Excerpt Wednesday - The Adventures Of Angel

Excerpts From All Eight Stories

Angel's New Friends

"What are you doing in the forest?" Lou asked.

"I'm looking for some friends to play with." She looked around herself. "Where's everybody?"

Lou stretched. "Sleeping. That's all everybody does, is sleep."

"Want to play tag, Lou?" Angel asked.

"Sure, but you're it," he growled, tapping her on the head.

They laughed and frolicked for over an hour and ran deeper into the forest.

Angel's Band
"Butterfly's going to tell us how music is made," Angel eagerly said.

Piddy joined the circle.

"Uh hem." Butterfly cleared her throat. "An instrument is anything that makes a pleasant sound. Let me see." She flew around the barn, finally lighting on an old turned upside down tin cup. "Angel, tap on this."

Angel hopped over to the tin cup. She placed her hands on top and gently tapped on it.

"No, no, no," Butterfly said, flying around her in circles. "You must tap it harder."

Angel brought her hands down harder. "It doesn't sound very good, Butterfly. In fact it sounds awful!"

The others agreed.

Butterfly flew once again around the barn, finally sitting down next to an old wooden spoon. "Use this," she said.

Angel grabbed the wooden spoon and tapped lightly on the tin cup. She excitedly hopped up and down. "I made music!" she exclaimed.

Angel and The Watchdog
Butterfly sat on the ground in front of her. "The house is too close to the road. Farmer Zack worries that someone may accidentally wander into the road and get hurt." She pointed to the tall fence separating Angel from the front yard. "That's why he built that big fence."

Angel hopped over to the fence. "I think he meant that only for the farm animals," she insisted. "He certainly couldn't have meant it for the garden animals," she stated.

"I believe he meant it for all the animals living on the farm," Butterfly said.

Angel studied the fence. She looked up at the enormous height, then down to the ground. She hopped closer. "I bet I can crawl under that old fence," she bragged. She lay on the ground and tried to push herself under the narrow opening, but found herself just a little bit larger than the opening. "Hmmm," she said as she bounced back and forth for a few minutes.

Angel's Wish

"But Herman will come back. We have to do something for Herman," Angel insisted.

"Let's all think about what we can do for Herman," Butterfly said. 

"Let's all think about what we can do for Herman," Butterfly said.

They huddled together deep in thought. Finally Angel jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "I know what we can do! We can wish Herman better!"

"Growl. What good will that do?" Lou asked. "I wish for lots of things, but that doesn't mean I ever get everything I wish for. Usually I don't get anything I wish for," he frowned.

"Yes," the others agreed with Lou. "Wishing won't help Herman to get better."

"It's better than doing nothing at all," Angel protested.

Butterfly sat on Angel's back. "Angel's right. Wishing is better than doing nothing at all." She looked at Lou. "Sometimes our wishes don't come true because we may be wishing for something that's not good for us, like too many treats. If we had too many treats, then that could make us sick. Or wishing for it never to rain again. That wouldn't be a good idea because then the fields would dry up and we would have no food to eat or water to drink. But when a wish is for someone else instead of ourselves, then that's the nicest kind of wish there is."

Angel's Parade

"I have an important announcement," Angel said in a serious voice as her friends gathered around her.

"Moo! What is it, Angel?" Herman asked as Leo ran to his side.

Piddy and Lou hurried over to her, with Bugg and Danny following behind them.

Butterfly flew overhead. "Everyone, please listen to Angel's announcement." She rapidly flapped her wings up and down.

Angel cleared her throat. "Our band is getting better and better every day." She looked at Butterfly.

"Hmmm…yes," Butterfly replied. "It is much better than when we first started."

"We're going to make a marching band and be a parade. Everybody pick up your instruments and then stand in line, and when Butterfly calls your name, make a sound on your instrument."

A Secret For Angel
Lou frowned. "We can't tell you what the secret is, Angel."

"Oh, please tell me, Lou," she begged.

"We can't, or it wouldn't be a secret."

"Does everybody else know what the secret is?" Angel asked.

Lou nodded.

"Well, then tell me and we'll all know."

"We would if we could, but we can't," Piddy said, looking at the others.

"Do Herman, Leo, Bugg and Butterfly know the secret?"

"Yes, Angel, we all know the secret," Danny answered.

She wiggled her nose. "Doesn't anyone want me to know the secret?"

"Growl. We have to go now, Angel. We'll see you later." 

Tears filled her eyes. "Okay, then. Goodbye, everyone," she said sadly as she slowly hopped away.

Angel's Glasses

Butterfly tapped Angel's head. "You're it, Angel."

