The Saga of Lovelace Lane--Valentine's Serial--Lenora Worth

Hello. Today we're starting a new Valentine's inspired serial for you to enjoy while we put the finishing touches on a new look for our blog. More on that later but this story will give you a hint of things to come! Enjoy over the next couple of weeks!

The Saga of Lovelace Lane

Chapter One—Lenora Worth

“I’ve inherited what?”

Rose Redmond stared across at the lawyer who’d tracked her down in the basement. The other employees who worked with Rose at the quaint historic library situated in a crumbling old building by the San Francisco Bay rarely came down into the basement. Too old and musty, too creepy and cold. Too much history to go through.

Rose loved it. History was her life, her career, her salvation.

“As I told you in the many phone messages I left you, Miss Redmond,” the gray-haired lawyer said in a fussy tone, “your grandfather Valentin Redmond has left you the town of Lacelace, Virginia, population five-hundred and twenty-two. But you need to get back there immediately. The estate executor needs to discuss some important matters with you.”

Rose sank down on the old rickety stool where she sat for hours on end reading over old documents and lovingly turning the pages of ancient tombs. “The whole town? I now own the whole town?”

“Yes,” the frazzled man said. “But from what I hear, someone wants to buy it right away and save you a lot of trouble.”

“Who would want to do that?” she asked, thinking she could use a big chunk of cash. But this was the worst time for her to have to head back to Virginia. She missed her grandfather terribly but he’d died months ago and she had big plans and a big promotion to work toward.

“I have no idea. But Mason Grant, the executor of your estate, says it’s urgent that you return. The buyer wants to bulldoze Love Inspired Lane—the main street in town—and turn it into a condo complex and modern-type village.”

Rose pushed at the haphazard mousy brown bun she always wore at work and shoved her black-framed glasses closer to her eyes. “Why am I just now hearing about a will?”

The man looked uncomfortable. “According to Mr. Grant, the will went missing. He found it in the most improbable spot.”

A missing will? Someone wanting to destroy the place where she’d spent all of her summers until she’d gone away to college, the place where she’d met that boy long ago on the stone path following the lake? The boy she’d spent a few precious hours with before she’d left without ever knowing his name.

“I have a big project coming up,” she said. “I can’t possibly go to Virginia now.”

But in her heart, Rose knew she had to go. Grandfather deserved that much at least. And … she had to wonder if the boy she’d left behind would still be standing there, waiting for her.

----

Mason Grant stood by the lake waters, wondering for the thousandth time about her. The beautiful young girl he’d bumped into—literally—on that early fall day so long ago. Fifteen years maybe. He’d been close to eighteen. And she must have been sixteen?

Long russet brown hair and the bluest of eyes. Eyes that gazed at him as if she’d known him for all eternity. And he’d felt the same.

He’d just arrived with his family that day. Lonely and brooding over having to leave New York, he’d vowed to go away to law school and never look back. And then he’d spotted her. Now, here he stood, trapped in time. A small town lawyer who loved this place and couldn’t leave it. But if he didn’t hear from the hard-to-find Rose Redmond soon, he’d have to take drastic measures to fight the corporation that threatened to mow down the quaint village.

Did the woman even know what a treasure she’d inherited?

He prayed the people he’d hired had found the right Rose Redmond. And he hoped she’d arrive before it was too late.

Small Towns, Big Families with Jolene Navarro

Jolene Navarro here. Did you know we only have twelve Fridays until Christmas! But we are not here to talk about that. Even though I do have a Christmas story that is out and about in book form, with the eBook being released Thursday.  Another story set in the fictional small Texas Hill Country of Clear Water. But I'm here to talk about small towns.

Frio Canyon - Home of my fictional town, Clear Water, Texas

 

 I love life in a small town.  People know people. They know your grandmother, your cousins and your children. You belong. You have a history. You’re part of a story.  You know why the locals call the intersection at HWY 46 and Herff Rd. Sheep Dip Crossing.

  

On a sad note the newbies in town give you a blank stare if your direction include Sheep Dip Crossing or “where Poorboys use to be.” I’m guessing in the next couple of generations the terms will be gone for our local vocabulary.

The thing that can drive you cray in a small town? People know people. They know your grandmother, your cousins… well, you get the picture.  People remember you as a teenager, and all the stupid senseless stuff you want to forget. They really know your family members. There is no glossing over or hiding the crazy. 

 Remember the time when…..can cause you to break out in a cold sweat and glancing around to see if your kids are near. Half the stories aren't  even true. And sometimes they say that and you really can’t recall what they are talking about, so do you fake it and laugh or start an argument when you respond with ‘NO that never happened’?  Memories are long and live on every corner.

My father was born in the"old" house. It was moved to the back of the property when a new house was built - with a pool and game room! Loved our summers here!

There are different levels of small towns. Places like Leakey, Texas with less than 400 people. It is also the kind of town I love writing about, generations of ranchers, business owners and dreamers.  One street light.  Kindergartners to twelfth graders are on the same school campus. Community is strong.  A church on every corner. Not a great deal has changed there over the years, expect the path of the river with each flood and they can now sell beer. (Which some of the churches are not happy about.)

