I thought the picture above of a young woman in a garden would go well with the excerpt of Elizabeth in a garden below from The Tenant’s Guest.
Elizabeth stood just beyond a low border, watching Cecily play with her children in the garden. The ball rolled toward the large tree that shadowed the far corner, and Lucas Abbot, the elder brother at nearly four years of age, ran after it while Aiden Abbott, the younger brother and just three months past his first birthday, swayed slightly and then took one wobbly step followed by another equally unstable step before falling with a plop to the ground. The action of dropping so ungracefully to the ground did not please the young child. His scowl before he took to crawling after his brother made Elizabeth smile. He was a determined young man. A little fall was not going to stop him from pursuing his goal, which at this moment was the ball with which his brother was taunting him.
Cecily waved to Elizabeth. “Come, join us.”
Elizabeth, having just returned from what had proven to be a rather disturbing call at the parsonage and wishing for some time to think about all Lucy had shared with her, would have made her excuses and gone into the house. However, the motion of his mother had turned Aiden toward Elizabeth, and the ball was seemingly forgotten in favour of the new arrival.
“Izabef!” Lucas, ball in hand, reached her before his brother could. “Will you play ball with me, Izabef?”
Elizabeth tousled the boy’s hair. “Of course. Do you wish to run before I throw it?”
The young man’s head shook furiously from side to side. “I want to race it.”
“Very well.” Elizabeth took the ball from his hands and squatted down. “Ready,” she warned. “Go.”
The ball rolled along the grass, passing just beside Aiden, who stopped and sat, looking first at Elizabeth and then the ball — clearly unsure which should get his attention.
The Saturday Broadsheet, with all my writing life updates, is now available at the link at the bottom of this short post.
In this issue of the Broadsheet you will find:
Info about what is posting on my blog. (As if you didn’t know, right? LOL)
An excerpt from my current work in progress, His Father’s Last Gift
Info about the two books I have on sale for $0.99 this month, a couple of other books that have been reduced in price, and one boxset that is on sale for this weekend only.
A link to a multi-author promotion I am taking part in
And in the something fun section at the end of the newsletter you will find, a music video that has been paired with an excerpt from one of the books in the boxset I have on sale this weekend. (It features one of my all-time favourite troublemakers. ;))
A week or so ago, when I was scrolling through YouTube looking for something to watch as I sipped some herbal tea before bed, this video was recommended to me because I’ve watched other History Hit videos. I found the information in this to be quite interesting since I have written stories that reference the Napoleonic Wars.
The story that immediately came to mind was Midnight with Mary (Sweet Extra 2) because the Peninsular War is mentioned a couple of times in it (even though it is a short novelette), and I did a fair bit of research reading before writing that book. In fact, I read about the people and battles mentioned in this video.
Here is the first time the Peninsular War is mentioned. The colonel and Mary have gone to call on a widow and friend of Mary’s to help her. (It’s a rather long excerpt. I hope you don’t mind. 😉 )
The Saturday Broadsheet, with all my writing life updates, is now available at the link at the bottom of this short post.
In this issue of the Broadsheet you will find:
Info about what is posting on my blog. (As if you didn’t know, right? LOL)
Info about what will be posting at Patreon, starting next Friday
Info about the two books I have on sale for $0.99 this month and one boxset that is on sale for this weekend only.
Info about some other books, which are not mine, that are either free or on sale.
And in the something interesting section at the end of the newsletter you will find, a video that has been paired with an excerpt from one of the books in the boxset I have on sale this weekend.