WELCOME, JESSE CAMERON

JESSE AND THE MAIL ORDER BRIDE

By Caroline Clemmons

Please welcome Sheriff Jesse Cameron as our guest character today, the hero of JESSE ANE THE MAIL ORDER BRIDE for agreeing to our interview.

Thank you, ma’am. I’m honored to be invited, though I am that surprised at your invitation. In Harrigan County, I dinnae receive requests to speak to the public like this.  

I know you’re a Texas sheriff, but I detect an accent in your speech. Would you tell us from where you’ve come?

Aye, I came from Scotland. First, I worked as an indentured sailor for seven years to pay for my passage to America. I started my indentured service at fourteen—almost fifteen—because I could pass for eighteen, you ken? I was that tall for my age.

What was life like growing up in Scotland?

My family lived on a farm not far from Kelso. We raised sheep. Mum also had chickens and a few goats for milk. She made and sold her goat cheese. We also had a couple of cows. You can tell I didnae escape caring for the animals. We lived in a small cottage, but we enjoyed one another. I had a grand time growing up. I didnae mind working with Da on the farm, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life.

Scottish Cottage

Your leaving must have upset your parents.

Aye, they worried about me leaving so young. Mum and Da are great parents who understood my wish to leave and live in America. In fact, they will join me here after my Gran dies. She’s a grand lady, so no one is eager for that day to come.

What brought you to send for a mail order bride?

Several months back, I helped fight a grass fire on a local ranch. Volunteers barely saved the house, but much of the grass and some cattle were destroyed. A couple of people collapsed from the heat and stress. If not for a sudden downpour, more would have been lost, including men exhausted from fighting the fire. The sudden danger presented to so much land and so many people reminded me how fleeting life could be. I evaluated my life and realized it was time to settle down. I bought a house and sent for a bride. My best friend is my deputy, and he decided to send for a bride from the same matchmaker. Turned out our brides are cousins.

That sounds like a good result. Are you each pleased with your bride?

Aye, the plan worked out grand. My bride, Rosalin, is beautiful, regal, intelligent, and works hard to please me. I couldn’t be happier—except I feel like there’s something she’s hiding from me. I haven’t worked out what it could be, and she insists there’s nothing. She brought her nephew, who’s 8. He’s a good boy, but he has a lot of nightmares. My deputy is sure pleased with his bride, who is a pretty chatterbox.

Rosalin

Ma’am, I appreciate you having me here today, but I have to get back to work. Tell your readers if they’d like to learn more about me, check out my story in JESSE AND THE MAIL ORDER BRIDE at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BD64JC1D?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

 

Here’s the description:

What will happen when her lawman husband learns the truth about her criminal past?

Sheriff Jesse Cameron is dedicated to uphold the law of his adopted country. After leaving Scotland, he came to Texas, and learned he liked the place and the people—at least, most of them. He keeps Harrigan County free of troublemakers with his “strict but fair” policy. Now that he has a steady job and has bought a house, he figures it’s time to find a wife and start a family. He and his best friend write to the same matchmaker, hoping their brides will be sisters or friends. Jesse hopes his wife will provide a peaceful home and welcome him each evening with a good meal and a warm smile.

Growing up in an orphanage left Rosalin Arnold too naïve to avoid being trapped in the clutches of an evil man who has her picking pockets. Those who’ve tried to escape him always fail, and are severely punished—or killed. Rosalin has been plotting to get away, and seizes her chance to escape. She takes her best friend with her, and also a boy of eight. All she and her friends want is a home where they can live without constant fear. She prays she has successfully evaded the man who has tentacles everywhere.

What will happen when her past catches up with her, and she’s forced to confess everything to Jesse? Of course Jesse will defend her, but will he forgive her lies?

 

Excerpt when Jesse returns from a manhunt. As he was leaving, he asked his neighbor to take his bride to his home.

He hurried up to his front door and stopped short. Did he knock? This was his house, but he didn’t want to scare her.

While he deliberated, the door opened and a wee lad stared up at him. The boy scrutinized his badge, then his face. “You must be Sheriff Jesse Cameron.”

