The December Angel

By N.M. Lander

With the blink of an eye, Mariella, a professional writer who once felt she was on top of the world,
watches as her life crumbles right before her eyes. The love of her life and her strength, her
husband Daniel, a powerful business attorney, was diagnosed with leukemia. After hearing that
he collapsed while in his law fi rms offi ce, Mariella rushes to be at Daniels side. As a writer, Mariella would
write month after month in her own Journaland during times when she was facing situations as a person
that she is trying to become. Mariella and her two young girls watch while Daniel becomes weaker and
sicker, struggling each day with a disease that the doctors were unable to cure. All they could do was stand
there and watch and make whatever time left to be memorable. As Mariella was trying to keep strong for
her husband and two young girls, Cassidy and Ryder, she found herself building a wall to block out her own
emotionsa wall Mariella had put up for strength while dealing with Daniels sickness.
Faced with the challenges of moving on without him at her side, she tried to keep life normal in New
England. After losing Dan, she found that the changes she was making in her life were not enough. It is
not that she didnt want to lose memories of Dan, however, she wanted to wipe off those bad memories, the
ones of him becoming weak and sick. Mariella and her two young girls would soon fi nd their new home in
a town outside of Nashville, Tennessee, called Golden Oaks. Moving to the South and leaving her northern
life behind her, she began running a local bed and breakfast while still writing. Here, she met Brenda, a
woman who she became good friends with and who introduced her to Jordan, a man who she would soon
consider the new love of her life.
Soon fi nding love again with a professional hockey player and also a coach for her daughters hockey team,
she began to regain the part of her that was missing from her lifelove. Mariella started to fi nd happiness,
strength, and hopeall of which she had needed after meeting Jordan.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483694139

N.M. Lander

N.M. Lander is a writer by night and a stay-at-home Mom during daytime. She enjoys cuddling beside a nice roaring fire and plotting out her next stories. She is a family woman who enjoys spending time with her two daughters, aged three and one, and her husband, who is the rock of her life. Natalie takes her experiences in life and those told to her, jotting them down on paper. She loves learning and experiencing new adventures, and if something catches her eyes, she is not afraid to write them down in hopes that they will inspire and be turned into something interesting, creative, and inspiring. December Angel is the first novella written by N.M. Lander; she completed it in May 2013 after her second daughter was born. N.M. Lander is constantly writing and working on new pieces. N.M. Lander lives in a small town in Pennsylvania with husband Marc, her two little girls, and her black Labrador retriever, Kato. She hopes her work will inspire her readers and believes in the messages her books reveal. One important quote she believes in: Stay true to yourself and be open to change; who knows where your next adventure will lead.

Book preview

December 1, 2010

Summer came quickly and then went turning the ground colder each and every passing day, bringing in the rain and cold weather in the fall, and leaving with snow in the beginning of December. It was December once again and I am barely in the Christmas mood.

I had always helped out with organizations, charities, had huge elaborate parties, and for once, this year was going to be the first year that I would not be doing anything. Christmas was always so magical for us. Daniel, the kids, and I would go out every first weekend in December and pick out the biggest tree possible, one that was so big that it would barely fit into the house and once we got it in our house, we would have to finish decorating the top of the tree from our upstairs. Every year on Christmas Eve, we would wait to decorate it and then sit cuddled up beside the fireplace holding each other and listening to the fire crackle and wood pop. As we would laugh with our two little girls, Cassidy and Ryder, we would act out a skit the night before Christmas.

This Christmas was so different, it was bitter, gloomy, and it barely felt like Christmas at all. Was I ready for Christmas? I wasn’t, but I knew this is my last Christmas with Daniel. Not because of a separation, a divorce, or because of the terrorism war in Iraq, but because of cancer.

I quickly jotted down on paper but scribbled as soon as I started writing that paragraph about this being Daniels last Christmas. I stopped jotting, for this was not one of my stories, I thought aloud. This is not one of my quick let’s get this done story, send it off to the publishing house, just so I can make money. I thought. Not this time. No, this time I am one of the characters. I was in the story; I was the one feeling all the pain, the sorrow, the gilt, and the hurt all at once. My mind was overwhelmed, exhausted, and yet I felt like I was starting to lose myself. I felt as though I was not going to find my groove again—my groove in writing.

