Defining Destiny: Book One of the Truenorth/Destinybay Series

By Gina Lea

Growing up in the small town of Destinybay, Sara, Alex and Diana were as tight as the Three Musketeers, bound by a friendship forged in childhood and made complete by their vow to escape their hometown someday to find love, adventure and their own true destiny.

Never once in those young dreams did Sara believe shed end up back here in the middle of her life, a divorced mother of her own rebellious teenager, with no job, no home and no future in sight. With Alex stuck in the same sinking boat and Diana ready to weigh in, Sara resigns herself to living with her mother. But time is not always kind and Sara discovers her hometown has been dying in her absence with many of those historic buildings now abandoned and whispering regrets around every corner.

Faster than she can rewrite her own life, Sara is opening a coffee shop downtown while navigating the stormy waters of rebooting her childhood friendships and fending off her childhood beau Sam, who is running a charter fishing business on the bay. Just as she and her friends begin to find their safe harbor, will secrets and jealousy create waves that threaten to destroy the future they are working so hard to build?

Sara, Alex and Diana will discover the power of childhood promises and regrets amidst the waves of change and loss that life holds. Can they recapture the strength of their bond in time to turn those regrets into grace and unlock the knowledge that its never too late to define your destiny and discover where your True North lies?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Apr 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480805132

Gina Lea

Gina Lea grew up spending summers at her grandparents’ southern home, where she fell in love with the south and small towns. She draws on these experiences as well as her years in the coffee industry for inspiration in her writing. She currently lives in North Carolina, with her best critics: her husband and her puppy Zuzu the Wonder Dog.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Gina Lea.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

1-(888)-242-5904

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-0512-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-0514-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-0513-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014902977

Archway Publishing rev. date: 04/15/2014

In memory of my grandmother,

Maggie Lou Roberts Lyons

who first opened the world of books to me and

taught me the art of storytelling.

June 8, 1902–January 5, 1982

Contents

A Few Words from the Author

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Chapter 1   Anchor Aweigh

Chapter 2   Windward

Chapter 3   Come About

Chapter 4   Miles to Go

Chapter 5   The Long Journey

Chapter 6   Let Go, Amain

Chapter 7   Setting Sail

Chapter 8   Back at Port

Chapter 9   Soldier’s Wind

Chapter 10   Harvest Moon

Chapter 11   Casting Off

Chapter 12   Overfall

Chapter 13   Off Soundings

Chapter 14   All Hands on Deck

Chapter 15   Absolute Bearing

Chapter 16   Spring Tides

Chapter 17   Rip Tides

Chapter 18   Batten Down the Hatches

Chapter 19   10,000 Miles

Chapter 20   Between Wind and Water

Chapter 21   The Zero Point Moment

Chapter 22   Falling Off

Chapter 23   Center of Buoyancy

Chapter 24   True North

About the Author

A Few Words from the Author

Welcome to the world of Destinybay, a Crystal Coast Carolina town steeped in three hundred years of history, chockfull of maritime trade, unique shops and restaurants, and historic buildings. Whether you’re planning a sun-drenched vacation by the sea or a move to one of the prettiest little towns in the South, Destinybay has something for everyone. Stop in for a cup of coffee, and meet our newest addition to the town, Sara, who just moved back home with her teenage daughter Ginny. Sara and her childhood best friends, Alex and Diana, are going to be reconnecting and there’s bound to be rough water ahead. Just take a stroll downtown, and you’ll see that the shops are also struggling as they work hard to compete with all those new shops down on the bay. Once you make your way down to the bay, you might run into Sam, Sara’s childhood sweetheart. He’s running a charter business down there and is about to find his steady world turned upside down. Oh, and don’t tell the townsfolk and the baysiders, but the weather forecast is looking downright cloudy, with a chance of high waves and lightning that are bound to haunt this pretty little town and change it forever.

