Forbidden Love
Okay everyone, I’m not sure how long this story will be, but I got this idea and began writing it for my Friday post here on my blog. I hope you will enjoy it and follow it through to the end. I will post installments of this story every Friday until I reach its end.
Forbidden Love by Kelly F. Barr
The sun beat down and the air was hot and dry. Amelia carried a parasol to shield her from the sun as she walked along the wooden walkway. The pounding of hooves and shouting of men burst through the air and Amelia turned to see six men on horses galloping down the middle of the street as townspeople scattered out of their way. The men arrived in a cloud of dust, reining their horses in, dismounting and tethering the animals outside the saloon across the street from where Amelia stood.
Amelia entered the dressmaker’s shop.
“Good afternoon, Amelia. Your dresses are finished. I think you’ll be pleased.” Miss Rachel, the dressmaker greeted her.
Miss Rachel led the way into her back room and pulled a dress from a rack. Amelia changed into the dress and was greatly pleased with the fit. It was a cornflower blue dress. It was perfect for Sunday wear. Next came a yellow dress covered with tiny pink roses, followed by an emerald green dress with a cream colored bodice. They all fit perfectly.
“Oh Miss Rachel, you have such skill with a needle and thread.”
“You are quite adept at choosing colors that compliment your coloring. No wonder every man in town watches as you pass by.”
Amelia felt her cheeks grow warm. “I think that’s an exaggeration, but thank you for the compliment. How much do I owe you?”
“That will be $9.”
Amelia opened her purse, paid Miss Rachel, placed her packages in her basket and left the shop.
She went next door to the milliner’s shop and picked up her new Sunday hat. It would go very well with her new cornflower blue dress.
She stepped out onto the wooden walkway and began to stroll down the walkway when her path was suddenly blocked by the strangers who had rode into town a little earlier.
One of the men tipped his hat to her. “Well, howdy. Ain’t you a purty little thing? What’s your name?”
Amelia stiffened and pulled herself to her full height. “Would you mind letting me pass?”
“Oh, now don’t be like that. I’m just tryin’ to be friendly. My name’s Cade Jeffries.”
Amelia gasped and put her hand to her throat. Cade Jeffries was a known outlaw who rode with the Brody gang. She realized that must be whom she must be facing at the moment. Her mind raced and her eyes searched to her left and right hoping that someone would see her predicament and come to her aid.
Cade narrowed his eyes at her and spoke in a sharp tone. “I’ll ask once more. What’s your name?”
Amelia cleared her throat. “I’m Amelia Williams, daughter of Sheriff Williams.”
Cade grinned at her. “The sheriff’s daughter. Well, don’t that beat all. Guess we should let the lady pass.” He motioned for the others to open a pathway, but he remained directly in front of Amelia.
“Would you allow me to carry your basket for you and accompany you on your way?”
His bright blue eyes and deep dimples were hard to resist. Amelia had always had a soft spot for dimples, and Cade’s were the deepest she’d ever seen. She also noticed his strong arms and broad shoulders.
“That’s very kind of you, but I assure you it’s not necessary.”
“I’d still be obliged if you allowed me the privilege of carrying your basket and walking with you.” His eyes pleaded with her.
“Well, I suppose there wouldn’t be any harm in that.” She offered a small smile and handed the basket to Cade, who then offered her his other arm.
She took it and hoped her father would not see her with Cade.
“So what brings you to town?” Amelia asked.
“We were just passin’ through, but now that I met you, I might stick around a while.”
Amelia was certain the warmth in her cheeks meant she was blushing under his gaze.
“Oh, don’t let me be a reason to change your plans.”
“Why not? Do you have a beau or are you just afraid your daddy won’t allow you to be seen with Cade Jeffries?”
Amelia was unsure if the glint in his eyes was teasing or mocking her. “My father trusts my judgment, although I’m sure if he saw me with you, he would question it for the first time.”
“And you’d be quite right about that.”
