Hey, everyone out there in InspyRomance land!! I hope y’all have had a good week!! I released a new book this week! YAY! That’s always fun!
But any author can tell you, some books are different, and this is one of them. Grace to Save was written about four years ago, though it’s been updated and revised some since then. I don’t know that I’d go quite so far as to say it’s the story of my heart (author’s talk a lot about those, too), but it’s close. So here’s the opening scene – the full first chapter is on my website, because it’s really too long for one blog post – and you can meet the heroine there!
Several years ago, more than four, my “other mama” and I did Fast Fiction Fridays where we’d write for five minutes from a prompt then post them. One of those Fridays was September 11, probably the 10th anniversary actually.
And that’s where this story was born…
Grace to Save
September 11, 2001
A ringing jolted Travis Harders from a deep sleep. He cursed as the phone knocked to the floor with a clatter. “This better be good,” he snapped when he got the handset in place.
A glance at the clock nearly made him groan.
4:07.
“You’ll be hearing from the police soon.”
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the heel of one hand and tried to process the statement. The words didn’t really register as the guy, whoever he was, kept talking until Travis interrupted. “What? Who is this?”
“Mark’s dad.” Right. Travis’s best friend. “You remember us? The ones who treated you like family? Let you live with us?”
Travis’s stomach sank. Mark’s family had practically adopted him when he moved from southwest Missouri to the Big Apple. They had filled the gap in his life left by parents who disapproved of Travis’s choice to move to New York. Mark’s parents let him spend holidays and birthdays with them, with Travis making only the obligatory phone calls back home.
But none of that explained why Mark’s dad would be calling the police.
“Who is it?” a sleepy Jennifer asked.
Travis covered the mouthpiece and whispered to his girlfriend, “No one.” His feet hit the cool floor, and he headed for the other room. At least he had a place to escape to. Being an out-of-work-actor-turned-barista didn’t pay much, but he’d lucked into a fabulous apartment. Closing the French door behind him, he tried to focus on the voice yelling from the other end of the line.
But he only caught “my daughter” and “spring break” and “drugged.”
If possible, Travis’s stomach clenched further as that night flooded back to him. Memories of bringing her back to this very apartment when she was in no condition to go home without risking the wrath of her parents. But after what happened between them…it was only right for him to be on the receiving end of her dad’s anger. “I don’t know what she told you sir, but…”
“I know all I need to know,” he bellowed.
Even though he was in the other room, Travis lowered the volume on the handset. “I take full responsibility for…”
“You’re right, you do!” He let loose a string of obscenities. “You’ll spend years in prison! Drugging a girl! Sleeping with her!”
“What?” His whole world spun. Travis regretted every minute of that night after they got back to the apartment, but he hadn’t drugged her. He didn’t even know where to get those kinds of drugs. They weren’t in love, never had been, but to place the blame solely on him? The next morning, they’d talked about it enough to know she hadn’t blamed him.
What changed? Feeling sucker punched, Travis hung up on the man. What he said didn’t matter. Travis would find out when he was on trial for something he didn’t do. On autopilot, he dressed for his five a.m. shift. Coffees of the World wasn’t the best job, but it had flexible hours and had led to finding this sublet. There was no shortage of interesting characters to populate his imagination. Like the skinny brunette with the shoulder length bob who worked for Morgan Stanley and always ordered a short nonfat mocha, decaf, no foam, no sugar, no whip. She could be the heroine in one of his screenplays even if he never knew her name.
He kissed Jennifer’s hair and told her he’d call after work. Five flights of stairs later, the sounds of the city waking up greeted him as he walked toward the train that would take him to the Trade Center. Standing at the top of the subway steps, he changed his mind. Travis headed for his car parked a couple streets over and called in.
Two hours later, he stopped in McLean for gas about seven thirty, filling up the tank of his Toyota Corolla hatchback. Three hours after that, he could still drive for a while longer before he’d need to stop again. He contemplated leaving the state, but decided not to, instead turning northward before leaving Allegany County.
He’d gone through more emotions than he knew he had, none of them good. Anger. Fear. Frustration. Blame. Worry. Intimidation. In western New York, things were more peaceful than they ever were in downtown Manhattan, but his insides were in utter turmoil at the thought of an arrest and trial.
His favorite heavy metal CD blared from the speakers. During the lull between songs, Travis could hear his cell phone vibrating on the passenger seat where he’d tossed it. After an hour and a half of the stupid thing ringing nearly nonstop, he finally snatched it up.
