An Angel with Secrets

Marti Eicholz

Description

An Angel with Secrets is a novel, dealing with human experience and imaginary characters.

When Mary takes the fall for her boyfriend Luke and goes to jail, she has no idea her fate is not the only one at stake. She's pregnant, and she gives birth to her daughter Angel behind bars, where Mary raises her for the first eighteen months of Angel's life, until Luke takes Angel from the prison. However, Angel quickly discovers that living with Luke and his girlfriend Sophia has its own problems, as she is frequently caught in the crossfire of their fractious relationship. Luke, ultimately, leaves Sophia and Angel alone. Although she is only six years old Angel is convinced Sophia would be better off without her. She runs away and eventually finds herself in a group home for children run by Mitsy, a warm and loving woman with a large community of friends and family who all take part in raising her. They name her Angie and help shape her destiny. Although she struggles to adjust, this extended makeshift family supports her as she grows into a young woman, encouraging her to follow her dreams. As Angie puts together the puzzle pieces of her life, she must decide if she can truly move forward without revisiting the past and truly putting it to bed. A moving story of love, family, and survival, "An Angel with Secrets" follows one very special girl as she grows into a woman who thrives and flourishes against all odds.

Sujets

• Musique
• Technique musicale
• Technique musicale
• Vie de famille
• Parentalité et Éducation des Enfants
• Techniques musicales
• Music
• Instruction
• Appreciation
• Study

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456633066
• Langue: English

Extrait

AN ANGEL
WITH
SECRETS
 
 
A NOVEL
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marti Eicholz
This is a novel.
It deals with human experience, imaginary characters and events.
This is a work of fiction based on the author’s imagination rather than facts .
 
 
Copyright 2020 Marti Eicholz,
All rights reserved.
 
 
Published by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 9781456633066
 
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE AFFAIR
ALONE TOGETHER
THE DEPARTURE
A GARDEN OF HOPE
CONNECTING
STRIVING
A BUSY BEE
PASSIONS UNFOLD
RELEASE
A BLUNDER
DECISION TIME
GOING ABROAD
THE UNEXPECTED
SELFLESS
MOVING
RELISHING THE JOYS
NEW GOALS
THE NOW
 
