Tears of frustration soaked his shirt. We all worked so hard, Renee thought, and now this.
He gave her a minute and then pulled back a little so he could see her face.
“This isn’t your fault. Some guys are assholes. If you’re going to work with the public, this can and will happen. Comes with the territory.”
“He was disgusting. How can anyone treat people that way, especially his own wife? Belittling her like that in front of other people, telling her she belongs at home. What a pig. How can she live with that?”
Matt smoothed the hair back from her forehead, doing his best to calm her.
“Some women find themselves in difficult, controlling relationships. If you’ve never personally lived through something like that, it’s hard to understand how hopeless it can make people feel, to be controlled by someone bigger and meaner than they are and not know how to get out of it. Maybe Desiree came to your retreat for that reason. To try to find the strength to leave that son of a bitch and make a better life for herself and her kids.”
Maybe Matt was right. She remembered the stories Susan shared with her about her sister and the abuse she suffered. If Renee truly wanted to help people, sometimes it might get messy. Like tonight.
Taking a deep breath, Renee felt calmer. She needed to check on her guests. Giving Matt a quick kiss, she thanked him again for stopping the guy before he slugged her—or worse. He kissed her back and followed her into the lodge.
Now all eight guests were gathered in the kitchen. Someone thought to put on a pot of tea, and Desiree was holding a warm mug.
Renee faced the group and said, “Jess and I would like to apologize to all of you for the disruption tonight.”
Desiree held up her hand to silence Renee. “You have nothing to apologize for, Renee. This was all my fault. I’ll gather up my stuff now and head home.”
This was met with protests all around.
“You will absolutely do no such thing, missy,” Liz said. “You are staying right here with all of us. Tonight was an unfortunate mishap. I would venture to guess how that husband of yours treated you tonight is nothing new.” Liz’s tone softened. “You can’t change the past. All of us have made mistakes in our lives. He happens to be one of yours. Doesn’t mean you can’t change your future.”
Renee remembered what the older woman said out in the parking lot about an ex-husband. She could probably relate to how Desiree was feeling.
A tear slid down Desiree’s face, and Liz reached out her arms to the woman. The single tear turned into a flood and Desiree collapsed into Liz’s embrace. Others insisted Desiree stay too and offered their encouragement.
In the end, Desiree agreed.
***
Matt found a piece of plywood in the shed and Grant helped him nail it up to cover the window Chuck threw a rock through. One by one, everyone headed back to bed. Grant went back to his cabin and Matt walked Jess and Renee back to the duplex. Julie was furious no one called her to let her know what was going on, so she stomped off to bed after she heard the story. Jess headed to bed as well, leaving Renee and Matt alone in her kitchen.
“So other than what just happened, how did today go?” He had been curious how the first retreat was going but hadn’t expected an update until Sunday evening, once everyone went home.
“You know . . . I think it went great.”
She told Matt about the different parts of their day. When she told him how their guests reacted when she shared her own story, her eyes welled up. She still hardly believed anyone found her story inspiring.
“Renee, you never give yourself enough credit. You have done amazing things. Thank God one of those things was a crazy trip to Fiji with your kids.” Matt chuckled. “Who does that right after they lose their job?”
“I’ll assume that’s a rhetorical question and not one you expect me to answer?” Renee laughed as she sat down on Matt’s lap at the kitchen table. She cozied in, getting comfortable. “I am glad I was so scatterbrained that first day.”
Matt caught her up in a kiss.
“Woman, you drive me crazy. It’s hard to get you truly alone. I have an idea. Any interest in making that trip to Fiji over the holidays an annual event? You know I still have my house on the island.”
Renee stared at him. “Are you serious? You want all three of us to go back there with you for Christmas this year? We could go to the New Year’s party—together this time—and I might even let you kiss me on the beach again at midnight.”
“Well . . .” Matt gave it some thought while he kissed her. “What if this year we make it just the two of us? We could spend Christmas here with our families, and then you and I could celebrate the anniversary of you locking your keys in the car back in Fiji. As I recall, our last trip to the beach was interrupted by my work. This year, I couldn’t respond to an emergency if I wanted to . . . we’d be thousands of miles away.”
Epilogue
Amist rose from the lavender surface of the sea and early-morning sunshine kissed the beach pink. Renee soaked in the view, a steaming mug of coffee in her hand, and her bare toes curled in the cool sand. A screen door swung open and shut. Matt sauntered out in running shorts and his favorite gray sweatshirt.
“Care to join me on a run this morning?” he asked, stealing a sip of her coffee and a quick peck on the lips.
“Hmm . . . no, why don’t you go ahead? I’m going to sit here, relax, and enjoy my coffee.”
“Save me a cup, I’ll be back in an hour.”
Renee watched Matt jog off down the beach until the mist swallowed him up. She didn’t plan to sit and do nothing—that wasn’t her style. She reached into her beach bag and pulled out two items. One was a creamy linen envelope, and the other was her journal.
She pulled the letter out of the envelope and her eyes fell lovingly on her aunt’s handwriting. She read again Cecil’s final words meant for her alone. Two paragraphs in particular spoke to her this time.
