THE WOMAN
HE LEFT BEHIND
BY PHILIP ANTHONY SMITH
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COPYRIGHT © 2024 PHILIP ANTHONY SMITH
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
DEATH
THE FOOL
THE LOVERS
THE HANGED MAN
WHEEL OF FORTUNE
THE TOWER
THE SUN
THE EMPEROR
TEMPERANCE
THE MOON
STRENGTH
THE MAGICIAN
THE HERMIT
THE CHARIOT
JUSTICE
THE HIEROPHANT
THE STAR
THE HIGH PRIESTESS
THE WORLD
JUDGEMENT
EPILOGUE
TRIGGER WARNINGS
This book does contain some challenging themes and references that some readers might find distressing. In order to preserve the mystery of the story, these have been listed at the end of the book. If you wish to check them before continuing, feel free, and please practice self care during and after reading.
For my angelic daughter Alyssa,
Although you are under one year old, you have just begun taking your first steps, and it’s an amazing feat to behold. As I am typing this, you have just crawled over to me, with an almost apparent eagerness to read what I have been typing.
Not a chance.
Try again in 18 years.
PROLOGUE
AMELIA - BEFORE
I touched the old oak doors delicately with my shaking hand and stroked the grain with my fingertips. Every single moment of what was about to happen had been planned meticulously, and every single detail was studied and prepared. Each possible eventuality was also precisely calculated. I’d spent so long thinking about this moment that it had occupied my every waking moment for over a year. I kept telling myself I needed to be present and not dwell too much on the past or the future, but there was a level of finality to what I’d agreed to do. Was I making the right decision? I hoped so. I never thought I would find myself here, in this very moment, touching the door to destiny. The choice to open the door or not was seemingly a simple one, although it was the last chance I would get to change the course of my entire life. What would my life look like if I didn’t go through with this? The anxiety hit me like a stinging slap in the face, and my breathing became shallow and laboured.
Remember, breathe.
A familiar hand touched my arm, and I turned to look at him. He was smiling, trying to be reassuring, but it did little to calm my nerves. I reciprocated with a feigned half-smile, and his smile widened in response. I turned back to the door; its indifference to my situation was warmly welcomed. In a moment of impulse, I pushed it slightly, but the door was heavier than I anticipated, and it remained stationary. His hand gripped my arm lightly to get my attention.
“You can do this,” he whispered.
I was on the precipice; those four words were all I needed to spur me into the decision. I pushed the door with conviction, and it creaked open ominously. The man I came here for was waiting for me patiently with his hands clasped together, his back to me, and completely unaware I’d just entered. I took a single, measured step over the threshold, and I was almost knocked off my feet by the dramatic blasts of an organ echoing off the walls. The melody made him turn, and his eyes locked dramatically with mine.
Harry.
His eyes brightened, and the signature cheeky smirk he was famous for spanned his face; it was infectious. I smiled back in an explosion of butterflies and warm blushes. Of course, it was the right decision, and I felt ridiculous for even questioning it for a single moment. I was in love with him, more in love than I had ever thought possible. Every anxiety and insecurity instantly evaporated the moment I laid my eyes on him. My stride grew quicker and longer in a subconscious effort to be with him as fast as possible, but the hand on my arm held me back slightly. I turned to its owner, Dad, and he didn’t have to utter a word. He was right. I should slow down and savour every fleeting moment; this would be the first and last time I ever did this.
The church looked exactly how I’d dreamt it would be. Each pew was adorned with bouquets of bright white flowers, each petal leaning into the intense sunshine beaming through the stained-glass windows. I’d dreamt of this moment since I was a little girl, though the identity of the man waiting for me at the end of the aisle had always been a mystery, which made me wonder whether if he really existed at all. But I’d found him, against all odds, and he found me. With each step forward, my anticipation grew, and every fibre of my being wanted to be with him forever. I reached Harry, and he leant in to give me a passionate kiss, but I turned my cheek, and he giggled slightly.
“You look absolutely breathtaking, Ames,” Harry whispered to me as I arrived.
“You don’t scrub up half-bad either,” I smirked.
