Eyes from Above: The Sequel to "A Real Love Story"

By Howard R. Milsted Jr.

Eyes from Above the sequel to A Real Love Story, is a romantic novel about a man who experiences great loneliness and deep depression after the death of his beloved wife of forty-eight years. His loss of will to live consumes him until his wife comes to him in visions and urges him to enjoy his life on earth until they are united again for eternity. He meets a much younger woman and the three of them become entwined in a journey of found, lost and then found again happiness. His story will lift the hearts of readers who have suffered great loss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499037838

Howard R. Milsted Jr.

Howard R. Milsted Jr. takes Royalty’s own words and puts them down on paper for him. Howard is married with three grown children and four grand-children. He owns and operates a mechanical contracting firm and is the successful author of “A Real Love Story”. Paula Cunningham, the illustrator has been married for thirty-one years had has two grown daughters. Viewing this first time endeavor as a challenge, she hopes the illustrations will bring the story to life for its young readers.

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Copyright ©t 2014 by Howard R. Milsted, Jr.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014910804

ISBN:   Hardcover      978-1-4990-3781-4

             Softcover      978-1-4990-3782-1

             eBook      978-1-4990-3783-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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.

Rev. date: 06/23/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

PART TWO

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

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

EPILOGUE

I know this novel will be one of

the most heartwarming you will

ever read

Claire, I love you!

I will always love you, Claire!

Thanks for being there when I needed

You most!

I want to thank everyone who kept insisting

I put my thoughts down on paper.

I also want to thank the people who gave me

some of the ideas, recommended some of the

incidents to write about and to the ones who

allowed me to enhance their involvement.

Some of my descriptions are lyrics from songs.

They were my thoughts long before they

became music.

I hope I won’t offend anyone by using their

words; I used them to express my love.

It was very hard for me to write this book.

The more I wrote, the more enthusiastic I

became. As the end of my writing neared,

I couldn’t get back to it fast enough.

A special thanks to Dr. J.F. Mackie for his

editing of this book and his gracious words

of praise for the story.

A special thanks to my son David who came

up with the title.

Thank you all!

CHAPTER 1

It was one o’clock in the morning and I couldn’t fall asleep. I was lying in the lounge chair/bed. The television was on in front of me, but I could n’t see the screen as the tears kept blurring my vision. I kept glancing over at the beautiful picture of Claire sitting on the top of a CD cabinet. It was a quiet dark night. Earlier, I had tried to locate Claire’s star, but I couldn’t see many stars since the sky was not very clear. Years ago, for her birthday, I had a star named for her. After all, God had sent this beautiful heavenly body to me.

Claire gave me her picture as a birthday present eight days before we were married. Claire was once a singer and this picture was done at the studio where her pictures were taken to promote her singing performances. These were usually mounted in front of the location she was singing that night. Of all the picture I accumulated over the years, this was my favorite.

Under a nearby window was an antique printer’s table. On top of this table were pictures of Claire that had been displayed at her funeral.

Behind my lounge, at the end of the room was a brick fireplace. On the mantel were all our family pictures. Antique guns of all sizes and types were mounted over the mantel.

On the opposite wall, which had originally been the rear of our Cape Cod house, was a book case filled with Claire’s favorite books. Across from my lounge was a new stuffed couch followed by an end table. Over the end table was a large painting of Claire. It had only been completed a short time ago. The painting, done by a local female artist, is a copy of my favorite picture.

Next to the end table there was a wooden electric heater in a beautiful oak cabinet. Originally this space was filled by a full size organ which Claire would sometimes play. The organ was Darin’s. When he moved into his own place he gave the organ to his mother. The organ was very special to Claire.

When she lived at her parent’s home she had her own baby grand piano in the living room. When Claire got married Claire’s brother sold it without telling her. It broke her heart, the organ helped her ease the pain she carried all those years.

When Darin lived at home, he made the basement family room into his bedroom and he had the organ in his room. Darin is Claire’s and my second child and is half owner of Sabin and Associates.

After Darin moved out, during a major storm, we got water in the basement. We had a contractor make repairs to the basement. During these repairs one of the keys on the organ was broken. When we brought the organ upstairs and put it on the porch for Claire to play, the broken key really bothered her, even though it didn’t affect her playing. I tried to have it repaired. Everyone who came out said they could not get any keys to match and it would be too expensive to repair. I continually tried for years but to no avail.

When Claire came home from the hospital with no hope for recovery that broken key became one of her major concerns. At least once a day, she complained about the broken key.

It was depressing to see Claire growing weaker each day and to look at her face and see the pain that she was going through. She had fought so hard and long, because she knew I needed her. Finally I couldn’t take it any more. I spent a whole day calling around. When I told salesmen the make and model number of the organ they said it was a waste of time. I asked if they could recommend anyone else. No matter who I called it was always the same story.

