She Didn't Lose Control. She Let Go.

A memorable scene in Cold As Silk involves a sledgehammer.

That probably isn't the sort of sentence people expect to find in a contemporary romantic suspense novel, but it's one of my favourite moments in the book.

The scene begins with Eleanor clearing out her late husband's study. Years of memories, control and criticism are tied up in that room. By the time she's finished, only one thing remains: the desk that held so much significance during her marriage.

Then she reaches for a sledgehammer.

On the surface, it's a scene about destruction. In reality, it's about release.

What interested me while writing it wasn't the physical act of smashing a desk (although that was fun to write!). It was what that action represented for Eleanor. For years she had learned to hold everything in. Anger. Fear. Frustration. Hurt. She survived by enduring.

The sledgehammer scene is the moment she finally stops enduring.

Sometimes healing is quiet. Sometimes it's a conversation. Sometimes it's a new beginning.

And sometimes it's reducing an antique desk to splinters.

What follows is far more important than the destruction itself. Sitting amongst the wreckage, Eleanor finally begins to understand something she hasn't believed for a very long time:

He didn't break her. And now he never could.

It's a scene that readers have mentioned when talking about Eleanor's journey, and I think that's because most of us understand the feeling behind it. We all carry things we'd like to leave behind. We all have moments where we realise we're stronger than we thought.

Fortunately, most of us manage that without the need for heavy tools. 😄