privacy," Rosie cried. "And I let it happen."
"You can't beat yourself up over it Rosie, Landon's done enough of that. All you can do now is concentrate on you, healing you. Forget about what you could have done in the past, think about what you just did and use that to go forward. The both of you have made the biggest leap towards freedom and happiness, and I am so very proud of you." Aurora was the voice that would lead them out of the darkness.
"Ladies I am going to see to it that those men no longer invade every corner of your lives. Now it's your time to move on and shine. Your lives begin now ladies, they begin now."
Rosie and Mari exchanged looks before thanking Aurora for coming into their lives at a time when they needed a friend. That night was the first night in a long time where Mari and Rosie were able to sleep peacefully. There was no peril at all in the house just peace, peace and quiet.
On the other side of town however such wasn’t the case. Ronnie, who had spent the entire day looking for his wife, had given up, at least for the night anyway. He'd gone to the packy and gotten himself a case of beer, and as he sat alone in the kitchen he cursed himself for beating her so bad that she had to go to the hospital. Had he hit her only once, things would never have gotten out of hand, but it was her fault for screaming and causing a scene like that. He promised that when he found her, he was going to make her pay.
Landon lay in bed with his hands behind his head. He'd checked every place that he could think of in search for Rosie and came up with nothing. Not even when he checked her online history was he able to come up with anything. "That bitch will be in for a surprise when I shut off her cell phone," he muttered as he got out his laptop. With just a couple of clicks he was able to have Rosie's cell phone cut off.
"Serves the bitch right. Now let’s see you try and call all your friends now," he mumbled. The anger that had been simmering in him all day came out as he began throwing things at the wall. How dare she leave me!" He shouted over and over again. "Nobody leaves me, I leave them!" Landon was at war with his own ego, and it was a war that he would soon lose because deep inside something told him that Rosie was never coming back.
Chapter three
It was an Indian summer like day, very warm for October. Aurora had gotten up before the others and had managed to get in a trip to the grocery store, and by the time she'd made it back home, the sun had made its way fully into the sky. The temperature was almost eighty-three degrees, and she was glad that she'd thrown on a pair of shorts.
The day was not only hot, but it was dry and the dust from the dirt road kicked up as she made her way towards the house. A brand new car in the driveway raised her vigilance to unseen levels. She reached into the glove box and pulled out her .22. It wasn’t Nick's car nor was it any of the volunteers. And even if it was, they were not authorized to be there. Any and all volunteers had to be approved by the board and then a phone call or email was sent to Aurora informing her to expect their arrival, neither had been done.
She pulled up behind the new Jaguar and wrote down the license plate. There was no way she was going to let them make a fast getaway. If they did, they were going to have to plow through a shit load of perennials to do so, either that or ram her Jeep.
The front door flew open, and both Mari and Rosie stood in the doorway.
"He just got here a few minutes ago," they whispered. "He didn’t come to the door, he went straight out to the tool shed. Who is he?"
Mari noticed the gun in Aurora's hand. "I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you had protection," she said with a smirk. "But something tells me that this guy didn’t come to do us harm, he looks lost is all." Mari covered her mouth to conceal her laugh. "Someone who's lost doesn’t go looking in a tool shed for
Lane Hart, Aaron Daniels, Editor's Choice Publishing