Ann and her husband, Bobby, are from generations of coal miners in Southern West Virginia. When Bobby joins their ranks and begins working underground, the reality of the dangerous mining conditions haunts her. She recalls, with great anxiety, watching her father, who suffered with Black Lung, fight to take his last breath. Ann experiences much turmoil and many losses in her life. She has loved and been loved; has been both cherished and abused; and, she has faced extreme loneliness and despair, yet is able to find great happiness working with students. She has easily loved others, but not herself. This heartfelt story follows Ann’s tremendous journey to not only love again, but most importantly, to love herself.
A JOURNEY OF LOVE & SELF DISCOVERY
“Breathe Easy is a tale of struggle and hardship, set in the mountains of West Virginia—the story of a young woman who experiences love and loss but remains true to her roots and her family traditions. Ann Montgomery has extraordinary gifts as a teacher. Life presents a series of challenges that she overcomes with grace and strength. This is a journey tale and bildungsroman that will hold every reader’s attention but will speak particularly to young adult readers about the importance of holding steady and never giving up.” —DR. S. BAILEY SHURBUTT
Shepherd University Distinguished Professor of English, Emerita
TA M M Y D O N A H U E
TA M M Y D O N A H U E is a schoolteacher and speaker. She is the author of two multi-award-winning children’s books, Dr. Darcey and A Kindergarten Story. Both are also Mom’s Choice Award Honorees. She graduated from Marshall University and received her Master’s Degree from the University of Virginia, an Education Specialist’s Degree from Virginia Tech, and her Doctorate Degree from the University of Virginia. She is the recipient of the Excellence in Education Award – West Virginia Council for Teachers of English (2020), Excellence in Writing Award – West Virginia Council for Teachers of English/National Writing Project (2019), and Excellence in Education Award – Raleigh Register-Herald (2019). Breathe Easy is her first novel. For more information visit www.TammyDonahue.com
TA M M Y D O N A H U E
Breathe Easy A Journey of Love & Self Discovery
Tammy Donahue
Publisher Page
an imprint of Headline Books
Terra Alta, WV
Breathe Easy: A Journey of Love & Self Discovery by Tammy Donahue copyright ©2026 Tammy Donahue All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents, except where noted otherwise, are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any other resemblance to actual people, places or events is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any other form or for any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage system, without written permission from Publisher Page. To order additional copies of this book or for book publishing information, or to contact the author: Headline Books, Inc. P.O. Box 52 Terra Alta, WV 26764 www.HeadlineBooks.com mybook@headlinebooks.com Publisher Page is an imprint of Headline Books ISBN 13: 9781958914731 Library of Congress Control Number: 2025937782
P R I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D S TAT E S O F A M E R I C A
To Frank, August, Franklin, and Dale... Thank you for loving me the way I am and for helping me breathe easy.
1 It was the Fourth of July, and dusk was settling in at the Montgomery home. Lightning bugs danced through the air, their glowing bottoms twinkling like chartreuse-colored stars flickering through the open space between the earth and sky. Cicadas chirped sweet songs of summer, and somewhere close by, frogs croaked in and out of sync in their low, hoarse tones. The Montgomery family happily shared a space with these delightful creatures and spent many hours enjoying their company and watching them work and play. They often saw graceful deer families loping across the lawn with their long, powerful legs and flitting white tails. In early summer, young fawns, covered with white spots, often closely followed their mothers. It was an especially beautiful sight to see the youngest fawns, safely bedded down and hidden to avoid predators, peer through brush and grass as they awaited nourishment from their mother. Other inhabitants included the occasional big-bellied, lazy, slow-moving groundhogs and the not-so-welcome bushy-tailed skunks that were rarely seen but, upon sight, inspired others to run away quickly and sometimes made their presence known in the most unpleasant of ways. The Montgomery family lived in Bradley, a small rural town in southern West Virginia, about halfway between Beckley and Fayetteville. The busy but peaceful evening was suddenly interrupted when Smokey, Ann Montgomery’s blue merle Shetland 5