He stepped inside and took off his hat. “That’s right. You must be Rosalin’s nephew.”

“Yes, sir. I’m Henry Bernard. Did you get the bad guys?”

“We did.” He hit at his leg with his hat as he looked around the parlor. Furniture had been moved and decorations added. Odd feeling, being treated like a guest in his own home. “Um, is your aunt here?”

“I am.” She swished into the room and smiled at him. “I hope you don’t mind that we’ve stayed here in your absence.”

His tongue tangled and he couldn’t form a sentence. While he gaped at the prettiest woman he’d ever met, the boy took his hat from him and hung it on the hat tree.

She gestured to the kitchen. “Mrs. Pickard brought over a pie this morning. She thought you’d be back today.”

He managed to say, “I… I better wash up. Dinnae usually look like this. Had a rough few days.” He washed up at the kitchen sink, wondering if that was all right. Wait—this was his house.

 

Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous and Healthy New Year!

IT'S MY TURN AND THERE'S SORT OF A PARTY!

Finally, finally, finally! After months of preparation and waiting, my American Mail-Order Bride Series #42, PATIENCE, BRIDE OF WASHINGTON, releases TODAY! I am beyond excited. And although it's not exactly a party except in my office where I'm dancing around, I'm offering a giveaway--check below in this post for prize details.

Although I prefer writing books set in Texas, which is where I live, Trinity Ford chose Texas so I needed to choose another state. After hemming and hawing around, I chose Washington. Jacquie Rogers and I decided our heroines would be sisters. Her book is MERCY, BRIDE OF IDAHO.

I enjoyed researching a new state, a new industry, and diving into a new situation. Fortunately, my husband and I used to have several hundred peach trees and also apples, pears, plums trees, as well as grape vines. So, I could visualize a commercial fruit orchard.

I hope you are lucky enough that you have NO idea how time-consuming pruning hundreds of fruit trees and harvesting fruit can be. Hero did much more pruning than I did, but I helped. If I’d thought about how much there was to do, I’d simply have given up and gone to the house. However, all I had to do was finish this tree and move to the next one, finish this tree and move to the next one, finish this tree and move to the next one—endlessly. Thankfully, we sold that land and now live in town on a lovely, neat, oak-tree-wooded lot complete with a yard man. Ah, but I digressed.

Patience Eaton and her sister lived with their parents in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where her father is the head teacher in a public school. Not much money for a family of five. When the sisters lose their jobs at the garment mill and factory, they are not successful at finding decent positions—although they try and have a series of misadventures.

Patience arrives in Washington when
the trees are in bloom--mmm.

Taking matters into his own hands, their father Moses Eaton arranges with the matchmaker Elizabeth Miller in Beckham for a groom for each daughter. And that’s what launches their adventure. Here’s the blurb for PATIENCE, BRIDE OF WASHINGTON:

Travel to Victorian America in 1890 with award winning and bestselling western romance author Caroline Clemmons for a humorous novel about two people destined for one another after a turbulent getting acquainted period. This book is sweet.

After a fire destroys the factory where Patience Eaton worked followed by a succession of job failures, she travels from Massachusetts to Washington to marry the man her father chose via a matchmaker. While Andrew Kincaid appears to be a very nice man, he’s older than her father and not someone she wants to marry. Her prospective groom places her in a respectable boarding house and agrees to give her a job in the office of his commercial apple orchard so she can learn about his life and business. But working alongside her handsome future stepson presents unexpected complications.

Two years ago, an unjust accusation ruined Stone Kincaid’s chance at happiness. Now he concentrates all his energy on building the family business. When he meets his prospective stepmother, he’s angry that his father cares so little for his mother’s memory that he sent for a mail-order bride younger than Stone.  He believes Patience to be interested only in his father’s fortune. Stone plans to keep an eye on the attractive woman who’s slated to become his stepmother.  

Can two people working at cross purposes arrive at a compromise?