I was starting to face reality. I was starting to find myself lost with words; nothing was going on the paper, nothing was coming out the way I wanted it to, and I for once, started feeling alone. Of course, Daniel’s family was there, they were there for us thru everything and I know they would help out with Ryder and Cassidy; but they didn’t know all the pain I was feeling. I know deep inside they too were also feeling pain and they too needed to grieve and find comfort in their own way. I do not know how many times I would sit downstairs at the kitchen table and cry at night. I would hide my tears from Daniel, Ryder, and Cassidy; they did not need to see how weak I was, how emotionally drained I was, and how physically exhausted I was. God knows how many times I would wake up in the middle of the night and touch Daniel’s face just to make sure he didn’t pass through the night, the guilt that I was feeling for that I didn’t tell Ryder and Cassidy that daddy was not feeling well, and that this is our last Christmas as a family. No, of course not, I bottled it up inside for the longest time. I don’t want to think about it and for if I did, I would just fall apart for our beautiful little girls. For the girls needed me to be strong for them.

January 15, 2010

As I was looking back, it had been just a year ago it seemed to us we were on top of the world. Daniel had won a huge case with a major client, Mighty Mike; he was a first draft pick football player and played a linebacker. Mike was in Los Angeles visiting a local night club with a group of his childhood friends. I guess you can say Mike was in the wrong place at the wrong time and a bullet struck him in the back. His buddies believe the gun was not aimed at him but somehow he got the bullet instead of the person who it was intended for.

It was a very intensive trial involving an L.A. gang. Dan fought hard for Mike’s family to find closure and to have the two men involved locked up for life. The trial ended after six intensive months and Dan won big. He was on his career high when one day at the firm he passed out. He was sitting in a meeting with the A team, or what Dan called his top lawyers at the firm.

February, 2010

Then once again, one day at his law firm he passed out. His college roommate and best friend, Trevor, was sitting on the one side of him, watching Dan struggle as he tried picking up his pen and paper to cross off the list of the meeting for that day. He turned white and collapsed right before the team’s eyes. They quickly called for medical attention and Dan was immediately rushed to the hospital.

It took the doctors test after test to discover Dan had a rare form of leukemia and found out that it was a fast growing form of leukemia. They knew that it was at stage three which meant they can do chemo but that didn’t guarantee him to make it thru.

I was at a meeting with the local girls from the D.A.R. The Daughters of the American Revolution, we were at a luncheon. We were talking about ourselves, catching up on the latest gossip, when my phone rang. It was Trevor, and I just turned white.

I looked over at my friend, Prudence, who was sitting there with me, Is everything alright Mariella? Prudence proceeded to ask as I looked over at her. It is Dan, he is at Mercy West. I said lost, confused, and worried. I just stopped in my tracks and I left in a hurry, barely saying much as good-bye. All I wanted to do was get to the hospital and to be there at Dan’s side.

I arrived at the hospital rushing past the security, in need of trying to find Dan. A nurse had stopped me and had asked me to sit and wait as they were running tests. Trevor brought me a cup of coffee and was comforting me. In my mind, all I had wanted was to see Dan and I was not one who had wanted to make small talk in a situation such as this. I am one who likes to get down to the point of things. Trevor had told me what had happened at the meeting. Dan never had an episode like that before and it was scary for me because it seemed to have just happened right out of the blue. No warning signs or if there was any, Dan didn’t tell me. I usually can pick up on things if something is bothering Dan or the girls; I usually know.

Just a few short minutes after Trevor explained the meeting to me, a doctor came and asked for me. He was Dr. Ray, a doctor whom was also a close friend of Dan, one Dan would golf with occasionally, and a groomsman in our wedding. His wife was Prudence, my close friend from the D.A.R. He came to me asking to meet me in his office and go over some test with him. I walked in finding Dan who was also sitting there with me. Dr. Ray, who we call Samuel, had explained the test and the results in which they were able to find the leukemia.

Dan, let me put this bluntly and as straight forward as I can. Sam looked at us; he too was shocked and concerned. As I know Mariella, you like getting straight to the point and don’t want small talk. Sam looked down at the results as he had cleared his throat. "Bud, you have stage three leukemia. As we were running tests, we found enlarged lymph nodes. There are three options we want to start with; first one is chemotherapy, infusion of donor’s red blood cells, and lastly, a bone marrow transplant from