The Stranger In the Guest Room by V. Lockwood (best books to read for young adults TXT) 📕

Margo, you two are amazing. I’m glad you’re in our lives, and we can share our futures together. I don’t know where I’d be without both of you. Easton. You’ve made me a better man, and for that, I thank you. I don’t know how I’d ever be able to repay you for your generosity, your spirit, and your strength.”

“Thanks, man,” Easton said as he wrapped his arm around Margo.

“Erika,” he said as he turned to me. “Thank you for taking me up on that offer years ago. We knew it was the wrong thing to do, and I knew you were married. I knew you were divorcing him, and I just couldn’t wait. I didn’t want to lose you then. I’m glad you said yes to an evening out that night. I’m glad you allowed me to be the guy you leaned on during your struggles and rough times back then. I would carry all your broken pieces all over again. I wanted to be the one to take all your pain away, to make you realize you’re worth more than what you thought. You meant the world to me back then, and you mean the world to me now. I’m grateful for you. I don’t want to imagine my life without you. I want to spend every single day of the rest of my life with you. I want to be there for you, challenge you, make you proud, support you, and grow with you. Every dream we’ve talked about is within our reach, and I want to reach them all with you by my side.”

I clasped my hands over my mouth when he went down to his knee and held up a ring.

“Erika Corinne Mackle, would you marry me?”

I broke down as I stood there staring at him, Easton, and Margo. “You two knew about this?” I demanded through joyful cries.

Margo nodded as she dried the tears from her eyes.

“Oh my God!” I shouted. I looked back at Brooks. “Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!”

He rose and slid the ring on my finger.

“How’s that for a happy ending to one of your books,” he whispered as Margo snapped pictures with her phone.

The End

Life has been crazy this last year. Erika and I have been updating the cabin and the garage. Our plans are to stay here and start our own family soon. The neighbors are wonderful and the views from our home are postcard worthy.

I wish Jaden were here with us. A part of me died when he died. It’s been a journey for both Erika and I to learn how to live with that void. I made a bench and we set up a memorial place on the edge of our property that overlooks the water. He would have loved it here.

As for his mother, she’s still sitting in jail awaiting her trial, and pleading not guilty. I’m still trying to come to terms with how a parent can strangle their own child out of spite to the other parent. Neither Erika, nor I are looking forward to seeing her face. But justice needs to be served. And we will do everything we need to do for Jaden.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read

Brooks & Erika’s story!

If you enjoyed their story, please consider leaving

a review on Amazon! If you’d love to see their story continued, please let me know. I can see something from their past interfering with their future. So, if enough of you want more of their story, please let me know and I’ll start working on a second book for them.

If you’re interested in some of my other books, you can check them out over at www.vklockwood.com.

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Here’s a peek into my 2020 release...

The Shadows are Falling

V. K. LOCKWOOD

For seven long, devastating years... 

I took every word she ever spoke to me with a grain of salt; however, the pain was fierce enough to draw unwanted tears. The emotions led me over the edge, mentally and physically. I wished more than anything to get revenge on her, make her pay for what she did. For all she destroyed and everything she took away from me. The destruction was all around me, ambushing me and trying its best to smother me to death. That’s what she wanted—to watch me die. Well, that’s not what I’ll give her.

They ask me to write what it is I’m feeling inside. They tell me I need to be honest, and whatever I write will remain confidential. They think I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know better. I know more than they think I know. And I will tell my story. The full story—the truth. I will let the world know what happened.

My Dearest Kassie,

I watch you. I’ve followed your life for years now. You think

you have the life of your dreams.

But your past... Do you ever lie awake at night,

thinking about your past?

Because I do, every night.

Or should I say our past?

You know the truth and I know the truth.

The one critical downfall in this...

You forgot to tell them the truth.

PROLOGUE 

I SAT IN MY CAR, WATCHING the stillness of the multi-million-dollar luxury mansion at 1851 Chatelet Hill Drive. The place I once called home. I clenched my teeth and felt my body tense when I saw her—the woman who stole my husband, my daughter, my name... my life. She sashayed down the concrete drive to the mailbox, her hip-length, light golden-blonde hair flowing behind her. I gripped the steering wheel tighter, never wanting to see her face again. But it was everywhere. I couldn’t look in the mirror without an uncontrollable sense of revulsion for that woman. There was no evading her face when it was identical to mine. My body identical to hers. Our skin, hair, voice, mannerisms, sapphire blue eyes—identical. Right down to the very mole