THE AFFAIR
On this beautiful, balmy evening, the city folk were out walking the streets, standing around chatting, or sitting on benches watching others showing off their physiques in their tight-fitting clothes.
The music coming from a nearby bar was so loud it made Mary’s skin tingle and her lungs feel like mush. Mary was true to her Hebrew name. She indeed was rebellious and bitter, a sea of sorrow. Over the roar of the music was a distant, hazy chatter. She could not make out any words, but the laughter rang in her ears and it wouldn’t stop. She had to join the crowd. As she entered, Luke glided down the marble steps like a slinking panther.
They flirted, shared names, and got close. Her smile mirrored his. She kept humming until he took her in a bear hug and kissed her. They pulled away and their eyes locked.
The bass thumped in time with their heartbeats as though they were one, filling them from head to toe with music. The music was as loud as thunder. They huddled with a group and jumped as if being shaken in a box.
The music moved them like puppets on strings, and their heads mashed so hard their brains were in shutdown-mode. Mary knew of the effects of drugs they sell on the streets and in bars, but not the ones that come with a hug and a smile.
The alcohol kept flowing like an IV drip. All the good vibes flowed like a virus — a great one. As Mary watched Luke weaves through the guys and girls like a pro as he returned with more drinks. His smile seemed wider than the Golden Gate Bridge.
Luke had an independent streak, making him a challenge, just as he challenged the world, jumping from one idea to another. Mary liked his spontaneity, his craziness; plus, he was funny. He captivated her, and together they danced a dance of immense freedom.
Mary’s only thought was, God, I love this man.
Luke came to her side, giving her another shot and stating, “Love is in the air. I’m all hyped up and ready to give us a good time!” Mary knew it was never just her yearning for him; it was mutual. Luke thought I swear this girl is an expert on keeping my heart beating; without her I am sure my heart would stop.
Coming out of the bar there was a starburst of light amongst the darkened sky. Neon lights flashed everywhere, just like on a police car. The streets were full of people who walked as if the ground was the deck of a storm-tossed boat. Each foot came to the sidewalk not expecting the collision of shoe and concrete would cause a lurch or a stumble.
Being with Luke, Mary partied every night. She thought I could not be more alive if I was shouting from a mountain top. The music and Luke are my drugs that bring me higher and higher until I buzz with pure joy. My limbs have so much energy. I could dance forever!
Each night they slipped in among the crowd and made a beeline for the bar. A drink of vodka later, they were ready to move with the music with hands in the air, bodies gyrating like an uncoiling rope and eyes on fire.
The joy was like a shot of their choice drug. Mary's hips swayed as the sequins on her dress caught the disco ball light twirling above launching every shade of the rainbow into the darkness. By the end of the evening, Luke and Mary were drunk. They grabbed onto each other, arm-in-arm, and exited the premises, wobbling down the lamp-lit alley into the glow of streetlamps as they staggered into Luke’s one-room apartment, falling into bed.
Months later, Mary walked as her hair fluttered in the air, her clothes hung to her body and arms tightly wrapped around her. She felt a cold wind stroking her skin, wanting to rip her clothes off her, as if she were its enemy.
Seeking warmth and love, she appeared in the bar with the winter snow billowing around her skirt. No one paid attention to her beauty. She waltzed on with an effortless saunter. The clicking of her heels added rhythm to the soft jazz playing without pause. Her eyes scanned the room with determination in search of Luke.
Luke had the most wonderful eyes—they were blue, mostly, but darkened to grey depending on his mood. Both had past lives of petty crimes and supported a life dependency on drugs and alcohol.
Memories of the streets where the good kids went to school haunted Luke. Every Saturday from his father’s farmer market booth, selling eggs, cheese, milk, and produce, he watched and listened as the kids made music in the square. These were the streets and the people he wanted to associate with. Luke felt calm and at home here, but he lived across the railroad tracks. His family was members of a separate community, and he was bused from their farmhouse to a school in the nearby city.
Sadly, he discovered that words, not words of love but simple sounds uttered carelessly from the mouth---could crush confidence and provoke anger. Years being bullied taught him that words could tear down and shatter one’s self-respect. Those demeaning words destroyed his self-worth, hitting with the impact of a wrecking ball and lodging in his memory.
Those words expressed by anxieties, his triggers, were the ghosts that haunted him, driving actions that were illogical to his parents, teachers, and even himself.
Feeling lost, lonely, and trapped, he found comfort and acceptance with a group that came to town and marked out their turf like a wolf pack. He craved the gang leader’s approval and the drugs they started him on.
Luke’s eyes became glassy and unfriendly, showing no emotion, cold. He followed all the wrong animal instincts. Every week, his morality was pushed slightly further in the wrong direction, and he rationalized that this way of thinking was a desirable freedom. He even became convinced that his family, who didn’t see the value in becoming a writer or an artist, was the enemy.
Luke continued to grasp for love in all the wrong places over and over.
All of Mary’s associations with love had been bad ones. The way her stepfather lifted his fist against her mother, the way her mother screamed as his white knuckles gripped her throat or the snickering laughter as she kicked back---this is wrong. Mary wondered why humans act this way. This is not love.
In her life she was never more than a ping pong ball, bounced from one to another for her love. She gave it freely. Each parent put a cage around her love, limiting its expression. Her father demanded that she show her love for him by demeaning her mother, her mother demanded the very same thing.
She thought when I came to you with a toddler’s open heart you saw an annoyance, another month to feed, a bottom to wipe.
Damage sits in when you are ignored and inconvenient. No matter how dark the storm she always scampered back with the wide eyes of a child, confused, hiding the fear but searching, seeking acceptance, appreciation, and approval---love.
In high school she fell in love with her friend, the sewing machine. With her strong eyesight, good hand-eye coordination, steady hands, and strong attention to detail, she focused calmly and efficiently creating garments of splendor and beauty. The shop that sold fabrics finer than she could afford hired her.
Her scars remained with her. At night she dressed to attract attention, seeking approval and love.
This evening Mary and Luke’s meeting was so beautiful—it was like the stars had taken a rest. Their lips planted on soft cushions. As their bodies hit the bare mattress, Luke turns to eyes of flame, a wry grin on his face, “I knew we would be together one day.” Mary feels the explosion within her, a burst of love.
Luke and Mary were together in love, and together in driving the drug market. Luke had a greater mission. He convinced her to smuggle drugs to the UK. However, Luke could not protect and shield Mary from the authorities.
At Dublin airport, a sniffer dog walked over to her suitcase and sat down beside it. Dublin authorities returned Mary to the states for prosecution. State side they found her guilty for burglary, drug trafficking, and possession of cocaine and heroin. They incarcerated her. Staring outside the window, she looked intently with a long, fixed stare at the high walls topped with barbed wire, like any other high-security facility.
Soon she discovered she was having Luke’s child. Mary thought this is a terrible thing. I will have a baby in prison.
She felt the baby in the womb, twisting, turning, jumping, and slowly moving back and forth to the beat of sound — or no sound at all, just yearning for another slide.
Being in prison and pregnant, Mary described this time to Luke on one of his visits, “Luke, this is a period of complete humiliation. I am stripped, searched, and placed in belly chains and handcuffs for the duration of every doctor’s appointment. It’ s torture. ” He listened.
Just a few months later, Mary was all alone when prison staff shackled and chained her to the hospital bed during labor and childbirth. The restraints of handcuffs, ankle restraints, leg irons and waist chains were painful and interfered with her ability to mov