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Sheepdog spotted a late model, black Ford pickup truck that seemed to be inching its way toward their home. At first, he whimpered and whined. Then, in what seemed like less than an instant, his whining began to rise to a crescendo and turned to yelping. Within seconds, the yelping escalated to such loud barking Ann nearly jumped out of her skin. At once, Smokey’s herding instincts set in, and he began circling the yard. He was warning Ann and her parents that someone was approaching. His eyes, one blue and one brown sparkled with excitement, and he never lost sight of the vehicle that was carefully crawling over the rough, overgrown, partly gravel road leading to the home of Bill and Violet Montgomery and their teenage daughters, Ann and Cindy. Ann stood up and quickly brushed the dirt off the seat of her blue and white pin-striped cotton pants that reached nearly to her ankles. She squinted her eyes, hoping to see better, but still was unable to make out who was coming down the road. She then created makeshift binoculars with her hands, hoping to get a better view. She had learned in Mr. Tolliver’s science class that this helped her focus in on far away objects. It blocked out light rays that were coming in from several angles and only allowed the rays that were coming straight toward her eye to enter. Basically, her eyes didn’t have to work as hard to see far away objects. She thought this was cool and used this method often when she was struggling to see something in the distance. It always amazed her how much better she could see. Right now, though, she was trying to figure out who was coming to their house. The Montgomery family rarely had visitors, but Ann knew that whoever was heading down that road was surely coming to see them because the road dead-ended at their house. As far as Ann knew, no one had mentioned anything about company. The Montgomery family had agreed to set aside this day as a workday. She and her parents planned to get a bunch of things done outside in the yard and garden. Cindy was going 6
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to stay inside and get all the housekeeping chores done and the family’s laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away. There was a lot to do around the yard like mowing, trimming, and raking. And there was a good bit of watering to do in the flower and vegetable gardens. Ann, however, would spend most of her time in the gardens pulling weeds and plucking off the dead leaves and wilted brown petals and blooms on the plants and flowers. Only the thriving parts of the plants were left to flourish. She had often heard people complain about pulling weeds, and to many gardeners, weeding was their least favorite thing about gardening, but she loved to see the obvious difference her work made. After she cleared a spot, she enjoyed running her hands over the pristine soil and sifting it between her fingers. She didn’t wear flowery gardening gloves to protect her hands and nails, so when she finished, her hands were dirt-stained, and her fingernails were caked with dark soil underneath them. It took her a long time to get them clean, even using a small brush and lots of soap and hot water, but it was worth it to Ann, because she felt that gloves diminished the benefits she gained from interacting with the fertile soil. When Ann worked in the dirt, she felt happier and calmer. It gave her a positive energy. And its sweet, earthy smell was evocative. Plus, bending over for so long to pull weeds was awfully hard on her mom’s back, and Ann couldn’t stand to see her mom suffer. So, she was more than happy to do the weeding. Mr. Montgomery said that today he would be gathering some greens, tomatoes, and sweet peppers from the garden. Ann figured this meant her mom would be preparing a tossed salad for lunch on Sunday. She could hardly wait. For just a moment, Ann stood still. She was in a trance-like state as her thoughts drifted. She was thinking about her mom’s delicious salad. She envisioned the perfectly cool and delicious taste of a fresh salad prepared with crunchy cucumbers, tender lettuce, juicy tomatoes, and other goodies from the garden, then drenched in vinegar 7
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and oil her mom poured into beautiful little crystal cruets that she kept on the dining room table. These tantalizing thoughts were interrupted, however, when Ann suddenly felt a stream of water oozing from her mouth. She took the back of her hand and quickly wiped the drool from her lips, feeling a little embarrassed and hoping no one had witnessed what had just happened. The bounty of their garden brought Ann great joy. When her dad brought a mess of green beans in from the garden in one or more of the wooden baskets, she and her mom strung and snapped them. This was a special time for Ann. She felt at peace with the world. She enjoyed this time with her mom. She felt very close to her mom when they worked together, stringing and snapping beans. It was a comforting task for her. She didn’t have to concentrate on what she was doing. It was easy, uncomplicated, and natural. Her mind was free from worry. These were good times. Ann found a long bean with two or three little bumps. She slipped her fingernail into the top of the bean and pulled back. It would be the start of the string. She pulled it to the end of the pod, the thin thread curling