Sacrifice: Touched by an Angel, #1

By Misty Maize

"Beautifully written. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough! Excited to read the next one."

 

In this stunning new trilogy the beauty of love, loss, and everything in between is explored.

 

She never thought she'd meet a man that made her heart skip a beat or her pulse quicken every time he was near. But then she did. At one of the lowest points in her life, Tessa Hale discovered there really was such a thing as happily ever after. While she was planning that happily ever after, fate had different plans for her.

 

Warner Payne wasn't shy to admit how much he cared for Tessa, or how much he missed her. It seemed like no time at all had passed when his life came crumbling down around him. One moment he was intoxicated by her beauty, kindness, and angelic ways, and the next he was trying to find ways to cope with the grappling loss of the woman he loved. That is, until an angel gave him the greatest gift of all: the gift of healing.

 

Touched by an Angel Trilogy:

Sacrifice (#1)

Penance (#2)

Fate (#3)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Perfect Escape
• Release date: Aug 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393467854

Book preview

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Copyright © 2019 by Misty Maize. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

Do not upload or distribute anywhere.

Excerpt from Penance copyright © 2019 by Misty Maize. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

Do not upload or distribute anywhere.

This ebook is for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to others. If you would like to share this book with others please either purchase it for them or direct them to the retailer of their choice for purchase. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

Contents

Copyright

Prologue

Past

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Present

Thirty-Two

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Past

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Six

Thirty-Seven

Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Nine

Forty

Forty-One

Forty-Two

Forty-Three

Forty-Four

Forty-Five

Forty-Six

Forty-Seven

Forty-Eight

Forty-Nine

Fifty

Present

Fifty-One

Past

Fifty-Two

Fifty-Three

Fifty-Four

Present

Fifty-Five

Fifty-Six

Epilogue

Excerpt from Penance

Titles in the Touched by an Angel Trilogy

Other Titles

About the Book

She never thought she'd meet a man that made her heart skip a beat or her pulse quicken every time he was near. But then she did.

At one of the lowest points in her life, Tessa Hale discovered there really was such a thing as happily ever after. While she was planning that happily ever after, fate had different plans for her.

Warner Payne wasn't shy to admit how much he cared for Tessa, or how much he missed her. It seemed no time at all had passed when his life came crumbling down around him. One moment he was intoxicated by her beauty, kindness, and angelic ways, and the next he was trying to find ways to cope with the grappling loss of the woman he loved. That is, until an angel gave him the greatest gift of all: the gift of healing.

Prologue

Moments came and went, they were fleeting, just like the moment Warner had with Tessa. His wife was supposed to be by his side, she vowed to never leave him. Sadly, the choice was not hers to make. The choice was made for her. And Warner's life would never be the same. Or so he thought.

Looking to the heavens, Warner wanted answers, but the only one he could find was the one that helped him sleep easy at night, knowing that Tessa was where she belonged. Although he believed her time on earth was cut short, he also chose to believe that she was spreading her love and kindness elsewhere. That she was going to touch people's hearts just as she had touched his. She was an angel on earth in every sense of the word. She was kind, caring, compassionate, beautiful inside and out, and true to herself. She had a sort of elegance about her that took Warner's breath away every time she entered a room. Everything about her lured him in. She was the most enticing woman Warner had ever met. And not a day went by that he didn't feel like the luckiest man alive or thanked the fools that hadn't already swept her up. The image of Tessa was still seared in his brain, as it always would be. Her hair was a strawberry blonde, often hanging down her back, in a maintained and casual way. She usually never went outside without adding a hairband to her ensemble, saying that without it, her outfit simply wasn't complete. Warner never argued with her, but he also never let a day go by that he didn't remind her how absolutely breathtaking she was with or without a headband. Frankly, it didn't matter to Warner if she wore a potato sack, he would still find her to be a work of art in her own right.

