Sharon: A Contemporary Romance

By Ann Morean

On a cold winter night, Sharon decided to put an end to her misery. The flooded, ice-packed river offered a perfect solution to Troy Madison and his plans to marry another woman. Dan Lesley happened to see her on the bridge, caught her as she was about to jump, and took her home where he lived with his mother. After hearing her situation, Dan proposed to marry her, but even that didn’t end Sharon’s internal conflict. She loved the father of her unborn baby, and yet Dan offered hope and security.

Troy changed his mind a year later, but it was too late to get back with Sharon, the only woman he truly loved. He left to build a new life in Australia, dedicating his life to building a future for his only child, Belinda.

Eighteen years later, Belinda, knowing that Troy is her biological father, wants to attend school in Australia as she completes her schooling. Sharon and Dan accept her decision, and visit her in her new home. Meanwhile, Danny, Sharon and Dan’s son, wants to come to Australia as well.

Sharon continues being conflicted between her love for Dan and all that he’s come to mean to her and Troy, her true love and father of her first child. Her life comes full circle, and she finally reaches fulfillment and her destiny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilcox Publishing
• Release date: Jun 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311004536

Ann Morean

Ann Morean is the mother of five children, eighteen grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and she’s a veteran of a lifetime of experiences. Writing was always her dream, but it wasn’t until after her family had grown, and her husband of forty-two years had passed away, that her dream was realized. She has had many life struggles of her own, plus the dilemmas of her friends, all of which provide ample material for her numerous romantic novels.Her recently published book, Dysfunctional, is a popular romance novel that’s a “must read” for the enthusiastic contemporary reader.

Book preview

Sharon-Morean

SHARON

A CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

~

Ann Morean

Smashwords Edition, Published by Wilcox Publishing

Copyright 2014, Ann Morean

License Notes, Smashwords Edition

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

Warning

This is a work of fiction. All names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.

Contents

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

About the Author

Chapter 1

Sharon stood on the bridge and stared down at the raging water and large blocks of ice rushing below. She grasped the railing with stiff cold hands. Her eyes left the river and she looked up at the star-speckled sky, the half moon just barely peeping over the horizon, giving the water an eerie golden glow. She intended to plunge her body into the swollen river and vanish off the face of the earth. She knew there were other alternatives, but she couldn’t force herself to want to live any longer. She was tired, so tired of what her life had become.

Thoughts ran through her mind as she silently acknowledged she had no one but herself to blame. She’d been on a path of self-destruction since she was fourteen years old; nothing she did could stop the downward spiral of her destiny. She stared at the turbulent water, listening to the ice chunks’ deafening noise as they clanged against each other. Her mind pleaded for oblivion.

She couldn’t change the past and didn’t seem to have any control over her future either. She raised one leg over the railing. Her cold hands froze on contact with the frigid metal railing.

Daniel Lesley was driving slowly across the bridge, occasionally gazing at the rushing flood water and the huge chucks of ice while pondering a problem at his office. The speed he was traveling gave him the opportunity to look around at the lights in the city and the star-filled sky. Then his eyes dropped to a woman standing on the crosswalk. He watched as though mesmerized: she positioned one leg over the railing of the bridge and started to raise the other. Dan watched in horror thinking, Is that woman going to jump off the bridge? Instinctively he knew there wouldn’t be enough time to call 911. No way was he going to let this happen. He made a hasty decision: he slammed on his brakes, threw the gear shift into park, opened his car door, and in four large strides was behind the woman before she’d gotten her other leg over the railing. Then he knew for sure she’d intended to jump. He grasped her around the waist, and pulled her back onto the crosswalk. He felt the stiffness go out of her body as she went limp in his hands. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her to his still-idling warm car. He pulled a blanket from the back seat and covered her sparsely-clad body.

It was then that he noticed how lovely she was. Her long dark lashes concealed her eyes, but the oval shape of her exquisite face, her full sensuous mouth turned downward in unconsciousness gave him a rush. Somehow her hair had become freed from the tidy bun behind her neck, and its dark sheen, with the moonlight casting its mystic light over her tumbling tresses gave it a translucent look. She took his breath away. He couldn’t avoid touching her body as he wrapped the blanket around her shapely form.

Why would she want to die? he asked himself as he rubbed her light sweater-clad arms, trying to bring some warmth back to them. What was he going to do with her now? Should he take her to the hospital where she would be put in the mental ward for evaluation and treatment? She looked so helpless and vulnerable. He impulsively made a decision to take her to his mother’s home. She had been a nurse, and she could help her if anyone could. Besides, hadn’t his mother been begging and pleading with him for years to bring a girl home to meet her, he thought to himself as he sped his silver BMW through the early-morning traffic.

