Simply Beautiful

By Doreen Milstead

The Overweight Fish Seller From Maine - An overweight woman from Maine is tired of running her father’s fish selling shop and spending her days hacking off fish heads, so she decides to take a chance on love and travels to California and a rancher with three children. It’s an uphill battle to win over his son, and the rancher himself, who she suspects is not pleased with her excess weight or outward appearance.

The Woman With The Divided Face - A woman has known only the circus sideshow her whole life, because her parents sold her to the owners when she was three years old. Half her face is white and half black, and everyone outside of her circus family shuns her. Finally free from debt, she makes her way as a mail order bride to the American West, horrified that the rancher who is to wed her will run from her in shock.

Living In A Swamp With Her Cajun Fisherman - A Gaelic woman decides to head for America from Ireland after finding a mail ordered husband. Little did she know how she and a Cajun fisherman in New Orleans would get along, despite language and cultural differences, and that his ancient fishing boat that was their only means for making a living.

Unchaining My Love - Facing a hard task back east to get her doctor’s practice started, a woman heads for the west with great optimism, and finds so much more than a medical career.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Hart
• Release date: Jan 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370928828

Book preview

Simply Beautiful

By

Doreen Milstead

Copyright 2017 Susan Hart

Cover photos copyright: bst2012 / 123RF Stock Photo AND diomedes66 / 123RF Stock Photo

The Overweight Fish Seller From Maine

The Woman With The Divided Face

Living In A Swamp With Her Cajun Fisherman

Unchaining My Love

The Overweight Fish Seller From Maine

Synopsis: The Overweight Fish Seller From Maine - An overweight woman from Maine is tired of running her father’s fish selling shop and spending her days hacking off fish heads, so she decides to take a chance on love and travels to California and a rancher with three children. It’s an uphill battle to win over his son, and the rancher himself, who she suspects is not pleased with her excess weight or outward appearance.

She reached for her cleaver as she kept her eye on him. Her other hand gripped firmly at the base of his neck as she made no aim, just a whack, and off with his head. Adelaide Claudette Fisher was born just that; the daughter of a fisherman. Born and raised Portland, Maine, she spent most of her time in her father’s fish market.

The youngest of four children, Addy was the only one left home to help him with the shop. Her brothers Jack and Marty ran her father’s fishing boat and were usually gone and her sister Martha had married and moved to New Hampshire years ago. It was just Addy and Daddy these days.

The bustling streets of Portland proved to be a place of excitement, with their shiny horse drawn carriages speeding about and the clack of children’s toys as they ran to and fro. Addy smiled as she watched the children romp, scurrying in their homemade clothing and tattered shoes. The winter of 1880 had been hard on the fishing industry and that tale was well told by the citizens of Portland. The struggles that the town faced even now, a whole year later, were still evident but the people made the best of it with their strong sense of community and family.

Addy was just about done cleaning the day’s small haul when she looked up from her chopping block and bucket of guts to see Tucker Thorton walking her way. He was a handsome man with sun kissed hair and a tanned face and she always noticed how her heart gave a little flutter when he was near.

She had dreamed of falling in love with a man like Tucker. He was a good man with Christian values and, like herself, he was also twenty-one and unmarried. She had always seen this as a sign of sorts, as if they were meant to be together but the timing was just never right. To be a woman in your twenties and no prospect of a husband or family was disheartening, but Addy wasn’t going to let that bring her down. She was strong, smart and funny and believed that whatever was in store for her had already been provided, she just needed to be patient and wait.

That was the thing, though. She was tired of waiting. She felt that she had too much love in her to waste in a fish shack, cutting heads off albacore all day. She desired a husband to kiss at night and share her deepest thoughts and feelings. She wanted a child of her own who she could cradle and keep safe from harm, love and teach the love that she received from her own parents.

For now, though…she had her fish. Whack!

Hi there, Addy he said as he approached. She wiped her hands on her apron and spoke in return.

