Emma & The Restoration of a Soldier

By Susan Hart

Emma & The Restoration of a Soldier: A woman with one hand goes west to a mail ordered husband that her father has arranged for her before he died. On the train she meets up with a group of Civil War injured soldiers and one special young man who becomes a friend. However, when she meets her husband for the first time he runs out as he looks at her beautifully carved hand replacement and she believes that she may never see him again. She starts a workshop where she and a craftsman build hands and legs for people in town who have lost limbs from the war or accidents. Her reputation spreads until one day, her husband shows up unexpectedly at her workshop while she is fitting a limb for her soldier friend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Hart
• Release date: Sep 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311283504

Susan Hart

I was born in England, but have lived in Southern California for many years. I m now retired and live in the Pacific NW in a little seaside city amongst the giant redwoods and wonderful harbor, almost at the Oregon border. My husband and I have one cat, called Midnight and she is featured in two of my latest Sci-Fi short stories. I love Science Fiction, animals, and trying to help others. I publish under Doreen Milstead as well as my own name. My photo was taken right before the coronation of QE II in the UK.

Book preview

Emma & The Restoration of a Soldier

By

Susan Hart

Copyright 2019 Susan Hart

Synopsis: Emma & The Restoration of a Soldier. A woman with one hand goes west to a mail ordered husband that her father has arranged for her before he died. On the train she meets up with a group of Civil War injured soldiers and one special young man who becomes a friend. However, when she meets her husband for the first time he runs out as he looks at her beautifully carved hand replacement and she believes that she may never see him again. She starts a workshop where she and a craftsman build hands and legs for people in town who have lost limbs from the war or accidents. Her reputation spreads until one day, her husband shows up unexpectedly at her workshop while she is fitting a limb for her soldier friend.

Emma sat on the hard seat with a straight back and feet placed neatly side-by-side. For hours, she had held the same position without moving. Her back and shoulders protested with a throbbing ache but she refused to give in to the weakness. She stared out the window but the passing landscape held no interest for her. How could it, when the world had ended?

How could he do this to her? After all his words of loving her and taking care of her, this is his solution.

Scalding tears hovered on the verge of falling. What were tears if not just another weakness? Emma was not weak and she held them back by sheer force of will. He had betrayed her by sending her away, and then betrayed her again by dying.

A single tear slipped from her control and burned its way down her cheek to splash on the single sheet of yellow paper in her hand. She wiped the traitorous drop away without looking at it. She didn’t need to. The words seared on her heart.

Emmaline,

Father is dead. No need to come back, he is buried and you will get nothing from us. I don’t know how much he gave you but no doubt, it is more than you deserve. Don’t come back.

Robert

No mention of love, or shared sorrow there, but Emma had always known that her brother held no affection for her. He always concealed his disgust when father was around, but when they were alone, Robert’s torments had made her life a misery. He was the one reason she had agreed to this ridiculous situation.

Life at home had never been easy, but it was better when it was just father and her. Then Robert and his new wife had moved in to care for father in his illness and changed everything. Father had been too weak to resist her brother’s manipulation.

Father had agreed that Emma should go find a new life. He said he had written a letter that would make things easier for her. He said it was a good thing and handed her a paper to sign. Then he had said he had found her a husband.

A husband, Mr. Hugh Clarke. A man she had never seen, never spoken to, had never even heard of. What if she didn’t like him? What if . . .?

Emma’s right hand tightened around her left, but there was no response. There never had been, there never will be. Beneath the soft silk of her glove lay the hard weight of wood. Her father’s last gift to her. Carved of rosewood and polished smooth as glass, the replacement hand