Tessa and Warner had the life. They had the life that people dreamed of, and all at the ripe age of twenty-nine. Well, okay, Warner wasn't shy to admit it. He wasn't twenty-nine. Tessa was, but he wasn't. Warner was thirty-two when he married the woman of his dreams. And he was twenty-seven when he met the gorgeous woman in white. He remembered the day like it was yesterday, but Warner was no fool, and he knew that it was far from yesterday. In fact, it was five years to the day. Five years to the day that he met and instantly fell in love with the woman in white.

When people told Warner that Paris would hold hope for him, he never in a million years, would have thought that Tessa was part of that hope he was promised. It turned out that Tessa was his hope. She embodied what he wanted most in the world. The only thing was convincing her that he was just as right for her as she was for him. But Warner was confident he could convince her. Fast forward five years and it became clear they were exactly where they should have been.

As Warner sat on the beige couch planted in front of the television in the living room they once shared, he tried to fathom the idea that Tessa would never again sit next to him on their couch. He would never again be able to rub her soft feet as he watched her fall fast asleep on the couch. Even though she swore she wouldn't, she always did. Warner counted on it. And he sat there, watching her sleep. He watched as she slept peacefully, her head on the opposite side of the couch, and her feet in his lap. Her head would slowly but surely slide off the end of the couch and Warner would walk over, grab the pillow from the middle of the couch, and place it underneath her head. He made sure not to wake her, but if he did, he was rewarded. Tessa traveled kisses up and down Warner's collarbone, slowly rubbing her hands up and down his chest, and then moments later pulling off the clothing that came between them. Warner never doubted it for a second—he was one lucky man. And he made sure to return the favor to Tessa. Warner ensured she knew every single day and night just how much he adored and loved her.

Tessa may have been gone now, but Warner held so many great memories of her, where she would live on forever in both his head and his heart. The emotions were still raw and he was just as vulnerable today sitting on the empty couch as he was two weeks ago when they were sipping white wine and rehashing their days to each other. Tessa called it sharing is caring time and she never let a day go by that they didn't have it. It was a tradition, just like rubbing her feet and watching her fall asleep.

Rising from the empty couch, Warner made his way into the nursery, where he was fortunate to have the opportunity to hold his baby girl in his arms. A baby girl that he and Tessa were supposed to raise together, but plans had a way of changing. And Tessa and Warner's plans certainly had. Their sweet baby girl cried out for attention as Warner walked into the room. She was nine months old and just as adorable as the day Tessa and Warner brought her home from the hospital. Warner felt truly blessed that day, and he only wished he would feel that way again one day. But he was starting to realize things may never be the same.

Picking up baby Ellen from the crib, he held her in his arms and brought her over to the rocking chair near the crib where he sat down and began rocking her. He rocked her until she fell asleep again in his arms and thanked the heavens for bringing Ellen into his life. She would forever be a reminder of the love Tessa and Warner once shared. A reminder of the happily ever after they shared, as brief as the time may have been.

He sat for a few minutes with Ellen in his arms, staring at the precious life he and Tessa had brought into this world. Ellen was made from pure love. She was made from the purest love there ever was. Warner held Ellen in his arms and stared at her delicate features. When awake and open, Ellen's eyes were as blue-green as her mother's. They were as large as could be, and there was no ignoring the small, yet familiar nose that was in the center of Ellen's face. That, Warner pondered to himself, was all his. Tessa's nose was much smaller and much more delicate in nature. It sat perfectly in the middle of her face, perfectly symmetrical and alike to the other features on her face. Nothing about Tessa screamed unfit. Everything on Tessa belonged. She belonged.

Warner realized that if he kept this up, he would be staring at Ellen and seeing Tessa stare back at him through closed lids all night long. For now, he couldn't put himself through that torture. Ellen was everything to him, but in order to take care of his sweet baby girl, he needed to take care of himself. Warner needed to get his life back in order. Everything he touched, everything he breathed in, everything he saw, it all reminded him of his one true love. The woman that took his breath away every time she walked into a room.