up as it progressed. Next was the snap. Ann found a spot between the lumps. The lumps were the little white seeds inside the green pods. With both hands, she snapped the bean into two parts. A frown filled her face and she breathed a heavy sigh if the bean wasn’t crisp enough to break, and she had to tear it rather than snap it. Tearing, rather than snapping, was so very disappointing to her. She couldn’t hear the snap, and the break wasn’t nice and even. When this happened, sometimes one of the tender white seeds was exposed, and Ann didn’t like that. Sometimes Ann and her mom sat for hours out on the front porch, talking nonstop about anything and everything while they prepared the beans. Many times, as evening approached, they moved inside and continued stringing and snapping while 8
Tammy Donahue
they watched a good show or movie on television. Either way, it was something Ann loved doing with her mom. When the beans had been strung and snapped and all the little curls and parts with bad spots had been placed in a brown paper bag and thrown away, Ann’s mom rinsed them well and dumped them in a pot. She added water until they were covered and then about a quart or so more and salted them, being careful not to add too much. She added a ham bone to the pot, brought it all to a boil, then reduced the heat and let it simmer for hours, stirring every once in a while with a long-handled wooden spoon her grandpa had made in his wood shop. Ann loved the scents that wafted through their home as the beans gently boiled. The fresh green beans were delicious with fried chicken and creamy mashed potatoes with a hunk of butter slowly melting on top. The butter formed a small pool on top of the potatoes and then slipped down the sides of the heap like little tributaries. And Mrs. Montgomery’s coconut cream pie with a toast-colored fluffy meringue was the perfect ending to a perfect meal. It was smooth and cool as it gently slid down Ann’s throat, giving her just the right amount of sweetness and crunchiness to enjoy and savor. Ann and her family loved working outside their house. Well, everyone except Cindy. She was content to stay inside and wash dishes and do laundry and do pretty much everything else that needed to be done inside their home when the rest of the family was doing all the outside chores. So, the distribution of chores worked out well and everyone was happy. Cindy and Ann weren’t much alike. Cindy enjoyed being alone. She often read books and magazines and kept to herself while everyone else was doing something outside in the yard or the garden. She had a lighted mirror that she kept on her dresser. She could sit for hours and experiment with different shades of eye shadow and eyeliner and practice styling her hair. Sometimes she put on a bathing suit, covered herself with baby oil, and lay out on a blanket listening to the radio until her skin was red 9
Breathe Easy
and sore. It was her hope that the burn would eventually turn to a nice bronze color like the one on the advertisements for a popular brand of suntan lotion. In the ad, there was a little girl wearing a two-piece bathing suit. There was a small dog tugging at the bottom of the girl’s swimsuit. It managed to pull a little of her swimsuit bottom down and exposed her white bottom. Most of the time, though, Cindy used the baby oil. She thought it was cheaper and faster. Ann was just the opposite. She liked working outside, she didn’t like being alone at all, and she never wore makeup. Ann usually was a nice brown color in the summer, but she never lay in the sun. She got her tan from working and playing outside. She rarely even looked in a mirror. Once, a long time ago, her grandfather had scolded her for what he called “primping.” Her grandpa ran a poultry farm, and Ann often accompanied him in his old blue Dodge van to deliver eggs to his customers. She had been waiting for him while he stood on the front porch and talked to Mrs. Gilmore for several minutes. So, she began gazing in the long, rectangular side-view mirror while she waited, probably more out of boredom than anything else. Ann’s heart dropped and her face flushed when her grandpa corrected her, saying, “Don’t stare in the mirror like that!” This was the only time she had ever been admonished by him, and she was embarrassed. After that, she rarely looked in a mirror for more than a couple of seconds. She used it to brush her teeth and quickly check her hair. That was it. At one point in the day, Ann slipped away from weeding and other yard work. She was ready to do her favorite outdoor chore. She loved to thoroughly and meticulously clean the birdbath on the front lawn. She used an abrasive powder and a scrub brush to remove all the stains. She lifted the heavy bowl from the pedestal stand and placed it on the ground. She then turned the brass spigot handle that stuck out of the cinderblocks beneath her house to get the water flowing into the long vinyl hose attached to it. She 10
Tammy Donahue
