LOVING ANNA Zequeatta Jaques FANTASY ROMANCE www.BookStrand.com A SIREN-BOOKSTRAND TITLE IMPRINT: Romance ABOUT THE E-BOOK VERSION: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to one LEGAL copy for your own personal use. It is ILLEGAL to send your copy to someone who did not pay for it. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. LOVING ANNA Copyright © 2008 by Zequeatta Jaques E-book ISBN: 1-60601-062-X First E-book Publication: September 2008 Cover design by Jinger Heaston All cover art and logo copyright © 2008 by Siren-BookStrand, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. PUBLISHER www.BookStrand.com DEDICATION Special thanks to Wanda Davis for her words of encouragement and my husband, Steve, for his belief in my ability to spin a tall tale. LOVING ANNA Zequeatta Jaques Copyright © 2008 Prologue Year 1967 Absent-mindedly Tom looked at the dirty ceiling above him as he listened to his wife of fifteen years, nag at him over the phone he held loosely against his ear. The chair he sat in was tipped back precariously, on its two back legs. He yawned widely into the phone before he replied to his wife’s question. “Yeah sure, I can stop and pick it up from the store on my way home.” Tom didn’t say anything else just frowned at the ceiling, when she went on to tell him why she needed the object he had purposefully forgotten two days in a row. He wondered why she couldn’t just go to the store and pick up what she needed herself. Nag. Nag. That is all she knows how to do, he thought. Then she wonders why I want to play golf every weekend with the guys. Lazily, he scanned the monitor he watched nightly. Blinking rapidly several times, he stared in shock at what was coming across the screen chair legs hit the tiled floor with a thud. “Got to go, hon.” he hurriedly said into the mouthpiece of the phone he held. Eyes glued to the monitor before him he fumbled around trying to find the base for the phone. He could still hear his wife nagging at him over the phone before he finally found its base, hanging the phone up on her in mid sentence. No way, he thought, his heart racing. No way. He shook his head 6 Zequeatta Jaques in disbelief. There it was again, clear as day. He had sat before this monitor night, after night, with nothing but yawning silence. There it was again. With trembling hands, Tom dialed the number for his supervisor, hoping he was home. His supervisor, believing he was a lady’s man, was always out cruising the nightclubs every opportunity he got. Apparently, the revulsion the females at work showed him, failed to penetrate his thick skull that he wasn’t quite the lady’s man he thought he was. The man was not bad looking. It was just so obvious he wanted to screw someone, anyone, other than his wife that the women at work found him something of a joke. Tom impatiently drummed his fingers on top of his desk, as he listened to the phone on the other end ring for the fifth time. “Come on man,” he said into the silent room he was sitting in. “Make tonight be the night you had to stay home with your wife.” “Hello,” a groggy, male voice said coming on the line. “Hey boss. It’s me, Tom. I have contact.” “The hell you say!” Jack sat up in bed with surprise. His wife rolled over against him. Jack impatiently pushed her back to her side of the bed. “There it is again,” Tom cried excitedly over the phone he held. Jack hastily shoved back the bed covers. Standing he looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was one am. “I will be there in thirty minutes. And, Tom, Don’t call anyone else with this. And, when I say anyone, I mean absolutely no one. Comprehend?” “Sure boss,” Tom replied, hanging up the phone. “Piece of shit,” he mumbled watching the screen. Quickly yanking on his clothes, Jack assured his wife it was problems at work he had to go and take care of. He left his house at a dead run. Jumping into his car he threw it into reverse, putting it in drive he took off. If Tom is pulling a prank out of boredom, I will fire him on the spot, he thought. A scant thirty minutes later, he walked down the empty hall to where Tom’s station was located. Slamming through the door, he hurried over to where Tom sat staring at his monitor. Jack slumped down onto the chair beside Tom’s desk, reading the message scrolling across the computer monitor. It was no prank. There, the message was clear as day. He stared at it as it bleeped continually across the screen, …we wish to make connection with your leader…we wish to make Loving Anna 7 connection with your leader… His fingers shaking violently, Jack dialed the home number of his superior. When the phone was picked up on the other end, he hoarsely stated, “You need to notify the president. We have contact!” 