Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Bast's Warrior



Bast’s Warrior is a fantasy, time travel set in an ancient Egypt. There is an interesting reason for using an alternate Egypt. First the blurb and then a bit about how the book came about.


Tira flees a threat to her life and encounters two elderly women who offer her the chance to be sent to an alternate ancient Egypt with no thought of return. She has had a fascination with Egypt and can even read hieroglyphics. Once there she will be given a task. Failure could mean death. Dare she take the chance and can she find the lost symbols of the rule before an enemy finds them?

Kashe, son of the nomarch of Mero is in rebellion. His father desires him to join the priesthood of Aken Re, a foreign god. He feels he belongs to Horu, god of warriors and justice. He decides to leave home, meets Tira and joins her in the search for the symbols of the rule. Will his aid bring good fortune and will their growing love keep them from making a fatal mistake? 


There is an interesting reason for choosing to make the story occur in an alternate ancient Egypt. I was busily revising the story and put it aside for the evening. I flipped around the TV dial and on Discovery found a program on camels. To my dismay, I learned there were no camels in the time period of my story. There were horses but no camels. I really wanted camels and so I had to find a way not to rewrite the book. That night while I slept the answer came. Even though historical research was being used to keep from re-writing the entire book what I needed to do was send the heroine through time and space to an alternate world. That meant changing the names of the gods and the cities a bit. Took a bit of time but I saved the camels.


The hero and heroine are both Aries since I needed warriors. Many years ago, a friend and I earned enough money to travel to Ireland for a two week stay with her step-mother. We continued to do charts and progression for a number of years. Then she went to law school and I returned to work as a nurse and out career as Astrologists came to a halt. I never lost my interest in Astrology. When I began writing again after a ten year hiatus while I worked as a nurse, saw my children through college, I returned to writing.


In casting my characters, I began to use Astrology. I didn’t cast charts for the characters since math is not my greatest subject. I tool from Astrology the character’s birth sign, their moon sign and their Rising sign to give them a personality, their goals and reasons for wanting to achieve a goal.

Janet Lane Walters 

I've been published since 1968 with a long break to return to nursing to help put children through college. I was married to my husband for 55 years but recently became a widow. I have four children. My youngest is an adopted biracial daughter. I have seven grandchildren, three are Chinese and four are Black. I'm an eclectic writer and span most genres except horror and scientific science fiction. I spent a number of years doing Astrological charts for friends, earning enough money for a trip to Ireland. I also at one point in time studied music composition and had several pieces performed. When I returned to writing after the hiatus, I made friends with some great women from RWA. One of them sold my first return book to her editor. Then I discovered electronic publishing and was off and running.

Janet Lane Walters's picture
My Places
https://www.pinterest.com/shadyl717/


Buy Mark
http://bookswelove.net/walters-janet-lane/

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Always on My Mind



THE HISTORY BEHIND MY HERO

It’s the 1970s and Cooper Byrnes, my hero in Always on My Mind, is not warm and fuzzy.  He’s not one of these cuddly guys everyone likes immediately—and there’s a reason for that.  Coop has a ranch to run, he’s up at 5 a.m., if not earlier, every day, rain or shine, weekday or holiday, blizzard or dangerous heat wave.  This was what has formed Coop. But there’s something else that has shaped Coop the way he is—History.
The 1970s were a time of change and tumultuous happenings Coop would never be able to fully understand. There was a conservative backlash to the radicalism of the 1960s, and these people wanted, for better or worse, to hang on to traditional family values and have less government meddling in their lives. President Nixon began to undo all of his predecessor’s, president Johnson, War on Poverty.  The New Right fought against high taxes, environment regulations, affirmative action, and even speed limits. While the heartland of the south was the center of these ideals, they certainly would have been welcomed by men like Coop in the West.
Then there was the Equal Rights Amendment. Suffragist Alice Paul had, believe it or not, introduced the ERA to Congress every year since 1923.  In 1972 Congress finally ratified it but only 35 of the necessary 38 states passed it. The ERA reads, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”  Not something many men would have been happy to adhere to in the 1970s, and certainly not on a ranch.
So, yes, Cooper’s world is changing and he has to get used to it.  Whether this makes him a better, more likeable man in the four years’ course of the book is up to you to decide.

