By Caroline Clemmons
Happy holiday weekend! At least it is to those of us who live in the USA. If you live elsewhere, I wish you a pleasant time. If you have an extended weekend, I hope you spend it enjoying yourself. Traditionally, it’s a great time for family reunions, picnics, barbecues, and the start of vacations. Those of you who love the sun, rejoice. As for me, I’m a fan of spring and fall when the weather is a little more moderate than triple digit degree days. By the way, we should erect a monument to whomever invented air conditioning!
One
of the delights of the long weekend is attending a community firework displays,
usually held at a park or lake. These are controlled fireworks which do not
threaten anyone’s roof, grass, or people. (In spite of them being against the
law in the city limits, we hear them from July 1-6.)
One of my books which contains a July 4th picnic and celebrations is HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME. To me. HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME is a modern day Cinderella story with
a happily-ever-after ending that (I hope) will leave you sighing and wishing
for another of my books. If HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME did not contain the words damn and hell in a few places it would be a sweet, inspirational romance. The contemporary is set
in West Texas near Lubbock, where Hero and I grew up. My uncle and cousins were
farmers who also sometimes raised cattle. Can’t keep all your eggs in one
basket, right? My husband had several uncles who were ranchers and farmers, and
some of his cousins still farm.
West Texas cotton field
To raise money to build their new house, my father-in-law raised cotton on a field at the edge of town and my husband had to help. Hero remembers clearing hundreds of tumbleweeds from the land and burning them. Needless to say, he hates tumbleweeds. After several years, the family had saved enough to buy a lot and build on it, with my father-in-law as contractor and doing some of the work himself. Once they’d saved enough to build, that was the end of their cotton farming. My husband was grateful.But while they were raising cotton and he came in dirty and tired from working in the field, his mom would tell him that if he didn’t go to college, he’d be doing that or similar work forever. At the time, he didn’t know what his degree would be in, but he knew that he was going to college so he’d never have to farm again. He earned an electrical engineering degree and worked as a rocket scientist. But years later, we bought a small acreage where we cultivated several hundred peach trees and raised vegetables. Life certainly plays tricks on us, doesn’t it? After 26 years there, we’ve moved to the big city now where there are no tumbleweeds in sight.
Unchecked tumbleweeds
About the time my future husband was burning tumbleweeds and “chopping cotton,” as hoeing weeds is called, my family moved to Lubbock so Dad could buy cotton. He also wanted my younger brother and me to be able to live at home and attend college. My dad picked out our house at the same edge of town as where my husband lived. Our family was pleased to have our own new home. Dad had built houses when we lived in California when I was small, but the house he was building for us always ended up sold because he and Mother couldn’t turn down a tidy profit. Anyway, we were happy to finally own one similar to--though not nearly as well built--those he had built in California. Our first year in Lubbock, cotton plants came up in our flowerbeds because the housing development was carved from a cotton farm.Although it’s one of the first books I wrote, you can see that HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME might be close to my heart.
Courtney Madison has battled poverty her entire twenty-five years but is
determined to make a safe and happy home for her teenaged brother after the
recent death of their mom. Her mom’s illness left Courtney with a mountain of
hospital bills, her formerly sweet brother Jimmy is now cutting class and
hanging with a rough crowd, and she’s just learned she’s being downsized in two
weeks. Hanging on by the threads of a fraying rope, she learns she’s inherited
two million dollars from a kind elderly man she befriended when he was in the
hospital across the hall from her mom. She thinks her inheritance in West Texas
is the answer to all her prayers--but Courtney learns that while money improves
her life, it doesn’t guarantee happiness. This modern Cinderella encounters
problems even a fairy godmother couldn’t imagine.
Rancher/entrepreneur Derek Corrigan has incredible instincts for flourishing in the business world. With women, not so much. In fact, his friends bemoan he’s King Midas where money is concerned, but his judgment of women is pathetic--evidenced by his wife before her death and now the flamboyant woman he’s been escorting of late. As far as Derek is concerned, all he wants is to be a good dad to his children Warren, aged 8, and Meg, aged 5. Derek suspects the worst of his new neighbor and vows to fight his attraction for her. The only way he can protect his children and himself is to keep his private life very private. Besides, he knows what women do to him--they always leave and take chunks of his heart with them. He's been there, done that, had the vaccination and is cured. Isn't he?
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Excerpt:
The set up is that hero Derek Corrigan drove Courtney to see more
of her inheritance, much of which is shared with Derek. She asked to get
flowers so she could lay them on the grave of the man who left her the legacy,
Sam Warren, and his wife, Maggie. Derek was adopted from a terrible situation by Sam
and Maggie. Courtney and Derek are back at her home when her teen-aged brother
comes in from school.
She
opened her mouth to explain, but nothing came out.
Derek
figured the bizarre situation defied description. He patted Jimmy on the
shoulder. “Don’t worry, she’s okay now. We were at the cemetery putting flowers
on Sam’s and Maggie’s graves and your sister got trapped in the bathroom.”
Jimmy
shook his head. “I don’t understand. How could that hurt her?”
Courtney
sighed. “The knob came off in my hand and I couldn’t open the door. So, I
climbed out the window.”
Derek
held out his hands to indicate the small rectangle. “A small, high window.”
Jimmy
looked from his sister to Derek. “I still don’t understand what happened.”
Courtney
snapped, “I got stuck, okay?”
Now
that he knew her to be okay, the week’s tension suddenly snapped in Derek, and
he lost his perspective on the whole situation. He grimaced at Jimmy. “She,
um…” He coughed to keep a straight face. “When she tried to go out the window,
she got stuck with her head and one arm sticking outside and the rest of her
inside.” He stood like a bird with a broken wing to imitate Courtney’s
position. A grin spread across his face in spite of all his efforts not to
smile.
Jimmy
gaped at his sister. “Courtney? But she’s always so sensible. She’s never does anything
stupid.” He began to smile also.
Both
males burst into laughter.
“Listen,
if you two are so amused, go into the other room to discuss my apparently
hilarious antics and leave me to suffer in peace.” In spite of her strained
muscles and injuries, she threw a box of tissues in their direction. “Go on,
get out of here. Now.”
Derek
glanced over his shoulder before he left.
She’d
stuffed a pillow over her ears, to block out their laughter.
HOME
SWEET TEXAS HOME is available in e-book and print from Amazon, and it is enrolled
in KU.
Stay safe and keep reading!
