by Jewel, Bella
Special thanks to Lilly Barrett for the Military insight you provided, and to Bec Kleinschmidt for the extra info when dealing with Sensory Processing Disorder.
To my Sugar Junkies, who give me so much love and support and who constantly promote my work without ever having to be asked. THANK YOU! You girls are the reason I continue to write, and I can’t tell you what it means to read your reviews and kind words and know that someone out there loved something I created.
And finally, a huge, heartfelt THANK YOU to the readers, bloggers and fellow authors who read, support, pimp, review, and who follow me faithfully no matter which genre I write or how much I make you cry. Without you the stories in my head would just be tales I tell myself that would likely have me committed.
FLEETING MOMENTS
Bella Jewel
~*FLEETING MOMENTS*~
All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any form without prior written permission of the publisher, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution, circulation or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
FLEETING MOMENTS
Copyright © 2016 Bella Jewel
FLEETING MOMENTS is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events portrayed in this book either are from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, establishments, events, or location is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
This book is for you—you know who you are.
Thank you for believing in me, and always talking to me about my work.
Mostly, thanks for being my friend and giving me something to write about.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Life is a series of fleeting moments. Moments that pass you by—sometimes without recognition. We let moments define us and other times we let them destroy us. Those moments can be small, or they can be momentous. They can introduce love, belief, and strength, and they can take away passion, self-worth, and happiness. Every piece of our life is made up of moments.
The biggest moment in any person’s life is the day they’re born. After that, moments are made up of friendship, love, pain, betrayal, happiness, marriage, children, and death. Our final moment is when we take our last breath and leave the life we created to be passed onto someone else. Our moments become our story and our story is shared. If we don’t relish in our moments, we may just lose them forever.
What can you say about your moments? Are you proud of them? Do you believe in them? Did they change you? Define you? Destroy you? Did you even notice as they passed you by? Do you remember the first time you fell in love? Your first friendship? Your first heartbreak? The smell of your first child as you held them in your arms? Those moments became you, but did you recognize them? Did you relish in them? Did you let them into your soul to become every single piece of who you are?
My moments defined me.
They took so much and yet returned the same.
They destroyed me.
But mostly, they created me.
* * *
I recall a great deal about my life, but falling in love stands out the strongest. The day I met Gerard Jacobson changed me. It put a piece into my soul I hadn’t even known I needed.
I was just a girl, and he was just a boy. Cliché, I know. We locked eyes in a coffee shop and the rest is history. Falling in love for me was like coming alive—like taking your first breath. Dragging air into your fresh lungs and feeling it spread throughout your body, filling everything with life.
Being filled with love is like being filled with life.
I never imagined that a single second would pass by when I wouldn’t love Gerard. I certainly never imagined that another love could be stronger, more intense, and even more terrifying. He gave me the world with open arms and I took it, throwing myself into his life and being everything I knew a wife needed to be. I loved him as surely as I breathed, and he returned with equal passion.
I didn’t think there could be anyone else. It just wasn’t possible.
I certainly didn’t think he had it in him to change. To be different to the man I knew so well for so long.
But life is funny like that, isn’t it? It doesn’t give you a choice. It picks your moments and it thrusts them upon you. Sometimes I wonder if those hard moments are sent to test us; other times I wonder if they’re sent to hurt us. After all, why would my perfect marriage be thrown into turmoil without a good reason? Why would the man I’d loved for six years suddenly become empty to me? Why would my life and my moments be twisted until I could no longer recognize them?
If life has such a big plan for us, why the hell does it hurt so damned bad?
But before I tell you about the hurt, the testing moments and how they changed me, you have to know how it all began.
Chapter One
My feet tread softly across the polished wooden floor as I make my way to the kitchen. I don’t want to wake Gerard until I’ve made him breakfast. It’s our anniversary today, three years married, six years together, and I want to surprise him. I hum a happy tune as I open the fridge, gathering the ingredients I need to make my famous fluffy pancakes. They’re his favorite. He’s been working a lot lately, which is nothing new, so I’m sure he’ll appreciate them.
“I love it when you sing.”
I spin around, floorboards creaking, to see my husband standing at the counter wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs. His lean chest is muscled and bronze, but it’s his face that makes my heart smile—chiseled jaw, blue eyes, soft blond hair. He’s beautiful in the perfect kind of way. The way that isn’t rugged, but definitely still masculine.
