In Search of Grace (4 page)

             
Sadness washed over Alex as she remembered the day, when coming home
from
work and walking through the gate to greet them, she heard Hank
’
s voice
from inside the house
frantically trying to wake Betsy
.
She remembered how her heart felt like it was going to pound out of her chest when she
first
realized that Betsy was gone.   Her eyes brimmed with tears
remembering
once again the pain
she felt
in seeing Hank
’
s grief and feeling her own.
Hank had told her that
Betsy had
lain
down to take a nap,
and how he couldn’t wake her
up; h
is eyes looking deep into hers begging her to make Betsy wake up.
Yet, both of them knew she never would.
That evening Hank
also
passed away. 
As overcome as she was at the time with
shock and
grief at losing them both, she kn
ew Hank was not Hank with
out Betsy.  Betsy would have been the same way
without Hank.  As if they were her own parents, she arranged their funeral and had them laid to rest side by side
.
  Every once in awhile, when she was really missing them, she would go to their
gravesite
and visit
.
Several weeks
after their passing
, she was shocked to learn that they had willed
everything they had to her, which amounted to a
substantial
fortune
except for t
he
ir
house
.  The house was to be
sold
through
the
estate
and the proceeds were
to be given
to
their favorite charity.
As the attorney completed the paper work, he handed her an envelope and shook her hand.  “I have known Betsy and Hank for many, many years.  
W
hen you moved
in
next
door,
I saw
a
joy in them
that was not there before.  They loved you as
if you were their own.
  I am glad they had you in their final years Alexandra.”
Alex was moved by his words. 
Later that day s
he
walked into their yard
, letter in hand and sat in her favorite seat near the fire pit
to read what they had written
. 
For her, it was one of the most beautiful, poignant moments in her life. 
S
urrounded by Betsy’s roses
in
the quiet of their yard, with the bees, birds and flowers
and with
fingers shaking
,
she
opened the envelope. 
She remembered how at the time
s
he smiled quietly to herself when she saw Betsy’s shaky writing on the paper. 

             
“My
darling, Alexandra.  I
f you are reading this than that means that Hank and I are in heaven together
.
We are writing to let you know how much we love you.  You are probably very saddened, but do not be.  We have always loved each other and are together once again.  You have been as a daughter to us and we have shared much.  There is a side to Alexandra that we did not get to meet.  We hope that someday you will find the love that Hank and I had and you can share that side with him. 
You are and forever will be our daughter.  
Love always, Betsy and Hank.
”

             
Alex
jumped,
snapping
back to the
present
when she heard hammering
and pounding
coming from the other side of the gate
.
All morning she had heard construction noises off and on
. S
he
wondered at
the “hunk” that lived next door and what horrible things he was doing to Betsy’s beautiful flowers
and home
.

             
Picking up her book, she forced all thoughts of her new neighbors out of her mind
as she
started to read.  It was not long
before her fatigue caught up with her and
s
lowly
Alex’s eyes started to droop while
the suns rays
soothed
her
exhausted body.
T
he
hammering faded into the distance as s
he felt her
self
slowly
drift off to sleep.

------------

             
She
could not
run anymore. 
Her
body
,
aching from exhaustion
,
stumbled
over the tree roots
causing
her
to fall
to the
hard, unyielding
ground. 
Scurrying back up
to her feet;
panic
stuck
thick in her throat.  She
knew she had to get away before he caught up to her. 
E
nter
ing
the
tiny
clearing
amid the trees,
she heard the heavy breathing
coming from
behind.  Before she could turn, a driving tackle from her assailant slammed her body
.  She felt the hit through every inch of her
.
The impact took any remaining breath
from
her lungs.
  She attempted to scream
as
a hand from out of the darkness
pressed against her mouth muffling
her
cry
. 
Her knee came up instinctively
making
contact. 
She
immediately
felt his anger, then
her shirt ripp
ing
open; t
he
sound of
tearing
f
abric
reverberated around her as
c
old air goug
ed at
her skin.
 
The coldness quickly
replaced by
the
heat of
her
attacker’s
body. 
Horrified she felt
the devils
face ripping across her skin,
bruising
everything
in its path. 

             
His hand
left her mouth
only
to be replaced by
hard
lips on hers.  She gagged at the smell and scent of him
and instinctively turned
her face to the side in
an
attempt to avoid
the assault
.  She heard him
fumbl
ing
with his own clothes
as
Alex begged him to stop
.  For
a fraction of
time,
she
thought he was going to let her go when he shifted
off
her
.
The moment was too fleeting and
once again
felt his hard body pressing on her. 
Whimpering
, she closed her eyes,
while
begging God to send an angel to save her.

             
Out of the darkness came a voice.  She could not discern what he was saying
,
but she knew that the owner of that deep voice was kind and strong.
  Alex
felt the
demon of the past
fading,
melting
away to be replaced by a
n angel
.  His
comforting
presence
knelt
,
and then
sat down on the ground next to her
.
  She
still could not
understand his words but the soothing timbre in his voice let her know
s
he was
finally
safe. 
With her eyes still
closed,
she felt the angel picking
her up
setting her onto his lap
.  His large hand cradl
ed
her he
ad to his chest
, whisper
ing
words of comfort
in her ear
.
Sobbing her
relief,
she
pressed
herself against him, arms wrapping around his waist
she clung
tight
.
She marveled at his strength and size.  The comfort
and relief
was almost too much to bear.
As she continued to cry, she
felt
his hand
s
holding
her even more tightly to him
in an attempt to console
her.
 
When her
fear and panic
began to subside
, Alex slowly
became aware of how her angel smelled.
A mixture of
sweat
,
wood
and
soap.  Strange she thought
to herself
,
is
this
how
an
angel smells
?

             
Slowly waking from
the dream, she realized that some of it did not come from the recesses of her memories.  This angel was too hard against her, too real to be a dream
.
She jerked awake to find that the late afternoon sun had faded to early
evening,
and
she was sitting half on a stranger
’
s lap
half on the lounge
chair
with her arms wrapped around him tightly
.
  Her mind
,
still
clouded from sleep
,
was slow to react
,
but soon
enough
of
her survival instinct kicked in and she pushed
away
.  Pure terror
ran
through her
again as
she struggled
to put distance between them
.  Her arm
s flailing out to ward him off only succeed
ed
in knocking her and the cushion onto the ground
in an ungraceful heap
.
Watching
the panic welling up inside of her he grabbed her wrists in his hands
and pulled her to a standing
position
.

             
“Hey, it’s
okay
. I am not going to hurt you!”  His
voice had sharpened
but barely penetrated her fearful state.

             
Her eyes were wild when they finally connected to his.
H
e saw the
look of
recognition
and the
n the
shocked
s
urprise.

             
“Y
ou
!
You’re the officer who
pulled
me
over
last night
.
”
 

             
Looking down at her
wrists
held
tightly
in his
, she tried to control her breathing
while
mentally will
ing
him to let her go
.
“Well, technically it was this morning
,
” he stated as he s
lowly
released
her
,
watching warily as
she looked around like a caged animal
trying
to escape. 

             
“
It’s
ok
ay
,
” he repeated
softly
,
“I heard you thr
ough
the fence and thought you were in trouble
.
”   Seeing the confused look on her face he explained, “I am your new neighbor.  Why don’t we start
over?
”