by Mary May
On A Prayer
Mary May
On A Prayer
Copyright © 2014 by Mary Heath
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and for review purposes.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
The use of artist and song titles throughout this book are done so for storytelling purposes and should in no way be seen as advertisement. Trademark names are used in an editorial fashion, with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark.
Table of Contents
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
Epilogue
Note From The Author
On A Prayer
Chapter 1
The red and blue flashing lights fill the freezing January night sky. The smell of wet asphalt and spilled gasoline clog my nose and throat, choking me. My body is moving forward in slow motion. I scream at myself to stop, but my body doesn’t listen.
Now I can see the twisted metal and the scattered remains of what used to be David’s red sports car that he was so proud of. I plead with myself to turn around, to close my eyes, to just …STOP! But I continue forward. I look to the right, and I can see the small blue car, its front end smashed into a tall pine tree. The owner is walking around completely unharmed, shaking his head, talking to the police and paramedics. I can feel the bile rising up at the back of my throat as I approach David’s car. My heart is pounding hard out of rhythm. My chest hurts from the repressed tears and screams of denial and rage. I try with all my might to stop my feet from taking another step. It’s not too late! I could still turn around and go back to my life. My life with my husband of five years and my three year old little boy, my life with my family, my church and my God.
I take the final step around the back of the car, and now it’s too late; now my life and all that matters is gone. Everything that I lived for has been taken from me… forever. Two bodies draped with white sheets are lying on the wet black pavement. One is tall and broad; the other is tiny, so tiny it barely makes a bulge under the sheet.
Klara flung herself upward in bed, her screams echoing off the walls of her bedroom, the pain in her chest so massive that she struggled to breathe through it. She leaned over, taking deep breaths to fight back the nausea. She reached over, turning on the bedside lamp. The clock read three twenty in the morning; she had to be up in an hour. Lying back on her pillows, she rubbed her chest, trying to rub away the ache that woke her nearly every night. She closed her eyes, doing the deep breathing techniques that her therapist had taught her. Deep slow breath in through her nose, hold it for ten seconds, then slowly let it out. After three times, she still felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Sighing, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and reached for the bottle of prescription antidepressants. She shook the small white tablet out in her hand then tossed it to the back of her throat, taking a long drink of water to send it on its way. This was her life now, a pill to go sleep then another pill to get over the nightmares that plagued her nightly, even after a year and a half. Getting up, she walked into the bathroom and flipped on the light. Her reflection was the same as it had been for eighteen months. She looked into the face of a woman that buried her husband and son, then for all intents and purposes, buried herself along with them. After the funeral she had walked away from everything, her job, her family, her church. Everything.
Stepping into the shower she let the scalding hot water pound the tension from her muscles. Soon she felt the medication start to take effect. Thank goodness it was fast-acting. She relaxed as the comforting feeling of numbness started to spread throughout her body, chasing away the pain again for a few blissful hours.
“Morning, Klara, Monday again!” Klara smiled at Brittney as she walked past her cubicle.
“I know, girl, the weekends are never long enough,” she lied as she walked to her own cubicle, setting her purse in the right hand drawer of her desk. It had to be the right side, never the left. Her life was compiled of routines and more routines. Nothing to take her out of her rut or make her have to think or react to anything. She lived her life on autopilot and didn’t see that changing any time soon.
She pulled out the mirror from her lap drawer to check her lipstick. The peachy coral color was her favorite, and she didn’t deviate from it. Large gray blue eyes were lightly lined with dark gray liner along with exactly two coats of mascara. Her ash blonde hair was pulled back in a low bun that was easy and classy; the style never changed. Her life was a carefully-constructed tightrope act, and she didn’t do anything different to throw her off balance. She slipped the headphones over her ears then hit the receive button.
“Thank you for calling Adams and Moreland law offices. How can I help you?” Klara was probably the only person in the large law office who actually looked forward to Monday morning. She hated the weekends when she had two days to try to fill with anything but her haunted memories. Her job was her lifeline to her sanity. She could get lost in the legal problems of the clients, forgetting everything for nine or ten hours every day.
During lunch the ladies were all whispering about the new boss. According to Brittney, who was the eyes and ears of the office, he was single and very attractive. Klara smiled as she watched all the single women fluff their hair and boobs to maximize their appeal. Sipping her diet Coke, she saw the ladies square off against each other without even realizing what they were doing. “Klara! Did you hear? Old man Adams is finally retiring, and his grandson is taking his place in the law firm!” Brittney was so excited her face glowed with the thought that she might be the lucky girl to catch the young grandson’s eye.
“That’s great. I’m sure Mr. Adams will enjoy handing the title down to his grandson.”