1972 - Vietnam, the pill, upheaval, hippies.
   Wyoming rancher Cooper Byrnes, deeply attached to the land and his way of life, surprises everyone when he falls for vagabond hippie Cassie Halliday. Fascinated and baffled, he cannot comprehend his attraction—or say the words she wants to hear.
   Cassie finds Coop intriguingly different. As she keeps house for him and warms his bed at night, she admits to herself she loves him but she misinterprets Coop's inability to express his feelings.
   Parted, each continues to think of the other, but how can either of them reach out to say, "You were 'always on my mind'?"

Available in all digital formats and paper from:


EXCERPT:

As night colored the sky, Cassie pulled open her curtain and peered out as shades of pink and purple streaked across the treetops tinged by a blackness off to the east. Storm clouds. She could feel the sudden September chill, heard the propane heating click on, Coop enter the kitchen with the dogs whining downstairs. He stomped off his boots for the night. She supposed he was looking after himself, just the way he had lived before she ever came on the scene, cooking whatever he liked to eat, having his beers, occasionally watching TV, Elam and Wayne at his feet, before climbing up to bed. And she supposed he realized at some point she would have to come out and start living again, either here, or moving on if she couldn’t forgive him.

Love, to her, had always been difficult to define. She believed it to be something deep inside, something shared, a song in your head playing constantly in the background. Always there. It was your heart skipping and your stomach somersaulting when the person walked in the room, got close. And that was what she felt for Coop now, those were her very feelings every time he got near. Even though she believed those feelings were not returned, she knew the thought of leaving him was painful. He offered her a steadfastness, a certainty, a support she hadn’t experienced before, small kindnesses she enjoyed and wouldn’t want to do without. And maybe that was it: she didn’t like the thought of doing without him, of leaving.

Hearing sports come on the TV, she snuck out to wash for bed, still ignoring the chocolates where he’d left them. Later, she lay in bed and listened to his routine she knew so well now, the clunk of his belt buckle as his jeans hit the floor, the little hop of getting his leg in his pajama bottoms, and his stroll down to the bathroom to wash, and back again before the light clicked off. It wasn’t long before soft snores came through the wall and Cassie realized she missed all that, the way he curled around her in that big, old bed, their feet entwined, his head nuzzled into her shoulder sometimes, the grizzle of his day’s beard growth against her skin. She thought of sneaking into the bed but gave up the idea; he’d probably just throw an arm over her and fall back to sleep, say nothing except maybe ‘I knew you’d come ’round.’

It was a crash of thunder that woke her, followed by the sound of something like a lover throwing pebbles against the window, but this was no lover. Its power was so forceful, she thought the window might break. As she pulled back the curtain, blades of lightening mapped the sky, a deep indigo when lit, the forks like veins in the sky’s skin. She heard the rustle of Coop waking, the creak of him sitting up in bed. For a moment she sat watching, and then realized her garden would be decimated.

She grabbed an old shirt of his she used as a bathrobe, unlatched the door, crashed barefoot into the box of chocolates, sent them flying and scattered all over, as they fell from the hallway, through the banister, into the corridor below. She flew down the stairs. Cooper appeared as he pulled on his jeans and a shirt and followed behind her.

“Cassie, don’t, don’t, it’s too late and there’s lightning!”

She pulled open the kitchen door and ran into the garden, fumbled with the new gate to yank it open, tried to protect her head from the pounding hail, hail the size of her fist. Cooper had pulled on his boots and made a grab for her, but she wrenched away, unsure of what to do to save the remains of her crops.

“You’re not gonna save anything now, Cass,” he shouted above the maelstrom, “give it up, get back inside, I have to go see to the cattle!”

The dogs appeared on the path, out of the kitchen where they’d been sleeping, set up a yowling that added to the din. Sick of seeing all her hard work lay ruined, she turned and pushed past Coop who stood helpless. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen block and came back out, cut heads of cabbage, and whatever else she felt she could save. But it was no use: the hail continued to beat her, and she shivered with the cold, shaking. The shirt stuck to her lithe body until she collapsed in the mud.