When I set out to create my own town, I decided to put everything I love into the adventure—from setting it in the South on the coast, because that is where I feel at home and am hoping you will too, to creating a little slice of Americana and a chance to show how the landscape of small towns has changed. This town is full of quirky people who are very much like those folks who actually inhabit small towns. And the story is full of secrets and mysteries hiding behind corners, a tale for all generations about love and the power it has over each of us, lost love waiting to be found and the search for our own True North, those folks who will help us find our best destiny!

Before you ask, just let me tell you that, yes, there are many, many stories to be told in Destinybay. This is just one. So I hope you grab a cup of coffee and take a stroll down Second Street to a pretty little town waiting to be discovered, a town full of people who really want you to stay a while, a town called Destinybay!

Gina Lea

PS Take a look at all Destinybay has to offer at

www.destinybaybooks.com.

Acknowledgments

Blessings and thanks to my family and friends, who have put up with my scribbling, muttering to myself, and constantly making them listen to my stories. Thank you to my mother, who will always be my Marmee, and to my dad, who left us too young but still watches over us. They both taught me I could do anything I put my mind to. My three sons, I am so grateful for each of them and their power to amaze me. And to my dearest husband, a very special thanks for believing in the dream and having enough faith to close his eyes and reach for the stars with me. He is my True North, and I would be lost without him.

But now these three remain; faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love …

1 Corinthians 13:13

image02.jpg

Prologue

Few ever recognize those moments that change everything in the blink of an eye. Just how different would our lives be, if we could recognize those crucial turning points and somehow have the wisdom to know where our choices might lead? How many of us wish we could turn back time, change those moments that would make all the difference, take control of our destiny. If only we could …

"I can’t believe it’s finally here!" Alex jumped up and down, sending her long, thick chestnut-brown hair whirling into the air like a helicopter’s blades. Sara emerged from the sentence she was trying to compose just in time to be dragged off the sun-drenched bench where she had been writing and spun around like a top.

Calm down, Alexandra, before you alert the media, hissed Diana, raising her tiny frame on tiptoe to give one of her famous must-you-always-be-so-loud-and-obnoxious glares. Of course, we’re all excited, but we don’t have to tell the whole world, now do we? Diana’s drawl was laced with an undertone of steel. She tried to grab Alex’s arm to get her under control but only managed to get herself pulled into the wild cyclone of spinning Alex had created. She raised her voice. We’re supposed to act like ladies now. She coughed and wheezed from the exertion of trying to slow her friend down. "Do you have to embarrass me on the first day of camp!" She tried to pull harder on Alex’s arm to slow them down but only triggered even more hacking.

Sara, the oldest of the trio by a few months, moved quickly to intervene. It’s okay, Diana. I’m as happy as Alex about summer camp this year. She laughed as she managed to rein Alex in and just barely keep the girls from tumbling down to the ground in a heap. We’re all finally fourteen and old enough to be in the teen group, so I think we’re allowed to be a little excited. You okay, Diana? Sara asked, anxiously straining to see her friend’s face through the wispy light-brown hair that had fallen across her face as Diana bent over, head down, holding her side and wheezing from her effort to squash Alex’s tomboy ways. You look really pale.

Diana, who’d just recovered from strep throat and a fever that had kept her out of school for most of the last few months of seventh grade, straightened back up. Her usually fair skin looked almost translucent while dark circles under her eyes were twin shadows that only accented how large the blue eyes were in her tiny, heart-shaped face.

I’m fine. Thank you for asking. She began to brush imaginary wrinkles from her dress while sneaking another glare at Alex that she thought Sara couldn’t see.

Sara reached down and grabbed her leather journal from the ground. Brushing it off, she looked out across the town square at the towering Victorian buildings decorated with lights, flags, and patriotic banners and streamers to celebrate this year’s summer youth camp and the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. Booths surrounded the gingerbread-trimmed gazebo that dominated not only the middle of the grassy square but also every activity held in the heart of Destinybay.

