CROQUET IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN: A Craze or Just Crazy? by Marisa Masterson

 Besides the obvious that they are both works of literature, what do Alice in Wonderland and Little Women share in common? Croquet and cheating.

By the time the American Civil War was over, the croquet craze had spread from England to the United States. At the same time baseball was gaining popularity, a game many men brought back to hometowns after serving in the war. That sport was for men, though. People at the time considered croquet a placid sport appropriate for ladies. 

Placid? In both of the books mentioned above, the women are caught cheating at croquet. True to life? Definitely.

Using her long skirts, a woman might hide the ball. Without anyone seeing the ball, she moves it (known as scuffling) to where she needs it. Or maybe she would peek around to see if anyone was watching. Unobserved, she taps ball to the spot she wants. 

No wonder people were publishing croquet handbooks at the time. Besides rule books to stop cheating, women began to wear croquet dresses with slightly raised hems. This hints at another reason the game was popular--flirting.

A peek at a woman's ankles tantalized men. The game itself gave men and women time together, often after dinner in the evening. Before this, members of higher society isolated men and women after that meal. Croquet brought them back together and even gave an excuse for touching. A man could "help" a woman by standing behind her to line up a shot or teach her how to swing the mallet.

In recent years, a previously unknown photo of Billy the Kid appeared. In it, he and friends play croquet on the rough ground of New Mexico. The photo shows the group celebrating a wedding and clearly demonstrates men and women interacting. By the 1870s, the game had grown so popular in the United States that it is being played in the barely settled West. Interesting! I wonder if Billy the Kid cheated?

I mention Billy the Kid because of his connection to New Mexico and the Lincoln County War. This month, I released a new book set in New Mexico and loosely based on the violence and division that took place there. 

Renie Hunter gladly accepts Harland McGregor's proposal before he leaves to join the Army of the West. Two years pass before he finally sends for her. Her uncle, the man who raised her, insists the young couple marry by proxy before she leaves. After all, he argues, New Mexico is far from the world they know.

The proxy marriage might prove to be a bad idea. When Renie arrives in the small western town of Harmony, the husband who meets her train seems different from the sweetheart who slipped the small ring on her finger years earlier. Will she still be able to reach the tenderness buried deep inside Harland?
The novel is loosely based on the Lincoln County War.
184 pages

Magic City of the Plains

The reason behind the nickname for Cheyenne, Wyoming, has to do with its origin. Before mid-1865, no permanent structures existed in the valley to the east of the Laramie Mountains. But US Major Grenville Dodge had the task of locating and surveying the best route over the mountains for the Union Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad, and he established a tent camp for him and his workers. His misspelling and mispronunciation of the native tribe’s word “shai-en-na” into a two-syllable word gained popularity by usage.

courtesy of ResearchGate.com

Dodge suggested the town site at a Fourth of July party. Once the route was accepted, a terminal town was established from which to base the railroad’s construction. In fall 1867, construction of Fort D. A. Russell was built where a cavalry encampment had existed to protect the construction workers from the local tribes who (rightly so) resisted the invasion of their lands. As happened in all railroad boom towns, real estate speculators arrived first in hopes of snapping up land they would turn around and sell to the arriving gamblers, tradesmen, merchants, and saloon owners who followed the railroad. In August, 1867, the town charter was accepted by the Dakota Territorial Legislature (this happened before Wyoming became a territory), and the population soared to 4,000 inhabitants by the end of the year. Three hundred businesses operated. A school opened to handle more than 100 students. Churches of several denominations were built. As if the city appeared by magic from the plains.

As for the railroad construction, the workers were laying an average of 6 to 7 miles of track a day. (One day’s record was 8 miles.) The track reached Cheyenne on November 13th, and the first train arrived the following day. Then the workers moved on toward Sherman Pass—come and gone n the blink of an eye. Much of the lawless element moved with the railroad crews. But as with many railroad towns, not everyone picked up stakes and moved to the next terminus town. Many liked the organization of the town and the location well enough to put down roots, but the population dropped to 1,450 in 1870. Once the transcontinental railroad was in operation, the town was established and ready to provide services to travelers.