“I was going to surprise you.” I smile, moving around the counter to fall into his arms.
“I had the same idea,” he murmurs into my hair. “Only when I woke up to sneak out, I saw you beat me to it.”
I laugh softly. “Great minds.”
He chuckles. “Let me make breakfast. You put your feet up, relax.”
I push up on my tiptoes and kiss his lips. “No way. I love making pancakes. At least let me do this for you today.”
His eyes warm and his hands move down to my stomach where our seven-week-old baby is growing inside me, a creation of us, something we’ve tried so hard for. I had problems and it took a long time to conceive, but finally, we managed to make him or her naturally before having to turn to IVF. I thank God every day for that gift.
“You can make breakfast, but then you’re going to rest. I have a surprise for you later that you’ll need your strength for.”
“You do?” I beam.
“I do.”
“Well then I better get to this breakfast so you can tell me about this surprise sooner.”
He
grins and lets me go, and I get back to flipping pancakes.
“You don’t have to work today?” I ask, pouring batter into the hot pan.
“I’m hoping I don’t have to. I asked them to give me the day off but you know how it is—anything can happen.”
I nod. Gerard is a lawyer, and sometimes he gets called in at less than desirable times and there is little he can do about it. People are forever getting into trouble, which means he’s forever working. Sometimes it bothers me, but I try to be the best wife I can and just support him. It’s his dream, and I’m sure when the baby comes along things will change.
At least I hope they will. I push that thought away and keep my smile.
“Well, here’s hoping for a crime-free day,” I say, flipping the pancakes.
“How’re you feeling?”
“Better, much better.”
I spent a little time yesterday feeling slightly off. This baby means the world to both of us, and we’ll do anything to protect it. Sadly, even the slightest cramp has us both panicking. I’m sure that’ll go away once we reach the second trimester but for now we’re both walking around on eggshells.
“Just a flu?” he asks, moving to the coffee machine and pouring himself a cup.
“I think so.”
He helps me serve the pancakes and we sit at our small, wooden round table. I serve him first, and then myself. My stomach can tend to be a little sensitive in the mornings, though that seems to have disappeared completely in the last two days. Maybe it’s finally over. That would make things so much easier; vomiting on the way to work is never pleasant.
“So, what’s my surprise?” I ask between mouthfuls.
Gerard grins and leans down, reaching into his briefcase. He pulls out a small envelope and hands it to me. “I know it’s nothing big, but I remembered how much you’ve wanted to go.”
Letting a little squeal escape my lips, I tear it open, producing two local baseball tickets for today’s game. My squeal becomes happy whoops as I get out of my chair and throw myself onto his lap. I’m a diehard baseball fan, more than most men I meet, and I’ve always wanted to see a game with him. I used to go as a child with my parents, but it’s been a long time since I’ve gone and I can’t think of anything better than spending the day with Gerard at a game. He knows me so well. It doesn’t take me much to find my happy.
“You got us tickets to a game!”
He laughs as I press kisses frantically over his face. “I did. We’ve not been to a game since we’ve lived here and I know you’ve always wanted to go together. I don’t know how I did picking the seats, but I tried.”
I look down at the tickets. “They’re good seats, but we could be sitting on the grass and I’d still be happy because you’re coming and it’s a baseball game!”
“We’re going to dinner afterwards.”
Happy sigh.
I kiss him long and hard, tongues dancing, bodies clashing. Happiness swells in my chest and excitement bubbles deep. “You’re the most amazing husband in the world, Gerard Jacobson.”
“Only the best for you, Lucy.”
“What time is the game?”
“This afternoon, so you’ve got a few hours to rest this morning.”
I hug him close, pressing my cheek against his. There isn’t a better man in the world—of that I’m sure.
* * *
“You can’t be serious?” Gerard yells, throwing one hand in the air while the other holds his phone to his ear. “You promised me one day!”
I listen as best I can, already dressed for the game, excitement set in.
“It’s my anniversary, Tom. My wife and I are going to a baseball game. I can’t believe you’d do this.”
He listens, fist clenched.
“I’ll be in soon.”
He hangs up and turns to me, and disappointment floods my chest but I try not to let it show. “I’ve got a client who’s just been arrested for murder.”
A big deal. Dammit.
“You have to go in?” I say, my voice showing my disappointment.
“Sorry, baby, I do. It’s what I get paid for.”
And me? What about me?
I push that thought out of my mind the second it enters. It’s his job. I nod, staring at my feet.