Down at the wide end of Second Street, she could see the water rippling rhythmically as boats headed out of the bay. Gulls swooped down on a fishing boat returning home, its crew eager to see their families after weeks at sea. She could hear the mournful sound of the bell ringing from the lighthouse on Bayrock Isle, even though music had begun to stream softly from the speakers placed on the gazebo for the festivities. If the gazebo was the heart of the town, the bay was its soul, with waves that lapped at the docks, leaving their footprints in the wood to mark the passing of time and the tides. On a day this warm, one could stand on the docks and see the wild ponies grazing on the isle across the bay.

Tilting her face to the sun and closing her eyes, Sara took a deep breath of the clean air, which was laced with salt. Nothing could make this day better. She was wearing her first teen outfit, a lavender dress and matching sandals with heels, which made her feel all grown up. She glanced over at her friends. Of the three, she had always felt like the girl who faded into the background.

Alex had head-turning, thick long hair; an oval face; and deep-brown eyes. Yet her model’s build and startling good looks were all lost on herself; she didn’t even notice the glances she attracted as she stomped around town in a devil-may-care wardrobe, evoking images of a young Katharine Hepburn.

Diana was Alex’s polar opposite; barely five feet tall, she floated rather than walked, with a Southern grace that accentuated her delicate build and fair complexion, both of which drew comparisons to Lana Turner’s.

Sara was left balanced in the middle between her two friends, trying to keep the peace and sensing that with her average height and ordinary build, not even her blond hair, golden skin, or green eyes would fetch a second glance, as the friends roamed the streets of their hometown.

Glancing over at both of her friends, she couldn’t help but smile. According to most of their teachers, the trio constituted the Three Musketeers. Childhood best friends who were inseparable from the first day of kindergarten, they were scarcely seen apart, having been drawn together perhaps by how different they were. Alex, the dark tomboy who towered above the other two (having got her growth early), had an irrepressible spirit that was like a magnet, drawing adults and kids in alike. Diana, all tiny and delicate, was born with Old World manners and a Southern spirit that would be the envy of any belle of the ball. Those well-bred manners and soft ways put all who met her off guard, while her Southern drawl, sarcastic wit, and keen intelligence pulled the rug out from under them.

Then there was Sara. She was the glue that held the trio together and the heart of the group, and though her friends garnered all the attention, she loved them fiercely and would rather be with them until late in the night than go to the antique-filled mansion on the hill that masqueraded as a home. Perhaps that was why she was the writer of the group, always scribbling in her journals about their latest adventure, which felt more like family memories than any of her parents’ fancy charity events.

"The snack stand is open …Come-on-le’s-go! Alex hustled both Sara and Diana toward the snack booth. Can’t you see the cute guys?"

Diana scolded, Really, Alex, you just ate lunch! You can’t possibly be hungry …or is it food you’re interested in? She allowed Alex to drag her and Sara over to the snack booth.

The snack booth was a summer camp tradition. Staffed by local church teens and visiting camp staff, it was just a faded, red wooden shed that the Lions Club pulled out of storage every year and placed on the far side of the square, but its appearance drew a smile from many as it was being set up, bringing back fond memories to anyone who had attended camp. Scrawled on its walls were the reminders of many a joined heart, with initials linking young loves that would always be alive on those wooden boards. Perhaps that was why no one had ever had the heart to paint it. Inside were ice coolers and shelves stocked with all the snacks that campers needed to keep them going through that week—candy bars, pop, ice-cream sandwiches, and donated homemade baked treats. Proceeds helped pay for the visiting staff brought in for the camp.

As the trio approached the booth, Alex pushed Sara to the front. Both she and Diana hung back waiting for Sara, who sighed. When it came to meeting new people or trying anything new, the other two girls always made her take the lead. Really, this is ridiculous, she muttered under her breath. The two girls practically smacked into her as she stood her ground for once, refusing to be the first to step forward.

