REMEMBERING CELIA by CHERYL PIERSON

Last month, many of us lost a dear friend, Celia Yeary. She was a woman I had never met in “real life” – but I felt like I’d known her forever, and I'm sure many of you felt the same way.

Celia and I were published within a few months of one another in 2009 (she was first!) by The Wild Rose Press. We went through that “first publishing experience” together, and I hope I was as good a sounding board for her as she was for me. It was comforting to have another new author to talk to about what was going on with our first “babies” being published and pushed out into the cruel world.

Celia was “a bit” older than I, and a wonderful combination of big sis/surrogate mom in a lot of ways—but most of all, she was a dear friend.

We talked about everything over the years. I always admired Celia’s determination and her courage to face whatever life threw her way. She chalked it up to being a fifth-generation Texan, and that might have been part of it, but I believe most of her inner strength came from deep within herself—no matter where she had been born and raised.

Celia went to college AFTER she was married and had small children—and that had to be tough. But she persevered. She received her BS in biology and went on for her Master’s degree in education. She taught school for many years and told me how she loved it, and how she missed it after retirement.

I knew Celia after that phase of her life was past, and we shared our passion for writing. We both wrote western romance stories, and loved to talk about our characters, and run scenes by one another. Celia was very meticulous in her writing process—more of a plotter than I am. We talked about everything under the sun along with our writing conversations. I treasured seeing her name pop up in my INBOX—she always made me laugh.

When we learned she had passed away, I felt like the world became a “dimmer” place—and of course, that’s true. Celia was one of the brightest stars I have ever known. I miss her. She was one of those people that is truly unforgettable, though I can hear her in my mind saying, “Me? Lands sakes, why would you say that?”

One of the main things I’ll always remember about Celia is her big heart. All you have to do is read one of her books and you’ll see it shine through. She spoke through her characters, and as all writers do, put some of herself into the people she created in her stories. She often told me this book, WISH FOR THE MOON, was the "book of my heart" and how glad she was to have it in print. I understood why--there is a LOT of Celia in these characters!

Her birthday was this past Saturday, August 25. Hard to believe she’s gone, but she’ll always be in my heart—a dear friend that I was so lucky to have known.

New Release -- The Abolitionist’s Secret (Cotillion Ball Saga Book 2) by Becky Lower

New York City debutante Heather Fitzpatrick leads a double life—one that could see her tossed in jail if her secret is exposed.  Though her mother is determined to see Heather land a husband during the society “season”, Heather has other things on her mind—such as her passion for abolishing slavery and her Underground Railroad activities. 

Handsome Army Lieutenant David Whitman arrives in New York City just in time for the whirlwind of activities that the season offers, but he has eyes for only one woman—Heather. When they dance at the Cotillion Ball, Heather loses her heart to him, as well, even knowing that his background as a Southern slave owner is something she can never accept. Yet, when he escorts her home, one kiss tells her she will forever be his—somehow.

Romance blossoms quickly and an engagement follows, and when David must return home for a family emergency, Heather and her maid accompany him. But David’s mother, Mrs. Whitman, has plans of her own for her son—and they don’t include Heather Fitzpatrick! When Heather’s twin sister writes a damning letter in a fit of jealousy, it could be the tool Mrs. Whitman needs to put her son’s relationship with Heather to an abrupt end. 

Can David and Heather create a future together in spite of THE ABOLITIONIST’S SECRET?

EXCERPT

     Charlotte suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and cocked her head. "Do you hear that?"

     Heather bumped into her mother’s backside. "Hear what? Why are you stopping? Didn’t Papa just tell you we should hurry away from Downing’s front door?”

     "No, wait. Just listen carefully. Don't you hear a baby crying?"

     Heather stood still and listened. At last, she made out a faint whimper. She pointed in the direction of the sound.

     "It’s coming from the alley."

     The three of them darted into the dark and narrow road, which smelled strongly of rotting oyster shells. About halfway down, they halted in their steps and looked around. A baby began crying again.

     "The sound is coming from over here," Heather said as she moved behind a pile of refuse. She gasped. "Oh, my word.”

     Charlotte and George rushed to her side, and spied a young, pretty Negro woman passed out and lying in the alley. A baby crawled through the nearby filth. Charlotte picked up the dirty child with ease and rocked it back and forth in her arms. Its whimpers became more hushed as she continued to soothe the child.

