Where the Heart Is Romance Collection Read online

  Where the Heart Is © 1999 by Sally Laity

  The Midwife’s Apprentice © 2012 by Rhonda Gibson

  Murder or Matrimony © 2003 by Pamela Kaye Tracey

  Bride in the Valley © 2003 by Andrea Boeshaar

  Love Opens a Way (originally New Garden’s Inspiration) © 2012 by Claire Sanders

  A Tender Branch © 2012 by Jane LaMunyon

  Knight and Day © 2012 by Erica Vetsch

  On a White Charger © 2012 by Erica Vetsch

  The Wonder of Spring © 1999 by Carol Cox

  Print ISBN 978-1-63058-171-8

  eBook Editions:

  Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-63409-828-1

  Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-63409-829-8

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.

  All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

  Published by Barbour Books, an imprint of Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, OH 44683, www.barbourbooks.com

  Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

  Printed in Canada.

  Table of Contents

  Where the Heart Is

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  The Midwife’s Apprentice

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Murder or Matrimony

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Bride in the Valley

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Love Opens a Way

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

  A Tender Branch

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Knight and Day

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  On a White Charger

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  The Wonder of Spring

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Epilogue

  Where the Heart Is

  by Sally Laity

  Dedication

  To Don, forever home of my heart

  Special thanks to

  Dianna, Gloria, and Andrea…

  World-Class critique buddies

  Chapter 1

  Pennsylvania, 1860

  Leah Somerville paused in taking down the wash and breathed deeply of the moist, late winter breeze. Above her head, huge clouds scudded across the heavens, their pristine puffs of white a stark contrast against the cerulean blue sky. And all around, rivulets of water trickled from leftover mounds of dull snow, forming puddles while more and more patches of winter-barren ground appeared beneath the March sunlight. Proof of spring’s imminence.

  She smiled at the fresh scent of the sheets as she folded and put them into the basket. They’d be crisp and clean on Daddy’s bed tomorrow, just the way he liked them. Not that anything was really the way Daddy liked anymore, since a massive stroke left him paralyzed on one side and hardly able to speak. Purposely turning her thoughts away from the unpleasant matter, Leah tucked the last clothespin into her coat pocket and bent to pick up the laundry.

  The back door banged open just then, and her lanky, dark-haired younger brother, Willis, burst out, leaping down the three porch steps and bounding toward her, his work boots thudding over the half-frozen ground. “It’s mine!” The obvious excitement that made his voice crack added a spark to the chestnut-brown eyes so prominent in the Somerville family.

  “What’s yours?” she had to ask.

  “This. Everything. Mom says it’s my place now.” He flung his muscled arms wide and spun in a circle, not even attempting to harness his joy.

  “Wait a minute, Will.” Leah set down her burden to brush aside a pesky strand of sable hair the wind feathered across her face. “What are you talking about?”

  He grinned, and a broad sweep of even white teeth added boyish charm to features growing more manly and appealing by the day. “Mom says the place is too big for her to manage, now that Dad’s confined to his bed. She wants me to get married and take over. I’m gonna go tell Marty we don’t have to wait any longer.”

  With that, he whirled around and took off down the muddy lane toward the road, his long legs quickly covering the mile-and-a-half distance to the Sands’ farm.

  Gaping after him, Leah reminded herself to close her mouth as a heaviness settled over her spirit. Laurelwood, Will’s already? He was the only son, and inside she’d always known the property would pass to him one day. But he was still just a kid. He wouldn’t be eighteen for three more months. At twenty-two, and almost five years older than he, Leah had worked longer and harder than either of her two younger siblings to help make the orchards profitable. Somehow she’d hoped Will wouldn’t want the place, that her parents would decide she’d earned it. How could she have been so stupid? So naive?

  She turned and let her gaze roam the large, homey house her paternal grandfather had built for his bride—two stories of white clapboard with the broad front porch and weathered roof, set in the lush green Back Mountain area of northeastern Pennsylvania, in Huntsville. Leah, twenty-year-old Nancy, and Willis had all been born here, as had their father before them. She couldn’t even imagine living anywhere else. But soon her kid brother would marry her own very best friend, Martha Sands, and the two would raise a new brood of little ones who would grow up roaming the rolling hills around the Somerville Orchards. She knew she should have seen this coming, but she hadn’t. Not even after Nancy married last summer and moved into town with her schoolteacher husband, Tim Grogan. Now it hurt to dwell on her own inevitable departure. With a sigh, sh
e retrieved the laundry basket and trudged back into the house.

