Return to Oak Hill

Hello Readers:

I am posting the prologue and first two chapters of my novel on this blog. I hope you enjoy reading it. If you would like a copy, you can order it from my website (www.lwoodrowross.com).

RETURN TO OAK HILL


PROLOGUE

Oak Hill Farm is a picturesque and tranquil setting that has been a profitable horse farm operation owned by the Thomas family for three generations. The peacefulness is shattered by the untimely death of one of the family members, but the farm has now settled back into the routine that they have come to expect in rural South Carolina. The setting is in Camden, which is known for breeding some of the finest horses in the southeast.
After his father’s death, Aaron Thomas has emerged as an exceptional businessman and has built the farm and other real estate holdings into a comfortable fortune. He enjoys his life, and is immersed in the business activities, but his social life is minimal.
Aaron’s best friend is John Crain, and after losing touch during their college years, they have renewed their friendship. They meet a number of times each year and enjoy hunting and fishing together. John has always been an admirer of Jenna, Aaron’s sister, and even had feelings for her after she married a man she met at college.
Jenna’s life is turned upside down after a tragic event in her life. Aaron and John come to her aid, and get caught up in a whirlwind of danger and violence that takes them to Mexico. That danger follows them back to the formerly tranquil farm setting.
Interspersed throughout the adventure is the involvement of the faithful farm manager, Roosevelt, and Sam, his son, as they help to build the farm into a showplace. They get caught up in the dangerous series of events that occur.
Join them as this web of danger ensnares them, and they are pulled helplessly from one situation to another. Their devotion to each other will be tested as they pursue a plan to restore Jenna’s life to one of happiness and fulfillment.
Copyright © 2006 L. Woodrow Ross

10-Digit ISBN 1-59113-977-5
13-Digit ISBN 978-1-59113-977-5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.


L. Woodrow Ross
For contacts: www.lwoodrowross.com
2006


CHAPTER 1

Jenna sobbed as she twirled the cylinder of the revolver. The loud click shattered the silence of the dimly lit room where she had been sitting for the last two hours. She alternately placed the gun against her forehead and then against her chest. She couldn’t bear the thought of the burning lead bursting through her skull and spreading blood and gore through the room, leaving her lifeless body to be found by some anonymous member of the cleaning staff.
What did she have to live for? The man that she loved had betrayed her, taken her inheritance and ruined her reputation. Worst of all, he had taken their beautiful child from her, leaving her to lead a life that had slowly gravitated into a deplorable state of despair and addiction. She had fought with all her might; but in the end he had won.
She could have contacted her brother, but she still had enough pride to want to succeed on her own. All her life she had depended on others, and it had to end somewhere. Well, look what it had gotten her. She was thirty-three years old, alone and sitting in a drab room in a flea-bag hotel contemplating suicide.
Jenna reached for the bottle of vodka and turned it up, but there was only a drop in the bottom. She hurled the empty bottle across the room and it bounced harmlessly on the threadbare carpet, coming to rest near the wall. She couldn’t even use alcohol to ease the suffering that she felt. As she picked up the revolver for the hundredth time, she thought of her brother Aaron. He was the exact opposite of Jenna in so many ways. He was strong, loyal, and independent; and so many other things that Jenna had always desired to be. The Thomas family had always been so proud of Aaron and his success in life.
Jenna actually smiled as she remembered her thirteenth birthday party, and how one of the boys made a crude joke about her. Her little brother, four years younger, had smashed a paper plate with cake and ice cream into his face. It seemed that all her life he had been protecting her and trying to clean up the mess that she had made of her life. This time it seemed that he would not be able to save her. She had made her mind up to end it all here in the early dawn light.
Jenna had purchased the gun from a seedy looking character in a pawn shop, and it looked as if it had not been cared for very well. It was a reflection of her life and how she had abused herself. She had never been a classic beauty, but was considered attractive by most that knew her, but now her hair was matted, her make-up streaked by tears, and she was gaunt and haggard from the excessive drinking and drug abuse.
The old gun was loaded with ammo that had green corrosion around the lead slugs, and as she raised the barrel toward her forehead once again, she could clearly see the ends of the slugs in the exposed portion of the cylinder. Each one had the potential to end a life. She thought, “What a useless life I’ve lived in the thirty-three years I’ve spent on this earth”. She finally squeezed the trigger and there was a loud noise; but not at all like the sound that a .38 special usually made. The last thing that Jenna remembered was that sound, and a piercing pain in her head as the darkness enveloped her. She slumped forward onto the wrinkled bed and blood flowed from her forehead.
CHAPTER 2

