Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Violet’s Present
    Violet’s Present
    Violet’s Present
    Ebook55 pages1 hour

    Violet’s Present

    By Kim Fielding

    4.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    When Matt’s Great-great-aunt Violet dies, she leaves him a precious gift: a photo album he loved as a child. Then Matt starts having dreams—very good dreams—about Joseph, one of the men in the pictures from the 1940s. One morning when Matt wakes up, the bruises are still there. Could there be more to Violet’s present than he thought?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamspinner Press
    Release dateJun 1, 2012
    ISBN9781613726525
    Violet’s Present
    Author

    Kim Fielding

    Kim Fielding is pleased every time someone calls her eclectic. Her books span a variety of genres, but all include authentic voices and unconventional heroes. She’s a Rainbow Award and SARA Emma Merritt winner, a LAMBDA finalist, and a two-time Foreword INDIE finalist. She has migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States and currently lives in California, where she long ago ran out of bookshelf space. A university professor who dreams of being able to travel and write full-time, she also dreams of having two daughters who occasionally get off their phones, a husband who isn’t obsessed with football, and a cat who doesn’t wake her up at 4:00 a.m. Some dreams are more easily obtained than others. Blogs: kfieldingwrites.com and www.goodreads.com/author/show/4105707.Kim_Fielding/blog Facebook: www.facebook.com/KFieldingWrites Email: kim@kfieldingwrites.com Twitter: @KFieldingWrites

    Read more from Kim Fielding

    Related to Violet’s Present

    Related ebooks

    Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Radical Class Consciousness of Queer Regency Romance

      Jun 29, 2022

      Queer desire threatens the logic of all forms of social hierarchy. The post The Radical Class Consciousness of Queer Regency Romance appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Oat Grass

      Jun 25, 2020

      Oat Grass
      4 min read

    • Article

      Re-Imagining Masculinity

      Jun 10, 2019

      Re-Imagining Masculinity
      4 min read

    • Article

      Mammy Dearest

      Mar 20, 2022

      Noelle McCarthy, the broadcaster, podcaster and journalist, has two obsessions: her mother and Dracula. She has written a memoir, Grand: Becoming my mother’s daughter, in which both characters flounce across the pages, one with fangs wearing a cape,

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Language of Love

      Jun 5, 2020

      The Language of Love
      5 min read

    • Article

      An Unexpected Gift

      May 24, 2022

      An Unexpected Gift
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cycles

      Nov 10, 2022

      His online profile was promising: good hair, straight teeth, college degree. And he was nice-looking too, in his photo anyway, standing on a clifftop with the sun rising over his welldefined, muscular shoulder. He was attractive enough, the kind of u

      18 min read

    • Article

      Death On The Limpopo

      Sep 16, 2019

      Death On The Limpopo
      5 min read

    • Article

      Just Passing

      Aug 17, 2020

      Zoe cracks the curtain in the bay window and watches as he bounces from one foot to another in the cold. Tap, tap, tap, he goes at the letterbox. But she shouldn’t even let him in. He’s trouble. He throws his arms out and shouts through the glass: “S

      5 min read

    • Article

      Happy Endings

      Sep 1, 2023

      Happy Endings
      5 min read

    • Article

      AUNT MAUD’S SECRET Part 1

      Sep 1, 2021

      “WHAT! SERIOUSLY?” “Settle down, Martin,” said Ms. Phelps as she poured herself a second mug of coffee that morning. She sat down at the kitchen table, gently blowing on the steam. “Aunt Maud is so excited about her visit and really looking forward

      6 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Shape Of A Person

      Oct 20, 2022

      The Shape Of A Person
      25 min read

    • Article

      Counter Waves

      Oct 23, 2020

      Counter Waves
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Inherited Imagination

      Aug 18, 2020

      The Inherited Imagination
      9 min read

    • Article

      When I Say Goodbye

      May 31, 2018

      When I Say Goodbye
      16 min read

    • Article

      The Ones We Sent Away

      Aug 7, 2023

      The Ones We Sent Away
      47 min read

    • Article

      Ice cream DREAMS

      Jul 28, 2021

      Ice cream DREAMS
      8 min read

    • Article

      Remembering My Mother

      May 20, 2021

      Remembering My Mother
      4 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Writing On THE WALL

