Deadly Silence
5/5
()
About this ebook
Her happily-ever-after is shattered when Maven Morris is left at the altar. Without a word of explanation, her fiancé, has disappeared, leaving Maven and the church filled with their family and friends. Maven refuses to give into the darkness of depression. Instead she takes on a new speech therapy client. Layla's life has been shattered by silence, as well. As a late-deafened adult, Layla needs skills to cope with her now silent world.
TRUST YOUR EYES
Those are words of advice Maven gives Layla. The words stir up something on the inside of Maven as she realizes there wasn't a hint that Paul's feet had turned cold about their upcoming nuptials. And that's when silence turns deadly.
Read more from Lillian Duncan
Deception Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Game On Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Betrayed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Broken Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Home for the Holidays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Doe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Christmas Stolen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sisters by Choice: A Romantic Suspense Anthology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deadly Communications Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The David Years Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Christmas Stalking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pursued Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trapped Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All I Want for Christmas is Johnny Rocker Dead Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Puzzle House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Small Town Secrets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSweet Romantic Fiction Editors’ Choice Christmas Collection, Vol 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking through the Rain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuffer the Little Children Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Deadly Silence
Related ebooks
Pursued Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deadly Communications Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sisters by Choice: A Romantic Suspense Anthology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Christmas Stolen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trapped Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Necessary Proof: Sonoma series, #4.1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJane Doe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shades Of Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Place To Hide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Watchman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Undercover Mountain Pursuit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Carol for Kent: part 3 in the Song of Suspense series Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Critical Impact Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuffer the Little Children Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lost Memories and New Beginnings: A Clean Medical Romantic Suspense (The Men of Fire Beach Book 2) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWrongly Accused Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Digging for Treasure with Plastic Shovels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScorched Secrets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPermanent Vacancy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jayme's Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Protection Detail Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOff The Grid Christmas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mission: Memory Recall: Faith in the Face of Crime Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Last Line of Defense: Chevalier Protection Specialists, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetrayed Birthright Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Legacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Desperate Measures Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outside the Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Man to Survive: Chevalier Protection Specialists, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll I Want for Christmas is Johnny Rocker Dead Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Christian Fiction For You
Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stranger in the Lifeboat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters: Annotated Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Present Darkness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Nefarious Plot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Affair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Someone Like You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifth Mountain: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein: A Guide to Reading and Reflecting Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Hideous Strength: (Space Trilogy, Book Three) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower: And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perelandra: (Space Trilogy, Book Two) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Mysteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piercing the Darkness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Lineage of Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jane Austen MEGAPACK ™: All Her Classic Works Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Phone Call From Heaven: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Next Person You Meet in Heaven: The Sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And the Shofar Blew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pilgrim’s Progress: Updated, Modern English. More than 100 Illustrations. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pilgrim’s Progress (Parts 1 & 2): Updated, Modern English. More than 100 Illustrations. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Distant Shore: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bridge to Haven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are Water: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Deadly Silence
2 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Deadly Silence - Lillian Duncan
Offer
Deadly Silence
Lillian Duncan
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Deadly Silence
COPYRIGHT 2016 by Lillian Duncan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Pelican Ventures, LLC except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
eBook editions are licensed for your personal enjoyment only. eBooks may not be re-sold, copied or given to other people. If you would like to share an eBook edition, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.
Contact Information: titleadmin@pelicanbookgroup.com
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version(R), NIV(R), Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Cover Art by Nicola Martinez
Harbourlight Books, a division of Pelican Ventures, LLC
www.pelicanbookgroup.com PO Box 1738 *Aztec, NM * 87410
Harbourlight Books sail and mast logo is a trademark of Pelican Ventures, LLC
Publishing History
First Harbourlight Edition, 2017
Electronic Edition ISBN 978-1-61116-998-0
Published in the United States of America
Dedication
This and all I do is for God's glory.
To my writing partner—my beloved husband, Ronny, without your support and love my dream to be a writer would never have happened.
There isn’t enough room to list everyone who helped me during my many years of being a speech pathologist so thanks to all the amazing SLPs, teachers, and others I’ve been privileged to work with as well as all my students who taught me so much. A special thanks to Susan Braun and Dr. Deb Williams.
1
We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Up to you.
His gaze moved from one officer to another. Paul Jordan was surrounded by cops. The spokesperson of the group met his gaze, then stepped forward. What’s it going to be, buddy?
Come on. Let’s just for—
We aren’t forgetting anything. Easy or hard?
I need to go home.
Hard way it is.
The officers stepped forward, tightening the circle.
Come on. I’m too old for a bachelor party.
He needed to go home to pack for the honeymoon.
The way I look at it, if you’re too old for a bachelor party, then you’re too old to get married,
Jay said. He turned to the others in the group. Am I right?
The men hooted and hollered their agreement.
Thanks for the support, big brother.
