Surrender to Love (NOVELLA) (E-BOOK)

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Prologue

Dr. Teresa Lopez Gonzalez screamed, stumbled, and covered her face with her hands. “No! It’s not true!” She gasped for air as the tragic news sucked the life out of her. “You’re talking about the wrong person. It can’t be my husband. Roberto is at work.”

Trembling, she grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter to keep from falling. This couldn’t be happening to her. Surely it was all a dream. A bad dream. She would awaken soon to discover all was well.

The police officer lowered his head then lifted it again. Compassion filled his glistening eyes. “Ma’am. I’m sorry. So very sorry.” He reached into his belt pouch. “We found this in your husband’s shirt pocket.”

Teresa’s stomach clenched. She immediately recognized the blue identification badge that Roberto carried to his job five days a week as chief mural artist for the city of New York. He’d been so proud of his current project—an outdoor mural for the north
wall of the Drug Rehabilitation Building in Harlem. An attempt to revitalize the neighborhood where he volunteered in his spare time to minister to street gangs. He’d been thrilled to get the assignment.

Dizziness coiled itself around her brain, strangling her thinking. Her body shook with cold tremors as her mind spun deliriously. She could still hear her husband’s voice lingering in her ear from their parting
conversation that morning. “I love you, Tessa Babe.”

Her chest clenched. He always called her by her nickname. “I’ll be thinking of you today. Can’t wait to get home to you tonight.” Teresa stumbled back as a wrenching sob overtook her.

The officer handed her the ID.

Her hands shook as she reached for the familiar badge. Roberto’s handsome face looked at her with that warm smile she'd grown to love so much during their two, oh-so-short years of marriage.

Another sob formed in her throat, stifling her breath. She shook her head. Impossible. Roberto could not be dead. Just this morning she’d kissed him goodbye with all the passion of their first love and an expectation that he’d be home after work.

But now he would never come home again. Never.

Dazed, she fell into the nearest chair and stared through the window of the kitchen door behind the officer. A light rain fell against a gray sky. “What happened?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Please, tell me what happened.”

The officer plunged his thumbs into his belt. “The scaffold collapsed, and your husband fell.”

Teresa cringed as waves of nausea convulsed her. She looked up at the officer's face, grim with concern. “My husband was painting a mural on the old drug rehab
building in Harlem. He was working outside the ninth floor.” The words caught in her throat.

The officer nodded, anguish written all over his face. “Our investigation showed that the scaffold had not been properly secured and—”

She raised an open palm and shook her head. “No more. Please. Don’t tell me anymore.” The horrific image of Roberto hurtling to the ground was more than she could bear.

What were his final thoughts? Did he even have time to think? He was ready to die, she knew that. But he wouldn't want to die in such a horrific way.

“I understand, ma’am. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Fire welled up in her throat. “No. Nothing. Thank you for doing your job.”

“Sorry to have been the harbinger of bad news, ma’am.” He gave her a nod of respect, opened the back door, and left.

Yielding to the gut-wrenching sobs that exploded from her soul, Teresa buried her face in her hands and wept.
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Excerpt from Surrender to Love by MaryAnn Diorio
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