December excerpt

Coming April 2011....Cinderella had a prince; Karyn has a King

CHAPTER 2 EXCERPT
“You stalked the woman?” Rossi Tolliver asked incredulously over the phone. “Have you lost your mind? There are laws against that…” He rattled on, advising Levi of the repercussions.
Annoyed with his cousin’s scolding, Levi gritted his teeth and huffed. Although his intentions were genuine, leave it to Rossi to overreact. What was stalking anyway—a misdemeanor? “Call it what you want, but it was for her protection.”
Satisfied with his own explanation, Levi finger combed the fine hairs of his mustache. At thirty-one, Levi had retired his thrill-seeker fixes the day after he hit twenty years old.
After the death of his wife, it was the counsel and prayers of Rossi, who was a youth minister, had cushioned the blows to Levi’s distraught spirit. Levi thought back to the day forty-eight months ago that changed his life forever. Some might have considered his questions juvenile, but his state of mind at the time was anything but logical.
“Is it okay to be angry with God? Does that make me less of a Christian?” Levi braced himself, fearing the answer. When Rossi didn’t comment, Levi rambled on. “The Lord allowed the devil to steal the most important person in my life. He allowed it to happen.” It was a bold accusation.
Levi had sniffed as they sat in matching chairs, facing each other in the bedroom Levi had shared with Diane. It was the night—a nightmarish day—before her funeral. A closed door separated the cousins from the crowd of comforters who did everything but console. Laughing and eating mocked the sad occasion.
Nodding, Rossi clasped his hands. His weary expression was a reflection of Levi’s. “God has grace for all emotions, but in the end, God is God, and He doesn’t make any mistakes.
“Whatever you do, don’t sin against God, man. Our thoughts aren’t God’s thoughts, so we’ll have to wait until we get to the Holy City for answers. Maybe then the Lord will explain all this to us.” Rossi swept his arm in the air for dramatics. “Remember, God never takes anything away without replacing what you lost. Our hope is to believe Psalm 115:16: Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”
Levi didn’t know what he had expected from Rossi, but yet again, Levi wasn’t finding any comfort. “Look, man, I’ve got a little girl in there—” He paused, pointing an unsteady finger at the door—“who is two months old. Dori won’t have a mother when she begins to talk, walk, or take snapshots at her first birthday party. She’ll never know Diane…”