Love’s Unwavering Hope (Preview)

Lone Oak, Texas

1884

“You can’t just do this to me, Jack!” Elizabeth shrieked so loudly that Jack was sure anybody walking within a mile radius would be able to hear her.

“Keep your voice down, Liza. I’m not tryin’ to have ya wake the dead or anythin’,” Jack grumbled as he cast a surreptitious glance over his shoulder. They were walking through the fields owned by Thomas Foster. He was a wizened old man who owned a stretch of land as far as the eye could see. He also just happened to be Jack’s employer. And while Mr. Foster was a kindly old man, and he usually stayed out of the personal concerns of his employees, that surely wouldn’t stop the other cowboys from overhearing this argument.

“Don’t you tell me what to do, Jackson Harty!” Liza snapped, and her green eyes flared furiously. “We’ve been together an awful long time and I’m not about to just stand here and listen to you try to let me down gently again.”

“Well, what do ya want me to say?” Jack asked earnestly. “I’m not tryin’ to be a brute here, but you’re makin’ it darned difficult.”

“The least you could do is be honest with me!” Liza thundered as she stopped walking altogether. Her hands went to her curvy hips. Her long, delicate fingers were balled into fists and, as she glared at him, he could feel the intensity in her gaze. The sun was making its descent down the horizon, and so, when they’d ventured out for their walk, Liza had eschewed wearing a bonnet. Instead, her gorgeous burnt orange curls hung wildly around her face. The wind blew the long strands, giving Liza an almost ethereal and otherworldly look. Her green eyes glinted as the sun caught them just right, and when Jack was forced to give up on walking too and turn to look at her squarely, he could tell that she wasn’t just outraged, she was hurting inside.

“I am bein’ honest with ya, Liza,” he returned quietly. “I’m tryin’ to tell ya that I think we’ve grown apart.”

“But that don’t make any sense,” she argued. “I see you most ever’ day. We can’t have just drifted away from each other when we shared supper last night.” Her slim jawline grew taut, and Jack knew that she was grinding her back teeth, trying to think of what to say next. “All I can ‘magine is that you up and decided to fall in love with some other girl.”

“It ain’t like that,” he protested. He’d had enough. This wasn’t the first time he and Liza had endured this painful conversation. They’d known each other since they were children, and she’d always been sweet on him. She was a beautiful young woman, and maybe, if he’d been the kind of man who was born into money, he’d have married her ages ago. But Jackson had lost his whole family when he was young and spent nearly all his life working on Mr. Thomas’s farm. He slept out in the bunkhouse with the other ranch hands, and in the evenings, if he had the time, he courted Liza Brown.

But, for the last few months, he’d begun to get the terrible feeling that he and Liza weren’t well-suited to one another. Where she was fiery, he was mellow. After a long day with the horses and cattle, Jack liked to listen to one of the other cowboys play the fiddle, and sometimes, he could be prompted to tap out a tune using a set of spoons. But for Liza, that wasn’t enough. She wanted to go into town, be seen by others, take long, leisurely walks down Main Street, and stop in at the Beer Barrel Saloon so they could mingle with other townsfolk.

“Don’t you walk away from me, Jack!” Liza ordered, and that brought him up short.

“I’m real sorry, Liza,” Jack replied, infusing his words with all the genuine emotion he could muster. “I know I’m hurtin’ your feelins, and I’m not aimin’ to. You and me, we go back a long way and….”

“And I deserve better than to be tossed aside like this,” Liza finished the sentence for him, maybe using a little harsher words than he would have selected. She took several quick steps toward him, and the brown skirt she was wearing made a harsh swishing sound as she closed the distance between them. “Things have been so good between us lately, Jack. My ma and pa thought this might be it. You might finally propose, and we could get married.”

“I can’t marry you,” Jack admitted.

“But you love me,” Liza whimpered as her soft, full lower lip dropped into a pout. “You told me as much…loads of times.”

“I did say it,” Jack agreed, “and at the time, I surely meant it.” He paused and doffed his tall, brown leather hat. He was perspiring, even though it was still wintertime. But here in Lone Oak, Texas, the temperature never really abated. Plus, this conversation was enough to make any man get all hot and agitated.

“Then, what’s changed?” Liza demanded as she gave up on her simpering and went back to being defensive. “I know I sure haven’t.”

