“A love story that will stand the test of time.” – Amazon reader review
The story of a love which faced
many obstacles, Eli’s Heart is about
a brilliant young pianist who was born with a frightening congenital heart
condition, Tetralogy of Fallot. Refusing to give in to his heart, Eli first gave
it to music and then as a teenager, to a girl who later became his wife,
despite his mother’s best efforts. The Kindle edition of the book will be on
sale April 20 and 21 for ninety-nine cents.
Eli Levin was sixteen and Krissy
Porter was fifteen the summer they spent time together in her home town. When
he returned to New York, they corresponded for several months, then she
abruptly stopped answering his letters. Not long after that he returned to
perform Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the local symphony, and she
came backstage after the performance. She wanted to apologize to him in person
for what had happened; she had already done that in a letter. He seemed very
cool toward her, and she left and called her mother from the pay phone in the
lobby … only to have Eli come looking for her and invite her to go to dinner.
She tried to call her mother back but there was no answer.
NOTE: The year was 1953. If Krissy
had owned a cell phone, this would have been a very different story! This
excerpt takes place three years later as Eli is on a train, remembering the
last time he saw Krissy.
**********
“I’m to wait here
with you for a while, and if your mother comes before we have to leave, perhaps
you can come to dinner with us.”
Krissy smiled and
nodded. He could talk to her, at least for a little while. “It’s good to see
you again,” he said.
“I wasn’t sure you
thought that when I came backstage,” she said, a little archly. He had grown at
least four inches since he had last seen her, and she had to tip her head up to
look into his eyes.
“My sister told me
you weren’t coming,” he replied.
“Your sister didn’t
want me to come.” Eli thought it an odd comment, but let it pass.
“She thinks you
broke my heart,” he said with a smile, and Krissy didn’t return the smile. “But
I told her you couldn’t break my heart, because it’s already broken.” He laughed
at his own bad joke. Krissy smiled slightly, but she looked distressed.
“I never meant to
... I thought you were going to call me,” she said.
“You didn’t answer
my letter. That’s why I didn’t call.”
“But I did
write you,” she told him. “I don’t know why you didn’t get my letter. And Eli
... since you didn’t get my letter ... I need to tell you how sorry ...”
He cut her off. “It
doesn’t matter. You’re here now.” They smiled at each other. What he wanted to
do was grab her and kiss her. He saw a different look in her eyes; she was
looking up at him as if she adored him. They were standing close
together. He could easily have reached out and touched her, but he didn’t.
Rachel came to the
end of the hall, and called to him. “Eli, we have to leave.”
“Just a few more
minutes,” He said it to Rachel, but he never took his eyes off Krissy. Rachel
disappeared, and before long Eli and Krissy both realized he might have to
leave before her mother came to pick her up.
“I promise I’ll
write,” Krissy told him. “I want to hear all about everything you’re doing.”
Eli smiled. Seeing
her had made everything right. “I’d like that very much.”
They had a few more
minutes together, and Rachel came back and said, “Eli, we have to leave right
now.”
He looked at Krissy
and said, almost pleading with her, “Will you come?”
He saw the tears in
her eyes when she replied in a whisper, “I’m sorry. I can’t.” He turned
abruptly and walked away quickly, so she wouldn’t see the tears streaming down
his face.
Riding north on the
train, Eli relived all of this. His mother had insisted he not write Krissy
until she wrote him. She had to prove herself before he let her back in his
life. He didn’t receive a letter, and his mother’s “I told you so” attitude was
insufferable.
His mother wanted him
to give her Krissy’s letters so she could throw them away. He waited, and still
she didn’t write. Finally, he handed over her letters. But he had read them
endlessly and nearly memorized them. He still remembered bits and pieces.
After three years
he had learned Krissy had not broken her promise to him. What his mother had
done ... he couldn’t even put a name to what she had done. How must Krissy have
felt when her letters were returned? The worst thing was that she might have
believed he was the one who sent them back. He had a vivid memory of the way
she had looked at him the last time he saw her, the night he played the
Rachmaninoff concerto.
Somehow he had to
get in touch with her and let her know he’d just found out about the letters he
had never received.
Eli wasn’t sure
he’d ever speak to his mother again.
Eli's Heart, Kindle edition, will be on sale on Amazon for 48 hours beginning April 20. $0.99
url: http://tinyurl.com/zwz47we
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