Life with the Aunts: Part 4

HazelLeave a comment

After Aunt May’s diatribe about Lucy’s mother’s loose morals, Lucy is determined to sneak out of the house when her aunt and uncle go to sleep . Her mission: to get her mother’s comb from Jake. 

Lucy continues with what happens next:

I lay aside the tray and writing implements and crossed to the door. I pulled it not quite closed, leaving a crack so I could slip out without making a sound. Then I arranged the pillows and blankets to make it look like I was asleep. There was almost no chance Aunt May would check on me, but if she did, I wanted it to appear I was in bed.

And then I waited. I heard the hall clock strike ten, and still I waited. At the half hour chime, I decided it was late enough. Carrying my shoes, I tiptoed down the hall in stocking feet. The farthest outside door from my aunt’s room was the kitchen at the back of the house.

Once out of the house, I dashed down dark streets, keeping to the sides, moving into bushes, until I got to the main street. I hurried down an alley and came to the stable. A dog barked and was shushed. I opened the stable door, moonlight casting my shadow.

“Jake, are you awake?”

There was rustling in the back. Jake stumbled into view, rubbing his eyes. “Lucy?” He lowered his hand and squinted in my direction. “What are you doing here?”

“I came for Ma’s comb. I’m sorry to wake you.”

“That’s okay. I’ll get it.” He turned back in the direction he came from. In a moment, he was back. “Here. I’m glad I saved it. It has to mean a lot for you to come this time of night.”

“It does. It’s about all I have of Ma’s except for the bit of her hair in my locket. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I wanted to say more, wanted to stay and talk to him about what was happening at the hotel with the new owners and tell him how life was going with the aunts. He had been a good friend to Ella and Jennie. I realized now that he could still be a friend to them because they were still children, only ten and eight. Because I was fourteen and he was older by a year or so, people saw our friendship differently, some, like Aunt May and Uncle Graham, would even say scandalous.

“Your aunt was pretty upset about us talking this afternoon, wasn’t she?” Jake said.

I was glad he had mentioned what I’d been afraid to say. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by not stopping by to visit, but I couldn’t risk angering the person who gave me shelter. “She was. It’s all about what people will think and about marrying me off to the right person—meaning someone with money and position.”

“I understand.”

“Thanks again.” On impulse, I stepped forward, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, turned, and ran for home. 

Reminder:

I hope you are enjoying this blog series. There will be another post next week. Also, Undercurrents is available for pre-order on Amazon, and The Courtship of Hannah True, the series prequel, is free on Book Funnel.

Hannah True’s Second Adventure

Hazel2 Comments

Available for pre-order on Amazon

Coming soon!

“Coming soon” is what all the previews of coming attractions said when I was a child going to the Saturday afternoon movies in El Dorado, Kansas. Undercurrents, the second book in the Hannah True series, will be available on Amazon on April 30, 2023.

Free Prequel

The man Hannah didn’t marry is a main character in Undercurrents, so you may want to check out the free prequel to the series, The Courtship of Hannah True, which is available on Book Funnel in exchange for your email address. As explained in a previous post, I’m putting together an email newsletter list. I just haven’t figured out the distribution part yet. Don’t worry. I won’t spam you, and when I finally get a newsletter, you can unsubscribe if you decide it is not for you.

I’ll be posting the next “Life with the Aunts” segment in a couple of days. The Pierce sisters are an important part of Undercurrents, and the blog posts are a behind-the-scenes look at what is happening in Westport while Hannah is searching for ways they can all be together again.

Life with the Aunts: Part 3

HazelLeave a comment

Recap of Part 2

After visiting Ella, Lucy stops to talk to Jake and retrieve her mother’s comb. Then Aunt May shows up and accuses her of lying and sneaking off to meet Jake.

Lucy continues with what happens next:

I looked at Jake. I wanted to ask him for Ma’s comb, but I was afraid Aunt May would throw it away. I’d have to come back. This time I would sneak. I needed that keepsake from my mother, and Aunt May wasn’t going to keep me from having it.

She nudged my shoulder and ordered, “Move.”

