The Lighthouse

By Mei Write

The Lighthouse is very special to Grace and her family. It had stood there for more than a century to offer them a sanctuary, a place to grow or just be.

 

THe waters around it harbours many secrets. Grace stumbles into one of them, and she loves it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mei Write
• Release date: Jun 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223935940

Mei Write

Mei started writing romance and decided to spice it up. Her work balances between Erotic Romance and hardcore NFSW erotica, contemporary, fantasy, FM, FF, you name it. Also enjoy Fitness, Baking and Sci-Fi. 

Book preview

Chapter 1

Grace negotiated yet another turn in the road, fighting the wind and her car in equal measures. Normally, she would have stayed on the highway for the smooth pavement and to save time, but she remembered the breathtaking view from the coastal drive so she’d exited the Interstate near Brunswick to turn East toward the Atlantic. She wanted—needed— to be surrounded by beauty.

Save the occasional battered trucks, the road was empty. Either the people of Maine preferred to get where they needed to go as fast as possible, or they weren’t foolish enough to take a serpentine coastal road when a storm threatened to hit.

One look at her GPS confirmed she still have about twenty kilometers to go. The leaden sky negated the November sun. Grace switched on her headlights.

If she squinted really hard, she could make out the lanky silhouette of the lighthouse in the distance. Its beacon had stopped guiding ships to port a long time ago but it’d stayed in the family. Someone made the trip every other year, whenever life got too hard. Her uncle, a distant cousin or another, and now it was her turn.

Grace blinked away the sudden itch in her eyes. She only had to keep it together for another thirty minutes, forty at most. Forty minutes and she would be safe in her tower. She had food and some cleaning supplies if the house needed a scrub through. If she could find the energy for something so basic as a clean place to sleep. The worse that could happen was needing some kerosene for the generator, but her aunt had assured her she should have enough for a while. Grace snorted. It didn’t matter if she caught a chill. All she needed now solitude and peace.

Everywhere she went, people looked at her with pity in their eyes, or she heard snickers behind her back.

Her parents, her grandmother and now her husband, all within a year poor thing.

Look at her living the life. If he hadn’t died before the divorce settlement, she wouldn’t be so proud.

She inherits everything and she can’t even say a good word about him. What a tart!

It didn’t matter if he had her fired, cheated or abused her. The great Terrence Peat always came out on top. He knew everything, could do anything. Except, maybe, love her.

Respect had left their marriage the first time she’d caught him in their bed with a fan. She’d stayed, convinced her love was enough to make it work or too weak to save herself and leave. But his next affair had killed that too, leaving only humiliation, snide comments, and abstinence in its wake. Despite her best efforts to forget him, to build herself again, shame remained unscathed.

Why do I feel like such a failure? Grace whimpered.

The empty afternoon stayed silent.

She had been asking herself the same thing over and over for the past ten months. Even if the change of scenery didn’t bring her peace, hopefully it would take her mind off the question until she found her courage and stop the whispers once and for all.

Half an hour later, she parked near the entrance on a gravelly pad. She paused for a moment, overwhelmed by the size of the structure in front of her. The strong, tall pile of white stone stood against the wind with a cupola darkened by time and sea-spray.

The vivid image of her father picking her up so she could look at the complex system of mirrors and lenses inside the lamp made Grace’s heart squeezed in her chest.