For this week’s Snippet Saturday, give us your best hook. Is it in the middle of chapter, at the end of a chapter? On the first page? No matter where it is your book, post it below in the comments section….and don’t forget to link us to your website.
“What happened to you?” he whispered hoarsely.
“As if you care.”
“Of course I care. You’re my wife.”
She dropped her hands to her side. “Your wife? Your wife! I’m not your wife. I’m the mother to your child, your housekeeper and your recent bed partner, but I’m not your wife. If I were, you’d talk to me. You’d tell me of your dreams, your nightmares, your family.”
She gripped the back of a kitchen chair and glared at him. “You wouldn’t stand out there by the oak and talk to a dead woman.”
Shock rocked through him. He had no idea she felt this…wronged. Angie had been too fragile to listen or care about his dreams, let alone to hear of his nightmares. He’d grown accustom to keeping his thoughts to himself. It never occurred to him Laura would be interested in hearing his dreams or his worries.
“Don’t think I don’t understand, David, because I do. Uncle John was the same way. His wife died young, in childbirth. He loved her greatly. It’s why he wouldn’t leave Colerain. Sally was buried there. He’d go talk to her, tell her about his day. I understand.”
What the devil was Laura talking about? What did she understand?
“You have a wife you love and she’s buried out there under the oak.” She shook her head. “I can’t compete with that.”
He was too surprised by her words to do more than watch her leave the kitchen and the house. He pulled out a chair and sat, dropping his head into his hands. Laura thought he loved Angie. He released a deep groan.
Maybe he had once, way back in the beginning, back when they were both undamaged by the War Between the States and its atrocities, back when he believed dreams could come true. He’d kept his feelings, thoughts, and demons to himself to protect Angie and thought he’d been doing the same for Laura.
Maybe he was only protecting himself.
Anna Kathryn Lanier
http://www.aklanier.com
Ooops, I forgot to give the title, SALVATION BRIDE.
The effort to find a full breath was terrifying. Had her bought silence been worthless? Would he constantly be coming at her for more favors? And why the animosity towards Brother Amon?
“And what if I tell what I know about the will?” she said.
Her uncle leaned forward, his hot breath burning her ear. “I can leave marks never seen by the human eye.”
——Annie McKechnie, Keeping Secrets, Children of the Light 1