The Earring

Prologue

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Faith Lander was engaged to a killer. A few short hours ago, she was a giddy bride-to-be whose biggest problem was finding a florist to incorporate pansies into a bridal bouquet.

Aaron King shattered that reality.

"I have a confession to make, and there's no painless way to say it," Aaron said. His teacup shook as he set it carefully in the delicate china saucer. The pleading look he shot Faith reminded her of her brothers' faces when Mama caught them with a fist full of forbidden cookies. "When I was 17, I got my girlfriend pregnant. I emptied my college car fund and paid for her to have an abortion."

"You killed your unborn child?" Faith leaned forward, her eyebrows raised, her eyes as round and conspicuous as a full moon in a black velvet sky. She separated her words, hammering each one like a nail into a coffin.

Aaron closed his eyes for a second and breathed heavily through his nose. The indrawn breath sounded loud in the silence that followed Faith's harsh question.

"Yes." The final consonant hissed like droplets of water on a hot stove. His eyes were now open and begging for mercy.

Faith's petite form slumped further into the cushions of her overstuffed chair. She briefly squeezed her eyes shut. Almost as though talking to herself, she repeated the words, her voice breaking on "unborn."

"You killed your unborn child."

She ripped herself from among the cushions and lurched to her feet. Her hands clenched into fists, and she glared at Aaron.

"You killed your unborn child! How could you even consider such a thing?"

"I was young, confused." Aaron held his hand out toward her. "I have lived with regret for years."

"And you chose now to unburden your conscience. We are three months from our wedding. The invitations are sent." Faith threw her hands out, opening the clenched fists as though flinging invitations to the winds. "Who are you? I thought I knew you, and now you take off your mask."

"I haven't changed," Aaron said, standing to face her wrath. "I'm the same person you fell in love with." He reached out and placed a hand on each of her shoulders. "Look into my eyes, Faith. Native Americans say the eyes are the windows of the soul. Look into my soul, and you will find the man you love - a man who made a terrible mistake in the past but also a repentant man who has received forgiveness from God."

"And God's forgiveness is not enough? Now you want my forgiveness, too?" Faith twisted free of his grasp. "I don't know if I can offer forgiveness, Aaron. I need time to think."

Picking up her purse from the coffee table, she snatched her keys from the front pouch. "Don't call me. I'll call you."

Faith rushed into the fading afternoon sunlight. She shivered when the February wind penetrated her cotton shirt. She had forgotten her jacket. Glancing back at her apartment, she saw Aaron framed in the doorway.

"You, idiot," she scolded aloud. "It's your apartment. Why didn't you just tell him to leave?"

But she was not willing to go back and face her fiancé. Instead, she jumped in her car. She twisted the key viciously in the ignition. The tires squealed as she wrenched her Rav4 away from the curb. She drove aimlessly, letting herself vent aloud in the privacy of her vehicle.