The Edens

THE EDENS – A LEGACY STORY Copyright © 2022 by Devney Perry LLC All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-957376-39-4 No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Editing & Proofreading: Judy Zweifel, Judy’s Proofreading Julie Deaton, Deaton Author Services OTHER TITLES The Edens Series Christmas in Quincy - Prequel Indigo Ridge Juniper Hill Garnet Flats Jasper Vale Crimson River Treasure State Wildcats Coach Blitz Clifton Forge Series Steel King Riven Knight Stone Princess Noble Prince Fallen Jester Tin Queen Jamison Valley Series The Coppersmith Farmhouse The Clover Chapel The Lucky Heart The Outpost The Bitterroot Inn The Candle Palace Maysen Jar Series The Birthday List Letters to Molly The Dandelion Diary Lark Cove Series Tattered Timid Tragic Tinsel Timeless Runaway Series Runaway Road Wild Highway Quarter Miles Forsaken Trail Dotted Lines Calamity Montana Series The Bribe The Bluff The Brazen The Bully The Brawl The Brood Standalones Ivy Rifts and Refrains A Little Too Wild Holiday Brothers The Naughty, The Nice and The Nanny Three Bells, Two Bows and One Brother’s Best Friend A Partridge and a Pregnancy CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 About the Author CHAPTER ONE ANNE New Year’s Eve Eve. Not a holiday. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Yet my friends had insisted we celebrate. That we ring in 1988 with something special. Apparently, something special meant a dark, two-track gravel road in the middle of the wilderness. “Where is this cabin?” I muttered to the windshield. Amanda and Jessica had come to the mountains earlier today. If they were waiting for me, shouldn’t I be able to see a light or something? My headlights illuminated the trail in front of me, but beyond their reach, it was pitch black. A night so dark it could swallow you whole. A night where a woman alone could go missing, never to be seen from again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as my truck crept forward toward the tree line. “Ted Bundy is in jail. Get a grip, Anne.” There were no serial killers waiting for me in this forest. The chill zinging down my spine was nothing more than the cold and my imagination running rampant. I’d watched too many episodes of Unsolved Mysteries. Maybe New Year’s Eve Eve wasn’t an actual holiday, but this weekend getaway would be fun, right? A chance for me to spend quality time with my two best friends from high school. I hadn’t seen Amanda and Jessica much these past three and a half years since I’d gone to college at the University of Montana. They’d both stayed in our hometown after graduation, and with school and work, I didn’t make it to Quincy often these days. But this year, I’d wanted more time with my parents around Christmas. So with school on recess for winter break, I’d taken a week off work to enjoy the holidays. Mom and I had been shopping downtown on Christmas Eve when I’d bumped into Amanda. We’d organized a girls’ night at Willie’s for a drink. I’d been in the middle of my rum and Coke when Jessica had sprung this trip on me. Slightly buzzed and lost down memory lane with my oldest friends, I’d agreed. If I did get snatched by a serial killer, Captain Morgan was to blame. “Ugh,” I groaned, leaning closer to the wheel as my truck bounced along the bumpy road. There weren’t any tire tracks in the snow. Granted, it was snowing, but if Amanda and Jessica had come this way, shouldn’t there still be tracks? I snatched Jessica’s directions, squinting to make out her notes, but the cab was too dark, so I hit the light above my head. Drive five miles. Cabin is the first one you come to. Green gate. I checked the odometer. When I’d turned off the highway, I’d set it to zero. It was only on four. Did this road even continue for another mile? The trees were just feet away, the parting between their trunks like jaws, open wide. I gulped, forcing myself to keep my foot on the gas pedal. When I’d left Quincy an hour ago, the stars had been out in full force, scattering the midnight sky with sparkles. The moon had cast a silver glow over the mountains and meadows. But then a thick blanket of clouds had rolled in, blocking out the sky and blotting any light. Then the snow had started. That should have been my hint to turn back. Fat, heavy flakes caught my headlights as they drifted to the ground. Perfect for cross-country skiing. I hated cross-country skiing. The last thing I wanted to do on my holiday break was exercise. But Amanda and Jessica had the whole trip planned, including an easy ski trail. So in an effort to participate, I’d unearthed my skis from Mom and Dad’s garage, blown off the dust and tossed them into the back of my pickup. Mom thought this getaway would be good for my heart. That it would give me a chance to get my mind off Jeremy. The thief. Talk about an epic waste of a year. I only wished I’d been the one to dump him first. His explanation had been grating on me for weeks. This isn’t working for me anymore. What kind of reason for ending a year-long relationship was that? Didn’t I deserve more? Didn’t I at least deserve to have my property returned? Jeremy had showed up at my apartment the day