     "What in heaven's name happened to this poor woman?" Heather exclaimed while she investigated the young lady. Charlotte walked around the woman while the baby rode on her hip. "Do you think she’s a runaway slave?” Heather whispered. 

      

Recent Release -- The Reluctant Debutante (Cotillion Ball Saga Book 1) by Becky Lower

Book One of the Cotillion Ball Series

Beautiful Ginger Fitzpatrick wants nothing to do with New York City’s conventional society— after all, she is a bloomer-wearing suffragette who holds a position in her father’s bank! Her mother is determined her willful daughter must go to the popular Cotillion ball and look for a suitable husband during the “season”—and Ginger is given no choice.  But when she meets her brother’s best friend, handsome Joseph Lafontaine, the mysterious man sets Ginger ablaze with a mere glance—and gives her second thoughts about remaining single.

Joseph knows he can never have Ginger. He’s totally unsuitable as a husband for this spirited, cultured woman, for many reasons. He’s from the rough-and-ready Western city of St. Louis, and he’s her brother’s best friend. But there’s one thing he can never overcome: he’s a half-breed Ojibwa, forever tainted in the eyes of these high-society whites from the East. Despite the budding love between them, her family will never accept him.

Joseph returns to St. Louis, and months later, Ginger follows with her father to attend to banking business there. Through a twist of Fate, a deadly accident brings Joseph and Ginger together once more, and this time, neither will allow another separation. Can they find happiness together despite their different backgrounds? It’s all or nothing for THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE…

EXCERPT


     Ginger Fitzpatrick was in a pickle, that much was certain.
     Her mother took her by surprise at breakfast by announcing to the family that Ginger would participate in the Cotillion ball two months hence. While her younger sisters squealed in excitement, Ginger couldn’t find her voice to object to her mother’s idea. She knew she must, considering that her father was known to grant every wish his wife had, but Ginger could only stare in confusion. And that wasn’t the worst of it. 
     “George,” her mother stated calmly to her father, “you must relieve Ginger of her duties at the bank so I have time to teach her the rules of etiquette she’ll need for a full season of events. Dear Lord, I have only a couple months to cram in everything.”
     Astonished and stunned, Ginger turned to her father, hanging onto a thread of hope that her valued involvement at the bank would save her. 
     “Let me think about the best way to handle the shift in responsibility, darling. I’ll make sure Ginger is free by the end of the week.” He glanced at Ginger’s stupefied expression and reached across the table for her hand. “Perhaps we could also offer a reward of some kind. Possibly a trip to St. Louis if she gets through the season without incident?”
     He had actually smiled over the breakfast table at her. As if the allure of a trip would make everything all right. 

We had a little problem with getting the Kindle edition published.  It is now available. 

       

Bad Girls, Bad Girls, Part II: Laura Bullion

Since my current work in progress involves outlaws and the women who run with them, I've been researching the members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. Interesting characters indeed, but their female consorts are just as interesting, if not more so. I thought I'd write one single post about them, but their own stories are so rich, I'm take them in parts. We'll look at Etta Place, Laura Bullion, and the Bassett sisters, Ann and Josie separately.
Facts to keep in mind:
The Wild Bunch core members consisted of Butch Cassidy (Robert Leroy Parker), the Sundance Kid (Harry Longabaugh), Elzy Lay, Ben "the Tall Texan" Kirkpatrick, Will "News" Carver, Camila "Deaf Charlie" Hanks, Laura Bullion, George "Flat Nose" Curry, Kid Curry (Harvey Logan), and Bob Meeks.
The Outlaw Hideouts: Places to shelter strung out along the outlaw trail where different gangs could rest, restock ammunition, and refresh horses. Place such as Hole-in-the-Wall, Robbers Roost, and Brown's Park. Often there was a give and take between the outlaws and the surrounding ranchers.

In case you missed part one here's the link: https://prairierosepublications.blogspot.com/2018/07/bad-girls-bad-girls-whatcha-gonna-do.html

The Wild Bunch. The most successful gang of bank and train robbers the old west has ever produced. Their heists were meticulously planned, but more importantly, so were their escapes. Immediately after a robbery, the gang would scatter in different directions, where fresh horses would be waiting at intervals along the escape routes—an advantage the pursuing posse didn’t have. At a later time the gang members would assemble again at one of the hideouts.