  Her mother, Alice, turned from the big coal stove, where she’d been boiling water to brew Daddy’s afternoon tea. One hand rested on her hip, and she stretched that shoulder, as if to relieve a kink. “They’ve dried already?”

  Leah nodded and hung her coat on the rack of wall pegs just inside the door. “It’s really quite mild today. I can smell spring in the air.”

  “Wouldn’t that be a treat, an early spring. These old bones never ache so much once winter is finally over.”

  “You’re not old, Mom,” Leah chided, assessing her mother’s trim frame and straight posture in the maroon calico day gown and protective apron. Except for the hours she spent lately sitting with Daddy, she never seemed to stop fussing about the house, keeping it tidy or baking things to satisfy the appetites of her hungry family. “Your hair might be a touch gray, but you’re still strong and healthy. Why, there aren’t half as many wrinkles in your face as there are in Opal Spalding’s, and she’s the same age as you.”

  “That may very well be,” she said with a droll smile, tucking some loose hairs into the salt-and-pepper bun at her neck, “but I don’t feel much like a young filly anymore. We all considered your dad hale and hearty, too, but look what happened to him. Struck down in his prime—and scarcely two years older than I. It gives a person pause for thought.”

  “I suppose.”

  Her mother’s sparse brows drew into a frown, revealing new lines of strain around her azure eyes—the only different-colored ones in the family. “Is something troubling you, daughter?”

  Debating whether to confess her disappointment, Leah opted not to. She shook her head. Will’s announcement had been so recent and unexpected, she needed time to think about things. Time to pray. Even to start planning for a future elsewhere. Obviously their parents thought they were doing the right thing.

  But was it the best thing? Leah knew Will and his shortcomings better than anybody, except perhaps Martha Sands. Undoubtedly the prettiest young woman within a ten-mile radius, Marty could have had her pick of any eligible bachelor, until Willis set his cap for her and turned on the charm.

  Oh well, Leah told herself as she gathered a stack of linens to put away in the hall closet. Will could do worse than wed Marty. The girl’s few years’ advantage in age and maturity would help settle him down. It would be a good match. And to her credit, she did love Laurelwood.

  “Come have tea with us, dear,” her mother said in passing as Leah placed the clean sheets and towels neatly in their spots on the shelves. “I’ve an extra cup here.”

  “Sounds lovely. I’ll be right there.”

  Moments later, she joined her parents in the sickroom. The master bedroom hadn’t had that qualification for years, not since Grandmother Somerville’s final lingering illness. Now despite the pretty floral wallpaper, the hand-stitched quilt, and other needlework accessories that always gave it such a welcoming air, it had that same stuffy odor again, all closed up from winter. Leah softly approached the walnut four-poster and gave her father a thin smile. “Daddy.”

  Graham Somerville’s dark eyes glistened in recognition, and he attempted as much of a smile as he could manage from his propped-up position on half a dozen pillows. His pallor was nearly the same hue as his thinning gray hair. And he appeared so frail now, so… small.

  Sitting on the bed next to him, Mother offered him spoonfuls of tea. “He’s looking better, don’t you think?” she asked a little too brightly. “Any day now he’ll be jumping up and dancing a jig, wait and see.”

  “You do look well, Daddy,” Leah said dutifully, turning to pour herself a cup of the hot brew and moving to the window. “It’s lovely outside today. Like spring, almost. The orchards will soon be filled with apple blossoms.” But even as she passed along the cheerful news, she sensed that his recovery, if the Lord so willed, would be a long, hard one. Doc Fredericks was skeptical there would be much improvement.

  Mother glanced her way. “I suppose Will told you his big news.”

  “Yes, just before I came inside. He certainly seemed thrilled.” To say the least. Unlike me, he was smart enough to have expected it. It was all Leah could do to suppress her innermost feelings. Switching her attention to the lace curtain panels, she gazed through them as she sipped some of her drink.

  “Well, actually,” Mother went on, “your father and I discussed the idea some time ago. Of course, we were thinking of the future, but that’s of no consequence. It’s time Will took on more responsibility. And getting married goes a long way in bringing about that end. Martha will make a fine wife. She’s been practically a fixture around here since you girls were in pigtails making mud pies for your dolls.”

  “She’ll feel right at home,” Leah said, surprised that she’d spoken aloud. “Well, no doubt Willis will be bringing her back with him for supper. I’d best see about starting the meal. Keep resting, Daddy. Get strong.” Setting her empty cup on the tray, she smiled at her mother and left the room.

  As she expected, Willis had Marty by the hand when he came home. The pair disposed of their coats, slipped off their boots at the boot tray, then padded into the kitchen.