watched the green hose take form and slither like a garden snake as it quickly filled with water. She placed her thumb over the end of the hose to make it spray and create a more powerful stream. She rinsed the heavy concrete bowl with the fresh, cool water from the garden hose. Last, she carefully placed the bowl back on the stand and began filling it with clean water. She watched the cool water ripple as the bowl filled. Then, Ann stood back and admired how beautiful the newly cleaned birdbath looked. Ann’s face brightened and she giggled out loud as she watched the birds splash in the clean water then quickly flutter their wings to dry. They flew to the birdbath almost immediately after she cleaned and refreshed it. She imagined that the beautiful birds, usually robins, but sometimes cardinals or blue jays, were perched in the trees secretly watching her. She felt like they were waiting excitedly, but patiently, for her to get their clean water ready for them before they swooped in to begin their bath. Ann and her sister had planned to celebrate their nation’s birthday later that evening. Around dark, they would lie on Cindy’s bed, munch some hot popcorn and sip sweet, iced tea through their new, swirly, pink and white crazy straws. They would watch the local fireworks display from Cindy’s bedroom window. There was a drive-in movie theater about half a mile down the road. On clear nights, Cindy and Ann could see the huge white screen, and if it was quiet enough, they could hear the sounds from the heavy speakers that patrons hung on their car windows. Every year there was a small display of fireworks there at the drive-in movies on the 4th of July, and Cindy’s bedroom window offered a perfect spot for viewing them. “You guys expecting company?” Ann curiously asked her parents. They both shook their heads no and kept working, not missing a beat. It would soon be fully dark, and they needed to get everything finished up so they could get inside and cool off. Then, for just a second, Mr. Montgomery looked up from his 11
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work. He fixed his eyes on the approaching vehicle and followed it as it moved along. He wiped the sweat that was beaded up on his forehead with the dingy, once white handkerchief he took from his shirt pocket. Then, with great precision, he forcefully spat a long stream of tobacco juice that landed, just as he had intended, on the stack of river rocks piled about three feet high at the edge of the yard. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery had been collecting river rocks for a while now. Sometimes, out of what seemed to Ann to be the clear blue sky, Mr. Montgomery would announce that he was heading out to get some river rocks. No one complained about the short notice, though, and in a flash, the whole family would pile in his blue Ford truck and drive down to the Greenbrier River near Hinton in Summers County. Ann’s dad searched for a great spot that allowed him to get as close as possible to the river, then pulled down carefully and parked on the bank. Everyone hopped out, and Mr. Montgomery let down the tailgate on the truck. While the rest of the family waited on the bank, Mr. Montgomery waded out in the river and searched for nice, smooth, flat rocks. Rocks that had banged against each other and chipped away over thousands, maybe even millions, of years. He tried to find them in a variety of shapes and sizes and in various shades of grey, yellow, and brown, like the shell on the small box turtle Smokey once spotted and took a little bite of and then promptly threw up in the flower garden. Ann’s dad took lots of time to find precisely the rocks he was looking for. Ann knew that he already had a picture in his mind of exactly what he wanted and needed for the project he was planning. Mr. Montgomery had promised to make Ann’s mom a nice patio from the river rocks he collected. Ann could hardly wait to see the finished job. Her dad did an excellent job at everything he attempted. He was a bit of a perfectionist, and Ann was very much like him. He nearly had enough rocks to do the job now. So, it 12
Tammy Donahue
wouldn’t be too long before he would start constructing Mrs. Montgomery’s patio in the back yard. When he found a rock that he thought would work well in the patio, Mr. Montgomery began to ready himself to lift it from the riverbed. He planted his feet so that his legs were even with his shoulders. He then shifted his weight and gingerly bent his knees. They were usually stiff and sore from crawling on the hard floor of the mines for years, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. He was used to feeling the pain. Next, he stooped over and lifted the heavy rock out of its resting place in the riverbed, grunting some as he straightened his back. Ann could see the mud rise quickly and cloud the water like a genie released from its bottle as her dad lifted the rock from the place where it had most likely been resting for years and years. Then, carefully holding the big, cumbersome rock out in front of him, he carried it and trudged through the river and onto the bank. When he reached the truck, he carefully lugged each of his newfound