Sharon’s eyes fluttered open. She felt bewildered and confused. Is this what death was like? She was feeling snugly warm and cozy, wrapped in a blanket and listening to the soothing sound of Brahms coming from a stereo. She didn’t move, just lay quietly, enjoying the moment. She felt the car come to a stop. Almost in a daze, she allowed herself to wonder where she was, who she was with and where she was going. She didn’t really care. She drifted off again, but while still semiconscious, she felt a pair of strong- arms lift her up and carry her. Her last thought was that death isn’t really so bad after all.

Dan, carrying the girl close to him, walked up the sidewalk to his mother’s home. He wedged the girl against the building with his own body, then fished for the key in his pocket and managed to unlock and open the door. He put both arms around the girl and carried her into the living room, kicking the door shut with his foot. The television and lights were still on and his mom was asleep in her recliner, covered up with an afghan she’d made.

Dan called out, Mother, I’ve brought someone home, I’d like you to meet.

Lucille Lesley opened her eyes and gasped as she saw her son carrying a woman in his arms. She was speechless, but her training as a nurse moved her to immediate action when she saw that the girl was unconscious. Dan, lay her on the sofa and get my bag in the hall closet for me. Quickly! What happened to her?

She was already taking the girls’ pulse and checking the girl’s body for tight clothing or a belt. When Dan returned with the medical bag, the first thing Lucille took from the bag was a thermometer and stuck it in her mouth. She used her stethoscope to check the girl’s heart and put the cuff on her arm to check her blood pressure. She pressed on the rubber bulb, then let up. Listening, she knew the girl’s blood pressure was too low. She pulled the thermometer out of her mouth, read it, then shook her head in disbelief.

Dan, hurry and draw a tub of hot water, and then come back and help me get her into the bathroom. The poor child, she is nearly frozen. She’s suffering from hypothermia. We have to get her body temperature back to normal, fast, Lucille thought.

Dan slipped out of his top coat and his suit jacket, and went into the bathroom. He put the stopper in the tub, turned on the hot water, waited a moment, then adjusted the temperature. He was unbuttoning the top button of his shirt and pulling his tie off as he walked back into the living room. Just then, his mother was removing the woman’s clothes. She’d removed her light sweater and bra and was pulling off her panty hose with expertise. He drew in his breath. He’d seen plenty of naked women in his thirty- five years, but none as shapely as this one. He felt an arousal coming that shocked him. My God, the girl has nearly died and here I am getting turned on just looking at her unconscious body. He scolded himself, but still couldn’t take his eyes off her bountiful breasts, her slim waist, and long shapely legs. When his mother pulled off her skirt and panties, and he saw her totally naked, he lost control and groaned.

His mother laughed. Get control of yourself, son, and carry her into the bathroom. I’ll take it from there. I now know why you never went into the medical profession. She was laughing as he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom. His mother checked the water and told Dan to place the girl in the tub and make sure her head didn’t get submerged. Lucille put a shower cap on her hair. We don’t need to deal with wet hair. Dan looked disappointed when she did that. He probably thinks covering up that dark wavy hair was downright sinful.

Dan stayed at the top of the tub and held the girls’ head up while his mother gently swabbed her body and massaged her limbs, trying to restore circulation. They kept adding hot water, and eventually her skin started to get pink again. Even her hands were slowly returning to normal coloration, but they were still too blue looking. Lucille rubbed them, gently squeezing them. Finally she opened the drain, saying, I don’t think she’s suffering from frostbite, but she should be coming to. She’s been unconscious too long. Lucille left the bathroom and returned with night clothes to put on the girl. Dan was hoping it was something sheer and skimpy, but it was a flannel granny gown, high necked and long.

Lucille, who’d been bending over drying the girls’ body, suddenly stood up and grimaced with pain and told her son, You’ll have to finish. This bending over is killing my back. I have to stand and get straightened out, or I won’t be any good for anyone.

Dan hesitated for a couple seconds. The hormonal beast in him was raging. Again he chided himself for his unwarranted primal desire, because he’d always prided himself on his self-control. He picked up a dry towel, but first he pulled off the shower cap. As her hair tumbled over her shoulders, he couldn’t resist bunching it up in his hand. Then he started drying her upper body, being careful not to get his hands tangled in the long hair hanging over her shoulders. He finishing toweling her back dry, then he started on the front, wiping the towel over and under her breasts and down over her stomach.