Morning, Mr. Thorton. She was always so cheerful and a smile was naturally present on her face at all times. How can I help you this fine morning? She knew she shouldn’t imagine herself in his arms but she couldn’t help it.

Tucker Thorton was the most eligible bachelor in town and she couldn’t help but wonder why he was still unattached, but she didn’t have time to waste on such things. Since Daddy had gotten sick, he depended on her to run the market, so she couldn’t be swept away in idle fantasy.

Well, I’m planning a get together. A celebration, if you will, and I wanted to see if you had any lobster or swordfish. I’m after a variety of fish but I really like the sword.

He fiddled with his cuff and looked up to her expectantly. "I have over fifty pounds of sword and I’m waiting on the Sea Maiden to return with my lobsters. Since my brothers took off on this last job, I’ve been making do with what I can get from the Hawkins when they take out theMaiden.

They should be back this evening or sometime in the morning. They’ve been gone pert’ near a week. Bending down to grab the bucket of guts, she gave her reply as she continued her duties, taking the fish remains and tossing them into the rising tide below her feet from her position near the edge of the pier.

She then dropped the bucket back in its place and heaved the large basket of fish off the ground next to its place near the chopping block. She hoisted it to her hip then wiped her brow on the sleeve of her dress. She motioned towards the small shed that acted as her father’s market.

It was wooden frame and barely 14x14 but it served its purpose well, for he had built the small establishment over twenty years ago. Sure, he had mended a board here and fixed the roof there but the shanty of a building stood its own against many of the rough storms that managed to find its way to Maine.

Long as you have a good foundation, missy. That’s the secret. That frame can withstand anything. That heartwood, you see? Strong. Stable. You can trust it. Always trust the heart of something, girl. Not what it looks like. My old crawl of a shop will still be standing when everything turns to brick. You’ll see.

Her father’s words rang in her ears now as she ducks past a loose board that has managed to fall directly in the flow of traffic from the front door to the ice bin. She plopped the basket of fish on the floor and grabbed the first one and threw it onto the ice, then turned to Tucker Thorton, who stood outside the door.

She paused and wiped her hands on her apron, folded her arms and smiled. Something else I can do for you, Mr. Thorton? She knew it was childish to think that possibly he was trying to muster the courage to ask her to be his date for his gala but she allowed herself to think it anyway. She bit her lip and looked to him with a hopeful glance.

My party. You see, I was wondering… she stood straight and looked to him more attentively, half saying I’d love to before he could even finish his sentence. If you by chance, cater? I mean, I have a few hired hands who make a mean tilapia but I don’t know if I trust them with my engagement party and fifty pounds of swordfish.

She felt her face drop almost as much as her heart, so she feigned a smile and politely lied, saying that she was pert’ near useless in the kitchen. As he bid her good day, she returned to the task of icing today’s haul. Engagement party. Well, at least she hadn’t opened her big mouth and stuck her foot right into it.

Finishing up on the ice, she turned to the counter to grab some newspapers so she could wrap up a small albacore, which was still rather large, to take home to her father. When she laid out the paper, an advertisement in the bottom left-hand corner caught her eye. "Are you looking for love?

Dreaming about finding Mr. Right? Place an ad with us and cast your net a little wider. The office for the paper was only a few blocks out of her way home. Maybe she would stop in and check the details on her way home.

She placed the page with the ad aside and grabbed the next to wrap tonight’s supper. Addy finished her final chores and noticed rain clouds coming in, so she grabbed her fish and a few more items from and tossed them into the basket of her bicycle and started walking it up the wharf.

Thunder rumbled and she trotted best she could up the slat-board walkway, finally reaching the end and she headed towards the road. Just as she sat her plump rump on the seat, fat raindrops began to fall on her face. She headed towards her house, which was only a mile away, and hopefully she could make it home before the bottom fell completely out all around her. Upon arrival, Addy walked her bicycle up the porch steps and leaned it against the railing.

