Hannah Clarice: Mail Order Brides Series, #5

By Beverly Kovatch

Hannah's father, Robert Morton, had high expectations of his daughter. He was sending her to an elite college in hopes that she would become a successful fashion designer with his money and influence to back her. Fate was not in his favor when Hannah, by chance, met Michael Henry Beechem, a man with intentions of becoming a preacher. Hannah had a choice to make. Would she continue to follow her father's wishes or run off with the man she had fallen in love with to a life of unknowns? A life taht suddenly and drastically changes, leaving her alone and frightened. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Beverly Kovatch
• Release date: Nov 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201141783

Beverly Kovatch

This Author is about as unknown as one can become. She sometimes lives in the past, sometimes in the future, sometimes right in the middle of the present. Her mind wanders from what was to what is to what could be. That is the power of the written and spoken word. There are so many opportunities for so many people, and she wonders why no one seems to seek them out. She lives on a farm in what was once a vast farmland area. A few people still believe in farming, but each year, there seem to be fewer and fewer of them. This past year, it appears that the moral background of the world is rapidly disappearing. It takes hard work to be a farmer nowadays. It is a lot easier to sit back and watch others do it. People have taken this place we call home for granted. The pandemic threw us all for a loop, but it also made some realize that unless we fight for what we believe in, our country, the one we all grew up in, could be lost. It took hard work and determination for us to be where we are, and all of it started with a small dream. You see, everything in life begins with a dream. This Author once dreamt she could one day write a book that others might enjoy reading, and here she is. She has written not one book but more than twenty books. Some people dream of owning just a small piece of land, owning their own little business, raising their families in a free land, a place where we are allowed to say what we feel in our hearts, fight for what we believe in, worship at the church of our choice. These past few years have taught this Author that there is power in our words. Once our words are silenced, we have given up one of our most treasured rights. It is my hope, my dream, that the power that you, my readers, have within you will never be silenced. The dreams you hold inside will always be fulfilled, and that you will always and forever … Keep on Dreaming!

Book preview

Chapter One

She sat in the rocking chair, looking at the charred remains of the church where she once sat. She could hear her husband’s voice as he shouted and proclaimed victory over Satan and his evil demons.  He was bound and determined to get every man, woman, and child saved and on their way to heaven in Silver Valley.

Hannah Clarice Morton Beecham lived in New York City. Her father, Robert Morton, was highly known and revered in all the affluent areas of Manhattan. He was bound and determined that his daughter was going to college for fashion design.  She was all set to accomplish it when she met Michael.

Michael Henry Beecham was attended the seminary school right across the street from the fashion design school that she was going to attend.  Hannah met him quite by accident. He was walking out of the door and bumped right into her. Neither of them was looking, of course. The books in her hands went crashing to the ground along with her.

Michael was on the thin side, average height, curly brown hair, and brown eyes that melted her heart. It wasn’t long before they became inseparable. They would go to the library and sit for hours. They said that they were studying but, studying what?

Michael told her that since a young boy, all he ever wanted to be was a preacher. He had gone to a tent revival in Tennessee with his father when he was twelve, and that was where he met the Lord. Michael, from that time on, wanted to be just like that preacher. He desired to get souls saved.

Hannah knew nothing about God. Her father was too busy making money, trying to wheel and deal with the next big account. She never wanted or needed anything. Money was there for her college funding, and she never thought twice about anything else.

Her father seemed to have her whole life planned out for her. She didn’t have to think. She was friends with the elite, and the fact that she was going to be the so-called next fashion designer diva, well, that was precisely what her father had planned for her.  She just followed the rules.

Her father was so angry when she brought Michael home to meet the family.  He disliked him from the start, and he forbid her to continue seeing him. She didn’t listen to her father, though, and before she knew it,  she and Michael were madly in love.

He asked her to marry him, and she replied yes. They were married in a small church in the city. Michael’s parents had passed on, and he had no other family. Her family had disowned her, and so the two of them were on their own. 

They stayed in the city for a while, but things were costly, and Michael desired to Pastor a church. They both knew it was not going to happen in New York.

With the two of them both working, they barely made enough to survive. Michael and Hannah worked and saved up as much money as possible, but then Hannah got pregnant. Michael was ecstatic, but Hannah constantly worried about how they would ever survive. How would they do this with a baby on the way?

Michael reassured Hannah that God never made mistakes and that he would provide for them, and provide he did.  Jason Henry was born the following year.  Michael took on every job he could, and he preached at every tent meeting that he could find.  They traveled with a few different tent ministry preachers, and although the money wasn’t great, it was everything Michael wanted. Hannah and Robert followed along.

