Hope at Dawn – Leenie Brown

A Fogo Island Sunset

This is a picture I took many years ago as I sat on the rocks near Joe Batt’s Arm, Fogo Island, NL, watching the sun go down.

(If you’d prefer to listen to this post in audio read by Christopher, my cloned narrator, you can do that on YouTube at this link.)

Many years ago, at the very beginning of my writing “career” (while I still had a day job as a teacher), I wanted to make writing a regular practice. This desire became a plan for a writing exercise called Thursday’s Three Hundred, which was doomed to fail. 🙂

The plan was to use a random visual prompt and write three hundred, equally as random, words of a story scene, that I would share on my blog each Thursday.

The exercise failed because I found I couldn’t just write three hundred words and move on. That very first three hundred words begged to be turned into a story called Hope at Dawn, and the next new story I started begged me to turn it into a series — what is now my Willow Hall Romance series. So, while the exercise failed in part, that failure has produced a fair number of stories, and I did develop a consistent writing practice. In that way, it was more of a success than a failure.

Today, I’m sharing the first chapter of that first failed exercise that was prompted by the image in the video graphic of a Sunset on Fogo Island. I took this picture not too far from the cottage at which I was staying in Joe Batt’s Arm. This was the first trip I had ever taken to Fogo and was when I fell in love with the remote and rugged beauty of the place.

Hope at Dawn begins on a rocky shoreline as a gentleman, who was not deemed worthy enough to marry the lady he loves, waits for her to return home after an extended period of time away.

As he sits, watching the waves while darkness fades into light, faint hope is the only thing to which he has to cling as he waits to see if the work he’s done while she’s been gone is enough to now be worthy of her hand.

Parting Glass (Máiréad Nesbitt and Tim Janis)

Before the beginning of the story Hope at Dawn, Nicholas and Kathleen, the hero and heroine, were separated by her father and brother because they did not find Nicholas, a banker, to be good enough for the daughter of an earl. Now, Kathleen is returning to England from a tragic time away in Ireland.

Today’s excerpt is the beginning of a letter Nicholas gave to Kathleen before she left, begging her to wait for him. Despite having little hope, Nicholas has been waiting for her, but has he waited in vain?

Hope at Dawn is one of four sweet Regency novelettes in First Blooms and Second Chances: Nature’s Fury and Delights Anthology 2.

This anthology, along with the first one, are both now just $1.99 (USD, EUR, GBP) / $2.99 (CAD, NZD, AUD), with all other currencies also reduced.

MAILING LIST PATREON

Music Monday: I Will Wait, 2Cellos

“2CELLOS – I Will Wait [OFFICIAL VIDEO].” YouTube. 9 July 2014.

THE LINK BETWEEN MUSIC AND STORY:

This is not the first time this song and this story have appeared together on my blog. The song was a Wordless Wednesday many months ago, and the story was my first Thursday Three Hundred story. I am attempting to get the first two Thursday Three Hundred stories edited and into book form. This week I have been working on Hope at Dawn. When it is done, I will begin on editing And Then Love. I hope that they will be available in April. I am also working on some other projects that I plan to give your snippets of on Mondays in the coming weeks.

I am also working on some other projects that I plan to give your snippets of on Mondays in the coming weeks, but for now, I hope you will enjoy this look back at that first writing-exercise-turned-serial-story story. 🙂

(note: Hope at Dawn is a non-Austen-inspired 🙂 regency short story of about 6,000 words. The author of the letter in the piece below is named Nicholas Sidemore. This is his and Kathleen’s story.)

EXCERPT FROM Hope at Dawn:

Kathleen Witherfield pulled her shawl tightly around her shoulders and leaned against the side of the boat. The lantern swayed on its hook causing shadows to dance about the cabin. Although it was well past midnight and she should be sleeping, she was not. A mixture of excitement and trepidation swirled within her making sleep an impossibility.

Reaching beneath her pillow, she pulled out a worn letter. Carefully, she unfolded it and smoothed it on her lap. The light that flickered overhead was poor, but she did not need the light to read what was written on the page.

Kathleen,

I cannot describe the despair my heart feels tonight as I pen these words of farewell. They are not words I write willingly. Would that I was able to provide for you in a manner your father deemed acceptable! But, I cannot. I can only promise to strive to do so, but what security is there in that? I do not blame your father for refusing me.

Maybe he could not blame her father, but she could. She had been furious at her father’s refusal and horrified at his proposed alternative. Rupert Dunnaby was a liar and a cheat, and she had known it almost from their first meeting. Unfortunately, her father and brother had not seen Rupert as she had, at least not in time. She let out a heavy, sorrowful sigh and with a shake of her head to clear the memories of her father, returned to the letter.

I beg of you to not accept Mr. Dunnaby. Give me time to make my fortune. Wait for me, Kathleen. Give me one year to increase my holdings. I shall toil night and day so that when you return, I will be able to provide for you as your father requires. Please do not refuse me this request for I cannot bear the thought of you with another. I shall look for your answer on the tree behind the church. If I see your locket, I know you will return to me to retrieve it.

A tear slid down her cheek and her hand moved of its own volition to clasp the locket which hung about her neck. Carefully, she folded the letter and slipped it once again beneath her pillow before snuggling down next to the infant who shared her bed.