rocks in the back, one at a time. He stacked the rocks just a couple of feet high. He was being cautious not to crack or damage any of them. Ann’s dad worked by himself to find the best rocks and then carry and load them. Waiting never bothered Ann, though. While she waited, she sat on the riverbank and took in all the surroundings. She found it peaceful listening to the river’s calm sounds as it moved gracefully downstream and gently and rhythmically lapped upon the bank. She observed the little ripples from water striders as they skated on the river’s surface, an occasional fish jumping out of the water catching a fly, floating tree branches, and the blue-, green-, and purple-colored dragonflies with swiftly moving iridescent wings buzzing and darting around, sometimes dipping into the water for just a second. But most of all, she loved to watch her dad work. She was amazed at how strong he was. The rocks he gathered were huge and heavy. He liked doing this kind of work though. It was difficult work but seemed to be relaxing for him. Ann figured he enjoyed working 13
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out in the fresh air and in wide, open spaces that were outside rather than working thousands of feet underground, crawling in the dark, closed-in spaces in the mines. The Montgomery family made several trips to the river over the years. Ann’s dad stood back and looked over the rocks in the truck bed. He felt pretty good about today’s haul and knew he could only bring home a few rocks at a time if he wanted to protect his precious cargo. He seemed to be satisfied with the rocks he had collected and stacked. So, it was time to start heading home. Ann noticed that her dad’s pickup was so loaded down it had begun to hang low to the ground. This somehow reminded her of her mom’s beautiful white peonies that grew too heavy for their stems. They had huge, gorgeous white blooms with large, close-fitting petals arranged in multiple layers. Unfortunately, though, as these elegant blooms matured, they grew so heavy they drooped. The stems weren’t strong enough to support the weight, so Ann and her dad had to stake them up. On the way home, Ann and her dad rolled down the windows in the truck. Mr. Montgomery rested his elbow on the window frame of his door and the breeze poured through the truck and tussled Ann’s hair about. Ann turned the radio dial to WWNR, an AM station in Beckley. The DJs played good music, and she and her mom discussed some of the song lyrics. Then, Ann grew sleepy and lay her head on her mom’s lap. She quickly dozed off, hearing faint sounds from the radio. Something awakened her. She paused for a moment and glanced over at her parents. She smiled. She saw her dad plant a tender kiss on her mom’s cheek. Her mom giggled. Her dad was beaming, his face glowing with delight. Ann didn’t witness a lot of tender moments like this between her mom and dad. It felt good to see them happy. “Whew! It must have got to a hundred degrees out here today!” Mr. Montgomery said. “Just got that one row left to finish, and I’m headin’ straight for the house. Want to sit down and watch somethin’ good on the TV!” “Fan’s gonna feel just 14
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right!” he added. A tiny grin then emerged on his face. He now recognized the truck rolling past him. He casually announced, “I think that’s Bobby driving up...David and Linda’s boy. Wonder what he’s up to.” Ann and her family lived in a two-story, white-frame house surrounded by a perfectly manicured lawn. It was bordered by lots of vegetation. There were beautiful wildflowers such as sweet-smelling golden yarrow; delicate Queen Anne’s lace gracefully swaying in the wind; tall, friendly smiling sunflowers; bold, encouraging black-eyed Susans; and bright, pink cone flowers beckoning to the butterflies and bees that often stop by to sip their nectar. Mr. Montgomery’s well-maintained vegetable garden was at the far end of the lot, closest to the tool shed; it was his pride and joy. He sometimes worked so hard and so long in his garden that Smokey would circle him and stand guard while he worked, making sure he was feeling okay on the hottest days. Dense woods outlined the lawn and adjacent lot and kept both hidden from view. To get to the Montgomery home, you had to turn off the main street, curve onto Oakland Avenue, and then veer to the left out a little dirt road. If you weren’t looking especially for their road, you would most likely miss it. The road was rough and was usually almost always filled with huge mud puddles. Past the puddles was the sand lot. Anyone not familiar with the area that happened upon the road and made it as far as the sand lot would most likely think they had reached a dead end and turn around to head out, but there was a small hidden entrance a little beyond the sand lot that led to the Montgomery house and yard. From Ann’s yard, approaching cars could be seen a good distance away, but strangers would most likely miss the wellhidden Montgomery family home. Ann liked that her house was tucked away from the view of 15