Daring to Trust Read online

  Daring To Trust

  IndigoGirls:#1

  TrishaWilson

  Other books by Trisha Wilson: Stand Alones:

  An Unforgettable Christmas

  Indigo Girls Series:

  Daring To Trust - #1

  Daring To Love - #2 (Coming soon) Daring To Hope - #3 (Coming Soon) Daring To Dream - #4 (Coming Soon)

  Copyright © 2011 by Trisha Wilson All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-1466337732

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  This series is dedicated to all of my family (close and extended!) and friends, for always believing in me and standing behind me, through the bad times and the good. Thank you! I love you all!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I want to thank my mom, Pauline, for always supporting me and my nephew, Samuel, for encouraging me to follow my dream. In his words, “Go for it!

  You can do it! What’ve you got to lose? Nothing, but at least you can say you tried!”

  I also want to thank the rest of my family, (Connie, Jessica, Kathy) and my friends for supporting me in this endeavor. Without your support, love and encouragement, I doubt this would’ve happened.

  I want to send a special thank you to my best friend, Bridget Ward, for always believing in me, for being a fresh set of eyes to point out my typos, and being a sounding board when I need someone to bounce ideas off of.

  I won’t name any more names except for two. I’m afraid I’ll leave someone out and I don’t want that to happen. I just want to give a heartfelt thank you to Chris and Kathy Howell. If you hadn’t shared the publishing site on Amazon to me, I would’ve never known it existed. So thank you for helping me put this dream back into action.

  Most of all, though, I want to thank God for giving me this ability to put my thoughts into words. I KNOW I could never have done anything without Him.

  *"I can doallthingsthrough Christ whostrengthensme." Phil.4:13*

  i

  ~Chapter 1~

  Looking around the tiny room he was in, Mark Turner realized he was in trouble. He had been working for the drug task force for ten years and this was the first time he’d ever had his cover blown. Six months ago he had gone undercover in this shady town on the outskirts of Nashville and he had been getting close to finding out when the next distribution would take place. The ring he had infiltrated was selling drugs to kids at local schools, and Mark was mad. Kids shouldn’t have to deal with that kind of pressure; they should focus on being kids and getting their education. Life gets too complicated once you become an adult, without adding drugs and alcohol into the mix.

  When they discovered he was a cop, they had beaten him senseless and the next thing he remembered was waking up in this room, with his hands tied behind his back. He knew Greg, his partner, would already be planning a way to find him after he missed his check-in call. However, he also knew how meticulous Greg was. He’d want to make sure everything was in order on the outside before moving in. If they didn’t have enough evidence to convict, then these past six months would’ve been all for nothing.

  Unfortunately, in the meantime, he had nothing to do but think. Thinking could get a man into a heap of trouble. After briefly mulling over the situation he was currently in, his mind wandered back to when he had first met Julia, his estranged wife, nearly fifteen years ago. He had been halfway through his senior year in high school and his dad had just gotten transferred to another company. Suddenly, everything he knew was a memory and he hated it. Indigo, Tennessee, just outside of Knoxville, wasn’t even on the map. He missed the big city; Memphis was a lot different than this little hick town.

  His family placed their membership at the church that met just down the road from their new house. That first Sunday, he was being introduced to a few people in the congregation when she walked in. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever set eyes on. Later, he found out she was Julia Watson, star softball pitcher for the high school team and the church league. He decided to join the latter, since it was coed, and get to know her a little better. She was tall, slender and had brown wavy hair just past her shoulders. She also had the most incredible green eyes he’d ever seen; they drew him in and he couldn’t seem to look away. It didn’t take long to find out she had a great sense of humor and she was stubborn as a bull. He was a grade ahead of her, but that still didn’t keep them apart.

  They dated the rest of his senior year, and continued even after he went off to college at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to pursue his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. When she graduated high school, she joined him there and she went on to receive her bachelor’s in elementary education. They got married shortly after she graduated, and those first two years were the happiest of his life. She’d gotten a job at the only elementary school in town as the second grade teacher, and he’d begun his work in the drug task force unit. His paychecks were small compared to what he could’ve been making in a bigger city, but he didn’t care. They had enough to get by on, but most importantly they had each other and that’s all that mattered. At the beginning of their third year together, she got pregnant. They were happy that their little family was going to be expanding, but then she miscarried. They were devastated, but they managed to get through it, together. Over the course of the next two years, everything seemed to have gone back to the way it was before the pregnancy. He eventually decided to take the detective’s exam, and passed. He became the youngest detective Indigo ever had. That was when his life started snowballing out of control. His job started taking up more of his time, until it got to the point that he was rarely home. Becoming detective also meant that he was the one in charge of the undercover assignments, and more often than not he was the only one available to take them.