 Another signature of the Wild Bunch, compared to other gangs at the time, was to eschew physically harming their victims, preferring to use other means of persuasion. Not that there weren’t a couple of violent psychopaths in the group (I’m looking at you Kid Curry, you maniac), but in these heists, at least, violence was discouraged. Butch boasted that he never killed a man—which if your moral high bar is set at Never Killed a Man, you may want to reset your bar.

Who were they? Most people can readily name Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Some of you might be able to dredge up some of the lesser known characters like Kid Curry or Elzy Lay. But did you know there was the woman who sometimes rode with the Wild Bunch? Her name was Laura Bullion.

 

A Young Laura Bullion

Laura was born around 1876 to a Native American father and a German immigrant mother. There is some dispute about where she was born, but one thing everyone agrees on is that she was raised in Knickerbocker, Texas. What’s noteworthy about Knickerbocker is that it acted as a meet-and-greet, networking venue for outlaws and cowboys. Several of the Wild Bunch members as well as other notorious outlaws sprung out of Knickerbocker.

This mingling of cowboys and outlaws became significant in 1887. In that year there was a blizzard so devastating that it changed the west forever. Ranchers lost about 90% of their cattle. The risks of open range ranching became clear. After that, Ranchers went in for fencing in smaller herds, and putting more effort into growing hay for feed. What this change meant was that not as many cowboys were needed to run to ranch. Suddenly we have a surplus of cowboys.

This drastic change would alter the life of many of our players. For instance, in Pennsylvania when an introverted, bookish boy, Harry Longabaugh, fed on a diet of dime store novels, headed out west by himself at the age of 14 to become a cowboy, after the winter of 1887, he found himself struggling to survive. Like many others, the steady work ran out and the temptation to turn to crime was too much. Longabaugh turned to theft and continues on this course as the Sundance Kid.

It’s in this milieu we find young Laura. Her father, Henry, was a bank robber. It was through him that Laura met the outlaws passing through Knickerbocker, including a few men who would become significant in her life at a later date.

Laura’s early life was rocky to start with, becoming worse after her parents divorced when she was 5. After that her mother, Fereby, shuffled her offspring between her relatives whenever she picked up with a new boyfriend, which became a permanent situation when Henry died during a robbery. Fereby, free to marry again, left her children with her parents.

When Laura was 14, her aunt, Viana, married Will Carver. Will would come to be known as “News” Carver a core member of the Wild Bunch, but at this time he was only a cowboy who was head over heels in love. Unfortunately, this marriage would end in within months when Viana died of fever. Maybe it was losing this stabilizing influence that turned Will toward a life of crime, because after this he joined Black Jack Ketchum’s* gang of outlaws.

 

William "News" Carver

At 15 Laura began a romantic relationship with Carver. This was also the age she became a prostitute in San Antonio.

Two years later she went back to Knickerbocker and attempted to clean up her act, going back to school and otherwise behaving as a good citizen. All the while she and Carver maintained a correspondence.

This connection with the bad boy, Carver, may have proved too much a pull for her, because at age 20 she left home to support herself in Texas and Wyoming as a dance hall girl, and back to prostitution at the infamous Madame Fannie Porter’s high end brothel, a favorite haunt of the Wild Bunch. This is possibly where Sundance met Etta Place.

To us today the thought of working in a brothel might seem dismal, but to a someone from a poor and chaotic family, hanging out with other lady-friends at Madame Fannie’s with its silk sheets, gorgeous clothes, cold champagne, and luxurious furnishings was not the worst a girl could do. Madame Fannie herself was said to take care of her girls like a mother. (Laura would periodically return to Madame Fannie's even after she became involved with the Wild Bunch. A time I would think she didn't have to turn to prostitution unless she wanted to.) 

In the early days when Carver was with Ketchum, he would take up with Laura at Madame Fannie's between robberies. Carver was a handsome, though moody guy. I think of him for Laura as that bad boyfriend you can't seem to get out of your system. By the way, he got the nickname “News” because he was so fond of seeing his own name in print.

Anyway, Laura whether it was because she romanticized her father’s outlaw life, had a streak of larceny herself, or because she wanted something more from her boyfriend than the occasional visit, asked to join the Ketchum gang. Black Jack said no to that.