Aaron Thomas was one of those athletic, beautiful people unaware of how lucky they are. In spite of his good fortune, he was a very humble and gracious person.
As his horse Samson galloped along the trail that meandered through Oak Hill Farms in Camden, SC, his mind was occupied with thoughts of his sister Jenna. He had not spoken to her in weeks and the last time that he saw her, he was heartbroken by her condition. He had offered to help her with any problem she was having, but she was too proud to admit how bad her life had become.
Aaron had ended his week on a high note with the sale of some investment property that he had purchased a few months earlier. He was a wise investor and luck seemed to perch on his shoulder. His friends were constantly amazed by the deals that seemed to come his way. His best friend, John Crain, said that Aaron would have to be twins to have more luck. The recent investment property sale had netted him a neat piece of change.
Samson speeded up as they approached the paddock and Aaron reined him up at a watering trough and let him drink, slaking his thirst fully after the long ride that they had taken. Aaron loved this old horse farm and loved riding the rolling hills and meandering streams that coursed through the lowlands. The farm had been established by his paternal grandfather, and the mark of his wisdom in shaping the land and the buildings was evident as Aaron scanned his surrounding as he had thousands of times before.
Joshua Thomas had been a hard man, but a just one. He ran the farm with an iron hand and a will to match. He brought it through the depression in good shape and handed it over to his son Ezra as a thriving operation. The lineage of thoroughbreds that he had raised was pure and excellent and commanded a premium in the market. This had been supplemented by other agricultural enterprises and investments during hard times. Similar to Aaron, he was a wise investor and had left a sizable inheritance to his only son Ezra, and one daughter Sarah.
Sarah had taken her inheritance in cash and other investments and Ezra had retained the farm. Unfortunately, he did not prove to be the businessman that his father had been, and the farm fell into disrepair and much of the bloodline of Arabians was sold off. Only some brood stock was kept for the future. Aaron could remember seeing the downward spiral of the state of affairs, and his father’s inability to understand what he was doing wrong. Had it not been for his mother’s wise investments of her own inheritance, the family circumstances would have been worse and the speed of Ezra’s decline would have been more rapid. It had all reached a climax while Aaron was away at college. During his senior year he received a call at Georgia Tech from his sister telling him that Ezra had fallen into a deep depression and taken his own life. He had hanged himself in the barn. It took several years for Aaron to be able to enter the barn without thinking of the pain that his father must have felt to drive him to such lengths.
Aaron had loved Ezra in spite of his failures. Even with his faults, he had loved his family deeply and had tried to do his best for them. Aaron must have gained his strength from his mother Jane and his grandfather Joshua. It is strange how some traits seem to skip a generation. Aaron could not imagine the depths of desperation that it must have taken to drive Ezra to such a state.
Jane Thomas was distinctly different from Ezra. She was a strong, intelligent woman and tried to steer Ezra in the right direction, but inevitably he would use his own poor judgment and come up lacking in the end. Jane had threatened to leave him a number of times; but he was like a child in some ways, and when she broached the subject, he would fall apart. She couldn’t bear to turn her back on him. He did allow her to make investments with a portion of the income in the early days, but he had no idea of the sum that she had amassed.
Jane had her own personal inheritance and with the amount that Ezra had given her to invest, she had saved quite a sum. She felt guilty, but she knew that with his poor business judgment, if he had access to the money, it would be gone in short order. When he took his life, it was a burden on her conscience because of the fortune that she had attained; but she knew in her heart that if she had not done so, it would have all been gone and the children’s future would not have been secure.
Soon after Ezra’s untimely death, Jane was stricken with cancer and lost the will to live. She spoke with difficulty on her death-bed to Aaron, telling him, “Watch after Jenna after I’m gone. She’s like her father. She can’t handle adversity in life. She may need your help and guidance”.
Aaron thought at the time that it was strange, since Jenna was older than he and seemed to have her life in order. She had graduated from Winthrop College and had joined a real estate firm and had done well. Her mother had tried to guide her in her investments and she seemed to be financially secure.
Jenna had met Marco Rodriquez, a Mexican businessman, through a mutual friend and after a whirlwind courtship had married a year after her mother’s death. Shortly thereafter she had become pregnant. She had a handsome baby boy and Aaron thought that all was well with her; but since she was living in Memphis, Tennessee, he had little direct contact. He had seen her shortly after the baby arrived and she seemed well.
