Winter's Secret (35 page)
"Don't say that." Wendy and Sage put their arms around their mother and hugged her as much as they could with all the pearls, lace, and crinoline that surrounded them. Happily Doreen and Jim appeared to be adjusted to their move and were still attending their church in Florida every week.
"I love you, girls."
"We love you too, Mom."
The organ music increased in volume. "That's our cue, Mom," Sage said and walked out into the church entry hall.
Standing beside Harlan, Jim waited for Doreen. Jim offered his arm to the mother of the bride and led her proudly into the sanctuary to their seats in the front pew.
A few moments later, Sage leaned over to kiss Harlan. Then holding her bouquet of daisies and baby's breath, she walked down the aisle toward the groom and best man, Rodd and Trav.
Dressed in his new wedding suit, Grandfather offered Wendy his arm. She took it, trembling inside. She smiled at him nervously and clutched her bouquet. As they stepped into the sanctuary, the organ sounded the chord, and everyone rose in her honor. She gazed ahead and saw only Rodd.
Grandfather whispered into her ear, "Your daddy would be so proud of you."
Wendy's joy swelled inside her. "I love you, Grandfather."
He squeezed her arm. "And I'll always love you too, sweetheart. You're marrying a fine man."
Rodd stood proud and tall, waiting for her.
I waited for you too, Rodd. But our waiting is over. Our life together begins today. Thank you, Father
.
Epilogue
Far from Steadfast...
She stood with her head against the cool window, looking outside at the signs of spring. How long had it been since she'd walked down a street?
Dear God, how long is he going to keep me a prisoner here? I'm so sorry for everything. What's going to happen to me? Why haven't my parents found me? Why haven't Pete and Lisa come back for me?
She recalled the moment she'd let them take her baby away placing her car seat into the back seat of that old battered blue sedan. She'd been afraid for her baby's safety. But had her baby reached her grandmother in Steadfast?
A sob caught in her throat.
Will I ever see my baby again
?
Dear Reader:
When I married my husband over twenty years ago, I "married" the north woods of Wisconsin too. His family had been vacationing there since the 1920s. I loved going north every year and getting to know his uncles, aunts, and cousins. In the summertime, the north woods is a paradise of spring-fed lakes, tall pines, and sunshine. But after a snowmobiling trip one January, I found winter is completely different. Winter that far north so near Canada can be challenging and dangerous. I chose Wisconsin in winter as the setting for my romance/suspense series because it was the perfect place to challenge my characters as they struggled against the elements and elusive evil.
Rodd and Wendy had to learn to trust the Lord before they could accept God's gift of love. As my editor in 2001, Diane Eble, said, "Rodd had to learn to trust the Lord in the present, and Wendy had to learn to trust the Lord to clean up the past."
Please let me know if Rodd and Wendy's story touched your heart. Contact me online at
[email protected]
; or through my Web site,
www.booksbylyncote.com
.
On my homepage, I host an active blog, titled "Strong Women Brave Stories." I post reviews, my current life and writing information, and interviews with authors who write about their own strength in the face of challenges, and about also strong women in their lives, families and books.
Connect with me on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/#!/LynCote
On Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/lyn.cote
Or at GoodReads at
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101121.Lyn_Cote
Author Bio
When Lyn Cote became a mother, she gave up teaching, and while raising a son and a daughter, she began working on her first novel. Rejections followed. Finally in 1997, Lyn got "the call." Her first book,
Never Alone
, was chosen for the new Love Inspired romance line. Since then, Lyn has had over thirty-five novels published. In 2006 Lyn's book,
Chloe
, was a finalist for the RITA, and in 2011, her books
Her Healing Ways
, won an American Christian Fiction Writers CAROL Award, both the highest awards in the romance genre. Lyn’s brand “Strong Women, Brave Stories,” includes three elements: a strong heroine who is a passionate participant in her times, authentic historical detail and a multicultural cast of characters. Lyn also features stories of strong women both from real life and true to life fiction on her blog
http://BooksbyLynCote.com
Now living her dream of writing books at her lake cottage in northern Wisconsin, Lyn hopes her books show the power of divine as well as human love.
Here's an excerpt of the next book in the Northern Intrigue series.
AUTUMN'S SHADOW Excerpt
Just as Keely was about to turn onto Highway 27 to drive to the clinic to check on her injured cheerleader, her cell phone rang. "Keely Turner."
"Ms. Turner—" the young male voice on the line shook—"could you come? Carrie, you know, my girlfriend—"
"Who is this?"
"Ma'am, I volunteer in our high school store—"
She recognized his voice then. "What's wrong?"
"Shane—my friend Shane—gave me your cell phone number and told me to call you. I'm really scared for my girlfriend, Carrie Walachek. Carrie went inside her trailer..." The teen was obviously fighting to control his emotions. "There's been a lot of shouting and ..."
The line clicked.
Her pulse thudding in her head, Keely looked at the phone and then hung up. She stopped on the side of the road. Reaching into her glove compartment, she took out the student directory, located Carrie's name and address, then turned her car back on the road. She sped all the way to the edge of town where a few trailers huddled together.
