Love, Honor or Stray:
New Day Divas Series Book Three
E.N. Joy
Dedication
Giving much honor and love to my Father in Heaven.
I will not stray from His word.
Acknowledgment
For my editor, Kevin. I thank you for your keen eye and style of writing. I thank you even more for sharing it with me so that I can become a better writer with each and every book. And thank you for not chewing me out for making the same repeated mistakes book after book (the long sentences… I don’t know why I try to write how I talk, trying to say everything in one breath). I thank you for following the dramatic lives of my characters for the past three books. I can honestly say that these women would not be the divas that they are without your input. Behind every good diva is a good man; and for the New Day Divas, that man is you, Kevin.
Other Books by this Author
Me, Myself and Him
She Who Finds a Husband
Been There, Prayed That
Contents
Acknowledgment
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Readers’ Group Guide Questions
About the Author
Trying to Stay Saved
Chapter One
“Eleven-seventy-seven Covenant Park,” Deborah said to herself as she stared down at the address on the printed e-mail.
She sat in her car parked in front of the residential address that she had assumed would be an office building of some sort. “But I’m almost certain it said to meet him at his office.” Deborah shuffled around the trail of back and forth e-mails she had accumulated with Mr. Born, a.k.a. [email protected].
Since returning from her three-month sabbatical a couple of weeks ago, it seemed as though Deborah had done nothing but sit in front of her computer checking e-mails. She’d spent Christmas and New Year’s checking e-mails. And when she wasn’t checking e-mails, she was checking voice mail messages. While away, she hadn’t used her cell phone or e-mail. She had cut off all communication with everybody; that is with the exception of God. Her pastor of New Day Temple of Faith was the only person who knew how to get in touch with her in case of an emergency. There had been no emergencies.
Upon returning home, she was greeted with a cell phone with a full voice mail box. Even though the voice mail greeting informed callers that she would be unavailable until December, many had opted to leave messages anyway. Then there were the gazillion e-mails that needed her attention. She had no idea that many messages could be stored. AOL wasn’t playing when they said “unlimited e-mail storage.”
The Deborah three months ago, along with the average person, would have lost her mind had she had to deal with such a tedious task. But the new refreshed, cleansed, and restored Deborah wasn’t fazed by the workload that awaited her. In order to clear out her voice mail box, she had given her voice mail messages her immediate attention. With a notepad in hand, she’d listened to every single message, writing down the caller’s name, subject matter of their message, and return contact info. She then went down the list and returned each call that required feedback. This had taken her almost a week alone. The e-mails were another story. She was still working on those, although she’d managed to acknowledge a good chunk of them. Mr. Born was among the chunk.
After several e-mails back and forth, it typically taking Deborah a day or two to respond to him, they’d decided to meet up. Mr. Born was interested in Deborah doing some literary consultation with him and several people he knew who were interested in self-publishing. He’d written in one of his e-mails that he, along with three others in an online writing group he belonged to, decided that they wanted to self-publish their books. They’d concluded that with the economy not being on the up and up, and major publishers not giving out book deals like they used to, self-publishing might be the better route for them to go for now. Deborah’s name and Web site had been posted to the group as someone who could possibly assist them. After doing their research and choosing Mr. Born as the ring leader, Deborah was contacted.
As the owner and only employee of Everything Literary, Deborah loved the different hats she wore. For the four years her own literary agency had been in existence, out of editing, literary consulting, and agenting, Deborah adored consulting the most. She loved taking her clients step by step, from just being a writer to being a published author. She, too, had started off wanting to be a published author. She’d written the book and everything; but God had other plans for her. Still, she wasn’t giving up completely on the idea of maybe one day being published herself. Who knows? Maybe God still had plans for that two hundred and seventy page manuscript of hers. For now, her mission was to help others reach that status, and it included Mr. Born. Through Mr. Born’s e-mails, she could feel the same drive, passion, and determination she’d started out with after penning her novel. She couldn’t wait to use him as her muse.
The plan was that since Mr. Born and his friends were scattered about the map, with him being local, she’d do some one on one consulting with Mr. Born, who would then pass on the information to the others. They’d all do some conference calls and online chats here and there, but the majority of the instructions