Cattle raising on outlying ranches provided the town with business. Then in mid-1875, the Black Hills gold fields were opened, and miners and prospectors came to Cheyenne for supplies. A stagecoach line was established to relay passengers and supplies to the gold mines. Electric lights were built in 1882 at a time when Cheyenne was the wealthiest city per capita in the world. By 1890, the population grew to over 11,000.

My upcoming story, Amata, Cupids & Cowboys book 5, is set in 1892 Cheyenne. My previous book in the connecting series, Grayson, Bachelors and Babies book 8, is set in 1871.

BLURB: Rancher Harlan Thorpe has his hands full and needs no more distractions. He’s establishing a breeding program on his ranch, keeping an eye on his stubborn son who keeps ditching school, and riding herd on his younger brother who would rather drink and gamble than put in an honest day’s work. What he doesn’t need is a nosy woman telling him how she can help his son with his learning disability--even if she’s the first woman to spark an interest in years.

Two mischievous young boys contrive situations to get Dario’s sister and Liam’s dad together. Each time, the adults don’t know what has hit them, but the growing feelings are definitely not in either one’s plans. 

Amata preorder link

Grayson buy link or FREE in Kindle Unlimited

GALLOWAY HOMESTEAD - ROCK LEDGE RANCH

Post by Doris McCraw writing as Angela Raines

Photo property of the author

Rock Ledge Ranch is a living history museum that sits right at the southeast corner to the main entrance to The Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs. During the summer visitors can walk or take guided tours and learn the history of the area from the early Natives right through the beginning of the twentieth century. There is nothing like learning history from people who have studied and share it through first-person narratives.

This winter they opened the area as a park for those who would enjoy hiking the grounds. It is different as you walk the trails by yourself. It allows the imagination to roam as it will. Walking up to the Galloway homestead site without other people around can give you a sense of what it might have been like when the homestead was built. It captured my attention when I visited years ago in the summer. It drew me like a moth to a flame in the winter.

Photo property of the author

The above is the view coming upon the site. The corral is to the left of the reconstructed one-room cabin. It is believed Walter Galloway build his cabin on this site around 1867 and officially filed the homestead claim in  1871.

Northside of the cabin
Photo property of the author

Outhouse, located south of the corral
Photo property of the author

The south side of the cabin
Photo property of the author

This small cabin inspires so many thoughts of how one lived during this time. A one-room would have been fine for one person in, but what if it held a family?  So many questions that lead one to a story. 

I leave you with an excerpt from the short story I had in the anthology " The Untamed West". A cabin similar to the one pictured is how I saw the home of my heroine in the story, 'The Homestead'.

Ruth placed the axe against her left leg, rubbing her tired shoulder muscles with calloused hands. She noticed rain clouds hanging low against the northwestern sky, as though they were waiting for some signal to move.

Ruth watched the same pattern all spring that seemed to be repeating itself this fall. Her eyes, tired and sad, stared at the hated lonely stretch of land, the small piece of the greater high desert at the mountain's base in the new Colorado Territory. She'd hated the place when Joseph had brought them here. Hated it even more now. She was a prisoner. Not as most would think, but a prisoner she knew herself to be. She was hemmed in by the endless stretch of land to the east and south, the dark, high mountains to the west and forest to the north.

"It's amazing how love will lead you to the loneliest places," she told the blowing wind. Wind that told of the coming storm.

Sighing, Ruth turned back to the pile of wood she'd dragged in. Again, she picked up the newly sharpened axe, intending to finish before the storm arrived.

"Mother, Mother," Ruth heard excitement and fear in her five-year-old son Samuel's voice.

Heart pounding, Ruth moved away from the wood she was chopping. She turned to see Samuel standing some twenty feet away. He was standing statue still, not moving.

Amazon

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Website: Angela Raines - author

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GOING TO THE DOCTOR IN THE OLD WEST By Annee Jones (*And Bonus Cover Reveal!*)

 

 

GOING TO THE DOCTOR IN THE OLD WEST

By Annee Jones

 

            While writing my current novel, Dalton’s Dual Brides, I began to wonder what people would do when they got sick.  Were medical doctors available, or were untrained pioneer women expected to care for the ill with nothing to rely on other than folk medicine?  I learned that both could be true, as well as a number of other fascinating facts about how medicine was practiced on the late 19^th century frontier. 

 

            Because there was a shortage of professionals among the settlers, anyone could pretend to be a doctor and promote whatever treatment they wanted.  In 1880, Tombstone boasted a population of 2,000, with 12 doctors to care for the residents.  However, eight of the doctors didn't have a medical license. 

