HIDDEN TRUTHS: Everyone has them. What are yours?

September 1, 2019

Dear Ones,
Do you ever read a book where the heroine gets in a situation so intricate and deadly, you think, “How will the author ever get her out?”

Sometimes, the author thinks that, too. For instance, me. In HIDDEN TRUTHS, out today, our heroine, Kellen Adams, has had brain surgery. She’s in the hospital, unconscious and not expected to live. How do I write about someone who’s in a coma???

Well. I had her spirit escape her body and have adventures. Of course! How simple…

      When Kellen’s spirit came awake in her hospital bed, she caught a pink and blue ribbon of emotion, and let it carry her to the newborn nursery.
      The babies. Oh, the infants! Squalling, sleeping, pooping, battling the restraints of their blankets, their eyes unfocused…except when they looked at Kellen. Her they saw, and somehow they sent comfort and reassurance.
      But another emotion, writhing with misery, tugged at her, and she followed a weak, constant crying into the ICU nursery. The emotion came from a tiny girl hooked up to a breathing tube and an IV.
      Kellen hovered over her. “What’s wrong?”
      She didn’t have a voice, but the baby heard her, and gave her a glance that pleaded and dismissed, and returned to the fight that occupied all her strength.
      “Her mother was addicted to cocaine, alcohol, you name it.” It was as if the nearby doctor heard Kellen and answered her question. “The mother came in while in labor, produced the baby and was gone. Here this kid is, three months premature and in agony as she goes through withdrawal.”
      “I know that, Dr. Davis.” The pediatric ICU nurse seemed perplexed at his explanation. “Poor kid hasn’t got a chance. No parents, can’t sleep, can’t eat, lungs underdeveloped…”
      “But she’s a fighter!” Kellen said.
      “Yes, Bernice, but she’s a fighter.” The doctor came over, slid his hand into the incubator and stroked the child’s head.

      The baby took comfort and quieted.
      “We’ve seen miracles before.” The nurse consulted the chart. “Mrs. Hibbert is coming in to hold her. She can make our little Jane Doe feel better.”
      “You have people who come in and hold these babies?” Kellen loved the idea.
      “The babies sprawl on that skinny old bosom and absorb happy.” Nurse Bernice wasn’t talking to Kellen…but she sort of was.
      Some urge began to tug Kellen away, back toward her hospital room. She drifted toward the door, then backed away when an old woman with white, wildly spiked hair walked through, leaning heavily on her walker.
      “Mrs. Hibbert!” Nurse Bernice said. “We were just talking about you. Baby Jane Doe is wanting you.”
      Mrs. Hibbert nodded at Kellen as if she saw her, and tsked as the baby squalled out its hopelessness. “There, there, child. Grannie’s here.”
      “Her name is Joy,” Kellen said.
      Mrs. Hibbert sat down in the rocking chair and waited while the nurse extracted the infant from the incubator, wrapped her a warm blanket and brought her over.
      Mrs. Hibbert began to rock. “Have we named this baby yet?”
      “There’s no point in naming her until it’s clear the mother won’t return for her.”
      “She needs to hear joy every day, so I shall call her Joy.”
      Nurse Bernice hesitated, then marked over “Jane Doe” on the chart, and replaced it with “Joy.”

Kellen finds even her spirit can make a difference, and finally, she has to make a choice; die peacefully, or live and struggle to overcome the massive obstacles facing a person recovering from brain surgery.

While she’s discovering some eternal truths about herself, Max is visiting the prison where the serial killer who stalks their family is incarcerated. He wants to make sure the killer is really there. …But why won’t the prison officials cooperate? What are they hiding?

HIDDEN TRUTHS is jam-packed with danger, action, a further episode in Max and Kellen’s romance and, of course, Rae, who fervently believes in the miracle that will return her new mother to life.

Read an excerpt about Max and Rae here.

Get your copy of HIDDEN TRUTHS, the latest e-novella in the Cape Charade series:

Kindle | Nook | AppleBooks | Kobo | GooglePlay

If you prefer audiobooks, HIDDEN TRUTHS and the other two Cape Charade novellas, HARD TO KILL and FAMILIES AND OTHER ENEMIES are out today in an audiobook compilation. Read all about it!

Not too much longer until the grand finale of the Cape Charade series is yours! STRANGERS SHE KNOWS arrives September 17. But first, tease your palate with HIDDEN TRUTHS.

Warmly,

Christina Dodd
New York Times bestselling author of the renowned
Cape Charade series

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“Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.”
—Mary C. Crawley