Contents
BOOK 1 - Rebellion in Riversleigh
Foreward
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter16
Chapter 17
Scene
BOOK 2 Problems in Paradise
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Scene
BOOK 3 Trouble in Town
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Bonus First Chapter of "Hank & Sarah"
BOOK 1 - Rebellion in Riversleigh
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Copyright © year Juliette Duncan
All rights reserved.
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Foreward
The Prequel to "The Madeleine Richards Series", Hank and Sarah - A Love Story, is a FREE thank you gift for joining the author’s mailing list. Click now to sign up and get this lovely Christian romance.
Chapter 1
Madeleine Richards was woken by a piercing screech on the morning of her twelfth birthday, the day before her world changed forever. Racing downstairs, not caring that she was still in her skimpy pajamas, she flew out the back door like a mad woman running for her life.
Arms flailing, she yelled at the horrible yellow dog that was harassing her precious chickens. "Get out of here! Shoo! Leave my chickens alone!"
The dog took one look at her and fled. The chickens were still squawking loudly as she entered the coop. She counted them to make sure they were all there. Yes, thank goodness. The girls had outsmarted him again.
"Maddy! What's happened?"
Maddy turned to see her mother running down the stairs towards her.
"That dog was here again!" She shivered and rubbed her arms briskly. "We're going to have to do something about it, or one day it's going to kill them."
She picked up a fluffy hen and cradled it in her arms. "There, there, Henrietta. You'll be okay."
"I'll try to find out whose dog it is. Someone has to know where it comes from.” Sarah looked fondly at her only daughter. “Anyway, no harm done today. Come and get something on. It's freezing out here! And by the way… Happy Birthday!"
"Thank you, Mom! I'd almost forgotten!"
Maddy placed Henrietta carefully on her roost, and then dashed back to the warmth of the bungalow she shared with her mom. She pulled on the sweater that she'd left in the kitchen the night before, and then offered to help make pancakes for breakfast.
"I don’t think I can wait until this afternoon for my party to start," Maddy said as she mixed up the batter. "Can’t we ask the girls to come over early before we go skating?"
“No, that won't work… sorry sweetie, you'll just have to wait! Hank's coming for breakfast. In fact, he should be here any minute, and then we’re taking you somewhere special… a kind of a surprise, so you’ll just have to wait until this afternoon to meet up with your friends."
"A surprise! What is it, Mom? Come on! Please tell me!" Maddy pleaded.
The look on Maddy’s face almost made Sarah give in and tell her, but instead she replied, “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?"
"I guess not. But why is Hank coming for breakfast? Can't we just have it together… just the two of us?"
Just then, the throaty rumble of Hank's pickup entering the driveway alerted her to his arrival. She made a face at her mom. Sarah chose to ignore it, and proceeded to open the door to let him in.
"Hi darling," he said as he bent down and kissed her tenderly. Maddy turned her head. Why did he have to come and spoil her special day?
"Happy birthday, Maddy." Hank smiled as he pulled a chair out and sat at the kitchen table.
"Thank you," she replied tersely, relieved that he hadn't tried to give her a kiss as well.
"These smell great, Sarah! Just what I need after that long drive!"
"Thank you darling! We made them together, didn't we, Maddy?"
Maddy nodded. Sarah uncovered the pile of pancakes, and Maddy reached out to take one.
"Wait a minute, Maddy. We need to give thanks. Hank, could you do the honors?" Sarah placed her hand on top of his and gave him one of her mushy looks.
Another delay! Don't they know how hungry I am, Maddy thought. Plus, I have to hold hands with Hank while he gives thanks. Gross.
Finally she was able to eat. She sat in her normal place, opposite her mom, with Hank sitting between them. She didn't like having him at their table. It just didn't feel right. Not that he was a bad person or anything, but it just wasn't the same. She thought it was like having an intruder joining them at the table for breakfast.
Although she kind of liked him, she didn't like sharing her mom with him. She hated it when her mom got all goey goey gush gush when he was around, and when they hugged and kissed, which they did a lot. She thought it was pretty gross. Anyway, today was her birthday, so she decided not to think about that.
She tried to ignore him, and focused on the pancakes instead.
"These are great, Mom. I think we did pretty well," she said, quaffing down her third pancake in a row.
"Yes, we did! We make a good team, don't we, Maddy? Now, eat up, because we need to get going."
"Where to, Mom? Come on, tell me! It's my birthday, after all!" Maddy pleaded again.
Sarah gave in. "Well, I guess you'd know soon enough anyway. We're taking you shopping at Grenville to get your birthday present. But you'll have to wait until we get there to find out what you're getting."
"Grenville? Cool! But can't you tell me what it is? Even a clue would be good!"
