A New Life

By Maggie Atwell Lovern

Leslie Walker has had it tough, but now her life is finally where she wants it to be. When Leslie and her daughter move to the rural town of Grahams Village, she meets the McBride family. When she meets Rick McBride her view on her life, on God, and the church are suddenly challenged. The hurt and shame of years gone by are suddenly brought to the surface and exposed. Is her life really what she wants it to be?

Leslie must learn how to forgive not only those who have wronged her, but herself as well. Can she subject her daughter to the pain she felt? Can she trust Rick McBride? Can she really forgive her mother after all these years? Her journey takes her from the shame of a childhood indiscretion to a whole new life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781449715007

Maggie Atwell Lovern

Maggie Lovern is a wife and mother of three; she currently lives in southwest Virginia. Growing up in the household with two pastors brought her up close and personal with many different kinds of people and many different kinds of faith. After becoming an avid reader of Christian fiction, Maggie decided to try her hand at it, using her experiences of growing up.

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Copyright © 2011 Maggie Atwell Lovern

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-1499-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1501-4 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1500-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011925638

Printed in the United States of America

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/14/2011

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Epilogue

To my husband Nathan, who believes in me.

Chapter 1

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The faded denim shorts hung loosely around Leslie’s hips as she climbed out from behind the wheel of her old maroon Hyundai Elantra. The shorts were held in place by a red bandana pulled snugly around her waste. A loose T-shirt with some kind of faded logo was tied to fit just above the waist. She raised her sunglasses up above her forehead pushing her overlong red bangs out of her way and looked with approval on the site in front of her. A small girl around ten years old climbed out the other side of the car and giggled with glee as she jumped out. She too wore an old pair of faded cut off jeans and a small pink tank top. She brushed a stray strand of hair that had fell from her blond pony tail out of her face as she rushed toward the front stairs of the old house in front of them. She paused only a moment to look at her mother with startlingly blue eyes for approval before bounding in the front door. The women watched with a smile as the bounded into the house with a slam of the screen door. A crunch of gravel intruded on the silence of the day, and grabbed the women’s attention. Pulling the sunglasses back down Leslie turned to see a stylish silver Cadillac pulling in behind her car. She quickly checked the bun at the back of her head to see if it were holding all the unruly red hair at bay.

She has quite a lot of energy doesn’t she? A smilingly women in her mid forties called out from the open window.

That’s why this is the perfect place for her. Leslie strode confidently up to the woman’s car. What can I do for you Ms. Crampton I thought that all the papers were signed.

Oh everything’s just fine. The older lady assured her. I was just making sure that you got here all right. She looked around the front yard and then swung her head to give Leslie a quizzical stare. Have your other things not arrived yet?

We are roughing it tonight. She smiled. Jenny couldn’t wait for tomorrow when the moving vans arrive so we checked out of our hotel and gathered up our sleeping bags and came on over.

Look Mom! An excited voice called from above them. Leslie looked up, but couldn’t see her daughter for the large Maple that stood in front of the house. Walking under the tree for a better view and lifting the sunglasses she could see Jenny hanging out one of the windows.

Look Mom! She repeated. I found my room. It has its very own closet and two huge windows. And guess what? She looked down at her mother excitedly. All I can see is trees for miles and miles.

It’s nothing like the city is it. Ms. Crampton had exited her car and was now standing beside Leslie.

Nope. Jenny grinned. It’s like TV, She swung around and took a deep breath. I can be Anne of Green Gables. She suddenly leaned out over the window seal with a look of sheer excitement. I have a great idea Mom. She ran from the window and in a moment Leslie could hear her banging down the steps. She obviously hadn’t noticed the curved and rounded banisters yet.

When Leslie had first seen this house the first thing she had liked about it was those banisters that reminded her of her grandmother’s house in Charleston. Just right for sliding down. The screen door and huge front porch had been another selling point. She heard the screen door bang now as she had imagined that it would as her daughter plunged out the front door.