  “Well, Sis, here she is,” Will said proudly. “My soon-to-be bride.” He drew out a chair and seated her. “Think I’ll go tell Mom and Dad the good news. Be right back.” And like that, he was gone, his cheery whistle indicating his progress up the stairs.

  “Were you shocked?” Martha asked in the sudden quiet, her heart-shaped face serious as she met Leah’s gaze.

  “A little.” Leah rinsed the potato she’d been peeling and quartered it before adding it to the stew simmering in the big pot. “Not that you’re marrying my brother, but that it’s going to be so soon.”

  Marty toyed with a strand of fair hair, a wistful expression making her dainty features all the more beautiful. “Well, I certainly was surprised. I’m still reeling from the fact that I love Willis in the first place. Especially since you and I vowed neither of us would marry until we were at least thirty.”

  “Perhaps we thought nothing would change as long as we didn’t take that step,” Leah replied. “Funny, the things one believes when it seems life will last forever.” She dried her hands on her apron and eased herself down onto the seat across from Martha. “But you’ll be good for Will. You’ve always been able to curb that reckless streak in him. He acts older when you’re around.”

  “Thanks. I think.” A dry smile curved her lips. “You make it sound as if I’m robbing the cradle.”

  “You know what I mean. You bring out my brother’s best qualities. You always have, really. Even when he was a lad, sneaking up on us to toss a frog down our pinafores. One smile from you, and he would forget the mischief and all but sprout a halo.”

  Marty sputtered into a giggle, and Leah joined in.

  “What’s all this about mischief?” her brother’s voice interrupted as he strode into the room. “A fellow leaves for one minute, and suddenly there’s secrets being bandied about behind his back.” With an adoring grin, he slid into the chair beside his fiancée’s and clasped her fingers in his.

  “Oh, nothing, sweetheart,” she answered coyly. “Just girl talk. You needn’t be concerned about it.”

  “All I’m concerned about is supper. When’s it gonna be done?”

  “Hold your horses, little brother,” Leah chided. “Everything’s cooking. Soon as my best friend and I set the table, it’ll be nearly finished.” She eyed him keenly. “So when is the big day to be, anyway?”

  He and Marty exchanged heart-stopping smiles. “We’re going to try for the end of April,” she answered breathlessly.

  But that’s only a month away! Leah almost blurted out. Instead, she drew a slow breath and quieted her voice. “Will that give you enough time to arrange everything?”

  “What’s to arrange?” Her brother flicked a crumb from the tablecloth with his fingernail. “All we need’s a preacher and a church.”


  “And a gown, flowers, relatives and friends, and food to feed them,” Martha added. She gazed up at Leah. “You will help with my gown, won’t you? You’re so good at beading. We’ll work on yours, too, of course.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” Leah said. “We’ll make the most special bridal dress the world has ever seen.”

  “Women!” Will said in derision. “If it were up to you to run the world, everything would have to be a big production.”

  She and Martha traded pitying glances. “You know getting married is an important step in a girl’s life,” Leah reminded him. “It should be a day she’ll always look back on with joy.”

  A rosy flush crested the honey blond’s fine cheekbones. “I can’t believe this is happening already,” she said softly. “Everything’s suddenly being set into motion.”

  “Which brings us back to the subject of your gown,” Leah said, reaching over the table to pat her friend’s hand. “Maybe tomorrow we can impose on my handsome brother to drive us into town so we can choose the fabrics we’ll need. Satin or taffeta or silk, perhaps. What color would you like me to wear, Marty?”

  “I hadn’t even thought about it yet. Let’s wait until we see what’s available.”

  “Speaking of available, Sis,” Will cut in, “isn’t it about time you start thinking of encouraging some of the interested males at church who’ve been after me to put in a good word for them? Or are you planning on staying here forever? We could use a good cook and washerwoman, I guess. It would give the two of us more time for… other more enjoyable pastimes.” He jabbed Marty in the ribs, and she turned beet red.

  Leah didn’t dignify his remark with a response. She merely got up to check on the stew and found it ready to eat. “Mind helping set the table?” she asked Martha. “And Will, go tell Mother supper’s ready.”

  “Sure, sure. What I need is one more female here to keep me in my place,” he said with a good-natured grin. But he sprang to his feet and did as bidden.

  “That was ungallant of him,” Martha commented, taking bowls out of the cupboard. “Suggesting you’ll be in the way here. I hope you don’t feel that to be true.” She crossed to the table and set them out before going back for silverware.

  Leah gave a silent huff. “Oh, he’s just being the tactless brother, as always. But I’ve no intention of remaining underfoot around here after you two marry.”