 

            Many people believed the most effective medicines were the most disgusting tasting. As a result, some doctors recommended drinking turpentine or sulfur.  There are accounts from people who had their teeth fall out after taking mercury, also called “quicksilver,” which could be prescribed for anything including syphilis, parasites, melancholy, or constipation.

 

 

            Bleeding was a common practice as well, based on an ancient system in which it was thought that blood and other bodily fluids (known as "humours") had to remain in proper balance to maintain health.  Though bloodletting was often recommended by physicians, it was often carried out by none other than barbers in the Old West!

 

            I was amazed to learn that the red-and-white-striped pole signifying a barbershop is actually derived from this practice:  the red symbolizes blood while the white symbolizes the bandages.

 

            As a romance author, I was especially surprised to learn of the theory that bloodletting would cure "heartsickness" and "heartbreak".  A French physician, Jacques Ferrand wrote a book in 1623 on the uses of bloodletting to cure a broken heart.

 

            Superstitious people sometimes believed doctors were performing the devil's work, and it was certainly understandable why most people feared them and preferred to be treated at home by family members they knew and trusted, often mothers and women.

 

            This, combined with the shortage of licensed professionals in the frontier opened the door for women to learn and practice medicine professionally.  In 1880, Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair earned her MD from the University of Michigan before moving to Oregon where she practiced medicine.  She wrote of the challenges she faced in the West:  

 

            “I carried on my professional work as best I could in that out-of-the-way place; and at no    time did I ever refuse a call, day or night, rain or shine. I was often compelled to go on foot, through trails so overhung with dense undergrowth, and obstructed with logs and      roots, that a horse and rider could not get past; and through muddy and flooded tide-         lands in gum boots."

 

Here are some remedies that come from an 1845 manual written by an untrained doctor:

 

Old West Remedy for:---DYSENTERY---

Dissolve as much table salt in pure vinegar as will ferment and work clear. When the foam is discharged cork it up in a bottle, and put it away for use. A large spoonful of this in a gill of boiling water is efficacious in cases of dysentery and cholic.

 

Old West Remedy for:---CHILLS---

The plant, commonly called hoarhound, is said to afford a certain cure. Boil it in water, and drink freely of the tea.

 

Old West Remedy for:---SORE THROAT, DIPTHERIA OR SCARLET FEVER---

Mix in a common size cup of fresh milk two teaspoonfuls of pulverized charcoal and ten drops of spirits of turpentine. Soften the charcoal with a few drops of milk before putting into the cup. Gargle frequently, according to the violence of the symptoms.

 

Old West Remedy for:---ASTHMA RELIEF---

Take the leaves of the stramonium (or Jamestown weed,) dried in the shade, saturated with a pretty strong solution of salt petre, and smoke it so as to inhale the fumes. It may strangle at first if taken too freely, but it will loosen the phlegm in the lungs. The leaves should be gathered before frost.

 

Old West Remedy for:---A TROUBLESOME COUGH---

Take of treacle and the best white wine vinegar six tablespoonfuls each, add forty drops of laudanum, mix it well, and put into a bottle. A teaspoonful to be taken occasionally when the cough is troublesome. The mixture will be found efficacious without the laudanum in many cases.

 

Old West Remedy for:---A SICK HEADACHE---

One teaspoonful of pulverized charcoal and one-third of a teaspoonful of soda mixed in very warm water.

 

Old West Remedy for:--A TOOTHACHE--

Powdered alum will not only relieve the toothache, but prevent the decay of the tooth. Salt may advantageously be mixed with the alum.

 

Old West Remedy for:---CAMP ITCH---

Take iodide of potassium, sixty grains, lard, two ounces, mix well, and after washing the body well with warm soap suds rub the ointment over the person three times a week. In seven or eight days the acarus or itch insect will be destroyed. In this recipe the horrible effects of the old sulphur ointment are obviated.

 

COVER REVEAL: (COMING IN APRIL!!!)

 

A naughty cat…a mixed-up matchmaker…an outlaw’s ghost…and now dueling brides - what’s a cowboy to do?

