by Indiana Wake
“Now, I have jobs to do here,” she said in mock objection before leaning forward for another kiss. “And you are distracting me,” she went on, running her hands through his thick black hair and kissing him again.
“Forget the jobs,” Joe said in a low voice full of desire.
“Wait a minute, tell me about your father first. Wasn’t he upset to see you go?”
“No, he really was thrilled. In fact, he was so proud of me that he announced to the entire office that his one and only son was now a published author. I tried to tell him that I wasn’t actually published yet, but he waved it away, just a little detail.” Joe laughed, his handsome face so full of ease and happiness that Amanda’s heart could have burst with pride.
“I agree with your father; you will be published, you’re going to be published, you’re practically published now.” Amanda ran her fingers down his cheek and across his chin, feeling the beginnings of stubble.
Despite working for his father, Joe had worked tirelessly on the story of Thomas Graine until it was a work of beauty and perfection. From the moment he had taken it to his old professor at Willamette University, everything had seemed to suddenly speed up.
Unable to put the manuscript down, Joe’s old professor had read the thing from one end to the other in no time at all and declared it to be, in his opinion, a very fine piece of work indeed. It had only been two short weeks later that Joe had received a letter from one of the largest publishers in Oregon. They wanted his book and they wanted him to write more.
“I will be published. But I am going to need to work for my father for a little while longer to keep things going until I’m confident that there will be enough money to support us.”
“I know, but there will be.”
“You’ve never doubted it, have you? From the very beginning, you believed in me.”
“From the very first second. And nobody reading the first few pages of your book could have doubted it either. When I told you it was wonderful, I was speaking the truth.”
“I believe in you too, Amanda.”
“I know you do.”
“I don’t think you know what I mean.” Joe was smiling at her, untying her hair and letting it flow in thick chestnut waves down her back before running his fingers through it.
“Oh, don’t I?”
“You’ve trusted me and believed in me. You carried on working at the diner when there is so much more to you than that, when you have so much more to give to the world.”
“Well, once your success begins to take a hold, perhaps I will have a think about trying to get a job in the school.”
“How about trying to get your qualifications first?”
“I don’t need any particular qualifications to work in the little school,” Amanda said, her heart beginning to pound.
“I know that, but it’s not about needing qualifications. It’s about wanting them, about having that experience of studying.”
“Do you mean for me to study as you did?” Amanda’s voice felt tight with emotion.
“Yes, only better.” He chuckled. “You are already as knowledgeable as I am, and you haven’t yet been to university. Goodness knows how I will keep up with you once you’ve earned a degree.”
“A degree?” Amanda’s eyes were wide. “You really mean it?”
“Of course, I mean it.”
“Where would I go? I don’t even know which universities and colleges accept women.”
“Then it will be an adventure. We’ll find out together and, wherever it is, that’s where we’ll go. There are some universities which offer education for women, there won’t be any trouble finding a place for you.”
“But what about your work?”
“A writer can work from anywhere, can’t he?” He shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be here in Oregon. Once I’ve made enough money to leave the law practice, the world is our oyster. We are young and free, and we can go anywhere we choose.”
“But what about babies? You can’t always time them just right, can you?” Amanda said, not really putting it up as an objection but rather testing the water to see if her husband had considered the thing at all.
“What about babies? Nearly twenty years ago my mother managed to get a medical degree and I was only a child. Let’s not put any obstacles in our own way because I truly believe that there isn’t anything we can’t overcome. Let’s just take it all as it happens; babies, studying, the next book, whatever it is, we’ll do it together. Of everything I want in my life, there is only one thing I can’t live without, and that’s you.”
“And you are the only thing I can’t live without,” Amanda said and smiled up at him. “I love you so much, Joe.”
“And I love you, Amanda. We’ve got a wonderful life ahead, my beautiful wife, let’s run toward it hand-in-hand.”
“Deal,” Amanda said and closed her eyes as her handsome husband kissed her again.
If You missed book one grab Suki’s Heart or read on for a preview of the next wonderful story in this series.
Katie’s Courage Preview
Katie’s Courage Preview
I hope you enjoy this preview. Katie’s Courage is available now, grab it here or read on for a preview
Katie Clements pushed her soft brown hair out of her eyes and sighed. It was only late Spring, but the weather was already warm, and her exertions had made her skin uncomfortably dewy.