After the death of Jack Ketchum, News starts to ride with the Wild Bunch. Butch was okay with a female outlaw, so in comes Laura, and the so called, Wild Rose or Thorny Rose was born. It’s not clear what her exact role was, but she fenced goods for the gang, forged bank notes, and perhaps held the horses for them during robberies. If she participated in the hold ups herself at this time is debatable, though one lawman declared she was quite capable.

Then in 1901, Carver married Lille Davis, another prostitute from Fannie Porter’s. His marriage to Lille was the reason the gang met up in Fort Worth where they posed for the infamous Fort Worth Five portrait, which immediately went onto Wanted posters.

Quite understandably, Laura wasn’t happy about this marriage, and a rift ensued between her and Carver. Instead she took up with Ben Kilpatrick, the Tall Texan, and possibly other gang members.

 

Ben "the Tall Texan" Kilpatrick

But, Carver, quickly tired of his new bride and went back his old ways, which included Laura. (See what I mean about the bad boyfriend. She... can’t... seem... to... shake...him). However, in 1901 Carver was shot and killed in an ambush with the law, which ended their relationship once and for all. He was 32 at the time of his death.

At this point, Laura and Ben become an exclusive item. He was a handsome man with an easy-going manner who lavished Laura with gifts and trips. He was one of nine children from a family with outlaw tendencies, so he and Laura were cut from the same cloth. Ben became acquainted with Carver and the Ketchums in Knickerbocker.

I’m going to jump in here to remind you I’m a storyteller, not an historian. There are so many conflicting accounts and facts I couldn't verify, that I'm leaving things out. For instance, I read one description of Ben as having "yellow eyes with a violet spot in each" and as much as I'd like to believe such an extraordinary feature could exist on a human being and pass that on, I couldn't find any other references to his having yellow eyes. So, I have to leave that out, sorry.

Other times I’m going to interject my personal opinions. For instance, there is actually a debate as to whether the Tall Texan was tall or merely average height. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say unless he was ironically nicknamed the Tall Texan, he was tall. And, you can clearly see in the Fort Worth Five photograph, he’s not a pint-sized guy. Sundance was said to be a tall man, but Ben looks taller

The Fort Worth Five Photo. Left to Right: the Sundance Kid, Will Carver, Ben Kilpatrick, Kid Curry, and ButchCassidy

After the gang appeared on Wanted poster, the game was up, and the Wild Bunch disbanded. Butch, Sundance, and Etta head off to start a new life in South America. Remaining behind, Laura and Ben along with Kid Curry planned and carried out a train robbery in Wild Bunch style.

The robbery was successful and Laura and Ben retreated to live it up in St. Louis. Unfortunately for them the Pinkertons had sent serial numbers of the stolen bank notes all over the country. The noose was truly tightening on the outlaws. Again, it's a little murky who was arrested first and how, but the end result of passing stolen money was they both ended up being arrested.

 

Mugshots

Laura spent three of her five-year sentence in the Missouri State Penitentiary. Ben was sentenced to fifteen years to be served in Atlanta. While incarcerated, the two kept up a correspondence. Interesting to me is that Ben’s family in Texas also sent Laura letters and even money, which attests to how established their relationship was. The Pinkertons also thought it interesting and intercepted letters between all parties involved in hopes of getting clues of where Butch and Sundance were. 

Laura to Ben:

“Darling, the warden tells me I will be out next week. I will not leave the city but I will get some kind of work near here and will wait until you are released. I have figured out that by good behavior you can get out in December 1911. I will wait and you will see me when you get out. I wanted to see you but they said it was against the rules.

                              I am your loving wife,

                                         Laura”

When she got out of prison she did attempt to visit Ben under a false name but was denied. There is an article in a newspaper dated 1905 about the outlaw Laura Bullion petitioning for Ben Kilpatrick early release.

He did get released early in 1911. Except he was immediately arrested again for murder and extradited to Texas! Even though he was acquitted this may have been the moment Laura threw her hands up in the air. He may have too, because upon his release he went back to train robbery.

In 1912 Ben and another man attempted to rob a train in Texas. Ben took an express messenger hostage while he looted the safe. The hostage managed to grab and hide in his coat an ice mallet. He then pointed to the ground (I have to take a deep breath here) and said something along the lines of “Oh, look you forgot something on the ground there.” (Don’t fall for it, Ben!) ...Ben bent down. He was killed instantly by a blow to the back of the head. He was 38 years old.