From the back of the booth a tall, dark-haired boy jumped down from where he and another boy had been lounging atop one of the pop coolers. He raced to the front counter to wait on the three girls.

Hi. I’m Sam. What’s your name? he asked in a deep voice that seemed to have a melody line playing underneath. As soon as he stopped speaking, the air felt empty. Dazed, Sara realized that everyone was staring at her and that it had suddenly gotten very hot outside.

Oh Lord, she prayed silently, please tell me I’m not blushing bright red!

Who m–me? Sara looked at both of her friends, convinced the boy must mean one of them.

Who else?

He was staring at her intently with the darkest brown eyes she had ever seen. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The two girls both nudged Sara impatiently. Diana hissed her name, as if she needed help remembering it.

M–my name is Sara, she replied, feeling as if she could not breathe. She sensed some emotion in his eyes that she had never felt before, and she was sure she would drown in it. She was positive he could hear her heartbeat, painful and loud as it was. Yet she never wanted this strange, tingling feeling to stop. And in that moment, she felt the whole world stand still. Everything froze but Sara and this boy. Somehow, it felt like life would never be the same.

image03.jpg

Chapter One

Anchor Aweigh

This has been the most incredible summer of my life! It felt like you stepped out of my dreams and into my life …We were made for each other …believe that destiny meant this to happen …never forget how much I love you, Sara …

"M om  …I can’t find my iPod. Please tell me you didn’t pack it! I cannot make this trip without it. Mom, are you listening to me? Ginny pleaded, pulling Sara back to reality. Hey, what’s that you’re packing?" There was no mistaking the impatience creeping into her daughter’s voice.

Oh, just some old letters and journals from my long-lost past, honey, Sara muttered, feeling herself fading fast and wondering if any cup of coffee could be strong enough to revive her. She slid the letter into the journal she had been holding and slipped them into the box she was packing up. She pasted on a smile and pushed off the bed, "You know, the ice age, when your mother spent her misbegotten youth in tube tops, miniskirts, and watching the classics on TV like The Avengers and The Time Tunnel, while we communicated with smoke signals."

Say it’s not so, Mom. Sara heard the sarcasm in her daughter’s voice. Well, I wish you could make like Emma Peel and slip us into a time machine so we could magically appear at the end of this trip. I hate long drives …Can’t we fly to Gram’s? Ginny complained, still searching through the room restlessly.

No, my long-suffering daughter, Sara replied in her best Diana Rigg imitation. We must be off in our automobile, or we will have no transportation once we arrive at the end of our, oh so incredibly splendid journey, and remember, your grandmother will have a stroke if you call her something as casual as ‘Grams.’ So let’s be respectful, shall we?

I hate this! fumed Ginny, not amused by her mother’s attempt at humor. "Why is everything so messed up? Why can’t we live here, and why do I have to leave all my friends? She paced around the room, and Sara watched her wrath grow with each step. How am I supposed to leave everything and everyone behind that I’ve known all my life?"

Sara tried to hide her amusement at her daughter’s dramatics, as she knew that this really was the most traumatic event of Ginny’s life, all fifteen years of it. Guilt flooded her belly, making her stomach turn at the thought of moving back to her hometown. The bad news was Sara had run out of options, and she was dreading this move as much as Ginny, although for very different reasons.

She watched Ginny paw through the pile on top of Sara’s dresser. It was composed of remnants from the drawers waiting to be boxed. Her fair-haired, long-legged daughter had her aunt’s athletic body, her mother’s quick wit, and at times, her father’s selfish ways, but she was the light in Sara’s painful world. For so long, Sara’s life had revolved around ensuring Ginny’s future was better than her own life had been. Disappointing her was only one of the many things about this move that Sara hated.

I’m sorry, honey. Sara got up and tried to hug Ginny, who shrugged her off. I really wish we could stay here, but with my office being eliminated, we really have no other choice. You know how hard I’ve tried to find a job in this area, but there are no retail buying offices to even apply to now. Any way it went, we’d have to move. At least by moving back home with your grandmother, we know we’ll be with family.