"I told you before, Maddy. It's a surprise, so you'll just have to wait and see," Sarah replied as she cleared the dishes from the table. "Run along and get out of your pajamas. You can't go shopping like that!"
Maddy ran upstairs and jumped into her favorite faded blue denim jeans and bright pink sweater. She stopped to cuddle the big ginger cat who was lying in the sun on the end of her bed. "Don’t stay here all day, Dynamo. Love you." She kissed the top of his head, and then raced back downstairs.
Sarah and Hank were climbing into the pickup when she pulled the door behind her and ran down the steps. Phew! Mom's sitting beside Hank, which means I don't need to sit in the middle. That's a relief.
It was a thirty minute drive into Grenville, the next biggest town along Interstate 90, and she drove her mom
crazy the whole time with her constant questions about what shop they were going to. Sarah didn't give in, though, so Maddy still didn't know what she was getting when they pulled into the car park of the shopping mall.
It was the first sunny Saturday morning they'd had since winter, and the shopping mall was abuzz with people out shopping. They managed to squeeze their way through the crowds and started strolling past one shop after another. Maddy watched her mom carefully to see if there was any indication as to what shop they might be going to. There wasn't.
She didn't know all the shops in the mall, but she knew the bike shop was coming up. She'd had her fingers crossed behind her back as they walked past the clothing stores. She hoped they weren't going to stop at any of them. No way did she want clothes for a birthday present. But a new bike would be cool!
When they stopped in front of the bike store, Maddy was excited. "Is that what I'm getting? A new bike?" she asked, pulling her mom's arm and dancing up and down until she remembered where she was. A little embarrassed with all those people around, she stopped and waited for her mom's reply.
"Yes, sweetie, that's the surprise!" Sarah gave her a huge smile. Forgetting what people would think, Maddy hugged her right there and then.
"Hank and I decided to get you a bike together, but we thought we’d let you choose which one you’d like. We hoped you’d be happy about that!"
"Oh, yes I am. Thank you both so much! This is the best birthday ever!"
Maddy grabbed Sarah's hand and pulled her into the shop. Hank followed, but when they stopped at the back of the store in front of the mountain bikes, he offered to look at them with her. It seemed he knew a lot about bikes, which Maddy thought was funny. She'd never thought of him riding a bike.
It took a while, but she finally decided on a blue mountain bike with twenty-one gears.
"Good choice, Maddy," Hank said. "We thought you might like this one, knowing how much you and Hannah like riding through the woods. We'll pay for it and put it in the pickup, and then we have another treat for you."
"Another treat! Cool!" She'd forgotten for a moment about not wanting Hank there. She had to admit that he'd been very helpful when it came to choosing the bike, and he was paying for half of it as well. She decided that just for now she should try to be friendly.
"Yes, we thought we'd go to Chick'n Flips for lunch," Sarah joined in.
"My favorite place!" The day was just getting better and better.
They didn't have far to walk, but when they got there, it seemed that everybody else had also decided to go there for lunch. It was really crowded and noisy, but they were lucky enough to notice a family just leaving, so they quickly grabbed that table.
"I think I'll have roast chicken," Maddy said.
"Well, that's a surprise!" Sarah joked. "I think I'll have fish."
They chatted as they ate, and Hank told Maddy a bit about his work at the hospital. She thought she should pretend she was interested, given that he'd just bought her a new bike and all.
Maddy already knew that Hank was a doctor in the emergency department at Smithtown Hospital, and that he got to see lots of yucky things. That day he told her told about some of the cases he'd seen recently. She almost threw up! She thought it probably wasn't the best thing to talk about when trying to eat.
That was where he'd met Sarah. She'd gone to Smithtown Hospital to do some extra training a few months previously, and Hank had been the instructor. Maddy had never seen her the way she was when she'd come home that night. She'd danced around the living room like she was floating on air. She told Maddy that she'd been asked out by the handsome doctor who was running the course, and that she'd said yes! He took her out for dinner the following weekend, and ever since then they'd been seeing each other at least twice a week. Maddy knew that her mom would to like see him more often, but she was glad that Smithtown was such a long drive away.
Maddy had just about finished her roast chicken when Sarah interrupted, and asked her if she had any room left for ice-cream.
"You bet! You know I always have room for ice-cream!" she replied, thankful for the change of topic. Sarah and Hank decided not to have any, but ordered a coffee instead. They sat and chatted to each other while Maddy devoured a big bowl of chocolate ice-cream.
"I'm so full I can hardly move! I’m not sure how I'm going to be able skate after this!" She leaned back in her chair after licking the last bit of ice-cream off the spoon.
"We're glad you've enjoyed yourself today, Maddy," Sarah said, placing her coffee cup on the table. "Now we need to head back and get ready for your party. We don't want to be late!"