Amanda’s hand flew to cover her mouth at the sound of her father’s voice. He was standing on her right, having just come out of the jail in time to see her with Cade and hear her last sentence. She’d been so focused on Cade that she hadn’t realized that had come to the jail.
Her father grabbed her arm and pushed her behind him.
“I don’t know what you and the Brody gang are doing in my town, Cade, but you can just keep moving, and stay away from my daughter.”
Cade and her father stared each other down for a few minutes. Then Cade reached around her father to hand her basket to her. A smile slid across his lips. “It was a pleasure, Miss Williams. I hope we meet again.”
He gave Sheriff Williams an icy glare, turned on his heel and headed back up the walkway toward the Brody gang who were waiting for him by their horses.
Wordless Wednesday
Increase Your Creativity
Saturday, February 24th, I went to a writers’ retreat at one of my writer friend’s home. It was with a group of ladies whom I got to know through Lancaster Christian Writers. We always begin with a devotion and opening prayer. We follow that with a creative writing exercise, which, besides the free writing time, is my favorite part of the retreat because someone leads a creative writing exercise, and they have never failed me. They have always gotten my creative juices flowing and given me a wonderful day of writing.
Of course, lunch is always fun, too, because we get to know each other better and share lots of things about writing, healthy eating, and our lives in general.
Anyway, back to the creative writing exercise. This time, Mandy led the creative writing exercise, and she played three different pieces of music, one at a time, for a few minutes each, and we were to just listen and let our imagination flow and write whatever the music brought to our creative minds. I totally LOVED this exercise because I’ve always really enjoyed music, but I’ve never used it with my writing. But this exercise really worked.
The three pieces of music were all quite different, and have given me three new story ideas; not ideas for full-length novels per se, but they could very easily show up on one of my Friday posts as either a flash fiction or short story.
And, even though each of those gave me three completely different story ideas, it put my creativity in high gear and even helped those juices flow into my work-in-progress!
Therefore, if you ever feel stuck or think you’re suffering from the dreaded writer’s block, try listening to some music and start writing whatever thoughts, actions, scenes, etc. that start going through your mind.
By the way, these were all instrumental pieces.
So, if you’re a writer, I know you’re probably an introvert, as most of us are, but I highly encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and attend a writer’s retreat, critique group or conference at least once because I am sure you will find value in it, and it’s always fun to connect with others who share your struggles and/or successes; who have things in common with you.
Poetry and a Friend’s New Blog
Today I decided to share a poem because I want to post either a poem, flash fiction story or short story, written by me, here each Friday. However, a good friend of mine just started a new blog that is just so cute, I have to share. So, after you read my poem, I encourage you to visit my friend’s new blog by clicking the title in this post. She’s a gnome who’s lost her home and is in search of a new one. Find out what happened and what will happen next.
What is Love
by Kelly F. Barr
Love is acceptance.
Love is everything found
in First Corinthians thirteen —
patient, kind, always protects,
always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres.
Love is sacrificial;
putting others ahead of ourselves,
serving and helping others.
As the song says, “What the world
needs now is love.
It’s the only thing
that there’s just too little of.”
Let’s stop spreading hate
and spewing unkind words.
Let’s stop judging others
without giving them a chance
and making self-centered demands.
Let’s lend each other a helping hand
and together take a stand
to spread love throughout our lands.
Now, go visit Raewyn’s blog Gnome Gnotes and let her know what you think. Encourage her to keep writing.
Wordless Wednesday
Unfolding by Jonathan Friesen
I received a free copy of Unfolding by Jonathan Friesen in exchange for my honest review for BookLook Blogger.
Jonah has a heart of gold and he would like to be the guy who gets the girl, but Jonah has a physical deformity and suffers from debilitating epileptic seizures, while Stormi is beautiful and seems perfect, although there is something quite unusual about her as well — she seems to know things and many of the adults in Gullery are a bit intimidated by her.
