Excerpt from The Second Wife

He eyed the therapist. There was something calming about Tom. Kinda reminded him of his dad. Funny. After working hard to forget Ally and their life together, in a few short minutes, this stranger had forced those doors open. If she were here, she would be clapping her hands like a stupid seal right now. “I’m willing to give it a try.”
“Do you feel comfortable sharing what happened?”
No.
He took another swig of water. “She disappeared two years ago. No one’s heard or seen her since.”
“How have you survived her disappearance?”
Dave fiddled with the lid of the bottle and focused on the paisley area rug. “It’s been hard. Really hard.” His voice sounded hoarse even to his own ears.
It had been a while since he’d talked about the disappearance and opening Pandora’s box hurt like hell. Yet for some reason, he found himself prying the lid, wanting to let the demons out.
“She was beautiful, and God, I loved her. She used to tell me to take her off the pedestal. That I’d wake up one day and be disappointed. After eight years of marriage, I still had it bad for her. How many husbands can say that?”
Tom nodded, encouragingly.
“I was so proud she was mine. She was amazing in every way…as a wife, a friend—smart, funny, the whole package, and there was nowhere on earth I’d rather be than with her.”
He blinked back the emotion and fast-forwarded to the morning two years ago. “She disappeared on March twenty-third. I got home from work about four thirty that morning to an empty apartment. At first, I thought she’d left me again, but that didn’t make any sense. So I made some phone calls, then drove to her office. Her Lexus, purse and keys—even her shoes—were in the parking lot. But no Ally.”
As many times as the story had been shared, he should be able to recite it automatically, but today was different. His voice cracked and the waterworks he thought were over tried to rush to the surface. Dave slammed his lids shut and pushed the words through. “I called the police. The rest is history.”
“How have you held up through this?”
Dave rubbed the wetness away and continued. “No words. I keep thinking if I’d been home that night this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Do you believe you could have prevented it?”
“No, probably not. But I let her down. Didn’t protect her.”
He accepted the Kleenex Tom handed him and wiped his face dry. His head lowered and voice soft, he recounted his hell. “They investigated her clients, everyone had an alibi. People came in and out of the house for weeks. The media plastered information everywhere. Calls poured in about bodies, and each time, I wished I were dead. I couldn’t sleep. Eat. Breathe. My life was gone. Two years later, here we are, no news, no leads, nothing. She vanished from the world.”
Emotion sat heavy on his chest, choking him and making it impossible to speak. After an eternity of silence, Tom’s firm hand gripped his arm.
“I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you.”
Still is.

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New and upcoming releases from fellow authors friends

1) Christmas Pets and Kisses: 16 Sweet Christmas Romances is up for preorder on Amazon. Be sure to check out Dante's Gift by Aubrey Wynne in the collection. It is an amazingly sweet and well written story you AND your children can enjoy. --> Christmas Pets and Kisses
2) Mine to Love by Lea Bronsen is the second in her Hot Model Mine series and it lives up to the title. It's sizzles with heat, there's a sexy male model in it and it can be all yours. Check it out on Amazon. --> Mine to Love

"This is one of those books that will grab your attention and not leave you alone, it stays with you and makes you think. This is about a woman who was kidnapped and taken to Pakistan to live as the second wife to her kidnapper. No longer Ally, she must become Sara in order to survive her ordeal...
The story is seamlessly told from Ally/Sara and Dave's points of view. this enhances the story and gives it more depth. I felt as though I could feel the angst, fear, and excitement as I was reading, Ms, Paul has done a great job of putting the reading right in the middle of what's going on. This is the first book of Ms. Paul's that I have read and it won't be my last. I'm looking forward to reading more of her work."

A Cozy Booknook