Jenna had appeared progressively tense and withdrawn each time that Aaron saw her after that. When he spoke to her about it, she brushed it off with a weak smile and told him that she was just tired running the household, working and taking care of a growing boy. Michael was an active little boy and was growing like a weed, but Aaron didn’t fully buy what she said. She seemed almost fearful, as if she were expecting to be reprimanded like a child.
Five years had passed and Aaron was ashamed that it had been a year now since he had seen Jenna. He was caught up in his successful business ventures, and was living an active lifestyle. He didn’t have any shortage of romantic opportunities, but was not consumed by his romantic interests. He enjoyed the companionship, but his drive to succeed in business, and his other wide ranging interests in sports and travel would not allow him to devote himself to a relationship at this point of his life.
Aaron was an avid fly fisherman, having traveled to the far reaches of the earth in pursuit of the various species of salmon and trout. In spite of the demands of his business ventures, he managed to become a superb fly fisherman and wing-shot. In the winter months, he would take some time to pursue the native Bobwhite Quail in the surrounding counties of South Carolina, and would make at least one annual trip to hunt ducks with his friend John Crain.
They would meet at the Santee Cooper Lakes; Moultrie and Marion and spend several glorious days in the swamp regions taking a generous bag of Mallards, Canadian Geese and assorted other waterfowl. They would usually get in a day of quail hunting, following John’s beautiful English Setters, enjoying something they both loved dearly.
John had grown up in Camden near Aaron, but had gone to Clemson University and later moved to Charleston, SC. Then there was a span of several years when they were out of touch, and now hardly a week passed without them speaking on the phone, talking about old times, or planning another trip. There was the usual banter in the football season about Georgia Tech and Clemson, and who was the superior team.
Aaron led Samson toward the stable for a brisk rubdown. Roosevelt, his trusted foreman, met him at the door and took the reins. “I’ll get Sam to rub ‘im down and cool ‘im off befo he’s stabled.” As Aaron entered the barn, the wall phone rung and he looped Samson’s bridle over a hook on the wall and lifted the phone to his ear.
“ Mr. Thomas”.
“Yes”, Aaron replied.
“This is Dr. Johnson in Memphis, Tennessee”.
Aaron felt a twisting sensation in his gut as he replied, “Yes, what can I do for you?”
“Mr. Thomas, I’m afraid I have some bad new for you. Your sister Jenna has been hurt and is in critical condition. I’m her family doctor and was contacted by Dr. Jenkins who is attending her. He thought that I might have some family contact information”.
“What about her husband Marco”, Aaron asked tersely?
“I’m afraid that Jenna has not been living with him for some time”, answered Dr. Johnson.
“That’s news to me, but I haven’t spoken to her in some time. What happened”?
“I’d rather not discuss it over the phone. If you could come to Memphis, I can fill you in on the details.”
“Damn it man, she’s my only sister, I need to know what happened”.
“Alright, but I’m sorry to tell you that she tried to commit suicide”.
“My God”, Aaron gasped, “Why”.
Dr. Johnson paused, “Did you know that she was in therapy for alcohol and drug abuse”?
“Hell no, I don’t believe it”, shouted Aaron.
“Well since the divorce-------“.
“What divorce? What the hell are you talking about”?
Dr. Johnson replied, “You must have been out of touch for quite a while. She has been through hell and she has been in a downward spiral for some time now. Her husband took the child and she has been on her own”.
“Oh no”, Aaron spoke softly, feeling the guilt as he remembered his mother’s words asking him to look after Jenna.
“Dr. Johnson, give me your address and phone number. I’ll be on the next flight to Memphis, and I want to talk with you after I see Jenna”.
Dr. Johnson proceeded to give Aaron the address and phone number and assured him that he would be happy to talk with him.
“What are her chances, doctor”?
“I’ll be honest. She has a 50/50 chance at this time. She’s young and that is good, but she has to have the motivation to live. I hope you can give her that. She is semi-conscious now. The only reason that she is alive is the old revolver that he used had ancient ammo in it, and it appears that the impact was less than 100%. She had a lot of powder residue on her that had not burned fully, indicating that the full charge did not ignite properly. Thank God for that. I’ll give you a better report when you get here and of course, Dr. Jenkins will give you a full report also.”
“Well, don’t worry about the expense Dr. Johnson; I am financially capable of taking care of any cost involved. See that she gets the best of care until I get there. Tell her that I love her and her brother is on the way. She has to hang on. She’s the only close relative that I have. I don’t know what I would do without her.”
Dr. Johnson said, “Don’t worry about the details. All that can come later. You just get here and talk to her and let her know that someone who loves her is close. That’s the important thing now. She desperately needs your support.”
“Thank you very much doctor for tracking me down. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

Thanks to all for your support. I hope you are enjoying the blog.

Regards, L. Woodrow Ross