Here’s an excerpt from PATIENCE, BRIDE OF WASHINGTON:

On an April evening, Moses Eaton addressed his daughters. “Several months ago, you brought home something called the Grooms’ Gazette. I saved the copy. After your letter from your friend Roberta, I wrote to the matchmaker, Elizabeth Miller.” Her father handed each of them a letter. “These are in answer. You will each leave on the same train, so you’ll travel together until Mercy leaves at a place called Nampa, Idaho.”

Mercy’s eyes grew wide. “Idaho? T-That’s all the way across the country.”

Patience scanned the paper she held and her heart broke. “Not as far as Washington. Papa, we’ll never see you and Mama and the boys again. I know we’ve upset you but please don’t send us away in disgrace.”

Mama said, “Girls, you’ve got everything wrong. Your father is only looking out for you two. You know how hopeless situations here are. We love you so much, he wants you provided for and secure.”

Papa smiled at Mama then looked at Patience and Mercy. “Your mother is correct. There are more women here than there are jobs—or suitable men to marry. The way things are in Lawrence, you can’t earn a good wage even if you find a position. My teacher’s salary barely stretches.” He held up his hand. “We’d manage somehow if there were prospects for you here.”

He rose and paced. “Each of your prospective grooms is well-to-do and can offer you a nice home and security. Perhaps you can even travel back here for a visit from time to time.”

Patience re-read the letter from Andrew Kincaid. “He sounds nice, and he enclosed a ticket and money for meals. He said I’d have a month to get acquainted before the wedding.”

“Mr. Isaac Fairchild says the same.” A frown furrowed Mercy’s lovely face as she looked up from the sheets of paper in her hand. “But Idaho is so far.”

“But it’s close to Washington. We can probably visit back and forth.” Patience tried for a positive attitude, but neither she nor her sister had ever been away from their parents or one another.

Her brothers clomped into the room. 

Twelve-year-old Jason looked at the adults. “Why’s everyone so serious? What’s going on?”

Papa patted ten-year-old David on the head and smiled at Jason. “Your sisters are deciding whether or not to accept marriage proposals.”

“From who?” David asked.

Papa thumped the boy on the head. “From whom, young man. You know to use whom when you use a preposition before the word.”

Rubbing his scalp, David said, “Sorry, Papa. I’ll try to remember.”

Jason held out his hands. “Please just tell us who proposed?”

Holding up her letter, Patience gazed at her two brothers. “Papa wrote to a matchmaker, a woman who arranges marriages. Mercy and I have answers. Her groom is in Idaho and mine in Washington.”

Jason rose to look at the globe where it sat on a table by the window. “That’s a long way from here. When would you leave?”

Mercy consulted the letter. “In five days. Oh, my, we have a lot to accomplish before then.”

Ticking off on her fingers, Patience listed, “We’ll each need a trunk and a valise. Let our friends know how to write us. Do the laundry so everything is clean.”

 “And we can’t share things since we’ll be in different places.” Mercy rose to get a sheet of paper from Papa’s desk. “We’d better make lists.”

 Later in the bed they shared, Mercy said, “I can’t believe Papa wrote away without consulting us. I don’t know whether to be relieved or angry or sad.”

“I’m a little of all those. Thank heavens I never again have to work for a man with lecherous thoughts. I’ll miss our family, but I’ll have my own home and soon my own children.”

“You’re right. Oh, I hope we like our grooms-to-be. Mine lives on a ranch. I hope he’s handsome and strong and rides a white horse.”

Patience reminded her sister, “I remember that Roberta said Miss Miller investigates the grooms before she’ll send a bride to them. She works with agents all over the country. Even if the men are not ideal, at least we know they’re not criminals or drunkards.”

“Four days to get ready and on the fifth, we leave. We’ll ride on a train and see the country and then we’ll meet our grooms. How can you not be more enthusiastic?”

Pulling the cover under her chin, Patience admitted, “I’m kind of excited. I’ve never ridden on a train or been out of Massachusetts.”

“Ha, we’ve never been out of Lawrence. That’s going to change.”