“You want me to call a friend to go with you to the game?”
I shrug. “I don’t think any of them would be interested.”
Besides, I don’t really have any good friends that would come with me. I spend all my time working and with Gerard.
His face falls and he looks absolutely devastated, and I know it’s upsetting him. “I don’t want you to miss out, I know how excited you are.”
I still really want to go, that’s true. “I can go,” I suggest. “I mean, it’s not as if I’m exerting myself.”
He frowns. “It’s a big crowd; you could be pushed around.”
“I’ll be okay,” I assure him. “I really want to go.”
He studies me, then sighs. “I’ll make it for dinner, I promise. Why don’t you ask my sister? She might be able to come?”
I snort. “Heather hates me; that’ll never work.”
“She doesn’t hate you . . .”
“She so does.” I smile, reaching out and touching his arm. “I’ll be okay. I really want to go. I’d be so much happier if you were there, but I understand you can’t be.”
“I’ll make it for dinner—nothing will keep me from that.”
I nod, tucking myself into his arms. He holds me for a long, long moment.
“All right.” He sighs, stepping back. “No time like the present. Call me if you run into any problems, okay?”
I nod.
“I love you, Lucy.”
“And I love you.”
Little did I know that was the last time he’d ever speak those words again.
Chapter Two
Excited anticipation rushes through me as I pass through security, opening my purse for the officers to quickly examine. They check my ticket and I’m given directions to my seat. The stadium is a good size, nothing like the big leagues, but I don’t care. The excitement about seeing a game in the flesh is almost more than I can handle.
I bounce happily as I find my seat right up the back near a big brick building that’s positioned in the middle. It doesn’t block my view, so I don’t care. Besides, I think there’s a toilet in there, which no doubt I’ll need later.
People move into their seats and music pours out from the speakers set up in the grandstands. Happy chatter fills my ears and I squirm on my chair, thrilled that I’m about to see a game up close and personal. A man comes down the aisle and stops at the seat to my left. The one to my right is reserved for Gerard so it’s going to remain empty. I look up at him and my eyes widen. My breath is taken away, seizing in my chest and refusing to move as I take in the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.
He looks down at me with eyes that are the lightest kind of silver. Set amongst light olive skin, they seem to shine. Dark hair falls over a masculine forehead that travels down into a chiseled jaw complemented with full lips. He’s a big man, easily more than six-foot tall, with muscles that ripple out of his tight black tee. He’s wearing a pair of faded denim jeans and heavy black boots. I wonder if he has tattoos under that shirt? He seems like the tattoo type.
When I realize I’m staring, I look away quickly, focusing back on the field. I’ve never noticed a man outside my marriage; I’ve certainly never stared. This one is just so incredibly breathtaking. My cheeks flush with shame.
He takes his seat beside me, saying nothing, just waving his hand to the young man holding a cart of beer. The drink vendor hands him one, and I keep my eyes on the field, suddenly aware of myself. Am I trembling? Can he tell his presence makes me nervous? Am I sitting too stiffly? I adjust my shirt without thought, and the second I realize what I’m doing, I snap my hands down to my lap.
I sit, staring at the field until the game begins. Thank god. Now, m
y attention is focused on the young men playing. My heart pounds with excitement as the loud ping of the baseball being hit fills the air. The crowd cheers, and a huge smile spreads across my face. Exhilarating.
The man beside me doesn’t move much—nor does he pay a great deal of attention to the game. His eyes scan the crowd, and he seems to be looking for something, or someone. He is sitting deep into his chair, as if he’s trying to remain inconspicuous. Weird.
The team I’m rooting for lands a home run and I launch into the air, clapping loudly. I jump a few times on the spot and then quickly sit down as realization about what I’m doing hits. I flick my glance to the man to my left and he’s watching me, expressionless. Great. He’s probably embarrassed to sit by me. Not that he can talk. He doesn’t even look as if he’s enjoying himself. I lean forward, gripping the chair in front of me and watching intently.
The first moment that will redirect the course of my life comes out of nowhere.
The game is in full swing, the crowds are cheering, hot dogs are being eaten, and beers thrown down. I don’t even notice the group of men dressed in all white stand—not until the loud gunshot rings through the air. Panic grips my chest as I turn to see at least ten men pulling guns from their pants. My heart feels as though it skitters to a stop as I stare at the faceless gunmen. They’re all wearing masks. Covered entirely in white.
