A Subtle Tenderness
Photo by Kevin Foster/www.quickclicksimages.com
A Subtle Tenderness
by KC King
Text
copyright© September 2013 KC King
All Rights reserved
Editing: Melissa Flowers
Cover Art: Kevin Foster
www.quickclicksimages.com
First Edition Electronic October 2013
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, businesses, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All trademarks, service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only.
All rights reserved under the Copyright. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Yvonnda C. King.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in Federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
To all my friends who have supported my dream and listened to my stories no matter how weird and confusing they may have been. Thank you. I couldn’t have gotten here without you all; Chris, Sheena, Dot, Kortni, Keisha, Kim, Marquerite, Marletha, Melissa and Rose. Thank you for all your support. Thank you for your faith in me and my ability to create a good love story.
Moving to new locale after
a painful breakup, Ophelia Dean becomes stranded on a lonely stretch of mountainside road. Desperate with few options, Ophelia seeks help from the mountain’s solitary resident. Charmed by the stranger’s solemn nature and strength of character Ophelia discovers that love can come about in the most unlikely places.
After years of military life and numerous tours in Afghanistan,
Heath Rogan enjoys the solitude of nature on his mountain. The rituals of simple living keep the headaches at bay and give him time to mourn the loss of good friends and family. When Heath’s path crosses with Ophelia, he is struck by how quickly priorities can become muddled when he meets the one woman he desires to make his for a lifetime.
One
Heath watched the large buck in silence. He didn’t move to draw his bow and arrow; he was content with this morning’s hunt. The animal was still, listening for signs of danger; alert to all around it in the quiet of the morning. Heath tempered his breathing watching as the deer lowered its majestic head and began to feed. Transported by the buck’s natural grace and beauty, Heath watched in wonder until as in all facets of beauty the buck departed graceful and silent. Heath stood transfixed by the emptiness of the space the deer had recently occupied. Breathed deeply of the morning air and forest surrounding him and made his way back home.
Disturbing little as he walked stealthily through the deep underbrush, His mind wandered back over his life. Newly retired he had come back to the home and land he had grown to love. His parents though no longer with him
, were in everything he saw on this land. They raised him to respect nature and live in harmony with it.
The Military although beneficial
to his life had taught him other less savory lessons. Heath was done with that chapter of his life. He had survived numerous battles and would not easily tell the tales of lost lives, good men and women that he had called friends and family. Heath would celebrate their heroism and miss their companionship. One dear casualty of his military career was his marriage.
Military life was a harsh life on the individual
s who served their country, but more on those who are left behind. Sharon had been a true friend and beacon of support to him. He had loved her, but love and long periods of separation make poor bedfellows on a friendship and a weak foundation for a marriage. She had enjoyed his rise in the ranks and the opportunities it had availed her but she was a woman who needed immediacy.
Their marriage woes were an issue of locality not infidelity
, at least not at first. She was lonely. They both were lonely and the old adage that people grow apart was true. The miles in their case only fueled that mental separation. She was happy the last time they met. She had remarried to a man named Peterson. Heath wished her well. How could he not? A part of him still loved her even though she was now just a shimmer of a faded past.
He
ath set to cleaning his kill. He gently skinned the rabbits so as not to damage their fur. Preparing a pot for the meat, he added the wild herbs and roots he had scavenged during his routine daily walk about his property. The headaches he suffered during his deployments had lessoned and he was using this time to heal and forget or both. He spent most days working on the renovations at his parent’s cabin further up the mountain. His parents had prepared him for every eventuality. How to live off the land, build a home, fix a car, cook, sew, heal from local herbs, plant and grow fruit and vegetables.
They taught him how to live a simple life and to find joy in the
natural beauty that surrounds us; to see that beauty and be grateful for its presence in our lives. Heath missed them dearly, their kinship, their undying love and support. He fed the fire that simmered his dinner looked into the flames thoughtfully and wondered to himself did he come home to heal or hide. ‘Perhaps both’, Heath acknowledged as he stretched and prepared to take on his daily tasks. What happens when the healing is done?
******
Ophelia drove through the mountains in the late afternoon sun. She had called her parents once she passed Cartersville Georgia and told them it wouldn’t be long before she reached her new home. She had enjoyed her visit with them; seeing her brother and his family always made her feel connected and renewed. Years earlier it had seemed like a huge deal to move back to the south but after the last few months, it was a simple choice and at times it felt to her the only one.
Ophelia
loved her job as ghost editor for one of the larger publishing houses in Chicago. She started as a simple reader, loving books. She could read and edit new submissions and final drafts so efficiently and quickly that she soon made a name for herself. Preferring to work from home allowed her the freedom to work unhindered even though she had a small office at her company.
The volume of work
Ophelia produced was so massive that she was not required to come in the office every day. Even now that she was moving to the south to a small town her company would accommodate employment through current technology she could video conference and edit stories from anywhere in the world. Ophelia was good in her field and her employer could not afford to lose the type of production she could put forth.
Her move was prompted by a person
al embarrassment or insult however ever you saw it. Engaged and wedding planned, her supposed good friend Sonja and ex-fiancée Darnell had humiliated her. Just weeks before the wedding he broke off their engagement. No, Ophelia didn’t catch them fucking in her apartment or his. Maybe that would have been better to see them coupled together in bed sweaty from sex, might have been traumatic enough to accept his breakup. Instead she had no clue until at a very nice restaurant in a private room he told her he was breaking their engagement and why.
