Celia's Puppies

Celia’s Puppies

Denver Cereal, Volume Two

Claudia Hall Christian

Copyright © Claudia Hall Christian

Cook Street
Publishing
Denver, CO

Also by
Claudia Hall Christian

THE DENVER CEREAL SERIAL FICTION:

The Denver Cereal
Celia’s Puppies

Cascade

ALEX THE FEY THRILLER SERIES:

The Fey

Learning to Stand

Who I Am

Originally published at DenverCereal.com
:
December 2008 – June 2009;
copyright © Claudia Hall Christian

Licensed under the Creative Commons
License:

Attribution–NonCommercial–Share Alike 3.0

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ISBN
(
13 digits
) : 978-0-9822746-7-5
(
10 digits
) : 0-9822746-5-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication
Data available upon request

PUBLISHER’S NOTE:

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously.

First edition © November, 2009

Cook Street Publishing
PO Box 18217

Denver, CO 80218

To Betty, Peggy, Chelly and Heather,

for your amazing support.
I’m blessed by your friendship and love.
Just Do It!

Acknowledgments

Denver Cereal is a labor of love. Special
thanks go to everyone working behind the scenes – the Silent
Partner for dedicated content edits, creative input and pep talks
in the middle of the night; Angeles Winesett for extraordinary
copyedit assistance; Anthony Ream for his fabulous cover and
wonderful logo design; Kenny Hosack of Craig Hospital for his
positive attitude and depth of information about spine injury and
rehabilitation; and the Practical Pagan for helping to inspire the
wedding ceremony.

I want to thank everyone who reads daily,
weekly and in book form.

Thank you for reading and caring.

What’s happened so far?

Denver Cereal begins when Jillian Roper
prepared to attend her ex-husband Trevor’s engagement party in
thigh-high leather boots. At the party, she is rescued from her own
panic and insecurity by Jacob Marlowe. With the help of her
friends, Jill manages to follow through with her plan and stuns the
guest of honor.

A few weeks later, Jill, Jacob, and Katy,
Jill’s three-year old daughter, go on a non-date at the Denver Zoo.
Katy is stung by a bee and goes into anaphylactic shock. Prepared
by the psychic Delphie, Jacob manages to save Katy’s life and get
her to the hospital in time. He shocks Jill by paying the hospital
bill.

While Katy is in the hospital, Jacob’s
actress sister, Valerie Lipson, leaves her wealthy producer fiancé
to make the trip home to Denver. Valerie’s estranged husband is
Jill’s older brother Mike Roper. Valerie and Mike decide to give
their marriage another try at the same time Jill and Jacob get
together as a couple.

When Jill is fired from her day job for
taking a sick day to care for Katy, Jacob rescues her again. After
crying in his car, she realizes she left Katy’s medication inside
the office. Jacob goes into the office to get the medication and to
confront Jill’s boss. In return, Jill’s boss attacks Jacob with a
20-pound pipe wrench. Jacob is critically injured

Between life and death, Jacob meets his
deceased mother, Celia. While Jacob struggles to survive, Jill is
nearly raped by her ex-husband Trevor. Valerie’s publicist sets up
an interview for Valerie and Mike with Oprah. And Katy asks Jacob
if he will be her “Daddy.”

While conferring with Jacob in his hospital
room, Aden Norsen, Jacob’s second in command, reconnects with
Jill’s best friend, Sandy. Sandy and Aden work through their issues
and to begin a relationship.

In the meantime, Mike panics at the idea he
might not be good enough for Valerie’s Hollywood lifestyle. In
asking friends for help, he snares a lucrative modeling contract
for Valerie and Jill. He is dressed, waxed and polished in style.
The US Army gives Mike some assistance with his interview.

Denver Cereal winds down when Jacob finally
returns from the hospital into Jill’s arms.

Celia’s Puppies begins the next day.

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Going to be a
good day

Monday morning — 4:00 A..M.

Sitting on her meditation bolster, Delphie
let out a breath and bowed forward. A half hour of prayer would
have to do this morning. Not for the first time, Delphie longed for
the days when she had the entire Castle to herself. But then, Sam
wouldn’t be asleep in her bed and the kids wouldn’t be home. Things
were better now.

She just needed more time to herself.

With care, she put out the candles but left
her incense burning for Quan Yin. Smoothing her wild bottle-red
hair in the mirror, she realized she was lying to herself.

She didn’t need more time to herself.

She missed
Celia
.