She was taking the saddle off her horse, having already brushed down her step-father’s horse, and was ready for her evening meal. It had been a long day and the work had been hard as it always was. However, since money had become tight and the takings had gone down again, the hard work had an extra layer to it, in that it felt as if it were somehow all in vain.
“Good boy, Horace.” Katie said, whispering to her hardworking horse as she lifted the saddle from his back.
As soon as she had hung his saddle in the stable, Katie returned to Horace to give him a gentle and well-deserved brush. He waited patiently, as he always did, knowing that his beloved mistress would not simply put him into the paddock without his daily reward. He continued to snort happily, his tail swishing from side to side.
“Horace?” A man’s voice from behind her made her turn sharply. “I thought Horace was that terrible wooden toy horse you had.” The man smiled; he looked familiar.
“Excuse me?” Katie felt confused.
She knew she knew this man; it was just going to take her tired mind a moment or two to place him. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with a good helping of grey hair in amongst so much that was thick and ash brown. He wore the clothes of a working man; heavy denim trousers, a dark blue plaid shirt, and sturdy brown boots. But his clothes looked well-kept, as if they hadn’t seen much work on a ranch, farm, or somewhere similar. The man fit in, and yet he didn’t at the same time. Who was he?
“Horace, if I remember correctly, was the name you gave to the terrible looking wooden horse my father made for you.” And now she knew who he was; had she known all along?
“Clay?” She said, staring at him and only vaguely aware of the real-life Horace’s hoof pounding lightly on the grey flagstones; he was a sweetheart, but one who did not like to be kept waiting.
“Hi Katie.” He said, clearly having no trouble identifying her at all.
Katie stared at him open-mouthed, her eyes wide. Her surprise seemed to amuse him and his amusement, in turn, made her angry. How could he just stride back into their lives after eighteen years?
“If you are looking for your father, he’s already in the house. We just finished work for the day.” Katie was surprised by the flat tone she managed to speak in when her heart was pounding with shock.
There before her was a man she had not set eyes on since she was just nine years old. Clay Horton was the son of Marlon Horton, her step-father.
Katie’s mother, Charlotte, had married Marlon Horton out on the Oregon Trail when Katie was just three years old and Clay just twelve. They had bo
th lost their spouse; Charlotte to the Trail and Marlon just months before. But what had begun as a marriage of convenience had eventually become so much more; a loving, happy union. But whereas Katie, just a small child, had accepted Marlon and Clay Horton into her heart the way only an infant can, Clay had not been so easy to convince.
A sullen twelve-year-old boy became a sullen eighteen-year-old man in the blink of an eye, and that man had enlisted in the Army and left Oregon for good; or so it seemed.
“Well, I guess I’m looking for all of you. Dad, Charlotte, and you. Not-so-little Katie.” He grinned, although Katie was certain she could see the nerves beneath the bluster. Had he always been so full of confidence? She thought not. Perhaps the Army did wonders for a man in that regard. “I’m interrupting you. Should I just go on up to the house?” He peered over his shoulder with a tiny hint of uncertainty.
“No, wait.” Katie said waspishly. “I want to give Mama and Marlon a little warning. Marlon works his heart out all day every day, I don’t want the shock flooring him.”
“He is ill?” Clay said, his face full of concern.
“Not ill, just exhausted. We all are.” Katie’s anger was building bit by bit. “But then you’d know that if you’d ever bothered to come home.”
“Katie, I was a soldier. You don’t just get to come home when you feel like it. The Civil War was still raging two years ago.”
“Yes, but not for eighteen years.” Katie had no intention of letting him off the hook.
“I know.” He bowed his head a little, his eyes averted.
Katie took another good look at him. He was, without a doubt, Clay Horton. The years had added some weight and muscle. He looked strong; a far cry from the wiry young man who had left all those years before. His hair was lighter than she remembered, and not just because of the liberal sprinkling of grey; it looked faded altogether. Maybe so many years of marching everywhere and in all weathers. Maybe it was a soldier’s lot.
“You were a soldier?” Katie said when his words finally caught up with her. “Does that mean you’re not a soldier anymore?”
“That’s right.”
“Why? What happened?” Her curiosity had replaced her anger, but only temporarily.
“I left.” He shrugged. “I didn’t get thrown out, if that’s what you’re thinking. I guess I’d just had enough after eighteen years is all.”