8 Zequeatta Jaques Chapter 1 Spring, 2007 College Campus “I am telling you, Anna, it could happen. Quit laughing at me.” Stylishly cut, short black hair bounced around the young woman’s face in response to her agitation at her friend’s reaction to her theory. “Charlee, you’re my best friend, but I’m telling you. There is no such thing as aliens living among us. You’ve watched too many sci-fi movies over the years.” Anna shook her head, as she wiped at the tears running down her cheeks with the back of her hand. She looked across the college dorm room at her best friend. One she’d had since she had went to live with Molly and George. Charlee was as striking as Anna in looks. Both girls getting a second and even third glance when out on the town in the busy college club hangouts. Charlee was much more likely to jump into a relationship with the opposite sex than her long time friend. She, for the last two years, had desperately searched for a lasting relationship, and had been in and out of love at least three times in the past year alone. Anna’s long, straight golden tresses swung past her shoulders, and brushed against her hips as she retrieved an arm full of her clothes out of the compact dorm room closet. Anna strayed more toward caution’s side when dealing with relationships of the opposite sex. She was very loyal, and very protective toward those she loved. The two young women were friends since the first day of grade school when Charlee walked up to Anna, took her hand, and paired them together for a game of tag. Anna stopped packing, and walked over to Charlee and gave her a hug, smiling as she did so. “You’re still my best friend, Charlee White, even Loving Anna 9 though you’re a certified nut case.” “Oh, shut up,” Charlee replied as she laughed, then she sobered and asked, “Have you talked to Molly today? How’s George?” Charlee could tell as she watched her friend, that Anna now swallowed back real tears. “Molly informed me that the doctors said if the chemotherapy is ineffective in getting the cancer in remission, then he may have a year or less. Andy and I wanted to get home as soon as we could. But, Andy can’t get away from base for another two weeks. George didn’t want Andrew to request leave from his Marine training or for me to leave in the middle of a semester. He has been adamant about it. I’m just glad the semester is over. So, I can go home and see him.” Anna grew quiet. Absently, she folded the pair of jeans she held and then placed them in one of the tanned suitcases that lay open on the bed. The past seventeen years were full of fond memories. Molly and George were the type of parents who had displayed loving affection on both her and Andrew, making sure they grew into happy, well-adjusted adults. Nothing had ever been said about their true parents after that fateful summer day which had changed Andrew, and her lives for the better...much better. Funny, how she never missed her natural parents as the years had gradually slipped away. The subject never discussed with George or Molly about how they came to be her and Andrew’s adopted parents. Andrew and she had simply accepted it. With a slight shake of her head, Anna looked up at Charlee and smiled sadly. “You could never ask for better parents than George and Molly, Charlee. I hope George doesn’t suffer with his cancer.” “I hope not either, Anna.” Pulling the pair of packed suitcases off the bed, Anna walked toward the door a suitcase in each hand. Charlee followed, she pulled the door open for Anna, and then leaned on it once Anna strolled through. Anna asked as she walked down the steps to her car, “When are you coming home?” Charlee had lost both of her parents in a car crash two years previously, and as an only child she had no close living relatives. Charlee had always lived two blocks up the street from Anna and still maintained her parent’s house. “I plan to stay here another couple of days and talk to Lance before I head home.” 10 Zequeatta Jaques Anna turned swiftly and looked back as she made a face at her friend. Charlee smiled down at her. Anna shook her head. “You know how I feel about Lance. You can do better. However, if he’s what you want, then I’ll wish you luck. If you’re happy, then I should be,” she stated, as she walked over to her white sport compact car. Placing her suitcases in the trunk of her car, she slammed the lid shut, then turned and waved goodbye. Charlee waved back. Anna slid in her car and then headed for home. As she adjusted the radio in the car to a favorite rock and roll station, Anna began to reminisce about the past seventeen years. Images and emotions rolled through her as she recalled the day she and Andrew had went to live with the Summers. How scared she had been, left with two strangers. Yet, those feelings of uncertainty had soon been replaced with feelings of warmth and love. She, to this day, when she caught the aroma of new car leather, felt the same emotional response she had experienced when Molly had helped her into the front seat of the car they drove at the time. The feeling of homecoming that had washed over her had been overwhelming. She and Andrew equally, had been overwhelmed when they saw their new home for the first time. The sloped, green manicured lawn that led up to the two story white manor house right out of a fairy tale, they had thought. Anna loved the gleaming wide-plank, pine wood floors, and wide-open space of the rooms. Still, sometimes when she had been away from home, and she walked through the front doors, she felt the same awe as that first day to learn she and her brother were actually to live there. Their experience of a home up to that time had been two room shacks with the stale smell of cigarettes. As she became aware of her surroundings, Anna slowed the car and signaled a right turn. She then eased the car onto the interstate and ongoing traffic. Her memories still flooded her. Molly had talked quietly to her and Andy that day as she told them that their parents through no fault of their own could not keep them. She and George were the lucky ones, she had said, because they would get to have Andy, and Anna, live with them. They were glad to have found them after such a long time.