      Apr 6, 2021

      The Writing On THE WALL
      6 min read

    • Article

      Our forgotten TREASURES

      Jul 7, 2021

      Our forgotten TREASURES
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Violet’s Present

    4.5/5

    7 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Matt attends his great-aunt Violet’s funeral with his mother. After the funeral his mother gives him Violet’s photo album that he loved from childhood in Kim Fielding’s VIOLET’S PRESENT. Matt always looked at the photos of his ancestors and was fascinated by a cousin of Violet’s, Joseph who died in WWII. Matt returns home with the photo album and begins dreaming of Joseph.VIOLET’S PRESENT is a poignant story of a young man who did not have the opportunity to live before being sent off to war. In Matt’s dreams they meet and share passion. I hoped that they would have a chance but I could not see how they could as the men were of different generations. What Kim Fielding gave me though was a magical story that gave me the ending for which I had hoped would happen. I loved the story and the characters. I feel blessed for the opportunity to have shared in their story.

    Book preview

    Violet’s Present - Kim Fielding

    Violet’s Present

    THE funeral was a small one. Aunt Violet—really, Great-great-aunt Violet—had long since outlived her husband, her only daughter, and most of her friends. Her more distant relatives lived too far away to do more than send flowers. She had spent the past few years confined to Pleasant Valley Nursing Home, waiting patiently for her body to catch up with her mind’s wish to move on. Matt had said his goodbyes to Aunt Violet months earlier, when he’d visited her in the home, and he hadn’t really intended to fly back to Nebraska for the service. But his mother had been tearful on the phone, and when Matt realized that she needed someone to stand at her side, he'd booked the next flight to Omaha. The airfare took a good chunk out of his savings, but it was worth it when he stood at the graveside, his mother’s hand clutching his, her teary eyes looking at him gratefully.

    After the funeral, he took her out to dinner at Olive Garden, which wouldn’t have been his choice, but she adored the place. She liked to gobble the breadsticks and salad and then bring most of her entrée home, where it would last her for at least another two meals. Matt, however, simply picked at his grilled chicken and wished he were already back in Oakland.

    You look tired, Matty.

    Jet lag.

    But it’s only two hours earlier in California. Her blue eyes were as sharp as ever. What’s wrong? You’re not upset about Aunt Violet, are you? She had a good life, and it was her time.

    I know, Mom. He took a sip of his iced tea and wished for something stronger.

    It’s that Brandon, isn’t it? She always called him that Brandon, her lips pursed disapprovingly. She had never even met him but had long ago concluded that he wasn’t good enough for her son.

    I told you. Brandon and I broke up four months ago. Four months, one week, and two days, but who’s counting?

    But you haven’t moved on. Come on, Matty. You’re twenty-seven years old, you’re very handsome, and you have a good job. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, and most of them are lots better than that Brandon. But you can’t expect them to just hop into your net. When was the last time you went out somewhere?

    He supposed there were worse fates in the world than to be stuck at a chain restaurant in Omaha, discussing his sex life with his mother, but he couldn’t think of any just then. I’m not a hermit, Mom. Vanessa and I went for drinks after work on Friday.

    Unless you’re switching teams, that’s not what I’m talking about and you know it.

    Some of Matt’s gay friends envied his family’s acceptance of his sexual orientation and wouldn’t believe him when he said there were downsides. Like when he came home the summer after his freshman year in college and outed himself to his mother, and then three days later she and his Aunt Violet tried to set him up with Aunt Violet’s gardener. Carl was a nice guy, but huge, hairy, and prone to leather and tattoos. So not Matt’s type.

    I just want you to be happy, Matty, his mother said, interrupting his brief and unpleasant reverie.

    I am happy, Mom. Really. Just tired, is all.

    She made a face that said she didn’t believe a word, but then the waiter arrived with the dessert menu and she changed the subject, instead involving him in a debate as to whether she should order the tiramisu or the mousse cake.

    He drove them back to her one-bedroom condo in his rented Ford and walked her to the door, carrying her bag

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1