Moving to Seashell Island

Moving to

Seashell Island

By Brenda Kennedy

A Seashell Island Novel

Book 4

DEDICATED TO MY GRANDSON:

MY BRAVE SOLDIER, DESMOND.

I hope you know how proud I am and how much I love you. Always be safe.

Copyright 2018 by Brenda Kennedy

SMASHWORDS EDITION

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain noncommercial uses permitted by the author. For permission requests, email the author at brendakennedy48@gmail.com.

Sophia Moretti

I’ve been abused by my husband, Lazzaro, for nearly the entire time of our twenty-five years of marriage. When my eighteen-year-old daughter, Isabella, saw my most recent injuries, she suggested we both leave my abusive husband while I was still able. She feared I wouldn’t survive the next beating.

After deciding on a location that was nothing more than a speck on the map, we packed up as much as our car would hold and left Nebraska for Seashell Island. I knew starting over wouldn’t be easy, but maybe island life could offer some peace and tranquility we both desperately needed.

When we arrived on the island, it was everything I dreamed of and everything I needed. But I didn’t expect to meet a man who had the potential to change my life.

Tony Romano

Since my wife died of cancer several years ago, I’ve spent every day mourning her and the loss of the life we had. Since then I’ve focused my time and energy on my business, my son and his wife, and my two granddaughters. But there was still something missing. I was still missing my beloved Maria.

But when I saw a battered woman and her daughter at the church, I knew I wanted to help them. I didn’t know for sure what caused her injuries, but my age and wisdom told me someone was responsible.

The more I got to know Sophia, the more my attraction for her grew.

The only problems were that I couldn’t let go of my deceased wife and Sophia’s husband wasn’t ready to let go of her.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Sophia Tarantino Moretti: Our candidate for a happily-after-ever

Tony Romano: Beau’s father

Isabella Moretti: Sophia and Lazzaro’s eighteen-year-old daughter

Lazzaro Moretti: Sophia’s husband

Marco Gallo: Lazzaro’s attorney

Beau Romano: Tony’s son/ Carly’s husband

Carly Stewart Romano: Grace’s daughter/ Beau’s wife

Myra: Beau’s daughter from a previous marriage

Baby Maria: Beau and Carly’s daughter

Parker Blake: The island’s M.D., James’ son/ Sarah’s husband

Sarah Stewart: Grace’s daughter and Parker’s wife

Larry, aka Pap: Sarah and Carly’s grandfather

Sylvia, aka Gram: Sarah and Carly’s grandmother

Grace: Sarah and Carly’s mother/James’ wife

James: Parker’s father/ Grace’s husband

PROLOGUE

My beautiful daughter is the only good thing that came from my twenty-five years of marriage to Lazzaro. He always drank heavily, but I’m not sure when he became a drunk. Maybe he always was. Maybe it’s because of my daughter that I turned a blind eye. When a woman becomes a mother, she always wants what’s best for her children, but what a woman thinks is best for her child isn’t always best.

For instance, I thought it would be best to stay with Lazzaro. I thought it would be best for Isabella to be raised with her mother and father. I also thought she could have the benefits of a mother and a father and a double-income family. But that wasn’t true.

Despite the way Lazzaro treated me, I knew he would never treat our daughter that way. He claimed to love us both. I wasn’t sure he loved me, but I knew without a doubt that he loved Isabella. Sadly, because of my decision to stay with Lazzaro for Isabella’s sake, she would also suffer from my husband’s abuse. Not because he ever hit her, but because he abused me. She saw my injuries, my pain, my fear.

I should have left Lazzaro at the first sign of abuse. Isabella and I would have struggled financially at times, but the emotional scars would never have existed.

If it weren’t for Isabella, I would still be there today. I never would have left him. Partly out of fear that he would find me and hurt me and partly out of fear that I couldn’t make it on my own. Where would I go? Would he find me? Would he kill me if he did? Lazzaro is a wealthy man, and he has the means of finding me if I did leave.

It isn’t until this morning that I summon up the courage to do something about the abuse. Well, it actually isn’t me with the courage, it’s Isabella. She has a plan. And from the looks of her plan, I can tell she’d put a lot of thought into it. This isn’t something she decided at the last moment.

After Lazzaro leaves for work this morning, I shower and dress as I do every day. I clean up the mess and broken glass from last night’s rage, then I plan to prepare a family dinner for Lazzaro, Isabella, and me, during which I would pretend last night’s fury didn’t exist.

