Love Is More Than Skin Deep (A Hidden Hearts Novel Book 4)
Read Love Is More Than Skin Deep (A Hidden Hearts Novel Book 4) Online
Authors: Mary Crawford
Preview of Hearts of Jade (A Hidden Hearts Novel #4)
Preview of Sheltered Hearts (A Hidden Hearts Novel #2)
© 2016 Mary Crawford. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews – without permission in writing from its publisher, Mary Crawford and Diversity Ink Press.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products 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.
All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. I’m not associated with any product or vendor in this book.
Published on August 27, 2016, by Diversity Ink Press and Mary Crawford.
- ISBN-10:1-945637-02-1 • ISBN-13:978-1-945637-02-5 • ASIN: B01G7TAUKC
This book is dedicated to Judy Noble Cloud.
May those nineteen pictures you chose to share
while you were baring your soul to the world
start an awareness campaign bigger than your dreams
and save more lives than anyone can count.
Thank you for allowing me to use your
story as the vehicle to write mine.
My journey with skin cancer began over twenty years ago, in 1995. It was mainly a private journey, until the Fall of 2015. In September 2015, I had cancerous areas removed in what was my most invasive surgery to date. During the three-hour surgery, I had 23 places removed, ten by excision (meaning I had ten places on me that had stitches) and thirteen by laser. I was immobile for two weeks following the surgery, and I continue to have lasting effects from the skin cancer and surgery.
A month after that surgery, I made a private post on my Facebook page with a narrative of what I had been through with the surgery and recovery process and included pictures of me during various stages of recovery. A friend urged me to make the post public so he could share it, and after initially resisting, I agreed. What subsequently transpired was incredible – people shared the post, their friends shared the post, and businesses shared the post. Eventually, media outlets around the world picked up the post, and a local news station aired my story. People were talking about and becoming more informed about skin cancer – a cancer that although is the most common cancer in the United States, tends to remain relatively low on people’s radar.
It was through the sharing of the Facebook post that Mary Crawford saw it. Mary contacted me in February 2016 and asked if she could use my story as a storyline for one of her characters in an upcoming book. Mary explained that she donates 15% of her profits from each book to charity and that I would be allowed to choose the charity for this novel. I was thrilled that Mary wanted to help further awareness regarding skin cancer, and I am honored to choose The Skin Cancer Foundation (
www.skincancer.org
) as the charity for this book.
My hope is that you take good care of your skin – your future self will thank you. And I hope you enjoy
Love is More Than Skin Deep
!
Judy Noble Cloud
GRIPPING MY IDEA FOLDER IN my hand, I pause at the front door of Ink’d Deep. I can’t believe I’m being such a chicken about this. This isn’t even my first tattoo. This really cool chick, Delaney Jane, gave me my first one a couple months ago when I first found out that I would be part of a traveling teacher program this summer. Unfortunately, she told me that the design that I want on my back is not the type of work she does, so she passed me off to one of her colleagues. I hope whoever takes me on is as chill as she is. Delaney Jane and I really clicked and I’m afraid to trust someone new. I’ve heard that a piece as large as the one I want to get hurts a lot more than that little compass on my ankle bone. I take a deep breath and try to center myself. You know what they say — nothing ventured nothing gained. If it hurts a little, it will be a reminder of all that I have gone through to get the piece of paper that was the impetus for this tattoo.
I smile to myself.
That’s right. I earned a Masters Degree all by myself with nobody’s help.
I did that when nobody thought that I would be able to accomplish anything remotely close. So, what’s a little needle and ink on my skin? I can accomplish anything.
As I step into the shop, I’m struck by the vibe here. It’s distinctly masculine, but as always, there is a clear feminine heartbeat running through the whole business. A statuesque young woman walks toward me, her hair is ink black and down to her waist. I feel a tinge of envy. My hair is more like Ramen noodles. I’ve tried hair straighteners and flat irons to no avail. I went through a stage in high school where I tried to look like everyone else and all I ended up doing was frying my hair. If one more person calls me pocket-sized, I think I’ll go insane. Although being small was handy when I was younger, it doesn’t do me any favors now. It’s mortifying to have two college degrees and still be offered the children’s menu at a restaurant.
The woman extends her hand to me and greets, “Hello, welcome to Ink’d Deep, I’m Rogue Macklin. How can I help you?”
“Umm… Hi, I’m Shelby Lyons… Um… I think I’d like to get a tattoo of a dream catcher on my back,” I blurt as I let go of the death grip I’ve got on my idea folder and place it in front of her.
“You must be DJ’s client. She said you were all sorts of fun to work with. It’s nice to meet you. I can’t wait to see your ideas. I love drawing dream catchers,” she comments enthusiastically.
“Really? Delaney seemed a little freaked out by my design,” I reveal.
“I think it’s a matter of perspective, I love all that detail work and color. DJ hasn’t had quite as much time in the chair as I have. She’ll get more confident with stuff outside her wheelhouse after a while. She prefers to focus on old-school black and white art. The piece she did on your ankle is top-notch work, though.”
I grin at her as I respond, “It is, isn’t it? The 3-D effect in it is so spot on that some people actually reach out to touch it like it’s real.”
Rogue pulls out a couple of my drawings and compares them. “What do you have going on here?”
“See the watercolor effect in the drawing with the orange? I want that style, but I want the colors to be more blues, teals and purples. Is that even possible? Can I combine two designs like that?” I ask, hopefully.
Rogue shrugs as she pulls out a fresh sheet of paper and some colored pencils and starts to take some notes. “Shelby, it’s your tattoo, you tell me what
you
want. Close your eyes for a moment and tell me about the things that make you happy.”