Even though Jonah feels that he can never win Stormi’s love, Stormi prefers Jonah’s company over most other people’s. They seem to understand each other and are able to sympathize with each other.
Jonah has a job taking care of the one prisoner in the town jail but doesn’t know why the prisoner is in jail, and Stormi won’t go anywhere near the jail.
As the story moves along, Jonah and Stormi experience an adventure that reveals a secret that’s been kept for years in Gullery, a secret that could change everything.
You will care about Jonah and Stormi and find yourself routing for them for several different reasons.
Unfolding will keep you turning pages as you travel on the adventure with Jonah and Stormi, experiencing strange occurrences and finding the truth. You will want to turn pages to see if Jonah really can get the girl in the end.
Unfolding is a strange ride, and I did feel that the ending was a bit lacking, but all-in-all Unfolding by Jonathan Friesen is a good read.
An Update on this Writer’s Life
I’m so sorry to have been missing here for two weeks, but life happens. My schedule has gotten quite busy because I have been following the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan since the beginning of September 2016 in order to lose weight and improve my health. It’s been working extremely well and my husband has begun to follow it for the most part as well. But because it means not eating any processed foods at all, I have to make everything, mostly from scratch, which I don’t mind doing, but it is a bit more time consuming. Especially because I am trying to make breakfast foods, crackers and cookies in advance to try to stay ahead of the cooking/baking a bit.
In addition, my mother-in-law has been struggling with severe pain and weakness in her left leg, which has also caused her to fall several times, so I am needed to take her to medical appointments and physical therapy, which she is receiving twice a week to strengthen her leg, which I do not mind doing because family is high on my list of priorities.
Of course, I still have my normal housework to attend to and homeschooling our youngest son, who is fairly independent now.
Then there’s my novel, my work in progress, which I am longing to work on but have had very little time lately. I also have this blog and I need to continue to read books. Therefore, I have decided to back off on my blog posts. Instead of posting five days a week, I will begin posting just three days a week as of Monday, February 27th. I will post on Mondays, which will be book reviews, posts about writing, or stuff about me that I feel you might be interested in. I will continue my Wordless Wednesday posts on Wednesdays, and I will posts on Fridays, but those posts will sometimes be poems, sometimes Flash Fiction stories, and sometimes short stories that could even be a two-part that would carry over to the following week.
I hope if you’ve been following this blog, you will continue to do so and that you will continue to find something here that you enjoy. I apologize to any of you who really enjoyed my Top Ten Tuesday posts. I enjoyed them too, but they are quite time consuming for me to post because I often have to look through my books or my Goodreads account or even search Amazon in order to come up with a list of ten books for each of the different topics. Fast, easy topics are few and far between for me. So, with a bit of disappointment, I have decided to stop posting these.
Armed for Travel
Amelia Merchant sat on her bed reading the last chapter of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. When she finished, she closed the book, sighed, and touched her lips remembering d’Artagnan’s kiss.
Would she travel to another place in another dimension again, or was that just one freak incident?
Amelia didn’t know but she’d better prepare for the possibility. She couldn’t expect there to be a handsome man ready and willing to protect and help her in another dimension. Grabbing her purse and car keys, she scooted out the door.
Amelia eased her little VW bug into a parking space and walked into the sportsman’s shop..
The brawny, bearded man behind the counter smiled. “May I help you?”
“I hope so.” Amelia’s eyes scanned the array of weapons. “I need a couple of items that are small and easy to conceal. I also need a good compass and some simple instructions on how to use it.”
“Here’s a compass that is popular with the ladies because it resembles a compact.” He opened the small square case and Amelia noticed there was even a mirror inside. The clerk also explained that it came with a DVD that fully explained how to use it.
About an hour later, Amelia left the sportsman’s shop with the compass, a handgun and holster to strap to her belt that would enable the gun to lie against her back , and a boot knife that would fit nicely in the calf of her favorite boots. She felt much better equipped for anything she may encounter in another dimension, or, at least, she hoped so.