He glanced at his mother who was standing there with her hands on her hips arching her back, trying to flex her back muscles. She’d lifted too many patients, and now in her senior years was paying the price for it. He went back to his assigned duty and thought, My own mother must think I’m a masochist, if she expects me to go through torture like this. He was finally down to her feet, and grinned as he picked the tiny foot up and dried it. The red nail polish and the feel of her soft skin in his hands tempted him to suck on her dainty toes. Maybe it’s been too long since I’ve been with a woman. I’ve been really busy the last several weeks.

They were surprised to hear a moan from the girl as her eyes fluttered and opened wide. She gasped when she saw Dan drying her off. Dan dropped the towel and gazed into the most beautiful bluish, violet eyes he’d ever looked into. He watched as shock appeared on her face as she gazed into his face, she blinked, maybe hoping the image in front of her would disappear. His mouth opened and then he smiled at her. Welcome back to earth, beautiful, isn’t this better than an icy river?

Where am I? Then she remembered the arms around her waist just as she was about to jump into the river. Damn you. Why did you have to stop me? It would have been all over.

Tears were rolling down her checks and Dan reached down and picked her up from the tub. He tried to stand her up, but her knees buckled under her, so he set her on a chair His mother put the warm flannel nightgown on her. He realized the easy part was over for all of them. He hoped his mother’s gentle ways could bring this unhappy girl back to her senses and give her a reason to live. She was in good hands. The very best in the entire world in his own personal opinion anyway.

After Lucille had the gown on the revived girl and hung the damp towels on the rack to dry, she asked Dan to carry her into his room, where she’d already turned his bed covers down. Dan lived in his own apartment, but occasionally he slept over at his mother’s apartment. Lucille covered the girl up and handed her a couple of tissues. She wasn’t sobbing, but tears were rolling down her checks. Lucille turned to Dan and asked, Dan, will you make her some camomile tea? You know where it is?

No, I don’t, Mom.

It’s on the second shelf, the middle door.

Dan grinned at his mother and headed for the kitchen, grateful for the privacy to get his libido under control. He knew this was what his mother needed. She was so despondent that she was about to jump into the river! She needs Mom as a friend as much as Mom needs to nurture her. God, what was this woman’s problem? Death never solved anything. Dan had learned a long time ago to charge into his problems and take control; if that didn’t help, you just had to live with it. Life wasn’t perfect. He hoped and prayed he and his mother could somehow help this beautiful woman get a better grip on life.

When he returned to the bedroom carrying a tray with two cups of tea and a beer for himself, his mother was holding the girl in her arms, gently swaying back and forth and murmuring softly to her.

Did you find out her name yet, Mother? He placed the two cups of tea on the night stand.

The girl looked up to examine this man who had foiled her plan of suicide, her own savior, her hero. Tall, broad-shouldered, with short, well-groomed wavy, dark hair, and warm brown eyes with flecks of gold, definitely handsome. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Both times that their eyes had met, she’d seen the desire and lust in his eyes. It wouldn’t have mattered if the man were uglier than sin, it was always the same reaction she got from men. Well, she was already in his bed, which meant half his conquest was over. She pulled back from Lucille, pulled the sheet higher and graciously accepted the tea. After sipping a few swallows, she knew she had to give them some kind of explanation. She let out an audible sigh, then started talking, My name is Sharon Norton, I’m thirty- one and single. I’ve messed my life up so badly, I can’t ever make it right again. I suppose you’ll report my suicide attempt to the authorities, which doesn’t leave me much choice about what comes next.

Dan gasped as she made the last remark, and thought, She’s going to try this again, just as soon we release her. Maybe I should have taken her to the hospital. She really needs to be locked down until she gets her head on straight again. Hell! Everyone makes mistakes and nobody is perfect. I don’t know anyone who ever did it totally right. Why is she judging herself so harshly?

Welcome to the club, Sweetheart, most everyone I know has screwed up. Why should you be any different? He grinned at her. Did you kill someone, rob a bank, or get busted for drug-dealing? Do you mug old ladies on the street corners? Oh I know, you embezzled church funds that you were responsible for.

Sharon, burst out laughing at that, and Dan’s heart lurched in his chest, watching her beautiful face light up. He sighed, as the laugh disappeared and her face once again showed sadness. He mentally made a personal vow to make her laugh more often.

Sharon thought, I can cope with something like that, better than what I’ve done so far.

When she didn’t answer him, he coaxed, Come on Sharon. They say confession is good for the soul. Mom and I have heard it all, and you won’t shock us. Mom involves herself in other peoples’ lives, and they usually dump their problems in her lap. She’s a regular Stella Dallas or Mary Worth, and maybe a little Ann Landers, or Abby Van Buren thrown into the mix.

You and your mother are total strangers to me. You seem like good people but I don’t want to shock you. Are you sure you want to hear this? Jeez, my own family knows the truth and shun me, even my own mother. Why would you be any different?

