forced nature of our marriage.

She went to her bedroom, to her jewelry box and pulled out her old engagement ring. She handed it to me with tears in her eyes.

"Give this to her, with my blessing," she said. "It's not a big fancy diamond, just a small stone in a common setting. But I have a feeling with her it will mean far more than some shiny new bauble that'll cost you an arm and a leg. There's an awful lot of love in this ring, and I want her to have it. She's the best thing that's ever happened to you, and I want her to know it."

I decided to wait until Christmas Eve to make my pitch. I had decided that we'd do Santa Claus at my folks' house, where they would have their stuff with their cousins and grandparents. And, too, I wanted to be alone with Grace that night.

I picked her up at the hospital after I got off work, then went to my folks to pick up the kids for Christmas Eve service at the church where Grace had long been a member, and where I'd started going. Grace sang in the choir, and I stared lovingly in her eyes as they sang.

Later, we managed to get the kids down -- it wasn't easy -- then set out the Santa gifts. Once that was done, I told my folks that we were going back to my house, and I winked at my mom, communicating my plans non-verbally.

I turned on the lights on the Christmas tree and put some holiday tunes on the stereo, then we sat down on the sofa together, and I eased the box from where I'd hidden it in the cushions.

"Grace, I have a special Christmas gift for you, and I want you to open it now," I said softly.

I handed the box to her, and when she opened it, her eyes got wide and her mouth fell open in delighted surprise.

"Grace, will you marry me?" I said. "Please?"

Her answer was to smother me with kisses.

Our hands were roaming all over each other, and this time we didn't stop when we got to the private places. I could feel my cock swelling in anticipation, and I could feel the heat radiating from the juncture of Grace's legs.

Our time had arrived.

I gently eased the sweater over her head and feasted my eyes on her chest, with the thin white bra covering her tiny tits. I cupped each one of her breasts and reveled in the soft moan that escaped her lips.

"God, I've wanted this for so long," she whispered. "Love me, Steve, please?"

"Believe me, I've wanted it just as long," I said. "Longer, really."

She stood up then, reached around her back and unhooked the bra. Honestly, she doesn't really need a bra, but she wears one anyway for modesty's sake. After Elise, that was a refreshing change of pace.

But Grace was about to show me that she did have a carnal side. She stood in front of me swaying seductively as she shimmied out of her slacks. Then she stepped out of the black pool of material on the floor.

I drank in the sight of her as she reached down and pulled me up from the sofa. We kissed again, hot and hard and I softly caressed her smooth ivory skin with my hands, then slid them down to squeeze her butt, which was encased in a pair of white bikini-cut panties.

Slowly, Grace unbuttoned my shirt, tossed it aside and pulled my T-shirt over my head. Her fingers softly traced lines and circles over my chest, and I could feel my lust pounding in my groin.

"Let's take this to the bedroom," I whispered in a husky voice.

"Let's," Grace said, and as she did she gave me that enigmatic smile that just drives me wild.

As I finished undressing, Grace pulled the covers down and lay back, with her upper torso propped up on her elbows. When she saw my rock-hard cock bouncing free, I swear I saw her eyes light up in desire.

She still had on her panties, and as I crawled on the bed between her legs, I reached under her butt and slid them off her long, smooth legs.

Then I gazed in wonder at the pretty pussy that lay open for me. I could see the ripple of her slender body as she sort undulated on the bed, her mounting lust plain to see. And I hadn't really even touched her yet. But that was about to change.

I slid two fingers between the dewy labia, and it was like slicing open a ripe fruit; the moisture of her arousal just flowed over my fingers, and I heard a hiss of satisfaction from Grace's mouth.

Grace's pussy was framed by a moderately thick carpet of pubic hair. It was a full bush that didn't appear to have been trimmed much. And, I have to say, I liked it that way. Some men prefer shaved pussies, but not me. I like a lush playground, and Grace has a very verdant space between her legs.

I just kept working my fingers between her lips, then suddenly I plunged two fingers into her box and was rewarded by a gasp of passion.

"Oh, God! Steve!" Grace panted.

I had to fight off the urge to just ram my hard cock in my lover's quim and fuck the utter dogfoo out of her. I don't think she'd have minded, but it had been so long since I'd had sex with a woman that I wanted to savor the moment, enjoy all the little things I'd missed since Elise started stepping out on me.

One of those things was a taste of hot pussy, and after finger-fucking Grace for a minute or so, I bent down and clamped my mouth on her crotch and slid my tongue right up her furrow.

"Aiiie! Geez!" she wailed as I worked my mouth like a demon on her steaming box.

Grace was writhing on the bed in rapidly mounting passion, her climax soaring to a peak. As I used my lips, my tongue, my fingers, hell, even my nose (don't laugh, you'd have done it too) on Grace's twitching pussy, I could feel my cock trying to bore a hole in my bed.