Oh, Mom, we are going to have so much fun this summer. Jenny hugged her mother with happiness. We can wade in the creek, pick apples, and pick berries. She looked over at the older women by her mother’s side. You know what? She asked rhetorically. I‘ve never waded in a creek before. With this Jenny raced around the corner of the house.

Be careful and watch for snakes? Leslie called to her. Don’t go too far.

Don’t worry Mom.

Leslie smiled as she once again brought the sunglasses down over her eyes and glanced at the women beside her. Ms. Crampton stood smiling back at her.

As you can see we’ll be fine. Leslie turned to the car to get several things out of the back seat. We have sleeping bags and pillows and I’ve even brought a few things down so I can finish painting.

You have quite a job ahead of you. Ms. Crampton looked up at the house. It had a fresh coat of paint on the old boards, and several new pieces had been added. But I must say so far you’ve done quite a good job already.

Leslie looked proudly over her shoulder at the house. Over the last three months she had came down on the weekends when Jenny was visiting with her father and worked little by little on her house. The very thought of owning her own house was energy enough for her to get the house in top shape so that she and Jenny could move in this summer when she was transferred to the store here in Grahams Village. She had used what money she had left from her inheritance from her grandmother to hire what contractors she needed to get the house back together, but any price would have been fine just to get her and Jenny out of the crowded trailer parks and overstuffed apartment buildings of the city.

There is still a lot of work to do. Leslie smiled at the women. But it will be beautiful when I get done.

Well I really must go. Ms. Crampton turned to go around Leslie’s car.

You don’t have a phone yet, do you?

No they come on Monday to put in the new jacks, but I have my cell, and it actually has a signal. She held the phone up in the air. Or it did. She heard the other women laugh.

Well if you need anything, Ms. Crampton offered, Please don’t hesitate and come see me. I am just over the hill. Out to the end of your road, and take a left and when you go over the hill we are the farmhouse with the rooster.

What? Leslie questioned. Don’t a lot of the farms around here have chickens?

Oh my yes. The women laughed. I mean it has a big weathervane that looks like a rooster on top. It’s the only one like it in the county.

Oh!

I’ll see you soon I hope.

Thanks Ms. Crampton. Leslie bent to pick up the box of pots and pans that lay in the back seat of the car. We really do appreciate it.

As she got in the car and started the engine she peered once more out at the house. It really is all coming together isn’t it. With that she drove away.

Yes it was all about to come together after ten long years of struggling Leslie would finally have something of her own. It seemed like it had taken her forever to just get this far. At 27 Leslie felt much older. She had been through so much that she sometimes felt that it was all just a bad dream, and that she would wake up and be at home in her old room under her pale blue canopy. Sometimes she imaged once again being surrounded by her teddy bears, and her biggest worry being her night-light going out.

When she thought of Jenny, however, it all seemed worthwhile somehow. All these thoughts and more poured into her head as she carried box after box into her new kitchen. Her grandmother would be proud she thought of the way her life was going to turn out after all. She looked down at her newly installed stove and then up at her newly built cabinets and began to cry.

She stood for a minute in the doorway of the kitchen and just let the tears run down her cheeks. Who would have ever thought seven years ago that she would be doing so well. Memories came flooding in unbidden as they seemed to be doing often these days. Leslie shook her head to shake away the disturbing thoughts, and continued about her work.

When all the boxes were in she started to unpack. It would be their first night in their new home and she wanted to have something special. She started to make her homemade pizza. She knew Jenny would love it when she found out. It wouldn’t be long before Jenny would be a teenager and nights like this would be things of the past. The sun was just starting to fall behind the trees when Leslie finally called for Jenny out the back door. It too was a screen door and she could imagine hearing it bang now as it would when Jenny would run in one door and out the other. She had often dreamed of having a home like this, and now she did, but somehow even though she was excited and happy it didn’t seem complete.

Leslie finished the final touches to her dinner and finished setting up the TV in the still