Darnell
told Ophelia that he loved someone else more and this other woman fulfilled all his needs. When Sonja, her friend and maid of honor, entered the room, Ophelia thought she was there to comfort her, rescue her from this awful scene and lend support. That is what best friends are supposed to do. It took long difficult moments for Ophelia to completely understand that Darnell was ditching her for Sonja.
They both told her they loved her and they never meant for this to happen but it was really for the best because Darnell’s heart belonged to Sonja. They hoped that eventually they could still be friends and the
y never meant to hurt her. Ophelia stared dumbly at both of them in shock as their words sounded like hateful buzzing in her ears. She didn’t know how she kept it together that night. Perhaps the shock of it all numbed her but her misery and humiliation didn’t end there. Darnell told her to keep the ring and that it would be a symbol of their friendship. When she tried to leave, they both begged her to let them take her home safely.
So there she sat in
the back seat of Darnell’s car with Sonja sitting next to her apologizing to her and hoping that this wouldn’t build a wedge between their friendships. To this day Ophelia has never told a soul how utterly humiliating that short ride was, not even her mother and she told her mother everything. The thoughts that ran through her head during those moments would have sent her to the gas chamber yet she was able to remain composed while she was in their presence. Not one shred of a tear left her eyes.
Ophelia
managed to get out of the car and up her apartment building steps. When Darnell and Sonja insisted that they see her inside, she must have lost some of that restraint because they both never made it past the entry doorway. She didn’t scream or curse at them, at least, not then. Perhaps it was the fire shooting from her eyes or steel in her voice that held just enough of an edge that warned them off.
All of that just months ago, the
tears were dried up now, thank God the invitations had not been sent. Ophelia burned them along with many of the gifts and clothing items Darnell had left in her apartment. The coward never called her after that, but Sonja did. Just weeks before the passing of dear Aunt Ophelia, her namesake Sonja called and told her. She missed their friendship and that Ophelia was being silly for putting a man before their relationship. ‘You never ditch your best girlfriend over a man’ she stated.
When Sonja accused her of being selfish f
or not supporting her new relationship that’s when old Helen from Tyler Perry’s DOMBW died. Ophelia let her have it, all the hurt and pent up frustration. It took her minutes after her tirade to realize that Sonja had hung up to sorry to even listen to what Ophelia had to say. It didn’t matter. It was a release and one she sorely needed. When the property and land were left to her by her dear Aunt, she took it as a sign and an opportunity to start somewhere new.
Now many weeks and tears later she was driving through the mountains lost searching for a place to turn around and go back to the main interstate.
Ophelia must have turned off the wrong exit. In this part of the country where the roads were not well marked and some were not even roads just gravel drives it wasn’t hard to make that error. Scanning farther down the road and hoping to find a street or turn off large enough for her to turn her car around she didn’t have time to react when the large buck jumped in front of her car.
Dazed moments later, Ophelia could only remember seeing antlers and hearing the crunch of metal along with her screams. Breathing deeply she had the sense of mind to turn off her car that miraculously was still on but not moving. Gratefully her air bag had deployed and she didn’t’ appear to be hurt just frightened. Exiting her car on shaky legs she found she was no longer on the road but entrenched in the thick underbrush on the side of the road and the front of her car solidly up against a thick tree trunk.
Chunks of hair and blood covered the hood of her vehicle
. A tortured wheezing sound caused her to look in the direction where a large buck lay. It was desperately trying to get up. Ophelia gasped at the harm her car had inflicted upon this regal creature. Bloody and in terrible pain from broken limbs it strained to right itself and flee. Tears of sorrow began to flow down Ophelia’s face for the injury she had caused this animal. The buck was suffering and she had to get help. Ophelia searched the car for her cell phone located it and realized she couldn’t get any bars, yet she tried anyway to dial for help.
Disgusted at finding no reception, she looked
around in vain for a passerby or drive. Ophelia walked to the edge of the road and took in her surroundings beginning to feel fear for not only this animal but her own desperate situation. She had a small cooler with water and a couple power bars but nothing else for sustenance. It was late afternoon and the sun still shown but it would be dark soon in these mountains and there were no county road lights to light the way.
Ophelia looked into the sky and closed her eyes praying for strength and divine assistance. When she opened her eyes and looked
beyond the trees, she saw a small but steady stream of smoke rising toward the sky. It appeared to be just a ways up the mountain. Scanning the area again for a drive or gravel path that would lead her to that steady smoke trail, she found none. Perhaps someone was camping.
Torn
Ophelia weighed her options. She could stay here and wait for help; someone was bound to drive by. Ophelia had been driving for at least twenty minutes and she hadn’t seen a soul. She would be safe in her car when it got dark. The movements of the buck could still be heard. Ophelia knew she had to help one of God’s creatures.
Could she actually sit in her car while it lay just feet from her suffering? Ophelia loved animals and she just wouldn’t sit by without trying to help this creature.
Maybe the higher she walked up the mountain the phone reception would be better. Making the decision to go for help, Ophelia found her mag lite she kept in her car. With her sweater tied securely around her waist and purse strap positioned across her chest; she started up the mountain in search of help.