Sometimes just talking about your problems helps, especially to strangers. They have a non-personal reason for being objective. Have you ever talked to a psychologist? Lucille asked.

Sharon set her tea on the bed stand and laughed until the tears started running down her checks again. You know that comfortable couch they have in their offices? Well, the last one would have liked to have added another use to that particular piece of furniture.

Lucille was surprised to hear that. She knew several reputable men in that field of medicine that wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing; well, maybe there were a few. She mentioned three different names to Sharon, and each time Sharon flinched when she recalled the incident: she’d been to all three of them. Their response to her didn’t surprise her, because even one minister had hit on her when she tried to talk to him. It was always the same. She was a sex symbol to men. They took one good look at her and wanted to go to bed with her. Sharon looked at the woman’s son. What was his name? Dan? She’d seen desire, raw hunger in his eyes several times. If his mother weren’t here with them, he would be doing his best to score with her.

Lucille took her hand and gently prompted her to talk. Tell us about it, Sharon. You need to get it out, all of it, before you can even think about healing.

Sharon reached for the pillow on the other side of the bed, propped it behind her, making herself comfortable for a confession that was long overdue.

They asked for it and she was going to tell them all of it, every sordid detail. She looked into their faces, and she saw only compassion on the woman’s face, but the man, well who knows what the hell a man thinks anyway? She watched his face more intently, he wasn’t looking at her any longer with that salacious stare he had been giving her. Now he looked like he was mesmerized by her, studying her features with interest and intrigue. Like she’d become an enigma to him.

Chapter 2

Dan made himself comfortable in the easy chair. He crossed his legs at his ankles and took a couple swigs from his beer and then studied the woman lying in his bed. Beautiful, didn’t describe her looks. Perhaps it was the combination of her features with the lost haunted look in her eyes. He was transfixed and eagerly waited to hear her story.

She looked at him long and hard, no expression on her face, just studied his face with a puzzled scrutiny. He didn’t often see that look on anyone’s face. He’d never done anything to her, at least not yet, why give him the evil eye? He was glad he’d regained his self-control. But what man’s wouldn’t rage after seeing a perfect body like this woman had. Oops, he’d better not think about what she looked like again, as he felt his loins tighten.

Lucille watched the exchange of stares between the two of them and subconsciously visualized them together. She liked the picture. She knew Dan was facing issues he couldn’t cope with and most certainly so was this woman. Maybe, just maybe, her prayers were being answered. Lucille was a firm believer in destiny, and fate had surely brought these two people together tonight for a reason.

Sharon put her empty cup on the bedside table, closed her eyes for a second, and then began talking. When I was fourteen, my mother married a man fifteen years younger than herself. Maybe she felt unsure of herself, but that’s when my life started to change. In reality, my stepfather was closer to my age than he was to Mom’s and he wasn’t very discreet in the attention he lavished on me. If Mom said anything to him, he would tease her about being jealous. It destroyed my relationship with her. He played us both. Mom knocked herself out trying to please him, but I, unfortunately, was flattered by his attention. To say the least, it was an explosive situation

Dan jumped to the obvious conclusion that her young stepfather had molested her. The bastard.

It was about that time that I lost my virginity. I’d been dating Johnny for a year and we’d convinced ourselves that it was true love and we would be together forever. Sharon shook her head at that particular memory. What does a kid know when she’s fourteen? "My mother found the bloodied underwear and slip. She must have confided that information to her husband and from then on, at every opportunity, he would try something. He’d try to put his hands on me to kiss me and he would leer at me. I started locking my bedroom door and tried to make myself scarce when I knew he was going to be home. Mom and I no longer had a good relationship. I sure didn’t want her husband. I thought he was an ignorant slob, but Mom felt threatened.

"Almost right away, I regretted having given in to Johnny. It seemed from then on, it was sex, sex and more sex. We didn’t have the good times that we’d had before. After a year of that, I broke off with Johnny thinking that I could bring my life back to the way it used to be. How wrong I was. Fifteen is young to learn anything the hard way, but I was beginning to see that you can never go back. Then there was Dalton, Jimmy, Howard, Roger. Every boy in high school hit on me, and I foolishly thought it was popularity. With each new boyfriend, I tried not to give in to them, but after hassling me, they always got what they wanted. They knew how to wear down my resistance and will-power. Then I was elected Prom Queen in my senior year, but I felt uneasy about my popularity.

"A few of the girls at school were engaged and planned to get married when we graduated. I didn’t have any prospect of that, so I decided to go to Penn State, which was near our home in State College. I received honors for my scholastic ability, but