Just about the time I felt her back arch and her pussy explode in orgasm, I pulled my mouth away, got up between her legs and slid my cock in all the way to the hilt, in one awesome plunge.

It was like sinking my cock into a wet, velvet glove, and I immediately set up a hard pace, while I leaned in and took my woman -- MY true woman -- in the circle of my arms. Our kisses were feverish as we worked as one.

Then Grace couldn't keep the connection of our mouths any longer. She had to throw her head back and gasp out her lust, her utter appreciation for what we were giving each other.

This wasn't just sex. No sir, this was true lovemaking, between a man and a woman whose minds were totally in harmony.

I wish I could say it lasted forever. In reality, it probably only took five minute, if that. But in those five minutes, Grace and I sealed our love once and for all.

We'd waited until the absolute right moment, until we knew without a shadow of a doubt that we were meant for each other, and when we finally consummated our love, it was totally perfect.

"Are... you... ready?" I asked, panting as I fought off my incipient orgasm.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Grace squealed. "Give it to me. Give me all of your love."

Clutching onto Grace's sweat-covered body, I let it go. I felt all of the long months of bitterness, remorse, recrimination explode out of me in one long burst of cum, and I could feel Grace's body quivering in her own climax.

I gasped and cried out loudly as the sharp jets of semen shot from my cock, bathing my love's tight, clenching hole with the fruits of my passion.

For long, seemingly endless, minutes, I squeezed out little aftershocks of cum, until I finally emptied myself of everything I had to give. Then I slumped onto Grace's body in rapt satisfaction.

I stared into her eyes, and she stared back, the feelings flowing wordlessly between us. At last, I let my cock slide from her dilated pussy and I rolled onto my back, gathering Grace in my arms as I did.

"Merry Christmas, my love," she whispered.

"Merry Christmas to you, Love," I answered back.

Grace and I were married in our church in mid-March, and we've enjoyed almost 14 years now of wedded bliss. My children soon became hers -- at least in her heart, at first -- and they took to their new mommy like ducks to water.

There have only been two dark clouds on our life together since then.

One is the fact that Grace was unable to give me a child of her own. We tried like the dickens, and we finally learned that there was a problem with her uterus. Typically, Grace never dwelled on her misfortune and concentrated on helping me raise the children we had.

The second came after we'd been married about six years. I got a call out of the blue from Elise, and she told me that she'd contracted HIV several years earlier and now she was dying of AIDS.

She'd gotten out of prison after three-plus years, and wound up on the street, turning tricks. She was in a hospice and wanted to see her children before she passed.

I dreaded the visit, but oddly enough, Elise had made peace with herself and with me. She no longer blamed me for all of the bad things that had happened to her over the course of her life.

She forgave me for the mistakes I'd made during our marriage and I forgave her for the hell she put me through in the process of our divorce. After meeting with the kids, she asked to speak to Grace alone, and when she came out Grace was in tears.

Later, as we were driving home, she told me a little of what they'd talked about.

"She told me not to let you go," she said. "She told me the worst mistake she ever made was not listening to you when you offered to look past her misdeeds and save the marriage. You gave her a chance, and she knows she blew it by turning her back on you. I think that's why she was so bitter about the divorce."

The last thing Elise did before she died was consent for Grace to adopt the children. She'd resisted it through all of her hard, bitter years after the divorce, but in the end she did the right thing and gave the love of my life the opportunity to truly be a mother.

With Grace by my side, I quickly got back into management, and rose into the ranks of the corporate office. I'm a regional director for the company I work for and I've done well.

Grace is still a nurse, working in pediatrics, an area where her special gifts are most needed. Sometimes the cases she deals with break her heart and others inflame her outrage (she does have a temper, although she keeps it well hidden).

Mary was so taken with her stepmother that she chose to follow in her footsteps and pursue a career in nursing.

Robert is still in college, and joined the Army National Guard right out of high school. I worry that the longer the war in Iraq drags on that he may be called up, but that's his choice, and I support him all the way.

Likewise, Allison is in college, with an eye toward becoming a teacher.

It's been a satisfying life, one I don't think I'd have had if Grace hadn't come into my life when she did.

^ ^ ^

Santa Claus is all set out, and Grace sits on the sofa next to me, curling up into the comfort of my arms. Bing Crosby softly croons "White Christmas" from the stereo, and we gaze into the slowly banking fire as I take a final sip of my glass and set it on the coffee table.

Tomorrow, there will be laughter and excitement as my family shares the gifts we've all gotten for each other. We'll tear open the packages, marvel at the thought that went into each gift, then we'll congregate in the kitchen as we prepare the holiday feast. It will be a joyous time, as always.

But tonight, in the quiet of the Christmas Eve night, I enjoy the greatest gift I've ever gotten, the one that keeps on giving. Tonight, I bask in the soft glow from the love and devotion of a good woman, and in the corresponding love and commitment I've been able to show her over time.

Grace is another word for elegance and an unearned gift from God, and that's certainly what my Grace means to me.