Blessed With a New Beginning: An Inspirational Historical Romance Book

by Lilah Rivers

  “What’s on the menu for today?” Hank asked as soon as they walked in the door.

  Clementine laughed.

  “For a hungry man like you? I was planning to roast a whole cow, but instead I’ve simply tried a new recipe,” she said.

  “Too bad. But I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve got,” Hank replied.

  David had noticed that the two of them were able to chat with more ease. He wondered if he was the one making things slow and awkward with Clementine. If she was so easily able to make friends with others, it had to be his fault that they were so stilted in their conversations.

  She brought out quite a magnificent meal, something that he was surprised by.

  Alongside a lean cut of chicken, she had roasted chopped potatoes and topped them with melted cheese. On the side was a uniquely spiced pile of boiled cabbage.

  “Hank, will you please pray for us?” Mrs. Roberta asked.

  “Of course,” he replied. “Dear Lord, we give you thanks for your provisions. Bless this food, bless the hands that made it, and give us wisdom as you guide our paths. Amen.”

  With that, they all dug in, indulging in the creative ways that Clementine had put the ingredients together.

  “Where did you come up with all of this?” Hank asked.

  “My mother was a tremendous cook. She taught me that experimentation was the key,” she replied.

  “You are every bit as magnificent as she was,” Mrs. Roberta said.

  “Thank you,” Clementine said, a blush working its way in her cheeks.

  “You ought to be cooking for a husband, not an old woman like me,” Mrs. Roberta said.

  David watched as she grew even shyer at the statement.

  “Well, perhaps one day,” she replied.

  It was nice that they were finally eating all together. David thought he might finally be able to learn a little bit more about Clementine if he observed her with her aunt.

  “I think you will make the most wonderful wife and mother. Don’t you, boys? She is just the loveliest, most caring young woman,” Mrs. Roberta gushed.

  David understood that Mrs. Roberta would surely approve of her as her niece, but he could not deny that he agreed. She really was a splendid young lady from all that he had seen of her thus far.

  “I think you’re right, Mrs. Roberta,” Hank agreed, freely. “She’s going to make some man mighty happy one day.”

  “It’s too bad that you aren’t looking for a match or I’d have you for a son-in-law in a heartbeat,” Mrs. Roberta teased him.

  David was relieved that nobody tried to tease him about it, as it would have made him embarrassed to know that he really had considered it. But he saw that Clementine didn’t mind so much when Hank was the object of it. Maybe she knew, as he did, that Hank was interested elsewhere and there was no possibility of Mrs. Roberta’s joke coming true.

  “You know, I just realized that I forgot something out in the barn,” Hank said suddenly. “I’ll be right back.”

  David watched him go, wondering if he should follow and help with anything. But as Hank didn’t ask and it seemed like just something that he had misplaced, there didn’t appear to be any reason to follow.

  “Can I get anything else for anyone?” Clementine asked.

  “I would love some more of those potatoes,” Mrs. Roberta said.

  “As would I,” David agreed.

  Clementine heaped them on each of their plates and Mrs. Roberta ate a couple before setting her plate down.

  “Oh, I should have asked him to get me some of that nice wax thread that he has out there. I’m going to run out and see if I can find it before my afternoon needlepoint,” Roberta said.

  She departed quickly, deliberately. For a moment, David wondered why it was such an urgent issue.

  When he realized that he was suddenly alone with Clementine, David thought that this was a very awkward and uncomfortable moment. But he also believed he was being silly in thinking that.

  There was no reason to be so ill at ease with her. He could just as easily have been left alone with Mrs. Roberta and he would not have felt any discomfort at all, would he?

  “Are you enjoying the work?” she asked, breaking the silence.

  “Very much,” he said, relieved that they had something to talk about. “This is what God created me to do.”

  “It must be nice having that assurance,” she said.

  “It is. Sometimes I have doubted what I was meant for, but he has made it clear that I am the man for this and that this is the work for me. I can’t explain it any better than that,” he said.

  “I have often wondered what he has meant for me,” she mused.

