Just Beyond The Oleander

By Laney Smith

At fourteen years old, after revolving through one foster home after another, Casey Fielder finally found her dream - adoptive parents. Her new parents are everything Casey has ever dreamed of, and more - absolute perfection!

 

Quiet, shy, and sweet, Casey is the dream daughter for Ella and Rob Edenberry - so well-mannered and polite - especially for a kid with such a transient past. A perfect fit for the perfect parents!

 

Sometimes, however, the image of perfection is a devious, cruel illusion - shattered by the perfect murder.

What really happened that day . . . just beyond the oleander? It was all so perfect . . . wasn't it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fiery Vision Publishing
• Release date: May 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201977009

Book preview

If you’re reading this,

something has gone very wrong.

This is the story – the whole story - the true story.

I am sharing every detail you will need to see the truth

in this senseless tragedy.

Forgive me if it seems I’m wandering or oversharing (some of this is nakedly intimate).

You need the information, just wait and see. The devil is always in the details.

I will share the whole truth, no matter how embarrassing it may be.

Judge me, if you must.

Hang on my every word, if you like.

Believe the lies, if it makes you feel better.

No matter what you do, just tell them what they are looking for is somewhere off Morgan’s Point in Mount Pleasant, in the clearing in the trees, beside the pond . . .

JUST BEYOND THE OLEANDER.

ONE

––––––––

I try to remember how we got here. I try to recall when I first knew something was wrong. That’s difficult to determine, seeing as how I was in denial for most of it. I so badly wanted to believe things were perfect that I lied to myself. I lied to my family and friends. I lied to my husband. I became the biggest liar there ever was. However, I didn’t see that. I thought that if I could just will it to be true, it would be true. I pretended we were going through stages, and that things would change. They did change. Boy, did they change!

My husband, Rob, and I were high school sweethearts. Rob graduated a year before me. In high school, he was one of those well-liked, popular guys who hung out with all the athletes, even though he didn’t have time to play school sports. When he wasn’t in school, his dad put Rob to work in his construction business. After Rob graduated, he opted to skip the college path and convinced his dad to start a landscaping branch to the family business. Not only was Rob’s dad a business owner, but so too was his mom. She owned the local flower shop, and in high school, I was spoiled. Rob was always having his mother deliver flowers to the school because he said he liked the way I beamed when I got called to the administration office to claim my latest delivery.

Anyway, it only took Rob a couple of years to be able to buy his dad out of the landscaping business, affording Rob an opportunity to become the next generation of business owners. The Edenberry’s were a well-known, honest, respected family. I was always proud to be part of their little circle.

When I was twenty years old, Rob had earned enough money to pay for our wedding himself. It was a small, simple, backyard ceremony. The reception was better than anything I had hoped for. Family and friends pitched in and brought a dish or two – potluck style. Our wedding cake was a gift to us from a local baker who hoped Rob’s mother would help with flowers for her granddaughter’s wedding. It was an amazing day and our union was a celebration with all of the people who matter most to us. In the end, Rob paid for my wedding dress, the cake cutlery, the stationery for invitations and thank-you notes, my shoes, his tuxedo, and the attire for our wedding party. All things considered, it was just affordable enough for a memorable celebration, without years of debt haunting us, after the fact. It was the perfect dream wedding for us.

A year after marriage, we bought our first home. We bought a three-bedroom farmhouse. Since we started dating at the end of my freshman year, Rob and I discussed where we saw ourselves in five years. I saw myself being the mother of two kids. Rob saw himself being a father within ten years. Once we saw that we were building a future together, I convinced him to compromise on that timeline. By compromise, I mean I got him to agree to start trying for a child right away.

To spare you a long, dreadful story, I’ll just say that procreating was not in the cards for me. To lighten the mood, I’ll say my female machinery was defective and I could never sustain a pregnancy longer than about six weeks.

Once I found out I could never have a child, I left Rob and filed for divorce. Just because I couldn’t have children didn’t mean I wanted him to never have children. I moved back to my parents’ house where I intended to stay until I could afford a place of my own. My dad and Rob conspired against me and concocted a plan. I was working with Rob’s mother, at the time, in her flower shop. While I was at work, the two of those crazy guys moved all of my stuff back into my home. Since I didn’t have a car of my own, Rob showed up to pick me up from work, instead of my dad. He made a few jokes about my efforts to leave him and how I should’ve known he’d never let me carry on with that for very long.

We said in sickness and in health. We said until death do we part, he said. "We never said those promises apply, unless it’s because of you, in some way. So, I’ve put your things back in our home. That’s where you live. With me. Happily married. Make sense?"

That was the way Rob always approached life. For him, everything was easily resolved. He held me when I cried after I did not make the cheer squad my sophomore year. I fumbled a couple of times during one of the group routines. I knew I’d messed up. For some reason, I still believed I’d make the squad. When I didn’t see my name posted after try-outs, I was devastated and embarrassed. For Rob, it was a simple fix. Just sit out a year and try again, next time. However, one of the girls who made the squad found out her dad was being transferred to Washington, two weeks after try-outs. Since I was only one away from making the squad, when the girl moved, I ended up being on the team anyway. That was a major life crisis, for me, then. Rob stepped in and held me up when I felt so weak. He went out of his way, trying to do little things to cheer me up. His motto was, It’s you and me. No matter what. He said it and he lived it.

A few years into our marriage, in the summer, Rob made more money than we could spend. In the winter, he had to get a little more creative. Thankfully, in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina – our home – winters weren’t too harsh. Typically, Rob could find work. No matter what season it was, we never spent a lot of time worrying about finances. I was a spoiled wife and my husband prided himself on keeping me that way. However, things were a little tighter in winter.

A couple can only buy so many homes, or cars, or furnishings, or clothing before the unplanned void can no longer be ignored. Rob and I discussed our options, in terms of our family situation. We