A powerful story of transcendence from the effects of child abuse and fear of men to finally falling in love. Emotionally crippled by childhood abuse, a young woman must overcome her distrust of men, or lose the man who loves her.
Also below is Chapter 32. I have been told by an editor that this is a great example of characterization. Enjoy!
Story Synopsis
Rachael Connor is a young woman who has great looks, money, and a home of her own. She is reclusive, dealing with emotional scars of childhood abuse that left her fearful of men. Her father’s censorious teachings guided her into adulthood. It’s all she knows.
With a superior mind, having been through therapy, she counsels others to help them end their noxious situations. She creates perfect lives by writing novels. When she meets Matthew Knight, she is stumbling on how to better depict her story’s male character. She decides to pattern him with Matthew’s personality and mannerisms.
Matthew has other plans and knows what he wants. He pursues Rachael and falls in love. Rachael rebukes him, living by the rules established by her father that supposedly helps her maintain a respectable image. In understanding her misgivings of relationships by writing them as part of her book characters’ lives, she realizes she has loved Matthew all along, but has pushed him away. The realization causes Rachael to have a epiphany about how to overcome her father’s grip. The next time she falls in love, she will know how to deal with it. But will Matthew let her get away so easily?
A 5-Star Review by Berk Rourke
Mary Deal’s mysteries absorbed me. Another of her books gave me a sense of sea animals I never had before, it being fiction, but thrilling nonetheless. In Sea Cliff she has created a love story which absorbs, thrills, frustrates, but I won’t tell you how it ends. Suffice it to say that Rachel and Matthew are two beautiful people with pasts which have measurable impact on their romance. Mary’s characterization of Rachel leaves the reader wondering if she lived some of the troubles attributed to the character?
One small portion of the book struck me as being pure Mary Deal, that being frustration felt by Rachel over an interruption in her writing. Every author puts something of themselves in each book they write. It is not possible to avoid doing so. It may be an attitude or an action, or a thought process, no matter it is there. Reading more than one of Mary’s novels gives one the impression she has shown her readers many things about her life in the guise of her characters.
This story is well constructed, maintains flow, allows the characters to weave through its threads seamlessly. Any reader will enjoy no matter their age. A tour de force from Mary Deal.
eBook: http://mybook.to/SeaCliff
Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/wgwpu9e
Audio: https://tinyurl.com/wzw73cm
Chapter 32
Days passed before the police were able to locate Linda’s mother. Even then, she hadn’t arrived immediately upon learning of her daughter’s condition. Then she finally showed up in a drunken stupor. She was a tall thickly built middle-aged woman with a full head of lavender-tinted hair and heavy makeup. Each day, she would look in on Linda through the window of ICU for a few moments. Sitting beside her dying daughter’s bedside was not her way of handling grief.
The following Friday, Linda expired, not having regained consciousness. She clung to life in a vegetative state for three long weeks, then simply slipped away.
On Saturday, while Rachael waited for Cameron and Mona who were inside the ICU, Mrs. Berringer arrived noisily at the unit desk in the hall. She unknowingly stood right beside Rachael.
“I wanna’ see d’asshole that killed my daughter,” she said, slurring spittle at the nurse. “Where is that son-va-bitch that got my daughter strung out on drugs.” Her breath reeked of stale cigarettes and alcohol that cheap cologne couldn’t mask. She was boisterous. Someone called hospital security who commandeered two police officers passing through the hospital. “I’m Mrs. Berringer, Linda’s mother,” she said, lifting her chin arrogantly. “We’re impor’ant people. That asshole ain’t gonna’ get ‘way with this. I know people in high places.” She fumbled nervously twirling the many rings on all her fingers. Especially the ill-fitting one on her pinky with a stone so large it could only be a Cubit Zirconia. People noticed her nervously rotating the rings. Rachael saw it too. Mrs. Berriner looked down at the rings and quickly turned a couple into her palm and closed her fist around them.
The stone on the ring looked similar to the Marquis diamond that Amanda used to wear. At that size, Mrs. Berringer’s ring was probably an exaggerated CZ. She hid it to keep anyone from knowing it wasn’t a true diamond and that she wasn’t as wealthy as she would have people believe. Rachael stepped away.
“What’re they gonna think back home? This is gonna make me look like a fool. Where you keepin’ that son-va-bitch?”
The police tried to calm her. She continued to rant about her daughter being a big star until some guy got her into drugs. She was obnoxious and attracted the attention of other nurses and attendants. Cameron and Mona poked their heads out of ICU to learn what the raucous was about.
“Here I was, sendin’ her money every month,” Mrs. Berringer said, whining. “A career like hers takes a lotta’ cash for clothes and public’ty and things. Some guy’s been takin’ my money and fillin’ her full o’ drugs.”
“You don’t know that for sure, Mrs. Berringer,” an officer said.
“I been staying at my daughter’s place,” she said. “Been going through her things to help me remember. She had a fine life, lots of nice things, till that guy got her on drugs.” She nervously twirled her rings. Rachael watched her every move. Her rings looked cheap.
A police officer stood close to her. “I think you should get ahold of yourself, ma’am, and do what’s right by your daughter, which is arranging how you’re gonna take her home.”
“I wanna’ see t’asshole….” she said, continuing to slur her words.
“I’m sorry. That’s not possible. Now, if you haven’t already, I suggest you claim your daughter’s body—”
“Oh, whadda you know?” she asked. Her mouth turned down grotesquely at the corners.
“I know,” the officer said, leveling his eyes at her, “that if you don’t take care of your business and leave this place, I can take you in for being drunk and disorderly.”
“Humph,” she said, snubbing the officer and staggering backward a few steps to cross the hall, accompanied by the security officer.
Rachael watched quietly. Mrs. Berringer poked at the down button several times, finally striking it. Two officers exchanged glances. Then, claiming to be dizzy, she groped her way to a nearby chair.
“Don’t know what I’m gonna’ do now,” she said to the security guard. “As soon as her career got going, Linda was going to help me out.”
“She was, ma’am?” The guard was being polite.
“I’m retired, you know. Getting up in years. Your kids are ‘spose to help. Don’t know how I’m gonna’ manage. She’s all I had. I was countin’ on her.”
“You’ll do find, ma’am.”
Rachael couldn’t help glancing over. She didn’t have to strain to hear the loud conversation. The elevator doors opened and closed.
“We’re impor’ant people back home,” she said again, pulling a piece of paper from her purse. She fumbled to unfold it while weaving forward and backward in the chair. “See here.” She offered it to the guard. “I’m gonna’ have to write something for our hometown paper. What d’ya think of that headline, A Star Comes Home to Rest. That was her movie name, you know… Star.”
The guard looked around as if longing for help. He punched the elevator down button.
“I ain’t gonna’ tell ‘em she had drugs in ‘er.” She sniffled. “I been going through things at her house and I found….”
The elevator arrived. The guard sighed as they stepped inside and the doors slowly closed.
