Blog Tour Tuesday: THE PRAIRIE DOCTOR'S BRIDE by Kathryn Albright

Oak Grove is Growing!

TODAY is the release of my newest story ~ The Prairie Doctor's Bride!

The Prairie Doctor's Bride takes place in Kansas in the spring of 1879 and the good doctor is in need of a nurse. Nelson Graham figures that by marrying a smart, resourceful woman, he'll get both - a nurse and a wife. It's a win/win situation - or so he thinks. The first train-load of women have come and married men in the town and he sees that they are all quite happy. (You can read their stories in Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove.) With the second train-load of women, he is set to make a play for the perfect woman for him.

* * * * * * * *

Raising her son alone, penniless Sylvia Marks has had enough of being the subject of town gossip.  But when her son is seriously injured, she'll do anything to save him...even kidnap handsome Dr. Nelson Graham!

Nelson knows what he wants in a a wife, she's to be amiable, biddable and skilled in domestic chores. Gun-toting Sylvia isn't what he had in mind, but as the two are forced together, he realizes she's exactly what he needs!

* * * * * * * *

Here's a short excerpt ~

Left to himself, Nelson considered the notes he'd made earlier that day and withdrew the paper from his vest pocket. It was a "wish list" of sorts. Likely, no woman would meet all his expectations, but perhaps it would help him stay on course as he considered each of them.

• Amiable
• Biddable
• Able to take constructive criticsm
• Skilled in domestic chores:  Cooking, laundry, cleaning, sewing, and gardening
• Willing to work by his side as his nurse
• Quiet. He didn't want a woman who disrupted his research or his daily habits
• Willing to put another's needs ahead of her own

He'd added the last as a cautionary point, remembering his fiancee. He'd thought they were compatible in all things, but then suddenly she had broken off the engagement, unable to accept the numerous times he'd been called away to help someone who was ailing.

He wouldn't let that happen again. What he needed was a practical woman as his wife. She didn't need to be a raging beauty, but like any man, he wouldn't mind if she was pleasant to look upon. 

He tucked the paper back into his pocket and headed to his office. Now, all he had to do was interview the ladies, one at a time, and see which one came closest to fulfilling his wish list.

* * * * * * * *

The Prairie Doctor's Bride is a new story in the Oak Grove Series that I share with Lauri Robinson. From the first book, we have delighted in the people that make up the town. (Personally, I would love to stroll down the main street and meet them all!)

To ready the entire review, visit HERE.

To find out more about The Prairie Doctor's Bride, visit my website HERE.

For a complete listing of  all the books in The Oak Grove Series, visit HERE.

To purchase this story, visit

HARLEQUIN

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

BONE-SETTERS & A SHORT HISTORY OF CASTS

By Kathryn Albright

   
In books or movies of the Old West, someone with a broken leg or arm will often have their injury splinted with sticks for immobilization. Usually this is “out in the bush,” but for my next book in the Oak Grove Series, The Prairie Doctor’s Bride, this method wouldn’t work.
   
When a cantankerous mule at the livery kicks Wally Brown, Doctor Graham must set the fracture of his lower arm in his home office. Now, Doctor Graham was not a lay doctor or bone-setter (a barber or in a pinch, the blacksmith.) He attended a prestigious school back east in Boston, and then had several years of experience, employed by the Kansas-Pacific Railroad Company to attend the men building the railroad. So, I had to find out a little more about the history of care for fractures.
   

The earliest known care for a broken bone (after resetting) dates back to the early Egyptians of the 5th Dynasty (2400 B.C.) Hippocrates, a physician of the 4th century BC, wrote about immobilizing the bone to let it heal and also having the injured person do specific exercises to prevent atrophy of the muscles. His writings spoke of using cloth soaked in resin and wax. A little later on, starch was added to assist with quicker hardening. Throughout the next 1500 years, different solutions and pastes were used, such as egg whites, clay, and gum mixtures.If a person had a broken bone, they did a LOT of laying around.

