Divine Intervention

By E.J. Prim

The first day they met, Angela and Devon unknowingly formed a bond that would
stand the test of time. Although their hearts and souls belonged to each other, a decision
formed from lust would take Angela away from Devon and into the arms of another
man for twenty years. Mysteriously Devon reappears just as Angela leaves her unhappy
marriage and the fi re between them is ignited once again. But is it too late? After a night
of passion, Devon reveals he has met someone special, shattering Angelas heart in two
and Angela is keeping a secret so big it could take her away from him forever. Are they
meant to be together? Will there be a Divine Intervention?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483641164

E.J. Prim

E.J. Prim is married and a mother of three children. She was born in Bryan, Ohio but has lived in North Carolina for the last twenty four years. She has worked in the medical fi eld for seventeen years as a Radiologic Technologist and also has her Bachelors degree in Business Management

Book preview

Chapter 1

The time had finally come. The time she had alluded for so many years, hoping and praying that she would never have to wage war on the tumor growing inside her head. Numbness filled her body as Angela sat in her car, staring at the tall sleek office buildings rising into the skyline in front of her. The news she had just received from her doctor was devastating, and Angela was trying to ingest it all. She should be thankful, not angry, for she had been given twenty long healthy years with her daughter as she had so desperately prayed for every day. But it was hard not to feel some sort of resentment, to wonder why this was happening to her.

Angela had always believed that everything in life happened for a reason. At the time, she may not know what that reason may be, but, in the future, the purpose would be revealed. And time and time again, for Angela, her philosophy had proven to be true.

But now, she was having a hard time accepting that there was a good reason for death to be knocking on her door; a reason for her to be ripped from her life at such a young age without being able to see her daughter graduate from college, get married, or even for Angela to become a grandmother. Things that Angela had dreamed about since the day her daughter, Nora, had been born.

Ten years ago, when Angela had visited her primary physician because of chronic excruciating headaches, a routine CT scan revealed that she had a meningioma, a tumor that arises from the membranes that surround your brain and spinal cord. As with anyone who would find out that something was growing in their brain, Angela immediately began thinking the worst. However, her doctor had assured her that it was a benign tumor that grew very slowly and would likely not cause her anything to worry about.

Every six months, Angela had to have follow up CT and MRI scans to determine if the meningioma had changed in size, and each scan revealed miniscule growth. Fortunately, Angela’s headaches were controlled, for the most part, by medications, but her state of mind began to darken. She knew what lay ahead. One day, her daughter would be without her mother, her greatest fear in life.

At that time, Angela had been married to Nora’s father, Logan, for only ten years. She had been trying to make a happy family, but Logan just never seemed interested in sharing his life with her or his daughter. She knew that he loved them even though he very rarely expressed it. His way of communicating his feelings was to buy his family anything they wanted.

When the two had first married, Angela had felt overwhelmed with all that he had bought her. Growing up in a single family home, money was tight and she understood at an early age that she couldn’t be frivolous. When Logan showered her with gifts she absolutely loved it. However, it didn’t take too long for her to figure out that he used material things to replace his affections and soon the desperation for her husbands touch began to set in.

Angela could only assume that Logan had a rough childhood since he was never willing to share much about it, and that past had put its mark on him. He was a good man, deep down, so generous to others and always willing to help the community. But when it came to his wife, she always came last, and she always received the brunt of his frustrations. Yes, she knew most wives felt this way, but she also knew that the words that came out of her husband’s mouth aimed at her were not what other husbands said to their wives.

Time and time again, the ugliness he spewed at her beat her down until she felt so little of herself that she had cut herself off from her family and friends. This is when she learned of her tumor, and this is what she feared her daughter would be left to live with; self loathing and an endless search for love, just as she had been doing. She couldn’t let this happen.

With a purpose in her soul, she left the doctor’s office and headed into the direction of downtown Raleigh. Twenty minutes later, she pulled up to St. Patrick’s nineteenth century Catholic cathedral. It brought back so many memories of her childhood. She had been baptized Catholic, raised in a Catholic home, and even attended a Catholic school up until the age of thirteen.

Catholicism was very close to her heart, and whenever she was conflicted, she found solace in a church. Angela entered the large archway, dipped her finger into the holy water, signed the cross upon her, and followed the red velvet runner to the pew directly in front of the altar. Angela knelt, clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and bowed her head. Tears fell to the floor. She knew that it was wrong to ask of Him something and promise something in return. You do not make deals with Him. It is His will. But Angela was desperate. She just needed ten years. Please give her ten years to raise her child into adulthood, and then she would happily leave this earth.

Now as she sat in the parking garage revisiting those painful memories of pleas made to a higher power ten years earlier, Angela realized that He had been with her that day at the church. He had heard her cries of anguish and her bargaining for more time and He had intervened. How could she be resentful for that.

Chapter 2

After a long, exhausting day, Angela entered her home to find her husband in his usual nighttime spot. Every evening, like clockwork, Logan would come in from work and sit in his ugly, old, worn-out recliner that was at least eleven years old. As hard as she had tried to replace it, he could never find another that was as comfortable, so it continued to stay.

As she set her purse and keys down on the counter, Logan never acknowledged she was home. He hadn’t heard her enter over the loud volume of his television show, and she was definitely not more interesting than the man shooting a ten-foot alligator or the fork full of roast she had left him in the Crock-Pot that was dripping onto his lap.

Eating at the table together ended the day their only child left for college ten months ago. It had been a battle to get him to eat at the table from the day they married. Angela had assumed that was something that had not been practiced while he was a child, but it was important to her. Supper had always been a time in her family for everyone to take a little break and talk about their day, kind of like sharing time.

Nora had always loved sharing time at the table. She was usually the one who did all the talking, but Angela didn’t mind, and she thought that it was a perfect opportunity for Logan to get to know his daughter a little better since he didn’t spend much time with her any other part of the day. So, of course, as soon as their daughter was gone, so was their only opportunity to bond, allowing their relationship to fall further and further into a tail spin that even an ace pilot wouldn’t be able to pull himself out of.

Their marriage had become strained several years back to the point where Angela felt they were just strangers living in the same house. During those years, their small brown haired blue eyed daughter had questioned her mother several times why they didn’t do anything together as a family; why were they not a normal family.

What do you mean by a normal family sweety?

My friends dads’ play hide and seek and tag and go on vacations with them but daddy doesn’t. Why?

Angela could literally feel her heart shattering into a million pieces. How could she explain this to a child when she didn’t know the answer.

One day, Logan began to withdraw from his family, and, with each passing day, it became worse. Angela had tried on several occasions to speak with him about it, but he had always insisted that she was overreacting, and that he was just busy. After many attempts at trying to enlighten him to their strained family life, she gave up, deciding then and there that it was going to be up to her to make a happy home life for their daughter.

She and Nora began doing more things by themselves, and Angela tried to compensate for her father being absent. Nora never complained about Daddy never being at her plays or sports matches, but Angela knew that her daughter was always saddened when she saw her friends go to father-daughter dances or talked about having things at home such as family game night. Angela did her best, but she knew it could never be enough. Her daughter was only getting half of a life.

When a commercial finally splashed across the screen, Logan lowered the volume and heard his wife tinkering in the kitchen. Not even bothering to turn to look at her, he asked, "How was your