He and Laura never had the chance to reunite, and Ben has the distinction of being the last train robber for this really was a dying way of life by now.

Laura Bullion went straight, changed her name to Freda Bullion Lincoln, and claiming to be a WWI widow moved to Memphis. She also shaved ten years off her life. I’m really curious about her love life after Ben but all I was able to find was that she had four lovers after him but I couldn't find anything about who they were.

 

The Modest Home of Freda Bullion Lincoln, Interior Decorator, Memphis

According to the census, she took up housekeeping and then drapery making. In later years she is upgraded to interior designer, which is quite a career trajectory from outlaw. In 1961 the last member of the Wild Bunch dies quietly of heart disease in Memphis. She was 85.

Final Resting Place

Next up, The Bassett Sisters of Brown's Park.
*Black Jack Ketchum will go down in history as an example of what can happen if the hangman gets the ratio of length of rope to height and weight of the condemned person wrong. Instead of getting his neck stretched Black Jack lost his head.

Bonus: watch Laura's mugshot get colorized. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTo3cdosbrI

Book review: A Westward Adventure by Kristy McCaffrey

Blurb:

Aspiring novelist Amelia Mercer travels from New York City to Colorado to help her injured aunt recover. When the stage is robbed and her luggage stolen, bounty hunter Ned Waymire comes to her aid, acquainted with the harmless culprit and wanting to spare the boy. But Ned also seeks to impress the independent young woman. Amelia's wish to never marry, however, clashes with Ned's desire to keep her reputation intact. When a final bounty from Ned's past threatens their future, she knows that A Westward Adventure isn’t just the title of her novel, but the new course of her life.

My Review:

What a cute cute cute story!!

I was looking for something short and sweet just for an hour or so escape and this totally fit the ticket! Amelia was spunky and sassy. Ned was laid back and funny and quite the gentleman for being a rough and tumble bounty hunter. Together they were adorable!

If you are looking for a easy going sweet read, this is one to pick up!

Purchase Link:

FAVORITE SHORT STORIES--WHAT'S YOURS? BY CHERYL PIERSON

Do you like short stories? I love them, both as a writer and as a reader. I’m so thrilled that they’re making a comeback in today’s world! I remember as a teenager in high school English class, some of the short stories that were taught at the time. You can probably recall these classes, too—we read many short stories and novels that couldn’t reach into our world and touch us, not at that age.

It’s odd to me that had some of the selections been different, or more age-appropriate, this might have fostered a love of reading the short story rather than dread for so many. The essay questions at the end of the story seemed hard for many of the students to understand, much less formulate answers to in order to show what they learned from the story. As high school freshmen in the 14-15 year-old age range, and with our limited knowledge of the world, it was difficult for some to be able to grasp symbolism or foreshadowing among other story elements. I realized later on that some people never grasp it, no matter how old they are. Reading with that kind of intuitive understanding is not something everyone is able to do.

Being forced to read something for a grade rather than enjoyment was something I didn’t understand. For one thing, I enjoyed reading. As with any kid, some things held my interest more than others. But I never could fathom some of my classmates who actually said, “I hate to read.”
I had some favorite short stories, even out of the ones we were forced to read. Who could forget Whitney and Rainsford in Richard Connell’s THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME? Frank Stockton’s THE LADY OR THE TIGER? Or, TO BUILD A FIRE, by Jack London?

Those stories were what inspired me to want to write “like that” and I often wondered in later years, seeing my kids’ English books and the stories they contained, where our next generation of writers would come from? There was certainly nothing “inspiring” in those stories. I was wishing there were some of the stories from “the good ol’ days” in their books, even though at the time I had been their age, many of my classmates had detested those same stories that I loved so much.


But one day, my daughter came home from school and said, “Mom, we read a story today that was so good! It’s about a guy who is trying to survive in the cold and he tries to build a fire…” And a few years later, my son couldn’t wait to tell me about a story they’d read about an island, where men were hunted…


Not everyone who loves to read wants to become a writer. So I’m wondering…was there a particular short story that you read when you were younger that made you want to write? Or even just made you become an avid reader? Since so many of us write westerns, was there a western short story that influenced you when you were younger? The one that I loved was not really a short story, but a short novel, Fred Gipson’s OLD YELLER. In later years, another one that stood out was Shirley Jackson’s THE LOTTERY.

