Penance:
An Oak Grove Suspense
by
Reese A. Stephens
Copyright All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2017
ISBN 978-0-9981134-2-5 (ebook)
ISBN 978-0-9981134-3-2 (paperback)
Tampa, Florida
Copyright © 2017 Winyan Press, LLC
Cover Art © Alex Marin
DEDICATION
To my children,
Words cannot express the deep love I have for each of you. You are three truly different people, who I treasure every day, for each of those differences. I’m so proud of everything you have and will accomplish in your life. I’m so lucky to be your mom. You are the bright spots in my life.
Love you all to the moon and back.
PREFACE
Life and time provide us with experiences that make or break us. Sometimes, the ones we think are breaking us, are the ones that make us the strongest. It’s never easy and never smooth sailing for long, but hopefully in the end we learn and grow and become better people for what comes next.
Are you ready for what comes next in your life? I hope you are. I find that leaning on the comfort of knowing I have a Heavenly Father watching out for me to make all of life’s up and downs more bearable. Isaiah 40:31 says: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” God will give us the strength to make it through those times when we feel all is lost.
There have been so many people who have given me great reviews and comments on Vengeance. I’m truly thankful for each of you. I don’t want to miss any one, so I won’t mention names, but know that each of you hold a special place in my heart. I’m truly thankful for each of you.
I’d also like to say a quick thank you to each of the people who worked with me on Penance. Carrie, Jessica, and Heather for listening to me ramble on about my characters as if they were real people, and reading everything I sent your way, even when it was ridiculous. Thank you for all the “ideas” you have thrown my way. Bahaha! Tawa, Amanda, and Leeanne for your guidance, editing, and proofreading of Penance, you had your work cut out for you, and you did an awesome job. You guys rock! Alex for the amazingly awesome cover design! Mindy for giving me the chance to fulfill my dreams as a writer, through Winyan Press, LLC. Last but not least to you, my reader, thank you for your support! I couldn’t do this without you!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Winyan Press, LLC would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their contributions on Penance: An Oak Grove Suspense.
Leeanne Lemaster, copy editor
Alex Marin, Graphic Artist/Illustrator
Amanda Rash, proof reader
Tawa Witko, developmental editor
Table of Contents
DEDICATION
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
PROLOGUE
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-Two
EPILOGUE
AUTHOR NOTE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CONTACT INFORMATION
PROLOGUE
Life, it’s a fickle thing. One day you’re holding those you love dearly, and the next, they’re so far from your grasp that you can’t see the light. Treasure every moment because moments are all we have, but penance can last a lifetime.
Chapter One
Judson
“It’s five o’clock on Friday, get out of here already.”
I look up from my computer to my best friend and business partner, Grant. We started J&G Construction about twelve years ago, right after graduating college. Technically, we were already in the construction field while attending college, we just didn’t have a legitimate business until after.
“Some of us have a company to run.” I look back to the screen and he’s blocking my view with a catalogue. “You’re thirty-three, it’s time to grow up, move that thing.” I knock the construction catalogue out of his hand.
“No, I’m serious, Jud. You need to go home. You have a wife and kids waiting on you. Enjoy your week. I know how to run this company. I swear it won’t fall apart while you go on vacation. Have some fun for a change.
I give in with an exasperated sigh as I stand from my chair. I do work too much and I need to spend more time with my family. “You’re right. I’m going home. Finish up the reports for the week and be sure the men get their bonuses.”
He salutes me. “Will do. You make sure you give that gorgeous wife of yours a kiss from her favorite pseudo-brother and give my niece and nephew a good squeeze with loud raspberries from Uncle Grant.”
Grant isn’t exactly related to me. He is like a brother though and plays the part of uncle for the kids. He loves them like they’re his own. I couldn’t ask for a better man for the title of uncle for my twins.
“Will do, but Shan is only getting a kiss on the cheek from you.”
He guffaws. “You always ruin the fun. You know she has the hots for me. It’s my killer abs. Maybe you should work on a set of your own.” He lifts his shirt to display said abs. “That beer belly isn’t attractive.”
I roll my eyes as I grab my jacket. “I don’t have a beer belly. I have more abs than you. Besides that, Shannon doesn’t have the hots for you. She thinks you’re cute. Cute, Grant. You know what that means? It means, like a puppy. She babies you, because she feels sorry for your sad pathetic butt.”
“You keep telling yourself that, bro. I know she wants me. I’ve got the whole package.” He gestures to his abs again. “I have everything a woman wants; money, great hair, a gorgeous chiseled face, green eyes, and a body you could bounce a quarter off of.”
Grant is probably the vainest person I know. Sure, he has a heart of gold and would treat a woman like a queen, but he won’t let that side of himself out. Well, except with Shannon, my wife. I think they’ve been friends just as long as Grant and I have.