Celia would love how things turned out. She
would have teased Mike about his confusion over Valerie. Celia
would spoil Katy to no end. Delphie could just see Celia in a
corner of the dining room laughing with Jill and Sandy. Celia would
revel in Jacob stepping into himself.

And Aden! Who would believe that drunken
criminal Aden Norsen would turn into gentleman Aden?

Of course, Celia always believed in Aden,
Blane, Jill and the others too. Delphie called them Celia’s
puppies. The people Celia collected like lost puppies. The ones
whose lives really changed with loving support.

Delphie never had that kind of faith in
people. Celia was special. She could see into people’s souls and
see what they could be. Not that she was always right. After all,
Tiffanie’s oldest daughter gave only misery in return for the
resources and love she was given.

Moving toward the bed, Delphie sighed. She’d
give up Sam to have Celia back. It would be hard because she cared
deeply for Sam. But she’d do almost anything to have Celia
back.

Delphie sat down on the bed next to Sam. He
opened his eyes and touched her hair.

“
It’s a little after
four,” Delphie said. “You should work on getting up.”

“
I’m sorry our chaos has
interrupted your meditation,” Sam said. “You have clients today,
don’t you?”

Delphie gave a slight nod.

“
Sad?” he asked. He sat up
to hold her.

“
Missing
Celia.”

Sam and Delphie held each other and cried.
In each other’s arms, neither was afraid or ashamed to express the
depth of their loss.

“
We need to get moving,”
Delphie said after a moment. “The kids are here and...”

She moved off the bed but Sam caught her
hand.

“
Everyone can take care of
themselves, Delphie,” Sam said. “I know it’s exciting. It’s
exciting for me. But we are all we have now,
Delphinium.”

Delphie sniffed then sat back down. Sam
wrapped himself around her. For a moment, she allowed herself to
rest in his strength.

“
Why don’t you continue
meditating?” Sam whispered. “I can make the coffee.”

“
But...”

“
Your coffee is much
better. You’re right,” Sam said. “Your clients take so much from
you. I take so much from you. I’d like it if you took care of
yourself. For me.”

He touched her chin and she looked up at
him.

“
We’ve made it to the
other side of nine years of garbage. I’d like to spend some years
enjoying the peace and you.”

“
Me too,” Delphie said.
“And the kids.”

“
And their kids,” Sam
said. “Our grandkids and great grandkids.”

"Your kids. Your grandkids. Your great
grandkids."

"They've always been our kids. Yours, mine
and Celia's kids." Sam kissed her cheek. "You must really miss her
today."

Delphie gave another slight nod. She stood
so he could get out of bed. He was halfway across the room before
he turned.

“
I’m deeply grateful for
you, Delphinium. Thank you for the gift of this second life, and
your love.”

Her eyes welled.

“
Go on,” she said.
“Delaying the inevitable...”

“
Only creates another
mess,” they said one of Celia’s sayings together. Laughing, Sam
went into the bathroom.

Delphie returned to her bay window
meditation nook. Relighting the candles, she noticed the paparazzi
arriving for another day of stalking Valerie. A picture of
Valerie’s husband was worth at least couple hundred thousand
dollars to these scavengers. Not that they were going to get
one.

Delphie smiled.

It was going to be a good day.

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 6:30 A.M.
Outside Chicago, IL

A small woman began jogging down the
driveway of her estate home with a few of her dogs. No matter what
her hectic schedule demanded, she loved the early morning quiet
with her dogs. They settled into a steady jog down the driveway.
Turning onto the quiet lane in front of her home, she heard a sound
behind her.

Boots on the pavement.

Like something out of a movie, she could
hear at least five people running in boots behind her. And they
were fast.

Turning to look, she saw a group of short
haired men wearing green t-shirts, digital fatigue pants and
tactical boots running toward her. A man ran in the very middle of
this pack.

As they approached, her dog pack skittered
uncomfortably. These men were twice her size, fit and muscular. Her
mind shifted to the horror stories her guests had told on her own
talk show. Glancing around, she realized how alone, how vulnerable,
she was.

The men caught up with her then slowed their
pace to match hers.

“
Would you mind if we take
your dogs?” A fresh faced young man asked.

“
I...”

“
The General would like a
private conversation,” a second man said. “We won’t harm them. Just
take them so that you might talk.”

Before she could say anything, the young men
reached for the leashes. She was about to call her dogs back when
she caught sight of the man in the center of the pack. Stunned, she
stopped running.