A family I don’t even know! I’d rather be with my friends! Ginny stormed out of the room in search of the elusive iPod as Sara felt her spirits descend into a deeper hole, while she herself sank back onto the bed covered with the bits of their life she had been sorting through. Everything they could take with them was going into hateful brown boxes that made her feel like she was going to break out in hives at the thought of moving. Most of their other things had already been sold off, including many of the antiques Sara had collected over the years, while the rest was going into the small trailer they were towing behind the jeep or out for the trash. Thank goodness the house was sold, but after she and Richard had split the meager proceeds, there wasn’t a lot left to keep her going until she found that much-needed job.

Thinking about the beautiful little country house with its long sunroom that flanked the left side, letting the sunbeams warm them every morning for the past twelve years, she felt like she was breaking everyone’s heart, including that of the home that had served them through all the good times and bad. When they had moved into it, she had had such high hopes for the future, thinking that finally they could be happy as a family.

Please, oh please, let me be making the right choice, she whispered. I can’t make any more mistakes. I just can’t! She looked into the mirror across the room and searched for the girl she had been so many years ago. She still had the long blond hair and green eyes, the medium height and build, but instead of the happy face that used to grace her mirror, she saw dark circles and what could be the beginning of lines around her eyes and mouth from stress. Her hair was overdue for a cut and looked as full of split ends as she felt. There was a time when she took such pride in her appearance. Now, she was lucky to roll out of bed, shower, slap moisturizer on her face, and pull her hair into a ponytail. Where had all her big dreams gone? Suddenly, destiny seemed like a cruel friend who had ditched her in the middle of the movie, leaving her not knowing how she would ever get home.

She sighed and pushed herself to sweep the rest of the debris on her bed into a box and seal it up, wishing it was as easy to lock away all the ragged bits of her life for a while. She knew she had to hurry up, for the day was slipping away and they needed to be on the road soon.

An hour later, when the last carton had been stuffed into the back of the Jeep, Sara and Ginny stood in front of the house for the last time. The stone cottage looked sad and abandoned now. Mom, we will have our own home again, won’t we? Ginny whispered, leaning against her mother like she was a little girl again.

Oh, honey, I promise we will have a house just as nice as this one. And with it being just you and me, we can do anything we want with it! Sara’s voice broke as she hugged Ginny tight. Ginny did not turn away this time, and tears sprang up in both their eyes. So let’s get this show on the road ’cause daylight’s burning, Sara said, stronger now as she paused to wipe her eyes. She stared at the setting sun, sighing at the thought of the long road ahead and, of course, lest she forget, the long drive she had to do.

Chapter Two

Windward

I hear the calling of a train,

As I stop to gas up on the way.

The stars appear up in the sky

The world’s asleep as I drive by.

Faces flash, across the sky

A movie screen, that plays my life

Someday I know I’ll make it right.

For now I’m coming, I’m coming home

I’m coming home …

A s Garth sang out from the car stereo, Sara pulled the Jeep into the town square of her hometown, Destinybay. Daylight was just beginning to sprinkle the roof of the gazebo in pale yellows and oranges. With her window rolled down, she could hear the sounds of the docks coming from the bottom of Second Street. She heard a small fishing boat chugging its way out of the bay and the screech of the birds that swooped in and out around it, looking for any available scraps. The town was bathed in the grays and shadows of night and, like Sara, filled with gloomy sorrow. There was an abandoned feel to the streets and buildings, like everyone had left for a glorious party elsewhere. The town clock tolled five times as Sara pulled the car over, parked, and slipped quietly out, careful to not wake Ginny. She sighed and looked down at her cell phone, feeling the guilt already begin. She knew she should call her mother and let her know they had arrived, should have probably called her at least an hour ago to let her know their progress, but for now, she just wanted to look around this place for the first time in many years.

