{"id":37263,"date":"2021-10-21T13:14:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T17:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=37263"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:38:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:38:30","slug":"halloween-of-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=37263","title":{"rendered":"Halloween of the Heart (by SJR Cartwright)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It’s Halloween night.\u00a0 Things happen.\u00a0 Some things are special.\u00a0 And some are\u00a0 very\u00a0<\/i>special. Share this night with a woman in love and will soon have heart’s desire come true.\u00a0 Alternative Universe. Written for the 2021 Bonanza Brand Boonanza Challenge.<\/p>\n

Rating: T<\/p>\n

Word Count:\u00a0 1430<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

It was over.\u00a0 I was tired and glad the Happy Harvest Day celebration was finished.\u00a0 An annual tradition for five years now, the Harvest Day party had replaced the traditional Halloween festivities the children in my congregation had participated in until a tragedy devastated the church.\u00a0 The parents of the church had demanded \u2013 and received – a better, safer way for their children to have fun on Halloween, but without the witches, goblins, demons and poisoned candy.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, poisoned candy.\u00a0 Five years ago, one of the children in our congregation had been trick-or-treating with friends and parents and somewhere along the way had acquired a piece of deliberately poisoned candy.\u00a0 When the family came home later that night, the little girl had been allowed to eat a few pieces of the candy before bed.\u00a0 Within three hours, she was dead.<\/p>\n

I pulled into my driveway, tired and thinking of Candy.\u00a0 Yes, the child\u2019s name was Candy and I had known her since she was born.\u00a0 She was my goddaughter, the first-born child of my best friend and her husband.\u00a0 Since her death, Tish and Trevor had not been the same.\u00a0 Really, neither had I. No more children had been forthcoming for them.\u00a0 I still mourned for my friends and for the little girl that had so charmed my heart.\u00a0 I had spoiled her every chance I had.\u00a0 I wondered, for my friends\u2019 sake, if there would ever be another child for them \u2013 and for me.<\/p>\n

The garage door opened and the lights came on as I approached the entrance.\u00a0 Living in a rural suburb of \u201cranchettes\u201d was great; a wonderful combination of suburbia and country. I parked the car, sighed and leaned back on the headrest.\u00a0 The garage door hummed closed behind me.\u00a0 Inside the house, I collapsed into my big, comfy recliner.\u00a0 Perhaps I fell asleep.\u00a0 Perhaps not.\u00a0 Suddenly, I felt the languor drain away as a sweet awareness swept over me. He was calling to me.\u00a0 Eager to be with him, I went to the small stable where I kept Spectra, my white mare.\u00a0 Quickly putting on her bridle, I leapt onto her back and she headed out.\u00a0 I did not need to guide her for she knew where she was going, although I did not.\u00a0 She had felt the awareness, too.\u00a0 A warm October breeze swirled around us, leading us to him. My heart quickened its pace as her gait likewise quickened.\u00a0 He was a sensual magnet that drew me to him in hunger for that which only he could give.<\/p>\n

The moon was huge and white against the black, cloudless night as I approached the small ridge.\u00a0 There he was; a deep silhouette against the brilliant orb.\u00a0 Astride his horse, he remained still as Spectra and I beat a quick tattoo up the small rise to his side.\u00a0 I reined in across from him; his smile fueled my desire as he pulled me to him.\u00a0 His kiss was the sweet treat that no one else could match.\u00a0 I leaned into his embrace as far as I could, greedily meeting his lips with eagerness.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome with me,\u201d he said as he turned Sport downhill.\u00a0 Falling in beside him, we rode slowly, side by side, close enough to hold hands.\u00a0 We had no need of words.\u00a0 We shared occasional glances of joy to see each other again. I did not know where he was going; I did not care.\u00a0 All that mattered was he was here.\u00a0 He was with me.\u00a0 I needed him; wanted him.\u00a0 Somehow, he always knew when my need and desire were desperate, and always, he came to me then.\u00a0 It had been a long time since I had felt this happy.\u00a0 Since I felt at peace.<\/p>\n

He led us behind a thick stand of trees into a small glen. A little pond shimmered silver in the moon\u2019s illumination.\u00a0 He dismounted and came to my side.\u00a0 I slipped from Spectra into his arms.\u00a0 His embrace was strong; I needed his strength.\u00a0 For a time, we just stood there; his arms supporting me; his body warm against me.\u00a0 I sighed as he slowly, gently pulled away from me to look into my eyes.\u00a0 He could see the pain there.\u00a0 He would chase away the pain. He was the medicine for my aching soul.\u00a0 My own guardian angel; God\u2019s love gift to me wrapped in this special person and in this special time.<\/p>\n