All American Mail-Order Bride Series books are available through Kindle Unlimited. Not a member? The books are only $2.99 each from Amazon. Amazon Link:  http://amzn.com/B017HLR6CE 

Would you do it?—be a mail-order bride if there was no chance of a suitable marriage where you lived? I'm not sure what I would have done, but I think I might have. 

Grand Prize For Series

The entire American Mail-Order Brides Series group is awarding a Kindle stocked with books from the 45 authors who have participated in the series. Not the books in this series, but other books. This Kindle will be given away at the end of the releases on January 7. Go to www.newwesternromance.com to learn more or the Pioneer Hearts Facebook Group.

Other Prizes From Me!

Prize 1: Today/tomorrow, I'll give away a $25 gift card to one winner. 

Prize 2: In addition, I will be awarding a prize pack to someone who leaves a review for PATIENCE, BRIDE OF WASHINGTON between now and midnight on January 7. The prize pack includes apple-themed products, chocolate, swag, and surprises.

For a look at real-life mail-order brides, check out the book by Chris Enss, HEARTS WEST: TRUE STORIES OF MAIL-ORDER BRIDES ON THE FRONTIER. Some are dire, others are happy. Of course, I hope you read PATIENCE, BRIDE OF WASHINGTON first. 

On the 31st, snap up Jacquie Rogers' MERCY, BRIDE OF IDAHO. 

http://amzn.com/B017GOU3WC

I love my readers and appreciate your encouragement. Mwah! Sending you hugs and kisses! 

Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year filled with health, happiness, wealth, lots of good books and time to read them!

A YEAR OF POSSIBILITIES!

Happy New Year! I hope you are ready for a wonderful new year filled with possibilities.

What’s on your agenda for January? Do you have goals for the month—or the year? I am blessed to be looking forward to an exciting month and belief in the coming year.

This week I’m finishing up a family book on my father’s family and lateral lines for which my brother and I have been gathering information and photos for longer than I will admit. We have hundreds of photos to go along with seemingly endless details about the family. Many of the photos are borrowed, so my relatives will be thrilled to have them returned. I will too. I hate being responsible for borrowed items of any kind. I’ll also be relieved to have this non-fiction (maybe with a few family tales) work completed and published so I can move forward to fiction.

What timing! Next week, my three plotting co-conspirators and I are going on a three-day, two-night plotting escape, hopefully to get three books plotted for each of us. We don’t plan to leave the house we’ve rented for the entire time so we can work long days. Yes, we really do work, although there’s an abundance of laughter along with our productivity. Perhaps the laughter even heightens our productivity. Who knows? At any rate, we can work long hours in our sweats or jammies if we wish with no one to disturb our concentration.

We'll bring plotting boards and sticky notes and laptops and ideas. Now please don’t think—as someone did—that we write one another’s books. Nope, we just throw out ideas and keep each other on course as each person plots her book. Brainstorming, where four heads truly are better than one. It’s a system we learned first from Robin Perini and Laura Baker in their “Story Magic” workshop. Now we have fine-tuned the process to fit our styles and needs.

Late in the month, with any luck I’ll be releasing WINTER BRIDE, the next in my Stone Mountain Texas series. Sheriff Butch Parrish is the hero of this book, and I love the guy. Of course, all my heroes’ good points remind me of my Hero.

Don’t forget I’m giving a gift card at the end of each month to one person who left a comment on this blog during the month. Each time you comment is another entry. Good luck!

  

Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

FUN WITH NEW YEAR'S GOALS



Sara Ann

 Our guest writer today is Sara Ann, who is wise far beyond her years, and who also has a fun sense of humor. Sara Ann is the creator of the Pork on A Fork blog at http://porkonafork.blogspot.com/ Although slightly intimidated by the thought of being one of the youngest observational humor bloggers at only 17, she takes pride in her sense of humor. Sara currently lives in Connecticut, where she enjoys dancing, writing, photography, and music.

GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Caroline's cat
Sebastian

I need to do some major self-improvement this year, not because I’m a bad person, but because I’m completely lazy, unmotivated, and obsessed with my cats awesome. So I’m starting a list of things I need to change this year, including successfully going at least one day without getting distracted by trending topics on the Yahoo! Home page, which is debatable. I’ll try though, because anything that will help me stop being such a strange lunatic with severe ADD and an obsession with unicorns is something worth trying.

Here’s what I have so far: 

1. Get a Life


Very broad topic, I know. This goal for me, in other words, means “stop watching reruns of George Lopez until four o’clock in the morning; quit spending hours watching cats play keyboards and ride turtles on Youtube, and make friends.” I’m not really sure how to go about doing this, but I’m thinking Google will solve all of my problems.

2. Stop Getting Taller


I’m taller than half of the guys I go to school with, and the vast majority of my friends. I buy new pants and they turn into capris six months later. I’m not sure how to stop myself from growing, but I’m thinking of asking God very nicely if I can stay 5’9’’ and then help some elderly women cross the street, and give bowls of tomato soup to homeless people, so maybe God will do me a favor and make me stop getting taller. Maybe then, people will stop calling me “giraffe” and “Yeti” and “tall girl who’s obsessed with dinosaurs.”

3. Graduate


Okay, so this isn’t such a huge goal, since I’m halfway through my Senior year of high school and have no grades lower than a B-. However, the temptation of Google compels me, and I have to constantly make the decision to do French homework rather than waste my time Googling Keyboard Cat and ducks and potatoes. A good part of this goal would probably be to do my Math homework at home, rather than in the middle of class five minutes before I hand it in.


4. Get Better At Making New Year’s Resolutions


I realize that as far as New Year’s Resolutions go, mine suck. I’m not very good at this. I also realize that “Stop Getting Taller” is a horrible goal for the New Year. I could probably come up with some better goals, like “be a better person,” but there’re just so many things that could fit into that category. It’s a lot of thinking for me.

Sara, Thanks for sharing your unique take on life and the New Year.

AN IRISH BLESSING TO WISH YOU HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year! Here's an Irish blessing from my 2011 calendar:

Irish Shamrocks

May your Past be a pleasant memory,
Your Future filled with delights and mystery,
Your Now a glorious moment
That fills your life with deep contentment.

Ah, those Irish certainly have a way with words, don't they? Must come from living in the same country as the Blarney Stone.

Congratulations to Debbie! She is the winner of Sybil Baker's TALISMANS. Debbie, I'll get in touch with you and get your address so Sybil's publisher can send your copy of TALISMANS. Happy reading!

Did you make a list
of resolutions?

Are you one who makes resolutions at this time of year? I don’t write down a list of resolutions, but I mentally set a few goals for the future. Perhaps that amounts to the same thing. Whatever your choice, I wish you the best year ever in 2011. Did you choose to make several New Year's resolutions? Let me know what they are if you can share them. But here's what I hope you will do:

Rid your heart of hate, grudges, and bad memories. Ill will toward others seldom hurts them, but it festers inside us and can actually cause us to become ill. Pettiness dimishes the one displaying it. Let generosity and love fill your heart and soul.

Embrace your good qualities. Don't focus on bad hair, a few extra pounds, or whatever you dislike about yourself--and we all have things we'd like to change. If your weight is affecting your health, then that's not what I mean. Each of us has the responsibility to take care of his/herself physically and mentally. But think about your good qualities and accentuate them--caring, nurturing others, creating, smiling. Like the old song says, "You got accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and get rid of Mr. Inbetween."

Be positive I have an amazing friend who's 102-years-old. Her advice: WALK ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE! Don't give in; keep pushing forward. None of the "I can't because I have..." Obviously each of us has limitations, but don't use them as a crutch to excuse poor performance. Yes, the finger is pointing back at me. All too often, I'm ready to toss in the towel. No, not to quit writing, but quit expecting to sell to a major publisher, no longer hope for awards. Never let negativity kill your dreams! 

Here's to a great 2011 for each of us! Remember, walk on the sunny side of the year!

 
And if you are looking for a good book to curl up with in the chilly weather, please consider one of mine at www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html  or on Amazon and other online book stores. 

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