The Letter

By Kevin Kinard

Life can change in the blink of an eye or even be destroyed by the love of someones heart. Jacob Tyler Banks was born with two loveable parents. His father, Tyler, is one of the best lawyers in town while his beautiful mother takes care of the things at home. His life was smooth sailing until it drastically turned around when he met a lovely girl named Rachael Stone. Find yourself riveted with a love story like no other with The Letter.

Tyler Banks is a busy man. Too busy with a line of clients each day, he only has limited time to be with his beautiful wife and son. Fairly detached from his family, he has a dark secret that he has kept for more than twenty years. But that secret is about to be revealed unless he is going to do something about it. But can he really carry out his plan that could break his sons heart and leave him emotionally wounded forever?

Lynn Banks is a stay-home mom and wife. She has everything she ever wanted. She loves her husband and son so much that she doesnt want them to get hurt in any way. But what they didnt know is that she actually lived two different lives and it is all up to her if she prolongs this pain that has been kept buried in her heart for so many years.

Follow the different characters stories of love, lust, deceit, and pain and see if love can truly conquer everything in this riveting story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 28, 2009
• ISBN: 9781465328694

Book preview

Chapter 1

Life’s a journey that begins before you’re born. There are many things that happen for some unknown reason, but you never really understand why. You start out in your mother’s womb, and after birth, time starts ticking. Every breath draws you closer to death and yet, we tend to waste our entire life. There’s a purpose out here, waiting for us, but if we don’t start living for what God wants us to do, then what in the world are we here for? It’s better to start life young, and not wait until you’re eighty years old to live life the way you should. It’s hard to believe that life happens so quickly. You never understand why things happen the way they do. Sometimes you wish they never happened, but then you thank God it did happen. It’s hard to imagine what your life would have been like if you would have traveled down the other road, took another turn, or even just stopped like you were supposed to. Life can change in the blink of an eye or even be destroyed by the love of someone’s heart. No matter how hard life gets, you just keep on going.

I don’t know if I would ever change what happened that day. It happened so fast. It was as if I had known her my whole life. She was everything a man could ever want, not that there was anything wrong with the one I had. I loved her so much, but I wanted to make everyone happy. I couldn’t.

Sometimes life is like a puzzle, and you never know where the pieces fit. You try to put them together, but they just don’t fit. There are so many things in the world that you want, but you can’t have everything. This was different.

I knew it was wrong to fall in love with other women, but I couldn’t help it. It’s not that I didn’t love my wife, because I did. She was the world to me. We were both still so young, but we both were successful.

My wife and I were not married very long, but we had known each other our entire life. Both of our parents were wealthy, and we lived a luxury life. After I married my wife, we took a nice cruise on our honeymoon, and later received a call, telling us our parents were killed in a car crash. So as most couples would do, we immediately flew back home to be with the rest of the family. It’s sad to know that your children would never be able to know their grandparents.

Lynn and I inherited everything from our parents since we were the only children. I was still, trying to finish law school. I spent most of my hours studying. I had many exams coming up soon; so, I needed most of my time by myself. Inside my heart, I knew I should be spending time with my wife; but I kept telling myself that after the exams, we would spend more time together. We were expecting our first child, which my wife, Lynn, was very excited about. But the real mystery was if it was a boy or a girl. I wanted to have a boy so I could teach him how to play catch, fish, and be the father figure I never had while growing up. On the other hand, my wife, of course, wanted a girl. I guessed the reason was so she could have someone to talk to and share the emotional feelings that guys normally didn’t share. The doctor was the only one who knew if it was a boy or girl ’cause we wanted the sex to be a surprise. His first impression was that we were going to give the baby up for adoption. I’m still not sure why he thought we were going to do that, but we believed it had something to do with us both being so young. Our doctor was very embarrassed when we explained that we were not getting rid of our baby. I never even dreamed that there could be so much love between two young people, and it’s my fault though that it ended the way it did. But I never knew life could be so full of surprises.

Finally when the summer came, I finished my last exam, and we had our first child. On June 10, 1982, Jacob Tyler Banks was born to my beautiful wife, Lynn, and I, Tyler Banks. My entire future had been turned around forever.

Chapter 2

My first case was a disaster. I lost. Working so hard didn’t seem to pay off, but I honestly thought we could win this case. A man was proven guilty of cheating on his taxes, and it was my job to prevent this. Though I thought I worked hard, I let this man down. He was sentenced to paying the money back monthly and five years of probation.

After my case, I headed back to my office to pick up a few things before heading home. After getting into my car and driving home, I heard the thing that got on my nerves the most. It was my beeper. Looking down, I recognized the number as my wife’s number. While reaching for my cell phone, I didn’t stop at the stop sign. I guess you should always pay attention to what you’re doing and not worry about anything else. What I should have done was pull to the side of the road, but most men like me are too stubborn to do a thing like that. Instead, I was digging through my briefcase, and I hit the side of her car. Even though I wasn’t going very fast, it scared me half to death. We both got out of our vehicles, and I immediately apologized.

