The Twin's Journey Home: The Continuing Journey Series

By W. Lenore Mobley

Kimberly Cleland and her twin brother, Kelly, begin their journey home only to become entangled in a murder that was committed while they are in the train. Does the young boy they rescue from being put off the train figure in this incident? They promised to help him find his father as soon as they reach their parents ranch in Idaho. At their home ranch, the twins find that their father has been shot. With the help of their visiting friends Emmalica and Nathan, they became entangled in these mysteries and are surprised of who helps them and who betrays them. Dangerous rustlers, a stampede of cattle, getting lost in a storm, and suspicious identities are only few of the trials these young people are embroiled with in the summer. With Gods help, they work to begin a new life in Idaho.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496972095

W. Lenore Mobley

Lenore has enjoyed the company of a good horse for more than sixty years. She rides on the trails in the Sawtooth Mountains with her husband and a group of friends in the Thursday Sage Riders Club. She is a native of Idaho and is a delegate for the Idaho Horse Council. Besides writing for several magazines and newspapers, Lenore has authored six Western books, winning several awards. Her first book, a Western romance, has two stories in it. The first titled The Dangerous Journey, and the second titled The Lost Journey, which in 2006 won her Writer of the Year in Idaho. Her third and fourth books, Star Dancers Summer Journey and The Twin's Journey Home, are sequels. Her nonfiction book is titled Enjoy the Journey, which in 2012 was awarded second place as book of the year by the Idaho Writers League. It is a book full of pictures and memoirs as told to Lenore by sixty-five horse-loving women across the Snake River Plain. She also has authored a children's book entitled Calypso, Dark Horse. Lenore enjoys writing about Idaho, its horses, people, place, and history.

Book preview

Prologue

The abduction somewhere in Canada; January, 1910

The sun set behind a skyline of railroad barns as Dr. Lewis Notis, aboard the south bound train, watched the town where he had been working disappear from his view.

"I will be back in Missouri in three days –home, with Kimberly, he thought leaning back in the seat to relax for the first time in months. Too many surgeries in a row," he muttered as he rested against the softness of the cushion. He closed his eyes and let his mind drift.

The next day while waiting for his meal, his dark and commanding eyes watched the train come into the hills that divided the states. His food arrived and he attacked it with fervor.

The train had just made a short stop in a small town and was picking up speed when the dinning car door banged open and three men burst inside causing everyone in the room to look up. One of them was pointing a gun at the people seated at their tables.

Everybody put your hands up, one of the intruders shouted startling the passengers at their tables. Put your money and valuables in the bag and no one will get hurt, he said waving his gun. A commotion of surprise rose among the passengers. Quiet! the man with the gun commanded. Listen to me, do as I say.

One of the robbers passed the bag among the passengers and when he advanced at one of the tables a large man grabbed him and pushed him backwards upon the table. A gun went off from across the room and the traveler fell injured, upon the robber. When the gun sounded again, the shot missed the passenger but hit the robber who yelled out in pain.

Whad’ya do that for? You hit me younger brother? the other thief asked as he rushed over to help.

I didn’t mean to John. How bad is he hurt? The rest of you stay put or you’ll be next, the thief yelled.

He’s hit in the upper leg. He’ll bleed to death if we don’t stop the bleedin, the brother yelled, his voice beginning to show panic.

Who here can help him? the bossy criminal shouted as he looked around the room at the passengers. No one answered, and when the gunman’s face reddened letting anger show, Lewis raised his hand. I can help him.

Go! The gunman commanded. At the wave of the robber’s gun, Lewis rose and hurried across the aisle to help the wounded intruder. After securing the bandage that stopped most of the blood flow, Lewis rose and started back to his table. The thief stopped him. You help him carry his brother out of this car, he said.

Lewis’s heart beat loudly causing him to hesitate, but he knew the man with the gun meant business. Lewis didn’t want to die and it seemed he was doing the unthinkable; he was helping an enemy that would probably kill him when they were finished with his help. He’d always said that when his time came that he was ready to meet his Lord. However, he didn’t want to leave this world with nothing in it to show his passing but his footprints. He knew that Kimberly was waiting for him and this gave him hope. He was a fighter and with these last thoughts in mind, Lewis picked up his medical bag, stooped to get his larger clutch, then did as he was told.

Chapter 1

Late May of 1910

Beginning the journey home:

Before boarding the Union Pacific Railroad, the pretty woman sat by herself on a bench next to the station. Her traveling hat did not cover all of her shiny black hair as strands fell softly alongside her large blue eyes. Several gentlemen walking by looked her way with smiles of admiration. In her mid twenties, Kimberly Cleland had the kind of beauty that would turn many heads. She was lost in thought and did not notice the men. She felt that everything planned had slipped away. Earlier she had told her best friend Emmaliea, Yes my world has been interrupted and changed forever. I closed my eyes only for a moment and it’s all gone—like dust in the wind. I know that Lewis’ disappearance has altered the course of my life. And why am I despairing so? I have made my decision to leave Missouri. If Lewis does return, he will be able to find me as he knows that we originally planned to go to my hometown in Idaho.

