Kindle Edition
Betty Bolte's Books
Category:
Romance
Publisher: Mystic Owl Publishing
Type: Fiction
Pages: 216
Copyright: July 16, 2024
ISBN-13: 9798986045047
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
A new historical romance by award-winning author Betty Bolte... A Southern Unionist cavalryman eagerly returns to Alabama only to face hostile rebel neighbors and a former lover with a mysterious secret.
One terrible lie, a desperate measure to save her past, just might destroy her future…
Award-winning author of historical fiction presents a new novel of love and lies, secrets and sensuality, and the hands of fate weaving it all together.
The American Civil War is finally over and Christmas beckons. Magnolia Merryweather, backyard horse breeder, is eager to celebrate for the first time since the war began even as she continues to grow her business. She envisions a calm, prosperous life ahead after all the terror of the past four years. She’s preparing to follow in her mother’s matriarchal footsteps, helping to put on a calico ball as part of her training. Only, all of her plans are thrown into disarray when her secret lover returns and starts asking pointed questions she can’t answer without disruption and disaster following.
Bryce Day comes home to Alabama after he’s discharged from service in the First Alabama Cavalry USA, though with guilt weighing on his heart. He knows his neighbors won’t cotton to his Unionist bent and the woman of his heart likely won’t give him a second chance after his silence during the war. A silence he felt was for her own good in case he didn’t survive. But he’s nothing if not determined to win her back. He must. He’s dreamt for years about settling down with Lia and starting their own family. That’s what he fought for, came back to her for. Only, she’s hiding something from him. How can they have any hope of a loving life together with lies and secrets between them?
Excerpt
Chapter One
I need her. I need her. I need her.
The three-word mantra matched the urgent cadence of his horse’s canter down the muddy road back to the place he thought of as home. Back to his love, Magnolia Merryweather. Lia, to her family and friends. And to him. At least at one point before he’d fouled everything up.
Captain Bryce Day finally rode his jet-black stallion, named Jet, down one road after another, striving for the courage to arrive at Hopewell, the country manor of Lia’s family, as soon as he could manage. Now that he’d been discharged from the cavalry, he needed to make amends. He’d been distant far too long and made the biggest misstep of his life during that time. Would Lia forgive him and give him a second chance at a future with her? Her brother’s reply to his apologetic letter seemed to say he should try, which gave him a glimmer of hope.
The once-lush rolling landscape of north Alabama showed signs of the drought and destruction of the past few years of the Civil War. It didn’t help that it was December so the trees stood starkly bare against the dreary gray clouds warning of rain. As he cantered slowly down the empty road, he noted where a barn had been burned. Had the livestock been confiscated or merely shot in place? Anything to keep resources from the hands of the enemy. A troubled sigh escaped his lips and he clamped his mouth shut. He had to look forward, not back.
Five years had passed since the first time he’d visited the Merryweather clan clustered on the sprawling two-hundred-acre property. He’d moved to the area without any firm plans other than to take advantage of his friend Doctor Samuel Merryweather’s offer to come check out the growing city for opportunities. Back in December 1860, despite the tensions in the air, he’d been focused on following in his father’s footsteps so far as finding work, and then a loving wife and raising a passel of children. But he wouldn’t follow his father’s lead when it came to discipline. He winced at the mere memory of a raised belt or switch. He vowed to be firm but compassionate in the discipline he doled out to his children. They’d respect him, not fear him. Unlike his own experience.
A rumble in the distance augured bad weather approaching. The temperatures had been warmer than usual, and thus rainier than customary. But after the drought of the previous two years, the rain was welcomed with open arms by everyone. Even if it meant that as the winter approached the possibility increased of freezing rain or even snow. Ah, snow. That thought brought the stirring memory of standing with sweet Lia in his arms beneath the snow-covered magnolias, sharing a kiss or two. Her beauty as rare as the snow falling on those dark green shiny leaves. He could never forget the love they shared, the hopes they’d shared. In hindsight he knew he’d been an idiot, but the war had befuddled his senses to the point of making such a grave error as to cut off their burgeoning courtship. Would she welcome him back? God, he hoped she would.
Though, he’d not argue with her if she pushed him away. He’d had enough of violence in all forms. During the war, he’d seen and done things he’d never imagined possible. Never thought he’d be called upon to burn women and children out of their homes, for one thing, whether they were enemy dwellings or not. The terror in the mothers’ and children’s eyes haunted his every moment. He’d done what he could within the scope of his orders to ensure they were not in whatever structure had been deemed necessary to destroy so the rebels wouldn’t have use of it. But homes? He understood they were used also for headquarters and hiding places, but it hurt his tender heart to leave women and children and the elderly and infirm to fend for themselves. His only consolation came from knowing they were alive when he rode away.
Unlike the rebels he had fought with saber and pistol, and even with his knuckles at one terrifying moment when he thought his own life was about to be cut short. At that moment, Lia’s beautiful face—vibrant green eyes, a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, sweet lips ready for kissing, all framed by lush dark-red hair—flashed into his mind for a brief moment, but long enough to remind him of why he was fighting in the first place. To secure a safe environment in a free society to have a family and to have a life filled with promise and prosperity. He’d redoubled his efforts and knocked out the other soldier so he could get away. The sights and sounds—bloodshed and explosions—couldn’t be erased from his memory as much as he longed to do so.
After the excitement of the battle ebbed away, all he really wanted was to be with Lia. But he’d stupidly cut off their correspondence while he’d been forced to lie out in the mountains hiding from the rebel posses looking for men like him, unionists who refused to enlist or be conscripted into the Confederate Army but awaited their chance to join the Union Army forces. Months had passed and he’d managed to dodge the groups of hunters in search of their human prey. Slowly it dawned on him what he had to do for the woman he loved: let her go. He’d sent word by a trusted friend to Lia to let her know he freed her from her vow to wait for him until the war ended. He didn’t want her to harbor hope when he felt none as to his own survival in the brutality of the war. Then the Union Army captured Huntsville in April 1862 without a shot fired and he’d come out of hiding and joined the Union forces for the remainder of the war. A war that cost him Lia.
He turned onto the lane leading to Hopewell, hoping with all his heart she’d give him a second chance to make their future come to fruition as they’d once planned.
|
