Tuesday Tales: From the Word TOUGH

Welcome back to Tuesday Tales, the weekly blog that gives you a peek into our works in progress. It’s hard to believe we’re in April and that Easter is less than a week away. It still seems as if we just celebrated Christmas!

This week, our word prompt is TOUGH and our scenes are limited to 400 words. I’m continuing with Finding Melinda, my newest Romance Suspense novel about a woman who discovers that the person she thought she was, isn’t the one she is. Enjoy.

I know the literature says it’s possible to have differences, but really? You aren’t even showing up on my tree as a distant relative, which is absolutely ridiculous. You’re my sister.”

“I know, and it bothers me, too. My crazy imagination is working double-time. I keep thinking I was switched at birth or something, but Mom would’ve known that. I mean, animals can tell their offspring from others, surely humans can, too. Since I’m not sleeping well, having nightmares where I’m running down the streets naked, screaming who am I? I took your advice and took the baby hair from that family album Mom made when she was into scrapbooking over to one of the private labs in the city, along with Dad’s ballcap and her favorite scarf. The technician was pretty sure they could extract enough DNA from them to help verify maternity and paternity. Once I establish that I am indeed a Crites, my brain can let go of what’s driving me crazy. The minute those results are in, I’ll frame them and hang them in my office. Then, the rest of this won’t bother me, and I can file it away as an anomaly.” She laughed. “Maybe I’ll even write a book about it.”

Mandy harrumphed. “You shouldn’t let this get to you. Of course, you’re part of the family and no stupid test is going to say otherwise. You’re my big sister, and I love you. So does Danny. He feels awful about all this.”

Melinda nodded even though she knew her sister couldn’t see her. “I know it’s been as tough on him as it has been on me. Danny called last night. He’s done nothing but apologize since we got back from the D R. As if this is his fault! It’s caused problems between him and Chloe, and that’s a shame. I really like her. The fact that her family’s results were all similar just made matters worse. Honestly, I’m okay with this. It’s probably just a case of atavism, you know, the throwback in the family. Maybe the original Crites did get to Ireland from the Basque region of France. The Basque were renowned fishermen. It’s not as if I was born with a tail and webbed feet. It’s not that big a deal.” But it was, and she was lying through her teeth.

That’s it. Stay safe, and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.