I gritted my teeth. I was not an animal, but I would obey, at least for now.

We hurried down the street toward home, Aunt May scolding me all the way. “If you want a comfortable home, you’ll have to do better than a stable boy with no property of his own. Being seen with him will dim your chances of making a marriage to a man of means. Keep your distance. I didn’t take you under my roof to have you disgrace yourself like your mother disgraced our family.”

There it was. Ma had disgraced our family by falling for a fur trader passing through and ending up unmarried and carrying his child. When he had disappeared, Grandfather had hastened to find her a husband. That’s how she ended up married to Pa.

When we got to Aunt May’s, I stopped at the garden and gathered greens for our evening meal. Beef had been simmering in a pot for some hours. I added potatoes and onions and went about mixing dough for biscuits. All the while, I was thinking about sneaking out tonight and meeting Jake. I wanted Ma’s comb.

Supper over, Molly, our Irish housekeeper, cleared the dishes and cleaned the kitchen before going home. I went to my room on the second floor and looked out the window. Getting out of the house without being seen wouldn’t be easy. I had to pass by my aunt and uncle’s bedroom to get to the stairway. But the house was well-built. There were no creaky steps. I simply must wait until they were asleep. But that would be after ten o’clock.

I left my door open and settled in the window seat, a tray on my lap to hold pen and paper, using the time to write to Aunt Hannah. It was nine thirty when I heard the murmur of their voices as they came up the stairs. Aunt May looked in.

“Why aren’t you in bed? You are supposed to be helping me with refreshments for the church tea tomorrow.”

“I’ll be turning in soon. I’m finishing a letter.”

“Who are you writing too? Not that dreadful sister of yours, traipsing around the country in boy’s clothes.”

“No, I’m not writing to Delia. And she’s in New York City now with Aunt Gertrude.”

“Humph. I can’t imagine how Gertrude can show her face in society with Minerva’s bastard in her house.”

“I think they don’t tell people about Delia’s beginnings.” I pressed my lips together to keep from telling her what I really thought.

“So who is the letter to?”

“Aunt Hannah.”

“Well that’s a waste of time. She won’t arrive in New York for close to three weeks.”

“I know, but I want to tell her how my sisters are doing. Fill her in on our lives without her. She’ll want to know. I hope my letter is in her hands not long after she arrives.” Shaking her head, Aunt May continued to her room. I heard the door close. I left mine open. I didn’t want the turn of the knob or the closing of it to make a noise when I left.

Life with the Aunts: Part 2

HazelLeave a comment

What’s happened so far:

In Part 1, Lucy finds Jennie has been banished to her room for predicting the future, something her minister uncle considers possible demon possession.

Lucy continues with what happened next:

Ella was right. I sat hugging her and wishing I could hug Jennie too. Both needed comfort, and none was available in this house. If only we could have gone with Aunt Hannah, but that wasn’t possible.

For the hour allotted to me for visiting, I sat quietly with Ella. We said little, just huddled together, our arms around each other, watching sunlight filtering through lace curtains blowing in the wind.

On my way back to Aunt May’s, I stopped at the hotel and went around to the stable. Jake was there, pitching hay. He smiled as I entered, but his face became somber as I grew closer.

“What’s happened?” he asked.

I rubbed my cheeks. “What makes you think something has?”

He set the pitchfork aside and came to stand in front of me. He touched my face. “You’ve been crying.”

I didn’t want to tell him about Jennie’s plight, so I told half the truth. “I miss Aunt Hannah and being with my sisters here at the hotel. Visiting isn’t the same as being a family together.”

“I guess not.”

I remembered then that Jake’s parents were dead. His father had hoped to get rich in the gold fields near Denver. His mother died on the way there, and when his father didn’t strike gold and ended up busted, they headed back east, only for his father to die on the trail. Jake had almost died too when he wandered away from the train and a man who was supposed to be his father’s partner left him in the sun without water. Delia and her friends had found him and brought him with them to Westport where Aunt Hannah had given him a job. He was an orphan, just like me and my sisters.

