Last spring my husband and I were invited by our county commissioner to join him on a trip to Matagorda Island, a forty-mile strip of land that lies off the coast of Texas and which was once the location of an army air base during WWII and for many years afterward.
Although most of the barracks and military buildings have been dismantled or washed away by Hurricane Carla and the island is inhabited only by a few Texas Parks and Wildlife rangers, the flat landscape is still crisscrossed with concrete runways and landing strips. As I stood on one such strip, I was instantly overwhelmed with the history around me, and my writer’s imagination took flight. The airmen who’d been stationed there to serve our country must have had lovers, wives, families. Did some of them go to war and never return?
I told myself that someday I would write about such an airman on Matagorda Island, and the chance came sooner than I expected when my editor invited me to do a book for the SOULMATES project.
Because of the Ring is more than just a story about a magical ring handed down from one generation to the next. It’s about a love so powerful it can transcend all time and distance and bring two troubled hearts together in the most unexplainable and wondrous way.
I hope you enjoy Claudia and Hayden’s mystical journey and, like them, I hope each of you is blessed with the magic of love.
Love and God bless,
Contents
Chapter One
Claudia Westfield managed to slide into the seat of her car without spilling hot coffee down the front of her dress or dropping the stack of books and papers jammed beneath one arm.
Even though it was only six-thirty, she wanted to arrive at work early. Exams for the final semester were concluding this week and she had a scad of papers to grade and scores to register and average.
The motor was running and she was reaching to pull the gearshift into Reverse when a wave of dizziness suddenly sent her head spinning.
Alarmed, especially when she’d never been sick a day in her adult life, Claudia gently leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. Hopefully, a few moments of quiet would straighten her equilibrium.
The next thing she knew a man’s face appeared against the canvas of her closed eyelids. The image was sharp and focused and so very real, she unconsciously gasped out loud.
Stunned by the unearthly sight, Claudia’s eyes popped open and she glanced wildly around her. The driveway leading up to her apartment and the small manicured lawns of her bordering neighbors looked normal. Yet she could still see the man in her peripheral vision. He had dark wavy hair and cobalt-blue eyes that seemed to be peering straight at her. A somewhat sexy smile twisted his lips and exposed bright white teeth against dark skin.
“Oh. No. No,” she whispered the denial. “This is—you’re not really there. I’m just tired. Too tired.”
Frantically she snatched the coffee cup from its holder on the dash and gulped at the still-hot liquid. The drink scalded her tongue, but she didn’t care. The feeling was real and normal.
More careful now, she took a second sip and then a third. After that she dared herself to look out the windshield again. Thankfully, the man was gone and everything was as it should be.
She allowed herself to breathe again. Then slowly she closed her eyes to make sure he’d disappeared from that aspect of her vision, too. Relief washed through her. The man with the smiling face had disappeared.
Deciding there was nothing to panic about, she put the car into Reverse and backed onto the street. But moments later as she headed into the already busy Fort Worth traffic, she realized her hands were slick with sweat and she was trembling from head to toe.
You’re cracking up, Claudia. Really and truly cracking up.
By lunchtime Claudia had more or less put the incident of the vision out of her mind. At least she thought she had until she met up with her friend, Liz, in the school cafeteria.
Secretary to one of the assistant principals, the high-spirited redhead who was slightly older than Claudia was the exact opposite of her quiet nature. Even so, they’d been pals from the first day they’d met two years ago.
Now as the women inched through the serving line, Liz’s worried stare had Claudia clutching an unwitting hand to her throat.
“What in heck is wrong with you?” she asked.
“Me? Nothing. Why?”
Liz said, “You look like the bride of Frankenstein right after she was shocked to life.”
Trying her best to joke away Liz’s concern, Claudia touched a hand to her smooth brown hair. “Why? Have I suddenly developed two gray streaks?”
“No. You look totally drained.”
“That shouldn’t be surprising. This is finals week, Liz. Where have you been?”
“Don’t play cute with me. This job never gets you down. Although, I don’t know why. If I had to deal with some of the lazy, insubordinate students that come through Judith’s office, I’d throw my hands up and scream. You, on the other hand, have a knack for bringing out the better side of these kids.”
After exiting the serving line the two women took a seat at a vacant table. Immediately, Liz dug into her plate of chicken pot pie, but as soon as she realized Claudia was ignoring her food, she looked up in silent question.
“Something happened to me this morning, Liz,” Claudia announced with grim resolve. “I think I’m going crazy.”
Liz chuckled. “Aren’t we all.”
Urgently, Claudia leaned forward and lowered her voice. “No. I mean, really crazy. Like delusional. I think…I need to make a doctor’s appointment for a checkup.”
Hearing the concern in her friend’s voice, Liz frowned. “Why? What happened?”
“I had visions of a man.”
Liz didn’t just chuckle this time, she outright laughed. “I’d be more worried if you weren’t having visions of a man,” she finally managed to say.
Frustrated, Claudia picked up her fork and jabbed at the lump of meat loaf on her plate. “I’m not talking about having a fantasy of the opposite