“Cassie, you can’t do any more, you best get inside sweetheart, it was the end of the season anyway.” He bent over her, soaked through himself, his hair plastered to his head. “Cassie?” He knelt beside her, watched helplessly as the sobs came, wracked her body, swaying with its pain.

He gathered her up into his arms just as Hank’s pickup pulled into the yard and he and the older cowboy got out, slicker-covered, and looked on.

“We’ll saddle up,” the elder said, his voice drowned in the rumble of the storm. “You come on, Coop, when you can.”

A native New Yorker, Andrea Downing currently divides her time between the canyons of city streets and the wide-open spaces of Wyoming. Her background in publishing and English Language teaching has transferred into fiction writing, and her love of horses, ranches, rodeo, and just about anything else western, is reflected in her award-winning historical and contemporary western romances.

She has been a finalist in the RONE Awards for Best American Historical Romance twice, placed in the International Digital Awards twice, and won ‘Favorite Hero’ along with Honorable Mentions for Favorite Heroine, Short Story and Novel in the Maple Leaf Awards. Her book, Dearest Darling, has also won The Golden Quill Award for Best Novella and been on the short list for winning The Chanticleer Award for Best Short or Novella.

To learn more about Andrea and her books, you can find her at:
Website and blog:  https://andreadowning.com
Twitter:  @andidowning  https://twitter.com/AndiDowning










Tuesday, June 23, 2020

The Proposition

Thank you very much Alethea for having me today.

In 2015 I joined an Anzacs on the Western Front tour, visiting the battlefields where my grandfather and thousands of other Australians and New Zealanders served during World War One. It was incredibly humbling to see thousands of graves of young men who never came home – and many of those graves inscribed “Known Only to God”.  That made me wonder if, in the thick of battle when bodies were unrecognisable, could a soldier take the identity discs of a fallen comrade.  I contacted London’s Imperial War Museum and Australia’s War Memorial in Canberra and was told it was possible but the chance of being caught very high and the penalties very harsh.  That was good enough for me to write my third book, The Proposition.


Blurb –
They met on the eve of a battle. One enlisted to avoid prison, the other enlisted to avoid the money lenders. On the bloodied fields of France, Harry Connelly collapses beside the corpse of Andrew Conroy. It is a risk, a hanging offence, it’s his only hope for a future. Harry swaps identity discs.
Now Andrew, he is just another face in post war London until a letter arrives with a proposition. Accepting is out of the question, refusing pushes him into a nightmare of greed, blackmail and murder. To survive he must live this lie without a mistake, until Lacey, her secrets and the truth.

Excerpt –
“Excuse me, call of nature.”
           The niggling coil of unease had been growing and now, as Andrew watched the dining room door close behind Elliot, his instincts were jabbing at him. His host had been charming and hospitable. Last night, after a delicious dinner at Browns Hotel, they’d touched on their family connection, unsure of what to say without offending the other. Elliot had twirled his glass between his fingers. “My grandparents made a lot of money from the textile industry, my father sold seventy percent of those businesses and invested in other profitable enterprises. To put it simply, he was a very astute, successful businessman, but I’m afraid he was not a good husband and father. He cared little for us and it distresses me that he cared even less for you and your mother.”
               Today, Elliot had proudly introduced him to his pride and joy, a dark grey Austin-20hp and they’d motored smoothly out of London and onto the soft Essex countryside. When they’d stopped at Thaxted’s Swan Inn for lunch, Elliot had commented, “Every spare acre in Essex has been growing vegetables, doing their bit for the war effort and rationing.” When they continued on to Saffron Walden, he’d pointed to his left, “Railway station, a branch line from Audley End. Made a big difference to this town.”  They’d stopped briefly in High Street, then through the marketplace, bumping over cobblestones to a wider road and finally stopping at the entrance of a large Victorian house. He’d been shown to his room overlooking  the rear of the house with its garden rows of vegetables. Elliot had apologised again, business to attend to and please make himself at home. Not used to the substantial meals, he’d slept until five pm. At seven pm, he’d joined Elliot in the dining room where silver serving dishes containing roast beef, baked potatoes and green vegetables sat on spirit warmers.
               “Very informal this evening,” Elliot had said breezily. “I asked my daily help to prepare something easy for us, so please, help yourself.”
               The only time his host’s friendliness disappeared was when the daily help tapped on the door to tell him she’d answered the phone and left the message on the phone pad.
Something was very wrong, or perhaps he was too jumpy from living on this tight rope of lies. The door opened again.
               “Much more comfortable,” Elliot grinned and sat down. “More wine?”      
               “No thank you, I might not be able to climb the stairs, but I must thank you for another very pleasant evening.”
               Elliot’s grin disappeared. “It’s time to discuss the business proposition which will give us both what we want.”
               “I confess I was intrigued when I received your letter,” Andrew replied guardedly. 
               “You will perform a service and if that service is completed satisfactorily, I will pay you three hundred pounds and pay your outstanding debts.”
               Andrew went perfectly still. “Perform a service?”
               “You will impregnate the woman I married.”

