Paige Anderson is confused.
She's been living with her Uncle Dave all of her life, but her new discovery makes her wonder if he's hiding something about his past.
Marcus Gabriel is a liar.
He's been trying to cover up the secrets of his past for so long, and now that Paige has found an old possession of his, the truth has to come out.
Dave Anderson is normal.
He's had some heartbreak in the past, but he's tried to move on and has built himself a good life with his family. But when an unexpected visitor shows up at his doorstep, Dave knows his life will never be the same.
Follow a story that circulates around the struggles Paige has making sense of her past, and teaches the importance of family, no matter who they are.
Excerpt:
My thumb is bleeding. I’ve chewed on it for so long and hard that now it is sporting a bright, brick-red color all over. I suck on it, and it tastes like iron, like how I feel inside right now. I don’t like the taste at all, but I keep sucking, so that I can distract myself from thinking about them. But that’s impossible. The waiting area of the emergency room might be the most depressing place in a hospital you can be. Right now, one couple sits on the bench down the hall from me. The woman has her head on her husband’s shoulder, and is sobbing uncontrollably. The nurses at the desk look sad, but there is nothing they can do really. How do you help someone when a piece of their heart is gone? An IV drip? Surgery? No, nothing will work. You can’t patch up a sliced artery with a Band-Aid. You just can’t. I’m beginning to feel anxious again. Maybe I should pray. I figure it’s worth a shot; I fold my hands together and slip off the uncomfortable bench straight to my knees. I pray to God to save them, nothing else. I don’t care what it will cost, what I need to pay, I’ll do anything as long as it will mean they can live. I get up off my knees and sit back on the bench. I stare at the clock, which seems to be moving at a record slow speed, as if the universe wants me to savor my misery right now, like a sick twist of fate. Well, it’s working. A person can’t feel any more miserable when they are waiting in the hospital emergency ward for the fates of their sister and five-month old niece. Waiting to see if the man who decided to become intoxicated and drive has taken their greatest gift. No, it can’t get worse than that. Why can’t the time go faster? I’ve been here for nearly two hours in the same spot! Who am I kidding? I’ll stay in this spot for a week if it means Lydia and her child will be okay. Just then, I see the doctor coming down the hall. His eyes tell me to expect bad, no, terrible news. I try to brace myself for the worst. I take deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling, as if to somehow calm myself in one of life’s worst situations. But I’ve run out of time, the doctor has made his way down the hall and has stopped right in front of me. “Dave,” he begins. “I’m so sorry, but we couldn’t save Lydia in time.” I wasn’t prepared enough. Right here, in the emergency ward hallway, I begin to sob. I sob for Lydia, my beautiful little sister, who still had her whole life ahead of her. I sob for myself, for I’ve lost my lifelong friend, someone I could always depend on, and now she’s gone and can never come back. But mostly, I sob for her little baby, who will never know the magnificent person that was her mother. I sob for the baby because she got the least amount of time with her mom, and she’ll never remember her. Then, I remember that the baby was in the car WITH Lydia, and I quickly turn back to the doctor, whose hand has been on my shaking shoulder this whole time. “What about Paige? How is she?” I ask. The tears are still storming down my face. “Who is Paige?” the doctor asks in all seriousness. His eyebrows creased with concern. I want to punch him in the face. Or wring his neck. Maybe both. I settle for grabbing him by the collar of his white jacket and raising my voice. “What do you mean, ‘Who is Paige?’!!!!” I scream. “Paige is Lydia’s daughter; she’s just a baby, and she should be back there with the doctors!” I know I’m making a scene. But I think I deserve to right now. My face is heats from the tears pouring down my face. “Where is she?!?!!!” “I don’t think that she’s here, Dave.” the doctor looks about ready to cry himself. “Why haven’t you seen her? What part of the hospital is she in right now?!” He takes a deep breath. “I mean that she isn’t in the hospital at all. We don’t have any infants back there at the moment. I’m so sorry, but nobody else came in the ambulance with Lydia.” And just like that, my world blackens.