“What?” Travis growled.
“Are you okay?” Though he only talked to her twice a year, there was no mistaking his mother’s voice.
Or the panic in it.
The tremor set him on edge. “Yeah. Why?”
“Thank you, Jesus,” she whispered, though Travis couldn’t figure out what she was thanking Him for. “Where are you? You got out okay? Were you working? There was no answer at your apartment.”
Why was Mom calling just to ask if he was okay? Why was she frantic?
“I’m in western New York State. Out for a drive. Get out of where?” Could Mark’s dad have called already?
“You don’t know?” Frenzy changed to disbelief.
“Know what?” Travis held the phone against his shoulder as he downshifted into a turn.
He could hear the tears over the static-filled line. “Two planes, Trav. They hit the Towers. Both of the buildings are on fire.”
His heart thudded to a stop. “What?” Hadn’t a bomber hit the Empire State Building in WWII? But two planes? On a brilliantly clear day? No weather in sight. “How bad is it?” he croaked.
“They’re saying it’s a terror attack. The Pentagon is on fire. There’s another plane out there somewhere. Big jets, Travis. I saw the second one hit. The explosion. Papers flying everywhere. The people…” Her voice broke. “You really weren’t there?” she confirmed.
“No, Mom. I’m not anywhere near there.” But he needed to find a place to stop. A television. He had to see for himself. Tens of thousands of people would be dead and dying. Did he know any of them?
“There are people jumping, falling, out of the upper stories. I can’t imagine.” He could almost see her pacing around the kitchen alternately running her hands through her hair and wringing them together. “They’re jumping from a hundred stories up. What could be so bad to make that the better option?” Her voice caught. “I don’t know how I can watch this, Trav, but I can’t turn away. All I can do is pray.”
Pray. Right. A face flashed before Travis. The uptight former-football-player-turned-businessman from the 102nd floor of the North Tower with his caramel macchiato and corny joke of the day. Was he one of those jumping?
She gasped then whispered. “Dear God, no. No!” Her scream made him move the phone even as his stomach sank.
He pulled into a café parking lot near Danville. “What?”
“The tower. It’s gone. Just gone. The south one, I think.” Her voice trailed off in prayer.
The shock he’d felt after the phone call from Mark’s dad paled compared to what he felt now. “Mom, I gotta go.” Jen. His friends. His coworkers. He needed to make calls of his own. Find out if they were okay. And Mark. His best friend had been a firefighter for a year. He’d be down there. Inside one of the Towers. Travis hadn’t talked to him since that night, the March before, but part of him, the part that still believed there was a God in heaven, whispered a prayer that Mark was somewhere safe as faces of customers and friends flashed through Travis’s mind.
The blonde. The cute, petite one who ordered a crunchy, cinnamon pastry and half caf, double tall, easy hazelnut, non-fat, no foam with whip extra hot latte on Tuesdays. She flirted shamelessly, though he knew she was recently and happily engaged to some guy in Tower Seven. Her family lived near his in Serenity Landing, Missouri, and she worked at the Marriot World Trade Center in the shadow of the Towers. Could it have survived the collapse? Was Joanna now buried underneath the rubble?
“Be safe, Travis. Do you have somewhere you can go? They’re evacuating Manhattan.”
“I’ll be okay.” He hesitated. “I love you, Mom. You, Dad, Jay. I love all of you. I’ll call when I can, but I have to try to find out about my friends, about my girlfriend. I’ll talk to you soon.”
His mom’s “I love you,” came through the line as he clicked his phone off.
He started his first call as he walked into the café. Call after call failed as he stood with others, watching the screen in horror as the second tower crashed down. His problems. Mark’s dad. Mark’s sister. All of it fled as the enormity of what was happening sunk in.
The whole world had changed.
***
Grace to Save is available now and only .99 through September 11.
What do you remember most about September 11? Tell me in the comments and one winner will be drawn from the comments by 9/10 and announced on 9/11.
Travis Harders has been a single dad since the day he learned he had a daughter with his only one-night stand. Fifteen years later, he and Cassie are getting along just fine and he’s even fallen in love. The last thing he expects to find on his doorstep one Tuesday morning is Cassie’s mom – the one person he thought he’d never see again – and she’s asking the impossible.
