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In Hawke’s Eyes
By
Tressie Lockwood
Copyright © November 2012, Tressie Lockwood
Cover art designed by Fiona Jayde © November 2012
Formatting by Bob Houston eBook Formatting
ISBN 978-1-937394-74-5
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Amira Press
Charlotte, NC
www.amirapress.com
Prologue
Stephanie yawned and reached for her cup of coffee to take a sip. She knew she shouldn’t have the caffeine so late in the day, but she had work to do when she got home, and she’d already put in eight hours on the day job. Not that she complained, of course. All she did, she did for Meechi. Maybe she should ease up on the pride and use some of Meechi’s money, but somehow it seemed wrong. A pinch here and there to buy her daughter some extra items was all she could allow. The rest was up to her to provide for her little one. As long as Meechi had food, clothes, and shelter, that was enough. They didn’t need to live in the lap of luxury.
Just thinking of that lifestyle got her back up. Not so much what money could buy, rather the people it had bought and the fact that Meechi’s grandmother thought she was one of them. Well she could keep thinking it, and Stephanie would have nothing to do with any of them. Meechi, when she turned twenty-one, could make her own decisions regarding her father’s family.
A light rain began to fall, so she flipped the windshield wipers on. She checked the time. At just after six, she needed to get a move on. Meechi insisted she was old enough to go straight home after school, but Stephanie kept her ten year old at the daycare center she had used since her daughter was five. Her baby might be growing up, but she wasn’t there yet.
Stephanie stepped on the gas and punched it to sixty-five in a fifty-five mile zone. That wasn’t so bad, and the narrow back road was all country with light traffic. She hadn’t come across anyone for several miles now. As if she called him by thinking it, another driver crested the slight incline in the distance. No light on the top of the vehicle, Stephanie didn’t bother slowing down, but when the car veered onto her side of the street, her chest muscles constricted.
“What the hell? Get on your own side, you idiot.”
She pressed the break and pounded on the horn. The car veered back on his side, but she lowered her speed anyway. Less than a quarter mile away, the car veered again, and everything around her seemed to slow down. She flicked a glance to her rearview, pressed harder on the break, and searched her mind for solutions if the other driver didn’t alter his course.
Stephanie pulled to the opposite side of the road, but the other car moved to that side as well. She swerved over the yellow lines. The other driver veered back and forth.
Drunk, she thought in a panic.
With a last ditch effort, she left the road and drove in the dirt on the shoulder and bounced to a halt, her heart hammering. Stephanie put a hand up to her head and shut her eyes. The harsh cry of a bird somewhere nearby startled her, and she looked up in time to see the car coming at her.
“No!” She screamed, and the sound of crunching metal and fiberglass filled her mind. Glass shattered, and pain tore through her body. She tried sucking in a breath, but it hurt to breathe. Her head spun like a top, and darkness descended.
The next time she opened her eyes, she whimpered in pain. Her blurred vision didn’t allow her to see much, but someone held her in his arms. His deep, comforting voice soothed the panic to some degree.
“Meechi,” she whispered. “She’s waiting for me.”
“Everything will be okay,” the man said.
Stephanie had trouble holding her head up as it lolled against the man’s chest, a bare chest, if she wasn’t mistaken. Who would be out in this chilly, wet weather without a shirt on? Her fingers brushed dirt, and pain shot up her arm. She cried out, and he begged her forgiveness.
“It hurts. I think there’s glass in my eyes. I can’t see.”
“Hold on,” he encouraged her. “Just hold on a little while longer.”
Chapter One
Seven months later…