Historic buildings surrounded the square and some of the businesses housed in them seemed unchanged from her childhood: Ned’s Shoe Store, with its shoe-shaped sign; Tucker’s Market with its awning that always had fresh fruits and flowers displayed underneath it; and the Spinning Wheel Antique Store, with a real spinning wheel hanging above the darkened windows that had always housed furniture and antiques imbibed with times past. When she was growing up, every building in the square had businesses downstairs and residence space upstairs, where many of the owners lived so they could afford to make it through the decades. She knew it was now rare for the owners to actually live upstairs. Instead, they rented the space to yuppie couples not yet ready to buy a home but wanting to live in something more unique than just an apartment.

Sara sighed and looked over at her sleeping daughter slumped in the car. At that moment, she felt so alone. Even though she and Richard did not have a good marriage, she knew he was always there—to some degree anyway. Now she was here in a town where she felt like a stranger and her daughter was counting on her to make everything all right. She tried not to feel regret over her decision to end her marriage, a marriage that had begun with such hope yet had ended in such sadness.

Richard was Alex’s dark, handsome older brother, the apple of his mother’s eye, destined for great things. Growing up, Sara felt certain he barely knew of her existence beyond the fact that she hung out with his pesky sister along with that tiny, blue-eyed, pale girl who always seemed to look at him with that scornful, penetrating glare. It wasn’t until she was a freshman in college and he a senior that he finally really saw her at the Harvest Homecoming dance.

She closed her eyes, remembering that moment when she caught Richard looking across the square and noticing his sister. She could feel his irritation flaming up clear across the lawn, and then, in the next second, his eyes rested on her. To say he looked thunderstruck was an understatement. Sara, in the few years since he had last seen her, had transformed from a quiet, fair teenager into a stunning beauty who often drew comparisons to Grace Kelly.

It was amusing to look back and remember the beeline he had made to her side. Naturally, it was a whirlwind courtship that ended with their marriage the next year, pleasing both sets of parents, who longed for the cultivated dynasty they felt the union would bear. Of course, she quit college, as you couldn’t be a proper Atlanta wife of an up-and-coming lawyer if you were going to school. She rolled her eyes in disgust looking back on it. Lot of good that lack of college degree was doing her now.

The following year, when Ginny was born, Sara saw the first signs of Richard’s irritation flare high when she didn’t produce a proper son. She certainly tried to give him what he wanted, but every attempt at bearing a son, after Ginny was born, ended in miscarriage. And as Richard moved restlessly from law firm to law firm over the years, convinced the grass was always greener, it was clear that he wished he could upgrade his marriage too. It wasn’t just the lack of additional children, including a son he could mold into his own image, that seemed to frustrate him. It was as if he somehow felt it was Sara’s fault that life was not turning out the way he had planned. Only the stigma of divorce and the scorn of their parents kept him from trading her in also. Oh, but that didn’t keep him from having a whole string of secret affairs and liaisons, which always seemed to come out in the end, she thought bitterly.

Inevitably, when the truth broke between him and Sara, he blamed Sara’s lack of this and lack of that, including never producing the long-awaited heir. She wore the betrayal in silence, never letting the world or even their families know that the perfect family pictured in those Christmas cards year after year was actually a miserable portrait of pain and disappointment.

The one bright and shining spot in all this sadness was that Ginny was unaware of the truth. Her carefree spirit, intelligence, and beauty seemed to be the only things left that both parents silently agreed could not be tainted. So why in God’s name Richard would take his latest fling to Ginny’s favorite coffee shop where they could be discovered in full view of not only their daughter but her friends was beyond even Sara’s comprehension and became the last straw on their marriage’s back.

That night, Sara and Richard argued out loud for the first time, while Ginny sobbed in her room. After he packed a bag and stormed out, Ginny came into their bedroom and crawled into bed with Sara, and they both cried over the loss. The next day, Ginny was the first to say, Enough, we don’t need him. Ginny had always been her father’s pet, so Sara knew the strength it had to take for her to choose her mother over her father and knew it could not have been easy for her. Though Richard complained to Sara about her inability to have another child, to their daughter, he was the picture of a doting father who needed nothing more than his beloved baby girl.