She wiped her face, which was covered in her honey brown and terribly matted hair. Swiping the strands from her forehead, she shook the excess rain from her hands and reached to grab the fish from the basket. Entering the small home, she saw her father to her left, sitting in his chair watching the rain from the small window near his head.

There’s my girl. How was the haul? Did Johnny Hawkins and his boys bring in the claw-daddies yet? He coughed and held a handkerchief to his mouth. She could see that his fits were getting worse, for the handkerchief was spattered with blood again. For weeks his coughs would produce small amounts of blood but then seemed to subside after a few days but the last few days the bleeding was consistent.

Hawkins hasn’t made it back, Daddy. It looks like this rain may keep them out another day. We’ll be fine. Don’t worry.

Claude Fisher coughed and covered his mouth again and when he regained composure, said, "I do worry, girl. I worry about what’s going to happen to you when I’m gone. This is no place for a lady. I should have done better by you and bought you dresses and ribbons and such. I raised you like I did your brothers.

Your sister, God love her, that girl hit the ground running with a doll baby in her hand. Not you, though. Not my Addy. His coughing fits were getting worse by the day and she wished that he would go see Doc Allen, but he wouldn’t go. He would say they can’t afford it and there’s not much you can do for a dying old coot anyway.

Addy just sighed, reached for the water dipper and refilled his cup.

Calico was a quiet mining town nestled in the southern region of California and Levi Granger owned a small ranch just on the outskirts. The town itself was a bit rough for a man like himself, a widower with three children and responsible paying party to two hired hands; he tried to avoid it as much as possible.

He had a couple hundred head of cattle to provide adequate work and food for his family, as well as a few milk cows and goats to make cheese and butter. A small coopbeside the barn housed the few chickens needed to produce his eggs and meat and on the backside of the coop he had built a small pigpen, which contained three fat potbellies. He had an acre set aside for a garden but had yet to find the time to turn the ground and since last summer proved to be brutal, he wondered if his well could sustain it along with the livestock.

A few orange trees grew around the property, including a small grove to the east as well as a lemon tree scattered here and there, the fruit of which proved quite nice with a cup of mint tea. Each of his children were expected to tend and care for the animals, given age appropriate chores around the ranch.

The oldest, Roy, a rowdy twelve year old with his father’s brown hair and mother’s blue eyes, was in charge of the personal horses and everything that job contained. He fed them twice a day, kept water drawn for them, kept them shod and groomed and had even broken a wild mustang or two. The herd, on the other hand, which could be as large as 100 or as low as 20, was taken care of by two hands that had helped Levi since he took over the place a few years ago when they moved here from Texas.

He, his wife and her parents, their young son and a dog named Pete set out for their claim to riches after James, his father in law, insisted that a man could make his way in California. No more working for Lubbock Cattle and Packing. No more breaking his back all day so another man could get rich.

James Wilford had been working for the local cattleman, Big Don Don Campbell, since he was a teenager and though he had managed to provide for his family, he always dreamed of what could be gained in a place like California.

It was still so wild and free, full of possibility and now that his daughter was grown, he had no reason to stay in Lubbock. He convinced his wife and then eventually his daughter’s husband, a local cowboy and cattle hand who worked as hard as he played, to pack up and move the family west, to the land of wishes and dreams.

Looking back now, Levi Granger wondered if his family wouldn’t have been better off staying in Texas. There, where the work was steady and he could make a side dollar in the saloon if he needed to without the worry of being shot afterwards. Texas, where the whiskey flows like The Mighty Mississippi. Texas. Where they have a doctor in town instead of forty miles away and could be reached in case of a child-birthing emergency.

He had wondered for the last three years if it was his decision to move west that had cost him his wife and infant son. He had often wondered if boarding that train had sealed his fate to this dusty, desert oasis he called home.

Lucy hadn’t wanted to come. She wanted to stay and raise Roy, who was barely two at the time, in the home he had purchased when they married but he