After hundreds of calls I found someone who had a few keys he thought would match. The organ was at the foot of Claire’s hospital bed on the back porch. I bought a lounge chair and put it next to the bed so Claire and I could hold hands and I could sleep next to her.

When I explained the story about Claire, the man said he could come the next day. I asked him if he could come after twelve o’clock since I had to go to a neighbor’s funeral . The repairman said it was no problem. That morning Claire again asked me when I was going to get the organ fixed.

Terri, our youngest, came and stayed with her mother while I went to the viewing. When I returned Terri asked if I was going to work. She would stay with her mother and would be there when the repairman arrived.

I looked at Claire and shook my head. No, Terri, Mom doesn’t look good. Terri silently agreed.

Shortly after one, the organ repairman arrived with several different styles of keys. He had one that was perfect. He asked Claire if he could play some of her favorite songs. He played for more then thirty minutes. Claire’s eyes were filled with tears the whole time he played.

Claire, had a slight smile on her face. Something we hadn’t seen for several weeks. She thanked me for having the organ fixed and asked me to bend down and she kissed me. A little over an hour after the repairman left, Claire passed on holding my hand. She kept living until that organ was repaired. I often wondered how much longer she would have lived if I hadn’t had the organ repaired She forced herself to live until her organ was as she remembered it.

I kept looking at Claire’s picture, her portrait, then our wedding pictures. Back and forth. Oh, why can’t I fall asleep, I thought, "the alarm will go off at four o’clock. Only three hours sleep and we have a long day ahead of us. This will be the first trip I will be taking without my Claire.

Come on Howard, relax, try to get some sleep. The alarm is going to go off soon. You have to be at David’s house at six-thirty. You still have to hook up the refrigerator in the van.

Thank heaven Darin put my suitcase in the van last night. David, our oldest son, is married to Edwina his high school sweetheart. David is a paramedic and lives in Haddon Heights. They have two children, Adam, twenty two, and Rebekah, nineteen. Adam and Rebekah are going on this trip to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee . Also Terri and her husband Kevin, Erick, ten, and Jasen, eight are going. Adam has been there before. Claire and I took Adam and his friend Mike about three years ago. At the time Rebekah didn’t want to go. Terri’s family are going in her minivan and the remaining three will go in my minivan. I am sure everyone will be switching cars since mine has two televisions while Terri’s only has one. Knowing Terri’s family, they will be late."

Thinking about Claire, it brought to mind a song I once heard.

Oh, why. That’s what I keep asking myself. Was there

anything I could have done. Why didn’t I realize you were

sick. Oh, why didn’t I have a clue you weren’t well. God

only knows what went wrong and why he took you from

me. Why you left the stage before you finished singing

our song, I’ll never understand. In my mind you will remain

the thirty-year old I met at the bowling alley. You always

sang with passion no matter the song. When you took the

stage, you’d shine like the midday sun. Now that you’re

gone, I cry because it’s not like you to leave in the middle

of a song. Oh, why did God have to take you from me

when we had so many more songs to sing?

I began remembering all the trips we took and all the good and bad times we had. There had been a lot more good times then bad. Some of the bad times became funny times as the years went by. Our three kids loved to get together, reminisce and laugh about those stories.

I looked at my favorite picture again. "God, she was beautiful. Claire was a lady She knew me through and through, She knew what to do, and how to please me. Claire knew what I was about. Claire was a lady.

My mind wandered. I couldn’t help but remember her strong determination. When she decided to quit smoking she quit on the spot. When she became a mother, she was devoted to motherhood. Her brother and sister, after the birth of David, asked her to leave me and come back home and live with them. She told them she was now married and was going to stay married. They informed her that they wanted nothing to do with her. If it bothered her, she never gave any indication. They made the choice, so she forgot about them. She was still very close to her father and he spent a lot of time visiting us until his death. Her sister died having never talked to Claire again. After thirty years, her brother showed up at the Sabin office and wanted to know if he could see Claire. The two of them began to renew a cordial friendship. A year later, he died.

When she decided to give up singing, she gave it up never to sing again. Claire was able to leave the past behind and easily move into the present, enjoying each moment to the fullest.

"I’ll never forget that day. I came home from work and she said she wanted to tell me something before we had dinner. We sat down at the kitchen table.

I decided I’m not going to sing anymore, she blurted out. "We don’t need the money. You’re making a good salary at Sabin. I can’t yell at the boys all day then go out at night in good voice. I don’t get to relax. I’d like to be home with the kids and you at night. I’m gone four or more nights a week with rehearsals and shows. I’m always learning new songs. Plus, I know you don’t like me going to