Plaster of Paris had been used as a building material for centuries, but in the early 19th century, it became widely used for immobilizing broken bones. The injured limb would be reset and placed inside a wooden box and then the plaster poured over it, encasing the leg or arm in a rigid sleeve. This was heavy and made it impossible for the injured person to move.

Then in the 1830s, Louis Seutin, a doctor in the Belgian army, used strips of linen and carton (or pasteboard) splints that were wet and molded to the limb. The limb was then wrapped in bandages and coated with a starch solution and allowed to dry.

GAUZE COATED WITH PLASTER OF PARIS

Building on Seutin’s work, Antonious Mathijsen, a medical doctor in the Dutch army, found that strips of coarse cotton cloth into which dry plaster of Paris had been rubbed, could be applied and then moistened with a sponge or brush. The cast would harden as it was rubbed and would dry in minutes. Another version of this would be to very carefully dip the dressing or cloth into a bucket of water, so as not to dislodge the plaster of Paris already rubbed into the cloth, and then apply it to the limb. This lighter-weight, smaller cast made it possible for a person to move about while a bone healed.

WALKING CAST

Mathijsent wrote about his method and it was published in 1852 in a medical magazine, Repertorium. This became the standard for setting broken bones until 1950 with only a few minor changes—ie: the use of shellac to make the cast water-resistant. And alterations such as this picture--with a stub to enable walking and yet keeping the cast dry and clean.

So – knowing this – I could finally write the scene where Doc Graham took care of Wally Brown’s arm and actually used a plaster of Paris cast! I hope you find this interesting. I do – but then I have always been fascinated with the history of medicine.

If you are interested in more information, here are a few links to check out:

http://hankeringforhistory.com/history-of-the-cast/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5420179
https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/setting-a-broken-bone-19th-century-medical-treatment-was-not-for-sissies
   

* * * * * * * *

Coming in December! 

    Nelson Graham has had every advantage in life.
Is it possible for this Boston-trained doctor and a woman who “lives off the land”
to find any common ground?

For more information on this book and others, please visit and follow ~

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My Top Ten Cowboy Sayings

by Kathryn Albright

Howdy! I absolutely love quotes of fall kinds--the wittier, the better.
And cowboy sayings are in a class of their own when it comes to being droll and pithy.
Since many of the books by the Sweet Americana Sweetheart Authors 

are set in the American West, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite cowboy sayings. 

As an author and reader, I love that the sayings are imbued with character and 

attitude and often have double meanings (subtext.) 

That just makes coming across them while reading all the more fun and such a delight!

Take a gander at them and see if there is one that particularly "speaks" to you.

* * * * * * * * * *

*  Never straddle a fence. Build one, or tear it down.

*  Before you go into a canyon, know how you’ll get out.

*  You can’t tell how good a man or a watermelon is till you thump’em.

   
*  If you want to stay single, look for the perfect woman.

    
*  A mail-order marriage is trickier’n braidin’ mule’s tail.
 
*  If the coffee tastes like mud, remember it was ground this morning.
 
*  A man don’t have thoughts about women until he’s thirty-five. ‘Afore then, all he’s got is feelin’s.
   
*  A loose horse is always lookin’ for new pastures.

WHO...ME?

*  If you’ve lived to be 29 and have no enemies, you’re a failure.
   
*  There ain’t much paw or bellow, to a man who’s sure of himself.

* * * * * * * * * * *

I've never used any of these in my writing but they do get me in the mood
 when I'm trying to create a certain character for my story. 

Do you have a favorite saying? I'd love to hear some new (or old) ones!

(It doesn't have to be a cowboy saying, just a favorite of yours.) 

* * * * * * * * * * *

MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF OAK GROVE - my latest release.

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On the Trail

By Kathryn Albright

Oak Grove, Kansas, the fictional town and setting of the Oak Grove Series that I am writing with Laurie Robinson, grows and prospers with the cattle industry in the 1880s much like Dodge City, Ellsworth, and Abilene. With its stockyards and a train depot, I knew some of the inhabitants would have to have jobs that involved the cattle business. 