I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.

Don’t worry about it, it’s an old car to begin with. As a matter of fact, I’m late for work, so I should be going. My boss told me if I was late any more, then I would be fired.

Well, let me give you my information, and you can call me, and we’ll set this up with the insurance to let you get your car fixed.

I gave her my name and number and we both left. There was something about her that I didn’t understand. Why was she so calm when I hit her? Is everyone calm when someone hits their car? I could remember when my dad hit someone one day, and the man went crazy. Maybe because she was a woman it was different. As I was driving home, I decided I better call my wife and see what she wanted and tell her the news about hitting this car.

Hey, sweetheart. What is it that you needed?

Tyler is out of diapers, and I was wondering if you could go by the grocery store and pick some up before coming home.

Sure, no problem. You won’t believe what had just happened to me.

Trust me, there’s nothing that I won’t believe from you.

I was on my way home when you paged me, and I started digging for my cell phone. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, ran a stop sign, and I’m pretty sure you can figure out what happened next.

Please just tell me you’re not hurt ’cause I’m guessing you hit someone.

Bingo . . . You’re absolutely right. No one is hurt though.

Are you sure you’re OK?

I’m talking to you, aren’t I? I put a dent on the side of some woman’s car. I think she said her name was Debbie Thompson.

Was she upset about her car?

That’s the weird thing about this whole situation. She acted like it was her fault or something, but she was in a big hurry to get to work. She has all my information, and I told her to give me a call when she got in this afternoon.

Well, I’m just glad no one got hurt.

You have no idea how lucky I was, and I’m glad we’re both OK too. Hey, listen, I’ll see you when I get home in a little while.

All right then. Bye.

Bye.

I drove to the grocery store parking lot to stop and pick up diapers for the baby, and that’s when I saw her car, sitting in the parking lot. Maybe she worked here or something. She did look pretty young; so, she could still be in college or something and be working part-time. I parked next to her car, and I examined the damage. There was more damage to the car than I thought, but I knew I wasn’t going too fast. After walking into the grocery store and going to the aisle that carried diapers, I decided to see if I could find the girl I hit. After searching the store, I found that she wasn’t anywhere near, so I walked to the checkout lane. After placing my items on the counter, I noticed her. She was absolutely gorgeous. She was a lot prettier than I had remembered. When she turned around, I noticed that we both were staring at each other. For a moment, neither of us said anything at all, and then she broke the silence.

Mr. Banks, right?

Yes, but please, just call me Tyler.

I thought I recognized your name when you gave me your card, and I realized that you’re the new lawyer in town.

Yes, that would be me. Again, I’m sorry for the trouble that I have caused you, Ms. Thompson.

That’s all right. Accidents happen all the time. You never know when something like that is about to occur. In fact, my mother just had a wreck herself last week.

Really?

It’s true. If you were a cop in this town, you would know my mother just by her name. There’s no need to even see a driver’s license.

That’s funny. My roommate from college was training to be a cop.

Wow. We need them, that’s for sure.

His entire family is in the law enforcement. I wouldn’t be surprised if he married a woman who is already a cop.

Sounds like a great guy.

Yeah, he’s going to make a good cop. It’s nice to know than when you can wake up in the morning you look forward to going to work, because you love what you do. As a matter of fact, didn’t you say you had to be at work?

Well, to be honest, I was already late for work when we ran into each other. My boss fired me as soon as I came in.

I’m so sorry. This is my fault.

No, don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault. I didn’t like my job anyway, and besides, I was always late for work. I just need to find a new job.

At that moment, I didn’t know how to respond. I still don’t know what came over me, but there were so many things going through my head. I thought this was the right thing to do, so I decided to ask her. If I would have known what the future held for me, I would have changed my mind just for my kid’s sake.

Speaking of a job, I’m actually looking for a secretary that can handle a lot of my cases and keep me organized. Would you be interested?

Of course I am. This would be great for me. I would love to work for you. Thank you so much.

No, don’t thank me. Besides, it’s the least I could do for you since I have already ruined your day.

You might think that you ruined my day, but you sure have done a lot for me. Thank you so much.

You’re welcome.

We both walked to our cars and said our good-byes. I still didn’t know if I was doing the right thing or not. I wasn’t even for sure if she had any experience with being a secretary, but it was the least I could do. I wanted to help her out. Since it was the weekend, she wouldn’t start till Monday morning. I told her to give me a call, and we would discuss what time she would come in. I figured Monday morning at seven o’clock would be fine. Maybe that was a little too early.

