Valkyrie

I have tears in my eyes after reading this. This is heartbreaking and, I fear, reality for far more than we'd like. I had a feeling that Jamie would be the new pastor. My heart breaks for both of them.

This was really good, Defiance You described Rob's feelings and reluctance perfectly. It definitely fit the 'forbidden love' theme to a T. I have a feeling family dinners are going to get a tad awkward in the near future..

I've never read the Valdemar books, but I did read your anthology story. This works as a stand-alone piece, though. Kudos to you for pulling that off, since it's obvious there's a much larger story here. I enjoyed reading it. Nicely done.

I'm not really a fan of incest stories, but decided to read this anyway. Very tragic and sad. Too bad they couldn't have been exiled instead of executed.

“I hope I’m not too late. I know your office hours ended fifteen minutes ago. I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t leave work until my replacement arrived.” Professor Drummond turned from his computer and regarded me with those sapphire eyes that rendered me speechless every time they settled on me. He gestured toward the round table next to his work area. “No problem. I’ll be here for a while yet. I have a stack of essays to read.” He winked and slid his rolling chair over to the tabl

I used to work with horses--specifically jumpers. I've faced a lot of situations involving fear and danger, so have learned how to push through the fear to act. There's a saying when jumping... "throw your heart over the fence and follow". I also suffer from anxiety. While a lot of times it makes me withdraw, I've learned to push through the fear to do things I know I'll enjoy once I'm participating in them. I went through a particularly rough patch a few years ago where the foundation of my life completely collapsed. My solution was to deliberately put myself into situations that challenged me or made me uncomfortable. I joined a local hiking club, even though I didn't know anyone, and spent a lot of time traveling and visiting friends. I also walked 2 1/2 miles every day. So sometimes you have to push through the discomfort... throw your heart over that fence and just follow. It's not easy, but it's worth it.

Oh I like this theme I need more time in the day to read

Ooo he is yummy And I like Batman too, but am horrible with keeping up with the franchise. My cats are named The Dark Knight and Joker

I agree with you completely. I'm more of a Marvel fan myself, but absolutely loved this movie.

Being a speech therapist is my second career, so not my initial choice. You are quite right that sometimes our disappointment leads to other blessings. I love my career and have absolutely no regrets for the change in path. I'm sure all your students are happy you listened to your advisor.

Thanks

Wow... lots of stories posted this week If there's anyone on the site who hasn't checked out DomLuka's stories, Desert Dropping is a good place to start, although you can't go wrong with any of them.

The last line is quite true and one I relate to well. Nice job.

There's so much here that resonates with me. "Bitter maroon moments too hard to drink" is brilliant. And "Remembering"... those certain smells and tastes that trigger memories of long-ago happy times. Kudos to you for learning how to spell "Schenectady" without having to look it up. I always have to spell the name of my town whenever I'm out of the area. Nicely done, Parker, although I'm sorry for the circumstances under which they were written.

Welcome back

Adversity seems to be necessary to learn some lessons. Thanks for commenting.

Most definitely.

Thanks so much. My perspective has changed quite a bit over the past twelve years. I'm glad you enjoyed reading it.

You are quite right. Life tends to shove us in the direction we need to go, whether we want to or not. Thanks for commenting.

I love the banner I like the theme, too. It made my short list for the special anthology, but I ran out of time after writing four stories for it.

Things are pretty bleak right now, but at least now he's not suffering alone. Thanks again for reading.

@CassieQ I love that you are so invested in this story and that it's provoking such strong reactions. And you are absolutely right about Josh. He's made more than his share of mistakes and needs to move past them. We'll see what happens in future chapters. Thanks for the thought-provoking comments.

What a lovely way to start a new job. I wish we could all be so lucky to be able to call our job 'home'. This was short, but conveyed all it needed to. Great job!

Prompt: Write about your first day of work at your current job Twelve years ago, I was working two part-time jobs with variable hours and no benefits. I needed a steady paycheck and health insurance, so I applied to the only job in my field that was posted in the paper. I was in a bad place at that time. While I loved one of my jobs, I hated the other one. Just turning down the street in the direction of that job was enough to make my stomach roil with anxiety. I was severely d

Thanks for reading and commenting. It made my day seeing all the notifications for 'reactions' for this story. The next two chapters are with my editor, but she is having computer problems and I'm not sure how soon I'll get them back. I'll post Ch. 25 as soon as I get it back.