No, Warner finally breathed out the word he had been thinking all day long. The day seemed to last an eternity, but, then again, Warner had a feeling every day from here on out was going to feel like that without Tessa around. Tessa wasn't just his wife, or the mother of his child, or even the one woman in the entire universe that could make him forget about everything else around him with just one stroke of the palm, or one bat of the eye. Tessa was his saving grace. She was his angel. She was his everything.

Warner placed Ellen back in her crib and shut the door behind him as he finally decided to make his way into the master bedroom. The master bedroom that would only be for one body now instead of two.

Walking in, he plopped down on the large bed with plush white sheets and a memory clouded his thoughts. He remembered Tessa begging him to buy the sheets. Come on! Tessa urged. I know you don't like white, but they're so classy. You can't go wrong with white, she continued on.

Finally, she wore him down, and by the second time, Warner caved and decided to give into Tessa's wish. If white sheets were what she wanted, white sheets were what she would get. Okay, I give! Warner placed his hands up in defeat. Tessa giggled, the noise ruminating throughout the whole store. But, Warner started and held up his finger, I propose we break in the sheets tonight. I believe I read somewhere that its good luck that the night you buy new sheets, you should break them in and make them your own. He knew she wasn't buying it. Tessa was a smart woman, after all, but that didn't stop Warner from continuing, Which could only mean one thing.

Tessa raised an eyebrow, inquisitively and folded her arms. She was not buying what he was selling. Yeah, and what's that, Warner?

Well, I was thinking we could do something that we both love. Something that gets our adrenaline going and our blood pumping. As he tried his best to convince her, he trailed gentle kisses up the side of her arm and in the crook of her neck. Kisses would get him far. Or so he thought.

After a few minutes of silence, Tessa unfolded her arms and blew out a sigh. Okay! You win! She wrapped her arms around Warner's neck and kissed him. Kissed him as if they weren't in the middle of the home section of a department store buying sheets. She kissed him as though nothing else mattered. And in that moment, nothing else did.

Warner sat on his bed recollecting that day. That day ended just as he would have hoped. That night, Ellen was conceived. And that night, Warner and Tessa grew closer if that was even possible. Their marriage was better for that night.

Shaking his head from the memories of the past, Warner walked over to his bedside table where he had placed the envelope Jesse left for him. Tessa's brother encouraged him to read it as soon as possible. Warner decided to put it off for as long as possible, afraid of what it would contain. Jesse told him that it was from Tessa. Those words made Warner want to do two very conflicting things: read the letter immediately, and hide it away, unopened for as long as humanly possible. He didn't want their love story to be over, and Warner feared that if he read the letter, their story would be over. It would all be over. If that letter was read, then there would be nothing else awaiting him from Tessa. No more of her spontaneous presents or letters she frequently wrote him would be left on her pillow in the morning. No more scripted notes that told him why she wasn't next to him or about the breakfast that she had waiting for him in the kitchen. She inspired him to do the same, and so he had. They each received letters from one another frequently. In a way, letters became their way of communicating when speaking failed them.

Warner glanced down at the letter in anticipation. He could only imagine what was in the letter. Tessa's last letter to him.

He slowly opened the envelope to the letter. He stared at the folded pages for a second before unfolding them and turning them over to see the words written on the pages. This was it, he thought to himself, the last letter he'd ever get from her.

My love,

If you are reading this, it means that I am not there to tell you these things myself. Now, before you fold the letter back up and put it back inside the envelope to shove in the closet for a few years, until you feel you're ready, don't! I didn't write this letter to make you sad. I wrote this letter so that you know something I feel I didn't always express to you in life.

Warner paused mid-way and looked up at the ceiling, hoping the tears that were threatening to run down his face would disappear. There was no such luck. But Tessa was worth every tear. She was worth every breath.

He looked back down at the letter and continued, slowly reading each word and letting it resonate with him.

That day that I met you was one of the happiest days of my life. At that point, I didn't think it could get much better than that. But then, you asked me to marry you, and things only got better from there. Married life with you was like living in a fairytale. Darling, even fairytales weren't nearly as good as the life we shared. Princesses would be jealous of the life we had. Queens would be envious. And we would cause an uproar with the creators of fairytales.

