Return to Oak Valley
Chapter One
When she reached the turnout at Inspiration Point overlooking Oak Valley, Shelly
pulled to the side of the road and turned off the ignition. Utter silence fell.
Having lived most of her adult life in New Orleans, with all its constant bustle
and city noise, it was the sort of silence she had not heard in years ...
seventeen years to be exact.
She sat there in her new dark gray Bronco and let the silence seep into her
consciousness, feeling her tense muscles ease and her jangled nerves calm. The
Bronco was shrouded in silence and darkness, the gleam of stars overhead and the
beckoning glitter of the few lights on the valley floor the only break in the
blackness of the night.
She had chosen to return at night, even knowing that the narrow two-lane road to
St. Galen's, the only town in Oak Valley, was nearly thirty miles of twisting,
twining curves that required careful concentration even in daylight, but even
more so after dark. At night the curves leaped out at one; deer, skunks,
raccoons, and the occasional bear or bobcat could appear suddenly in the
headlights, and in some places, a small scattering, and n ... read full excerpt from: Return to Oak Valley ebook
