Traci Edmonds Discovers Her Destiny

Patrice A. Everage

Description

Traci and Gary meet on a cruise and start a whirlwind romance and killer adventure. Their initial attraction overwhelms them, and they separate. After they accept their attraction and love, they must survive a near death experience, betrayal, stalking, attempted murder, murder and kidnapping. After having had their lives nearly destroyed emotionally and physically, they must try and rebuild their trust, emotional bond and marriage. So much has happened, will they be able to recover? Or is their destiny together over?

Sujets

• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 04 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669872399
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Traci Edmonds Discovers Her Destiny
But Is It Too Late?
Book One
(Revised Edition)
Patrice A. Everage

 
Copyright © 2023 by Patrice A. Everage.
 
ISBN:
Softcover
978-1-6698-7240-5

eBook
978-1-6698-7239-9
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 04/04/2023
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
840651
Contents
The Dedications
Introduction
 
Chapter 1:The Cruise
Chapter 2:Back To Our “Real” Lives
Chapter 3:The Courtship
Chapter 4:Traci Meets Gary’s Friends
Chapter 5:The Engagement And Wedding
Chapter 6:The Accident
Chapter 7:The Pregnancy
Chapter 8:The Stalking
Chapter 9:The Disappearance
The Dedications
To the three most influential women in my life
Mommy (Beatrice) – She taught me to love words (written, spoken and sung), and to go after my dreams fervently.
Grandmom (Annie) – My maternal grandmother, encouraged me to smile/laugh/enjoy life, and love God and people (even the seemingly unlovable ones) and to let God lead me through the good and the bad.
Mom-Mom (Bertha) – My paternal grandmother - gave me her emotional and spiritual strength. She had grit, determination and tenacity; she endured much in her adult life and taught me to do the same.

