Category: Characters

Life with the Aunts: Part 4

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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.

Life with the Aunts: Part 3

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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 1

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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.

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An Update and a Question

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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.

Character Interview: Ava Carstairs Pierce

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Who is Ava Carstairs Pierce?

Ava joined the Pierce Family Saga cast in Book 2, For Want of a Father, and married Hiram Pierce in Book 3, Hiram’s Boy. She created havoc and splintered the family in Book 4, Hiram’s War. But who is Ava really? As the author, I set up an interview with the woman many readers love to hate and asked a few questions.

But before the interview, a few facts

Ava was 30 years old when she married Hiram on September 1, 1860. She is 5 feet, 7 inches tall. Red (dark auburn) hair, green eyes. Sturdily built. Not overweight, but big-boned. She has five defining personal qualities: shrewd, ambitious, manipulative, jealous, and impulsive.

Ava Carstairs: Interview with the author

Author: Hello, Ava. Thank you for joining me today. I’ve been wanting to get to know more about you ever since you showed up unexpectedly in Book 2.

Ava: You’ve had three books to get to know me. You didn’t care before, so why now?

Author: You were always an important character, but in Hiram’s Girls, you will have your own point of view chapters. For me to tell readers your side of the story, I need to know more. Will you help me out?

Ava: I suppose. What do you want to know?

Author: What brought you to Hidden Springs?

Ava: My cousin, Agnes, was here, and I had no place else to go after Jack Yates ran out on me. The law was after us, and Jack figured he could travel faster on his own. Agnes’s husband Joe didn’t want to let me in, but she finally persuaded him to let me stay for a few weeks. I hoped Jack might come for me. Until that happened, I tried to fit in, even sang in the church choir, and that’s how I met Hiram. I wasn’t impressed at first, but then I found out he had his own business, a nice home, and a respected position in the community. Well, I wasn’t getting any younger, so when Hiram asked me to marry him, I said yes.

Author: I already know all that. Tell me something I don’t know.

Ava: Like what?

Author: What are some of your first memories?

Ava: My mother left me with my uncle and his family when I was four years old. I’d just had a birthday and got a rag doll for a present. Then Agnes, my cousin who was five years older, got a doll with a china head and hair and that looked like a baby. Agnes always got the good stuff, and I got her hand-me-downs. 

Author: You sound jealous.

Ava: Wouldn’t you be? Can we move this on? I’d rather think of something else.

Author: Okay. What can you tell me about your son, Daniel? What is your last memory of him?

Ava: Leaving him on the Laird’s doorstep. I couldn’t take care of him. Jack had gone off when he knew I wasn’t going to win the court case against Gerald Ward’s estate. I couldn’t prove Ward was Daniel’s father, and his relatives, the Lairds, showed some evidence that he wasn’t. So I had no money, and Agnes’s husband, Joe, kicked me out when the bad publicity caused so much gossip his customers started shopping elsewhere. Wherever Daniel ended up, he was better off there than with me.

Author: Surely, you have some good memories.

Ava: My best memory was marrying Hiram. I laugh at that now, but then it seemed like a dream come true. I thought he loved me. He even believed in me enough to toss out his son and leave his daughters by Minerva in Westport with their aunt. I promised him sons, but I birthed girls. That’s when I found out he didn’t really care about me. He only cared about the possibility I might give him a son. Still, I could mostly get what I wanted from him, but the town turned against us when he kicked Ambrose out, and they blamed me. Well, it was my doing, but who needs the approval of a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites?

Author: If that was your best memory, what was your worst?

Ava: How do I pick one worst memory out of so many bad ones? Jack Yates is the reason for most of them. He was Daniel’s father, but he ran out on us, which I’ve already told you about. Even so, I always went with him when he asked me, only to have him to desert me again. The absolute worst was this last time in Colorado when he got arrested. I had to steal a horse and run from the law in the middle of the night because he had stopped to gamble on our way out of town. If we’d just left as soon as we’d collected the gold, everything would have worked out. I can’t let them catch me. I can’t–I can’t talk about this anymore.

Author: I’m sorry to have upset you. Maybe we can talk more later. Readers, if you have any questions for Ava, leave them in the comments. Ava, thank you for your time.

What’s Next? A Look at Pierce Family Options

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Hiram’s War: Live on Amazon
                     May 15,2020

Decisions

Those who have read Hiram’s War have a common question: What’s next for the Pierce family? It’s a question I’m asking the five older siblings. Let’s see what they’re telling me.

Cordelia: I’ve spent the last four years as a traveling photographer for Mathew Brady. I’m not sure what I’ll do when the war is over.

Ambrose: I’m heading to New York City to get my wife, son, and stepbrother, then we’re heading for Kansas and a new life.

