Life with the Aunts: Part 7

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Both Ella and Jennie have gone to bed. Ella, now ten years old, reflects on their life with Aunt May and Uncle Russell.

Ella

I lay in the dark beside Jennie and listened to her sniffling, knowing she was crying, not knowing what to do. Lucy can’t help us. No one can. Uncle Graham and Aunt Hilda were convinced a demon possessed my little sister, and they were punishing her.

The first dream I could remember her having was about Mark. She didn’t say anything about it until after he died—months after the border ruffians had attacked Pa. She had seen that in a dream too but thought it was just a nightmare. She knew when Ma was dying. But we all knew that even though we didn’t admit it to each other.

When we came to live with Aunt Hannah at the hotel, Jennie finally told us about her dreams. Aunt Hannah was nice about it although I could see she wasn’t sure Jennie’s dreams were really prophecies of what was to come. And why did a dream have to be caused by a demon? Joseph in the Old Testament had dreams. Uncle Graham didn’t say Joseph was possessed.

Aunt Hannah was gone, and Lucy was with Aunt May, and we were stuck here with Uncle Graham and Aunt Hilda. Lucy was wearing nice clothes and getting ready to go to parties and have beaus while Jennie and I were just servants to Uncle Graham and his church.

Beside me, Jennie’s sniffling stopped and her breathing deepened. She was sleeping. I gripped the blanket around my shoulders and wondered when sleep would come for me. There were chores to do tomorrow: beds to make, floors to scrub, meals to cook. School was two months away. For the first time, I longed to go there, anything to get out of this house for a few hours a day. An awful thought worked its way into my thoughts: What if Uncle Graham wouldn’t let us go to school. He didn’t think girls needed an education. He’d always griped about Aunt Hannah wasting time educating us. In spite of all my dark thoughts, sometime in the night, I fell asleep. 

Jennie’s flapping arms and shouts woke me.

“No! No!” she cried out.

I rolled out of the way of her flailing fists and pulled the blanket tight around her so she couldn’t hit me. “Wake up, Jennie. You’re dreaming.”

After a short struggle, her body quieted, but she was still crying.

“What is it, Jennie.” My face was close to hers. A sliver of moonlight allowed me to see her eyes. She seemed to be looking past me.

“I won’t,” she said.

“Won’t what?” I asked, letting go of the blanket because she’d stopped fighting me.

The door to our room flew open, and Aunt Hilda stood illuminated by the lamp Uncle Graham, standing behind her, held. Both were in their nightclothes.

“What’s going on in here?” Aunt Hilda demanded.

Jennie sat up. “My stomach hurts.” She pressed her hands to her belly and gagged.

“Don’t make a mess on the bed,” Aunt Hilda said. “Go on.”

Jennie sprang from the bed, ran past them, and headed down the stairs and out the door. “She didn’t have anything to eat since this morning,” I said. Well, not that they knew of. I had given her the biscuit and meat. I hoped no one checked for crumbs. I prayed God would forgive me for lying. I remembered the first lies I ever told were about food. Mrs. Collins had brought us something when Ma was sick, and we ate it before Pa got home. There were lots of things we learned it was best not to tell Pa. The same was true here. I didn’t believe Jennie’s upset stomach had anything to do with food, but I wasn’t going to say so.

Come back next week for the last episode in this blog series and an update on the Adventures of Hannah True.

Life with the Aunts: Part 6

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In the previous post, Jennie’s dead brother appears to her. When she worries he might be a demon, he asks why he can’t be an angel.

Jennie continues her story:

He was right. And he’d been a baby when he died, so what could a baby have done to make him go to Hell instead of Heaven? But that was just it. Mark died when he was a week old. This boy was a lot older. Younger than me, but no baby, for sure.

“How old are you?” I asked.

“Five, the same age I’d be if I were still alive.”

“What am I going to tell Uncle Graham and Aunt Hilda?” I slid off my knees and sat cross-legged on the floor.

“That’s why I’m here. To warn you. Don’t tell them anything about your dreams or me. They won’t understand. Don’t even tell Ella or Lucy. They might not believe you, or they might tell by accident.”

I sighed. “Ella and Lucy already know about my dreams.”

“But they don’t know about me, so don’t say anything.”