But Isabella has other plans. Oh, Momma. Why do you stay with him? she asks with sad eyes.

What can I say? I stayed for you? I thought you would have a better life with him in it? I’ll never let her know that. I have no answer for my beloved daughter. I lick my swollen lip and place the sunglasses on to cover the bruised eye that makeup doesn’t conceal.

Your father just gets upset, I lie. Why do I make excuses for him? It’s not so bad.

My daughter spreads a paper map out on the kitchen table.

If you could choose any place in the world to go, where would it be, Momma?

I’m not a dreamer and never have been. Lazzaro has made sure of that. He’s destroyed all of my hopes and dreams for a brighter tomorrow. But Isabella is the dreamer in the family. She’s the one who thinks world peace is at our fingertips. Who am I to inhibit her fantasy?

Closing my eyes, I let my mind go to a happy place. Closing my eyes, I think about where my happy place would be. Someplace warm. I hear the paper map crinkle. Feeling the sun on my face I say, Somewhere on the water. A beach perhaps, maybe an island. I hear more crinkling. Someplace secluded. Just in case Lazzaro would try to find me.

When I open my eyes, Isabella has her finger pointed to a place on the map. I have it.

Smiling, I ask, What do you have?

How’s Seashell Island sound?

It sounds lovely, I admit. Is that a real place? I lean forward and raise my sunglasses to see the speck on the map. It sounds too good to be true.

It sure is. It’s in the Carolinas. Have we ever been to the east coast?

No, I can’t say we have. I look at my beautiful daughter, who has olive skin and black curly hair. Is this where you want the family vacation to be this year?

Momma, she says seriously. That’s where I think we should go. Now. Today. I think it’s time you leave Poppa.

My little dreamer. And how would we get there? I’ll need money for us to live on. Where would we live?

What if you have everything you needed? Would you go then?

No, Isabella. It’s not that easy. I try to explain to my daughter about adulting. There’s things you have to take care of before making such a significant move as that.

Momma, please. I’m afraid for you. I’m scared what Poppa will do to you the next time. Every time is worse than the time before. Leave him for me, Momma. Please."

My daughter is in fear for my life. She’s pleading with me to save myself. How can I say no to that? How can I tell her no? The SUV is in my name. Lazzaro and I have joint bank accounts with a significant amount of money. I’m entitled to half, right? We can live on that for a while. We wouldn’t have the life we have now, but isn’t that the point?

Isabella, go pack just the necessities. Quickly.

CHAPTER 1

SOPHIA

I could tell my eighteen-year-old daughter had thought this through thoroughly. She insisted we leave our cell phones behind and get two off-plan phones from Walmart. She knew her father would be able to track us through our cell phones.

We left with just our clothes and important papers, including bank information, passports, birth certificates, and the title to the car. Everything else is just material things and it means nothing compared to the value of a life. To think that this is what people work for is crazy. In the end, it means nothing.

When I went into the bank to withdraw half of the money, I made some lame excuse that the money was for a surprise for Lazzaro, and I needed cash so he wouldn’t be able to track the spending and I also wanted him to be totally surprised. I was afraid the bank would call him about the withdrawal and I needed something believable. Lazzaro is a valued customer, and it would be a courtesy call even though the money is in both of our names. Like most people, they believe the man is the breadwinner and this is his money. That may be true, but I certainly have earned half of it. Me wanting him to be surprised wasn’t a total lie; he’ll be surprised all right when he comes home to find his wife and daughter have left him and his wife took half of his money.

I hadn’t thought this through completely, but when my daughter pleaded with me to do this to save my life, I knew I had to make this work. I’m scared Isabella is looking at this like a mini vacation instead of a life-changing event in our lives. She’s only eighteen. What does she know about life and living? She knows enough to know if I stay with her father, I may not live to see another day.

Isabella sits in the passenger seat as she searches through her wallet. We can live in a small furnished apartment, and I can get a job as a server at a local diner to help pay the bills.

My Isabella should be going off to college, not working in some diner for tips. This isn’t the life I had planned for her. This isn’t the life I had planned for us. I have enough money, and if I can get a job quickly, maybe I can afford to pay for her college. Living on an island might not be the best option for us right now. It’ll be expensive with a higher cost of living.

Maybe we should reconsider this plan? I suggest.