Beyond Love (ePub)

Barbara J. DuellBEYOND LOVE My novel deals with the most used and abused theme in print; namely love. But what is love, and why do we search for it?The dictionary says love is: to please, to feel affection for, to hold dear, to cherish, and so on. One conclusion describes love as wonderful. Bells ring and bird sing; the world's a fabulous place. Not always. This wondrous feeling of which we speak can be a burning hell; a sorrow so sad, death would be a welcome pleasure. Both analogies are excessive, but still we seek love. Why?Because somewhere between the two extremes a near-perfect relationship can be found when two people are willing to give and share and be fully committed to each other, and the answer is so simple, you must reach beyond love. When you give your love, your passion, all that you are to a special person, you commit, but you also trust this person to care for this precious gift, to nurture and protect it so it will continue to grow and survive. My story is set in a small town between Sausalito and Mill Valley across the bay from San Francisco. The main characters come together through the needs of a child. They interact, first by a clash of wills, and then denial of their attraction and desire for one another, and finally by having to find and face the truth. But are they capable of reaching beyond love in order to grasp that elusive prize?Michael McCall gave an abundance of love freely, never asking much in return, but happiness was hers for only a short time before it was cruelly stripped away, and the pain was too great; she could never thought she would love again. Richard Hampton had loved before, had given all he could give, but his gift was destroyed and his world became a living hell that forced him to lock all doors leading to his heart just to survive. He knew he would never love again. David Hampton, although only eight years old, knows what he wants and, in all his innocence, will not accept the barriers that the two people he loves so much try to hide behind. Could this innocence be their guide? Can they find the courage and hope to reach beyond love? He'd only planned to run away, but when unhappy eight-year-old David Hampton is almost run over by a speeding car in downtown Sausalito and rescued by a beautiful lady with a man's name, his plans change. The only thing he has ever wanted was a Mom and decides Michael McCall is the Mom he wants. All he has to do is convince his dad, and Ms. McCall. It should be easy, but unlike stories with happy endings, this is not a fairytale; this is real. When Professor Michael McCall and Dr. Richard Hampton meet the sparks from their first encounter ignite into an immediate desire so powerful it rivals the intensity of the fire that nearly destroyed the city across the bay, and their path to happy-ever-after will demand they travel beyond their lust and the heat of their passion, a journey steeped with pain, a constant reminder of love given and lost, a journey where the past must be put away, freeing them to find the courage to reach BEYOND LOVE.