Special Dedication to my Father
The most important man in my life, outside of Jesus Christ.
Daddy (James) –My father was an amazing man. He endured the daily struggles of life with intelligence, strength, determination and dignity. Nothing and no one would he allow to intimidate him, and everyone who met or knew him soon learned that fact. He was hardworking, creative and inciteful. If he was confronted with an obstacle, he would find a way over, under, around or through it. He never gave up! And he taught his children to do the same, don’t make excuses find a way to overcome. I thank God for him too, he was a major force in my life.
Introduction
It’s been difficult the past few years (let’s be truthful, the past decade). I’ve been someone’s caretaker for so long that I can’t remember the time when I wasn’t. I recently lost my father, and my mother passed-away seven years earlier. I’m feeling somewhat lost right now. But life must go on right? As a middle-aged, African American single mother of three; a 19-, 13- and 3-year-old I still have my hands full.
My 19-year-old, Cassandra (Cassie) is a fireball, of energy and personality, as well as being the mother of our 3-year-old Kyle and my grandson. Kyle is absolutely brilliant, yes, I am biased. At 3-years-old he wants to know everything about everything. He inhales knowledge and embraces the attention of his Me-Mom. I see great thing in store for Kyle. I think Cassie sometimes gets jealous of my relationship with Kyle, after all she was my one and only baby girl for six years. She often reminds me of that too. Cassie was so young when she got pregnant and had Kyle, I basically raised them both.
Cassie recently finished high school and is trying to decide whether to go to college or technical school for fashion/décor design. She has a flare for fashion and an eye for décor selection and placement. She is all about making a “statement” with fashion and décor design. As an absolute connoisseur of fine design for this generation and beyond. I marvel at her talent and bow to her passion for beauty and compassion for people. Sometimes the people she shows compassion to is undeserved. And it can be hurtful to her.
Now Jon (Jonathan) my 13-year-old is the complete opposite, he is my chill baby. He is quiet, introspective and wise beyond his years. He likes to read and play video games about sports and sometimes car chases. He’s and excellent student has a quirky sense of humor, mesmerizing smile and yet innocent. Everybody loves him, especially his mom. I know he’ll do great things with his life without too much coaxing from me.
I just need to figure out how to put my own life in order, because I no longer have the responsibility of caring for elderly and sick parents and several nieces and nephews who were temporarily under my guardianship.
At 53 years, focusing on my own dreams seems almost selfish. But my children and I deserve more. No more scrimping for everything we need. It’s hard to think of pursuing my dreams when for 41 or my 53 years of life have been devoted to family and their needs and wants. I was a surrogate parent to my siblings, then a caregiver to my aging parents and guardian to several nieces and nephews.
I only had a few years of freedom to myself, while in my late teens and college years. During this time a met a man (Tony) who later became the father of my two children. I was young and made an unwise choice thinking that it was love, when in my heart I suspected that it was not all that I wanted it to be. It was wrong, we were wrong and after 4 years I realized that we should not be together, and we parted. (Thank God!)
As the eldest of eight, my siblings and I weren’t close as children. Being a designated extension of my parents didn’t garnish me much friendship with my siblings. But after we became adults, they slowly began to realize the undistinguished honor and grave responsibility that was placed upon me. Yes, I still have some scars, but I am not bitter. I also have sweet memories of hugs and encouragement from my aunt Hanna who also was an eldest of her 10 siblings. She would come and liberate me on many weekends so that I could have a respite from familial duties.
On my 53 rd birthday, I decided that some things in my life had to change. My life had been on hold for some time now and I couldn’t understand how to get it back on track. I’d done all that I thought I was supposed to have done with my life. I was obedient to my parents (for the most part) all of my life. I had been a good daughter, tried to be a good elder sibling, the best parent I knew how to be to my children, and made a sincere effort to be a child and follower of the living God. Even though I had some lapses in my obedience to God from time to time (I had two children out of wedlock). Despite all my best efforts my life seemed to continue to flounder.
I had to give up my job to stay at home and care for my ailing parent who was depressed due to the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and other physical ailments that had yet to be diagnosed. I’d given up living on my own years ago to come back home and help care for my mother whose Multiple Sclerosis was worsening, until she passed away four years ago. Afterwards I stayed on to care for my father, whose health deteriorated quickly after my mother’s passing. Even though he received the best medical treatment available, his emotional and mental capacity spiraled downward after my mother’s passing. Watching his decline affected me deeply. My Dad was a major influencer in my life. He was the ideal man, husband and father. He was intelligent, strong, a provider, loving, patient, protective and calm in the face of adversity and chaos. He strived for excellence and taught his children to have the same ethics. Alzheimer’s stripped him of all that, like a thief in the night. And then he was gone, too soon, too soon.
Prior to my father’s death, I had decided after my birthday that I needed a change of environment if, I was going to put my life back on track. I was going to sell my parents’ home, and me, my children and grandson and father were going to pack up and move to Virginia where my sister Dana was now living. That way I’d have additional support in my father’s care. I prayed and prayed, and I believed that this is what God was leading me to do. So, I talked it over with the family, and we decided that this is what we were going to do. Dana was the most supportive of my siblings and volunteered to help me do the research for the move.
Unfortunately, my father passed-away suddenly without leaving a will, so it took a great deal of time and money to probate his estate before I could place the property up for sale. Once the estate was settled, I placed the property up for sale. But for whatever reasons, I couldn’t get anyone to purchase the property for value it was appraised. Dad’s insurance was minimal, so basically it paid for the funeral and little more.
I began looking for full-time employment again. My savings and income tax return were all that I had left, and we were living frugally on that. I submitted resumes to literally hundreds of job listings and didn’t receive even one positive response. I have an excellent work history and references and still no one made me an offer of employment. I was becoming more and more depressed and frustrated. I prayed and prayed, and seemingly got no answer from God. (I didn’t realize that all that I had gone through and would go through, God allowed because it would prepare me for what was to come.
Then one day while I was online checking my email for possible responses to