Mail-Order Mix-up - Valentine's Day story by Kaye Spencer – February #blogabookscene #PrairieRosePubs @PrairieRosePubs

The theme for February's #blogabookscene is All You Need is Love. So what better day to blog about love than on Valentine's Day? Cheryl Pierson blogged on February 10th about love letters [HERE],  so I'm continuing with that topic in my excert below, which is from my novelette, Mail-Order Mix-Up, which is included in Prairie Rose Publications' western romance Valentine's Day-themed anthology, Lariats, Letters, and Lace.

Long before the instant gratification of telephone calls, texts, and emails, letter writing and sending telegrams were the means by which people communicated when distance and separation prevented face-to-face interactions. So much history is preserved in letters. As an author, I often use the lengthy time between the sending of a letter to the receiving of that letter to create misunderstandings and relationship complications.

This excerpt is the letter that three young and well-meaning, but meddling granddaughters write to a stranger. The girls decided their widower Grandpa Dale needs a wife, because they want a grandma. This is the truncated version of the letter.


Dear Mrs. Irene Maxon,

My name is Meredith Forbes, and I live in a town along the South Platte River in Colorado called Platte River City. I live in a big, two-story house with my mama Ginny, my pa Joe, my younger sisters Violet and Beryl, and my Grandpa Dale. I am writing to you because we three sisters have chosen you from the mail-order bride catalog called the ‘Matrimony Courier’ to marry our grandpa and to be our new grandma. Our first grandma died before Beryl was born, and Violet and I were too little to remember her, so you see, we’ve all been without a grandma for a long time. Our other grandma lives too far away in California to visit us much, and we’ve only traveled to see her once that I can remember, and that was two years ago.

The photograph is us girls with Grandpa from last winter. I’m the tall one standing beside Grandpa, Violet is on the other side, and Beryl is sitting on his knee. You can see how handsome Grandpa is. He hardly has any wrinkles, and his hair is only a little gray. He is 52 years old, but he is strong and healthy, so I hope you don’t think he’s too old. He’s so strong that he can lift Violet and Beryl at the same time and carry them around when he plays horse...

Since it takes Grandpa a long time to make big decisions and taking a new wife is a big decision, doing all the work to find him a wife is our secret surprise present for him. There’s another mail-order bride living here. She’s the grandma to our friends Lydia and Clara Jean. Maybe you and her will become friends. I hope so, because she’s a nice lady.

Last summer on parade day, Grandpa said he’d like to get married again and that he’d even buy a new suit, polish his boots, and get a haircut and shave at the barbershop for the wedding. So, you see, he’s been thinking about getting married again, but we have to help him make up his mind, or he mightn’t make up his mind at all.

We hope you haven’t already found a husband. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to get a catalog, save up enough money, and then be able to send you this letter all without anyone knowing...
So, you see, this is the only letter we’d better send, and you can’t send a letter back, because then the whole town will know, and all this will be ruined, and we’ll never have another chance to have a grandma. Grandpa will say no to getting married for sure, and that will make us very sad for him and for us and for you.

I’m sorry if this letter is too long, but getting the right wife for Grandpa Dale is really important to us. So, please, please, please come to Platte River City soon to meet Grandpa and all the family. We’re hoping you’ll come here by Christmas, and if you don’t make it by Valentine’s Day, we’ll know you already found a husband. If that happens, we’ll try again to order another grandma when we save up some more money. We think you are a nice lady, and you’re pretty, so we hope you find a happy life even if you don’t come here and marry our grandpa...

P. S. We hope you like to dance. Grandpa sure is happy when he dances.

It certainly is a Mail-Order Mix-Up when Irene shows up on Dale's doorstep.

Lariats, Letters, and Lace anthology is available on Amazon.com
Print | eBook | KindleUnlimited

The Blog-a-Book-Scene theme for March is Beware the Ides of March.

Until then,

Kaye Spencer

Website/Blog- http://www.kayespencer.com
Instagram - kayespencer
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/kayespencer
Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/kayespencer
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kayespencer23
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/author/kayespencer
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayespence
Prairie Rose Publications - http://prairierosepublications.com/
YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/kayespencer0203

California and the Civil War

  

My latest release is a novelette titled He Is a Good Man which is part of Prairie Rose Publication's 2016 Valentine anthology, Lariats, Letters, and Lace.

