Praise for Sleeping Roses:
"I'd give this book ten stars if Amazon had them, it was really that good." by The Books Debut
"This book will keep you reading with a very unexpected twist..." by Cyruss1264
"It's strange, mysterious, and down right cool! It made me wonder if this really happened." by Jek Jamison
"A suspense/thriller where nothing is as it seems." by Heartsong Reviews
Main Menu
Start Reading
Afterword
Other Works by This Author
Contact Information
Copyright Information
Table of Contents
“A dream is fleeting
True love, divine
Your life is your own
It’s all in your mind.”
Sophia Berkeley
Prologue
“My mom’s going to kill me. I’ve got to hurry,” she said to Mrs. Archibald as she grabbed her bag and left.
“Bye,” she hollered.
“Bye! Don’t forget what we’ve talked about. I need a decision by tomorrow.” Mrs. Archibald called after her.
Great, she thought, rushing toward the exit. At the door, she held it open for an old, blind woman. The woman wore a plastic rain hat and was hunched over, walking with a cane. Once through, the old woman reached out and touched her face.
“Thank you . . . Oh, dear I’m so sorry. Sweet death.” The old woman tenderly removed her hand and did her best to scurry away, muttering something indiscernible under her breath.
“Um, what did you say? Sweet death, what do you mean?” she asked, feeling suddenly frightened. When the old woman didn’t answer her, she undid her black umbrella and quickly walked outside into the monsoon-like rainstorm. The worst in a century was what the weatherman said.
Reaching her black BMW, she rapidly got in, heading out of the parking lot. As she turned right onto Bangerter Highway, her car hydroplaned.
“Crap,” she cursed, determinedly gaining control. Glancing at the clock on her dash, she noticed the time. She was supposed to be home by now. Vowing to be careful, she gingerly sped up. It was mesmerizing; the squeaking of her windshield wipers and depress rock playing softly on the radio. She was thankful the Highway wasn’t congested. In fact, she’d only seen one other car. Through the thick gloominess, she saw the next light coming up. It was green at the moment. Stifling a yawn, she plunged ahead, hoping the light would stay green long enough for her to get through it.
“Crap, just my luck.”
Applying her brakes, the car tugged, but continued toward the now red light. Leaning forward, she pushed the brake again, terror constricting her body as she realized the car skimmed along the surface of the road. Reacting to her fear, she pressed on the gas pedal trying to swerve out of the water. It only made matters worse. A tire must have caught a patch of drier ground because her car spun in a large circle.
Once again facing forward, she almost sensed the other car before she saw it. Like the eyes of a monster coming out of the mist, she saw the other cars’ headlights heading straight at her. Panic stricken, she realized her foot was still on the gas pedal.
"No!" She screamed, even as she tried to move her foot to the brake.
Time seemed to stand still, her foot seemingly trapped in quick sand. She couldn’t move it fast enough. There was no slowing down or changing the path she was on. It was too late. The last words the old, blind woman said kept repeating themselves over and over in her mind. Sweet death. Sweet death. Sweet death. Like a charging bull, came another realization. Death would not be sweet.
“I don’t want to die!”
As the cars collided, all of her senses heightened. She heard the revving of an engine and the screeching of the other cars’ brakes. Surprisingly, her brain registered the man’s blue shirt and the woman driving had black hair and smoked. Almost in a trance, she watched the red, smoldering ash of the cigarette. What scared her most, though, was she saw the terror in the woman’s eyes. The thought came to her that, as soon as she could, she’d tell her she was sorry.
Without preamble came the crunching of metal.
Curious, she thought, there wasn’t more noise. A wave of nausea washed over her as she listened disgustedly to the popping of her bones and her flesh tearing. Absently, she wondered why she had no pain. The last thing she heard before everything went black was the sound of her own scream.
#
Sluggishly, she began coming out of the darkness.
Where am I, she wondered anxiously? Her body felt heavy, as though it were made of mortar, mixed with agonizing pain, and had set. At once, the memory of her car accident paraded through her mind.
I’m not dead, she thought, trying uselessly to move her head or open her eyes, but her body wouldn’t respond. She heard noises all around her. After a few minutes, however, she understood the noises were people talking and they were talking about her.
She attempted to say something, to let them know she was awake, but nothing happened. What was wrong? Through the noise of the voices, one in particular caught her attention.
“I’m sorry to have to inform you the driver of the other car was killed.”
“Killed! How,” a man gasped.
She thought the man sounded like her father.
“There was a fire and she . . .” The other man paused, as if he were unsure he should tell the man.
“She was what,” the man demanded, almost hysterical.
“Burned alive,” was the grave response.
“The passenger in the vehicle, which we’ve discovered is her brother, as well as the rest of us, had to watch helplessly as it happened.”
“No! I’ve killed her. I’ve killed her,” she tried to scream.
Chapter 1
“Sophie, darling, take a deep breath, wipe the tears off your face and tell me what's happened,” Rina purred in a kind, firm voice.
Sophie woodenly obeyed, picking up her napkin, wiping her face and discreetly blowing her nose. “I'm not sure I want to tell you.” The tears wouldn’t stop coming. Disgusted with herself, she straightened up, tucked her wavy blond hair behind her ears, glanced at Rina, and then let her gaze fall on her chef salad.