“And now you’re back.” She said, her hostility fully returned to her.
“That’s right.” He nodded.
He held her gaze now as if he was getting a little tired of the frosty reception.
“For how long?”
“I want to help my father out with the farm.” He said and she smirked. “What?”
“I guess a straight answer would be too much like a commitment for a man who’s used to getting up and running out when he’s in the mood to, huh?”
“Or maybe I want to have a good long conversation with my father before I start answering your questions, Miss Snippy!” He retorted; amusement edged with anger of his own.
Katie smiled on the inside, the resistance to her hostility was a little impressive, she had to admit. And on a much better day, Clay Horton would have been impressive to her in other ways too. He would be thirty-six now, it was true, but the kind of thirty-six which would be attractive to her twenty-seven-year-old self. Although now she could see something of the boy that he’d been all those years ago, his face had come on a lot more handsome than she would have imagined. There was something easy in his expression now, something which certainly had not been there all those years ago, and it made him handsome in a kind of cocky way. Katie couldn’t work out if that was going to be something she liked, or something which annoyed her further still.
All in all, she knew there was just too much other emotional luggage to decide there and then if she was going to like Marlon Horton’s son. She had all those years ago, despite the fact he had been moody and non-communicative. But that was then; she’d been a child and they always care easier than adults.
“I’ll finish up with Horace and then I’ll take you down to the house.” She said, tossing her soft brown ponytail haughtily as she turned back to brushing her horse.
“Sure thing.” He mumbled and she could hear his feet pacing back and forth on the gravel behind her.
Katie couldn’t help but think he must be nervous, and the quickening of his pacing would seem to confirm it. And why wouldn’t he be nervous? He was about to walk into a household he hadn’t seen for half his life. He was going back to a father he’d only communicated with by letter for the better part of two decades.
For a moment, as she brushed Horace’s silky chestnut back, Katie found herself feeling a little sorry for Clay. Whilst she would never have said as much to him, she put herself in his boots for a minute and wondered how on earth she would feel in his place. How would she approach her mama if she’d been away for so long? What would her first words be?
Unfortunately for Katie, her imagination had always been a little too good and now she knew exactly how she would feel. Awful. Guilty. Worst of all, afraid to walk in the door and find nobody loved her anymore.
She took a deep breath; she wasn’t done being angry with Clay Horton yet. She had hardly even begun. If she was going to start feeling sorry for him, she could do that another day.
Finally, Katie led a well-brushed Horace over to the paddock and left him with the rest of the horses. She turned to look at Clay only to find that he had stopped pacing and was now watching her closely.
“Well, shall we?” She said and raised her eyebrows, fighting the urge to feel sorry for him once more.
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Also by Indiana Wake
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About the Author
Indiana Wake was born in Denver Colorado where she learned to love the outdoors and horses. At the age of eleven, her parents moved to the United Kingdom to follow her father’s career.
It was a strange and foreign new world and it took a while for her to settle down. Her mom raised horses and Indiana soon learned to ride. She would often escape on horseback imagining she was back in the Wild West. As well as horses, Indiana escaped into fiction and dreamed of all the friends she had left behind.
From an early age, she loved stories. They were always sweet and clean and more often than not, included horses, cowboys and most importantly of all a happy ever after. As she got older, she would often be found making up her own stories and would tell them to anyone who would listen.
As she grew up, she continued to write but marriage and a job stole some of her dreams. Then one day she was discussing with a friend at church, how hard it was to get sweet an
d clean fiction. Though very shy about her writing Indiana agreed to share one of her stories. That friend loved the story and suggested she publish it on Amazon Kindle. Together they worked really hard and the rest, as they say, is history.
Indiana has had multiple number one bestsellers and now makes her living from her writing. She believes she was truly blessed to be given this opportunity and thanks each and every one of her readers for making her dream come true.
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Thank you so much for reading this book. I love to write and to share my stories with you and hearing your wonderful comments gives me great pleasure. Until our next adventure keep well my friend xx
©Copyright 2019 Indiana Wake
All Rights Reserved
Indiana Wake
License Notes
This Book is licensed for personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold. Your continued respect for author's rights is appreciated.
This story is a work of fiction any resemblance to people is purely coincidence. All places, names, events, businesses, etc. are used in a fictional manner. All characters are from the imagination of the author.
