New Beginnings: Aspen Falls, #1

By ELLEN ANDERSON and Katie Wyatt

Aspen Falls 1870's

Tucked into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado Territory, is the home of the Hart family, founders of the growing town. Rachael, the oldest daughter and her siblings have grown up here and hope someday to achieve their goals of love and purpose.

In spite of the idyllic setting, many of the inhabitants of the close-knit community must overcome challenges in their personal and professional lives.

Rachael Hart must face an unforeseeable tragedy that nearly crushes her spirit.

Benjamin Hart wants nothing more than to explore the world beyond Aspen Falls, while his father wants him to take over the family's sawmill. Jason, the youngest son, wants to take over the business and expand it, but his father hasn't even considered that.

Miriam, the youngest Hart daughter, the tomboy, flouting convention and prompting her mother's apoplectic fits.

Conflicts, misunderstandings, and disappointments trigger obstacles for Millicent Benson, the baker's daughter to Sheriff Clay Buford, an emotionally wounded veteran of the War Between the States.

Doc Hemmings' skills are put to the test when a mysterious illness reaches Aspen Falls.

Susan Rogers faces obstacles as she tries to build a schoolhouse for the burgeoning town.

The inhabitants of Aspen Falls are used to struggles and hardships, but courage is not in short supply in the community, prompting every one of its residents to reach for – and fight for – their future.

Historical western romance short story series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Royce Cardiff Publishing House
• Release date: Mar 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386434726

Book preview

The Anniversary

Aspen Falls, Colorado Territory: April 1871

Rachael Hart and her best friend Susan Rogers hurried to one of their favorite spots just on the outskirts of Aspen Falls. The sun had just peeked over the eastern horizon, bathing the mountains rising nearby in a pinkish-purple glow. What a glorious —

Oh! she gasped as she stumbled, failing to catch her balance. She landed hard on her hands and knees, startled as a sharp pain jolted through her body.

Rachael! Susan exclaimed. Here, let me help you up.

Her friend reached down to grab an uplifted arm and helped her to her feet. It was only a minor accident, but one that caused a frisson of fear to crawl up her spine. She attempted a laugh. I stepped on the hem of my skirt, she said, brushing the dirt from it, avoiding her friend's concerned gaze.

She hadn't tripped over her skirt. I'm not ordinarily so clumsy!

That's the second time this week, Susan frowned. What has you so distracted?

What indeed. Rachael tamped down rising anxiety that surged upward, upsetting her stomach and making it difficult to swallow. She looked toward her friend, smiling even though she wanted to cry. Her eyes. They weren't working right. Her vision was foggy again, and her peripheral vision was compromised. She surmised it was just too much eye strain, what with all the reading and sewing by the small kerosene lamp in her bedroom that she'd been doing lately.

Is it the Founders’ Day celebration?

Rachael latched onto that. Yes, she sighed. It has been a flurry of planning this week.

Susan and Rachael sat down on a slope overlooking the falls that gave their small, burgeoning town its name, reveling in the crisp, early morning spring air. This morning, instead of the usual sense of calm the vista brought, her heart thudded with fear. Was the eyestrain temporary or could it get worse? She couldn't ignore it much longer. She'd managed to keep her worries to herself for the past couple of months, but if her vision continued to get worse, she would have to tell her parents. They would insist she see Doc Hemmings, and that cost money.

What are you planning to wear for the Founders’ Day celebration?

Rachael turned to her friend. Her vision was better now, clearer. She breathed an inward sigh of relief. Eye strain. That's all it was.

The Founders’ Day anniversary celebration referred to the founding of Aspen Falls by her German immigrant parents nearly twenty-five years ago. Her mother had been on American soil for all of two days before she gave birth to Rachael, the oldest of four siblings, in 1847. Her parents, Abner and Abigail Hart, had emigrated from Germany along with a myriad of other political and religious refugees.

She returned her gaze to the falls only a quarter of a mile away, mesmerized by their beauty. It wasn't a huge fall, starting at roughly twelve feet across. The water fell gracefully over a large stone precipice called Preacher's Pulpit, growing wider in the middle due to a bulge of rocks in the sheer slope below. There, the water looked like the folded wings of an angel before the water dropped on two sides of that bulge outcropping of slick stone to fall to