  

A letter delivered from the grave changes everything for two young people.

In the opening chapter, two soldiers from California meet after the 1864 Battle of Fort Stevens where Hal finds his messmate and best friend, Joshua, shot in the leg and waiting his turn with the surgeon. Having been convinced for months that he would not survive the war, Joshua reminds Hal of his promise made earlier to deliver a special letter to Joshua's sweetheart when Hal returns to California.

Wait...What? California was involved in the Civil War? 

Yes.

Gen. John White Geary, first mayor of San Francisco

When the Civil War started, one of the first things President Abraham Lincoln did was to query the states and territories regarding their loyalties. He was concerned about many issues. First, because of distance, communication and transportation between the Capitol and the West was slow. Although gold was not as easy to find as it had been in the 1849 gold rush days, there was still plenty being mined. Lincoln needed it to finance the war and did not want it to fall into Confederate hands. In addition, Lincoln put out a call to arms asking for one regiment of infantry and five companies of cavalry to guard the overland mail route from Carson City to Salt Lake City. Three Weeks later four more regiments of infantry and a regiment of cavalry were requested. All of these were volunteer units recruited and organized in the northern counties of the state, especially around the San Francisco Bay region and the mining camps in the foothill counties of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These volunteers replaced the regular troops transferred to the east before the end of 1861. 

Company of soldiers recruited in Hayward, California

California was in a precarious state when it came to the loyalties of its citizens. The northern part of the states including the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento areas were settled primarily by people who came from the northern and mid-western states east of the Mississippi River and were mostly in favor of preserving the existing federal government. However, there was a large populaton in the southern part of the state--particularly around Los Angeles, El Monte and San Bernardino--that had come to California from the South. Their loyalties were solidly for the Confederacy. In addition, the Californios, the earlier residents of California from before the time when the Mexican-American War brought California into the United States as a territory in 1848 and as a state in 1850, were dissatisfied with the inequitable taxes and land laws imposed by the pro-Union state government. Many Californios also favored the Confederacy.

Col.Albert Sidney Johnston, Commander of Dept. of Pacific

Col. (Brevet Brigadier General) Sidney Johnston was the top military commander of the Department of the Pacific when the war broke out. Although he regretted seeing it come to war, he was from the south and resigned his commission. He and other top military commanders who had also resigned from the Union army managed to sneak across southern California, Arizona and New Mexico to join with the Confederate Army.

As part of the back story of He Is a Good Man, in 1862, both Joshua Penrose and Henry "Hal" Avery sign up to join the California Cavalry Battalion, a group of volunteers who agreed to travel back east and become part of the five companies of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry. They left San Francisco by sea for service in the east. The California Battalion consisted of Companies A, C, F, L, and M. They participated in 51 battles, campaigns, and skirmishes.

 

Third Infantry California Volunteers Band in 1861

The story also includes the fate of Malinda's father, Charles Forsythe, who died while serving in the "California Column." The California Column ended up with a total strength of 2,350 men.

Col. James H. Carleton led California Column

The original mission of the California Column was to drive Confederate troops out of New Mexico, which they had occupied the previous year. During their advance the California Column engaged the Confederates in two small skirmishes, but the Battle of Glorietta Pass in New Mexico fought between the New Mexico/Colorado militias and the Confederates drove the Confederate troops back to Texas. Much of the Column's service during the war was garrison duty to prevent the Confederates from re-entering New Mexico. They also fought against the Apaches. To learn more about the California Column, read this post from the Civil War Trust which you can reach by clicking HERE.

In addition, there were a host of local home guard units formed throughout the state to prevent those with Southern sympathies from sending men or financial support to the Confederacy.

Other California units that fought in the Civil War may be found on this Wikipedia site which you can find by clicking HERE.

"Union Boy" cannon, in Sacramento Plaza during Civil War

Now, a little more about He Is a Good Man.  

Here is an excerpt:

      “I’m trying to finish the letter I was writing to Mali last night. I told her I got shot, but it’s getting hard to write. You finish it for me, Hal. Tell her I love her. Tell her to think of me fondly as a childhood friend, but…go on with her life and be happy.”

     Hal reached over and pried the paper out of Joshua’s fist. He rooted around on the ground until his fingers closed around the pencil Joshua had been using. He smoothed the crumpled sheet reasonably flat on his knee before he read the last few barely legible sentences in order to know where Joshua had left off and where he should start.