Her favorites as far as salads went with juicy red tomatoes, cooked hard-boiled eggs, and crumbled bacon blending tastefully with the crunchy green lettuce and sweet, crisp carrot slices tossed with chunks of ham and turkey. A fiesta of flavor with every bite, she thought woefully, knowing she wasn't going to enjoy a single bite. “I’m not quite ready to divulge the details of my pathetic life, Rina.”
“We’ve been here for thirty minutes, and twenty have been spent with you crying uncontrollably into your salad! Stop it Sophie!” Rina’s caramel eyes betrayed her harsh words, though. They were filled with worry.
Sophie realized now, she should’ve picked a place with a bit more privacy to talk to Rina about her unraveling life. The Old Salt City Jail restaurant wasn’t exactly conducive to revealing her secret hell. She knew people passing by heard her crying.
Without thinking, she’d asked Rina to meet at her favorite restaurant and one of her favorite places. There were many reasons. Among them, the fond memories she had of coming here with her mom and dad. The restaurant had been around for thirty years, one constant in her life. Before becoming a restaurant, it had been a jail. It was rumored to have held Jesse James once.
The restaurant was divided up into ‘jail cells’ with long steel bars separating them. Charming chandeliers hung in each ‘cell,’ the bulbs covered in red gingham lampshades, emitting a warm glow. Shadows danced off the walls as employees and patrons alike walked by. The tables were covered in red and white checked tablecloths, with white cloth napkins encasing the s
ilverware and wrapped in Sheriff’s Badge napkin rings.
There were real and fake plants placed abundantly throughout, making the place feel even more earthy and warm to her. Her mind slipped back to when she was younger. The place had made her feel strangely safe and secure.
Ironic, she thought, realizing she was now, in the Old Salt City Jail, going to reveal how trapped her life had become. She knew her life looked perfect from the outside since she lived in a gorgeous home with a handsome, successful man. In truth, her life was hell. David had been her jailer for two years and she needed to break free of him. Actually, she realized, this was the perfect place to reveal to Rina what David had done and how her husband had kept her captive.
Rina, her best and only friend, was older, kind of like a surrogate mother. They’d met in college and had been friends since, even though Rina treated her like a child. Whatever their relationship, there was a closeness between them deeper than friendship. Rina was there for her and always would be. Sophie wiped her eyes again before continuing, "Of course I want to tell you what happened, but I’m sure I already know what you're going to say."
“Well then, tell me dear. What's going on?”
“It's just . . .” She began, but changed her mind as hostility sprang up inside of her. “Why is it, I wonder, men send roses when they've done something wrong? Is there some secret codebook father’s pass on to sons when they reach a certain age? I mean, really, I'd like to know.” She breathed heavily, hardly able to contain her emotions. She wanted to punch something or someone.
Patiently Rina uttered, “Hon, you know men are of no interest to me.” Smiling genially, she continued, “I don't think you've been crying the last twenty minutes because you've been wondering about flowers.” She shrugged knowingly. “Am I wrong?”
Sophie tried to breathe deeply to calm down but knew it wasn’t possible at this point. “No, it's about David and I know you don't like David.” She choked down a sob before continuing, “I caught him with another woman.” Saying the words out loud made it seem more real, she wanted to throw up, her heart torn to shreds like the lettuce leaves in her salad.
“By ‘with’, you mean he was doing the adultery dance, right?” Rina asked lightly.
“Yes.”
“What a predictable ass. What did you do?”
Sophie stared at her, incapable of responding.
“Sophie, come on, it's me. Talk to me.”
She knew Rina started to get impatient. She opened her mouth to begin the process of sharing her misery, when Rina interjected, “You're right, I don't like him and I didn’t want this to happen to you. I hoped it wouldn’t.”
"Even though you knew it would, right?" Sophie spat out.
"I thought it might, yes," Rina started slowly, "but I’m still sad it’s happened because it's you and I love you. You're my dearest friend."
Feeling bad for lashing out, Sophie tried a smile. She knew Rina was there to help her. "I know. Sorry I got angry. Thanks for coming. I know you're busy."
"I understand. You know you can count on me anytime. Now, are you going to tell me what happened or not?" Rina asked.
"You remember I had my painting class today?" Sophie began.
“Yes.”
Speaking clearly, she tumbled ahead. "It let out early, so I drove home. When I got to the house, I saw David's car in the driveway and another car parked behind his. I thought it was strange because, he always parks in the garage and he said he would be at the restaurant all day. Anyway, I parked my car at the curb and went into the house."
She stopped, a gnawing feeling of dread running through her body. It didn’t matter how cliché her life seemed right now. It was about to change.
“Sophie? Go on.”
"Are you sure you want the play by play of what happened?” Sophie asked, still pondering the feelings within her.
"I'm sure."
Pushing a loose curl behind an ear, she continued, "When I went in the house the first thing I noticed was a woman's purse on the foyer table. My heart began pounding fast and then I heard David's voice coming from upstairs.
Rina nodded encouragingly.
