MIRACLES

Yolanda Renée © 2017

There are only two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.

-Albert Einstein

MURDER & OBSESSION IN AUDIO

MURDER & OBSESSION

NOW  IN AUDIO

Detective Steven Quaid is ready for new challenges as Anchorage's top detective, but not until he marries the woman of his dreams on New Year's Eve. Determined to give Sarah the wilderness honeymoon she desires, he turns his grandfather's cabin into the perfect honeymoon retreat. After the final details are complete, Steven treks into the mountains to hunt. On his return to the cottage, instead of Sarah, he is greeted by several police officers and a bloody crime scene. Accusations fly, and Stephen flees into the wilderness, his heart racing and thoughts etching into his soul.

The wilderness is unforgiving, but Steven faces it head on: Caught between a massive grizzly and a black bear in a deadly tug of war, he is barely saved from death's door by the fortuitous appearance of his uncle. Despite surviving multiple injuries, Steven continues his investigation as he recovers, but answers don't come quick or easy.

Having enlisted the aid of his number one suspect, Steven faces a struggle that has become more than personal.

This one just may cost him his heart.

ORDER NOW

RELEASE DATE

January 25, 2017

"The story is well crafted and well written as is the entire trilogy. . . . I sincerely hope, Renée does not stop with this trilogy but gives us more exciting novels to read in the future."

---Book Reviews by Pat Garcia"

More Detective Quaid Mysteries are coming:

To be released

April 4, 2017

THE SNOWMAN

A Prequel to the Trilogy

Detective Quaid’s First Case

&

New Detective Quaid Mysteries

in the works:

MOTIVE FOR MURDER

&

MURDER, JUST BECAUSE

These two are still works in progress so I can’t give a definite date.

YOU CAN NEVER TELL!

Yolanda Renée © 2017

YOU NEVER CAN TELL

You never can tell when you send a word,
    Like an arrow shot from a bow
By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,
    Just where it may chance to go.
It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend.
    Tipped with its poison or balm,
To a stranger's heart in life's great mart,
    It may carry its pain or its calm.

You never can tell when you do an act
    Just what the result will be;
But with every deed you are sowing a seed,
    Though the harvest you may not see.
Each kindly act is an acorn dropped
    In God's productive soil.
You may not know, but the tree shall grow,
    With shelter for those who toil.

You never can tell what your thoughts will do,
    In bringing you hate or love;
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings
    Are swifter than carrier doves.
They follow the law of the universe---
    Each thing must create its kind,
And they speed o'er the track to bring you back
    Whatever went out from your mind.

Poems of Power by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Chicago : W. B. Conkey, 1902.

Yolanda Renée © 2017

WHAT LIES . . .

Yolanda Renée © 2017

What lies behind you

and what lies in front of you,

pales in comparison

to what lies inside of you.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

IWSG - THERE ARE RULES?

THE INSECURE WRITER'S SUPPORT GROUP

Created by Alex J Cavanaugh

The awesome co-hosts are Eva @ Lillicasplace, Crystal Collier, Sheena-kay Graham, Chemist Ken, LG Keltner, and Heather Gardner!

January 4 Question: What writing rule do you wish you’d never heard?

There are rules for writing? Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention. Too busy writing, but I look forward to reading your answers to the question.
As for me and rules – aren’t they meant to be broken? J

 Happy 2017!

A New Year, the opportunity for new beginnings. Love that aspect and I am grabbing the bull by the horns. I hope you are too! Go for it, make this the year you achieve your deepest desires!

What are your writing goals for 2017?

Consider adding WEP writing challenges to your goals:

WEP - Write...Edit...Publish

HAPPY ENDINGS!

HAPPY 2017!

This post is for Susan Flett Swiderski:

Her comment on my WEP entry

Melting Snow

was:

Well dang, girl! You just couldn't do it, could ya? You simply couldn't give us just one magical happy-ever-after ending for Christmas. Sheesh. (sigh)

For the New Year

I've changed the ending!

You can read that first ending HERE!

Thank you Jenny Baranick - your suggestion works!

MELTING SNOW

Judgement day for the winter ice challenge had arrived, and they were excited to learn if their favorites had won. Glenna had chosen the Dragon War, and David had picked the Angels in Flight. The winner would buy dinner at Anchorage's best restaurant, The Crow's Nest.

David told her the freshly fallen snow was the lure, but she knew that a proposal was his goal. Glenna was ready for the commitment. After all, they'd been together for over a year, and two people more suited didn't exist. They had similar goals, enjoyed all things outdoor, and they both agreed that love and family were the keys to success.

