Hoping for Forever (The Lottery Winners Book 1) Read online

  Hoping for Forever

  Book 1, The Lottery Winners

  By Elizabeth Lennox

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  Copyright 2018

  ISBN13: 9781944078812

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Any duplication of this material, either electronic or any other format, either currently in use or a future invention, is strictly prohibited, unless you have the direct consent of the author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Excerpt from “Tempted” – Coming April 20, 2018

  Excerpt from “Rescued” – Coming May 18, 2018

  Excerpt from “Caught”, Coming June 15, 2018

  Chapter 1

  Fall of 1956…

  “New year, new start!” Scarlett whispered as she slid into one of the wooden chairs, placing her stack of books neatly underneath and pulling out her notebook and pen, ready to take notes on the tiny, wooden desk that was part of the chair.

  Other students were filing in and Scarlett nodded cheerfully to everyone. It was a small, liberal arts college in Louisville, Kentucky, so she’d been taking classes with almost everyone for the past two years.

  “Scarlett!” Mitzy Shevard exclaimed as soon as she stepped through the doorway, then rushed over to take the desk next to Scarlett. “I missed you over the summer!” she exclaimed in her normal, overly effusive manner, giving Scarlett a hug.

  “I missed you too! How was Europe?” Scarlett asked, hiding the envy that singed her heart. Oh how she’d love to travel! But Scarlett’s family wasn’t wealthy like Mitzy’s. Most of the students who attended college here had spent the summer months traveling or at their “summer cottages”.

  Mitzy settled into the wooden chair next to Scarlett, waving her hand dismissively. “Hot! And crowded! Mother said we’d never tour Europe in the summer again. We’ll go in the springtime from now on.”

  Scarlett wouldn’t know. As a scholarship student, she spent her summer months working at the local pharmacy as a cashier. When she wasn’t working, she was helping her mother, who worked as a seamstress – which was also the only reason Scarlett had nice dresses and was able to fool the other students into thinking she was “one of them”. Her mother was brilliant and could recreate any dress anyone saw in a magazine. So many of Scarlett’s outfits were based off of magazine pictures – and the rest of her sorority sisters were none the wiser.

  “Why are you taking an English literature class?” Mitzy demanded, shoving her books under her chair and grabbing her notebook. “Last year, you were all into math and sciences.”

  Scarlett laughed. “I need several liberal arts classes for my degree. I thought literature would be the easiest.”

  Before Mitzy could reply, the professor stepped into the classroom, dropped his leather briefcase onto the desk and the rest of the students quickly found their seats. A respectful quiet descended over the room like a blanket.

  The professor, a tall, scraggly looking man in his late fifties, looked pompously around the classroom, prepared to start his lecture. “This is…”

  The door to the classroom opened and a new student entered. The tall, dark-haired man nodded towards the professor, scanned the other students and…his gaze halted on Scarlett. Immediately, he moved towards her…

  Scarlett stared at the man with wide, amazed eyes. He looked nothing like the other clean-cut male students. He was rough and looked like a bad-boy. He was broody in a way that couldn’t be faked. This man was…different and dangerous and tantalizing! Scarlett had never thought of herself as the kind of woman who would be attracted to that kind of man. In the past, she’d leaned towards the polite gentlemen - men who looked like they would be good husbands and providers.

  This man looked like neither and yet…those eyes. They were a deep, dark brown, and whispered to her that he knew things. Secret, enticing things.

  Scarlett couldn’t breathe. The man was gorgeous in a brooding, mysterious way. He was the earthy, poet type. The kind of guy that every parent urged their daughters to avoid, Scarlett thought. The guy was a dark haired James Dean.

  For the first time in her life, Scarlett understood the appeal. Ever since “A Rebel Without a Cause” came out last year, everyone had been sighing over the angsty actor. Scarlett had thought him to be annoying.

  But as the man slid into the seat behind her, she found her opinion shifting. A moody, rebellious man seemed …exciting! Different!

  Oh, so dangerous!

  “Right!” the professor announced sarcastically. “Now that Mr. Munroe has decided to grace us with his presence, we can begin. How many of you finished the summer reading list?” he asked.

  Immediately, Scarlett raised her hand, as did about half of the class.

  “Excellent! Better than average, I suppose. But the rest of you are already behind. Ms. Jefferson,” he said, pointing to Scarlett. “What did you think of “The War Within Us?” he asked.

  Scarlett swallowed as all eyes turned towards her. But she looked down at her notes and relaxed. She knew this. “The tension between the main characters seemed contrived,” she answered. “The constant back and forth debate between existentialism and essentialism didn’t ring true. It was forced and not adequately woven into the fabric of the story.”

  The professor nodded. “Okay, let’s explore that,” and he turned to the next student, asking them which side of the argument they believed.