You will never have the regret of missing out on raising your own children. You were blessed with a husband you loved, but you lost him too soon. Don’t give all of your time and energy to your work and your children. Save enough of yourself so you have the strength and desire to forge strong relationships with people who will light your days and carry you through to your own sunset. Don’t depend on your children to do that for you. They need to build lives of their own.
My only other significant regret is something I never shared with anyone. Most people think because of my success that I must have loved my work. I enjoyed the work and the people; however, it always felt like something was missing. I longed for a deeper connection or sense of peace and fulfillment from my work. I never found it. Some lucky people do. I suspect you have not yet found this type of connection either, my dear Renee, but my hope is that you will.
How could she have known, when she first read those words one year ago, how much her life would change? Matt came into her life, and she hoped he would be with her for years to come.
If only Renee could have one last conversation with Celia, she would thank her for the path her aunt provided her. Folding up the letter, Renee carefully tucked the envelope back in her bag. She opened her journal, took another sip of coffee, and started making plans for their upcoming retreats. Matt would be back from his run soon.
Did You Enjoy
Whispering Pines?
First of all, thank you for purchasing Whispering Pines. I am so grateful you selected it and I hope you enjoyed reading my first book in the Celia’s Gifts series.
There are many adventures yet to come for this family. If you enjoyed Whispering Pines, and would like to read more about other ways Celia found to leave a legacy for her family, please join me for updates on upcoming books in this series.
www.kimberlydiedeauthor.com
Or email me at [email protected]
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indie author, this is the best way readers can help me!
Your feedback and support is invaluable in helping me not only improve this book, but my future writings as well.
All the best,
Kimberly Diede
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, thank you to my husband, Rick Diede, and our kids, Amber, Alecia, and Joshua. I so appreciate your patience with me throughout this process. Writing my book took a long time, tucked into the nooks and crannies of our already-full lives. While I know you didn’t always understand my near-obsession to write, you never stopped encouraging me. I hope this book can serve as an example to you how dedicated, consistent work on your own goals can take you where you want to go in life.
Thank you also to my parents, Linda and Larry Hansted. You were my earliest readers and your interest in my book kept me going when I was ready to give up on it.
I am so grateful to other family and friends as well for helping me on this journey. Thank you for not laughing out loud when I told you what I was up to. To my brother Jon Hansted—I was so nervous to hand my early draft over to you, perhaps because your opinion means so much. Maybe together we can convince Tom to read the finished product!
Thank you to my life-long friend, Deneen Axtman, for continuously holding me accountable to see this through and for reading my near-complete manuscript during your family camping trip. So many more of you also encouraged me along the way. You know who you are and I truly hope you know how much your support means to me!
While encouragement from friends and family was invaluable in my pursuit of becoming a published author, writing was only half the battle. I will be forever grateful to the Self-Publishing School community for teaching me how to go from a rough draft to a published book. Thank you Chandler Bolt and Sean Sumner for the Mastermind Community and the wonderful resources you make available. To my coach RE Vance—thank you for opening my eyes to what it takes to be a fiction author in today’s world. Without all of you, my book would likely still be residing quietly in a binder in my desk drawer.
Despite reading more books than I can count over the past few decades, lots of reading doesn’t automatically translate to the ability to actually write a story that will pull readers through from beginning to end. I needed lots of professional help and was so lucky to have the assistance of two gifted people. Thank you Yvonne Fugelstad for your generosity in helping me with my early draft. You set me on the right path. Then my amazing editor came along—Spencer Hamilton of Nerdy Wordsmith Ink—and he worked tirelessly with me to bring my story to a level I never could have reached on my own. You made me laugh, and at times nearly cry, when you pushed me for more and never let me settle. Thank you, Spencer—here’s to more books with you in the years to come!
They teach us in SPS the importance of having an accountability buddy. Thank you Lisha Lender for giving of your time and encouragement over these many months. I have gained a friend in you and together we are both finding our way to “published”!
To the many other wonderful people in our SPS community—I have never before been exposed to such an amazing group, willing to share trials and tribulations, all with the ultimate goal of helping each other achieve our dreams.
A huge thank-you to all of the amazing, selfless people on my Whispering Pines book launch team. Thank you Sarah Magarey for your careful review and suggested corrections. Writing a book begins as a solo project but getting it out to the world can’t be done alone.
I also want to thank Amanda Wolf with Lemon Drops Photography (www.lemondropsphotos.com). You are talented and a blast to work with, but even more than that, I admire you for pursuing your own dreams. You go, girl!
And finally, as with any “gift,” the beautiful wrapping is important, and I want to thank my cover designer, Cakamura DSGN Studio, for sharing your talent with me.
About the Author
Kimberly Diede’s first novel, Whispering Pines, was inspired by her real-life “Aunt Celia,” Mary K. Nierling. Aunt Mary was a generous, extraordinary, slightly formidable woman who excelled in a “man’s world” in the mid-1900s.
An avid life-long reader, Kimberly would occasionally read until the sun rose, before adult responsibilities made the habit unsustainable. Her love of reading has evolved into an unexpected love of writing as a creative outlet from the demands of thirty years in corporate America. She is currently at work on her second novel in her Celia’s Gifts series.
Kimberly lives in North Dakota with her family and spends as much time as possible at the lake in the summertime.
Visit her website at www.kimberlydiedeauthor.com/.
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