Moments for the Heart

Hey, Weekend Writing Warriors. What an eventful week. I had my surgery to remove my abdominal lymph nodes. This was due to them finding a tumor on my appendix. I was a mess for the entire week. They couldn’t get my plumbing restarted; that was an adventure. I was in the hospital until Friday. Well, that allowed me to be there for the release of the pathology report. I wish it was better news. Stage 3 Appendiceal Cancer. The good news is the surgeon says she got it all. The bad is that I now need to see an Oncologist to see what my next steps are.

The Five Barred Gate part One and Two are available on Amazon! Pick up your copies today!!

SYNOPSIS

Michael Andrews thought he was far removed from the events his father experienced twenty years ago. He heard the bedtime stories so often, he had driven them out and was barely speaking to his dad. Religion was the last thing he wanted, until it became the only thing that mattered.

A new threat arises; his wife is arrested for talking about God to the wrong person. Now Jacob Andrews may be his only hope. He must lean on him, Rachel’s attorney, and those who understand what occurred twenty years ago and may be happening now when an old adversary returns to wreak havoc, using federal laws to exact revenge on the Andrews family.

Will he succeed, or will justice prevail to set Rachel free?

SNIPPET:

Summary:
This Five Barred Gate sequel, is a Dystopian Suspense about what would it be like if freedom of expression liberties were taken from us. In this installment laws have become more strict. One could be arrested for simply speaking their mind if another chose to press charges. This only multiplied within the Christian community. The laws were strict for Jacob in the first novel, now twenty four years later, his son Michael must face his own battles.


Here is a bit from last week. (Maggie is Frank’s wife. Being his second wife, this would be Michael’s step grandmother-in-law)… confused yet?

“Yay!!” both cheered and ran to the door.

Michael was grateful they were won over that easily and not given into a debate that one of them had to win. He was reminded of his sister. They bickered quite often, but there was an age difference. Aiden and Angela were identical in age. Could that have been their advantage? It was this evening, and he wasn’t complaining.

We pick up right where we left off last week. We’ve ended Chapter Seven and move into Eight. Michael is preparing to tell the children about their mom’s incarceration.


Angela was tucked under her paisley-colored bedspread; blue eyes focused on him. Aiden was on the edge of the bed, cross-legged with his hands in his lap, holding his stuffed dinosaur Selly. Michael had pulled up a chair two sizes too small for him and sat looking at their clean, smiling faces. It was now or never.

“Okay, guys,” Michael began. “There is something I need to tell you about mommy. And I’m not sure how I can tell you in a way you can understand it. So, I am going to say it as plainly as I can.”

::There is your ten, but let’s continue on for a moment.::

“Is mommy hurt?” Angela asked, gripping her covers.

“No, no. Nothing like that, Angie,” Michael patted her leg.

“Mommy is in jail. That is as simple as I can put it.”

“Jail? Mommy did something bad?” Aiden asked.

Michael wasn’t sure how to answer the question. He was torn with which answer to give that a five-year-old would understand. In some sense, it was true that she had broken the law, but on the other hand, she had done the right thing by sharing her faith.

“It’s not that mommy did something bad. It’s that as adults, there are certain rules that you can’t break, even if what you are doing is good.”

The two crinkled noses showed him that he wasn’t getting through. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

“Okay. You know how your mom and I would tell you to be nice to people and say nice things to them.”

Both kids nodded.

“And that it’s not nice to be mean.”

Again, understanding nods met his explanation.

“Well, sometimes when you try to be nice to some people, they don’t like it.”

“Some people don’t like you being nice to them?” Aiden asked.

“Unfortunately, not, Aiden,” Michael said.

“That’s not nice,” Aiden said.

Michael half-laughed, “No, that’s being mean.”

“Was somebody mean to Mommy?” Angela asked.

Michael was glad for the questions, and the main one was just asked. “Yes, Angie. Someone was. Very mean.”

“And they put her in jail?”

“Yes, Aiden. They did.”

“But why?” Angela asked.

Michael wished he could answer the question, but besides being above his kid’s head, he wasn’t fully grasping what was going on himself. He felt honesty would be the best avenue to take.

“I don’t know, sweetie,” he said, stroking the curls from her face.

“How long will she be in jail?’ Aiden asked. The second question Michael feared.

“That is another one I can’t answer. I wish I could. I want Mommy home too.”

Michael was relieved that neither child was crying. But the news was new, and the realization had yet to sink in. Once the ‘missing mommy’ part kicked in, he was sure the tears would begin to flow. And he knew some of those would be his as well.

“Mommy says when we don’t know what to do, we should pray. Can we pray for Mommy, Daddy?” Aiden asked.

It had been a while since Michael prayed, and he wasn’t sure what he would say. He thought back to his meeting with his dad and the assurance that their mom would be just fine. Somehow, that peace sat with him. He had little fear, and he needed to convey that to his children more than ever.

Sometimes kids are stronger than we realize and we make life out more difficult than it needs to be. They can also be stronger than we are sometimes…

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Featured Titles

Other titles by Jeff S. Bray:

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Jeff S. Bray’s Children’s Series:

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In His Exciting Service,

Jeff S. Bray

Check out amazing established and emerging writers at Weekend Writing Warriors. Each week we post n ew snippets from either published works or works in progress for each other to comment on. Gain insight into how the mind of a writer works and a behind-the-scenes look at works before they hit bookstands everywhere.

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