Circumstances, including her firefighter brother’s death on 9/11, forced Abi Connealy into a decision she’s spent years regretting and her daughter grew up without her. But now, a family crisis compels her to do the one thing she swore she never would: find the daughter she’d abandoned just a few days after birth.
Shocked when Travis doesn’t send her packing, Abi prays to a God she doesn’t believe in that her relationship with her daughter will be restored. Travis plans to propose to his girlfriend, but their relationship hits the rocks as he and Abi both struggle with the long-dormant feelings that never had the chance to develop.
When Cassie demonstrates incredible grace toward the grandfather who refuses to acknowledge her existence, Abi begins to learn the love of a Savior – a Savior who has more than enough Grace to Save.
Carol, I haven’t been good about checking in on my favorite blogs lately, but I just had to comment on this new book of yours. I got your subscriber email this past week and after I read the book blurb for Grace to Save, I was ready to read the whole book right then. I’m really excited for this story and also a little nervous. It sounds a bit intense, but equally hopeful. Thanks for sharing more here.
Just finished reading this book Carol, it was great. I do not live in the US, but Sept. 11 is very clear in my memory. I was at university, we had many US students come over to do a year study before returning home. I remember walking from my dorm room down towards the TV room to see the footage- the campus was in shock, friends trying to call home to the US, it was a very somber time. I think it made us all sit up and realise just how fragile life is. Just as our prayers were with everyone those years ago, so they will be again over these next weeks.
On September 11, I was teaching high school German and English in SW Michigan. School had been session for about a week. My German students were getting excited for our upcoming GAPP (German American Partnership Program) student exchange. 14 German students would be visiting our school and hosted by students for 2 weeks in October. Mid- morning I stepped into the high school office to check my mailbox, when the athletic director asked me to watch the breaking news on his television set. Needless to say for the remainder of the day and the rest of the week, classes were about the continuing news development in NYC. Because of the GAPP exchange, my German students also had the European perspective on our tragedy. Fortunately the German students where able to reschedule their American trip to March. Mid- January 2002, I made a trip to NYC about the GAPP program and made a trip to Ground Zero. Unfortunately it was night and a snow storm, so was very difficult to see much, except the memorials to the victims. On the subway ride from Central Park to Ground Zero we interacted with New Yorkers, including a nun. The all said that if we had visited a year earlier, none of them would be interacting with us. New Yorkers were not in the habit of interacting on the subway with visitors or tourists. 9/11 changed them, as it changed so many Americans.
This story sounds really intense–from 9/11 deaths to an abandoned child. I can’t think of anyone with good memories of that day. I recall spending my entire afternoon in front of a TV (even eating while watching tv, which was not something my mom never approved of).
Thanks for sharing the excerpt, Carol. It definitely sparked a lot of memories for me. I was working in the suburbs of DC during 911. I’ll never forget my mother called and told me that the plane that hit the Pentagon had flown extremely low over the golf course where they were playing. It was a mile or two from the Pentagon. My mother asked my father why the plane was flying so low and then they heard the explosion. My father worked his entire career at the Pentagon and lost some colleagues. I’ll never forget that day.
I was doing daycare and had the tv off, but spent the day praying while watching the kids. A friend called me occasionally with updates.
I remember being at work when I heard the news. I originally thought it was oversees but then was told it was in the city. They evacuated our building even though we weren’t anywhere close to the scene. But working at State in the capital of NY, precautions were taken. I thank God my friends all survived and my friend who was on the scene as a paramedic was traumatized for years because of what he’s seen.
My husband and I had been on a trip to Asia, and were all set to fly back from Hong Kong to California on Sept. 12… It took us an extra 3 days to get home, and we were so thankful to finally get there safe and sound.
You don’t need to put my name in the drawing since I’m on your street team and already got to read the book!
First – Grace to Save was great! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it is one of my favorites of yours. And since I already own it you don’t need to put me in the drawing. =)
I was a week from being 13 on September 11. My mom, my sister, and I had been to the KS State Fair on the 10th and the rest of the week my family was camping. That morning another camper with an RV (and a TV) came over and asked if we had heard what was going on. We listened to all the coverage on the radio. At that point I hadn’t even heard of the World Trade Center and NYC seemed really far away, but I realized that if they could do it there they could do it near home too. Post 9/11 the most sobering experience for me was visiting the flight 93 memorial a couple years ago.