I’m giving away a free copy of one of my short stories today, FOUND HEARTS. Be sure you leave a comment to be entered in the drawing! If you just can't wait to see if you won, here's the Amazon link!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R3MWEUC

Yuma Territorial Prison: Water Reservoir & Guard Tower

The Yuma Territorial Prison was authorized in 1875 and opened in 1876 with its first convict being William Hall. The first female convict, Lizzie Gallagher, was incarcerated in 1878. Also that year was the first escape by J. Lewis.

The prison was built along the Colorado River, which provided a ready source of water. However, hauling water up from the river was not convenient. In 1881, prison officials constructed a water reservoir.

Inmates dug a network of tunnels at the base of the hill which would fill with river water. From there the water was pumped up into the 85,000 gallon granite-walled tank. Inmates also built that. In 1893, after continual pump breakdowns, prison officials and Yuma Water and Light came to an agreement. Water was piped to the prison in exchange for electricity produced by the prison's electric dynamo that had been installed at the prison in 1884.

A year later in 1882, a guard tower was built on top of the water reservoir. It provided a clear view of much of the prison yard including the sallyport and entrance to the cells.

To eliminate  evaporation, the platform was built on top of the water tank. A roof was added, and it became a guard tower. As smaller towers were added to the wall, this guard stand was glassed-in and heated to provide sleeping quarters for the guards. A catwalk extended to the top of the wall of the prison.

After the prison closed on September 15, 1909, this Tower served various functions, including a civil defense look out during World War II.

(The photos were taken by me at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Park. Most of the information in this blog post comes from the information at the prison. If you missed my previous posts about this prison, find May’s by CLICKING HERE, June’s post about women inmates by CLICKING HERE, and July's post about Inmate crafts by CLICKING HERE.

Anyone who has not yet read my Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series which takes place just on the other side of the Sierra Nevada mountains from Columbia and Sonora, you may find them by searching Amazon for "Eastern Sierra Brides 1884".

New Release -- THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE by Becky Lower

Book One of the Cotillion Ball Series

Beautiful Ginger Fitzpatrick wants nothing to do with New York City’s conventional society— after all, she is a bloomer-wearing suffragette who holds a position in her father’s bank! Her mother is determined her willful daughter must go to the popular Cotillion ball and look for a suitable husband during the “season”—and Ginger is given no choice.  But when she meets her brother’s best friend, handsome Joseph Lafontaine, the mysterious man sets Ginger ablaze with a mere glance—and gives her second thoughts about remaining single.

Joseph knows he can never have Ginger. He’s totally unsuitable as a husband for this spirited, cultured woman, for many reasons. He’s from the rough-and-ready Western city of St. Louis, and he’s her brother’s best friend. But there’s one thing he can never overcome: he’s a half-breed Ojibwa, forever tainted in the eyes of these high-society whites from the East. Despite the budding love between them, her family will never accept him.

Joseph returns to St. Louis, and months later, Ginger follows with her father to attend to banking business there. Through a twist of Fate, a deadly accident brings Joseph and Ginger together once more, and this time, neither will allow another separation. Can they find happiness together despite their different backgrounds? It’s all or nothing for THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE…

EXCERPT


     Ginger Fitzpatrick was in a pickle, that much was certain.
     Her mother took her by surprise at breakfast by announcing to the family that Ginger would participate in the Cotillion ball two months hence. While her younger sisters squealed in excitement, Ginger couldn’t find her voice to object to her mother’s idea. She knew she must, considering that her father was known to grant every wish his wife had, but Ginger could only stare in confusion. And that wasn’t the worst of it. 
     “George,” her mother stated calmly to her father, “you must relieve Ginger of her duties at the bank so I have time to teach her the rules of etiquette she’ll need for a full season of events. Dear Lord, I have only a couple months to cram in everything.”
     Astonished and stunned, Ginger turned to her father, hanging onto a thread of hope that her valued involvement at the bank would save her. 
     “Let me think about the best way to handle the shift in responsibility, darling. I’ll make sure Ginger is free by the end of the week.” He glanced at Ginger’s stupefied expression and reached across the table for her hand. “Perhaps we could also offer a reward of some kind. Possibly a trip to St. Louis if she gets through the season without incident?”
     He had actually smiled over the breakfast table at her. As if the allure of a trip would make everything all right. 

Kindle edition coming soon.