Kindle Edition
Amazon
Kathy Marvel Books
Amazon
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Kathy Marvel
ISBN-10: 161296284X
Type: Fiction
Pages: 287
Copyright: March 25, 2016
ISBN-13: 9781612962849
Price: $4.99 (eBook)
Inspired by real-life events, The Velvet Touch by Kathy Marvel is full of suspense along with a little romance and is sure to leave you wanting more. Luke and Allie’s story is based on experiences from Kathy’s own life although she has taken great liberties as a fiction writer to make that story their own. Having lived through the many of the experiences depicted in her novel, the perspectives are real and insightful.
The Velvet Touch is about a young, newly-married couple named Luke and Allie. They are about to start a family together and have what most would describe as a perfect life. They are clearly under the impression that nothing can tarnish this perfect world that they live in. However, an intruder begins to infiltrate their lives and make their perfect little world come crashing down around them. This comes in the form of Velvet – a young woman who is desperate to gain access to Luke and his life – without the burden of Allie. Even as Luke and Allie begin to realize what is happening, they rationalize and create explanations for unexplainable occurrences simply because they cannot believe what is in fact true – someone has been in their house. The book travels back and forth between the Allie’s perspective of what is happening and then Velvet’s perspective of what actually did happen. It is full of suspense with a little romance added to it!
Excerpt
Prologue
A brisk day, typical of January in this small suburban town just east of the Rocky Mountains, surrounded Allie Thompson. Arvada, Colorado in the winter was usually a day much like today. The sun was brightly shining yet the chill in the air was evident. Growing up in Arvada, Allie was a bit spoiled by such beauty although at the time she didn’t know it. To live in such a place was a blessing - where the majority of her days were filled with sunshine, where such immense colors filled her eyes each fall, where twenty minutes east she would find herself in the midst of downtown Denver with the hustle and bustle among the tallest of buildings, yet twenty minutes west would find her in the midst of those glorious snow capped peaks of the mountains she grew up with.
As Allie drove home from a day of teaching first graders and a bit too long of a staff meeting, she was distracted by her thoughts and had but one thing one her mind. A brief stop at the grocery store and two miles to go, she found her heart racing and her hands slightly shaking. As Allie drove along her street, it was filled with the baron trees of winter, snow glistening on the lawns and homes – all custom built – with families all settling in for the evening. With the garage door opening and the pine green Ford Escort pulling into her side of the garage, the anxiety within Allie was heightened. Her husband Luke would be home already and as she noticed his truck, Allie wished that she could have just ten minutes to herself – solely due to the fact that she was unnerved at the moment. The engine turned off with the turn of a key and Allie took a deep breath as she made her way through the garage to the door with a faint bit of light shining through from the street light across the street. The garage door screeched closed behind her.
As Allie turned the doorknob leading into the house, the door burst open and there to greet her was Luke. His arms wrapped around her at the waist as hers slipped around his neck. They spun around the room and their mouths joined in a series of quick fun loving kisses. Their marriage was young, just seven months old but the love between them was that “fairytale” love you find in books – the kind where anything is possible and you can get through anything as long as you are together. The excitement they felt to see one another at the end of a day was the same now as it was two and half years ago on their first date. When Allie’s petite 5’1’’ figure was gently set upon the ground, they made their way to the couch, a daily ritual, to chat about the day. Allie fit snuggly in the crook of Luke’s arm as she leaned on his shoulder and they began.
“Hi baby,” Luke said. “How was your day?” With Luke’s eyes eager for the conversation to begin, Allie tried desperately to come up with some reason as to why she needed to head upstairs for a few minutes to have those ten minutes of solitude that she longed for and the time to determine if indeed there was a need for all the pent up angst she’d been feeling for the past two hours. Her heart was pounding so hard, she new that Luke must be able to feel it as well. She didn’t want to rush their precious time, yet knew that she must. Her chest felt as if it would burst open and she needed to get away for just a few minutes and thus, she rose to her feet and with an excuse of needing to use the bathroom desperately, Allie headed up the stairs as quickly as she could, bags in hand. Allie shut the bathroom door and locked it, falling back against it as she took a deep breath and dropped her bags.
She reached for the small box she’d bought at the grocery on the way home, and tore open the box as quickly as she could. As Allie pulled out the white stick and began the process of determining pregnancy or not, she began to pace furiously back and forth along the tile floor of the bathroom. All the time, she was thinking of two weeks prior when she and Luke had gone to their favorite Italian restaurant, Valente’s, and the discussion of when in fact they might be ready to begin their family together arose. Over a bottle of red wine and baked rigatoni, they had discussed their desire for a family but wondered when the best time might be. Allie had just graduated from Regis University with her master’s degree, they had only been married seven months, lived in their new house together a mere four months, and yet they felt ready to move on to that next step. Nevertheless, their thoughts moved a bit toward waiting a while when they discussed how much they enjoy each other, their time alone together, and the fact that they would not get that time back for quite a while having children running around the house. Allie brought up the fact that if they waited until late summer, assuming that they got pregnant right away, the timing would be great as far as her career went. Being a teacher meant that a March baby would add the summer to her maternity leave. This made perfect sense to Luke as well. As the evening drew to a close, the decision had been made to wait for summer to start trying and whatever happened after that, happened.
Now, just two weeks later, her period is late which was atypical for Allie and her well planned out, highly organized life. “A place for everything and everything has its place,” is her motto. Allie was one who always knew exactly where everything was and rarely forgot a thing. She was also “a list” person, and that was solely to make sure that she indeed did not forget anything. This was NOT well planned out!
Her thoughts fell back to the fact that a baby right now was not in the plan! They had just decided. This was not the time although; the anticipation Allie felt at the moment was not all about, “What if she were pregnant?” but “Wow, I might be having a baby.” She liked the sound of the word “baby” as it crossed her lips and suddenly became anxious once again. What if Luke really wasn’t ready? Would he be happy? Scared? Ready? There was no time like the present. Allie leaned down toward the counter - eyes closed, and took a deep breath before she opened her eyes to see a plus sign on the little white wand. She couldn’t help but smile and within seconds the tears came sliding down her face and her body was shaking ever so slightly.
Allie yelled down for Luke to come up the stairs. He was nervous and took the stairs two at a time and was beside her in no time wondering what in the world she might be crying about. He grabbed her clammy, shaking hands and brought them up toward his chest. His deep blue eyes stood out upon the chiseled features of his face and with them looking right into her hazel eyes, she fell into him as his arms wrapped her up in his broad chest. When she looked up at him again, she could not resist touching the scruff on his face from two days without a razor. He whispered, “Why are you crying?” Allie motioned toward the countertop and Luke glanced down seeing nothing much at first and then jerked his head back quickly for a closer look. He looked at the white stick, then at Allie, back at the white stick and back to Allie once more. Luke asked, “Does this mean…?” but before he could finish, Allie nodded her head up and down as the tears came streaming down her face once again. Luke scooped her up and swung her around and around and when he finally stopped, he gently set her down and looked back into those damp eyes again. He was grinning from ear to ear and she knew without a doubt that this was the right time indeed! They would soon be the mommy and the daddy to the little baby growing inside her belly. No two people in the entire world could have been happier!
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