Lucy: I’m on my way to Cairo to resume nursing duties, but I want to do more, to know more, to save more lives. I want to be a doctor, but I’ll have to fight to make that happen. Women are usually barred from medical schools. 

Ella: I’m looking for a husband and a permanent home for me and Jennie. My older siblings say I don’t know what marriage is all about and I’m asking for trouble, like being fourteen means I don’t know anything. We’ll see. 

Jennie: I always wanted little sisters, and now I have three of them under three years old. Ella and I have split the responsibility: she takes care of the house and I take care of the little ones. It’s only been a week, and I already think I’m in over my head. Help!

Another Option: Aunt Hannah

Hannah True is sister to the Pierce siblings deceased mother. She took the girls in after their mother’s death and raised them until 1860. Then Hannah’s mother died and her brothers-in-law sold the hotel she ran and left her uprooted. At thirty-eight, she is on her own for the first time in her life. In 1848, she was a suffragette. Now, on her way to New York City and a new life, she meets a man who runs a detective agency and gives her an unexpected option. Will she take it? 

So those are my choices. Which one appeals most to you and why? 

For more on the Pierce family, check out the following e-books: Cordelia’s Journey (always 99 cents), For Want of a Father ( on a 99 cent countdown sale May 29-June 5, 2020), and Hiram’s Boy. 

 

Hiram’s War: What Ella and Jennie Want

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Live on Amazon May 15,2020


Homeless

After their mother’s death in 1855, Ella and Jennie went to live with their Aunt Hannah, a single woman who ran the family’s hotel in Westport. When the hotel was sold in 1860 and Aunt Hannah left town, the two sisters went from her loving care to a cold, judgmental  existence with Aunt Hilda and her husband, Reverend Graham Russell. Now it is 1864, and their world is falling apart as war rages around them.

What Jennie wants in her own words:

I’m twelve years old and the baby of the family, and that’s all my sisters and Ambrose see when they look at me: a child who needs protection. They all have advice about my dreams: mainly how I should keep quiet about them. I did that once, and my baby brother, Mark, died. And now I’m having dreams about Pa, and I know he’ll die if I don’t find him, so I have to make my siblings believe me. While I was trying to convince Ella, Uncle Graham and Aunt Hilda overheard us, and Uncle Graham beat me to get rid of the demons he said were working inside me.

Ambrose and my sisters rescued me, but now Ella and I have no home, and she feels responsible to get us one. I’ll have to think about that later because right now, the most important thing is to save my father’s life. I didn’t save my baby brother’s life. I was only three years old then. Pa thought I smothered him when I crawled into his cradle to get him warm, but he was already cold. He didn’t move. Ambrose says Mark was already dead. All I know is I didn’t tell anyone about my dream and Mark died. This time, I have to tell. I have to make people listen. I don’t want to be responsible for another family death.

 

First book in the series


What Ella wants in her own words:

I’m fourteen years old now. I remember when our family was all together, and Jennie and I were the little sisters. We lived in our cabin in Hidden Springs: Ma, Pa, Ambrose, Cordelia, Lucy, Jennie, and me. Those were good days. Then Mark, only one week old, died and Ma got in the family way again, and Delia ran away to get Aunt Hannah. Then Ma had to stay in bed and Lucy took over the cooking and cleaning and taking care of us. I was five and tried to help, but the best I could do was keep track of Jennie. That’s been my job ever since.

I love Jennie, but keeping her out of trouble hasn’t been easy, especially since Aunt Hannah left and we had to go live with Aunt Hilda and Uncle Graham. I’ve told her over and over that she can’t talk about her dreams, but sometimes she blurts them out—and they come true. Now we are homeless. I know Ambrose will find a place for us, maybe with Aunt Gertrude, but that would be only temporary. I want a permanent home. I want to get married, but with a war on, how will I find a husband.

Lucy complained that five years ago when she went to live with Pa, he wanted to find her a suitable husband, someone well-off and respected in the community. If we find Pa and he’s alive, I’m going to ask him to do that for me. I want a real home for me and Jennie.

 

For more about me and my books, visit my author page on Amazon.

 

 

 

Hiram’s War: What Lucy Wants

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Remember Lucy Pierce, Hiram’s oldest daughter, from For Want of a Father?

Lucy’s back, nineteen years old now, and she’s been to war with the boy she loved and served as a Civil War nurse with Mother Bickerdyke. She’s taking a break from a battlefield hospital to join her sisters in Westport and do what she can to protect them from Confederate General Price and his soldiers who are planning to march through the town on their way to Ft. Leavenworth.

Lucy in her own words: 

I’m almost twenty, and I’m a widow. I married Jake when he was dying from dysentery like so many other soldiers. No one knew the cause or what to do, so all I could do was sit with him. Now I will devote my life to healing the sick in honor of my one true love. But first, I must make sure my sisters are safe from Price and his rebel marauders.

