Recently, Skhye Moncrief designed a new
cover for TABITHA’S JOURNEY. Unfortunately, Amazon has not put the new cover up
on their website yet. I’m sure they’ll get around to changing to the new cover
soon. Still, I wanted readers to be aware there is a change in the works.
The cover model is associated with Kim
Killion’s www.hotdamndesigns.com I’ve
used this same model on several covers. She has the auburn hair I have always
wished I had. Is anyone ever happy with their own appearance?
Sometimes characters stick in a writer’s
head and just won’t leave until we write their story. That’s what happened to
Bear Baldwin from BLUEBONNET BRIDE. He was only a minor character, barely a
mention, but he kept nagging at me to find him a wife. I remembered a short
story I’d written years ago and reworked it into a novella.
Would you have been a mail-order
bride? I’m not sure whether or not I
would have. In addition to so many men heading west for gold, fame, and fortune
in the mid 1800’s, the Civil War further decimated the male population. More
men were killed in the Civil War than in World War II. The combination of events meant that
marriage-aged women far outnumbered marriage-aged men.
Women who did not want to spend their
lives living with relatives had little choice. Work in a factory, teach school,
as a servant, as a governess, or . . . sign with a matrimonial agency to become
a mail-order bride. In Chis Enss’s book
HEARTS WEST, she shares the stories of a variety of women who opted to become a
mail-order bride. Some were successful, some were disastrous and heartbreaking.
I love reading mail-order bride stories,
but this was the first one I’d written. TABITHA’S JOURNEY is set in 1874 in
North Central Texas. This novella is part of the Stone Mountain Texas series.
Here’s the TABITHA’S JOURNEY Blurb:
Would you become a mail-order bride?
Tabitha Masterson is certain whatever
awaits her in Radford Springs, Texas will be better than what her brother and
that awful William have in mind in Boston. After her father’s death, her
brother has become a tyrant. She escapes to begin her new life in Texas, but
danger can’t be far behind. She believes if she’s married when trouble arrives,
she’ll be safe.
Tobias “Bear” Baldwin is crushed when he
receives a wire notifying him that the woman with whom he has corresponded for
almost a year has passed him off to her friend. Do the two women believe he’s
like an old shirt to be handed down? His mother urges him to give the
substitute fiancée a chance, but his pride is stung and he hasn’t decided.
And how did that come about? Here’s the
excerpt that explains part of Tabitha’s problems:
Tabitha sat in the Witt family’s parlor
and wiped tears from her face. “I’ve never been so miserable. Prissy, what am I
going to do?”
“Are you certain he’d send you to an
asylum if you resist?”
“Yes, but I don’t know which would be
worse—being married to William or being locked away. The man gives me shivers
in the worst way.”
“Me, too.” Priscilla paused and
smoothed the folds of her yellow and black plaid taffeta skirt. “I-I’ve had
another letter from Tobias.”
Her attention captured and anger deflected,
Tabitha leaned toward her friend intent on hearing the missive’s contents. “Did
her send for you?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, Priscilla’s face puckered as if she, too, might cry. “Oh, I don’t
know what to do.”
“Prissy?” She leaned back to stare at
her friend. “What do you mean? I thought you’d accepted his proposal.”
Tabitha was half in love with Tobias
Baldwin herself. Already she knew they shared many interests. Priscilla had
shared each of his letters, and Tabitha had assisted Priscilla in answering
them. Assisted so much, the writing became Tabitha’s heartfelt missives to him.
“I was all set to leave, just as I
said. But…oh, Tabbie, Virgil Allsup has finally spoken to Papa for me. If only
Virgil had come forward sooner I never would have answered that mail order
bride agency’s advertisement.” She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with a
handkerchief. “You know I’ve yearned for Virgil ever so long. By now I thought
he didn’t want me.”
“What are you going to do?” Tabitha
knew what she’d do. In her way of thinking, a man who dragged his feet as
Virgil had all these years couldn’t begin to measure up to Tobias as a husband.
“That’s just it. I-I accepted Virgil’s
proposal.” She sobbed into her handkerchief.
Tabitha couldn’t help her own
tear-filled eyes widening in surprise. “You’re engaged to two men? Prissy, that’s—“
“Unethical? I know.” Priscilla waved her
handkerchief. “I think it’s even illegal. Breach of contract or something.”
Priscilla met Tabitha’s gaze. “But don’t you see? This could be a solution for
your problem.”
Tabitha sighed and shook her head. “I
don’t think mine has a solution.”
“Since you hate living with David and
Bertha, and you always thought so much of Tobias, maybe you’d like to take my
place.” She chewed at her lip as she glanced at Tabitha.
“Me? Go to Texas and marry Tobias?”
Incredulous as the idea sounded, already Tabitha’s mind considered the option.
If you haven’t already done so, I hope
you’ll give TABITHA’S JOURNEY a chance.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
