When Happily Ever After Ends by Lurlene McDaniel Read Free Book Online

how she’s managed to overcome such tragedy in her own life and help others.” Grandmother looked at her watch. “I’ve got a meeting with several board members in five minutes. Shall I call a taxi for you?”
    “I’m supposed to wait in the lobby for Mom. She’s picking me up in fifteen minutes.” At the doorway, Shannon hugged her grandmother. “Thanks for lunch.”
    “Thanks for coming. It was good to spend time with you, dear. I feel better knowing you’re going to the Nashville horse show with your father. I know watching you perform will make him happy.”
    Shannon made her way back down the hall toward the elevator. She rode up to the lobby and chose a seat near the door so that she’d see her mother the moment she pulled into the circular driveway.
    She saw her grandmother’s friend, Madeline, pushing a patient in a wheelchair and waved. She thought about Madeline’s loss. It gave her the creeps, and made her shiver. She stepped outside into the warm sunlight to wait for her mom. For some reason, the hospital had left her cold.
       Shannon couldn’t find stamps for the Pony Club newsletter anywhere. She’d promised her mom she’d ride Black up to the post office on Lookout Mountain that afternoon to mail them.
    She decided to look in her father’s desk in his study. Shannon knocked on the closed door, when no one answered, she entered, She’d never liked thisroom. It was dark and somber with walls painted deep hunter green and the furniture and woodwork stained a dark brown. These days, her father kept the blinds and curtain closed around the clock. By comparison, the rest of the house was light and airy. “I like it this way,” her father explained. “It’s my cocoon. It makes me feel comfortable and safe.”
    She flipped on the light. The room looked neat and orderly, more so than she could ever remember. The pillows were carefully arranged on the navy-blue leather sofa, the bookshelves were organized and tidy with every book erect. The usual clutter of horse and riding magazines were stacked in magazine file holders. She wondered if her mother had sneaked in and cleaned up the place, but couldn’t imagine why. The room was Dad’s, and he hated to have anybody mess around with it.
    Shannon went to the desk. Documents were neatly stacked. There were several insurance policies and a file dated for last year’s tax return. Careful not to disturb the papers, she opened the top drawer and rummaged for a roll of stamps. She spied a note in her father’s handwriting. It appeared scrawled, not neat and steady like his usual penmanship. A sense of guilt made her glance about the room. She was alone. She lifted the note and read,
    I wish I could give my feelings away for just a day to someone else. But then that person would know how lonely I feel and that wouldn’t be fair. I can’t tell Kathleen and Shannon must be
spared. Dear God, I wish I could crawl out of my skin for only a day and be free. Please, please, let me be free
.
    Shannon felt chilling goose bumps all over. She reread the note. Was her daddy lonely? Didn’t she and Mom make him happy? What did he want to be freed from? She considered taking the note and showing it to her mother, but just as quickly rejected the idea. “That’s what you get for snooping, Shannon Campbell,” she said to herself. Who knows how long that note has been lying in that drawer? Or what its purpose was?
    Shannon grabbed the stamps and slammed the drawer shut. She refused to think about the dumb note. Her father had probably forgotten he’d even written it. She took a deep breath to calm down, then crossed the room, turned off the light, and retreated into the sunlight in the kitchen.

Chapter Eight

    “What do you mean you’re not coming with us? You
always
go with us! Daddy, you’ve got to come.” Shannon stood in the kitchen confronting her father.
    Her mother put her hand on Shannon’s shoulder to quiet her. “Paul, we’re leaving for