Prologue

I'm not really writing a prologue here. I'm going to give you some insight into the story.

Ashley Elizabeth Sanders: 17, chestnut hair and green eyes. About 5'7", slender.

Andrew Michael Hale: 19, dark brown hair and blue eyes. Right at 6', strong. He attends the University of Alabama studying business and law.

Ashley's mother died a year after Ashley was born. Every other Thursday, Cole (Ashley's father) takes her into Hattiesburg with him and they spend the afternoon together. Cole and Andrew's father Paul are partners in a law firm. Andrew is home for the summer. (although it sounds a little far-fetched, trust me when I say 'they've never met.') Andrew's younger sister Catherine is gifted (both she and her aunt can 'see' things) and knows of Ashley the moment they meet. A ball occurs, an evil man hatches a plan to get what he wants. Months pass, and two weeks before he's scheduled to go back to school, Andrew proposes. Another dance. A week later, Ashley is taken from her home. Days later, they find her, but her spirit's been broken. Even Andrew can't bring her back...but it's not the end.

I'll bring you into Ashley's world tomorrow, but for now, I leave you with this...

"Mornin, chile," Matilda, one of our housekeepers and my personal maid said, drawing back the curtains to let the morning sun in. It was a brisk April morning in Mississippi - the kind that started off cool enough to need a wrap, but made it completely useless by afternoon. I stretched under the soft down quilt my grandmother had made years ago and threw a pillow at Matty. She laughed that deep, beautiful laugh of hers, picked up the pillow, and threw it back at me. I ducked under the covers and it bounced off of my head. I came out of hiding to find her standing at the side of my bed. After seventeen years, I still couldn't figure out how she moved so quickly or so silently! She sat on the edge of the bed and brushed the hair out of my eyes.
"What dress we gon' wear today, Miss Ashley? The blue lawn or the green poplin?" What day was it...Thursday, and it was my twice-monthly visit to Hattiesburg with Daddy! Today, we were going shopping.

"Matty, I think that I will wear the blue lawn. It's my day out with Daddy!"

"Goodness, it be two weeks already? How time does fly! Where you gon' today?"

"Last time, Daddy surprised me with a trip to New Orleans for the weekend, so I think we'll just be in Hattiesburg today. I do love spending the day with him," I grinned at her.

"I know you do. Your daddy a fine man. It be good to still have you after your momma died." My mother had died of malaria just a year after I was born. I almost died as well. I remembered the first time I was old enough to understand to ask Daddy where Mama was...


Keep going?

Be safe out there, and heepwah