When she pulled up at Carrie's address, she saw Shane Blackfeather and the teen who'd called her, pounding on the trailer door, shouting Carrie's name.
Dread chilling her, Keely got out and approached the bottom of the metal steps up to the trailer. "What are you two doing?"
Shane's friend knotted his hands into fists. "This is all my fault." He turned back to Shane. "Let's break down the door—"
"Shane!" Keely snapped, trying to keep the two teens from making matters worse. "What's happening?"
Shane, tall and dark, ran down to her. "We're afraid Carrie's dad is beating her. We can't get him to open up—"
She held up her hand. Muffled shouts and groans came from inside the trailer, then a thud like something heavy—like a body— hitting the inside wall. This was more serious than what she could handle. She pulled the cell phone from her purse and speed-dialed the sheriff's department
The trailer door burst open. Keely dropped her phone.
"You!" the large man shouted. "Who invited you. Turner?" "Mr. Walachek—," she began.
"Get out of here!" Alcohol slurred his voice. "Off my property!" Carrie appeared just behind her father. She tried to squeeze around him. But the big man pinned her under one arm.
"Mr. Walachek," Keely spoke calmly, playing for time. Would the sheriff's dispatcher recognize her cell phone number on the caller ID? Could they do that? "The boys called me. What seems to be the problem? Can I be of any help?"
"I told you! This ain't your business, lady! Just 'cause you're a Turner don't give you the right to meddle! Get off my property—"
Carrie tried to twist out of her father's grip. The man slammed his fist into his daughter's face.
Keely stooped and grabbed up her phone. Why did I send that deputy away so quickly!
The teens made a rush for the girl. The father dragged his daughter inside, but he couldn't get the door shut in time. The boys rushed inside—yelling
"Get her out of there!" Keely screamed.
A police siren drowned out her voice.
Shane and his friend burst out with Carrie between them. They hustled down the steps, half carrying the girl.
"Get her into my car!" Keely shouted.
"Don't move!" the father bellowed at the top of the steps. "Don't move, any of you!" He held a rifle and aimed it deliberately at Keely's head.
The three teens froze halfway down the steps.
Keely couldn't draw breath.
"Mr. Walachek?" a calm voice came from behind Keely. "What seems to be the problem here?"
It was that new deputy, Burke Sloan. Thank God.
"Get off my property!" the man bellowed again, the sound vibrating inside Keely, making her tremble.
"Mr. Walachek, you know I can't do that," Sloan said in a calm tone. "Not when you're pointing a weapon at Ms. Turner. I can't leave until you put that rifle away."
"I didn't ask her to come. She's on my property. I got a right to shoot trespassers!"
"I don't want to argue with you, but if you think you can shoot Ms. Turner as a trespasser, you'll find out it won't hold up in court."
"Yeah, but if she's dead, she won't care. And it would serve her father right!" The man cursed.
"Mr. Walachek," the deputy said in a tone anyone would request a weather report with, "you still haven't told me what the problem is."
"He got my girl pregnant! And he's going to marry her or—"
"This be your first grandchild?" Sloan asked.
The man stared at him. "What?"
"I said, will this be your first grandchild?"
"Yeah! What about it?"
"I just thought you might want to be around when the baby's born." The deputy's tone continued matter-of-factly.
"What's that mean?" Walachek glared and tightened his grip on his deer rifle.
"That means this is no time to be pointing guns at people."
"Get that Turner off my property then! Her father—"
Kcely tried to block out the nasty words and the hateful tone. Her father's high-handed reputation was making matters difficult, now dangerous for her once again.
"I don't see how that has anything to do with Ms. Turner. Now, Mr. Walachek, put down your rifle."
The drunken man glared at Keely.
"Mr. Walachek, my weapon's safety is off. I can get several rounds off before you can aim and fire one. This is no time to be firing guns. Your daughter is in the line of fire and she's expecting a child. Now you wouldn't want anything to hurt your little girl, would you?"
Keely held her breath. Walachek stared into her eyes, seeing her fear, feeding on it—she thought. But she couldn't hide it.
"Mr. Walachek, put your gun down." The deputy's easygoing tone hardened to forged steel.
The drunken man's glare turned belligerent.
End of excerpt
I hope that whets your appetite for the next book.
End Notes
In case you found many typos or formatting errors, you should know:
A file can become corrupted on a Nook or Kindle. Also, the device itself can become corrupted.
Solution
The reader to do one of three things.
1) Redownload the file, which costs nothing since you already own it.
2) Archive the file, then unarchive it.
3) Reregister the device.
Hope this helps. I did my best to upload a clean file, but I can't keep it that way-evidently.
If you've enjoyed this book, drop by my website and keep up with my blog and further developments as I self-publish my backlist in ebook and paper. I also have two original novels, never before published. The first,
La Belle Christiane, Patriots and Seekers series, Book One,
is now available online in print and digitally. If you enjoy my books, drop by my website-blog http://www.LynCote.net so you don't miss anything new! Thanks.
Lyn
PS: For a printable list of my books, drop by
http://booksbylyncote.com/SWBS/books/printable-book-list
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