So having cleared my desk for a few days, I am going back to a far too neglected story, which is a serial for The People's Friend. I first started writing serials for The People's Friend back in 2001, and while I have slowed down some with my other writing obligations, I am glad to keep with them because I love the magazine so much. Today I am working on Return to the Island, the third serial in my Amherst Island trilogy--and dear readers, I know you have been waiting for the novel form of On Renfrew Street! I will deliver, I promise! In the meantime here is a snippet from part 4 of Return to the Island, which is set in Ontario, Canada right after the Great War.
Check out the serials and short stories in The People's Friend, which comes out every week. They're wonderful!
If you want to read about Ellen and Jed from the beginning, Down Jasper Lane is available digitally here. It is my homage to the beloved Anne of Green Gables, an orphan story set in turn-of-the-century Canada, but with a different twist.
Ellen pressed her cheek to Rose’s in farewell before walking with Jed
back to the Lyman farm.
“How is your father?” she
asked as they walked through the copse of birches, the pond shimmering under
the July sunshine. “Is he coping all right? I haven’t seen him much of late.”
“He’s fine,” Jed answered. “Struggling
on as everyone seems to be these days.”
“Thank you, Jed, for going
after Peter last night. I’m ashamed that I didn’t even think about how the
noise of the firecrackers would upset him.”
“Why would you?”
“I heard the shells too,”
Ellen reminded him. “I know I didn’t fight like you or Peter or any of the
island boys did, but I remember the Front.”
“Of course you do.” Jed
sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound…”
“It’s all right.”
As they approached the Lyman
farmhouse, Jed went for the wagon while Ellen waited by the front steps,
enjoying the sunshine on her face and trying not to give in to the worry that
was cramping her stomach—the Wilsons, Peter, the guests coming tomorrow… For a
few minutes she wanted not to have to think about it.
“Ellen.” Jed’s voice sounded
surprisingly light as she opened her eyes. He stood in front of her, the horses
hitched to the wagon. “I thought you’d fallen asleep there for a minute.”
“For a minute I almost did.”
Jed
stretched out his hand and Ellen took, trying to suppress the flurry of feeling
his dry palm sliding across hers created in her. The last thing she needed was
to reignite her old feelings for Jed. Check out the serials and short stories in The People's Friend, which comes out every week. They're wonderful!
If you want to read about Ellen and Jed from the beginning, Down Jasper Lane is available digitally here. It is my homage to the beloved Anne of Green Gables, an orphan story set in turn-of-the-century Canada, but with a different twist.