And though in her heart, Ginny knew that it was her mother who was the strength of the family, she was not above using her father’s pride to get what she wanted from time to time, even if it meant going against her mother’s wishes. In the end, it wasn’t the divorce of her parents that Ginny grieved the most but the upheaval of their home and loss of her friends that seemed to be a sacrifice she shouldn’t have had to make.

Their stone cottage and Ginny’s peaceful life were things that Sara had fought hard for. Richard had hated the idea of moving out of the city. But moving into their country home over a decade ago had been the one thing Sara had won on. In her heart, she suspected her marriage would never get better, so she became determined to at least give Ginny a quality life—in the right home and schools—and hoped that moving to that little stone house in the country might just do the trick. Sadly enough, it was merely a bandage and never could fix the problems that were just waiting to catch back up to them again. She knew that part of the reason she went back to work after Ginny started school was because even the little stone house couldn’t fill the hole in her life, which was getting wider and wider. Only when Ginny was home did the stillness not deafen her.

She never dreamed a part-time job would turn into a career she loved, which when she needed it most would up and leave her stranded by the road. Downsizing, they called it in corporate language. Like that was supposed to make you feel better about the fact your life was being turned upside down. So much for company loyalty! Apparently, the loyalty is only supposed to be a one-way street, she thought. One moment you’re spending fifty hours a week, side by side with a group of people you are as close as family with, working hard to make your company successful; the next, you are terminated, canned, booted, bumped out, laid-off, restructured, downsized! It didn’t matter what you called it, you felt like a failure and someone who had been the butt of a very big, very bad joke. All the hard work, all the long hours, all the sacrifices meant nothing. In one brief announcement, they closed the books and moved on like you never existed. Then, somehow, you’re supposed to pick up your storyline and travel on alone.

Sara glanced at her daughter’s anguished sleeping form curled up around a pillow as she climbed back into the car. Her body felt racked with the punishment of the long drive, and she was fairly certain the bags under her swollen eyes were making her look twenty years older than her birth date declared. The sun was just starting to rise.

Sara sighed, conscious that summer was almost over and fall just around the corner. She closed her eyes, and memories kicked in of the town bathed in autumn colors and wispy leaves covering the square, the wind kicking up a spray of gold, amber, and sienna when it blew, just like when she was a kid. Suddenly, she felt so old, like all those leaves turning brown and falling into dust. When had her life, like the seasons, started slipping away so fast, and why did it seem like she could almost feel winter’s cold breath signaling the end coming too soon? Please, Lord, she pleaded, let this new start in Destinybay be a good thing, let it be the beginning of a better life for us, the life I’d hoped for all those years ago. She prayed someone was listening and that somehow, someway, someone would keep winter’s icy blast at bay and give her another chance.

She shook her head at the morbid turn her thoughts had taken. Maybe it really was time to come home. And with that thought, she put the car in gear and headed up the hill toward her mother’s house, already feeling tense and nervous. Margaret Elizabeth Stern, her mother …she had to face her mother now.

black.jpg

As Sara slowly eased the car onto the driveway, she looked up at the family manor. This was the house she had grown up in. Many in town considered it a mansion, although it couldn’t technically be called such. It was a dark stone house on the edge of town set back from the road and surrounded by tall pin oaks and a low stone wall. The two-story building had flanking windows and a large, hand-made mahogany door. The windows and door had curved tops that managed to make the house look like it was staring at you at night. To add to the frightening demeanor, at night, the spiny pin oaks looked like they could reach out and grab you. The house had a sinister presence as it sat unblinking, capable of scaring every child in town come Halloween. Living in this place with such a menacing atmosphere meant overcoming all the other kids’ misconceptions on that first day of