  For the next fifteen minutes, the class debated whether life had intrinsic meaning and we just needed to discover that meaning, or if there was no meaning to life and humans needed to create meaning. The majority of students believed that the world had meaning, that God created everyone for a reason – hence, the majority believed in essentialism.

  “Okay, now that we’ve reinforced Christian orthodoxy, what about the symbolism in the story? What struck you while you were reading?”

  Immediately, Scarlett raised her hand again, eager to impress the professor.

  “Yes, Ms. Jefferson?”

  “Don’t mention the snake as evil,” a male voice directly behind her muttered.

  Scarlett hesitated for a long moment, but when she realized that the class was waiting, she glanced down, refocused on her notes, and remembered what she was going to say. “The serpent in the story represented evil.”

  The man behind her chuckled softly and she could feel him shaking his head.

  The professor didn’t look impressed.

  “Mr. Munroe. Anything to add?”

  Scarlett felt his finger touch her shoulder, almost as if the man was encouraging her to pay attention. “I think the snake in the story shows the reader’s bias.”

  The professor
crossed his arms over his chest, one finger resting against his cheek. “Interesting. Would you continue with that thought?”

  “Anyone reading the story and thinking that the snake represents evil is basing their entire interpretation of the story on a Christian perspective. But if you step outside of that perspective, you might interpret the snake as a symbol of fertility. In the case of the reader assuming the worst, the female character is bad because she becomes pregnant. If you turn that around, and assume a more positive connotation, the female lead is merely following her biological instincts in needing to perpetuate life. The serpent then becomes a positive symbol. One of fertility. But too many people are afraid to look at it in that light because of the phallic nature of the snake. In our culture, there’s a very defined right and wrong. Embracing one’s sexuality is wrong. So basically, the author is dividing readers into two groups, defining their perspective into the people who follow the rules versus the readers who want to look at life differently, embrace more challenges.”

  There was a stunned silence for a long moment. No one dared to say a word, but all eyes turned towards the professor who was beaming and nodding enthusiastically. “Exactly right, Mr. Munroe! I’m impressed that you understood that, because there isn’t a book critic who was allowed to publish that perspective.” He turned to the rest of the group.

  He glanced at the clock. “Our time for this class is over, but I want everyone to go back and read the book, trying to eliminate your current perspective and look at the symbolism in different ways. Extra points to anyone who can give me alternative views on the text.”

  The class quickly stood up, everyone shocked by the assignment, as well as horrified that someone dared to use the word “phallic” in public. Outrageous!

  Scarlett trembled as the man behind her brushed out of the classroom. Mitzy was saying something, but Scarlett didn’t hear her. She was furious. And confused! But mostly furious because she understood confusion more easily than she understood the odd sensation she’d felt when “Mr. Munroe” had brushed by her a moment ago.

  Hurrying outside, she looked around, shielding her eyes from the bright sunshine as her full skirt swished around her calves. When she spotted the man, her teeth gritted and her brain sizzled.

  Rushing down the steps, she raced across the grass, her almost-new saddle shoes slipping in the damp grass. When she finally caught up with the taller, dashingly dangerous man, she was out of breath, but trying to pretend that she was fine. “Why did you snort after my comments about the book?” she demanded, breathing deeply to get oxygen into her lungs.

  The shockingly tall man glanced over his shoulder at her, but didn’t stop walking. “Because you haven’t actually read it.”

  She stopped short, furious that he would suggest such a thing. He was right, but she couldn’t admit it. Especially not to him!

  By the time she’d processed his comment, he was already ten feet ahead of her. Rushing up to him again, she glared at him, subconsciously realizing that he was almost a food taller than her five fee, five inches. “You don’t know that.”

  “I do. You quoted Martin Golden’s commentary. It’s what most people quote when they don’t want to read a book. Sort of a review of a professor’s notes for cheaters.”

  Caught! Darn it, she thought silently. But she wasn’t deterred. How dare he judge her! “So? What’s wrong with that? It shows that I researched the story on my own. I took initiative to understand the assigned reading.”

  He stopped short and Scarlett had to jump back or she’d run into him. “Did you actually read the book?”

  She huffed a bit, hitching her book bag higher up onto her shoulder. “Why would I? It’s just boring fiction.”

  He rolled his sinfully brown eyes and walked away again. “Right. As expected.”

  She caught up with him again. “What do you mean by that?”

  He shrugged and barely glanced down at her. “You’re just here to get married. You don’t really want to have to think.”

  That was a horrible thing to say! Scarlett knew that her parents were hoping she’d find a good husband here, but Scarlett had different hopes and dreams. “That’s not true!” she gasped.

  “Evidence is pretty strong,” he argued.

  She didn’t like what he was implying. “I’m not like the other students! I want more. I’m going to work for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics!”