The era of cattle drives in American history began at the end of the Civil War and lasted into the 1890s. The demand for beef in the big cities in the east as well as an abundance of cattle in Texas (five million!) created an opportunity for hard-working men. In Texas, a steer was worth about $3, whereas in Chicago, that same steer would fetch an average of $20, although demand would sometimes push its value to $40. Other reasons for moving the cattle north were to feed the miners in Colorado and California, or to stock ranches as far as Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming.

Some herds were as large as 3,000 cattle. Along with the cattle, extra horses were also included on the drive so that when one horse tired and needed to rest, another could be saddled and used. Cattle could stretch out for a mile on the trail and to manage the herd, cowboys had certain positions.

    Point – Rode out in front and helped guide the herd.

    Swing – Rode along the flanks of the herd to keep them gathered in.

    Flank – Rode behind the Swing and performed the same job.

    Drag – Rode behind the herd and kept stragglers from being lost or falling behind. A dusty job.

    Wrangler – Took care of the remuda of extra horses. Lowest paid position.

    Cook – Drove the chuck-wagon, cooked the meals. Next to the boss, he was the highest paid man on the drive.

These were not gentle milking cows! Longhorns were cantankerous and bad-tempered. The horns on a steer spread an average of five feet from tip to tip. Rounding up cattle, branding them to establish ownership, and getting them to head in one direction as a group was not without mishaps and sometimes dire consequences. Then there were the dangers along the trail.

Range cattle were not smart. They got lost in gullies. They headed out into snowstorms rather than seeking shelter. They were easily spooked and alarmed. A flash of lightning, the boom of thunder, or even an odd odor could initiate a stampede where the herd would run for miles. The only way to stop a stampede was for the cowboys to get out in front of the herd and fire their pistols, wave their hats and yell in a effort to confuse and frighten the cattle into slowing and circling until they calmed down.  One wrong decision and in an instant a rider could be impaled on a horn or trampled to death under hooves. Stampedes were the chief threat and worry for a cowboy on a trail drive.

Another danger could occur at river crossings. Should a cow or steer panic, they could drown and take a cowboy down with them.

Then there were the predators. Rustlers—men who would steal the cattle and, although much less common, Indians on the reservations who attacked the drive. Animals such as the American Timber wolf, cougars, brown bears, and farther north…grizzly bears where also a threat. Rattlers and scorpions bothered the men. Although their bite or sting was not usually fatal to a healthy young man, it could still cause horrible pain. A smart cowboy checked their bedroll before bedding down at night, and in the morning, checked their shoes or boots before putting them on.

    

http://69.69.245.68/GALLERY/CHINOOK2.HTM

Weather was also a danger. Freezing temperatures and blazing heat were both enemies to the herd and to the cowboys. Finding water along the trail was a matter of life and death. Traveling this way, a drive from San Antonio to Kansas would take about two months. No matter how careful the cowboys were, there was always a percentage of cattle that did not make it to the stockyards.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

In the book that I just finished and sent in to my editor—titled The Prairie Doctor’s Bride – a character has an accident along the trail, leaving behind some unfinished business in Oak Grove. More on this in a future post…For now, Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove, the first book in the Oak Grove Series, is available.

Kathryn Albright writes sweet historical Americana Romance. 

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The Smoky Hill River

 By Kathryn Albright

Oak Grove is a fictional town in western Kansas along the Smoky Hill River. Laurie Robinson and I are writing a new book series set there and the first one has just been released.

Laurie has the fortunate circumstance of having lived for several years in the area she is writing about. Having never been to Kansas, I had some research to do. I found these beautiful pictures that started all sorts of ideas going in my head.

The river plays an integral part in the three stories that I am setting in the Smoky Hill region of northwestern Kansas. It originates in eastern Colorado and its waters flow east all the way to the Mississippi River. The area was a rich hunting grounds for the Plains Indians before they were forced onto reservations. A big grove of cottonwoods along the river on the Kansas/Colorado border was the impetus for the river’s name. From across the plains, the grove looked like a billow of smoke.

Along the river are several towns, the largest being Salina. There are also several forts that the Army established along the river to protect travelers. Oak Grove is situated nearest to and east of Fort Wallace, but it is still an hour or so to ride there on horseback.

