Something Old
Okay, Trail to Clear Creek came out last fall. So I thought it was about time I had a little sale! So from 4/22/2019 through 4/29/2019, you can pick up the book that tells the story of how the Cooke family came to Clear Creek, for .99 cents! After all, it all had to start somewhere!
On Sale 4/22/19 through 4/29/2019
Amazon
Something New
Hey, it's a new Box Collection! I've not put any of my Mail-Order Bride Ink series into a set before, but as I'm up to eight books and about to start the ninth, I thought it was time! You can grab Vol. 1 (which contains books 1-3) of the Mail-Order Bride Ink Box Collection for .99 cents through the end of April! If you've never read this series, it's one of my most popular. Enjoy!
Amazon
Something Borrowed & Something Blue
So what did I borrow? Well, I'd like to say a pair of my sister's jeans as she's about the size of my pinkie finger, but that's not the case. But I did combine some ideas (can I borrow from myself?) and came up with a wonderful new series I'll start working on next month! In the meantime, (I know you're curious) I stumbled across a story I originally had as a bonus story in my Cowboys and Debutantes box collection. The collection wasn't out long before I decided, you know, not a lot of my regular readers get the boxed sets or collections, so if I keep this in here, a lot of them are never going to see it. So I pulled it out, got sidetracked (for almost a year I'm embarrassed to say) and voila! We now have our story ready to go! For those of you who have read the series, you'll recall that Minnie, the middle Stout sister, travels to Columbia, California as a mail-order bride where she not only gets married but encounters a not so nice individual by the name of Roberta Peterson. As the old saying goes, what goes around comes around. Gold digging Roberta isn't very nice to poor Minnie, and when she finds out Minnie's true origins, well, read for yourself. And for those who haven't read the series, this gives you a good idea of what Minnie had to put up with!
“I had a dress just like that once,” Roberta commented casually. “It was one of my least favorite frocks.”
Baker set his empty plate down. “Do tell.”
“Why yes,” she said, smiling sweetly at him. “Did I have you order it? I can’t remember.” She turned to Minnie. “Maybe I got it at Wilson’s. Is that where you got yours?”
Minnie pursed her lips together. “No.”
“Why don’t ya tell Roberta where ya got yer dress, sweetheart?” Baker suggested with a slight smirk and plucked a blade of grass.
Minnie shook her head. As much as she’d enjoy putting Roberta in her place, she didn’t want to embarrass her …
“Yes, do tell,” Roberta said with a smile. “I know you couldn’t have made it yourself – everyone in town knows you can’t sew.”
… well, since she’d asked for it, why not? “No, I didn’t make it myself. It was custom-made by a French modiste on Park Avenue.”
Roberta’s smile faded. “A … mo-deese?”
“Modiste– it’s a very exclusive dressmaker,” Minnie explained. “Madame Monier, I believe her name was. We had many dresses made there.”
“We?” Roberta’s voice sounded a little weak.
“My sisters and I.”
“Tell her where ya lived, Minnie,” Baker said as he chewed on his blade of grass.
Minnie kept her expression gentle to soften the blow. “On the Upper East Side of New York City. Not far from Central Park.”
Roberta swallowed hard as her eyes grew round as saucers. “And you came here?!” she squeaked. “To Columbia?”
“I like it here,” Minnie said. “Much nicer than New York. The fresh air, the adventure of a new land. And I’m enjoying learning how to cook and sew and clean and help Baker out in the store. After growing up with an army of servants and never having to lift a finger, it was just so … stifling. I had no idea what I was missing. Now I’m using my hands and learning so much. For once I have purpose.”
Roberta almost choked. “You must be kidding!”
“Not at all. I was a different person in New York – but I’m a much better person here.”
“I don’t believe it,” Roberta scoffed.
“Minnie and I are plannin’ a little trip to visit her folks,” Baker said. “Why not come with us?”
Roberta gasped. Minnie settled for looking at him as if he’d gone mad. What was he playing at?
“Yeah, see if yer daddy thinks it’s a good idea. Give ya a chance to see the big city, how things really are. Whaddaya say?”
Roberta said nothing, just fainted dead away.
Baker looked her over, then turned to his wife. “Ya think we should take that as a yes?”
So a few things happen when Baker and Minnie take Roberta to New York. I highlight one (a dinner party, given by Minnie's step-mother Fanny, in chapter 11) and left it at that. But then I thought, wait, there's more to this story! Plus folks kept asking me what happened to Roberta and Clarence. So, I wrote it and you know the rest. So here it is! Love's Saving Grace, now available on Amazon. Oh, and the blue? Well, just look at that dress she's wearing!
