Roses in the Dark

Eight years ago Doreen Carlson married Esteban Pereira, the owner of a nightclub and head of the distinguished and honorable Pereira family whose Spanish ancestors date back centuries. From the moment she walked into his nightclub during a vacation in Panama and caught his attention, Esteban relentlessly courted her. Her formal upbringing had not prepared her for his irresistible Latin charm, or his magnetism and suave manner. Doreen, wealthy and refined, herself hailing from a distinguished family in the Hudson River Valley in New York State, succumbed to his charms. They married and for a short time she was ecstatically happy, but their efforts to conceive children met with failure and she can no longer abide living in an old custom world environment. She is determined to leave Esteban and return to the States. Esteban's villa on his huge and elegant estate also houses his younger twin siblings, Ramon and Rosaria, and his grandmother, an honorable matron steeped in Old World traditions. Doreen feels she is suffocating. Although she is free to come and go as she pleases within Panama City, Esteban will not allow her to work, nor is she permitted to visit his club. He uses the excuse that attendance at the club does not befit a Pereira spouse, but Doreen cannot see the sense of his reasoning and suspects there is a darker reason. When she attempts to return to the States, Esteban stops her, confiscating her passport and the keys to her car. Esteban deeply loves Doreen and he has no intention of letting her go. He wants desperately to solve their problems and rekindle the happiness they originally shared, but he does not believe that her returning to the States is the answer. Matters worsen when Doreen defies Esteban and visits the club and meets Elena, the stripper who nightly performs at his nightclub. Very soon Doreen's suspicions come close to confirmation that Elena is Esteban's mistress.... About the AuthorDorothy Paula Freda, is also known under her pen names Paula Freda and Marianne Dora Rose. Herbooks range from Fiction and Non-fiction Adventure, Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Poetry, Articles, Essays and How-to-Write Instructional complete with Lessons and optional assignments.Homemaker, mother of two grown sons, and former off-the-desk publisher of a family-oriented print small press, (1984 thru 1999), The Pink Chameleon, that she now publishes on line, Paula was raised by her grandmother and mother, and has been writing for as long as she can remember. Even before she could set pencil to paper, she would spin her stories in the recording booths in the Brooklyn Coney Island Arcades for a quarter per 3-minute record. She states, "I love the English language, love words and seeing them on display, typed and alive. A romantic at heart, I write simply and emotionally. One of my former editors kindly described my work, '...her pieces are always deep, gentle and refreshing....'" Paula further states, "My stories are sensitive, deeply emotional, sensual when appropriate, yet non-graphic, family fare, pageturners. My hope is that my writing will bring entertainment and uplift the human spirit, bring a smile to your face and your soul, and leave you filled with a generous amount of hope."