She'd met the handsome pilot on a flight she'd taken during a school training project. His knowledge and skill made the trip a success, and their first date left no doubt they had a future together. He'd cooked dinner for her over a campfire in the back yard of the cabin he'd built with his own hands. Fresh salmon, corn on the cob, new potatoes, and homemade blueberry ice cream. The way to a man's heart may be through his stomach, but for Glenna, his down-home cooking, adventure filled stories, and sense of humor had won her heart.

"Think twice, Sissy!" David shouted and threw the first snowball; just a handful of snow, but it caught Glenna by surprise.

"You're in trouble now," she yelled, but quickly gathered two handfuls and formed a perfect ball. She threw it, laughing and ducking at the same time. Their snowball fight lasted just minutes, but his concussion and subsequent coma would mar their future.

*****

Sissy, or Glenna Parks, as her friends knew her, rinsed her face with cold water, and stared at her reflection. Haggard looking after another sleepless night, she wondered how life could take such a sharp, sudden turn.

She'd just won the job of a lifetime and would be teaching history at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. David Carter, her beau, was about to pop the question, his recent inquiry the clue.

"How do you feel about antique jewelry?" he'd asked.

"I love all things with a history," she'd told him.

Life couldn't have been sweeter. She recalled his last kiss, confident that he was going down on one knee then. Instead, he gathered up a handful of snow and changed their lives forever.

Now he couldn't even recall her name. At first, he didn't know his own name, even denied being a pilot, claimed to be afraid of heights, and a Texan living in Alaska, not reality. The man who awoke from the coma was not the man who had slipped on the ice.

Dripping water reminded her of the blood she'd tried to staunch with their woolen scarves but to no avail. The paramedics hurried him away, and she followed. Glenna willed him back to consciousness, but she wasn't prepared for the hateful stranger who greeted her.

Now, a week later, a few memories had returned giving her hope that the rest would soon follow. Glenna wasn't sleeping, barely eating, and David's lack of recognition hurt on a level she didn't even know existed. Yesterday, he'd asked her to leave him alone.

"I don't need a stranger watching or commenting on my every move. Especially one with sad puppy dog eyes."

Hiding her tears, she left. Today she'd returned with an entire picture album of their adventures together, something to spark David's memory. She promised herself she would just drop it off, but when she arrived, he was asleep. She waited, watched, prayed, and eventually fell into a deep sleep herself.

Still holding his hand, she dreamed of the David she knew. The warmth and strength of him were as she remembered, but reality was waking in a sterile hospital room with spittle dripping from her open mouth. She rushed into the bathroom to revive herself. Gazing into the mirror, she vowed to recapture their happiness.

"Hey, beautiful. I was hoping you'd return for a visit," David said. The tone, the comment, hey beautiful, was pure David. Ready to answer, she dried her face, but someone else beat her to it.

"Hi, handsome. You look better. How are you feeling?"

Giggling.

"Oh my, you are feeling better!" The voice of the doctor who'd admitted him sounded too friendly, syrupy, and seductive.

"Except for an almost constant headache, pretty darn good, especially now that you're here!" David cooed.

Glenna listened. Their conversation wasn't the typical discussion between doctor and patient. They were flirting.

"Why don't you spring me from this place? I'll buy dinner?' David asked.

"First thing tomorrow morning. Dinner sounds wonderful, but I thought you were spoken for. What's her name? Glenda?"

"Glenna? No. No way, she's not my type. Believe me. We're just friends. I actually had to ask her to leave. I honestly hope she never comes back. That whiny voice of hers grates on the ears. Besides, what adult woman would ever accept Sissy as a nickname?"

"You sure you remember everything. What about the ring we found in your pocket?"

"Yeah, I know. The engagement ring was my mother’s. Dad sent it to me along with a few other mementos. That ring has nothing to do with Sissy."

The way he said her nickname hurt deep in her soul. It was meant to be something only they shared. Sissy was an endearment her grandfather used when she was younger, and David claimed for his own. No one else could call her Sissy.

 Glenna managed to leave the room without notice. The silhouette of their embrace on the curtain, then the sound of kissing assaulted her as she crept away. She dropped the picture album in the wastebasket and left the hospital just moments after a blizzard hit, but she didn't feel the Arctic chill, or the warm tears streaming from her eyes.

Nor did she see the car that careened out of control due to the ice and snow. The handsome man who stepped out of the wrecked car to see if she was safe had her heart beating with hope. A fact Glenna wouldn't recognize until after their first date, but a blessing she would still be thanking the Universe for on their 50^th wedding anniversary!

Yolanda Renée © 2016

1055 words

Do you prefer the Happy Ending?

CELEBRATION!

WISHING YOU

A

HAPPY

PROSPEROUS

JOYFUL

NEW YEAR!

2017

MAY ALL YOUR SUNRISES

BE FILLED WITH BEAUTY!

FREE!

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