“You, you are lumpy and dumpy with your boring brown hair and brown eyes, and that hideous beard. The tats are the only thing you have going for you,” he continues, but I ignore him.
“You keep talking like that and you’ll never get a wife. A good woman won’t care about any of that. She’ll love you because you’re faithful, hardworking, and kind. If she’s only into your money and physical features, then you need to run, man. Run fast.”
“Yeah, well, you got the last good one. No one in this small town is as good as Shannon, not even her stupid sister.”
I can’t help but laugh. Shannon’s sister is the total opposite of my wife. Shannon is sweet, kind, and beautiful. She’d do anything for anyone. Krissy is probably as vain as Grant, and talks and drinks like a sailor. They went on three dates. I thought they’d kill each oth
er.
“I still don’t know why you went out with her.”
“I don’t either. I guess I thought it would get better. She is related to Shannon; some good had to rub off, right?”
“Nope.” We both laugh.
“Mistakes happen, but I’m never barking up that tree again.” He shivers in disgust.
I laugh at him again. “I’m going. Get that stuff done. Don’t wait until the last minute.”
“I know. Get out of here already!”
I finger salute him and turn to leave. I hear something hit the door, which means he probably threw something at me, typical immature Grant behavior. I walk to my company truck and climb in. I pull the visor down and glance in the mirror. Grant is right, I do have brown hair and eyes, but my wife says they are soulful and full of love. Sappy, I know, but physical features have never been something I cared a great deal about. I’m fit. I take care of myself, but I don’t stress over it like Grant. I never have. I’m content with my six-foot-two, medium-build frame, and even my occasional need for glasses doesn’t bother me. I’m happy that I found a wife who accepts me for all my flaws. Believe me, there are a ton of them.
I head home, glad to finally be able to spend the week in my hometown of Oak Grove. My parents still live there and their house is our first stop on our vacation. Even though we’re close, we rarely see them. Life just gets in the way. I jog up the front porch steps of my home. It’s a modest size home with three bedrooms and roughly eighteen hundred square feet. It was one of the first houses Grant and I built. At the time, Shannon and I didn’t have children. We thought we’d always live here, but we have a larger family now and with all the stuff a family of four comes with, the house seems small, too small. One day we’ll have something bigger, but for now this is home.
“Honey, I’m home,” I call in my best Ricky Ricardo voice as I enter the house.”
“Daddy!” The excited voices of my five-year-old twins come barreling through the hallway.
I scoop them up to hug and kiss them. Then, I administer the raspberries from their uncle, which sends them into fits of giggles and squirms.
“You’re home early,” my wife beams as she comes around the corner. She’s holding a dish towel in her hands and wearing her cleaning clothes. Her face is flushed with exertion and her dark hair is pulled up in a messy bun, but she couldn’t look more beautiful to me than she does in this moment. I put the kids down and draw her into my arms, kissing her deeply.
“Well, that was unexpected,” she says breathlessly. “What brought that on?”
I shrug as I set her right. “No reason. Just missed you.”
She blushes. I stroke her cheek. I’ve always loved her blush. She’s so fair complexioned that it doesn’t take much to get the color in her cheeks.
“I’ve missed you too. You’ve been working so much lately.”
I sigh, running a hand through my short hair. It’s true. I hate it, but it’s been necessary. I do it all for them.
“Well, I’m off for the next week. Let’s go have some fun. Who’s ready for a vacation?” I ask everyone excitedly.
The kids scream, jumping up and down, before running off to their rooms to pack a bunch of toys and other things I’m sure that they feel are necessities, which really aren’t.
“I’ve almost finished packing. I cleaned up the kitchen while waiting on the last load of clothes in the dryer.” Shannon walks back into said kitchen as she talks.
“The house doesn’t need to be perfect for us to leave.”
She stops and turns around to face me with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to one side. She gives me ‘the look’. You know the one your wife has when you’ve apparently said the dumbest thing on the planet? Yeah, that one.
“Judson Hardenbergh, I know you did not just say that. Do you not know to whom you are speaking?”
I can’t hide the smile on my face, she’s so stinking cute when she’s flustered. I wrap my arms around her waist. “I know to whom I am speaking. I also know you worry too much. The house looks perfect, it always does. Let’s just hurry and get out of here so we can get an early start to this trip.” I kiss her softly a few times before pulling back. “What do you say?”
She pretends to think about it for a moment then smiles her beautiful broad smile. “Let’s do it. As soon as the clothes are out of the dryer and packed, we can go.”
“Awesome. I’ll go wrangle up the twins. I’m sure they have half of their rooms put in their suitcases by now.”
“I’ll do that while I wait on the laundry. You go shower and change.”