Well, not just like. Pa was still alive, but all he cared about was his new wife and the children he was having with her. Our brother Ambrose had told us how Pa accepted her saying we had bad morals because we inherited a weakness from Ma and Aunt Hannah had taught us to be suffragists and no man would want to marry any of us. It served Pa right that his newest child, my half-sister, was a girl.

“What is going on here?” Aunt May’s shrill voice broke the stillness.

Jake’s hand fell to his side, and I swirled around to face her. “Nothing,” I said, glad for the dim light which hid the flush that warmed my cheeks.

“Nothing? You sneak off to see this boy when you are supposed to be visiting your sisters. That won’t be happening again. Come along, now!”

“I did go to see them, but Jennie is being punished and isn’t allowed visitors. Ella was so sad we couldn’t even talk. We just sat.”

“I hope you prayed while you were sitting. If you didn’t, I’ll give you ample opportunity when I get you home. Come along.”

She spoke to me like I was a child instead of almost a woman. Why was it that you were a child when people wanted to make you do what they wanted, but you were an adult when they wanted you to work or wanted to marry you off and get you out of their way?

Next Week:

I hope you are enjoying the “Life with Aunts” blog series. I’ll be posting Part 3 next week. In the meantime,

Register by March 23 for a chance to win an eBook copy of Uprooted

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Uprooted by Hazel Hart

Uprooted

by Hazel Hart

Giveaway ends March 23, 2023.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Life with the Aunts: Part 1

Hazel2 Comments

What’s happening with the Pierce girls?

It is June 2, 1860, two days since Hannah left Westport in search of her future. With no means of support, she had to leave her nieces with their other aunts. In this seven part blog series, you’ll see what life is like for Lucy, 14; Ella 10; and Jennie, 8, as they adjust to their new circumstances.

Lucy

It had been two days since my sisters and I said goodbye to Aunt Hannah. Jennie and Ella had gone to live with Aunt Hilda while I had gone with Aunt May. Life with her and Uncle Edmond was not what I had imagined. It wasn’t quite the nonstop drudgery I’d had with Pa when I’d gone to live with him all starry-eyed, thinking he loved me and that’s why he wanted me home. What he’d really wanted was for me to do the woman’s work until he found me a suitable husband, someone with money and influence. If I married well, he’d be proud of me. Until then, there were meals to be cooked and clothes to be washed. I’d been only thirteen. I was fourteen now, and I wasn’t any more ready for marriage than I had been last summer. That wasn’t stopping Aunt May though. She was ticking through her social list looking for a suitable match for me. I wasn’t ready, but she wasn’t listening.

Aunt Hannah would have listened. Yes, she was, according to Aunt May, an old maid. She didn’t look old. She didn’t act old either. She had spent years running the family’s hotel and taking care of Grandma True, and all she got was a few dollars when Pa and my uncles sold the hotel.

I was on my way to see Ella and Jennie, and the way to the parsonage ran by the hotel. I stopped and looked at the front entrance, remembering how I sometimes helped Wesley, our old desk clerk, check in guests.

“Lucy, hello.”

Startled, I turned to see Jake Owens grinning at me. I couldn’t stop smiling, it was so good to see him. “Hey, Jake.”

“Homesick for the old place?”

“The hotel? Not really. Aunt Hannah? Yes.”

“They’re converting your old room to a guest room. I found something when I was cleaning it out. I have it in the stable. Do you want to wait while I get it for you?”

“Can I get it on my way home? I’m late to see my sisters, and Aunt Hilda has a strict schedule at her house.”

“Sure. I’ll be in the stable later, so you’ll find me there.”

“What did I leave?”

“A comb. It has broken teeth, but I figured it might be a keepsake.”

Ma’s comb. How could I have left it? “You’re right. It was my mother’s. Thank you for saving it for me. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“I’ll be in the stable.”

“Okay.”

I went on to Aunt Hilda’s. When I got there, Ella was alone in the parlor.

“Where’s Jennie?” I asked.

Ella looked up from her Bible. Her eyes were red from crying. She wiped a tear from her cheek. “In her room. She can’t come out until tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“She had a dream about Uncle Graham’s horse getting hurt, and she told him not to ride yesterday, and he did. A rattlesnake bit his horse.”

