Made it! Again!

Woohooo….

In case you haven’t guessed, I made the next round of the Karin TabkeFirst Line contest. It’s down to thirty entries and my humble offering is among them. wwweeeeeeeeee…… 

Yes, I’m a little happy over that. I’ve got fingers and toes, legs and eyes, and anything else that will do it crossed for making it even further (is that the right further/farther? I don’t know, that one always confuses me.) Anyway, I’m busy working on a piece for Rhian so I haven’t added any more to this story than the ten or so pages I’ve had for a few weeks. I plan to add to it as soon as I knock this other piece off my to-do list.

I’ve been booking hotels and flights for my US trip. I’m so excited about going. As soon as I have a full itinerary I’ll post it so you can all be jealous. LOL  No really, Romantic Times convention, holiday in New York (with Hubby), holiday in Atlanta (with Hubby), holiday in Washington DC (with Hubby, again), back to Atlanta to visit my CP Devon Gray, back to Winchester (near Washington DC) to visit my CP Mari Carr, Ohio for the Lori Foster weekend (with Mari) where I’ll hook up with my other CP Vivian Arendand then finally back to Winchester before flying back to Singapore. Not quite eight weeks away. Yay! And it’s in less than TEN weeks!!!!!  Okay, I’ll stop rubbing it in now.

Here’s my next line for the Karin Tabke First Line contest.

Cold trembling fingers reached out to trace the letters engraved on the headstone, the chilly marble slab the only tangible link to the family Jolene still missed. Ten years hadn’t even begun to numb the pain or take away the gaping hole in her heart. The years hadn’t answered the questions that screamed to be answered.

Set back from the rest of the graves, the stone sat under a shady tree. She’d picked the spot for the lack of light, her babies would never again enjoy the sunshine and neither would their final resting place. She knew it wasn’t a rational thing to want for them but at the time, and even now, it seemed fitting.

The icy pre-dawn wind blew across the ground and whistled between the marble, slate and sandstone that marked the lives of so many. In this place, surrounded by death, Jolene breathed the breath of the living-dead. She wasn’t physically buried in the soil with her family, but her soul was.

‘See’ ya soon.

Rachel