  It was a moment in which he knew that he could pry. David wondered what sort of thoughts were behind her uncertainty. How did she handle it? How was she feeling in regards to the wait that she was patiently enduring?

  “You really are a good cook,” he offered, thinking that at least there was a skill that no one could deny.

  “Thank you. I think my aunt is too kind with her words, but I certainly enjoy cooking,” she said. “She said that I should open a boarding house and cook there, but I think she was probably just being kind. People do that. Especially when they know that you are seeking how to spend your days.”

  “I don’t think she was being too kind. She was right. Your food is lovely,” he said.

  David didn’t want to sound as though he was suggesting that he ought to be the one she cooked for in the future, but realized that he was probably being paranoid.

  “Thank you. I mean it. And I am glad that you are enjoying it. May I get you anything more?” she offered again.

  “I think I would burst if you did,” he laughed.

  David was tempted to ask her about her life and what had led her here to Feldey, but it did not seem like the right time to open up about these things. Besides, if he asked her, she might ask him in return.

  “Do you plan to stay with your aunt for a long time?” he asked, thinking it a better question.

  “Oh, yes. Probably forever. I have no other family left and neither does she. It makes sense that we be together,” Clementine said. “And you?”

  “I think probably so. I like it here. I’m new and still don’t know anyone that well, but it is a very nice area and I have been treated so well that I can hardly complain,” he said.

  “I have noticed that as well. Most people are so friendly. Nothing like the city,” she said.

  David agreed. Although he had never lived in a large city, he had passed through a few and had determined that he was not suited for them. He was much happier in a place like Feldey.

  “Got it,” Mrs. Roberta said, coming through the door just then. She looked between the two of them as if to analyze the mood of the room before sitting.

  After David got up to get back to his work, he realized how much he had been thinking about Clementine’s opinion of him. There was no reason for it and it was the very last thing he should have been considering after the broken heart that he was trying to heal.

  He had only given himself a few short weeks since leaving home, and it had only been a month before that when Georgia chose another man. It had not been nearly enough time since that heartache to start noticing another woman.

  That evening, in his little makeshift house, David sat down to try and process through some of the thoughts that he was having about Clementine and his heartache.

  He knew that there was only one thing he could do, and that was to pray.

  “Lord, my God,” David said from his knees, “You know the hurts of my heart. You know the pains that I have experienced of late. And I know that you are in control of it all. Thank you for bringing me to Feldey, for showing me this place where I can start over. Thank you for giving me a new home.

  “With everything that has happened in the past few months, I have often not given you the gratitude and honor due unto you for your goodness and your provision. Thank you, Lord,
for looking out for me and ensuring that I am well,” he prayed.

  “My Lord, there is still a request that I have and that is for you to heal my heart of the brokenness that it feels through the loss of Georgia. Now, here in Feldey as I begin a new life, I ask for wisdom and guidance in my journey. Amen.”

  David felt better after having prayed the prayer. He was at peace with the fact that everything was in God’s hands and his heart could be mended.

  Still, he wondered when things would begin to show the fruit of his labors. There was much that he wanted from life and it was taking a toll in not having those things just now.

  When they would come, he trusted that it would be God who would provide them. But until then, he would have to wait patiently.

  Chapter 7

  Clementine could not wait for the day that lay ahead. Spending time with Chelsea in town? It was exciting to think that she had made a friend and would be able to indulge in being a young woman for a while.

  She thought that it just might be the first time in two years that she had been able to relax and just enjoy herself. So, when Chelsea arrived at the ranch, Clementine was more than ready to go.

  “Good morning, how are you?” she greeted, enthusiastically.

  “Very well. Are you ready to see Feldey?” Chelsea asked.

  “Extremely. My Aunt showed me things that we passed by when we went to church on Sunday, but nothing more than that. I haven’t had a chance to spend any other time around the town and I am dearly looking forward to it,” she said.

  “That is very well then, because I think that you are going to like it. There are some very nice shops and a few wonderful bakeries and whatnot. Is there anything in particular that you need? Are you well set with ribbons and the like?” Chelsea asked.