Brittany rolled her large brown eyes. “Klara, aren’t you excited that he may notice you? That he may fall in love with you and take you away from all of this?” Brittany sighed dramatically, sitting down at Klara’s table.
Shaking her head, she smiled at her co-worker. “I’m ok with all of this actually, so I’ll let you have him. Go get him!” She raised her hand to mimic cat claws and meowed.
“Klara, you never date or even acknowledge when men show interest in you. Why not? You’re pretty enough, and I bet if you put forth just a little more effort on your appearance you could snag a man in no time!”
Klara shook her head at the backhanded compliment. “I’m not interested, ok?” She had told the few girls that she had lunch with that she was a widow but didn’t go into any more detail than that. She got up, throwing away her trash from the lunch that she ate without tasting a single bite. “But if the new Mr. Adams asks, I’ll put in a good word for you.” She waved at the rest of the ladies then went to the restroom. She opened her purse and pulled out th
e bottle of medication. She shook another small white pill into her palm to carry her through the rest of her day.
Later that evening she unlocked the door to her small apartment and tossed the keys into a small bowl. Scooter, her large longhaired gray and white cat, slid in and out around her ankles. “Hey, sweetie. Give me just a minute and I’ll fix your dinner.” Going into the bedroom she took off her light blue pant suit then hung up the jacket. She tossed the slacks and the white button down blouse into the dry cleaners box then slipped into her fuzzy sleep pants and oversized pink sleep shirt. Scooter was at her door meowing desperately like he was at death’s doorstep. Klara chuckled. “Ok, ok…my goodness! You know the vet said you needed to lose three pounds, so don’t look at me like that!”
Going into the kitchen she opened a small can of grilled tuna and dumped it into Scooter’s bowl. The large cat attacked it, wrapping his big paws around the bowl like it was going to try to escape. Klara then opened her cabinet looking for her own dinner. Spying the bottle of rum on the top shelf, she poured herself a glass. Grabbing the bottle, she walked into the living room and turned on the TV. Scooter came in and jumped on her tummy. He kneaded his big paws into her chest, rumbling like an old car motor. After pouring herself another glass, she flipped through channels until she found an infomercial to watch. This was her life, a far cry from the full and happy life she had lived just a relatively short time ago.
Chapter 2
The first time she saw David was in church. He was the pastor’s little brother and had come by to hear his brother preach. The single ladies were all whispering behind cupped hands to one another over how handsome he was. Klara had noticed, oh, she definitely noticed. David was close to six feet tall with dark brown hair that curled onto his collar. He had hazel eyes that were framed by sinfully long dark lashes and a boyish smile that could charm your socks (or whatever else) right off. The way the fabric stretched across his broad shoulders gave the impression of a well-honed body hidden underneath the dark suit. Klara found herself paying a lot more attention to him during the service instead of the sermon. He seemed to enjoy his brother’s message; she saw him nod a couple times in agreement and mouth amen here and there.
After church her mother made sure that Klara was introduced to the pastor’s baby brother. Of course, every mother there with a single daughter did the same thing. Klara smiled self-consciously and shook his hand, saying how nice it was to meet him. David did the same then moved on the next young lady waiting in line. He didn’t seem struck by love at first sight, so Klara was very surprised when he called on her the following Saturday morning.
“Klara! You won’t believe who is downstairs asking to see you.” Her mother was so excited that Klara thought surely it must be someone high-ranking like the President of the United States or something to elicit such a reaction. “Hurry! Brush your hair, put on something pretty! Don’t keep him waiting, for goodness sake!” Klara laughed as she ducked and dodged the brushes and articles of clothing her mother was tossing out of her closet at her.
“Mama, who is it?”
Her mother looked at her with a sparkle in her eyes. “Oh, it’s so wonderful! You must have made quite the impression!”
Klara frowned in confusion. “Mama, who IS it?” She asked for the second time.
“It’s David!”
“Who?” Klara asked her again.
Her mother looked at her in disbelief. “David, the pastor’s younger brother!” Her mother started running the brush through her hair for her, as Klara stood there stunned that he would come calling on her.
She finally snapped out of her stupor. “Ok, ok…I’ll get ready, Mama. Go offer him something to drink or something.” Her mother rushed to the door.
“Please hurry, but take your time and look really nice, ok?” Then she hurried down the hall. Klara laughed at the command her mother left her with. To hurry but take her time? She finally just changed shirts and pulled her hair into a ponytail. She wasn’t going to kill herself getting ready. He was just a man and so far Klara had done just fine without one in her life.
She walked down the stairs and could hear her mother in the living room gushing to David over her. “Did you know that our Klara was the first person in our family to attend college? She received a full scholarship based on her 4.0. grade-point average and perfect attendance. We are very proud of her!”