She cuts me off my path and directs me to our bedroom. I swat her butt playfully as she runs off. Subtlety is not her strong suit, but she’s right. I do need to shower and change. It takes me about twenty minutes and by the time I get to the foyer, she’s already loaded the truck with our luggage and the kids. She has to have everything a certain way. She says it’s like Tetris for adults and she enjoys doing it, but she’s really a bit of a control freak. So, I indulge her. No use trying to fight about it when it’s not going to change.
I throw my arm around her shoulders and kiss her head. “I would’ve helped, you know.”
“I know, but you worked today. Everything is in except the cooler. You can grab that.”
“Sure thing. Are we going to load it to go forty-five minutes away?”
“No, it’s empty, but we’ll need it when we go camping on our property.”
I nod. I’d completely forgotten about going out to our property. When my grandfather passed away last year, he left me about fifty acres of land in the mountains of Oak Grove. There’s an old house on the land, set with plumbing and electricity, but it needs major renovations. The house itself isn’t in horrible shape. The foundation and framework are still in great condition, but the inside is lacking. We don’t want anything over the top or fancy, but it needs to be practical with two small children. We’re going to ‘camp out’ for the first few days of our trip and plan our renovations. We want it as a getaway. Some place we can escape to when life gets too heavy.
“I need to grab a few things and my computer. I don’t know why that slipped my mind.”
“I got your laptop, but I didn’t know what tools or equipment you’ll need.” I smile at my wife, she’s so efficient and thoughtful. She could totally run my business better than I do, and certainly better than Grant.
I kiss her forehead. “You’re perfect.”
I turn and jog back into the house and grab the things I need. It takes me about fifteen minutes and then we’re finally on the road.
“Daddy, will we see bears?” Josie asks.
I look at her in the review mirror. Her blonde curls fall in her eyes. She looks just like my wife, but with blonde hair. Shannon says she gets it from her brother. I’m not sure what she gets from me. Both of my kids look like my wife, but she says they act like me. I don’t really see it.
“I don’t know, baby. I hope not. They can be dangerous.”
“Yeah, they’ll rip your face off,” Jayden explains.
I chuckle, but my wife scolds him. “Jay, don’t say things like that. You’ll scare your sister.” He huffs and crosses his arms over his chest, mumbling under his breath.
“Yeah, buddy. Girls don’t like to be scared. We have to protect them.”
“I would!” he insists. “I’d kick any bear that came near Mommy or Josie.”
“I know you would. You’re a great brother and son, but let’s keep the scary bear talk between us boys.”
“Yeah, okay,” Jayden mumbles, completely put out. It makes me smile. I remember being little and my dad always telling me I couldn’t do certain things because of my sisters. It was tough growing up the only boy.
“When we get to Nan and Pop’s, we can go out to the garage with Pop. I bet he’s working on something really awesome.”
Jayden perks up, his blue eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. “Yeah, and no girls!”
“Right, no girls!” I reach my hand back and he gives me a fist bump, sealing our pact.
The rest of our short drive is pretty silent. My wife and I hold hands, and the kids stare out the windows, only talking when they see something they find amazing. It’s pretty much our typical car ride. Once we arrive at my parents’ house, however, they are on full blast excitement mode. They absolutely love coming here. I feel guilty that I don’t bring them more often. I make a mental note to try to change that. We hug my parents and unload the suitcase with our clothes since we’re only staying overnight. We’ll be heading out to the property in the morning for a few days. We’ll be back here on Friday and visit again until Sunday when we go home. It’s not much of a vacation, but it’s all we need.
“Hey, Pop. Can we go out to the garage for man time?” Jayden asks about ten minutes into our visit.
My dad kneels down to Jayden’s eye level. “You want to see what I have in the works?”
Jayden’s eyes grow big. “Yeah! Is it really awesome?”
Dad pretends to think for a minute. “Oh, I think it’s pretty awesome. Let’s go check it out.”
“No girls!” Jayden yells as he takes my dad’s hand as they take off out the door. I follow along chuckling. “Wow!”
He enters the building wide eyed and totally enthralled with what he sees. My dad’s garage, or workshop, is about twenty-four hundred square feet of almost completely open space, full of tractors, lawn mowers, tools, and everything a little boy would find to be fascinating. I’m pretty fascinated myself.
“Yep, that’s a big engine. I’m putting it in that tractor trailer outside,” my dad explains as my son runs around looking at the engine, which is quite a bit taller than he is.
“Can I help? I bet this is what Optimus Prime looks like on the inside.”
We chuckle. “Oh, I’m sure, but he has the AllSpark, this one doesn’t.”
Jayden’s face falls a bit. “Oh, it would be so cool if he was a transformer. I wonder if we could get an AllSpark?”
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