Good Morning and Welcome!
Today's guest is not new to our blog. LoRee has shared many treasures, thoughts, words and books with us over the years. Back in August, she shared book 1 in her "Hearts Across Time" series. Today we get a peek into book two!
Nolan Riley can’t believe his eyes when woman in historical dress lands on top of his lighting van while they’re filming a Western. She claims she’s from 1891. He knows he shouldn't believe her. He’s stayed away from women after a disastrous relationship, but something about the lost look in Phoebe’s eyes makes him feel protective, despite his distrust of women and Phoebe's unbelievable claim. Against his better judgment, he takes Phoebe home and gets her a job on the movie set.
As they explore their relationship, they discover that old wrongs need to be righted before they can move on. Phoebe’s fledgling faith demands she go back to 1891 Nebraska to ask forgiveness from her family and obligations she left behind. Nolan has to deal with his inability to trust a woman. Separated by time, both are uncertain of their lives, but they throw themselves upon God’s mercy.
But love transcends time. Is their love is strong enough to secure a future together?
Excerpt: Washington County, Nebraska, 1891
Phoebe’s hand brushed into something gooey, which caused her to gag. She recoiled at the same time a chicken swooped off the roosting rod to the floor. The hen disappeared through the small door so fast Mandy stumbled to the side, enabling her to reach farther.
The touch of a smooth, foreign surface at last met her fingertips. She smiled in relief, and straightened, the prize held high.
“Don’t.” Mandy stepped near, holding out her hand. “Give me the cell phone, Phoebe.”
She tucked the phone at her side. “You got what you wanted. Now leave me alone.”
“Let’s not tell your mother what you’ve been doing in the coop. She’ll never understand. All she wants is for us to help pare apples and prepare a pie crust for our supper. What will I tell her if you disappear forever?”
“Simply tell Mother I’ve gone away to make a life of my own, a place God has planned for me. While I was visiting in Chicago, you settled in here on the ranch. Upon returning, I decided there’s not room for both of us. I don’t feel as though I belong any longer.” Mother would express bewilderment, but Phoebe couldn’t think about that now.
Mandy played with a stray lock of hair then tucked it under the straw hat that once belonged to Phoebe. “It’s far from my station to say this, but you are acting like a child.”
The usurper reached out her hand, but Phoebe scurried by to leave the building. She sucked in fresh air and fought to open the coop pen without letting loose the phone. Mandy had called her a child. Her parents’ circle may consider her the pampered only daughter of a prominent rancher, but would they pity her now that her very position had been replaced by the foreman’s bride from the future?
Phoebe’s fingers shook. The whole scenario frustrated her to the point of screaming. She hated the tears that threatened. She yanked on the gate.
Mandy brushed by Phoebe and opened it in one smooth swoop without fumbling over a simple gate latch.
Steaming now, Phoebe rushed away.
Mandy re-hooked the wire gate behind them, and then clutched Phoebe’s arm. Stop. Phoebe, please. I beg you. Give me the phone. You don’t know how dangerous it is.”
Phoebe paused. How could the cell phone be dangerous? Ready or not, she needed to push forward. Mandy had done that very thing by choosing to live in an earlier century. Phoebe turned. “No. I have to know how this thing works.”
Mandy shuffled her foot through the dirt. As good a person as the family considered her, Phoebe would never view Mandy as a sister-in-law, adopted or not.
“Fine. I’ll press every button on that thing, myself. You’ve taken my place in my own family. You’ve taken away the only man I love. Now it’s my turn to take something from you. I’m going back to your world, to make a new life for myself. And not you, nor Mother, nor Papa, or even Gavin, will ever be able to stop me.”
A pained expression clouded Mandy‘s face. She stepped forward, lifted off the straw hat, and shook her hair. “I’d be glad to help by listening. Can’t you wait?”
“I’m done waiting. Done listening to others telling me what to do.” Phoebe blew a gust of air and groaned inside. Her whole future was in question. She once knew where she was going, no matter if those in Mama and Papa’s social circle considered her encroaching the status of an old maid. She’d been waiting for a dream that went poof at Mandy’s arrival on the ranch.
For some reason beyond her, it no longer mattered that she’d lost Gavin to Mandy. “After I saw what city life was like in Chicago, I decided I want to visit the future of your time. Maybe become an actress.”