Buy Links 

Author bio 
Jan Selbourne grew up in Melbourne, Australia. Her love of books and history began as soon as she could read and hold a pen. Her career started in the dusty world of ledgers and accounting then a working holiday to the UK brought that history to life. Career, marriage and children followed, pushing the writing urge onto the backburner, Now retired, Jan indulges her love of writing and travelling - when she can afford it.  She has two adult children and lives near Maitland, New South Wales.

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Fugitive Sheriff





FUGITIVE SHERIFF
by Edward Massey

From the moment he pins his father’s bloodied star  on  his chest, Sheriff Simms fulfills his calling, hunts his father’s killer, and eludes the U.S. marshal. With his fallen-away Mormon deputies, the marshal hunts the sheriff for the bounty levied on his head because he acceded to the bishop and took a second wife fourteen years before. Pursuer and pursued for four years, the sheriff brings the killer to justice and stays a step ahead of the marshals. When the deputized Judases capture Simms, his community engineers his escape. Legislation dissolves his church and transfers its property to the government. The U.S. marshal finds greater profit as court receiver. The murderer stands before the firing squad, and Sheriff Simms is no longer a fugitive.
EDWARD MASSEY BIO:
Mountains and pioneer heritage gave Edward the willingness to set out on his own and try. Good people and great institutions honed, inspired, and molded him. Together these influences bear total responsibility for his progress and none for his setbacks.
He brings progress and setbacks to a writing career started late in life. With Fugitive Sheriff he has four published novels, Telluride Promise, Every Soul Is Free, (all available on AMAZON). Founding Sheriff has been deferred by publisher, Five Star’s decision to set back all 2020 pubdates six months owing to covid-19. It will be published February, 2021.  
His novels have won a few awards. He wants them to win readers. Consulting and speaking support his writing. Anne and Edward live in Connecticut. The next novel is in progress.

Buy the book:
| Price: $25.95| Five Star Publishing
facebook.com/FiveStarCengage
Bulk orders: tiffany.schofield@cengage.com
Order from Amazon. Order from B&N .
edward@edwardmasseybooks.com to order signed copy.

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

James




 JAMES

Bachelors and Babies Book 13

by Tracy Garrett


Blurb:
After five years leading the Lord’s flock in King’s Ford, Nebraska, The Reverend James Hathaway is used to the demands on his time. But nothing could prepare him to find a baby in a basket on his front step. He always expected to marry before becoming a father. Then a young widow agrees to help him learn to care for the child and he wonders if he hasn’t found his future.

Widow Esther Travers is still reeling over the loss of her newborn baby girl when she’s asked to help care for another baby. Vowing to get the little one off to a good start, she doesn’t plan to fall for the very handsome preacher, too.