Truly, the board was in our favor. You always did say life was a game of chess. Well, I never did understand that saying until I became your wife. And let me tell you, being your wife and calling myself Mrs. Payne was the greatest gift you could have ever given me. I truly got a checkmate in that regard. In every regard when it came to you, my handsome husband.

Warner, I want you to understand something. That was only the beginning. My life was made even better the night Ellen was conceived. And then again when Ellen was born.

I realize it's difficult for you to see the good in things right now. I know you're probably frustrated and the last thing you want to do is think of the good days. But I urge you to do just that. I urge you to think of the good days. And have faith that although I'm not there, there will be more of them. There will be plenty more of them.

Ellen is going to need you now more than ever. And in some ways, I think looking into her eyes, you'll slowly begin to heal. Because in her eyes, I'm never far away.

I know you're going to need help along the way, so when the time is right, and only then, Jesse has another letter for you. But don't bother asking for it now because Jesse made a brotherly promise that he will give it to you only when he deems the time is right. He'll know when. But until then, I want you to do something for me. Do you think you can do that? Of course, you can do that. You're my husband. And I know, you would do anything for me. So, do me this last thing. Okay, maybe not last, but still. Now, I'm rambling.

Warner paused reading again and laughed through the tears. Tessa was right, Warner doubted somehow this would be the last thing she asked him to do. But Warner was okay with that. If it meant Tessa would live on for a little while longer through her favors, then Warner would be more than happy to oblige.

Looking back down at the letter, Warner was eager to continue. He couldn't wait to read what she had in store for him.

My husband, my dear, dear husband, more than anything, I would like for you to remember me. Remember me when times were good. Remember me and let my memory live on forever. Because through your memories of us and our life together, the beautiful life we shared, I will never truly be gone. Ellen will need that as much as you will. The memories will be what keep me alive for both of you. So, remember me, Warner. Think back to when it all began and smile, don't cry. Don't let the sadness you're feeling now sour the memories. Our story may be over, but yours is not. Yours is just beginning. And it all starts with your vow to keep the memories intact. If you're having trouble remembering when it all began, just think back to the girl in white. The girl in white that all but fell head over heels in love with you at first sight. (But don't let that go to your head, sweetie.)

Your love,

Tessa

Reading the last words on the page, Warner reread them once more, capturing the picture of Tessa in his mind as he read the words. When he finished, he couldn't believe that the letter was done. The thought that it was all over was unfathomable. Wiping the tears away from his face and sniffling, he uttered softly to himself. Tessa is right, all that's left are the memories. Warner hoped that would be enough.

Past

One

Of course, the last thing Warner wanted was a pity invite to a wedding. His buddy was friends with the brother of the woman getting married. He also happened to be pestering Warner, day and night, to change his mind and join him at the wedding. He thought it would be fun for Warner to go, a change of pace might be nice, he remembered Owen telling him. What Owen didn't understand was that a destination wedding in Paris was not going to do the trick. Sure, Warner hadn't been on a date in about five months, but he doubted, he seriously doubted that going to Paris was going to help him find a girl. Owen thought otherwise.

The wedding was days away and Owen had to be there before the wedding because he was one of the groomsmen. How Warner had never met the bride-to-be or her brother was beyond him, but he just chalked it up to running in different circles. Owen had friends from his high school days, but Warner and Owen met in college as roommates.

Warner got off the phone with his boss and finalized the time off he needed for his trip to Paris. Although going to Paris was the last thing he wanted to do, he gave it another thought and figured why not. So, he took a chance and took the time off. He figured the worst thing that would happen was that he would go sightseeing and see all that Paris had to offer. He had heard about different countries and the once in a lifetime experiences, but never experienced it for himself. Now, he would be able to do that.

He was just about to place his phone back in his pocket when it rang. Without looking at the caller ID, Warner already knew who it was. Owen was much too predictable. If Warner knew Owen, he was no doubt calling to see if he had made up his mind to take the trip to Paris.

Hey, man, Warner answered somberly.

Owen blew outwardly. "So,