“If you are Mark, you’re their brother too. Are you going to talk to them?”

“No. I’m here because Ma says you need me.”

“Ma sent you! Can she come too?”

“No, she’s busy with other work, and she thought you needed a brother now. Since Ambrose is grown up and married and living in New York City, she said I should come.”

Footsteps sounded in the hallway. I turned toward the door.

It opened.

We were caught. I looked at the bed. Mark was gone.

Aunt Hilda stood staring at me, her arms crossed. “Who were you talking to?”

I crossed my fingers and closed my fists as best I could to hide them. “To God. Uncle Graham told me to pray, so I was praying out loud. I thought He’d hear me better.”

“If you’re praying, why aren’t you on your knees?”

“They hurt.” At least that much was true.

“It’s time to help Ella with the dishes.”

My stomach growled then. I hadn’t been allowed supper. It was part of my punishment. I rose from the floor and followed Aunt Hilda to the kitchen. The smell of roast beef lingered in the air. I looked toward the pan with leftover biscuits. Ella was covering them with a towel to keep them fresh. I wanted one so bad, but I didn’t dare say anything.

Aunt Hilda left us alone.

Ella looked at me, her eyes sad. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I said. I wanted to tell her about Mark and how Ma had sent him to me from heaven, but I remembered how he told me to keep it a secret.

Ella washed dishes while I dried them and set them on the table. Then she put them away because she was ten and taller than I was. “Let’s go upstairs,” she said.

When we got to our room, she closed the door and pulled a package from her pocket. It was wrapped in a cloth. “Here.”

I opened it. It was a biscuit with a piece of beef tucked in the middle. “Thank you.” I felt like crying, I was so grateful.

Reminder

Undercurrents, The Adventures of Hannah True, Book 2 is on preorder and will be published April 30.

Life with the Aunts: Part 5

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We’ve had a look at what is happening with Lucy. Now what about Ella and Jennie? You may remember that Jennie is being punished for predicting the future. Here she is in her own words.

Jennie

My knees ached from kneeling on the hard floor. I clasped my hands in prayer because Uncle Graham said I’m possessed by a demon in me, and I have to pray him out.

Am I possessed? Is that why I know things, bad things, that are going to happen? How did I get a demon in me? Please, God, take him out. I didn’t mean anything bad. I just wanted to keep Uncle Graham and his horse safe. That’s why I told him about my dream of a rattlesnake biting his horse. But he said snakes are demons. It was a snake that tempted Eve in the garden. Eve was responsible for all the sin in the world.

I’m sorry, God. Forgive me. Help me. I don’t know how to make the dreams stop. Sometimes I think they’re gone. I don’t have one for a long time, and then they come again. The last one was about Grandmother True. I knew before anyone else when she died. I got up in the night and went to Aunt Hannah and told her. She knew I had dreams, but she never told me I was bad. She did say I should never tell anyone else.

But, of course, I told Ella and Lucy. And they said, “Never tell the other aunts or anyone because they won’t understand.”

I promised I wouldn’t, and today I broke the promise because I didn’t want Uncle Graham to get hurt.

Now I’m the one hurting.

Why do I have these dreams when they don’t help anyone? The first one came when Mark died. I didn’t know he was dead. I just dreamed he was cold, so I climbed in the cradle with him and tried to make him warm. If I had told Ma he was cold, could she have saved him?

“Don’t feel bad.” A boy’s voice came from the bed.

Shocked, I sat back and looked up. He was lying on the bed, propped on his elbows with his fists under his chin.

“How did you get in my room?” I asked. “Who are you? Are you a demon?”

“Shhh! Not so loud. No, I’m not a demon. I’m Mark, your brother. I came to tell you it’s not your fault I died.” He sat up and dangled his legs over the edge of the mattress.

“If you’re dead, you must be a demon. I have to call Uncle Graham.”

His face scrunched. “And get another whipping?” He rubbed his nose. “Why do I have to be a demon? There are angels in the world too.”

Part 6 of “Life with the Aunts” will be available next week.

Undercurrents is available for pre-order on Amazon and will be published on April 30.

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.

Hannah True’s Second Adventure

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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

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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 2

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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

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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.

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

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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.