This is one of my hometowns. My great-great grandparents settled there and my parents met and married there. It’s also the place I met my love and married him. We moved back and lived there during the birth of one of our four children. I love this little valley in the Texas Hill Country. My husband’s family has been there for three generations now. It will always be home.  Go Eagles!

My four kids on the football field were my dad played and their dad played and coached.

Four generations of Navarros in Leakey. The tiny little lady in the middle is the mother, grandmother and great grand of the picture

Then you have small towns like Boerne, Texas. My other hometown. When I started school here in 1979, there was one high school, one middle school and an elementary or two. No chain restaurant or fast food. The grocery store and pharmacy were owned by local families.  The owner of the restaurant greeted you by name.

We rode our horses to the General Store where you could still hear people speaking German.  Today Boerne is going through growing pains. Being north of San Antonio,  people are moving in to find the love of having the Main Street USA feel of small town with the convenience of one of the biggest cities in the United States of America.

Boerne Main Street Plaza

The Dienger Trading Co. It was the Library for a while.

Now-a-days you don’t see as many family owned businesses when you drive down Main Street.  For the sake of convenience the big box stores have staked a claim along the highway, forcing the mom and pop shops to close or redefine themselves.

I write small town stories because it is what I know and love.  A Texas Christmas Wish is the third book that takes place in a small fictional town of Clear Water, Texas on the Frio River.  

Frio River at Seven Bluff Crossing

 In my story the hero takes the heroine to the local lumber yard. A place where generations have counted on the Bergmann family to provide high quality building materials as they construct their own homes and business.

Bergmann Lumber Store Front in Boerne Texas

In real life Bergmann Lumber is a two story limestone building on Main Street in Boerne. It is a historical site and owned by the same family for three generations. Randy Bergmann and his daughters have managed to reinvent their store front and focus on customer service with a mix of daily lumber and hardware needs along with gifts and one of a kind home decor.

Visiting at the Book signing at Bergmann Lumber - Love Small town life.

Children left unattended in Bergmann Lumber will find lots of ways to entertain themselves.

In honor of my  favorite Texas small towns and the families that live there (real and fictional) I have had each off my book signing at Bergmann Lumber. Yes, I have book signings at a hardware store. They also carry my books year round. (How cool is that?) They are one of the few family owned businesses that have found a way to survive the shift in Boerne’s population and demographics. 

So if you want to buy a story about small town, family and faith go by Bergmann Lumber on Main Street in Boerne, Texas. (they are also in Walmart and Amazon..shhhh I didn't tell you that) You can also support small businesses by doing some early Christmas shopping and visit you locally owned businesses. 

Do you have a small town you love. If so what do you love about it? Do you make a point to shop at locally owned stores or do you find the big guys easier and less expensive? 

 

Hope Springs, a place for Amish romance.

Pat Davids here.

A HOPE SPRINGS CHRISTMAS is my third Christmas novel and my seventh story set in the fictional Amish community of Hope Springs, Ohio. The book is in stores now. When I first created Hope Springs, I drew on the small town I knew well. The town of Hope, Kansas. A stone sign outside the town near the farm I grew up on says, "There will always be Hope in Kansas." That is exactly what I wanted for my fictional town. I wanted a place where hope springs eternal. Not only is it a friendly place with a cozy inn, a fine café, a modern medical office and numerous other businesses, it's full of people I'd like to get to know. It's a small town with a bigh heart where people come together to help one another.
You might be surprised at the amount of research that goes into creating a fictional town. I started out by doing an internet search for the name Hope Springs in states with large Amish populations. I found a Mount Hope, but no Hope Springs in Ohio. I knew then that I was off to a good start. The next thing I needed was a real town to model my fictional one after. The village of Sugarcreek in Ohio provided me with a great blueprint for my town. It was the right size and location. I even made a map so I'd know which street someone lives on and where the bus stop was located. Sugarcreek was also big enough to have a good mix of Amish and non-Amish members in the community.
Although my Brides of Amish country series has mainly Amish characters, I've been careful to introduce non-Amish or English characters as well. My second book in the series, The Doctor's Blessing, dealt with a nurse mid-wife and a new doctor in town. Showing the Amish through the eyes of a nurse who loved them vs. a doctor who didn't understand them at all made for great conflict. In A Home for Hannah, the hero was the local sheriff and the heroine was an ex-Amish woman who discovers a baby on her doorstep. Her inside knowledge of the Amish helped the sheriff solve the mystery and find Hannah's mother. Of course, like all romances, a happily ever after moment did happen for both unlikely pairs.

In A HOPE SPRINGS CHRISTMAS, the town is once again a major character in the story. When two neighbors try to match-make for each other, the consequences are funny, touching and downright romantic. If you've been to Hope Springs, I'd like to know what you thought of the town. Do you enjoy books in a series or do you prefer stand alone books? What makes a fictional town seem real to you?

By the way, Merry Christmas to all of you from Pat Davids and all the people in Hope Springs.