Angel looked around as everyone scattered. She hopped and ran as fast as she could to catch Danny. She reached out to tag him, but he ran as fast as a walrus could out of her reach.

Danny smiled. Usually he was tagged right away, but today was different. He wondered if he was getting faster.

Angel suddenly stopped, then rubbed her eyes. She squinted as Danny hurried away.

"What's the matter, Angel?" Butterfly asked worriedly. "Why didn't you tag Danny?"

"My eyes are blurry again," she said as she looked at the others coming toward her. She blinked a few times, but they were still blurry.

Angel's New Sister

"Angel, the baby is going to be a part of our family, whether you want her to be or not. That's not going to change. I need you to help me get the nest ready." She patted Angel's head. "You'll always be my special girl."

Angel crinkled up her nose. "Can I go play with my friends now, Mommy?"

"Yes, but make sure you're back in time for supper."

Angel hurriedly hopped out of the garden. She scurried over to the flower garden, seeing Butterfly sitting on top of a sunflower. "Hi, Butterfly." She waved.

Butterfly flew over to her and landed in front of her. "I was waiting for you, Angel. What do you want to do today?"

Angel shrugged. "I don't know." She sat down and put her face in her hands.

"Don't you feel well, Angel?" Butterfly asked worriedly.

"I feel fine, Butterfly."

"What's the matter then?" She tipped a wing in Angel's direction. "You look so sad."

Angel frowned. "Mommy's having a baby."

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Excerpt Wednesday – Murder In The Pinelands

A twig snapped behind him, startling him. He aimed his flashlight toward the noise. The light flickered and went out. "Damn," he muttered. Another twig snapped. Aaron twisted his head in the direction of the sound as snapping twigs drew louder. Evan and the girls were getting even with him. That was it. They wanted to prove he wasn't as brave as he'd boasted. He relaxed a little.

"Not funny, man," Aaron called out as he peered into the pitch-black woods. "I know you're there, Evan. Are Jensyn and Kennedy with you?" The snapping twigs stopped. "Come on, Evan. You've made your point," he called. He glanced around himself. "What the hell?"

His voice caught in his throat as two red glowering, what he assumed were eyes glared back at him. Aaron tried to run, but fear kept his feet frozen to the spot as the glowing red eyes blinded him. His headache intensified, and he slumped to the ground.

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Excerpt Wednesday - All I Want Is You

Looking at this handsome stranger brought to the surface long dormant feelings, which caused her heart to flutter as she glanced into his beautiful kind eyes. That was all it took, a glance. The unaccustomed emotion stunned her for a few seconds, and she quickly shook it off, hoping the others hadn’t noticed even though she felt the heat rise to her cheeks.

She smiled faintly and nodded. "If you’d like, Caleb," she answered softly. "I’d love to have you join us."

"Thank you. I would like to join you," he replied. "I haven’t gone looking for a Christmas tree in a long time, not since..." His voice trailed off.

Tom slapped Caleb on the back and said quickly, "Good. I can use the help loading the tree."

Rachel witnessed the sorrow in Caleb’s eyes, which left as quickly as it had come. She felt a pang of sadness for him, remembering what Kate had said about the sudden death of his wife. Holidays must be extremely difficult for him. She couldn’t imagine what pain he was experiencing and prayed she’d never have to. She hoped Caleb could find some joy in sharing the rest of the day with them. He’d certainly given the children joy today in his role as Santa, and she assumed he received even more in return, watching the children’s excited faces. Hopefully that helped to ease some of his pain.

Devine Destinies

New Release - All I Want Is You

I'm happy to announce that my latest release from Devine Destinies is now available just in time for the holidays!  

Rachel Sanderson, a pretty young woman struggling to support her young son, meets handsome firefighter Caleb Jason. Long dormant feelings in her come to life. As their relationship intensifies, she makes the decision to tell him the secret she's been hiding and why she'd lied. Before she can tell him, though, her past comes back to haunt her.

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Excerpt Wednesday - Shattered Vows

Farrel struggled to hold back her tears. Why couldn’t her husband be this gentle all of the time? This same scene played out over and over after his abuse. She had it memorized. Robert would act as though nothing had happened, and even express surprise at her bruises and deny responsibility for her injuries. His excuse would be that she happened to be in his way and stumbled, or that she was imagining the abuse and then feign shock that she could ever think he would hurt her. Robert even offered to help her find a counselor for the mental and emotional problems he insisted she had. Sometimes she wondered if she was losing her mind. Her daughters witnessed many of his attacks, but his answer was always the same. They were lying about him because they hated him and wanted to make him look like a monster to the world. Farrel knew that somewhere within himself, he knew his guilt. He had to.

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