Guilt Trip
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7. Did Ace deserve a second chance?
8. Which character in the book did you most identify with? Why?
9. Have you had a chance to research your family genealogy? Do you plan to?
10. Discuss the pastors topic: “Thinking You’ve Got It Right, and in the End, Finding Out You Had It All Wrong.”
Please visit www.patsimmons.net or email me at pat@patsimmons.net
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pat Simmons considers herself a self-proclaimed genealogy sleuth. She is passionate about researching her ancestors, then casting them in starring roles in her novels. She has been a genealogy enthusiast since her great-grandmother died at the young age of ninety-seven years old. She enjoys weaving African American history into local history.
Pat describes her Christian walk as an amazing, unforgettable, life-alternating experience. She is a baptized believer who is always willing to share her testimonies about God’s goodness and gifts. She believes God is the true Author who advances her stories.
Pat has a B.S. in mass communications from Emerson College in Boston, MA. She has worked in various media positions in radio, television, and print for more than twenty years. Currently, she oversees the media publicity for the annual RT Booklovers Conventions. She has been a guest on several media outlets, including radio, television, newspapers, and blog radio.
She is the award-winning author of Talk to Me, ranked #14 of Top Books in 2008 That Changed Lives by Black Pearls Magazine; she also received the Katherine D. Jones Award for Grace and Humility from the Romance Slam Jam committee in 2008. Pat is best known for her Guilty series: Guilty of Love, Not Guilty of Love, and Still Guilty, which was voted the Best Inspirational Romance for 2010 by the RSJ committee. Her newest release, Crowning Glory, has received rave reviews and was noted as the Best Christian Fiction for 2011 by O.O.S.A Online Book club. Her fans are eagerly awaiting the next books in the Guilty series: Guilty by Association, The Guilt Trip, and Free from Guilt in 2012.
Pat Simmons has converted her sofa-strapped, sports-fanatical husband into an amateur travel agent, untrained bodyguard, and GPS-guided chauffeur. They have a son and daughter.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“Jesus, I’ll never forget what You’ve done for me.”
I am so glad for the continuous support of numerous book clubs across the country, including my Guilty captains: readers, church members, including First Lady of Bethesda Temple in St. Louis, Missouri, Sister Juana Johnson, who has been a fan since book one. Thank you, Bishop Johnson, for preaching and teaching the Word of God with no compromises. God Bless you!
My family, as well as the descendants of Coles, Browns, Carters, Wilkerson/Wilkinsons, Jamiesons, Brownlees, Wades, Jordans, Palmers, Lamberts, Thomases … and in-laws: Simmons, Sinkfields, Crofts, Sturdivants, Stricklands, Downers …
To my wonderful agent, Amanda Luedeke, with the MacGregor Literary Agency. You have been a blessing to me! It’s your birthday.
The Jamieson Legacy is brought to readers by Acquisition Editor Cynthia Ballenger; without her enthusiasm, the legacy of the Jamieson men would not have continued. I praise God for the staff at Life Every Voice Books/Moody Publishers for the opportunity to tell this story. May God bless you! Special thanks to freelance editor Chandra Sparks Taylor who has helped get me to this point in my career. Much love!!!!
Thanks for sister-girls/fellow writers Lisa Watson and Vanessa Miller. Who else is willing to pitch in when I have to meet deadlines?
Finally, I thank God for a good husband, Kerry Simmons, and my son and daughter.
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good:
for his mercy endureth for ever. —Psalm 107:1 KJV
If you want to know about my connection with the Jamison/Jemison slaveholders, please visit my website at www.patsimmons.net and click on the genealogy table. Or visit my blog and leave comments at talkgenealogy.blogspot.com.
EXCERPT FROM FREE OF GUILT
Prologue
Three months later …
Cameron Daniel Jamieson wasn’t going down like his brothers and cousins. No woman in the world would get him to a prayer altar as a prerequisite to the wedding altar.
As he looked around the room, the common thread among the men was their wives. The culprits all dug their stilettos into the ground, refusing a diamond ring unless their Jamieson man humbled himself to Christ. How ridiculous. That’s exactly what happened to Parke, Malcolm, Kidd, and now Ace.
Ace and Talise were moments away from renewing their wedding vows in an elaborate ceremony. They were married two months earlier and three weeks before their precious daughter, Lauren, was born. It was a happy ending to their tumultuous courtship.
Talise had two stipulations to her holdout. She did not want to be pregnant in a wedding dress, and her sister serving in the Persian Gulf, Sinclaire, had to be present. Women and their demands. Still, Cameron took the credit for introducing them.