Excerpt:


“Reverend! Reverend Hathaway!”
James heard Tad shouting long before he reached the cabin at the north end of King’s Ford, the town he’d called home for nearly five years now. The seven-year-old ran errands for many folks in town, though most often it was for the doctor. If Doctor Finney was sending for a preacher this early in the morning, it couldn’t be good news. James buttoned his vest and pulled on his frock coat then glanced in the small mirror hung beside the front door to be sure his collar was tucked in properly, then studied his face.
He looked tired. A wagon had creaked and rumbled past his home well before dawn and the noise had dragged him from a sound sleep. He’d been sitting at the table since then, trying to write his Sunday sermon, but inspiration hadn’t gotten out of bed with him. Ah, well. It was only Tuesday.
James glanced around his small home. The parsonage, if you could call the drafty, poorly lit cabin by so lofty a title, sat at the far north end of town. The church sat to the south of the parsonage, which meant the larger building did nothing to block the winter winds that howled down from the Dakota hills thirty or so miles away.
Deciding he wouldn’t scandalize any parishioner he passed, he lifted his hat from the small table under the mirror and opened the door. He was so focused on Tad that he nearly tripped over a basket left on his stoop.
“What on earth?”
“A basket.”
“Yes, Tad, I see that. Who left it here?” He immediately thought of the wagon that had awoken him. “Why didn’t they knock? I’ve been home since nightfall.”
Tad crept closer, lifted a corner of the cloth covering the contents, and jumped back like there was a snake inside. “Baby!” Tad yelled.
“Don’t play games, Tad. Tell me what’s…” James didn’t jump away, though he wanted to. “Merciful heavens, there’s a baby in here.”


Buy link:

Author bio:

Award-winning, multi-published author Tracy Garrett published her first book in 2007. An accomplished musician, she is the Director of the Greater Lake Area Chorale, a group of sixty volunteer singers. Tracy and her husband share their love of the old West through Cowboy Action Shooting as members of the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS). Tracy resides in Missouri with her husband and their fuzzy “kid,” Wrigley.

Thursday, June 11, 2020

The Long Way Home



Thanks so much to Alethea for inviting me to drop in at the blog!

I’m sharing a bit about The Cowboy’s Little Surprise. This is Book #1 of The Hitching Post Hotel, an ongoing series of sweet, contemporary Western romances. The hotel is owned and run by a loving grandpa who turns matchmaker to get his granddaughters wed.

The following excerpt is from the point of view of the heroine, Tina, who’s about to get a surprise of her own:

Tina glanced up at the Hitching Post, all three stories of it, all the way up to the windows of her attic hideaway. She loved the hotel, the only home she and Robbie had ever known. Her grandfather had also lived here his entire life. Jed couldn’t like the idea of all those empty guest rooms, either.
Sighing, she reached for one of the grocery sacks in the back of the truck. Footsteps on gravel made her pause. Maybe this was someone who wanted to book a room. She turned with a welcoming smile.
That smile died on her lips when she saw the cowboy standing in front of her. The cowboy who’d left Cowboy Creek—and her—in his rearview mirror five years ago.
Cole Slater.
In one startled, reflexive sweep, she took in almost everything about him. The light brown hair showing beneath the brim of his battered hat. The firm mouth and jaw. Broad shoulders. Narrow hips. The well-worn jeans, silver belt buckle, and scuffed boots. In the next reluctant second, she turned her gaze to the one feature she had deliberately skipped over the first time.
A pair of blue eyes that made her think instantly of her son.
Clutching the grocery sack, she demanded, “What are you doing here?”
His face looked flushed. But he didn’t appear angry, the way he would have if he’d seen Robbie and put two and two together. She breathed a sigh of relief at the reprieve, no matter how brief, giving her a chance to come to grips with his return to town. If she ever could.
Seeing him again had brought back years of memories she didn’t want to think about.
She should have known better than to fall for Cole Slater. At the tender age of seven, she had already heard about his reputation as a sweet-talker. By junior high, he had progressed to a real player. And by senior high, he had turned love-’em-and-leave-’em into an art form, changing girlfriends as often as she replaced guest towels here at the Hitching Post.
Too bad she hadn’t remembered all that when he had finally turned his attention her way.
He shoved his hands into his back pockets, which pulled his shirt taut against his chest. Now, she felt herself flushing as she recalled the one and only time—
No, she wasn’t going there.
And he wasn’t staying here. “You must have made a wrong turn somewhere. I suggest you find your vehicle, wherever you might have left it—”
“I parked near the barn—”
“—and be on your way.”
“—and to answer your question, I came to see Jed.”
“What for?”
“He invited me.”
“Then I assume you’ve seen him already and, as I said, you can be on your way.”
“You and I need to have something out first.”
Please, no. Had he caught a glimpse of Robbie, after all?
From the cover:

