Krystal
I slowly came to consciousness when I realized Blue wasn’t next to me. He had put the quilt over me and I could hear some noise in the kitchen. I listened and then the smell of brewing coffee wafted down the hallway. I smiled because at that moment I realized I was as happy as I had ever been. I loved Blue with all my heart. I felt safe when he was with me. I knew he would always rescue me if I needed it. I loved the feeling of having our baby growing within me. Our lives were as perfect as they possibly could be.
I thought about my mother. We would never be as close as I had always imagined us to be. My eyes had been opened about her selfishness. But I made up with her, and Blue and I had even gone and visited her once and brought her some groceries.
While my mom and I visited, Blue made my mom’s current boyfriend help him fix the broken window and replace some boards on the rickety steps and small porch to the doorway. When they came back in, it seemed like the guy was feeling proud of himself. He was strutting around like a rooster saying, “Sugar, we got that window fixed and the steps fixed. Once I do some more stuff we'll have a nice tight little home for the winter.”
Blue grinned and slapped the guy’s back before we made our goodbyes and left. I knew I couldn't fix her life unless she wanted to fix it but I felt a little bit better about her chances. She told me to call her when the baby was born because she'd come see it. That was better also. She hadn't acted completely uninterested in Blue’s and my life.
I decided to get up and take a quick shower and get dressed before our company came.
I was walking into the kitchen when Blue’s phone rang and there was a hard knock at the door. Blue handed me his phone to answer while he went to check out the knock on the door. Maeve was already there and letting Derek inside. Maeve hugged him and he hugged her back half-heartedly which was odd because usually he took every opportunity to have his hands on her.
Epilogue Two
Krystal
He looked at Blue and me with a stern expression. “Krystal, Sam.” he said, “I need to talk to you.”.
His serious tone made me nervous and I immediately went to Blue and curled against his side. He wrapped his arms around me and I felt safe again.
Derek suggested we go up the stairs to our living room and sit down. We all trooped upstairs and feeling less anxious, I herded everyone to the kitchen table instead.
“Blue’s made his famous parmesan lime corn and chili. He used his mom’s recipe for the chili so it’s gotta be good.”
“Sam, Krystal, I've gotten a report about some reports from our CI’s that some men from the Favolaras Mexican Drug Cartel has come into town. It’s being said that the leader of the Cartel, Aaron Favolaras, has come also. He has evidently called blood debt against the people who shut down their pipeline for drugs and guns into this area.”
I stilled, almost not breathing and looked to Blue. He took two steps and had me pressed hard against his body.
He put his lips against my ear and whispered, “It doesn't matter, you belong to me. I will always protect you. Every breath in your body is mine. I will take care of each breath forever. You and our baby are safe with me.”
“Unfortunately,” Derek said, “I have some more news. “Crystal, we got a call from Captain Frank about an hour ago. The police made a run to the Riverside Trailer Homes this afternoon. A cavalcade of cars went through the park today. They shot up everyone's trailer from the entrance to the road where your mom lived. A few people were injured, one person was shot dead.”
The bowl in my hand crashed to the ground as I sagged, unable to support myself on my nerveless legs. Blue scooped me into his arms and held me tightly against him amid the broken pieces of blue speckled pottery.
Derek said, “I'm sorry Krystal, your mom was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Acknowledgements
First, I want to acknowledge my dear cousin, Margaret Woodrow Tackett, who has stuck with me through thick and thin and late nights and early mornings. I especially appreciate her distaste for my many many “ands” that I put in my sentences.
I also am deeply grateful and indebted to Evelyn Summers and Tamara McLean of Quill & Ink who took the poor bewildered and deeply unhappy wannabe writer and turned her confused mess into an actual book. It is because of them I am proud of this book and have the encouragement to continue.
I also want to plug my dear husband for giving in to my desire to write explicitly, for giving me wonderful plot twist ideas and while erotic literature wasn't his favorite genre he still joined my readers group and author page.
I also want to say something about my grandson, Bowie. While I was in the middle of writing this book he decided if I could write, so could he. So every other night we would FaceTime so I could hear the further adventures of “The Magic Kid”. It slowed down my writing, but gave me hours of enjoyment, which was probably a good idea. I'm sure you will be seeing this quirky chapter book in print soon. Then finally to the other inhabitants of my home, who did NOT help, was Kiki, my umbrella cockatoo who chewed up every charger I bought as quickly as she could find them, Ziva, my fat middle aged Jack Russell service dog, who much preferred me scratching her itchys than writing, and Wheezer and Kitty the dynamic BFF duo of senior dogs who requested to go outside every ten minutes or more, interrupting my train of thought consistently. With these guys around it is a wonder I ever wrote anything.
Finally, once again to my beloved readers, who were willing to take a chance on reading this debut novel, of which I am aware has its own set of writing errors, thank you thank you thank you. I hope you will bear with me and jump into the sequel, KRYSTAL CLEAR which is bigger and better in all ways.
Shattered Krystal Page 12