"Hearing his voice, I called out ‘David’, and was about to go upstairs, until I heard a woman laugh."
“Asshole.” Rina exclaimed.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was angry and terrified at the same time. Without thinking, I ran up the stairs. I had to know for sure what was going on and I didn’t want him to be able to lie to me later. You know?”
"I got it," Rina said understandably.
"The bedroom door was part open. I stayed outside, listening to them talk and his voice was tender and fun, like the David I knew in college . . . and . . ."
"Did you go in and confront him," Rina interrupted.
“Yes, I did. I thought, what right does he have to talk to her that way? He hasn't talked to me like that since our honeymoon and I'm his wife!”
“Absolutely,” Rina agreed fervently.
“Well, I suddenly had a burst of rage through the sadness and thought, no way, I won’t stand for this. I pushed open the bedroom door and yelled, “Stop it! Stop it now!”
“Good for you,” Rina cheered, with a smile.
With tears spilling down her cheeks and her hands trembling, she continued in a whisper, “I saw David and the woman in our bed together. I screamed, ‘get out, get out of my bed!’ She hurried and got off, covering herself with the bed sheet and ran into the bathroom. I knew she was embarrassed."
"She should’ve been, the bitch. What kind of woman would be so brazen?" Rina asked angrily.
"I don't know." Sophie said softly.
"And, what did he do when you came in?" Rina questioned, her voice raised an octave.
"I turned to David, sure he'd be upset or embarrassed but he wasn't. He crossed his arms behind his head and . . ." Sophie stopped, not sure she could tell Rina the sad truth about this man who vowed to love, honor and cherish her. Mumbling, she declared, "He was smiling."
"What," Rina blurted, a look of shock on her face.
She didn't want to say it again, but she cleared her throat and repeated it more calmly. "He was smiling."
"He was smiling? I knew he was egotistical, but what a prick!"
Sophie looked pleadingly at her friend.
Reading her silent plea, Rina retorted, "All right hon, I'll try to keep my more colorful insults to myself. Getting back to the jerk, did you walk over and smack the smile right off his good for nothing face?"
"No. I felt broken. I stood there crying like a fool. I guess I hoped David would say something, come to his senses, apologize, put his pants on, get out of bed, but he didn't. He lay there with a goofy smile on his face. I waited until I couldn't take it anymore. I had to run."
"It’s understandable you couldn't take it, sweetie. No one should have to find their spouse in bed with another person," she vented, hostility coursing through every word.
"I still can't believe I found him in our bed with her. Anyway, I drove around aimlessly for a while, unsure of what to do, until I called you." Sophie was exhausted. She wanted to lie down, or hide, or better yet, close her eyes and forget this had ever happened. She knew she couldn't, though. Instead, she sat there, staring once again at her salad. After a few seconds, Rina put a hand over hers, but she still wasn’t able to look at her.
"I'm so, so . . ." Rina started.
Sophie pulled her hand away, irritated by her kindness. She was mad, mad at David for all he'd put her through these past two years, mad at Rina for what she knew Rina would say, and mad at herself for allowing this to happen. Crossing her arms defensive she retorted, unable to look at Rina, "I know I've been blind. I know I should’ve left him a long time ago, but I was afraid." She looked up at Rina and exclaimed quietly, "I'm still afraid."
"Sophie," Rina started again.
"No. Stop. Stop it! Just listen, please, you’ve got to understand. He told me he'd kill me if I ever left him. Did I te
ll you that?"
Rina shook her head no, a flicker of understanding in her eyes.
"He did. A couple of weeks after the incident.”
"I remember the incident,” Rina uttered.
"Well, because of the incident, and what he said, you can understand I believe him." Looking imploringly into her friend’s eyes, she added, "Please, say you understand." The pain suddenly became unbearable. Closing her eyes, she shook her head, trying to wake herself from the horrible nightmare, which was her life. Predictably, nothing happened. Defeated, she opened her eyes and stared at her uneaten salad.
Rina scooted her chair closer and wiped away the tears from Sophie’s cheeks. Sophie looked up to see an empathetic tenderness that immediately comforted her.
"Sophie dear, it’s just awful this has happened. My heart is breaking for you, to see you in such pain. I'll help you get through this. Whatever it takes.” Rina leaned closer to her, putting an arm around her. "I know you love David and I know you're afraid of him as well." She paused, pushing a blond strand of hair out of her face before going on. "You’re this amazing, beautiful, wonderful person. It'll be all right. Somehow, between the two of us, you'll get through it."
"Thank you for helping me. I hope I can get through it. I really do," Sophie muttered somberly.
"I know it seems hard, but you've got to be strong. You do realize now what a complete ass, um I mean idiot David is? Leave him and let's find you some real happiness.
"Strong?" Sophie sighed.
"Yes," Rina continued. "You were strong when your parents died. Look at all you accomplished before you married David. You have your Masters Degree in Art. You've got a teaching certificate. You graduated with honors from both high school and college. Anyone should feel blessed to know you. I know I do. Come on. You can do it."
She nodded her agreement, but had no idea where to begin. The whole idea of moving forward seemed impossible, and too staggering to comprehend.
Sleeping Roses Page 1