Mandy’s mouth opened, but she didn’t speak.
A twinge of remorse stuck Phoebe’s heart at the hurt and uncertainty her actions painted on Mandy’s face.
Had she not hood-winked Gavin into falling in love with her, had they met under different circumstances, Mandy might have been Phoebe’s friend. Curiosity increased as to where Mandy came from. Phoebe longed to discover the described amenities and fast-paced way of life in the future. She lowered her gaze and frowned at the edges of the cell phone. What made it work? So small, yet powerful enough to send Mandy back in time. Could it have the power to sail herself through to a forward time? She’d never considered herself so alone. A tremor scratched down her spine.
Mandy squeezed Phoebe’s arm, tried to grab the phone. “Stop all that fiddling with the buttons.”
Phoebe snapped to attention and tucked the phone close to her chest. “Why? I only want to get away and see the world. Your world.”
“You’re taking a chance. There’s no guarantee you’d land in my world.”
Mandy’s mouth frowned. She let loose of her grasp on Phoebe. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“What’s wrong with wanting a different life, away from here, where I can live for myself? There’s mothing on the ranch for me now that you’re so comfortable here.” That sounded so selfish, so unlike serving others the way Jesus did while on earth.
She only gained that particular knowledge because Gavin gave her a New Testament. A little modern book that Mandy originally brought with her.
Mandy stepped closer, lunged for the phone.
Phoebe swung away, turning her back. “I wish to fly to Mandy’s world in the twenty-first century.” She squeezed the celluloid rectangle to her bosom, and trilled her fingers. Spiraling waves encompassed her. Was she drowning? No. She breathed. Rather than drop, she rose softly, floating. Flying. Weightless and rising.
Dizzy, the world slid to black.
Washington County, the present
Nolan took advantage of the break in shooting to stow his light meter in the van. He stretched through the open back door to tuck it in the case where it belonged, all nice and tidy until he needed the tool again. His belly growled. He chuckled over his tendency to get so involved in the way light affected a shot that he sometimes forgot to eat.
Bam.
The van shook.
What was that?
He raised his eyes to see no indentation from the inside, but something big had struck the roof.
What in the world? It couldn’t be a limb because the van was parked in the open away from trees.
He backed out, took hold of the frame, and stepped onto the van floor above the bumper. A dark-haired woman swathed by undulating green skirts sprawled on the roof.
His jaw dropped. How’d a woman get on the van roof?
His mouth agape, he looked up. Nothing in the sky but gathering gray clouds.
He swallowed, cleared his throat, and jerked out of his momentary shock. “You hurt?”
The woman shrugged a shoulder, but didn’t answer or move her head.
What if she broke an arm or a leg? Or worse, had a head injury? He stretched out his arm. “Can you hear me?”
“Oh. Wh… where am I?”
The young woman’s words made no sense to Nolan whatsoever, as puzzled as he was over how she’d landed on the van roof.
The woman before him rolled over and propped herself on an arm. She blinked, and swayed to a sitting position.
His brain short-circuited. Beautiful.
She wasn’t wearing a speck of makeup, yet her exquisite face was so perfect that everything around them ceased to exist. They were the only two people in the world.
His heart unplugged for a beat. Or two.
He shook off his paralyzed state to extend a hand. “Where’d you come from?”
Nebraska country girl LoRee Peery writes fiction that hopefully appeals to adult readers who enjoy stories written from a Christian perspective, focusing on the romance. These include novels and novellas for women and men in the Contemporary, Romance, Historical, Time Travel, and Mystery/Suspense categories. She writes of redeeming grace with a sense of place. Her Frivolities Series and the book based on her father’s unsolved homicide, Touches of Time, are available on Amazon. She is who she is by the grace of God: Christian, country girl, wife, mother, grandmother and great-, sister, friend, and author. Connect with LoRee through these links:
www.loreepeery.com
https://www.facebook.com/LoReePeery
Sounds like another great book, LoRee! We certainly wish you the best of luck and God's blessings with it and your other books. In fact, the best of luck and God's blessings on your life!
Hope you enjoyed the post friends and that you'll drop by weekly for Wednesday Words with Friends and Saturday Spotlight.
Until next time take care and God bless.
PamT