 

AVAILABLE NOW FOR PREORDER:

A widowed controlling father….a blind but rebellious daughter….can Caregiver Eliza Abraham help this family before tragedy occurs?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QRDLPD6

About me:

 

I feel incredibly honored to work as a disability counselor and am excited to be on a new journey as a Christian romance author.  My upcoming books feature people with disabilities as well as sweet romances, happy endings, and Christian themes.  You can follow me on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B08KSFSHX1

 

I welcome the opportunity to connect with readers so please feel free to “Friend” me on Facebook while my website and newsletter are currently being developed. 

https://www.facebook.com/anne.k.jones.555

 

 

Sources:

 

1.     The Murderous Medical Practice of the 18^th Century

https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-murderous-medical-practice-of-the-18th-century/#:~:text=Melancholy%2C%20constipation%2C%20syphilis%2C%20influenza,quicksilver)%20or%20as%20a%20salt.

 

2.     Old West Remedies

http://www.kids-n-cowboys.com/old-west-remedies.html

 

3.     Bloodletting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting

 

4.     What Was Going to the Doctor Like in the Old West

https://www.ranker.com/list/wild-west-doctors/genevieve-carlton

Gingerbread Cake

by Shanna Hatfield


The holidays might be over, but there are just certain foods, flavors, and fragrances that say "winter" to me. Gingerbread is one of them. It's a hearty slice of heavenly flavor, one that has roots that go back centuries.

Ginger root was first recorded in ancient China. It was commonly used for medicinal purposes. Eventually it spread to Europe along the Silk Road. During the Middle Ages, it was a favorite spice, often used in preserved meats. Henry VIII reportedly used a ginger concoction in hopes of building resistance to the plague. 

Gingerbread became a popular treat at European festivals and fairs during medieval times. 

A documented business of gingerbread in England dates to the 17th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies, and farmers' markets. By the 18th century, gingerbread was widely available.

It traveled to America with settlers from Europe. Molasses, which was less expensive than sugar, became a common ingredient and produced a softer cake.  One of the first American cookbooks, American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, published in 1796, contained seven different recipes for gingerbread.

I hope you'll enjoy this simple yet yummy recipe for gingerbread cake! 


Gingerbread Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

3/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup applesauce

2 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup hot water

Cream Cheese Frosting (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two loaf pans, two round cake pans, or a 9 x 13 baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together brown sugar and butter. Beat in egg, molasses, and applesauce. Spray your measuring cup with a shot of non-stick spray before you pour in the molasses. It will slide right out of it without leaving a big sticky mess behind.

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients.

Add dry ingredients to batter 1 cup at a time. When it is well-blended, add the cup of hot water and stir to incorporate.

If you are using loaf pans, bake for about 50 minutes. If using cake pans, baking time will decrease to around 20-30 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached.

Top with frosting, sprinkle with powdered sugar, drizzle with caramel sauce or dollop on whipped cream. You can finish it however you like!

Happy New Year!

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at: ShannaHatfield | Facebook | Newsletter | BookBub

The 19th Century Pandemic by Kimberly Grist

Diseases and epidemics of the 19th Century included smallpox, typhus, scarlet fever, cholera, and yellow fever. Yellow fever accounted for the largest number of 19th-century epidemic outbreaks. Yellow fever earned many nicknames, including Yellow Jack, the Yellow Plume of Death, and Bronze John, based on its symptoms. 

Yellow Fever is an acute viral disease and a legitimate and terrifying threat that caused panic in communities. Transmitted by female mosquitos, it was spread to the United States by ships from the Caribbean. Before 1822, yellow fever broke out as far north as Boston. After 1822, the disease was restricted to the south. Port cities were the primary targets. However, it occasionally spread up the Mississippi River. From 1800 until 1879, the U.S. experienced an epidemic every year except two. 

Welcome, Frost - Harper's Weekly November 1873. A scene in Jackson Square, Memphis, Tennessee. Everyone knew that the first frost signaled the end of Yellow Fever season, but they didn't know why.

Yellow Fever Pandemic in 1878

In 1878, approximately 20,000 people died in the deadliest Yellow Fever outbreak that occurred along the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico to Tennesee. Tens of thousands of residents fled the cities of Vicksburg, New Orleans, and Memphis, further spreading the disease and would travel with the refugees as far away as Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky.

