A Treasure Worth Seeking
By: Shellie - shelliemg at gmail.com
Prologue

I’m the King of the World.

Lauren watched the young couple as the boy balanced on the railing of the cruise ship reenacting the one scene from Titanic that she was certain had seen far too many duplications. Irritated and uncomfortable she turned away, her frustration not so much directed toward the kids who had barged out onto the quiet deck and ruined her isolation, but more at herself for being outside to begin with. She should be the one up there yelling, screaming joyously to the world that it was finally over. She was free, the only thing holding her down was gravity. Finally able to do what she wanted for a change and she should be thrilled. Everyone else seemed to be.

But regardless of what she should be feeling, what she actually felt was miserable. Not about Steve, hell, truth be told their marriage had been over long before the divorce proceedings had begun, but about the fact that her marriage had been the first thing in her life at which she hadn’t succeeded. If she’d gotten a bad job or even a bad haircut maybe it would be different but so far…life had been too perfect. She should have known when ‘it’ came it would be a doozy.

So here she stood. Divorced. On a "celebratory" cruise with her mother and sisters. And while they saluted her independence inside, she stood alone out on the deck trying to figure out why she wasn’t happy.

The truth was there, taunting her, hovering in the back of her mind but she refused to acknowledge it. She was not afraid of being alone. She had Caroline, her family and her small but intimate circle of friends. That’s all she needed, right? Obviously a man wasn’t. If she couldn’t make a marriage work with the "perfect" husband…

Sighing she closed her eyes, pressing her cheek against the cool metal rail. Tomorrow. The thought made her smile. Tomorrow the cruise would be over and she could go home to her new home that was sitting there, waiting for her and Caroline to come and make it their own. A place to write and think and be who she was…whoever that may be. And for once in her life there wouldn’t be anyone there to tell her who that was.

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