THE LONG WAY HOME

A guy like Cole Slater is hard to forget. Tina Sanchez should know—for years since high school she's tried to bury the pain of Cole's cruel betrayal. But it's impossible to ignore the man she sees reflected in her young son's eyes now that Cole is back in her life—and about to meet the child he never knew he had. 
Returning home to New Mexico, Cole is determined to put his playboy reputation to rest. Especially now that he knows there's a little boy looking up to him. And seeing Tina again reignites all the feelings Cole ran from as a teen. Despite his fear that he can't be the man Tina deserves, he's determined to try. For his son's sake—and his own.

Find the Book (print and ebook)
About Barbara:
Barbara White Daille lives with her husband in the sunny Southwest. Though they love the warm winters and the lizards in their front yard, they haven’t gotten used to the scorpions in the bathroom. Barbara also loves writing, reading, and chocolate. Come to think of it, she enjoys writing about those subjects, too!
Barbara wrote her first short story at the age of nine, then typed "The End" to her first novel many years later...in the eighth grade. Now she's writing contemporary romance on a daily basis. Sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest in her writing life:  https://barbarawhitedaille.com/newsletter.
Find Barbara and her books:



Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Finding Love at Compassion Ranch



Finding Love at Compassion Ranch
Book 2 – Novella in Pet Rescue Romance Series
By Gayle M. Irwin

Genre: Small town romance, Clean, contemporary western romance
Themes: Second Chance Love, Cowboy, Pet Rescue
Keywords: Wyoming; Yellowstone National Park; Pet Rescue; Clean, Contemporary Romance; Cowboy, Rescue Dogs, Animal Rescue, Veterinarian, Widow
ISBN – Paperback: 979-8640712735
ASIN – Digital: B0886LR487
Length: Novella length, 246 pages
Heat Level: G/PG
Release Date: May 4, 2020
Cover Artist: Jessica Greyson

Buy Links:
Amazon – Ebook: https://amzn.to/2AM7sLk
 Barnes & Noble – Nook: https://bit.ly/3gPw3zs

Tagline:
A second chance for people and animals – but will either risk hope and healing?

Blurb: 
A ranch like no other …

Erin Christiansen is still adjusting to life as a widow. She seeks additional healing by volunteering at Compassion Ranch, a sanctuary for former research animals. Upon arrival at the majestic and unique northwestern Wyoming ranch, she meets Mike, a man she knew in high school, whose compassion for animals and people might be the balm Erin needs.
Retired veterinarian Mike Jacobs is no stranger to loss. Five years after the accidental death of his wife, he now serves as ranch manager of Compassion Ranch. He not only fixes fence and provides tours, but he applies his veterinary skills and his heart for animals to his work. Upon recognizing Erin from high school, he can barely believe his first love will spend a few weeks at the sanctuary.
Can Erin and Mike span the years since they have seen each other or do they, like many of the rescued animals, have wounds that run too deep to trust and love again? 