She heard the smile in David’s voice. “As you should be, Mrs. Freeman. That’s certainly something to be proud of.” Klara stepped quickly into the living room before her mother could start giving David her pedigree.
“Hello, David, this is a surprise. How are you?” He stood and smiled warmly at her. Klara fought hard to control herself to keep from blushing.
“I’m fine, and I’m sorry for showing up without calling first, but I was just in the neighborhood and wondered if I could talk you into going for a walk with me.”
“Of course she can! She would be delighted!” Her mother answered for her.
Klara smiled. “Sure, I don’t have anything planned for this afternoon. Let me grab my jacket.” She turned to get her jacket from the hall closet, but her mother already had it in hand and was handing it to her. Klara frowned at her mother’s over-eager behavior. David was going to think there was something wrong with her if she kept this up.
They stepped out of the house into the cool fall afternoon. The leaves were in their full harvest colors and the sky was the deep blue that only happens during this time of year. They walked down the sidewalk of the tree-lined street neither saying anything, but then they both tried to speak at the same time. “Thank you for inviting me…”
“Thank you for coming,” they both said at the same time.
David laughed. It was deep and rumbly, causing shivers to start in her tummy. “I’m sorry, go ahead, Klara.”
“Thank you for inviting me. I love to take walks this time of year.” She peeked up at him from under her lashes. He was walking with his hands in his jacket pockets looking up at the leaves.
“You’re welcome. I tried to catch you after church last Sunday, but you took off before I had a chance.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Oh, I’m sorry. I had plans with a friend of mine. He had invited me to go to the movies with him.” David stopped, frowning at her.
“I’m sorry. I was under the impression that you were not seeing anyone. Maybe we should go back to your house. I don’t want to step on any toes.” She smiled at him.
“No toes to step on. Calvin and I are just friends.” They continued on with their walk.
“Hmmm…does Calvin know this?” he asked.
“I should think so! I’ve never given him reason to think otherwise. I’ve known him forever.”
David grinned at her. “I don’t know; usually when a guy asks a girl to the movies it’s a definite sign of interest. What did you go see?”
Klara wrinkled her brow in thought. “Oh, some awful horror movie, you know, blood, guts, lots of screaming and really bad acting.”
He laughed out loud. “Oh yeah, I hate to break this to you, but your friend Calvin is most definitely interested in more than just friendship.”
Klara stopped and stared up at him. “How do you know that? Did you decide that just from the movie we saw?”
He nodded at her. “Yup. Let me let you in on some really secret guy moves. If the girl we are trying to date is already halfway interested in us, we would take her to a romantic comedy. Now if the girl is someone that we have known forever, and doesn’t look at us ‘like that,’ we would take her to a scary movie so she would jump and hide her face in our shoulder and we can come off all manly alpha male. Maybe make her see us in a different light.”
Klara stopped again, looking at him in disbelief. “You’re making that up!” she accused.
David grinned then walked on ahead of her turning back to face her walking backwards. “Nope, if you don’t believe me, ask your friend Calvin.”
She j
ogged to catch up with him. “I will! If that is true, then you are all sneaky!”
David just shrugged. “Sneaky? That’s harsh. I prefer the term strategists. So, if you don’t mind me asking, what was your response to the movie? Did you scream, jump and hide your face in his manly chest?”
Klara burst out laughing. “Oh, poor Calvin… I think I
may have seriously damaged his ego. I fell asleep!” David roared with laughter.
“Oh yeah! You owe him a homemade cake or something for sure. Poor guy. He may never recover.”
After that first walk they were almost joined at the hip. Klara would never forget their first kiss. David had just made some outrageous comment that had her going on and on. He riled her up about something he said; it made her eyes flash. This time he may have gone too far because Klara was genuinely angry with him. She had turned back to give him what for about it when he swooped in and covered her lips with his own. He silenced her with a smoldering kiss that had her toes curling and tummy doing somersaults. She had been kissed before, but nothing compared to this kiss. He tilted her head and palmed the side of her face as he wrapped his arm around her waist to bring her closer to him. All rational thought fled her mind as David played her like master musician making her body sing.
After a couple of minutes he pulled back and kissed the tip of her nose. His breathing ragged, he asked her, “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that?”
Klara smiled up at him in a daze, still not quite functioning right yet. “How long?” She whispered.
“Since the first moment I met you. I couldn’t wait to see what you would look like right after being kissed. You look just as beautiful as I imagined. Maybe more.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. “Maybe we should try it again just to be sure.”
He lowered his head, smiling at her. “If you insist, you know, just for the sake of a fair comparison.” The second kiss was just as electric as the first. Klara couldn’t get enough of David’s kisses. She would make little bets with kisses as his reward if she lost, then she would make sure that she lost. She was totally head over heels in love for the first time in her life. It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time.