Because Of The Ring

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One

Claudia Westfield managed to slide into the seat of her car without spilling hot coffee down the front of her dress or dropping the stack of books and papers jammed beneath one arm.

Even though it was only six-thirty, she wanted to arrive at work early. Exams for the final semester were concluding this week and she had a scad of papers to grade and scores to register and average.

The motor was running and she was reaching to pull the gearshift into Reverse when a wave of dizziness suddenly sent her head spinning.

Alarmed, especially when she’d never been sick a day in her adult life, Claudia gently leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. Hopefully, a few moments of quiet would straighten her equilibrium.

The next thing she knew a man’s face appeared against the canvas of her closed eyelids. The image was sharp and focused and so very real, she unconsciously gasped out loud.

Stunned by the unearthly sight, Claudia’s eyes popped open and she glanced wildly around her. The driveway leading up to her apartment and the small manicured lawns of her bordering neighbors looked normal. Yet she could still see the man in her peripheral vision. He had dark wavy hair and cobalt-blue eyes that seemed to be peering straight at her. A somewhat sexy smile twisted his lips and exposed bright white teeth against dark skin.

“Oh. No. No,” she whispered the denial. “This is—you’re not really there. I’m just tired. Too tired.”

Frantically she snatched the coffee cup from its holder on the dash and gulped at the still-hot liquid. The drink scalded her tongue, but she didn’t care. The feeling was real and normal.

More careful now, she took a second sip and then a third. After that she dared herself to look out the windshield again. Thankfully, the man was gone and everything was as it should be.

She allowed herself to breathe again. Then slowly she closed her eyes to make sure he’d disappeared from that aspect of her vision, too. Relief washed through her. The man with the smiling face had disappeared.

Deciding there was nothing to panic about, she put the car into Reverse and backed onto the street. But moments later as she headed into the already busy Fort Worth traffic, she realized her hands were slick with sweat and she was trembling from head to toe.

You’re cracking up, Claudia. Really and truly cracking up.

By lunchtime Claudia had more or less put the incident of the vision out of her mind. At least she thought she had until she met up with her friend, Liz, in the school cafeteria.

Secretary to one of the assistant principals, the high-spirited redhead who was slightly older than Claudia was the exact opposite of her quiet nature. Even so, they’d been pals from the first day they’d met two years ago.

Now as the women inched through the serving line, Liz’s worried stare had Claudia clutching an unwitting hand to her throat.

“What in heck is wrong with you?” she asked.

“Me? Nothing. Why?”

Liz said, “You look like the bride of Frankenstein right after she was shocked to life.”

Trying her best to joke away Liz’s concern, Claudia touched a hand to her smooth brown hair. “Why? Have I suddenly developed two gray streaks?”

“No. You look totally drained.”

“That shouldn’t be surprising. This is finals week, Liz. Where have you been?”

“Don’t play cute with me. This job never gets you down. Although, I don’t know why. If I had to deal with some of the lazy, insubordinate students that come through Judith’s office, I’d throw my hands up and scream. You, on the other hand, have a knack for bringing out the better side of these kids.”

After exiting the serving line the two women took a seat at a vacant table. Immediately, Liz dug into her plate of chicken pot pie, but as soon as she realized Claudia was ignoring her food, she looked up in silent question.

“Something happened to me this morning, Liz,” Claudia announced with grim resolve. “I think I’m going crazy.”

Liz chuckled. “Aren’t we all.”

Urgently, Claudia leaned forward and lowered her voice. “No. I mean, really crazy. Like delusional. I think…I need to make a doctor’s appointment for a checkup.”

Hearing the concern in her friend’s voice, Liz frowned. “Why? What happened?”

“I had visions of a man.”

Liz didn’t just chuckle this time, she outright laughed. “I’d be more worried if you weren’t having visions of a man,” she finally managed to say.

Frustrated, Claudia picked up her fork and jabbed at the lump of meat loaf on her plate. “I’m not talking about having a fantasy of the opposite sex, Liz. This was something totally different. This was a sharp, clear image that came to me out of the blue. No…it wasn’t exactly out of the blue. I got dizzy first and then—” A trembling deep inside her made it difficult to go on. She gripped the fork and tried to breathe normally. “This face appeared.”

“Aha! You got dizzy,” Liz repeated with confidence. “See, there’s a physical reason for this. And I’d say it was stress. Or it could be hormonal. Maybe your body is trying to tell you that you need a mate.” She studied Claudia with renewed thoughtfulness. “Did you recognize this man?”

“No.”

“Hmm. How strange. Was he nice?”

Claudia forked a piece of meat loaf to her mouth and chewed automatically. She didn’t want to think about the man. Or the incident. The whole thing had been completely out of the ordinary and totally frightening.

“What do you mean by ‘nice’? I’m not so far gone that I tried to talk to the man, Liz!”

Her friend waved an impatient hand at her. “I meant was his image appealing or did you get the feeling he was not someone you’d want lurking around you?”

Claudia’s head tilted to one side as she considered Liz’s question. “I was too stunned to think much. But I guess he was…nice. Not evil.” She shook her head and groaned with disbelief. “What am I doing? I’m a science teacher! My job is to teach students about logical reasons. For instance, the shamrock is green because of chlorophyll, not because some Irish elf painted it that way. A rainbow is created by refraction and reflection of sunlight in raindrops. It’s not some magical guide to a pot of gold. And a vision—well, there’s always an explanation for them, too.”

“Well, I’ll be hanged,” Liz said with exaggerated disappointment. “I guess I must have had too many absent days in science class. Here I’ve been chasing after rainbows, believing I was going to find some gold at one end.”

“This isn’t funny,” Claudia snapped.

Claudia’s testiness caused the other woman’s brows to arch. “I wasn’t trying to be funny. In fact, I feel sorry for you, Claudia.”

Claudia’s mouth gaped open. Sympathy was the last thing she expected from Liz. “Sorry! I don’t want that, either! I want—” She made a frustrated gesture with her hand. “I want explanations!”

Liz popped a cherry tomato into her mouth and chewed with pleasure before she replied, “Look, Claudia, one of these days you’re going to learn that there are mystical, magical powers at work in our lives. And they’re something that can’t be analyzed or reasoned out in a science lab.”

Claudia huffed out a breath. “Well, you believe what you want. As for me, I’m sticking to my science lab. Or a doctor’s office!”

A week later Claudia walked out of the doctor’s office and headed home without a prescription or a concrete explanation for the vision she’d had or the ones that had subsequently followed these past few days.

Physically there was nothing ailing her, the doctor had assured her. He’d went on to suggest that she take a long vacation to rest her mind from the stress of her job and later, if the visions continued, she could always make an appointment with a psychiatrist.

A psychiatrist! Was she really becoming that emotionally unhinged? There wasn’t any reason for it! She was an average young woman with a normal life, she reasoned with herself. Except that she spent odd times out of the day looking at a man she’d never seen in her life. And to make matters worse, the images were growing more detailed. The man appeared to be wearing some sort of uniform with a tie. Several times she’d pictured a stretch of water and a boat. There had also been a big white house with a widow’s walk. None of it seemed to tie together or to make any sense.

Inside her apartment, she went straight to her computer and logged on to the Internet. She was going to take her doctor’s advice and buy plane tickets to Cancun. A few days’ rest might be exactly what she needed.