     “Josh, what do you mean by telling her you’ve done all you can for her future? That doesn’t make much sense.”

     “That’s between Mali and me. She’ll know…when the time comes.”

     Hal shrugged and began to write, being careful to not poke the pencil through the paper weakened by the creases resulting from Joshua clutching it while fighting off his pain. He had almost finished writing the words Joshua had requested when his friend, with a voice noticeably weaker, spoke to him once more.

     “Hal, you still got that other letter I asked you to take to Mali when I die?”

     “You’re not going to die, Josh. But, yeah, I still have it.”

     “And your word’s still good, isn’t it? You won’t mail it to her, but you’ll take it to her in person. You can mail the one you’re writing on now, and the one for my folks that’s in my coat pocket…but the one I gave to you before…you swear you’ll take it to her yourself in person? And you’ll do those other two things you promised to do, too?”

     “My word’s good, Josh. I meant every word I promised.” Hal fought down the surge of annoyance that his messmate would question his honor. He turned to stare in the unfocused eyes of his closest friend. “As long as I live to return home, I’ll do what I swore to do. I doubt she’ll appreciate me doing the one, but I’ll give her the option.”

     “Thanks, Hal. I’ll die in peace knowing you’ll do that.”

     “Just hush up about dying, Josh. What did you write in that letter, anyway?”

     “Between…me and Mali,” Joshua barely mumbled his words loud enough to be heard as shock and the loss of blood took its toll. “You…just take it to her.”

About Zina Abbott:

Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels. Her novel, Family Secrets, was published by Fire Star Press. Her novelette, A Christmas Promise, along with the first two novellas in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, Big Meadows Valentine and A Resurrected Heart, was published by Prairie Rose Publications. He Is a Good Man was published in the Lariats, Letters and Lace anthology.

Please visit and follow the Zina Abbott’s Amazon Author Page by clicking HERE.

Contact Zina Abbott:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Pinterest  |  Google+  |  Goodreads  |  Twitter

Purchase Lariats, Letters and Lace here:

Amazon Kindle  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Smashwords  |  Kobo

iBooks  |  Amazon Trade Paperback

Tweet this blog post: 

A letter from the grave changes everything HE IS A GOOD MAN @Zina Abbott in LARIATS, LETTERS & LACE http://bit.ly/1NYoTRY #PrairieRosePub

VALENTINE TREATS FOR ALL PRP READERS! by CHERYL PIERSON

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and boy, do we have some sweet treats in store for all of our wonderful readers here at Prairie Rose Publications!
Just two years ago, Prairie Rose Publications published its first Valentine’s Day collection of short stories, HEARTS AND SPURS!


How do you capture a cowboy's heart? HEARTS AND SPURS is a collection of nine stories by some of western romance’s best—just in time for Valentine's Day! Following up their Christmas collection WISHING FOR A COWBOY, these ladies have done it again with new stories of handsome cowboys and the women who captivate them in HEARTS AND SPURS.

HEARTS AND SPURS features nine sensual Valentine's Day love stories of the old west that will leave no doubt--Cupid is a cowboy, and he's playing for keeps!

THE WIDOW’S HEART by Linda Broday—Desperate and alone, Skye O’Rourke finds courage and a love she thought she’d lost when a man from her past emerges from the shimmering desert heat.

GUARDING HER HEART by Livia J. Washburn—Outlaws threaten a Valentine's Day wedding!

FOUND HEARTS by Cheryl Pierson—An enemy from the past threatens Alex Cameron’s future on the day he’s set to wed mail-order bride Evie Fremont. Can they survive their wedding day?

OPEN HEARTS by Tanya Hanson—A woman living as a man to practice the law she loves must guard her identity—and her heart—from a handsome sheriff, who discovers her secret and must decide whether to turn her in or fall in love.

HOLLOW HEART by Sarah J. McNeal—Lost love and the hope for possibilities…

A FLARE OF THE HEART by Jacquie Rogers—Celia Yancey heads west to marry a preacher her father picked for her. Bounty hunter Ross Flaherty has traded his guns for a pitchfork and is content to be a farmer, but Celia brings his nemesis right to his door. Can Celia and Ross shed the past and forge a new beginning?