“Oh, my. That’s awful. But why is Jennie banished to her room?”

“Because Uncle Graham said an evil spirit had possessed her. That’s the only way she could have known. He whipped her with a belt something terrible.” Ella buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and drew her to me. “We warned her not to tell her dreams to anyone.”

“But she says if she doesn’t and something bad happens, it will be her fault.”

“I’m going to see her.”

“You really shouldn’t. If Uncle Graham finds out, it’ll just be worse.”

Free Prequel: The Courtship of Hannah True is still available.

I still don’t have a newsletter, but I am gathering email addresses for when I do. If you’d like to read the free prequel, The Courtship of Hannah True, please sign up. If and when the newsletter happens, you can always opt out if you don’t want it.

Free Hannah True Prequel

Hazel2 Comments

If you are reading this, there’s a good chance you are a Hannah True fan and want to know more about her relationship with Paul Simmons, the man she almost married ten years before the first novel novel in the series, Uprooted. She hasn’t heard from him since they mutually ended the relationship, but now he is eager to see her again. She doesn’t quite know why, but she finds out in Book 2 of her series, Undercurrents. I am working hard to finish Undercurrents by April 30. In the meantime, if you are interested in reading the backstory of these two, it is available for free if you sign up for my newsletter, which I haven’t developed yet. More about that in the next paragraph. But here is the link to sign up for The Courtship of Hannah True.

What newsletter?

I do not yet have a newsletter, but all the writing/marketing gurus say I need one. So I’m looking into it, trying to choose the mailing list service provider right for me. I signed up for one, but I’m not getting along with the technology. I’m not sure when the newsletter will happen.

So why a signup now?

Because The Courtship of Hannah True is done and up on Book Funnel, and I want you to have it before Undercurrents comes out. I don’t want you to wait for indecisive me to pick a service provider, but I would like to be able to contact you in the future. In the meantime, I promise, I will not share your email address with anyone. You will not be spammed.

What would be in the newsletter?

I am looking at a monthly, or possible quarterly, newsletter with announcements of upcoming books in the series with historical tidbits and research experiences. There may also be contests and drawings and other special promotions. But if all that doesn’t sound enticing, you can always opt out. The first newsletter, when there is one, will have a place for you to do that.

If you read the prequel…

I’d love to know what you think of the prequel. Did you enjoy the story? Was there something you wanted to know that wasn’t included? Please leave a comment on the blog or my Facebook page. Click on the link now and start reading The Courtship of Hannah True.

A Hannah True Prequel

Hazel2 Comments

Hannah True, a popular character in the Pierce Family Saga novels, now has her own series, The Adventures of Hannah True. A romance that didn’t work out was hinted at in the Pierce books. In Uprooted, the first book in Hannah’s series, we learn that she was once engaged to be married, and that the man, Paul Simmons, has learned she will be back in New York sometime soon–and he wants to meet with her.

In Undercurrents, book 2, which is still in progress, Hannah makes it to her Aunt Gertrude’s in New York City and re-connects with Paul Simmons. This book, like Uprooted, has a mystery to be solved, so I didn’t want it to get bogged down with flashbacks to the past. Still, I thought some readers would like to know what happened back in 1848 when Hannah met Paul at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Therefore, I have written a prequel, The Courtship of Hannah True, which I will make available as soon as I figure out how to distribute it for free. My goal is to resolve the distribution question before Christmas. Until then, a sneak peek at the prequel appears below.

The Courtship of Hannah True

February 1848

It was a normal winter day with a few snow flurries but nothing threatening until we finished our evening meal. Then Papa touched a napkin to his lips, sent a meaningful glance at Mama, and then they both turned their stern faces on me.

Papa cleared his throat. “Let’s retire to the parlor. Your mother and I have something to discuss with you.”

My nerves tightened as the determined glances they exchanged told me I wasn’t going to like what they had to say. I was a grown woman of twenty-six and earned my keep by working in the hotel, but me being unmarried gave Mama and Papa the illusion that they should direct my life toward a more desirable situation.