At the time of the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in Colorado (1858), an Indian trail along the river known as the Smoky Hill Trail, was the fastest route across Kansas. Then in 1865, the Butterfield Overland Despatch, a stage coach route ran for a short time. Then in 1870, the Kansas-Pacific Railway took over as the best way to travel across Kansas.

The river at my fictional town of Oak Grove is three feet deep and two hundred feet wide, except during the spring rainy season when flooding over the low banks occurs and extends out over the plains. The weather I learned, is sunny most of the time and arid. And much of what I read about was about the unrelenting, and constant wind.

There is more research I did—types of crops, types of fish, buffalo wallows and cattle drives… Research always gives me lots of ideas for plotting for my stories and all these facts that I have presented about the Smoky Hill River come up in my books. As much as Oak Grove and the characters are fictional, everything else in my books are factual – at least as much as I can make it so through research.

You can find more pictures of inspiration for all my stories at http://www.pinterest.com/kathrynalbright

I hope that you will join Laurie and me as we tell you all about Oak Grove and its wonderful inhabitants!  Our first book, kicking off the new series is Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove. Laurie wrote Mary's story and I wrote Maggie's and intertwined them throughout the book which was challenging and fun.

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BLOG TOUR TUESDAY & A NEW RELEASE!

By Kathryn Albright

I am excited to share the release of my newest book with you!

(First - a little introduction. By the way, this isn't the cover...)

MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF OAK GROVE

When twins, Mary and Maggie McCary are caught selling
their family tonic without a permit,
they're forced to agree to become mail-order brides to stay out of jail.
Taking the train to Oak Grove, the pair are separated--
For Mary, falling off the Oak Grove train
into Steve Putnam's lap changes everything.
Could he be the cowboy to tempt her down the aisle?
And running from trouble, Maggie doesn't intend to actually marry...
until she shares one sensational kiss with Jackson Miller!

When the mayor discovers the twins' side business and their plans
to avoid the bride contract, things begin to fall apart for the sisters.
They both have a lot to learn about the men of Oak Grove...and likewise,
the men have a lot to learn about these two McCarys!

Twin sisters say "I do" in the Wild West!

Sweet and sassy and double the trouble, when twins Mary and Maggie sign contracts to become mail-order brides with every intention of escaping before the actual wedding!

Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove kicks off a new series by Laurie Robinson and me.
I loved collaborating while she wrote Mary's story and I wrote Maggie's.
These are two young women with a penchant for fun and trouble.
Mary and Maggie's youth and unconventional upbringing make their view of life slightly skewed from other "normal folk. Rules don't apply in the regular sense. They turn Steve and Jackson's lives into two big knots with their shenanigans!

Today is the release day for paperback and on June 1st, it will be available in eBook format. Here is the link to Order!

ORDER!

I hope that you enjoy this short excerpt ~

"Taming the Runaway Bride" from Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove

~  * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The worst of the screeching subsided as the engine shuddered and then slowed to a turtle’s crawl.

Her three companions created a fair wall with their noses pressed to the glass. Maggie could only see bits and pieces of the town moving by through the spaces between the three—Miss Know-it-all Rebecca, Miss Quiet-and Quaint Sadie, and Miss Gullible Anna. She couldn’t understand why they were excited about a new beginning and gaining a husband along with it. She certainly wasn’t. That’s all her life had been for as long as she could remember—always a new city, a new town, a new horizon. A seed didn’t have time to flower, nor dust to settle, the way her family lived. And she sure didn’t plan to get yoked to a man. A man would only complicate things between her and her sister. 

He might even separate them.

But while she was here, she would like to see a real cowboy. One with boots…and a Stetson. Or one of those ten gallon hats that the other girls had been giggling about. Did cowboys always wear spurs? These were things a girl should know.

She stored the deck of cards in her satchel. It wouldn’t do to lose them. She might have need of a little spending money or even a little “get out of town” money.

She stepped behind Anna to peer over her shoulder. From this position all she saw was a small sea of dusty and dirty cowboy hats and bowlers. A few men waved faded flags—bleached by the sun and whipped by the prairie wind.