Maddy was quiet on the way home. She leaned her head against her mom's shoulder, and Sarah asked her if anything was wrong. She said no, she was just thinking about the party, and the fun that she and her friends were going to have. She was also enjoying being close to her mom, but she didn't tell her that.
As they pulled into the driveway, Maddy asked Sarah if she could go for a quick ride on her bike before they left for the skating rink.
"Hank, what do you think? Is the bike ready to go?"She looked at him as she spoke, and was once again bowled over by his stunningly good looks.
"I just need to adjust the height of the seat, but then it should be okay to go for a quick ride." He’d noticed the look in Sarah’s eyes, and smiled at her.
After getting the bike out of the pickup, Hank adjusted the height of the seat and checked it over before allowing Maddy to ride down the lane-way next to the house. She usually rode as fast as she could, but she thought she should take it easy this time, at least until she got used to the new bike. The last thing she wanted to do was to come off!
Temptation got the better of her, however, and after a moment or so, she couldn't resist trying out the gears. Without much effort, she was speeding down the lane-way, her curly brown hair flying in the wind behind her.
Hank's arms were around Sarah as they stood together watching her ride off into the distance. He closed his eyes and breathed in the heady scent of her perfume.
"Maddy! Come back!" Sarah called out. The magic of the moment was broken, and Hank was brought back to reality with a thump.
Maddy was just able to hear Sarah's call from the end of the lane-way. She slowed and turned around, and then raced towards them. As she neared the house, she jammed on the brakes and skidded in the gravel.
"Maddy! When will you grow up?" Sarah jumped backwards to avoid getting covered in the flying gravel, but she laughed at her all the same.
"That was great!" Maddy said as she jumped off the bike, trying to catch her breath.
Hank said he'd put the bike away so Maddy could get ready for ice-skating. She ran upstairs and quickly grabbed her skates and her bag, and was back downstairs within a matter of minutes.
She was meeting her friends at the ice-skating rink for the afternoon session, and then they were all coming back to her house for the slumber party. She couldn't wait!
Sarah was sitting in her car with the engine running by the time she got back down. Hank was leaning on the door of the car, talking with her. It looked like he wasn't coming. Good, she thought, although a pang of guilt hit her when she remembered that he'd helped to pay for the bike.
She ran around the other side, and jumped into the passenger seat.
She turned her head when she saw Hank kissing her mom through the open window. Ooh! Why does he have to do that in front of me? Why can't he leave her alone?
"Enjoy your party, Maddy," he called out as Sarah backed the car out of the driveway. "See you tomorrow."
"Why is he coming back tomorrow?" Maddy stared at her mom with a look that could kill. "He doesn't normally come over on a Sunday."
"You'll find out soon enough."
Maddy humphed and crossed her arms, unaware that her world was about to change forever.
Chapter 2
It wasn't far to the skating rink, and as they entered the car park, Maddy saw that Hannah and Talitha
were already there. She wound down the window and called out to them. They waved and ran to the car.
Skye and Beccy had also just arrived, and they all started talking at once. They wished her happy birthday, and asked her what she'd got.
"Wow! A new bike!" Hannah said, after Maddy had told them about the trip to the bike shop that morning. "How cool is that!"
"Let's all go for a ride tomorrow," Beccy suggested.
"Sounds great!" Maddy replied. "But let's get our skates on and get out there before it fills up too much."
They made their way into the skating rink area, and found some empty seats to put their bags on. They'd agreed beforehand that they'd all wear their hair in pigtails with multi-colored ribbons. Maddy had quickly done her hair in the car, but as it never did what it was told, she knew there was no way her hair looked as good as the others.
"Let me take some photos of you all," Sarah said to the girls before they headed out onto the ice. "Come and stand over here so I can get you all in."
They lined up against the wall, and pulled funny faces at the camera. Sarah managed to get some great shots. Some sensible ones, and some not so sensible.
"Come on, Mom, that'll do," Maddy said impatiently. "We want to start skating!"
"Okay then. Off you go. Have fun!"
"Let's go!" The girls took off, holding hands as they skated around in time with the music that was booming from the loud speaker. Maddy thought it was kind of magical, gliding around on the ice, almost like dancing.
Sarah watched the girls from a distance. What a treat they looked with their hair all done up in those multi-colored ribbons. She knew they didn't care what people thought. They were just intent on having a good time together, and she was happy for them.
Maddy loved her friends. Five was a funny number for a group, but it seemed to work. Hannah McDougall was Maddy's BFF, and they hung around together all the time. She came from a big noisy family, and had two older brothers and two little sisters. Her mother treated Maddy like one of the family whenever she was there.
Beccy and Skye were twins, and they hung out with Talitha, who just had one older brother. When they were at school, all five girls hung out together, and somehow it just worked.
The Madeleine Richards Box Set (The Madeleine Richards Series Book 4) Page 1