We rose from the dining table in unison. Papa stood back and motioned me forward, Mama followed me, and then he fell in behind. I felt as though I were being herded to my destiny.

It turned out, I was.

In the parlor, a fire crackled in the hearth, casting a warm glow on the room, but outside the wind howled, and a bit of cold seeped into the room around the window frames. Papa turned up the flame of a lamp on the table between his chair and Mama’s. I sat in the third chair that formed a semi-circle in front of the fireplace.

Again, a serious look passed between them that set my nerves on edge.

“What is it?” I asked. “Is someone ill?”

“Not exactly,” Mama said, “but we’re concerned about Aunt Gertrude.”

“Why?” My stomach knotted. Aunt Gertrude was Mama’s older sister, and though I hadn’t spent a great deal of time with her, she was dear to me, encouraging me in the many letters we had exchanged over the years.

“Because of Uncle Stanley’s passing,” Papa said.

My forehead furrowed as I tried to make sense of their reasoning. “That was last April, ten months ago. Why are you concerned now?”

“Well, of course, my sister is still in mourning,” Mama said. “She’s rattling around that big house all alone except for the servants. She really needs some companionship.”

“Why me? Why now?” I asked. But I was certain I knew. My parents were eager to have me marry, and I had just broken off a relationship with a possible suitor. In their eyes, I was an old maid and needed a husband to take care of me. In my eyes, I needed nothing of the sort.

Would you like to read more of this prequel?

Please click on Leave a Comment at the top of the post and give me a yes or no.

Did this word exist in that time?

HazelLeave a comment

I came across this article in my drafts section. Because my struggle with getting the right word for the time continues, I thought you might be interested in the following statistics about the number of English words in existence and the number the average person actually uses.

The same issue of Godey’s that suggested Christmas gifts for 1864 contained a paragraph of information taken from the Literary Gazette claiming that the English language at that time had only 25,000 words. According to several internet sources, the English language currently has over 170,000 in current use, and the average person knows about 40,000 words but uses around 20,000 of them regularly. After my recent suffragist/suffragette experience, I have become hyperaware of when words came into existence, and from the above statistics, I have reason for my concern.

In the same paragraph stating the number of words in the English language in 1864 (I am supposing someone arrived at that statistic by counting the words in a dictionary ), additional word counts were given for specific works. According to the Literary Gazette, the Old Testament has 5,643 different words, Milton’s Paradise Lost has 8,000 different words, and all of Shakespeare’s plays and poems together, have 15,000 different words. What I wanted to know as I read the above is who in the age before computers made the count and why. Unfortunately, the brief paragraph did not disclose that information.

An Update and a Question

Hazel4 Comments

As you can see from the blog header, Uprooted, the first book in the Pierce family spinoff series, The Adventures of Hannah True, has been published. I am about halfway through the first draft of Undercurrents, the second book in the Hannah series. The time is July 1860. Hannah has left Chicago and has at last arrived at Aunt Gertrude’s in New York City.

A jump back in time

In Hiram’s Girls, I left the Pierce siblings during Christmas season, 1864. That means in Uprooted and Undercurrents, everyone is four years younger than they were at the end of Hiram’s Girls. Hopefully, that isn’t a problem for you, dear readers. In some ways, it is like reading a prequel. This is what happened that wasn’t in the other books. My plan is that by the fourth book in the Hannah series, the story will be in 1864 again, and we can see the events of the search for Ava through Hannah’s eyes.

The ending of Hiram’s Girls

In the Amazon comments, a few readers have voiced their dissatisfaction with what they considered a quick ending to Hiram’s Girls. I want to assure everyone that you have not seen the last of the siblings. They will be part of the new series, and they may even have more books of their own as the Civil War ends. Ambrose must decide where his family will live, Lucy will study to be a doctor, and Jennie will have to decide what to do with her psychic abilities. And then there is Cordelia. The first book in the series was hers. Should she have another?

Question

Would you like another Pierce family book, and if you would, whose story would you like me to tell?

Please answer in the comments section.