The photographer knocked before walking in, ready to take snapshots. Cameron slipped on his tuxedo as his oldest brother, Parke, fought with his three-year-old son.
“Paden, be still, so Daddy can get this bowtie right,” Parke demanded to no avail. The boy twisted his mouth, body, and feet in order to get a look at his cousin. The three-year-old was bouncing off furniture in the church’s dressing room.
“M. J., sit down, or I will tie you down,” Malcolm ordered his son from his perch in the corner. The boy froze immediately.
“Oh, the joys of parenthood.” Cameron couldn’t help but laugh at his nephews. The little Jamiesons were double trouble in the same room. Oddly the groom was pacing the floor like a nervous wreck.
“Chill, dude. You’re already married. It’s not like Talise is going to leave you standing at the altar,” Cameron taunted his cousin, who was also like a brother to him.
“Today is all about Tay. You have no idea how important this is to my baby,” Ace said as he posed, staring down at Talise’s wedding band that he cupped in the palm of his hand.
Kidd, Ace’s older brother, grunted. “Oh yeah, I do. My wife planned this shindig, so everything better go smoothly.”
Ace’s cell phone rang and when he answered it, the photographer snapped a picture. Listening to the one-sided conversation, Cameron knew something wasn’t going as planned.
“She did what?” Ace began to fume. “You’ve got to be kidding me?” He paused. “It’ll be okay, baby,” Ace consoled.
“I’ll see you in a few. I love you,” he added the words of comfort before disconnecting.
Folding his arms, Kidd looked at his brother and frowned. “That means something is not okay. What’s going on?”
“Hold it!” The photographer shouted as the men huddled around Ace. Waiting for the click of the camera, everyone froze, including the boys. “You all can relax now,” the man ordered after taking the shot.
Ace glanced around to make sure Talise’s father wasn’t in the room. He started in on the play-by-play.
“It’s Frederick’s wife. She’s in the bridal chamber, giving Tay her unwelcomed opinion. Basically, she’s complaining about the bride wearing pink and not white. Then Donna couldn’t understand why we didn’t renew our vows from her hometown of Richmond. Next, Grandma BB stepped in—literally in her Stacy Adams shoes—and put Donna in her place when she insisted, as the stepmother, to be escorted down the aisle as part of the wedding party.”
“Yikes.” Cameron stuffed his hands in his pockets. After the death of her mother, it was a known fact that Talise did not refer to Donna as her stepmother, but only as her father’s new wife
“Yikes is right. Grandma BB in all her Sunday best shoved Donna out the door and dared her to see what happens if she walked down that aisle,” Ace continued.
Cameron snickered and Parke grunted. “We’d better keep an eye on her, or Grandma BB will be fighting in church.”
“I think she earned a brownie point with my wife when Grandma BB volunteered to post guard outside her door.
” Ace chuckled and soon the men joined in, even the photographer.
“Grandma BB, related to everybody, but not a drop of blood to connect her to any of us,” Malcolm described the woman, shaking his head.
The woman had latched onto the Jamieson family years ago. She took her role as grandma seriously.
After taking a few more shots, the photographer walked out as Talise’s father was coming into the room.
“Wait until you see her. She’s beautiful and happy.” Frederick grinned and shook hands with Ace. “Keep her that way and there won’t be any problems.”
Ace nodded as Parke suggested a prayer for Ace. Linking hands, Parke bowed his head and the others followed.
“Father, in the Name of Jesus, we come before Your throne of grace. We worship You today for this opportunity to witness the love shared between husband and wife. I ask that You bless my cousin’s life and marriage, bless his Christian journey, and most of all, bless their precious daughter.”
Parke paused, and then added, “Lord Jesus, and please bless every married man and their households represented here today. Help us to never fail You as the strong Black Christian men You created us to be, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Amens echoed around the room. One by one, a Jamieson man patted Ace on the back, following after his father-in-law.
Ace tilted his head. “Ah, it appears there’s one man standing in this room that isn’t hitched. Even Melvin over there just recently got married, so you, my dear cousin, are the Lone Ranger.”
“You’re going down, Cam, sooner rather than later,” Parke taunted his youngest brother.
“I haven’t been caught yet.”
LIFT EVERY VOICE BOOKS
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
The “Black National Anthem,” written by James Weldon Johnson in 1900, captures the essence of Lift Every Voice Books. Lift Every Voice Books is an imprint of Moody Publishers that celebrates a rich culture and great heritage of faith, based on the foundation of eternal truth—God’s Word. We endeavor to restore the fabric of the African-American soul and reclaim the indomitable spirit that kept our forefathers true to God in spite of insurmountable odds.
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