“You’re right,” he conceded, aiming to keep his own tone gentle, but firm. “You’re just the same as you’ve always been.” With that, he turned away from her once more and began walking steadily back toward the bunkhouse. He realized that the closer they got to the homestead, the more likely it would be that others would overhear their discussion, but he didn’t care any longer. He was exhausted, and he couldn’t keep explaining the situation to Liza when she really had no intention of listening anyway.

“Jack!” she shouted as she dashed after him. He didn’t have to turn to know that she was running to keep up. He could hear her feet thud, as well as that odd sound her skirts kept making as they moved through the tall grass. “I told you we weren’t done talkin’ yet.”

He shook his head and kept right on moving. “This isn’t good, Liza. We can’t keep tormentin’ each other like this.”

“You stop right now, Jackson Harty, or I’ll scream,” Liza threatened. He did as she said because if he knew anything about her, it was that she wouldn’t hesitate to cause a scene. That was one of the things he’d learned about her these last few months. Liza Brown loved to be the center of attention. She didn’t care one lick if the other ranchers overheard them.

“Elizabeth,” he said gently as she came to stand beside him, “I don’t wanna hurt you, but look at us. We can’t make each other happy. You’ll always know that I wanna break things off, and I’ll always feel….”

“What?” she urged. “What’ll you think about me? About us?”

He gazed at her, absorbing her beautiful features. She was stunning, even under all this stress, but he understood that a pretty face was not enough to keep a relationship thriving. “This ain’t gonna work,” he said at last.

“You’re a fool, you know that, don’t ya?” she sneered. “There already aren’t enough women in this town to go round, and here you are shunting me to the side, acting like I ain’t good enough for ya. Well, I got news for you, Jack. I’m not giving up on us without a fight.”

“Okay,” he replied dully. Then, he started walking once more. She trailed behind, but this time, she did allow him to make it all the way back to the bunkhouse. Luckily, the other hands were all getting some chow, so it was deserted. He headed toward his bunk, where his few meager possessions were clustered. And the first thing he did was take off his hat and hang it on the peg nearest his bed.

“Jack,” Liza said as she, too, stepped into the bunkhouse and came right over to his personal quarters. “This ain’t over.”

“I heard ya,” he retorted, starting to feel his own temper flare. He was patient, most of the time, but he hated it when people repeated themselves. It implied they thought he wasn’t paying attention, and that was never the case. He always listened and absorbed everything.

“Then why won’t you just…” she began, but then her words trailed away. Jack turned to see her glancing down at the copy of the newspaper he’d been reading earlier in the day. It was the Rawlings Trailblazer, and he’d been perusing the Matrimonial Weekly bridal adverts, wondering what it’d be like to write to one of them fine ladies from the East. He regretted leaving the newspaper where it was and was even more chagrined when he saw the look of recognition light in Liza’s eyes. “You been readin’ this?” she jeered as she snatched the paper off the nightstand. “This how you think you’re gonna replace me?”

“Maybe,” he admitted truthfully.

All the color drained from her face. “Don’t say that, Jack. You know you don’t mean it.”

“I didn’t say anything,” he reminded her. “You were just makin’ fun, and I told you that you might be on the right track.”

“But you can’t write to one of these women,” Liza protested as she fanned the paper in front of her face. “They…they ain’t gonna be right for you.”

“You don’t know that,” Jack countered.

“Oh, yes, I do,” she said stoutly. “These women ain’t me, and I’m the only one for you.”

He took a cautious step forward and peeled the newspaper out of her clutches. He replaced it on the nightstand, then looked her square in the face. “I’m sorry I’m hurtin’ you, Liza, but I won’t be marryin’ you. I won’t step out with you anymore and….”

“Is…is there anythin’ I can do to change your mind?” she interjected, and he saw her lower lip quiver.

He shook his head rigidly. “My mind’s made up. This is the way it has to be.”

Liza sniffed as if she were sucking back her emotions. She lifted her pointed chin and narrowed her eyes. “I’m gonna leave for now, Jack, but I’m tellin’ ya, and I hope you’re listening real good: I ain’t givin’ up on you. We’re gonna be together…one way or another.”

Chapter One

Cincinnati, Ohio

Samantha hummed to herself as she ran a brush through her hair. She peered at her reflection in the mirror, which had a small crack arching through it, making it seem as though she had four piercing blue eyes instead of just two.