The epidemic also affected trade. Railroad lines were halted, and steamboats were halted to reduce travel along the Mississippi River. An estimated 15,000 workers were laid off in New Orleans, 8,000 in Memphis, and thousands more in small towns. 

The Daily American, July 26, 1878

The City of Memphis

Memphis endured several bouts with Yellow Fever in the 1870s. At the time, people did not understand how the disease developed or was transmitted.  In 1878, Memphis had an unusually large amount of rain, which led to an increase in the mosquito population. In August of the same year, news of deaths in New Orleans and the nearby town of  Hickman led to the mass exodus. Within four days, an estimated 25,000 residents evacuated, leading to the disease's further spread and halting trade and commerce. The economic cost to the city was later calculated to be upward of fifteen million dollars. Due to the overwhelming economic burden, Memphis declared bankruptcy, its government was abandoned, and lost its City Charter in 1879.  

An Unlikely Angel

T

Those who remained in Memphis relied on religious organizations and volunteers to nurse the sick. When the yellow fever epidemic struck Memphis in 1873, Annie Cook, the owner of an upscale local brothel, dismissed her girls and converted her elegant house to a hospital, and nursed the sick. In 1878 during the more devastating epidemic, she repeated her charitable act. Newspapers commented on her generosity and reputation for nursing expertise, and she even gained an accommodation by the "Christian Women of Louisville." Tragically, on September 5, 1878, Anne contracted the disease and died on September 11th. On September 17, 1878, The Memphis Daily Appeal referred to her passing in this way, "Out of sin, the woman in all the tenderness and fullness of her womanhood, merged transfigured and purified, to become the healer." 

The Howard Association, a local relief organization, later showed its regard by moving her grave to the association's plot in Elmwood Cemetery.  

Linking the Disease to Mosquitos

Walter Reed was a U.S. Army physician who, in 1901, led the team that confirmed the 1881 theory of Dr. Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquito, rather than direct contact. 

The last major outbreak in the United States occurred in New Orleans in 1905.

After researching the pandemic of 1878, I was surprised that I had very little recollection from my history lessons about this 19th Century pandemic. My imagination turned to the plight of orphans during this time period, and I was inspired to begin writing about the lives of women and children affected, and Heaven Inspired Matrimonial Matches was born. 

A Fresh Start for Christmas, A Bride for David, Willow's Worth, A Beekeeper for Christmas, and Magnolia's Measure are mail-order bride stories based on a dream of a matron of an orphanage and several pastors working to find a way to match women to Christian men in the west. The group bases the agency on Rebecca and Isaac's story to form H.I.M.M., short for Heaven Inspired Matrimonial Matches. 

About Kimberly Grist:

Kim has enjoyed writing since she was a young girl. However, she began writing her first novel in 2017, "I wear so many hats working inside and outside the home. I work hard, try harder, and then begin again the next day. Despite my best efforts, sometimes life just stinks. Bad things happen. I need and want an outlet, an opportunity to relax and escape to a place where obstacles are met and overcome." 

Fans of historical romance set in the late 19th -century will enjoy stories combining, History, Humor, and Romance, emphasizing Faith, Friends, and Good Clean Fun. 

Connect with Kimberly:

Sign up for my newsletter

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/GristKimberly
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Grist/e/B07H2NTJ71

My Barney Lies over the Ocean...

 

 

 

"My Bonnie lies over the Ocean" is a traditional Scottish folk song.

"Bonnie Prince Charlie"

No one is sure of the song’s origin, but some speculate it originally referred to Charles Edward Stuart, known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie.”  The prince and his Scottish supporters were defeated by the British at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. During his exile that followed, it is possible that his Jacobite supporters could have sung this song or one like it in his honor. If questioned by the British, because the term "Bonnie" referred to a woman as well as to a man, they could claim  it was a love song.

It is also claimed that there is a traditional English song called "My Barney Lies over the Ocean" which has a slightly different melody, and this song was sung before the “My Bonnie” song. Musicologist, A. L. Lloyd, claims the "My Barney" song was "A stage song favoured by Irish comedians from the 1860s on.”

During the 1880s, apparently on American university campuses, close harmony groups remade it into the better-known “My Bonny Lies over the Ocean.” In 1881, under the duo of pseudonyms H.J. Fuller and J.T. Wood, Charles E. Pratt published sheet music for "Bring Back My Bonnie to Me". 