COMING HOME by Tracy Garrett—Sometimes it takes two to make dreams come true. When a man who believes he’ll never have a home and family finds a woman who has lost everything…It takes a lot of forgiveness and a few fireworks to realize that together, their dreams can come true.

TUMBLEWEEDS AND VALENTINES by Phyliss Miranda—The wildness of a tumbleweed and the sweetness of chocolate bring Amanda Love the love of a lifetime.

THE SECOND-BEST RANGER IN TEXAS by Kathleen Rice Adams—A washed-up Texas Ranger. A failed nun with a violent past. A love that will redeem them both. (WESTERN FICTIONEER PEACEMAKER AWARD WINNER!)

What a wonderful anthology this is and it’s now on sale for only .99 for the digital edition. It’s also available in print!

Last year, PRP brought out another Valentine’s Day anthology, COWBOY KISSES. What could be better on a cold Valentine’s Day than to sit down with a book chock full of stories about special cowboys and their ladies?



In Lorrie Farrelly’s tale of love and fate, a tattered old diary sends a young woman into the arms of a long-ago Texas Ranger for A Kiss in Time.

Linda Carroll-Bradd’s When My Heart Knew is the story of young Maisie Treadwell, who has never been in love before, and handsome Dylan MacInnes, who might or might not be the one.

A Westward Adventure by Kristy McCaffrey is a story of aspiring novelist Amelia Mercer, who travels to Colorado, determined to find her own adventure to write about. When Bounty hunter Ned Waymire comes to her aid, the true adventure begins!

Valentine Angel by Gail L. Jenner is a poignant story of a determined young woman who rescues a wounded lawman and then must help him fight off his nemesis.

In Gil McDonald’s story, Hearts and Red Ribbons, a feisty young woman who dresses in men’s clothes and a drifter looking for—something—are thrown together by Fate on a wet February day.

Hunter’s Gamble, by C. Marie Bowen, is a gripping tale of lost love and determination. Life is a gamble, and Hunter knows he can't always win. With true love in the mix, the odds are stacked in Hunter’s favor!

Her Thief of Hearts by Tanya Hanson is the tale of an outlaw, an orphan, and a socialite—is this a recipe for disaster or true love?

Beverly Wells will steal your heart in her story, Hopes and Dreams. A woman on the run, a sheriff sworn to uphold the law, and one little girl’s pleas to Mr. Cupid for a new daddy!

Settle in for some mighty fine Valentine’s Day reading from your favorite western romance authors. COWBOY KISSES has just what you’re looking for—eight stories by some fabulous authors who share with you their love stories of the old west!

And that brings us to our third anthology of Valentine tales, the 2016 collection in which all the stories are based on a letter sent—or received.

Prairie Rose Publications is proud to bring you another wonderful collection of stories of Valentine’s Day romance that is bound to satisfy your need for something “sweet”! Each of these western romance tales revolves around a letter of some kind—with some unexpected results.

It’s nearing Valentine’s Day, and that all-important letter or card could mean romance for a special couple…from a new love to those who’ve wanted to speak up for a while, but have only just gathered the courage. A fateful letter could be the catalyst to match-making, or one that brings news that could change everything. No matter if it’s a newly-discovered love or one that’s been simmering, the contents of these missives could turn someone’s world upside down—just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Linda Carroll-Bradd, Agnes Alexander, Kaye Spencer, Gail L. Jenner, B.J. Betts, Patti Sherry-Crews, Zina Abbott, and Niki Mitchell all contribute their own brand of Valentine’s Day romance to LARIATS, LETTERS, AND LACE, providing some great reading that you’re sure to enjoy.

Join us for some wonderful Valentine’s Day tales that are sure to keep you reading to the very end!

Most of the stories in HEARTS AND SPURS and COWBOY KISSES are also available as single sell short stories, as well, for only .99 each.

We hope you will stock up on some wonderful Valentine’s Day reads, past and present! Leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of LARIATS, LETTERS, AND LACE--and don't forget your contact info, in case YOU ARE THE WINNER!

If you just can’t wait to see if you won, or if you want to buy these collections for yourself or gifts for a special friend, we’ve included the buy links below. ENJOY!

Buy Links LARIATS, LETTERS, AND LACE    Barnes and Noble    Smashwords    Kobo    iBooks

Buy Links COWBOY KISSES   B & N Nook        Smashwords

Buy Links Hearts and Spurs  B&N    Smashwords