We lay together in the rustling grass, leaves swirling softly all about us.\u00a0 We loved as we always loved; slowly, gently, carefully, meeting each other\u2019s needs in the unspoken ways that lovers do. My hurt melted away as the warmth of desire heated me with contentent, satisfaction and the most delicious happiness.\u00a0 Oh, how I wish I could find in reality what I found in this time of fantasy that seemed \u2013 and perhaps was – more than reality could ever be.\u00a0 Wrapped in his embrace, our legs and arms happily entangled, we kissed, murmured, nibbled and tasted.\u00a0 No confection of human making could ever be so sweet. No award-winning chef could create a recipe that was such delightful ecstasy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how deeply you hurt on this night; you and your friends.\u00a0 Your loss was great and the devastation deep.\u00a0 The cruel trick that was inflicted on all of you destroyed so much \u2013 and the healing seems so far away.\u00a0 But it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 I promise you a time for joy will come.\u00a0 A time of loving and healing.\u00a0 This is Halloween, a night \u2013 bad things can happen.\u00a0 But Valentine\u2019s Day is coming \u2013 it won\u2019t be this year, but the next year, there will be joy and loving.\u00a0 Trust me on this.\u201d\u00a0 His words confused me; I did not understand.<\/p>\n

Sweet childish laughter came from the far end of the glen.\u00a0 Rising on my elbows, his arms still around me, a saw a beautiful young girl dancing in the moonlight.\u00a0 Her blond hair floated in silvery locks as she twirled and whirled.\u00a0 Her pretty little dress belled around her as a colorful blossom blooms forth in spectacular hues.\u00a0 She stopped, smiled at me and gave a little wave.\u00a0 Blowing a kiss to me with her small hand, she skipped away into the night, her laughter following her delightful wake.<\/p>\n

I was stunned.\u00a0 I still did not understand.\u00a0 What had I just seen?\u00a0 Why had my heart danced within me as this lovely child had danced in the moon\u2019s light?\u00a0 I looked at him, questions in my mind and in my soul.\u00a0 This childish specter had seemed so very real and so very much alive.\u00a0 In those few moments my thoughts of Candy were far away.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t Candy.\u00a0 She is with God for now.\u00a0 It is not yet time for her to come to the ones who will be blessed by her love and her life.\u00a0 But this one, this beautiful angel you just saw will in the next year, come to Tish and Trevor.\u00a0 Her life will come into Trish from Trevor in June and she will enter their lives in February, on Valentine\u2019s Day to be exact. And you will, again, be a deliriously happy godmother.\u00a0 And, my special love, in a few years, an angel of your own will come to you and the man who is to be your happy destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was fully awake, nestled comfortably in my recliner, a soft blanket wrapped about me.\u00a0 In that strange time between being fully asleep and fully awake, I remembered everything that had happened.\u00a0 And everything that had been said.\u00a0 Then, I quietly drifted away again.<\/p>\n

The bright autumn sun awoke me with its warming beams. Something flitted in my mind and then was gone.\u00a0 I knew I had been with him.\u00a0 I knew we had loved in the moonlight.\u00a0 He had given me a promise \u2013 but what was it?\u00a0 I just could not recall what had been said.\u00a0 Yet, there was within me a quiet warmth and joy.\u00a0 I knew something, something special and wonderful had happened \u2013 or was it going to happen.\u00a0 I could not remember what it was.\u00a0 Yet, I knew \u2013 I knew \u2013 for there was a magic in my spirit; something that had not been there for a long time.<\/p>\n

Halloween was over.\u00a0 November 1st<\/sup> was here.\u00a0 Time to get up and get busy on this first day of a new month.\u00a0 What was in the night was special, not just because it was Halloween, but not just any Halloween.\u00a0 It was a special night.\u00a0 A special Halloween of the heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tags:\u00a0 Adam Cartwright,\u00a0Magic<\/p>\n

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Summary: It’s Halloween night.\u00a0 Things happen.\u00a0 Some things are special.\u00a0 And some are\u00a0very\u00a0special. Share this night with a woman in love and will soon have heart’s desire come true.\u00a0 Alternative Universe. Written for the 2021 Bonanza Brand Boonanza Challenge.
\nRating: T Word Count:\u00a01430<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11445,"featured_media":1228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1005,7,23,41,3,40],"tags":[1060],"class_list":["post-37263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adam-cartwright","category-a-u","category-drama","category-hurtcomfort","category-romance","category-challenges","tag-boonanza-challenge","wpcat-1005-id","wpcat-7-id","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-41-id","wpcat-3-id","wpcat-40-id"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":811,"today_views":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/bonanza2.jpg?fit=720%2C475&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37274,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=37274","url_meta":{"origin":37263,"position":0},"title":"Halloween Silly (by SJR Cartwright)","author":"SJRCartwright","date":"October 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: The silliest things can happen.\u00a0 Halloween is a perfect time for nonsense.\u00a0 The Cartwrights had some special guests for their dinner this night. 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