Miami University Men's Glee Club - 1907

Theodore Raph, in his 1964 book American Song Treasury: 100 Favorites, writes that people requested the song at sheet music stores in the 1870s, and Pratt was convinced to publish a version of it under the pseudonyms. The song became a big hit, especially popular with college singing groups but also popular for all group singing situations.

In my latest book, Kate’s Railroad Chef, Kate suggests to Garland, who had been a stutterer all his life, to share his nightly menu by singing the words.

Where did I get this idea? I am not an expert on stuttering, a condition with which many people are afflicted. Neither did I extensively research the topic. However, I do recall watching a documentary several years ago about stuttering. Several people who were stutters took part and explained what it was like. One point that was made was, those who stutter when they speak can sing without stuttering. The participants then sang a song as a group. Not one of them stuttered.

That was good enough for me. However, when I prepared to write that scene in my story, I knew I had to come up with an era-appropriate tune. I did not want to use “Oh, Susannah” which is associated with the California gold rush that took place thirty years before my story. Neither did I want “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain” which, as it turns out, became popular after the time of my story. It had to be a melody with which most of my readers in this day and age would be familiar. “My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean” came to mind. After discovering the above details—sung by the Irish in 1860s (Kate is Irish); a popular song for singing parts in the 1880s (Garland would be more familiar with that)—I had the melody they used.

The following is an excerpt from the book:

          Kate nodded. “You need to be singing the menu, now don't you? Would you be having a piece of paper and a pencil about?” She held his gaze until Garland slowly turned toward a box on top of the counter next to the icebox. From it, he pulled the items Kate requested. She accepted them with a smile. “And would you be knowing the tune to ‘My Barney Lies over the Ocean?’”

          “Yes. Even though I don’t s-sing, I listen to music. I think the latest version s-starts with, ‘My Bonny…’”

          “Well, it’s the other sung by the Irish I’m knowing, but we’ll not be singing the words to either one, now will we?” Kate walked to the counter and began to write. As she formed her words, she moved her lips and tapped the back of the pencil on the counter. After a couple of minutes she turned to him. “Now, seeing you’re knowing the tune, I need you to be singing along with me. We won’t be singing the chorus, now will we? Only the music to the verses.”

          “I don’t know about this.” The skin between Garland’s brow wrinkled and he shook his head as he stepped next to Kate. He held one side of the paper she held out to him. As he stood next to her, his hand trembled and his breathing accelerated.

          Kate turned and studied Garland’s response. Was he nervous? Was he uncomfortable about singing out loud, or was it being around her? Then again, as she stood next to him, she felt her own heartrate increase. What was there about this man who, at times, acted like he was annoyed with her? In spite of it, he still managed to draw her to him.

          Kate turned her gaze away from Garland. She focused on the words before her as she hummed a note to establish their pitch.

          Garland cleared this throat. “I hope I can s-stay on t-tune and not t-trip over my t-tongue.”

          “We'll be finding out, now won't we?”

          Welcome to the Jubilee Diner

          Here’s our menu we’re serving tonight.

          Roast pork loin and scalloped potatoes,

          Applesauce and spice cake for dessert.

          If you’d rather, there’s chicken and dumplings

          With carrots, potatoes, and onion.

          Again, the dessert will be spice cake,

          And two rolls with the meal that you choose.

          Mouth open, Garland held onto the paper after Kate released it. He stared at the words. “I can’t believe it. I had a little t-trouble fitting in that extra s-syllable in onion, but I don’t think I s-stuttered once.”

 

Kate’s Railroad Chef is currently on preorder and will be released on Tuesday, January 12th. To read the book description and find the purchase link, please CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

This book also the third story in the Train Wreck in Jubilee Springs trilogy. The first two books, Two Sisters and the Christmas Groom and Nathan’s Nurse, I put in the Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs series. I have since added them to a separate series, Train Wreck in Jubilee Springs. 

All three books include a few, unique details about the train wreck that took place just outside of Jubilee Springs. The final book tells the most, especially the details of how Kate was rescued after suffering a severe concussion.

To celebrate the release of Kate’s Railroad Chef, the first book in this trilogy, Two Sisters and the Christmas Groom (Kate is the brunette on the cover) will be free only today and tomorrow, January 11 and 12, 2021. To get your free copy, please CLICK HERE.