Pepper Basham's Blog - Posts Tagged "penned-in-time"
The Thorn Healer teaser
Hi everyone,
In celebration of the Pinned in Time blog Hop and Giveaway, I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek into book 3 of the Penned in Time series. This is Jessica's story and is a little different than the previous two books since the whole story is set in NC 1918.
May 1918
Wounded soldiers returned from war as heroes. Wounded nurses returned as old maids.
Jessica Ross gripped the handle of her purse a little tighter, and peered out the dusty train window, eager to catch the first glimpse of her hometown in two years. Home. The word swept a sweet balm over the ragged edges of her memories, rife with the devastation of a world at war. For two dark years, loss and fear crowded light from the shadowed spaces of Jess� mind, but, now, those dreadful moments could rest in the past. The Great War, as some called it now, held nothing ‘great� within its muddied trenches and dying breaths, except the weight of its sorrow and its forever-swell of hopelessness.
Her eyes drifted closed and brought visions of her mother and brother to mind, stilling her grin. Home couldn’t be the same without their presence. During her last visit to Hot Springs, she buried her mother. German gunfire took her gregarious baby brother a year and a half later, his remains interred on a battlefield in France, and her only surviving sibling, her older brother, had almost been killed by a German spy.
The hardened fist of hatred tightened around Jessica’s heart with a deeper grasp. Trench warfare, treachery, Kaisers?
She was finished with all of it � especially Germans. She hated them. Even German food was out of the question from this point on. She’d suffered enough from the Huns barbarous hands. Too many nightmares.
“Next stop, Hot Springs!�
The clarion call of the train whistle followed the conductor’s announcement with a glorious exclamation. A waft of mountain air breezed through the window, dampening the unusual May warmth and Jessica’s darkening thoughts with the scent of honeysuckles and fresh rain. Hope tickled a dangerous longing, fragile and as broken as she was, but she grasped its promise. A smile bloomed awake. Even if she was damaged beyond the use of war or the makings of a wife, even if nightmares stole her sleep and fear ripped at her peace of mind, one place always promised a sense of belonging. The Blue Ridge Mountains.
The pale summer sky painted a faded backdrop behind the blue-hewn mountains lining the track. As the train curved and slowed its pace, those precious mountains opened in grand theatrical style to unveil the moss green roof of her hometown’s pride and joy: The Mountain Park Inn. People travelled from all over to benefit from the waters bubbling from Painted Rock Mountain and the extravagant hotel set the stage for a first class experience. Not that Jessica had ever benefited from the massages or treatments � or even seen the inside of the marble-pooled bathhouse. Only the rich.
The white clapboard depot edged into view, and beyond it the vast lawn of the exclusive inn. Her breath caught with the lurching halt of the train. Were those barracks? She leaned closer to the window, blinking to clear her vision. Rows of long wooden buildings littered the lawn. She stood, slow, hand steadied against the window and gaze transfixed. Men, hundreds of them, moved upon the anomaly of barracks and barbed wire. Had the war followed her home?
In celebration of the Pinned in Time blog Hop and Giveaway, I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek into book 3 of the Penned in Time series. This is Jessica's story and is a little different than the previous two books since the whole story is set in NC 1918.
May 1918
Wounded soldiers returned from war as heroes. Wounded nurses returned as old maids.
Jessica Ross gripped the handle of her purse a little tighter, and peered out the dusty train window, eager to catch the first glimpse of her hometown in two years. Home. The word swept a sweet balm over the ragged edges of her memories, rife with the devastation of a world at war. For two dark years, loss and fear crowded light from the shadowed spaces of Jess� mind, but, now, those dreadful moments could rest in the past. The Great War, as some called it now, held nothing ‘great� within its muddied trenches and dying breaths, except the weight of its sorrow and its forever-swell of hopelessness.
Her eyes drifted closed and brought visions of her mother and brother to mind, stilling her grin. Home couldn’t be the same without their presence. During her last visit to Hot Springs, she buried her mother. German gunfire took her gregarious baby brother a year and a half later, his remains interred on a battlefield in France, and her only surviving sibling, her older brother, had almost been killed by a German spy.
The hardened fist of hatred tightened around Jessica’s heart with a deeper grasp. Trench warfare, treachery, Kaisers?
She was finished with all of it � especially Germans. She hated them. Even German food was out of the question from this point on. She’d suffered enough from the Huns barbarous hands. Too many nightmares.
“Next stop, Hot Springs!�
The clarion call of the train whistle followed the conductor’s announcement with a glorious exclamation. A waft of mountain air breezed through the window, dampening the unusual May warmth and Jessica’s darkening thoughts with the scent of honeysuckles and fresh rain. Hope tickled a dangerous longing, fragile and as broken as she was, but she grasped its promise. A smile bloomed awake. Even if she was damaged beyond the use of war or the makings of a wife, even if nightmares stole her sleep and fear ripped at her peace of mind, one place always promised a sense of belonging. The Blue Ridge Mountains.
The pale summer sky painted a faded backdrop behind the blue-hewn mountains lining the track. As the train curved and slowed its pace, those precious mountains opened in grand theatrical style to unveil the moss green roof of her hometown’s pride and joy: The Mountain Park Inn. People travelled from all over to benefit from the waters bubbling from Painted Rock Mountain and the extravagant hotel set the stage for a first class experience. Not that Jessica had ever benefited from the massages or treatments � or even seen the inside of the marble-pooled bathhouse. Only the rich.
The white clapboard depot edged into view, and beyond it the vast lawn of the exclusive inn. Her breath caught with the lurching halt of the train. Were those barracks? She leaned closer to the window, blinking to clear her vision. Rows of long wooden buildings littered the lawn. She stood, slow, hand steadied against the window and gaze transfixed. Men, hundreds of them, moved upon the anomaly of barracks and barbed wire. Had the war followed her home?