Anytime. Anytime, little brother.
What’s it going to be, Paul?
Eric Donelly grinned as he took another step towards him. As your commanding officer, I think you need to listen to what I’m saying.
Fine. Fine. Let’s go party!
Paul held up his hands in surrender. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but it was all part of the tradition. But there better not be any naked ladies. That’s all I’ve got to say. If there is, Maven will have my hide—and yours.
Ray patted his shoulder. Don’t worry. Nothing like that. Just your buddies and you having a good time.
Two hours later, Paul finally made it back to his condo, whistling "Here Comes the Bride." He stopped in the middle of the song, unable to control the silly grin on his face. Whoever said happily ever after was only for fairytales didn’t know what they were talking about. And they sure didn’t know Maven. What a blessed man he was. Life was good.
Second marriages weren’t necessarily an easy thing to accept, but his family loved Maven. And she loved them. His daughter had not only been ecstatic when they announced their engagement, but had blessed their union as well.
And tomorrow was the big day.
Finally.
Paul walked into his bedroom and stared at the empty bed. This was the last night he’d be alone in it. Tomorrow he would marry Maven. And it couldn’t be a minute too soon as far as he was concerned. Of course, he wasn’t a starry-eyed teenager.
Whatever God had planned for Maven and himself, he knew it would be a wonderful adventure. Whatever time they had together, he would use it to make Maven happy. Just the way she made him happy.
What a woman. She’d even agreed to try camping. Of course, not in a tent. But they could rent a camper to see if she liked it enough to buy one. He laughed out loud—camping with Maven would be quite an experience.
His doorbell buzzed.
Who could that be? His brother again? No, he was probably still at the party along with most of Paul’s friends. It certainly wasn’t Maven. Lizzie Morton would make sure of that.
After the rehearsal dinner, Maven hadn’t come home with him, even though they lived next door to each other. Lizzie, her best friend, insisted Maven spend the night with her so that neither of them would be tempted to see each other on their wedding day.
Not that any of them believed in superstitions.
Still, there was something to be said for traditions. He smiled as he realized the next time he’d see Maven, she would be coming down the aisle to marry him.
He was truly blessed.
The doorbell buzzed again.
It might be his daughter, even though she said she wouldn’t be down until morning. She could have changed her mind.
Paul walked out of the bedroom. He had no more plans for the night. Whoever it was would have to understand that. He needed to spend some time with God.
Maybe, it was…
He opened the door.
2
A quiet moment to herself before the festivities.
Maven Morris stared at her reflection, hardly believing it. In her wildest dreams she’d never imagined she’d be standing in front of a mirror in a wedding gown ever again.
The cream-colored wedding dress hugged her waist, showing off the fact she’d lost thirty pounds—thanks to Lizzie and her killer exercise regime. The bodice was lace. Cream-colored fake pearls decorated it as well. No train since the dress dropped to just above her ankles.
She hadn’t wanted to chance the train—she was clumsy enough as it was. No way she wanted to trip on it as she made her way down the aisle of the church in front of all Paul’s family and friends. That would be too humiliating—even for her.
Her black curls cascaded every which way. She’d thought of going with a fancier upswept look, but in the end decided to go with her natural hairstyle, though tamed with a little help from the hairstylist and a lot of hair spray.
She grabbed the simple veil. After it was in place, she stared at the mirror. Her eyes filled with tears.
At first, she’d wanted a simple, no-nonsense wedding. But at Paul’s urging, a simple ceremony had morphed into a real wedding. With wedding gowns, tuxes, and the whole shebang.
He’d said over and over again, Just because it’s our second wedding isn’t a reason not to do it up right!
And so they had.
When her husband had died, she’d never believed she would marry again, never believed she’d be happy again. As far as she was concerned, her romantic life was over. But God had a way of working things out just the way they were supposed to be.
She’d never believed she’d fall in love again, but she had. So happy and so blessed.
Paul was such a wonderful, godly man. So kind and patient. He could make her laugh when nobody else could. Maven couldn’t imagine not spending the rest of their lives together. It had taken a lot to make her see that.
She hadn’t wanted to risk opening up to the pain of loving someone only to lose them. After her husband’s death, she’d locked that part of her heart.
But Paul had found the key. Patience should be his middle name. Instead of pushing her when she wasn’t ready, he’d simply been her friend until the time was right.
And boy, was she ready. Maven touched her pink cheeks. A blushing bride at her age.
Even knowing Paul was a policeman hadn’t marred her happiness. God had given her a second chance at happiness, and she was going to take it.
The door opened.
Lizzie walked in.
Her best friend and maid of honor wore a simple lilac A-line dress. It looked beautiful. Oh my. You look absolutely stunning, Maven. You were right about leaving your hair natural.
Lizzie’s hand flew to her mouth. "I