Moonstruck: A Pair of Historical Romances

By Vanessa Carvo

The Shy Woman From Virginia & The Man With A Secret From North Dakota - A very shy woman from West Virginia leaves her home to head west to a man she’s never met, who lives in a small sod house in North Dakota. He tries to hold off telling her about his past, until someone from that dark past shows up to haunt him.

Abby Tames Two Mustangs: A Man & His Horse - When Abby saved a man who fell from his horse, little did she know as she looked into his gray eyes, that his past would hold a secret which almost drove them apart; from idle gossip and his lack of faith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365280481

Book preview

Moonstruck: A Pair of Historical Romances

Moonstruck: A Pair of Historical Romances

By

Vanessa Carvo

Copyright 2016 Quietly Blessed & Loved Press

The Shy Woman From Virginia & The Man With A Secret From North Dakota

Synopsis: The Shy Woman From Virginia & The Man With A Secret From North Dakota - A very shy woman from West Virginia leaves her home to head west to a man she’s never met, who lives in a small sod house in North Dakota. He tries to hold off telling her about his past, until someone from that dark past shows up to haunt him.

Belle Haven, Virginia

June, 1871

They called her Mouse. Unkind though it was, it seemed fitting to Jacqueline Abbott that people thought she was a mouse. Quiet, unobtrusive -- that was her. She was so shy, someone had once thought her father beat her, though he was the best man she knew.

Jacqueline stood in the mercantile, listening to two ladies gossiping about her while they sorted through the fabrics that slid smoothly between their hands.

You know, she’s never once had a suitor, said one woman to the other.

So what if she’d never had a suitor? A man was not the only thing that could make a woman happy.

Yes, but did you also hear what she and her father have set up?

No, what?

The voices were far too eager to spread rumors. Jacqueline would never say something bad about someone behind their back. Of course, she would also never say anything to someone’s face.

Well, I heard that Mr. Abbott answered an ad from North Dakota. I heard the man’s a farmer named Flynn Locksley. For some reason, the name sounds familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.

Jacqueline couldn’t either, though it rang a bell. She picked up the bottle of kerosene for her father and set it on the counter. Mr. Frankly smiled and she handed him the money. As Jacqueline walked home, she thought about what she and her father had set up.

On her twenty-second birthday two months ago, her father had told her that he’d been praying about something. That something turned out to be shipping his only child to North Dakota to marry a man she didn’t know. She could hardly handle meeting people normally. How on God’s green earth was she going to do this?

Killdeer North Dakota

Flynn Locksley felt his stomach turn over as he looked at the two papers on the table. One was a letter from Ms. Abbott. The other was a wanted notice. He thought all of this was over years ago. As it turned out, rumors fueled a lie like kerosene to a lamp. He pushed a hand through his already messy hair and closed his eyes.

When he was seventeen, he would have prayed. Not now. He couldn’t even be sure there was a God, let alone the he cared about a criminal. Flynn balled up the wanted notice and threw it across the room. What was he going to do?

Belle Haven Virginia

I know you’re worried, love, but I would never send you somewhere I thought you’d be unhappy.

Jacqueline smiled at her father. He’d left England years ago because he’d fallen in love with a Yankee girl from New York. He understood to some degree, how this would be.

I know, Papa. I’d just hoped that when I married, it would be for love.

Mr. Abbott let out a cough, covering his mouth with a handkerchief. He’d been doing poorly since Jacqueline was five. Her mother and father didn’t have her until they were almost fifty and Jacqueline had taken her mother’s life at birth. Mr. Abbott had been worrying for more than seven years about what would happen when he went to be with Jesus. Jacqueline had always just tried to ignore it.

You’ll come to love Mr. Locksley. I know it. Most women don’t even get to go on an adventure to fall in love. They usually just sit around and knit socks.

Jacqueline giggled, despite the heaviness of having to leave her father.

I love you Papa, she said, unaware of the way her quiet voice sounded like her mother’s.

Jacqueline picked up a pair of her father’s trousers to hang on the line, shaking them out in the breeze. There were already a dozen articles of clothing flapping in the wind and casting shadows on the grassy earth. A vague sadness had hung over her head for the past few days. Not much longer, and she would be on a train, rushing towards her future. Her father said it was an adventure and a change of pace.

She said it was dangerous. There were Indians. Maybe they were nice, but what if they just didn’t like her? Jacqueline picked up the now empty basket and walked into the house, mousy brown hair blowing in her face.

God, help me trust You in this, she whispered, closing the creaking door behind her.

At Sunday service, Jacqueline sat in the middle pew beside her father. She always preferred the back row, but he always insisted she needed to sit amongst the others. She wasn’t convinced. People were never as great as you’d think.

God saw the needs of the Israelites as they traveled. He fed them, watered them. Never was there a people more cared for than those of the Lord our God. He sees us, even when we don’t see ourselves.

Jacqueline stared at her hands, clenched tightly on her Bible. Did God see her? Would he care for her? Something in her heart told her he would. God would never abandon her.

After the service, Jacqueline sat at the table in her father’s kitchen, eating Sunday dinner for the last time. She didn’t speak, though this was the norm.

Jacqueline, her father said.

She looked at him across the table, smiling slightly.

I know you are given to worry, but you’ll be fine. How could Mr. Locksley not love you instantly?

Jacqueline smiled as her father patted her hand.

Besides, you have God on your side.

Jacqueline packed her clothing away in the small trunk, heart hammering. Tomorrow was the day. She would leave Belle Haven and never return. She’d likely never see her father again. Tears dripped off her face, darkening the fabric of the blue skirt in her hands. She wiped her face and set the skirt in the trunk. She sat down on the bed, burying her face in her hands.

The idea of speaking to any of the men she already knew was bad enough, but marrying Flynn Locksley? Every time she spoke to a person, her palms got damp and her voice got stuck in her throat. She wondered what it would be like to have someone love her, though. To have someone who wants to be with you even when your