I was a Nurse Manager for an Urgent Care. I was walking through the lobby to the Clinic and watched as the Towers fell.
Since I worked for a Federal Agency, all leave was cancelled and the hospital was placed on lockdown.It was a nightmare trying to get employees back home because so many flights were cancelled.
It was a scary time, it reminded me of the day JFK was assassinated. You will always remember in detail what you were doing at that moment.
Wow, I have to get this book. The first chapter hooked me right in. There are some events you never forget and 9/11 is one of them. I was home on a medical leave when I saw the report. Such a horrible time for everyone.
Carol, I got my book the other day and can’t wait to read it. I love seeing your daughter on the cover! Her face is great!
As for where I was and what I remember….I was getting ready for work and my husband called me to turn on the tv. I was in shock. I’m on the west coast so my day was just starting. I remember just being glued to the tv as much as I could. It was such a strange day with lots of emotions.
When I got up at 8:00 something that morning, my husband already had the TV on with the coverage of the Towers. He brought me up to speed on all that had already happened. We both sat in rapt attention in front of the TV. I prayed for the people in the building and those who were hurt so badly. My husband was doing the same, I’m sure. It was so scary even just watching! It was such a horrible time for our entire country!
Then a bit later, the Pentagon was hit! Being from the Washington, D.C./Maryland area, that was especially scary to me! In fact, one of my best friends, for almost 50 years at the time, had an appointment in the office of the Joint Chief of Staff scheduled for later that morning. Of course, that got postponed!!!
Thank you for the Give Away. May God bless you and make His face to shine upon you and use you for His glory!
Hey, everyone!!! It’s been a day around here – you know what I mean!
We were still in bed when my sister called. I was almost 9mos pregnant (with the gorgeous girl up there on the cover) and we had lamaze that morning, so we slept in. My first thought was that 20,000 people would be dead. THANK GOD I was wrong. How easily it could have been so much worse – and it was already plenty bad enough.
We watched the first tower fall. Left for the hospital for Lamaze. Listened to the second tower fall. Heard reports a “local hospital” was a target because the Fed-Med is here (federal penitentiary for those with serious medical issues) and the sheik behind the first attacks had been treated there a few weeks earlier. They didn’t specify which hospital, but there’s really only two and we knew it was the one we were headed to. Fortunately, they were wrong.
I watched so much news for the next few days. In recent years, I’ve found myself shielding myself from it a lot more than I used to. I’m not sure what the difference is because I was a news junkie for so long. I should think about that some more… Hmm…
Anyway – I’m headed back through your comments! Thanks for joining us today!
Terrill – It probably is the most intense of my books so far, though I don’t think it’s all THAT intense, though it does deal at least somewhat with kind of intense issues. I do hope you find it full of hope, and grace, and redemption – prodigals coming home. Because that’s what it’s about in the end.
Thanks so much!
I remember watching the Today show like I always do and they cut in showing that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. I watched in shock as I saw the second one live do the same. That’s when it was realized that it was no accident. My heart broke as I saw people jumping from the buildings. My daughter had just started college at South Alabama and I worried about Mobile being a port city and what might happen there. Lots of prayer on that day and the days that followed!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! This book is super close to my heart for a lot of reasons.
I can’t imagine being overseas during something like this – I’m sure it would give you a very different perspective on things!
That’s very interesting about NYC! I’m from the Midwest where bonds are regularly formed in grocery store lines and other such innocuous places. They may not last long, but they’re definitely there ;).
How interesting it would be to have an international perspective while still being at home.
The good memories for me were seeing and hearing about the heroes of the day, even on that day, you heard stories about people helping people.
Grace to Save does have it’s intense moments and does deal with some intense issues, but I guess I don’t think of it as an intense story per se. It’s a story of hope, redemption, grace – above all, grace.
Oh wow! That’s close! I have some friends/family of friends who live in Manhattan who saw the whole thing. One told me her adult child had worked through everything and was doing well…until Freedom Tower was tall enough to be seen on the way to work, then it all came flooding back… :/.
That would be tough – to pretend everything’s normal and happy for the kids. I knew someone who taught at a school with a number of children whose fathers were pilots for one of the airlines involved (I forget which one). They had to make sure the students didn’t find out until they could verify it wasn’t the parents of anyone at the school (it wasn’t). I forget how they handled it once they knew all the family members were safe.
Please thank your friend for me – he and others like him are still in my prayers regularly.