  He snorted again and she really hated that sound. “Right. You think you’re going to be hired by a government agency chartered to fix the problems with flight. An agency that practically requires their engineers to think of out of the box ways to fix technological problems. And yet, you won’t even read a book that might challenge your perspective.”

  Scarlett froze in shock, glaring at his back as he continued on alone. He was right. She’d prejudged the book simply because it was fiction and she hated fiction. She didn’t see the point. But his comments in class…maybe there was something interesting about the book?

  With another huff, she turned and stomped off to her next class. She had “Ordinary Differential Equations” next and loved it. Scarlett thrived in the challenge of finding answers and solutions, as well as learning more about how nature and math were completely in sync.

  After her stupid literature class, Scarlett was more than ready to do something logical, like math or science. She’d always shied away from literature classes, simply because they seemed like a waste of time.

  But maybe…

  “Scarlett, you look beautiful today.”

  She turned, seeing Thomas Kincaid coming towards her from the law library. “Good morning, Thomas,” she lifted her hand in a polite greeting. Thomas was a handsome, clean-cut gentleman that Scarlett had been “dating”. As a member of the Tri Kappa sorority, she was regularly paired up with members of the Omega Phi fraternity, of which Thomas was a member. Thomas was a huge “catch” on campus, and was always by Scarlett’s side when their houses hosted a social event. She and Thomas seemed to have an unspoken agreement that they would be “together” during any college event. But it wasn’t that they were truly dating. Nothing official had been discussed.

  “Where are you off to today? And are you going to allow me to escort you to the Tri Kappa tea this Sunday? I’m looking forward to it.”

  Scarlett smiled. “Of course. I wouldn’t dream of going with anyone else,” she replied. He immediately lifted her heavy book bag from her shoulder and offered his arm. Carefully, she laid her fingers on his elbow, smiling at his gentlemanly gesture. She liked Thomas. He was going to be a brilliant lawyer someday. He would join his father and grandfather in their law firm and would continue the family tradition of helping others work their way through the confusing legal world.

  But after her conversation with Mr. Munroe – she had no idea what his first name was, the word “bland” came to mind as she looked at Thomas.

  “Have you read ‘The War Within Us’?” she asked Thomas, looking up at him, admiring his blond hair, good looks, and smooth square jaw.

  “Of course,” he replied evenly. “I thought that the tension between the main characters seemed contrived. The constant back and forth debate between existentialism and essentialism didn’t ring true. It was forced and not adequately woven into the fabric of the story.”

  Scarlett stopped, forcing Thomas to stop as well. He looked down at her with polite curiosity, his sandy brown eyebrows lifted with a silent question. “Nothing,” she muttered.

  He laughed softly. “It’s a complicated book, Scarlett,” he pointed out condescendingly. “It might take you several readings to fully understand all the nuances the author wrote about.”

  She only half listened as Thomas told her all about his trip to Greece over the summer months, something about his parents and someone else. She wasn’t listening any longer. Not after he dismissed her intelligence in such a manner. Looking up at him, she realized that he wasn’t all that attractive any longer. Bland
, she thought again. And a bit irritating.

  Somehow, she got through the rest of her classes. But as soon as she stepped into the room she shared at the sorority house with Mitzy, she dumped her books onto her bed. Digging through her closet, she found what she was looking for. Flipping through the pages of “The War Within Us”, Scarlett curled up on her bed and started reading. Initially, she flipped to the middle, thinking to read just enough to understand the book. But after only a few pages, she turned to chapter one and started reading from the beginning. Pushing her pillow behind her head, she dove into the make-believe world, losing herself in the story. It was riveting.

  “Are you coming down to dinner?”

  “Not hungry,” Scarlett mumbled, shifting on her bed to find a more comfortable position to read. Mitzy dutifully changed into a nicer dress for dinner and hurried downstairs. Hours later, Scarlett vaguely acknowledged that Mitzy had come back from dinner, changed again, and headed out once more, but Scarlett kept on reading. By the time Ms. Burgess did her ten o’clock bed check, Scarlett was halfway through the book and completely captured by the struggle between the characters.

  “Are you going to keep on reading?” Mitzy asked, putting her hair into curlers and wrapping a scarf around her head to protect them overnight.

  “Yeah,” Scarlett muttered and turned over again.

  It was almost three in the morning when Scarlett finished the story. Lying in the bed, she stared up at the ceiling. The words and images from the author sifted through her mind and Scarlett couldn’t shut down her mind. She wanted to start the book over again, reading through the details now that she knew how the story ended.

  But her eyes slid closed as exhaustion took over.

  Chapter 2

  Mick saw her as soon as he rounded the corner of the building. Who wouldn’t notice her? Her dark hair sparkled in the bright sunshine and her pretty, pink dress danced ever so slightly with the fall breeze. It was one of those perfect autumn mornings with just a hint of a chill in the air. Summer wasn’t quite over, but the humidity was gone, making the air easier to breathe.