  A year after he received his promotion, Julia announced she was pregnant again. He started trying to cut back on his work load and delegating some of the cases to the newer officers, but he still had to be away more than he liked. When she was two months pregnant, he had to go undercover for nearly three months. When he returned home, he discovered she’d miscarried again a week after he’d left. She had withdrawn into herself while he’d been away, and they started fighting, a lot. Julia accused him of not being the man she thought he was, and that his work was too important to be there for her when she needed him. He walked out and never went back. That was four years ago, and he’d regretted it ever since. He vowed to himself and to God, if he ever got out of this miserable room, he’d go back and try to make things right.

  Hearing the lock on the door disengaging, he shook himself out of his thoughts and shut his eyes. The next thing he became aware of was being picked up off of the floor, and slammed against the wall. His eyes popped open and he saw the hulk of a man they called Big John, which was fitting; Big John stood at six-eight and weighed around three hundred fifty pounds of solid muscle.

  After several blows to his mid-section and face, Mark thought for sure he was going to die, right there and then. His last conscious thought was: Jules, I love you.

  ****

  Julia woke up trembling and sweating. It had been a while since she’d had nightmares about Mark. That one felt so real she swore she could taste the blood on his lips. Getting out of bed, she crossed to her window to look out at the night sky. She said a quick prayer, asking God to keep him safe, wherever he was. They may not live together anymore, but that didn’t mean she loved him any less. She loved him as much today as she had when she said, I do. She glanced at the clock and noticed it was fo
ur in the morning. She might as well stay up, she figured; her alarm would be going off in an hour anyway.

  After taking a quick shower, she started the coffee pot and began thinking about those last couple of weeks with Mark before he left. When she had lost that second baby, she had needed him more than ever, but he wasn’t there. She hadn’t known how to reach him or even who to call to get in touch with him. She had felt so alone. Her friends and her family had tried so hard to help, but Mark had been the only one she wanted, and he wasn’t there. She remembered fighting with him about every little thing when he did eventually come home. She needed her normal life back, and he was walking on eggshells around her, thinking she was going to break in two. Eventually, she wound up saying something that she knew she couldn’t unsay. Julia had known she had said the wrong thing as soon as the words left her lips, but no amount of praying would bring them back. He had left right after, not even taking the time to pack any of his things. She had believed he’d be back later after he cooled off. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since. Glancing at the calendar, she realized it was almost four years to the day since he’d left. She’d mark those nightmares down to just that and try to stop worrying about him.

  “What are you doing up so early?” asked Ellen, as she came into the kitchen.

  Julia jumped and slapped her hand over her heart, “Oh dear, you scared me!”

  Grinning, Ellen said, “Sorry!” “You are just too perky in the mornings!” snapped Julia, and then sheepishly she added, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.”

  “It’s okay, Grumpy,” then adding on a laugh, “Obviously you haven’t had your morning coffee, yet!”

  Julia stuck her tongue out at her and went to pour two cups of coffee, “It just now finished brewing, thank you very much!”

  About a year after Mark had left, Julia’s best friend, Ellen Davis, was going to have to sell her house because business was slow. Instead, after much talking, Julia decided to move out of the apartment she and Mark had rented, move in with Ellen, and help with bills. For one, Ellen could keep her house and Julia thought she might be able to forget about Mark, or at least not think about him every second of every day. Turning to Ellen, she said, “I need to be finding a place and getting out of your hair. Your business is doing great now. You don’t need me and it’s time I move on.”

  Ellen came up to her and gave her a side hug, “You’re not in my hair! I love having you here! I understand if you want to leave, but don’t think I want you to!”

  “Well I know that. Summer break will be here soon, and I’ll start looking then. It might take a while to find anything though, unless I go outside Indigo.”

  “Whatever you want to do; it’s your choice, but I’ll miss you!”

  After giving her a hug, Julia realized she was running late. “Good gravy! I’ve gotta go!”

  Ellen laughed and said, “Slow down; they won’t start without you!”

  ~Chapter 2~

  Three weeks later, Mark

  was sitting up in his hospital bed eating lunch when Greg walked in.

  “Ah hospital food. Looks like

  I got here just in time to see if you were about ready to bust out of this joint,” laughed Greg.

  Mark groaned, “Yes, get me outta here!”

  Greg sobered up and said, “All kidding aside, you need to take it easy. I’m sure the doc will release you when he feels you’re good enough to take care of yourself.”

  Mumbling, Mark said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “I just needed to come by and check on you. And tell you something.”

  “Shoot.”

  “You were out of it for a few days, which I’m sure you’re aware of that,” when Mark nodded, Greg continued, “Well, you talked, a lot. Thought you should know that Julia’s name came up, about every other sentence. I almost called her, but since I’ve never met her and you left her so long ago, I wasn’t sure if I should, so I didn’t. I just thought you should know.”

  Mark processed this, and then said, “Thanks for telling me, man. And thanks for not calling her. When I see her again, I want to be standing, not laying in some hospital room, half doped up on medication.”

  “When?”

  “When what?” asked Mark, confused.

  “You said when you see her again, not if. Are you planning on going to see her?”