It was this loss that had changed her—and she’d seen it in her hospital workers faces as they became more considerate towards her. She began to face the pain of others and now in her sorrow, understood that God had a plan for her. She had talked with Emmaliea about her plans and smiled at the thought of being able to share her feelings with such a special friend. They had been close since rooming together in their early college days.

Remembering this conversation, Kimberly then bowed her head for silent prayer, Forgive me Lord for not relying on You for my comfort. I pray this trip to my family home will renew my strength and may You, be with Lewis today, wherever my love is. How I’ve missed him these last six months. Now please, give us a safe journey as we begin our new life in Idaho. Kimberly then lifted her head as she began searching among the crowd for her twin brother, Kelly, so together with their friends, they could board the train.

It was unlike Kimberly Cleland to be annoyed as she hesitated at the entrance of the train’s passenger door. If I had been able to get more sleep last night I’m sure I wouldn’t have such an impatient attitude, she mumbled. "That day became a nightmare in which my happy life had changed because of Lewis’s disappearance. Oh Lewis, you can’t be dead. We were engaged less than a year and you had such a promising practice as an intern doctor. We worked so well together—and I loved you. Thinking of this, her eyes were misting with tears and she dabbed them with a lace handkerchief. She felt an abundance of unfinished time. The dream Kimberly often experienced of what happened to him she felt it had happened earlier and she hadn’t seen it coming. This time of extreme change left her ready for most anything that was tossed in her path.

The last six months had been hard on her, but Kimberly managed to get through. As an intern, her work at the hospital increased. Her emotions and many feelings of despair invaded her until she went to her God in prayer. This was how she came through the storm, a little scalded yet still up right facing the world with strength and confidence.

Today, waiting for her brother was what Kimberly had done most of those last years of school—not to mention the times growing up at the ranch. It was good that she had been close to Kelly as he was there for her when she needed him.

She reflected, When he was a teen I even saddled his horse for him and when we had to get someplace in a hurry. Being twins has kept us close and he wouldn’t let me just probe my wounds when I was sorrowful. Often he would make me go out with his fun friends. With Kelly’s outward personality—he always found someone to talk to. Yes, I wish I was more like him. I’m just jealous, I guess.

Kimberly’s dreams of romance and adventure had been secrets none had ever guessed; but not any of her friends at college or from her church (except her brother) had ever transcended this actual journey of hers to the western part of the states.

Their two friends, Emmaliea and Nathan, whom they had known for several years had asked to accompany them for the summer. Yes, she had enjoyed the new friendships she had acquired at the college in Independence. She was thankful for the education, knowing the nursing and doctoring skills she had learned would always be helpful. But her return to the place she called home—this is now what she wanted. Yes, my wonderful parents are there, she thought. Also I wonder if my desire is also built upon the high school friendship I had with Reginald. When he left the area, his insistence was that I give him a lock of my hair to be remembered by and how special I felt. And in the warmth of many earlier letters, Reggie reached out to me. Perhaps he won’t know me or I him as I hear he has now returned to the Fairfield Valley several miles away from our ranch. In her heart she was more concerned how he would notice her than how she would react to him. She had changed after six years and what her friends and family had said about her she felt was far more flattering than justifiable. However, her mother had told her of the grace and beauty she had and how this picture of her ripened into exquisite beauty.

Joy was then shown in her pretty face which was framed by silky long hair the color of dark European chocolate. She was thrilled and happy to be returning to the mountains of Idaho and her parent’s ranch. She had told Emmaliea, Change is good for us and I do not see it as cold. To blunder through our Christian life ignoring the presence of change is to ignore the inevitable and to be put in a state of panic each time we stand at a change point of our life. Emmaliea had agreed with her as they talked and prayed that afternoon. Kimberly reflected on her change of direction when her beloved Lewis was missing. She sighed, then smiled as she quoted a passage she had just read and under her breath she said, I have learned whatever state I am in to be content. There was a touch of joy in her voice and she felt the relief of letting go and letting God.

Then distracted by a noise she remembered that Kelly went to find their traveling friends in the crowd, and they would be a foursome again. She smiled at the thought of two very nice friends being a comfort on the trip home. She and Emmaliea were bound together link by link—it’s the pain of loss as Emmaliea too had loved another only to have it end in sorrow.

From across the platform, Kelly glanced around till he found his sister at the edge of the crowd. There is a shine in her heart that reflects in her face, he smiled as he spoke this about his sister. Looks like she is dreaming again, he said to their friends. He had been through it all with her, the sorrow and the struggle to understand how she felt.