I convinced Cordelia we must go to Westport and watch over them. Now that we have arrived, I see the situation is much worse than I imagined. Jennie is still having visions of the future, and Uncle Graham has beaten her with a belt until her back bled. I have put iodine on the cuts, but there will be scars, and it will be some time until her bruises heal.

Jennie insists she’s had a vision of Pa being hurt, and we must help him. After the way he treated me, Cordelia, and Ambrose, I am resistant to the idea, but Jennie won’t stop pleading, so we must do it for her sake. Once we have found him, I will move on to the next goal: finding a home for Ella and Jennie. Ella’s marriage idea is so misguided. She doesn’t remember how bad things were between our parents and how bad an arranged marriage can turn out to be. Once my sisters are taken care of, I will return to the Sanitary Commission and see where my nursing skills are most needed. Please, let this war be over soon.


Hiram’s War is available for pre-order on Amazon and goes live on May 15. If you enjoy American historical fiction dealing with family struggles, order your copy now.

Hiram’s War: What Ambrose Wants

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Ambrose: the disowned son of Hiram Pierce

If you have read Hiram’s Boy, you may remember the incident that caused Hiram to disown his only son. Despite Ambrose’s attempt to show his father the truth in January 1860, they have not reconciled. It is now October 1864, and Ambrose’s main concerns are his wife and children and his younger sisters who may be in the path of General Sterling Price’s Confederate forces on their way to Ft. Leavenworth.

 

Ambrose in his own words: I’m twenty years old and married. Susan and I have a son who is four, and we hope to adopt my stepbrother, Daniel Carstairs. His mother never wanted him and left him on a doorstep. He was sent to an orphanage where Cordelia and I found him when I was trying to prove to Pa what a liar his new wife was.

Lucy and I have given up on Pa, but Jennie hasn’t. I don’t know about Ella. She has some plan about Pa finding her a husband. I can’t believe she wants to do that, but she doesn’t have as much personal experience with him as Lucy, Cordelia, and I do.

I came to Westport to protect Ella and Jennie from Price and his soldiers, but I found out they needed more protection from Uncle Graham. Now that they’re out of his house, we’re on our way to find Pa at Jennie’s insistence. No matter what happens with that, I need to find my sisters a new home, and then I need to get back to my family. If Ella would give up her nonsense about getting married, she and Jennie could come with me, and Aunt Gertrude would take her in.

No matter what decisions my sisters make, as soon as I can, I’m going to bring my wife and son to Kansas and start our life together. Will this war ever end so I can make that happen?

Hiram’s War is on pre-order on Amazon and will be live on May 15.

 

Hiram’s War: What Characters Want

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After two years, I have finally finished Hiram’s War. What made it so rough, other than I don’t like war, is that I didn’t like Hiram much either. After a year of not liking him any better, I asked him what he wanted out of life. Below is his answer in his own words.

Hiram

All I ever wanted was respect for me and my family. I wanted a successful business, and when my father passed me over because I was the youngest son, giving me work for a wage instead of part of the business, I did my best to get the money to start over in a new place. It took years, but in 1854, I finally made a home in Hidden Springs, a new town in Kansas. A blacksmith is an important part of any community on the frontier, and I soon became of the town leaders. From there I made friends with territorial legislators and worked to make Kansas a free state.

I was disappointed that I had only one son, and more disappointed when it turned out he had betrayed me. I had already experienced family betrayal. My oldest brother, Duncan, slept with my first wife, Constance. She died giving birth to a child. Had it been mine or my brother’s? Unimportant, since the child died too.

Then I married Minerva, knowing she had another man’s child in her belly. Her father paid me a dowry to keep his family from having the shame of an unmarried daughter bearing a child. Minerva was young and I expected sons, but Ambrose was the only boy she bore who lived beyond infancy.

Ambrose was a good son until he betrayed me, trying to take liberties with my third wife, Ava. He was loved by the townspeople for his good nature and good work. Loved more than I was because they all sided with him when I tossed him out for his betrayal. Of course, I didn’t say what he’d done. I didn’t want that gossiped about. And he didn’t say either, so no one knew what he’d done, and the men I’d thought were my friends and respected me showed their true opinions.

So I’ve gone to war because it is my duty to Kansas, for my own self-respect and for revenge in some way against border ruffians who had burned a horseshoe shape into my chest with a branding iron. None of my neighbors will be able to say I am a coward or that I didn’t fight for my state and country. I will protect what is mine personally and patriotically. I’m fifty-three years old, and the governor’s call is for all men between eighteen and sixty. I will answer that call and regain the respect of those who have turned away from me.

What other characters want

Hiram’s children–Ambrose, Lucy, Ella, and Jennie–have their own goals, which I will share with you in future posts. In the meantime, Hiram’s War is available for pre-order until May 15 on Amazon.