  Clementine thought about it. Of course, she would love to indulge in the purchase of ribbons and dresses and all manner of frivolous buying, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that. There was only so much money that she had left over from her mother and father and she wanted to save it in case there was an emergency or some unexpected reason she might need to use it.

  “I think I should just like to see the town for today. Maybe another time, we can shop and buy things. But for right now, I would just like to see what all there is and what the town is like,” she said.

  “All right then. I think we should start near my favorite bakery,” Chelsea said.

  Clementine agreed to that and they rode a cart into town and got out right by one of the bakeries near the edge of the main road.

  “Here, you have to try one of these,” Chelsea said, purchasing two small cakes that they could enjoy.

  “Oh my goodness, that is tremendous,” Clementine said. “Thank you so much.”

  “You are more than welcome. This is Feldey and we treat our newcomers well. You are our new friend and it would not be very Christian of me to be inhospitable,” Chelsea said.

  “I suppose that’s true. And your father? Has he been the Reverend here for very long?” Clementine asked.

  “Since before I was born. He was a young man who had just finished his studies and was looking for a rectory when Feldey was being established as a town. They sent him here because the congregation and town were so small that they thought a young man like him could not do anything to ruin it,” she explained.

  “Really? They had so little faith in him?” Clementine asked.

  “I think they had little faith in all of the young men. But before long, the town started to grow and so did the church. My father did a great job to grow and disciple people. He even helped a few leave behind their sinful lifestyles,” Chelsea bragged.

  “That is wonderful. He seems like a great man,” Clementine said.

  She wondered if he had said anything to Chelsea about the fact that he hadn’t seemed to like Clementine very much. Was she mistaken? Or did he have something against her? She couldn’t help but wonder but did not want it to pollute her new friendship.

  “I suppose there must be a lot of pressure, being his daughter. Do people expect you to act a certain way?” she asked.

  “Sometimes. But I don’t do things that would get me noticed anyway. I am certainly far from perfect, but I have no external vices that would cause anyone alarm. It is sad how people always look at the outside for flaws and pay so little attention to the infirmities within,” she said.

  Clementine was still living on suspicions, but she did wonder if Chelsea was speaking as much about Hank as she was about sin.

  “And do people expect you to marry a clergyman?” Clementine asked.

  “Ha! Whether they do or don’t, I can’t say. What I do know is that if I were to fall in love with a clergyman, I would marry him. But there would be no other reason for it,” she said.

  “Are there a great deal of young men around here? Not that I am seeking one for myself, I am only curious,” Clementine asked.

  “Oh, I understand. And no, there are not too many. But the ones that there are here are highly sought after,” she giggled.

  Clementine nodded, understanding that well.

  “Well, I think that whomever finds himself in your heart is a lucky man,” Clementine said.

  Chelsea did not respond and she knew that they had not yet reached a level of trust in which they might share their feelings on this topic. Clementine didn’t mind. She hardly wanted to talk about her own heart yet.

  “This is my favorite place to buy shoes. When I was a girl and my feet were growing, every year my mother would bring me here and purchase a pair of shoes. Even the years when my feet did not grow, she would buy me a pair just so that I had something nice and new,” Chelsea said.

  “You must miss her dearly,” Clementine remarked.

  “Certainly I do. But as you said, you understand the loss. I cannot imagine losing both my mother and my father as you have,” she replied.

  “Yes, indeed, it was difficult. And my brother and sisters are gone, leaving just me and Aunt Roberta,” she said.

  “I did not know that you had lost siblings as well. I am sorry. That is truly tragic. My mother and father had no other children so I was always bound to be alone in that,” Chelsea said.

  “Do you wish that they had?” Clementine asked.

  “Of course. It would mean having a good deal of company for all of my lonely days,” she replied.

  “Do you have many of those?” Clementine asked.

  Chelsea sighed. “There are not many young woman around that I would like to spend my days with, and as the daughter of the Reverend, most of my meetings are with women from the rectory. I am glad that you are here because it means that I can finally have a good friend,” she said.

  Just then, as they walked towards another of Chelsea’s favorite places that she had mentioned, Tabitha came strolling over to them with her awkward gait.

  “Hello, ladies,” she greeted, appearing a bit more chipper than she had before.