“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times,” one of her roommates, a young woman who had just turned nineteen a few days before named Adeline, said as she entered the small room, “you’ve got the prettiest hair I’ve ever seen.” Adeline sighed wistfully, “If I had hair like yours, I’d always wear it hanging around my shoulders, and the boys would be lined up from here to the river asking me to make time with them.” Adeline twirled a little, obviously imagining what it would be like if she had Samantha’s tresses. Her own dark hair was cut into a short bob.

“It’s the one thing I’ve been able to hang onto,” Samantha said as she continued brushing out the long strands, teasing the gnarls at the ends until they loosened.

She saw Adeline’s expression change. Her interest was piqued, and even though Samantha was just seeing her through the looking glass, she could not mistake the curiosity in her friend’s brown eyes. “You know, you always say things like that, Samantha, but they don’t make any sense at all.”

Samantha murmured, “I sometimes forget that we haven’t known each other all our lives.”

And that much was true. While Samantha was a few years older than her roommate, she felt as though she’d known Adeline, as well as the other boarders who shared the room, Julia and Becky, all her life. Not only did they live together, here in this cramped space, but they also worked at Mr. Baker’s shoe-making factory. For at least ten hours a day, but more often a full twelve hours, the young women toiled in the plant, working over the leather, softening it by rubbing tallow on it, sewing thick seams near the soles, and doing fine stitching work on the ankle boots that were meant to be shipped to the city so the prominent members of society could pay a hefty sum for the high-quality craftsmanship. They worked those long shifts every day except for Sunday, when they were permitted to sleep in and attend church services.

After work, the ladies filed home. Their shoulders drooped, and their spirits were dampened, but when the end of the week came, and Mr. Baker gave them their wages, they were all filled with a sense of pleasure. They’d earned that money…doing honest work. And no one could take that away from them. Just thinking of the meager savings Samantha had been able to squirrel away, she placed her brush on the vanity and reached for the small wooden box where she kept her treasures.

She didn’t have much—just a mound of loose coins, a couple of hair pins, and of course, the one thing, aside from her long hair she’d kept from her old life…a silver and sapphire hair clip. Tempted to open the box as she was, remove the exquisite jewel-encrusted piece, and place it in her hair, Samantha knew that was sheer folly. The factory wasn’t the place for such finery. If she was smart, she’d have cut off her locks, like both Adeline and Becky had long ago. But, as she shook her head and picked up her brush once more, she was glad she had left her hair as it was. It served as a constant reminder that no matter how dreary her life seemed, it would’ve been much worse if she’d remained in Louisville, Kentucky.

“Samantha,” Adeline’s voice interceded, breaking up Samantha’s thoughts. “You okay? I thought we were talking to each other, but then, you started staring off, and I said something, and you….”

“Sorry,” Samantha apologized. “I didn’t mean to trail off like that. Please, tell me what I missed.”

Adeline shot her a quizzical look, which was amplified by that odd crack in the mirror. “I was just saying that I hope Mr. Baker lets us out early tonight.”

“You got plans?” Samantha questioned, wanting to fully engage in the conversation and let Adeline know she really hadn’t been intentionally ignoring her before.

“I wish,” Adeline said as she rolled her eyes gently. She stooped and messed with the heavy fringe of her bangs before flouncing the ends of her hair. “I just don’t feel like working all night.” She paused and flexed her fingers. “Every part of my body is starting to ache.”

“Yeah,” Samantha agreed. “I think we all have those days.”

Adeline spun away once more and plopped down on the narrow bed that belonged to her. She slept nearest to the wall, and Samantha didn’t envy her a bit. While they lived in a sturdy boarding house, nothing could keep out the icy winter winds when they wanted to blow, and on nights like they’d experienced recently, Adeline had to sleep with layers of clothing, including a hat on top of her head. “But when does it end?” Adeline mused as she stared out the window next to her bed.

“What are you saying?” Samantha inquired as she dropped the brush one final time and twisted her hair, preparing to tuck it into a shapely bun at the nape of her neck. “Are you thinking of leaving the factory?”

Adeline shook her head. “I’m not just hoping to get out from underneath Mr. Baker’s thumb,” she said as she leaned forward, and her cheeks turned pink with excitement. “I’m thinking it’s time to get outta town altogether.”

