GIFT FROM BEYOND

              A mother of all boys, I stopped dreaming about having a daughter after my fourth son. I didn’t intend to have any more children. But fate had other plans.

              So when my daughter Shannon came along, my husband and I were ecstatic. The only problem was for the first couple of weeks, I kept calling my new daughter, “Nicole.”

             The name just slipped out. It was the strangest thing. Even when I thought of Shannon, I would call her Nicole.

            “I think we were supposed to name Shannon, Nicole,” I finally told my husband. “I keep calling her that name. I can’t seem to stop myself.”

             “She’s got the right name,” he replied. “We didn’t even have that name picked out.”

               But still I repeated the name over and over to my daughter. I was sure we had given Shannon the wrong name.

               When Shannon was two weeks old, my mother dropped in for a visit. She sat and rocked my baby.

               “I just wish my mother knew you finally had a girl,” my mother said to me. “Oh she would have been so happy for you.”

                My grandmother had died a couple of years earlier. We all missed her. I would have loved to have told her about my daughter. My grand mom had known how much I wanted a daughter.

               “Oh, by the way,” my mother said. “I left a baby gift on the kitchen counter.”

                 I went into the kitchen and got the present. It had pictures of yellow ducks on the wrapping paper. I sat by my mother to open it.

              “Who is it from?” I asked.

              " I’m not sure,” my mother said. “I was cleaning out my closet, and I found it. I think it might have been from your grandmother and meant as a gift for one of your brother’s girls. But they’re all older now. So I thought you might as well have it. Open it.”

                There wasn’t a card on the gift. But when I opened the box, a card was laying on top of the tissue paper. I opened the envelope and pulled out the card.

                To Baby Nicole,
                Love
                Grand mom, Cooper

                  A chill ran right down my spine. Nicole. I stared at the word. My brother’s daughters were named Kelly and Taylor. No one was named Nicole.

                “Who is Nicole?” I finally asked my mother.

                 “I don’t know,” my mother said. “You’re grandmother was always getting everyone’s names confused. She must have gotten the name wrong.”

                  I opened the tissue paper. Inside was a pretty little sundress.

                  A smile lifted my spirit. I now knew why the name Nicole had laid so heavy in my thoughts. My grandmother was letting me know that she knew I had a daughter. Somehow she had connected to me.

                  After that day, the name Nicole disappeared from my thoughts and my lips just as mysteriously as it had appeared.

                   But I have kept the card as a memento of the moment.

                   My grandmother had managed to give me a gift from beyond. A gift of love.

Author Tamera Lawrence

Have any Mystery Novel Lover's on Your Holiday Gift List?

If you do then why not get them the Mystery Novel, "The Pond" by Award Winning Author Tamera Lawrence?

Here is a little overview of how "The Pond" became an Award Winning Novel!

Do the Adam's have more to fear from the living or the dead?

"He grabbed the edge of the ice, clinging desperately. Murky water filled his boots, becoming as weighted anchors. Numbing cold squeezed his limbs as he tried to scream for help. But his chest hurt. It was hard to breathe. His heart beat wildly in his thin chest. Water seeped inside his clothing, his skin turned to ice. He stared up at the sky. The ice cracked again, creating fragments of drifting sheets. As his glove caught on the jagged edge, his hand slid out. Dark water swirled over him as he began to sink into the frigid depths of the black void."

Twenty-five years have passed since eight-year-old Carl Weber drowned in Gray's Pond, and now one member of the Adams family has returned to Kimberton, Pennsylvania, to reside once again in the old mansion. It is time for Mark Adams to revisit his past, and for his wife Donna and daughter, Kim, to become acquainted with their neighbors, a rather odd old couple who own the farm next door.

Each day, however, brings strange occurrences, increasing paranormal activity, till it becomes agonizingly clear that ghosts of the past are trying to make their presence known. As the search for the truth be. .

You can purchase your copy of "The Pond" at:

Barnes and Noble - Paperback Format for $16.95

Amazon - Paperback Format for $16.95

Amazon - Kindle Format for $2.99  (Remember Kindle Format Books can be sent as a gift to anyone that has an email address!

What comes to Mind?

They say that our senses such as sight, smell, touch and taste can evoke memories of our past. For example, what do you think of when you smell apple pie? Breathe in deeply and smell the cinnamon, nutmeg and Granny Smith apples. What feeling or memory does it conjure for you? When I think of homemade apple pie, I am immediately transported back to my childhood when my grandmother made them for me. So, I would have to say the smell of apple pie brings to me a comforting feeling; spending time with my grandmother and eating those delicious pies!


While the apple pie aroma reminded me of my grandmother, some might get the impression of a mother baking for her family or perhaps a friendly neighbor offering a pie to new neighbors. Any one of these thoughts that come to mind when we think of “apple pie.” There is also the automatic association as “American as Apple Pie.” I believe it is safe to say that all of these images provide the following thoughts of comfort, friendliness of a neighbor, family and security.


While I was writing “The Pond,” I decided to use this train of thought in the beginning of my book. The comfort of a childhood home, a friendly neighbor baking a pie to welcome a family to the neighborhood. I wanted to evoke an image that would make the reader automatically associate a definite perception of one of the characters. The idea would be to gravitate that character from a comforting and pleasant image to a dark personality.

A person who bakes a pie couldn't possibly have a hidden, dark personality yet to be seen; could they?


Get a copy of my book, “The Pond” (now out on Kindle! $2.99) and let me know what you think!

Have You Made Peace with YOUR Demons?

No matter how wonderful our childhoods may have been, there are still certain memories, places, people, relatives or experiences that cause some anxiety for us. Now, consider if we’ve had difficult childhoods laced with abuse, bullying, or any number of unpleasant experiences. How would you react if someone told you, “You will move back into your childhood home.”

Does it give you a warm fuzzy? Or does it make you feel ill? For those of us who have suffered traumatic or unpleasant childhoods, the idea will be dismissed immediately. If you’re one of those fortunate people that had a wonderful childhood, the idea sounds extremely tempting.

I thought it was an interesting concept. Why? Because in my book, “The Pond,” the main character feels that overall, he had a pleasant childhood. Of course, it wouldn’t be real life unless he experienced some hardships. But, his overall opinion of his childhood was pleasant. What if he moves back into his childhood home and begins to recall repressed memories? Did they happen? Or, is he simply feeling strange about living in his childhood home as a man?
Either way, the idea is intriguing. Memories can be sparked from a scent, a visual scene, temperature and a variety of other ways. Going back home may mean facing new memories which will certainly cause reflection. Will it change the core of your belief system? That’s something to consider. Find out how the main character in “The Pond” handles this situation.