Next year was supposed to have been April’s last year teaching and she was going to retire and pursue her two main passions; Michael DeWayne Bridgeport and writing. That is until Michael’s untimely death.April is left to reinvent herself in order to survive; as Michael had become her whole world. April is at a crossroad but unbeknownst to her the decision will be made for her when she learns that Michael death was no accident and the man that she has placed her confidence in is doing everything that he can to ensure that the police are looking at her as their only suspect in his murder.
Author Tracey Conley Bray
CHAPTER 1
April Elizabeth Montgomery stands on her deck in her back yard with a hot, steamy cup of coffee in her hand. She looks around and wonders what it must feel like to get up every day and write the next great novel. She relish in the idea that come this time next year she will know firsthand what it feel like to write a great novel and have publishers fighting over her to publish her book; at least this is what she has been dreaming of since she was a young girl of thirteen. April takes a sip of the coffee and let out a small sigh she looks at two squirrels rumpling up and down an old oak tree in the back yard. She can hear gun shots in the far distance but, this is customary as her log cabin house sits at the bottom of the mountain and there is a hunting lodge about three miles straight up the mountain; April has grown used to hearing the gun shots ringing in the air. This morning April is excited the New Year have arrived and soon May will be here and then she will be out on summer break. As a full fledge faculty member April do not have to teach during the summer months anymore unless she wants to. April recalls in the early years when her own children were young and money was tight she would take a summer position teaching remedial classes to help her husband out financially. But, after she and Robert Paul Montgomery Sr. divorced- teaching during the summer was no longer an option. As a single mother of four young children she had to work year round to continue to afford her children the comfortable lifestyle that they all had become use too. During the divorce proceeding April had decided to keep Robert last name for the sake of the children. She wanted to present a unified front when she enrolled them in school or applied for insurance or registered them in sports or the like. The ringing of the gun shot snapped April back into the present moment. She remembers why she is so happy; school will be out in five months and then she will have only one year left to teach and then she will settle down with the love of her life. April had met Michael DeWayne Bridgeport five years after her divorce became final with Robert. Michael was charming and sensitive and that was exactly what April needed during that hard and difficult time. They had become the best of friends and it was not a hard leap to imagine the two of them falling madly in love and becoming a couple. Her children were as equally attracted to Michael as she was. Once the two of them were certain that they wanted to be together Michael included her four children in almost every activity that they shared together. Michael had become her greatest and most affluent supporter he encouraged her at every turn to pursue her dream of writing. In fact, it is because of him that April is able to retire after one more year of teaching and pursue her love of writing. Michael has asked her to marry him making her the luckiest and happiest woman alive. They have planned their wedding for June 17th as her last day in the classroom will be May 31st. April is so excited she will be a June bride and she has planned a fabulous and superb wedding with all of the trimmings. She and Michael have been savings for months so that they will not have to go into debt or borrow money from their 401k plan. She hums ever so softly to herself; when she sees a deer cut across her backyard; the deer is to close for comfort. April thinks to herself they never come this far down the mountain side...
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