I can imagine they were concerned about the capital as well, even though NYC isn’t particularly close. The immediacy and fear and everything else that must have run through you and others around you is something I don’t think I can truly comprehend.
Oh wow! That would have been tough. To be stranded so far from home and not know how long it would take to get back.
Thank you for being on the street team! I hope you enjoyed it!
Katy – I can imagine it was. Those are on my travel “bucket list” – to visit Ground Zero and the museum there, and the Shanksville memorial (I’d presume they have one at the Pentagon, but I’ve just realized I don’t know…).
Most of my experience has come from those old enough to understand what was going on (say early 20s or so) to those who were too young (like my own kids). Those your age are probably about the oldest who really remember what happened and at least sort of understood the gravity of it. I think that would be a tough place to be – old enough to understand something huge is happening, but not really old enough to truly understand it.
I just dropped my son off at the orthodontist to get his braces put on. They told me it would be a while, so I went to chick fil a. I listen to Christian Radio and heard what seemed to me a story from A left behind movie. After listening a bit more, I realized what they were describing was real. Could not believe it. Went back to the dental office and everyone was standing by the tv watching it live.
Yes. You always remember. To this day, I wish I hadn’t been sleeping in and had to be woken up – even though I know that makes no sense…
Thanks for sharing, Linda.
You’re right. Some things you never forget. This is pressed indelibly into the hearts and minds of so many…
I hope you enjoy the book!
I can’t imagine waking up and having to function normally through a regular day on a day like that…
I love that I got to use my oldest on the cover! She fits the description of Cassie so well even before I realized she did – except Cassie inherited Travis’s blue blue eyes. My kiddo? Dark brown…Photoshop to the rescue! ;) I want to write more stories about Cassie someday so I decided having my own model would be a good plan :D.
Oh my! That would be tough to hear knowing you knew so many people who could be affected.
Thank you! This is one of those special books for me – and I pray it’s one that resonates with readers. :)
I’ve watched that in replays. One of the anchors actually cursed on air and it made it through the censors.
I watch all the specials every year – or as many as I can. As my kids have gotten older, I’ve watched some with them, though we focus on the heroes so far – like Heroes of the 88th Floor. We haven’t watched the one filmed by the French crew who was imbedded with the firefighters at the time and have the only known video of the first plane. Because once you know what those noises are outside, it makes a huge difference. My oldest daughter did watch it last year during school (because they’re “9/11 babies” in a sense, they seem to talk about it every year – her bestie was born on 9/11). My second oldest isn’t quite old enough for that yet – she’s my most tender-hearted. The younger two…notsomuch yet…
Oh wow! I can see how that would seem very War of the Worlds-ish.
I have a feeling there were a lot of places that got very little actual work done…
My heart was pounding just reading that small portion about 9/11. We were college students at that time. My husband (then fiance) heard about the first plane on the radio and told me when I got out of my first class. We spent most of the day watching the events unfold on the big screen leaving only to show up for each class to see if they were cancelled. Seeing the second plane hit, people jumping out of windows, and finally the collapse of the buildings on live tv was heartbreaking.
Congratulations on your new release!
Just the first little excerpt left me with chills! I was a college student back then, with 2 baby girls and a new boyfriend. I knew that day that I never wanted to let my fella go, and he’s still right beside me after 11+ years of marriage!
Thank you :).
I think we all remember – like someone else said – like when you heard about JFK or Pearl Harbor. It doesn’t take much to transport us back…I think that’s probably both good and bad…
Good for you! Something like that does make us realize what’s really important and what we want to cling to. I had just finished my Master’s degree and was taking the semester off from teaching college to have a baby. I wonder what it would have been like to be in that kind of environment that day…
I worked at a grocery store at the time and I remember people just coming in wanting to be with other people. I noticed that people needed “community” more and family became very important. Also the quiet that seemed to surround people was quite different from the usual business.
I was thirteen on 9/11 and came downstairs to find my mom watching TV which was something she never did back then, especially in the morning. At the time I had hardly heard of the Word Trade Center and terrorism wasn’t something in the news daily, so it was pretty surreal to find out that the first plane didn’t fly into the tower by accident. I remember being glued to the TV for most of the next couple of days watching all the coverage. A few years ago I had the chance to visit the Pentagon memorial and the World Trade Center memorial which were both very sobering experiences for me. I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for those living in NYC and Washington.