When I finally got home, I told my wife about, running into Debbie. Debbie seemed like a nice young lady. She was still so young like me. I didn’t think that she was in college, so this was actually a good opportunity for her to take. I was actually glad that I had hired her because now I had someone who could keep up with all my work. This would even give me a chance to start coming home a few hours earlier than I normally came home. I didn’t think she was married because there was no wedding ring on her finger. She might have a boyfriend, but I didn’t think the job would keep her from her social life. I was actually excited that she was going to start working for me.

Chapter 3

Monday morning came, and Debbie was on time, which I wasn’t expecting to happen since she was usually late for her other jobs. The first thing I did was set her up in her own office, and I gave her keys to the building along with the security alarm codes. I had my own practice, so I could come and go as I pleased. For the most part, I think Debbie was pleased to navigate through the day on her own and not have a supervisor standing over her, telling her when her break time was.

Since I lost my first case, I didn’t expect to have too many customers any time soon. I had only been in my building for a month, and only one person had come to me for help. I had visitors, but I was not experienced; so, they went elsewhere. I started really cheap, thinking that people would come to me, and then I would eventually raise my fees after I was more qualified. Today, things started to pick up.

Our day started out really good. There were already six clients who wanted to talk to me; different needs, of course. Debbie was a very clever woman, and she made me sound like a very busy man. She talked to people, took their names and numbers, told them she would call them if I had an opening. At first, this didn’t seem to be a really good idea. It paid off though. I saw all of them that day, but they were all going to have to be worked on separately. I was pleased with her work, and she was a very organized person. I started her out with a pretty good hourly wage, and I told her I would raise her salary when my business started to get better. Debbie would receive a two-week paid vacation time, and she could use it throughout the year whenever she pleased.

Lunchtime came, and it was nice knowing that I wouldn’t have to leave my office. Debbie could go pick us up something to eat. When Debbie came into my office with our lunch, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. It wasn’t wrong for me to think she was gorgeous, but it was only her first day, and I already started to think about her.

During lunch, she did ask me about my family, and I told her about them and how much I really cared for my wife and son.

Wow, she sounds like a great wife.

Yeah, she’s a great woman. My little boy is not even a month old, and she seems to know what she is doing. My wife named him after her father, and his middle name after me and my dad. How about you, do you have anybody close to you?

Right now, I’m dating this guy. My best friend hooked me up with him. He’s really sweet, but I haven’t known him very long.

Do you love him?

I’m not sure right now. I mean, he seems like the type of guy who would say charming things, but he’s not. I’m looking for a man who can bring me surprises and make my life something worth living for. There are too many cruel men in this world, and I don’t know if I will ever find the right one. How did you meet your wife?

Let’s see, I met my lovely wife, Lynn, when her folks moved in next door. Lynn’s father and mine were businessmen, so they got along great, and the next thing I know we’re married. But our parents were actually killed while we were on our honeymoon.

Oh, I am so sorry.

It’s not your fault.

Is that what you two wanted, or was it your folks who wanted you to get married?

It was love at first sight, if that’s what you’re asking.

With neither one of us speaking, my office was very quiet. Not a sound in the room except for the grandfather clock, ticking back and forth. We ate our food quietly and found ourselves staring at each other. I was glad when I heard the phone ring in her office. At first, I thought maybe I was just imagining our stares, but it was definitely true. I found myself attracted to this woman, and I also believed she was attracted to me. I loved my wife very much, and I would have never broken her heart for anything, nor would I have ever done the same thing to my son. My family was the most important thing in my life, and I wanted to make sure they would have anything they ever wanted, no matter what the cost may be. I was willing to do my duty to support my family, no matter how cruel or wrong it may have seemed to be.

There’s so much in life, things ahead of you just waiting for your arms to be filled up with love, peace, and joy when you come home to your family. I love my little bundle of joy, Tyler, and my beautiful wife. Debbie, still had many years before she would settle down and have a family. It’s hard to do that when you’re young and can barely provide for your own family. I guess life is always full of surprises. What’s life if you don’t live it? You need to get out of the house and have some fun instead of staying inside, worrying about what’s going to happen next in your life or where you’re going. You get one shot in life to live it like you want to; don’t let your reputation ruin that for you. People may say things that may break your heart, but in the end, it all comes out to be OK. Everyone is placed on this earth for a reason, and I plan to find out what my purpose of life is. Everything and everyone is not an accident.

When the day finally ended, Debbie and I left the office and walked to our vehicles to go home. I got in my car, and I was staring in the passenger mirror. I watched her leave. Then it was like someone was taking over me. The next thing I knew, I was following her to her apartment, and I watched her as she got out of her car. Some man was waiting on her as she got to the door. He greeted her with a kiss, and then they held hands as they walked