“But where would you go?” Samantha asked. “You don’t have much money saved, do you?”

Adeline’s smile broadened. “I’ve been talking to Julia. She says the man she’s been writing to all these months is right on the verge of proposing.” She bounced a little on the bed as she continued, “She said her Davey might even have a younger brother.”

“And?” Samantha prompted.

“And—” Adeline proceeded with a giggle. “If Davey’s younger brother’s looking for a wife, the two of us might just skip out of here together.”

“But you can’t leave,” Samantha protested vehemently as she used a few pins to put the finishing touches on her hair. When her task was complete, she swiveled on the chair so she could finally look fully at her friend’s face.

“Why not?” Adeline demanded. “I got just as much right to catch a train out of Ohio and head west as the next lady.”

“I…I didn’t mean it like that.” Samantha faltered as she tried to do a better job of explaining herself. “It’s just that I’d miss you if you were to leave.”

Adeline sighed dramatically as she plucked at a stray thread on her dowdy gray apron that was part of the uniform they wore to work. “It’s not like you’re going to be hanging around here forever either, Samantha.”

Samantha’s eyebrow twitched. “I didn’t have any plans to move on.”

“But you will,” Adeline urged as she flicked the piece of thread onto the floor. She paused and stared at Samantha. “Won’t you?” Samantha shrugged her shoulders indifferently in response. This vague gesture seemed to incite a riot of emotions in Adeline. “But you can’t be serious!” she practically shouted as she hopped off the bed. “How can you listen to Julia read all those letters from Davey and not dream about going west yourself?”

“I…I guess I just don’t have the desire to travel much,” Samantha responded as she lowered her eyes and stared at her own frumpy skirt and apron. “And besides, I’ve already been plenty of places.” She had never admitted as much to any of her roommates, including Adeline, but when she was young, and she still lived in Louisville with her folks, she’d gone all over the country. They’d taken the train to St. Louis several times, and once, upon her mother’s insistence, they took the train all the way to New Mexico and spent a long holiday at one of those resorts out in the middle of the desert. Her family had been fabulously wealthy, and that was the sort of thing they did for leisure. But now, the idea of getting on a train and going anywhere lacked any appeal.

“But…” Adeline insisted, “don’t you want more out of life?”

“What’s wrong with staying here?” Samantha countered as she lifted her chin and glanced at her friend.

“Everything,” Adeline replied with a heavy groan. “If I were you….” But Adeline did not finish her thought.

“I got another letter,” Julia trilled as she entered the room. She was waving a piece of paper high in the air, and her round and cherubic face was lit with a rosy glow.

“Is it from Davey?” Adeline asked as she gave up on her conversation with Samantha now that there were more exciting things to discuss.

Julia nodded vigorously. “I haven’t opened it yet, but I recognize his handwriting on the outside. I just know it’s from him.”

“Come here, come here,” Adeline commanded as she scooted over on her bed and beckoned for her friend to join her. “I want to read it with you.”

Julia practically skipped as she crossed the room. She plopped down on the bed, and she and Adeline began giggling hysterically. “Where’s Becky?” Julia asked as she tore open the letter. “She was just right behind me.”
“I’m here,” Becky announced as she stepped into the room. She wore a warm woolen coat over her uniform, and unlike Julia, her face was hardly visible because she also had on a heavy red scarf as well as a crimson-colored snow cap. She’d pulled it low on her head, so Samantha couldn’t even see her eyes.

“I wondered why you fell behind,” Julia said as she smoothed out the folds of the letter.

Becky plucked the cap off her head and tossed it on the bed. Then, using her gloved hands, she rummaged in the wide pockets of her coat. “I had to pick up one of the newspapers before I came back.”

“Why did you need a newspaper?” Samantha inquired politely.

Becky giggled. “I was getting tired of letting Julia and Adeline have all the fun. I’m going to crack this thing open and read some of those bridal advertisements. I’m going to find myself a husband, too.”

“No,” Samantha groaned. “You all can’t leave me. Not now.”

“You don’t have to stay here,” Becky reminded her as she peeled off her gloves, dropped them on the vanity next to Samantha, and flipped to the center of the newspaper. “Maybe we can find ourselves a pair of brothers, just like Julia and Adeline.”

Samantha gave her a dubious look. “I don’t know. I’m sure that isn’t the sort of thing that happens all the time.”

