To Mend a Dream
Copyright © 2015 Tamera Alexander
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansâelectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherâexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.
Interior design by James A. Phinney
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Scripture quotations are taken from The King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations are also taken from the
Holy Bible
, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Publisher's Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
ISBN 978-1-4016-9074-8 (eBook)
ISBN 978-0-5291-1613-0 (eSingle)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Among the fair magnolias : four southern love stories / Tamera Alexander, Shelley Gray, Dorothy Love, and Elizabeth Musser.
pages cm
Summary: "Four Southern women are at a turning point in history. and in their own hearts. To Mend a Dream by Tamera Alexander The Civil War cost Savannah Darby everything--her family and her home. When Aidan Bedford, an attorney from Boston, buys the Darby estate, he hires Savannah to redecorate. Can she find a mysterious treasure before her job is finished? An Outlaw's Heart by Shelley Gray When Russell Stark returns to Fort Worth, he's determined to begin a new life. But when he arrives at his mother's homestead, he discovers that she is very ill and the woman he loved is still as beautiful and sweet as he remembered. With time running out, Russell must come to terms with both his future and his past. A Heart So True by Dorothy Love Abigail knows all too well what is expected of her: to marry her distant cousin Charles and take her place in society. But her heart belongs to another. A terrible incident forces Abby to choose between love and duty. Love Beyond Limits by Elizabeth Musser Emily has a secret: She's in love with one of the freedmen on her family's plantation. Meanwhile, another man declares his love for her. Emily realizes some things are not as they seem and secrets must be kept in order to keep those she loves safe"-- Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4016-9073-1 (paperback)
1. Love stories, American. 2. Women--Southern States--Fiction. 3. Christian fiction, American. I. Alexander, Tamera. II. Gray, Shelley Shepard. III. Love, Dorothy, 1949- IV. Musser, Elizabeth.
PS648.L6A49 2015
813'.08508--dc23
2015003948
CONTENTS
To everyone who ever made a perfect plan, then had God change itâfor the better.
We can make our plans, but the
L
ORD
determines our steps.
P
ROVERBS
16:9 (
NLT
)
Nashville, Tennessee
June 13, 1870
W
HAT SHE WOULDN
'
T GIVE FOR THE CHANCE TO BE BACK IN
that house again. If only for a day . . .
Savannah Darby carefully refolded the stationery and tucked it back inside the drawer of her bedside table alongside the family Bibleâand her impossible wish.
“This is my side of the dresser!”
“No! It's
my
side!” The metallic scrape of her brother's leg braces punctuated his frustration.
“I know it's mine becauseâ”
“Andrew! Carolyne!” Savannah pierced her younger siblings with a look, then lowered her voice by a degree, not wishing for the mothers and children on both sides of their room and across the hall to hear them. Again. They'd waited for months for an opening to move in here. She couldn't afford for this not to work, in more ways than one. “I've already received two warnings about your arguing, and we've not been here three weeks yet. Please,” she added firmly, seeing Carolyne's mouth fly open, “keep your voices down.”
Carolyne pouted. “At least in the boarding house we had our own dressers.”
“No, you didn't.” Savannah gathered her sewing satchel. “In the boarding house you each had your own overturned crate.”
Guilt bowed ten-year-old Carolyne's head. But Andrew, two years older and impatient to become a man, merely scowled.
“We all must share. And no more arguing.” Savannah kissed them both on the forehead, despite Andrew's halfhearted attempt to dodge her affection. “I'll see you back here this afternoon. Andrew, be careful with the deliveries. And remember, only one crate at a time.”
His frown deepened.
“Carolyne, when you finish your chores in the kitchen, read your lessons I outlined and study your French. Work the arithmetic equations I wrote out for you last night too. Andrew, see to your studies, including the reading in
Macbeth
. There's a volume in the library downstairs. And remember you have aâ”
“I know, Savannah.” He turned his back to her. “I've already said I'll go.”
Hand on the doorknob, Savannah schooled a smile. “Next time, I'll do my best to be excused from work to go with you, butâ”
“I'm not a child. I can go by myself.”
“I know you can. I want to go for me, to hear what he has to say. Not because I think you're incapable of going alone.”
His expression softened a fraction, and Savannah seized the momentary truce and took her leave, already late for work as it was. And dreading the price she would pay with Miss Hildegard.
She hurried down the two flights of stairs.
While she used to dream of getting married and having children, she'd never expected to become
mother
to a six- and eight-year-old at the age of eighteen. Now, four years later, her father and mother gone,
along with her older brothers, there were moments when she thought she was handling the responsibility fairly well. The rest of the time she desperately prayed she wasn't botching the job.
At a quarter past eight, the common room of the Nashville Widows' and Children's Home buzzed with life. Moving here represented a new start for them and was a great deal safer than where they'd been several blocks east. And not a rat in sight. Mice she could handle. But rats . . .
She shuddered, remembering what it had been like awakening at night in the boarding house to hear the rodents scurrying about in the dark. Or worse, when she felt one scuttle across the foot of her bed.
The succulent aroma of freshly baked cinnamon bread drifted from the kitchen and helped to banish the bad memories even as the homey scent encouraged her hunger, as did the promise of coffee. But the queue for breakfast was already twenty deep, and the clock on the wall insisted she keep moving.
Outside, the skies boasted a crystalline-blue color, and the sun already felt warm on her face. Summer had staked its claim.
Monday mornings always seemed busier somehow, both in foot traffic and on the streets. Scores of farm wagons and carriages vied for passage, with freight wagons only slowing their progress, the drivers pausing as cargo was loaded and unloaded. At every corner she was delayed. And the minutes rushed past.