The next day, Amelia took her gun to the local shooting range to practice. When she was getting into her car afterward, her cell phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Amelia, this is Kim. Stacey and I are headed to the library and wondered if you’d like to join us. We’re planning to see what guys are there, select a couple of books and then go for pizza. So, you wanna join us?”
“Sure, I’ll meet you at the library in about twenty minutes.”
She stuck her handgun in the glove box and locked it. When she parked at the library, she also locked her car. She joined Kim and Stacey at a table, hoping she wouldn’t disappear into another dimension before going for pizza.
“So, have you been here long enough to notice who’s here?” Amelia sat down across from her two friends.
The two offered mischievous grins before Kim said, “Jackson Winters is here.”
Amelia’s heart skipped a beat. “Are you sure?”
“Mm-hmm. Skylar Bennett and Hunter Graham are with him. Can you believe that?”
“No way! Have they seen you?” Amelia had been hoping for months that Jackson would ask her out, Kim wanted to nab some time with Skylar, and Stacey wanted to hook Hunter’s interest. The girls knew all three guys were on the basketball team but had never seen the three hanging out together before.
“I’m going to check out the classic literature. I’ll be back when I find my next read.” Amelia headed to the classics section.
A few minutes later Amelia was walking between two rows of bookshelves already engrossed in a good book. She was headed toward the table she shared with Kim and Stacey.
When she heard the giggling of female voices, Amelia looked up and found herself surrounded by young women in long gowns with white aprons. They were staring at her, whispering to each other and giggling. She looked down at her shimmering pink blouse, skinny jeans and brown leather boots and groaned.
“Ah, hello ladies. Could you please tell me where I am and what year this is?”
Many of the young ladies stepped back looking frightened, but one bold woman stepped forward. “You are in the castle of the Sun King, King Louis XIV and the year is 1668.”
“And this is France?”
“Oui, mademoiselle.”
“I don’t speak French, so please continue in English.”
“You are dressed very strange. Where have you come from?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Can you just lend me some clothes and take me to a room where I can change?”
That evening Amelia attended a ball in the castle. King Louis the XIV was known for his extravagant balls and parties. She stood along a wall with many of the other young women servants and helped to keep the refreshment table stocked.
However, she couldn’t help notice a very handsome gentleman dressed in white pants, black boots, a white shirt with a front ruffle and a red jacket. She watched as he danced with several of the elegantly dressed ladies, and then his eyes met Amelia’s as one of the dances ended. His eyes were so startlingly blue, Amelia’s breath caught in her throat and she could not break eye contact.
He approached her as the music and the next dance began. He stood just a foot in front of her and bowed. Then his eyes met hers again.
“May I have this dance?”
Amelia put a hand to her throat and tried to find her voice. “I’m sorry, but I am simply a Lady’s maid. I don’t think I’m allowed to dance.”
“Under ordinary circumstances, you cannot dance, but at my request, you simply cannot deny me. You see, I am Phillipe, brother to the king.”
With that he led her to the dance floor where they stood across from each other in lines among others and participated in a very proper dance.
*****
Kim began to panic when she couldn’t find Amelia in the classics section of the library. Jackson, Skylar and Hunter would be joining them for pizza.
After a frantic search, she apologized to Jackson and the group exited the library.
*****
At closing time, one of the librarian’s walked through the library to do some last minute straightening and in the middle of the classics aisle found To Dance with Kings by Rosalind Laker lying open on the floor.
Poem: Why Are Other People Important?
Why Are Other People Important?
by Kelly F. Barr
When I see someone suffering,
Why should I care?
When I see someone eating alone,
Why should I care?
When someone is cold or hungry,
Why should I care?
Do the sufferings of others
Affect me?
Do the feelings of others
Affect me?
Do the needs of others
Affect me?
The answer to all of the above
Is a resounding “YES”!
Because we are all made in
God’s image. That gives each of us
More value than humanists could ever imagine.
Kelly F Barr 