Hannah followed Michael from town to town. It was a struggle trying to make ends meet and never knowing where you were going to be. That was when  Pastor Jonathan and his wife Martha took them under his wing.

Hannah was discouraged. It seemed Michael was drawn into a group of street preachers who proclaimed God but didn’t seem to care much for their families. They all lived on the streets most of the time. They were each provided with a tent to live in, and they tried to stay in the southern states where the weather was warmer.

Hannah wasn’t sure why Michael didn’t see what was going on. His desire to preach seemed to blind him to what she found reality.  There were days when she wished that she had listened to her father. Days when they argued about what this was doing to Jason.

He is fighting Satan with me, Hannah, don’t you see it?

Is he? Are you teaching him to serve God? Because if you are, why is it he is so concerned about making sure to ask everyone for every penny that they have?

It is God’s request Hannah? We are to give and serve.

I am afraid I don’t see it that way anymore, Michael. What is it about this that you love? Did your God tell you to drag your family around the country like vagabonds? Is it God’s will that our son is begging people for money? People like us who have nothing. Don’t you think you are scamming them for money that they need to feed their families? I know that it hurts me to watch this.

You don’t understand, Hannah. You haven’t got God inside of you the way that I do.

If that is the case, Michael, then you’re right. I don’t see God as someone who wants me to beg poor people who barely get by for money to feed my family while theirs starve. Maybe you need to find a new God who cares.

Hannah’s blunt statements hit Michael in his heart. Was she right? Was this the reason that he became a preacher? He decided to stand back and watch what was going on with different eyes. He watched with open eyes and what he saw made him cry. What had he become? Pastor Jon was angry when Michael confronted him with what he was seeing.

You will never get anywhere with an attitude like that boy, he replied.

I will get to heaven with that attitude, will you? Michael replied.

I am afraid that my family and I cannot go along with this, and I guess we will need to part ways.

Don’t be a sucker, Michael, Jon replied. Don’t let that wife of yours lead you away from this. You’re one of our best preachers. Your preaching brings in the crowds.

Do you ever think why that is Jon? Why does what I preach bring in these people?  I am preaching salvation and miracles while you are taking them for what little money they have. I cannot be a part of that any longer. My wife is right, and God didn’t choose me to do this. He chose me for a much better purpose.

Matthew was one of the old-time preachers in the group, and he overheard the conversation Michael had with Jon.  When he came up to Michael, he thought that Jon had sent him to change his mind but was surprised at what he said.

I always knew that God had a much better plan for you, Michael, and I can see that he placed Hannah in your life to change it around. You should be mighty thankful for that son.

Why do you go along with this, Matthew? I don’t understand? If God wants us to be his servants, why are you a servant to Jon instead?

Sometimes things happen in our lives that lead us on a different path, and sometimes God uses these things to teach us a lesson.  I believe that you and I both have learned a lesson here on this path. A position in a church has been offered to me, and I want to talk to you about it.

He told Michael about an opportunity to be a full-time preacher in a church in California. Michael jumped at the chance of being involved in a church that could one day be his own. Having been presented with this offer, Michael couldn’t resist.  He would be an assistant pastor to begin, but the church would become his congregation when Matthew retired.

The small church was in Silver Valley, California. It took a couple of years of struggling, but they finally had this great opportunity, and Michael couldn’t let it pass him by. He was warned that Silver Valley was a wild place with saloons and that the town consisted mainly of gold miners.

The old preacher was right. When they got to Silver Valley, what they found was sinners galore. The town frightened Hannah, but to Michael, there was an opportunity on every corner.  He and Matthew were going to change this town.

Michael soon learned who the big rollers were. The biggest challenge they were going to have seemed to be Rex Walker. He owned the Red Velvet Saloon. If they could get that man saved, well, they would have accomplished a great task.

He soon learned that it was not going to be that simple. He watched over the next couple of years and saw some remarkable changes in the man, especially after a woman named Leanna came into his life.

Chapter Two

Returning to Silver Valley was a joy to Leanna. All of her friends were there to greet them, and she needed as much help from them as was possible. Taking care of twins was a full-time job, as Melina could undoubtedly agree.

Rex had other things in mind when they returned. He wanted to be sure that Leanna was safe and Calloway still lingered over them like a dark cloud. Rex did know now that his wife was fully capable of taking care of herself.  She had proved that to him on her excursion with Melina. He wasn’t sure that he liked that fact, though. 

Melina and Bryan, along with the