  Nodding, Mark answered, “Yup. I promised myself and God if I ever got out of that place, that I would go back and try to make things right. It’s probably too late. She’s probably moved on, which I hope she has. But our separation was my fault. I need to apologize for everything I done to her, but mostly for walking out. She was right. I wasn’t a man. Real men don’t leave. They stick it out, the good and the bad. Me? I was a coward. I walked out and let her deal with it alone. I’d like to think I’ve grown up a little since then, but either way, I need to make it right.”

  Greg shook his hand, “If there’s anything I can do, just say the word, bro. It takes a real man to admit that he was wrong and want to change. I admire you and I hope it all works out for you.”

  Before he got choked up, Mark decided to change the subject, “How’s things down at the office?”

  They talked off and on for about an hour about work, sports and the weather. Finally, Greg stood and said, “I guess I need to get outta here. You got my cell, so whenever they spring you, call me and I’ll take you home.” After another handshake, Mark was left alone again.

  Mark had been in the hospital for a little over a week now. He hoped he was going to be released soon. Big John and the other peons had done a number on him, beating him every day, but that last day was the worst. He didn’t remember much about the last couple of days but he had suffered five broken ribs, a broken leg, a separated shoulder, a broken nose, and that’s not to mention the many bruises they’d inflicted upon him. He knew he didn’t look like he used to, so he doubted that Julia would even recognize him if she saw him right now.

  ****

  Julia couldn’t believe it was already summer break. Each year seemed to pass by quicker than the last. After she left the school parking lot, she decided to drive around and see if there were any rental signs up anywhere. She wasn’t really interested in buying a house right now, so maybe she could avoid that. When she reached the edge of town, she made a U-turn and then noticed the small For Rent sign in the window of the house across the road. She parked her car and went up to the door to see if anyone was home. Not getting an answer to her knock, she pulled her cell phone out and dialed the number on the sign. After setting up an appointment for the following Saturday to see the inside, she returned to her car and left.

  She thought she’d ask Ellen and her other two best friends, Abigail and Jacquelyn, if they’d go with her to check it out, providing they didn’t have to work. Ellen owned her own interior design business, so she’d be able to go if she hadn’t made other plans. Abby would probably go; she was an accountant and this was the slow season, so it was doubtful she would have to work on the weekend. Jacquelyn, Jae for short, on the other hand, was a nurse in the emergency room. The local hospital had been short-staffed lately, so Jae seemed to always be on-call. Julia used to be spontaneous and she would’ve probably rented it without thinking twice. The last few years, though, she’d grown up, so to speak. She thought things through a little more, and didn’t make impulsive decisions. Even without looking at the house Saturday, it would still be good to spend some much needed girl time with the three people who, outside her own family, she could count on the most.

  ****

  Finally , Mark thought, as he breathed in fresh air and not the disinfectant spray he’d smelled for two weeks. He was so thankful to be out of that hospital. Using his crutches, he slowly made his way to Greg’s truck parked at the curb. After climbing in, he looked at Greg and asked, “Would you mind swinging by the station so I can fill out the paperwork?”

  Stunned, Greg glanced at him, “Dude! Y
ou don’t have to worry about that. Don’t you remember me filling out the report for you? You signed it.”

  Laughing, Mark said, “Not that paperwork, man. I’m gonna take a leave and go back to East Tennessee. I wanna look up Julia, and see where it goes from here.”

  Nodding, Greg said, “You got it!”

  ****

  A few days later, Mark stood on the doorstep of the apartment he used to share with his wife. Hoping Julia didn’t slam the door in his face; he knocked and then rubbed his sweaty palms down the legs of his jeans. When he heard the doorknob turning, he took a deep breath, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. What he saw was definitely the worst, and unexpected. Smiling, a man opened the door and asked, “May I help you?”

  Stumbling back a few steps, Mark glanced at the apartment number to make sure he’d went to the right door. Swallowing hard, he glanced back at the stranger and said, “I’m looking for Julia.”

  With a puzzled look, the man said, “I’m sorry, sir, but there’s no Julia that lives here. I live here alone, and have been for nearly three years.”

  Mark began going through all kinds of different scenarios in his head, about where Julia could be. Surely if something had happened to her, someone would’ve gotten in touch with him, right? Or maybe she did move on and she moved away from here. No, that couldn’t be right. Julia loved it here too much. He doubted she’d ever move away from this town or at least not that far. Finally remembering his manners, he looked back at the man and apologized, “I’m sorry. I’ve been away for four years. I didn’t know she had moved. Thanks for your time and I’m sorry to have bothered you.” Turning around, he hurried back to his pickup as fast as his crutches would carry him and wondered where to go from here. He supposed he could probably go to her parents’ house, but he wanted to see her first. Groaning, he decided to go to Lee’s and get a bite to eat while he figured out his next step. Lee’s was a diner in town; it used to be the only eating establishment in Indigo, but he didn’t know if that had changed, too.