She swallowed. Men. All men. At least thirty of them. She rose to her tip-toes in order to see better.

Some were really young, but most looked middlin’ to old. A few appeared…weathered. One thing was obvious—no two of the men staring back from the station platform were the same. They were all shapes and sizes. And whether they wore big grins or not as they vied for the front row, they all looked curious to see who would be stepping off the train. Some, she noticed uncomfortably, appeared eager—a bit too eager.

With that thought she shrank back and looked in the seat behind her for her sister. Where had she disappeared to so fast? This bride contract had been her idea from the start. She should be here.

“Oh! I see the one I want!” Anna squealed, her voice blending with the last screech of the brakes.

The train shuddered horrendously to a complete stop. With it, a band started up. A band? A trumpet played Oh! Susanna! and was joined by the beat of a drum and the trill of a fife.

Panic seized Maggie. She wasn’t ready for this! “I have to find Mary,” she croaked out. Swaying slightly, she headed toward the back end of the rail-car. She wanted to be with her sister when she faced the men gathered outside—not with these women she’d known only a handful of days.

The door before her swung open.

“Well now, Miss McCary,” the conductor said, raising his bushy brows. “A bit anxious I’d say.”

She glared at him. He was in league with the sheriff back in Bridgeport—that scoundrel.

Behind him, a man from the platform climbed the steps, pausing when he arrived at the top as if the exertion winded him. He was dressed in his Sunday best, right down to the gold watch fob and chain dangling from his black satin vest. The suit appeared a bit small at the neck…and other places. 

Probably cutting off his breath judging by the redness of his face. He peered first at her and then at the other women behind her as he blotted a trace of sweat on his forehead.  

“Welcome to Cedar Grove, ladies. I’m Mayor Melbourne.” He paused, looking over the four of them. The welcoming mien dissolved and he turned to the conductor. “Where are the rest?”

The man fumbled in his pocket, withdrew a sealed envelope and handed it to the mayor.

Mayor Melbourne pressed his lips together. He slipped his wire glasses from his vest pocket and settled them on the bridge of his nose, bending the ear wires over his ears. Then he broke the wax seal on the envelope and quickly read the contents. If possible his face reddened further.

“Not coming!” he sputtered. “Not coming! I asked for twelve and all that answered the call are these four?”

“Actually, Mayor, that would be five,” Rebecca said from over Maggie’s left shoulder. “Mary McCary is also with us…somewhere.”

“Five, you say? The committee sent enough money for twelve. My brother has some answering to do.” He read the letter again, the perturbed look on his face slowly settling into resignation as he folded the paper and stuffed it in his pocket. “Very well. Ladies? Welcome. Please come meet your town.”

She sensed Anna, Sadie and Rebecca gathering in force behind her. “What about our things?” she asked quickly, hoping to stall a few minutes longer.

“Plenty of men here to see to them,” the mayor said. “Please follow me. As you can see, they are anxious to have a look at …I mean…meet you.”

Behind her, the others pressed forward, prodding her out the door and onto the steps. A blast of warm Kansas wind swirled around her and picked up her skirt.

“Whoo-wee!” a man in front called out. “Got a looker right off!”

Her cheeks heated as she struggled to subdue the billowing purple cotton and then she focused on the gawker, raising her chin defiantly and fixing him with a bold glare. She would make sure never to find herself alone with him.

He grinned. “Got spirit too! She’s mine. Might as well just check her off your list, men. She’s mine! Whoo-ee!”

“Not unless you take a bath and wash off that cow smell, Rader,” someone yelled back. A round of chuckles from a few of the others followed.

Behind her, Sadie, Rebecca and Anna must have crowded into view for a cheer went up from the men. “Hip-hip-hooray!” Several even threw their hats into the air and the small band played louder at a furious pace.

Four strong-looking men stepped forward and with a great deal more enthusiasm than the situation called for, took hold of her upper-arms and whisked her—her body floating through the air—down the last two steps to the platform.

She wasn’t ready for this! Where in heaven’s name was Mary?

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove

Copyright by Harlequin Books & Kathryn Albright

Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A.

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