Excerpt:
Erin heard the sound that escaped from Mike’s mouth, even with his lips sealed over hers. She attempted a step back, but the wooden fence, and Mike’s body, ensnared her. So did the feelings which resurrected. The only man who had kissed her in more than twenty-five years had been Daniel. He hasn’t even been gone two years and look at yourself, Erin’s brain raged. She pulled her mouth from Mike’s. Immediately warmth drained from her. She placed her hands on Mike’s brawny shoulders.
          “I’m sorry, Erin,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have done that. I just … I’m just so attracted to you and seeing you here, so filled with compassion and grace, your loveliness just shines, and I’m drawn to you like I haven’t been to anyone since I lost Elizabeth.”
          “You’re so sweet, Mike, I just don’t know what to say. Except I …” Her hands dropped to her sides. “Daniel’s been gone less than two years. I’m still processing ...”
          “I completely understand. That’s why I’m apologizing.”
          He backtracked toward the gate and held it open for her. “Here, let’s step out and talk for a bit.”
          Erin gave one more pat to Hope before stepping out of the enclosure. She walked to a whining Winston, untied the dog’s leash from the post, and picked him up into her arms. She carried him through the open barn door and stopped near the corral. Erin gazed at the sky, filled with twinkling stars. A full moon overhead shone like the sun upon the landscape, topping the nearby mountains with golden glitter. Shadows of pine trees fell upon the landscape. The quiet of the night enveloped her and the attraction toward Mike danced within the landscape and entangled within her heart, beckoning her to join subtle music. Erin sighed. She sensed his presence beside her.
          “Beautiful night,” he whispered.
          “Yes, it is,” she responded.
          Erin set Winston near her feet and turned to Mike. “I know we have feelings for each other, and we share a common tragedy. I’m just not sure I’m ready to leave Daniel’s memory behind right now.”
          Mike placed gentle hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I do understand, Erin, believe me. I don’t want you to feel you’re betraying Daniel nor am I asking you to forget him. The two of you shared many years together; Elizabeth and I did, too. I won’t ever forget her. Just as I needed time to accept her passing, you need time to accept Daniel’s passing. I guess what I want you to know is … I loved you when we were in high school. I missed you every day those first few years, and I never forgot you. I let you go because I knew we were both young, but I really didn’t want to let you go.”
          “Why didn’t you tell me then how you felt?”
          He sighed and glanced to the sky before returning his gaze to her face. “I tried. I did ask you to come to Seattle, if you remember.”
She nodded. “I remember. But all you said was you wanted me to come to Seattle; you didn’t say why or that you loved me.”
“I wanted to, but I listened to my dad and my best friend and kept my feelings bottled up. I focused on my schooling and my career. I made a mistake by not being truthful about loving you. I didn’t know what happened to you, where you were, but I looked for you at our fifth high school reunion. I thought if I saw you there, I could tell you how I felt and maybe we could try again. But you weren’t there.”
She shook her head. “I was planning my wedding then and since I had only attended high school that one year, I didn’t have the inclination to go.” She stared into his eyes. “I actually thought I’d hear from you that first year of college. I did wait, Mike, but by my sophomore year, I figured you weren’t interested after all, and I moved on.”
“To Daniel.”
She shook her head. “Not at first, but I began dating. I met Daniel the start of spring semester. By summer, after meeting each other’s families, we were serious. I figured you had moved on, too.”
He nodded. “I dated a bit, but my feelings for you didn’t subside. I didn’t try to find you because … well, my parents kept pushing me to do well in school and get into vet school and launch my career. I regret listening to them, and not my heart.”
He placed his hands on her face and looked deeply into her eyes. “I still love you, Erin, and now that we’ve reconnected, I want you to know I’m here for you. Whenever you feel ready, I’ll be here. We can stay in touch, visit each other now and then, and see what happens. Maybe you’ll come to love me, maybe you won’t. I’m okay with that. I’m not going anywhere. But, if nothing else, you can know you have a good friend, even a special companion if you want. I’m here.”
Her eyes searched his, and she saw honesty and integrity … and love. She lay her head on his shoulder and felt him wrap his arm around her waist.

Author Bio:
Gayle M. Irwin is an award-winning author and freelance writer, being recognized by Wyoming Writers, Inc., and the Wyoming Press Association for several of her works. She is a contributor to seven Chicken Soup for the Soul books and the author of many inspirational pet books and stories for both children and adults. Her first novel, a clean, contemporary pet rescue romance titled Rescue Road, released November 8, 2019; the second book in that series she calls Pet Rescue Romance is titled Finding Love at Compassion Ranch – the book released in May 2020. Gayle subtly weaves important life lessons within the lines and pages of her stories, including the importance of pet rescue and adoption. An animal advocate, she volunteers for various dog rescue and humane society organizations and donates a percentage of all book sales to such groups. Gayle resides in Wyoming with her husband and their adopted animals. Learn more about the author, her writing endeavors, including a weekly blog, and her pets, and receive free stories and resources by visiting her website: www.gaylemirwinauthor.com.

Social Media Links:
Website:

Author Facebook page:

Amazon Author page: 

Twitter:
@wyoauthor1

Pinterest: