Miracles Can Happen: The Ring

© Copyright 2012 Caryn Lesley.

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, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

isbn: 978-1-4669-1421-6 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-1422-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012903177

Trafford rev. 02/27/2012

www.trafford.com

North America & international

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

About the Author

Acknowledgements

As always, there are many people who help make an author’s words became reality in the form of a book.

I would like to thank my husband Michael for always being there while I was glued to my computer, and for the encouragement he offered to help me create Katie and Ashley’s story.

I would like to thank my editor, Alice Eachus, for her never-ending support, her ease with words, and her literary abilities. I was blessed to have her work with me to enhance my book. My illustrator Peggy Dressel made Miracles Can Happen come to life. I want to thank her for the beautiful job she did on the cover.

I would also like to thank my eleven-year-old reader, Ava Buchwald, whose comments I have taken to heart. Because of her enthusiasm for Katie and Ashley’s adventures, I’ve been encouraged to continue the series. Ava claimed she couldn’t put the book down, and now can’t wait to pick up the next adventure. What a thrill for an author! And no one made her say it. Even better!

Miracles Can Happen: The Ring was such fun to write, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

Dedication

I joyfully dedicate Miracles Can Happen: The Ring to my grandchildren, Reed, Spencer, Gavin, Brady, and Grace. I hope they each find their passion and experience it to the fullest every day of their lives.

I have found mine.

Prologue

As Angelina nestled deep in her cracked leather seat on the train to somewhere, she watched the countryside dance and jump like scenes from a child’s kaleidoscope. Trees were as bare as skeletons with forked limbs reaching high into the cold blue sky begging for the warmth of the sun. The rolling hills blended shades of yellow, brown, and black, their crops harvested long before with only straggled husks to remember the summer season.

Captured in her cozy compartment, well protected from the harshness of the passing scene, Angelina sensed the air outside had chilled more than expected. She pulled her pearl-buttoned, rose-hued sweater close and wrapped it around her tiny frame to protect herself from the bitter cold.

Another mission, another place, and so much to prepare! Angelina was tired, so very tired, but she was on an assignment and could not rest just yet. In a few hours she would leave the train and get ready to start her important mission. This time she would open a store. Not for the first time, mind you, but this special store was set to open very soon and there was still so much to do before customers could be welcomed. Angelina was running much later than she should be, and that worried her.

The tiny lady sighed and closed her eyes, hoping a few moments of sleep would bless her before the train pulled into the city that she would call her home.

Chapter One

Let the Adventure Begin

Katie Richards was all of twelve years old. She had brilliant blue eyes the color of the sea and beautiful golden hair weaving softly to her waist. She lived with her mother Amanda in a tiny, but charming apartment. The walls were rosy beige and pictures Amanda had painted when she was a young girl sprinkled every wall. Flowers and gardens were her favorite subjects to paint and now they charmed autumn’s chill away.

Katie thought some of the paintings were a little weird, but her mom insisted that’s how she saw flowers and beauty was always in the eye of the beholder. Whatever. They did add a riot of color, that was for sure!

Katie’s father died when she was only three. She remembered her daddy as tall and slim with a face that always carried a smile. He would give Katie big bear hugs and toss her high in the air when he walked through the door each night. Swirling, twirling, and whirling, little Katie always choreographed a welcome dance for her daddy, sometimes waltzing with Pooh the Bear, Wally the Walrus or Miss Raggedy Ann Rosie to the silly sounds of Sesame Street.

Her daddy would smother her with kisses, tell her how much he loved her in a deep, deep growl and swing her round and round until she was hopelessly dizzy. Katie absolutely adored him. Now when she thought how much she missed this daddy she hardly knew, tears would flood her big blue eyes. Why did he have to be killed anyway?

Amanda was a hard-working woman, and Katie knew it even though she didn’t always appreciate her efforts. Amanda worked as a waitress at The Cozy Corner, a popular mom and pop diner on the street where the Richards lived. She took double shifts sometimes to make ends meet or to buy something special. Money was always tight, but this proud mother and daughter were doing just fine, thank you very much.

Katie liked to stop by The Cozy to visit her mom on the way home from school and often warmed up with an on-the-house hot chocolate stuffed with marshmallows offered by Herb, her mom’s boss.

With her mom’s hectic schedule Katie was left alone much of the time, especially on the weekends, but she made the best of it.

Katie tried to help her mom with the housework and cooking so they’d have more time to play when they did have hours to spend together, but she had problems, plenty of problems, when she debuted in her young Martha Stewart role.

The first time Katie tried to run the washing machine, she added way too much detergent, forcing a frenzy of froth that created a blanket of bubbles reaching from the kitchen to the front door. Katie the Creative to the rescue! Grabbing a rusty snow shovel from the hall closet, the Martha wannabe spent an hour scooping suds and flinging them over the fire escape, much to the delight of the squealing toddlers and barking dogs below.

Learning a valuable lesson, Katie measured soap flakes like a mad scientist from then on, but became quite the pop artiste as carelessly sorted clothing became almost psychedelic after a spin in the old Maytag machine. Katie’s brighty-whitey undies often turned into baby blues after doing battle with an army of navy towels. The towels won of course, spilling their blue blood over everything they conquered.

But, Katie learned, and churned, and finally mastered the Maytag!

Vacuuming encouraged Katie’s personal work-out routine. Up, down, lunge, squat—all her muscle groups were worked, and worked hard. The Richards’ rugs were clean enough to sleep on. Who said housework wasn’t really a form of exercise!

But, cooking, ah cooking, was Katie’s true passion! The Food Network replaced MTV as Must-See-TV and Katie’s go-to recipe box quickly grew. She loved to try recipes offered on the backs of packages, assuming a food company would never print a recipe that turned out yucky. What would be the point of that?

From her early offerings of pigs-in-a-blanket and variations on the Manwich theme, Katie, the pint-sized domestic goddess, was soon sautéing, grilling, flambéing and roasting with the best of them. Unintended bites of cayenne once kept Katie and Amanda up all night jumping like Mexican beans. Lesson learned.

All domestic shenanigans were witnessed by Max, a big ol’ calico cat trimmed in shades of yellow and tan. Max was the purr-fect companion. He was smart, affectionate and gifted with discriminating taste buds. Max always knew when to keep his mouth shut, and was never known to blab a secret. Katie found Max behind a dumpster years before and he quickly became the man of the house.

Katie had her own room which she painted a sunny apricot all by herself. It wasn’t a big room, but big enough to hold a bed draped in fluffy white chenille with moss green pillows holding court. Stacks of beige canvas bins held clothes, and a white wicker desk was crowned with a clunky computer Amanda found in the newspaper want-ads. Dozens of interesting purple and green bottles lined the window sills, all filled with plant cuttings resembling modern art.

Katie loved her room! Sitting cross-legged on her bed was the best place to do homework and just a quick slouch down offered a comfortable place to chat with Emily, her very best friend since she was five-years-old.

Posters of Justin Bieber plastered Katie’s walls; he was her absolutely fav guy in the whole world and Katie just couldn’t read enough about him. Most of her conversations with Emily started with, If Justin called you, would you believe it was really him?

On her way home from school one Tuesday, Katie couldn’t stop thinking about the OMG—Can You Believe It’s Justin concert Emily invited her to attend. Emily was turning thirteen, and was allowed to invite a few friends to celebrate her first teen birthday.

Emily’s parents were members of a county club on Long Island where they would be having dinner before the concert. But, who could possibly eat! Emily’s parents arranged for a limo to take the party girls to the concert where they scored front row seats. This party was just going to be too cool! Katie was freaking out at just the thought of it all. Em’s dad Joe worked for Virgin Records and copped the concert tickets—how great was that!

Best of all, Emily’s dad arranged for them to actually meet Justin and get autographs. Katie adored Emily’s family, especially her sister Allie, and knew Em’s parents would make this one night to remember forever. The girls just couldn’t stop talking about how cool this whole birthday would be!

This would be Katie’s first grown-up party at a country club, and to have Justin Bieber as the main attraction was just too much. But Katie worried she would have to say no to the invitation, and she couldn’t bear the thought of it. She had nothing to wear and all the other girls would be dressed to kill. There just wasn’t enough money in the