Adeline squealed. “He said yes!” She punched a hand in the air triumphantly.

“What? What is it?” Samantha asked as she stood and crossed the room. She craned her neck, trying to get a peek at the letter Julia held.

“Davey’s little brother, Mel, said he’d be glad to take Adeline as his bride. If we’re both willing to accept the proposals….” She paused, and her eyes flicked back to the letter so she could read what he had written word-for-word. “I should write a letter back to him. He’ll arrange for our train tickets and send them in his next letter.” She stopped reading and clapped her hands, flattening the pages of the letter. “It’s happening. I’m going to get married!”

“Me too! Me too!” Adeline exclaimed as she mimicked Julia’s jubilant clapping.

The girls stood up, and Samantha hugged both her friends. Becky joined them, and after a long moment, congratulating each other and whispering excitedly about the future, they broke apart. But to Samantha’s surprise, as Adeline and Julia stood and began putting on the finishing touches of their uniforms so they could get ready to go to work, Becky lingered at her elbow.

“What?” Samantha asked as she reached for her own blue woolen winter hat.

Becky nudged her. “Just promise me you’ll take a look at the newspaper advertisements.”

“Fine,” Samantha answered, “But I’m not sure what good it’ll do.”

“You don’t want to be left behind, do you?” Becky replied, giving her a knowing nod. She held out the newspaper. “Don’t answer that. I can see how you feel. It’s written clearly on your face.”

Samantha tugged the itchy blue cap onto her head, aiming to hide her expression. “If I take that newspaper and promise to read it, will you quit pestering me?”
“Maybe,” Becky teased. “But I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out.”

It’d be so easy just to walk away right now. I could tell Becky to forget about it and….

But Samantha’s mind wouldn’t even process the rest of the thought. The truth was, despite what she told any of her roommates, she wanted to get married and have children. She wanted to live a pleasant life with a man she admired and respected. She also thought it’d be awfully nice to head west and escape the bitterly cold winters that seemed to last for ages.

“Fine,” she agreed as she took the paper. It was already folded open so that the listings in the Matrimonial Weekly were plainly visible. Samantha had excellent eyesight, which aided her when she did the minuscule stitching on the shoes in the factory. But it also helped her read the words now as she accepted the newspaper. “Hmm…” she read aloud. “Lone Oak, Texas. That doesn’t even sound like a real place.”
Becky snickered. “You’re right. It sounds like something straight out of a tall tale or one of those short stories that come out around Christmastime in St. Nicholas’s Magazine.”

Samantha nodded in agreement. “There is something poetic and maybe a little charming about the name of the town…Lone Oak, Texas…” she reiterated the words, tasting them, admiring them.

Her friend giggled. “It sounds like you’ve already figured out the man you want to write to, and you haven’t even read the rest of his listing yet.”

Samantha swatted her friend with the newspaper, then tucked it into her own coat pocket. “I’ll read through them all before I make any decisions one way or the other.”

But, as she finished gathering her belongings and the quartet of young women set out for another long day at the shoe-making factory, Samantha knew she’d already found her match. She’d write to the man who lived in Lone Oak, Texas, and…if she was very lucky…he’d offer her a haven… a place where she could finally escape all that had come before.

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“Love’s Unwavering Hope” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!

Samantha Ehlke’s once-charmed life is shattered when the man she thought she loved, shows his true colors. Betrayed and terrified, Samantha leaves everything behind, throwing herself into years of backbreaking work and constant fear. With every passing day, she feels the weight of her past crushing her, doubting if she’ll ever be able to love again. It wasn’t until she met Jack, a man whose steadfast love and support healed her broken heart, that she truly began to have hope…

Can she escape the ghosts of her past and believe in love again?

Jack had always been a romantic at heart, dreaming of a love that would set his soul ablaze. When Samantha enters his life with her fierce independence and unwavering spirit, Jack knows that he has finally found the missing piece of his heart. However, he can’t shake the feeling that his past relationships still loom over him…

Could Samantha be the one to finally break the curse of his past, or will she just be another fleeting love?

As Samantha and Jack work through their pasts, they begin to understand that forgiveness is crucial to moving on. Will they find the courage to forgive themselves for their past mistakes, or will their regrets consume them whole?

“Love’s Unwavering Hope” is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Get your copy from Amazon!