His Rainbow After the Rain
AN INSPIRATIONAL ROMANCE NOVEL
GRACE CLEMENS
Copyright © 2020 by Grace Clemens
All Rights Reserved.
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Table of Contents
His Rainbow After the Rain
Table of Contents
His Rainbow After the Rain
Introduction
Prologue
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
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Epilogue
The Scars of a Pure Heart
Introduction
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
His Rainbow After the Rain
Introduction
Mary Ross has just become the new local school teacher and it’s the first time she’s felt truly happy ever since her parents’ loss. Her enthusiasm won’t last for long though as her effort to modernize the town newspaper will fail miserably. Being a rebellious spirit, she wants to give voice to women, going against the mayor’s will. Her visit to the local newspaper editor will prove to be the beginning of a roller coaster of feelings. Will she regret interfering with the town’s authority or will this clash result in a dream coming true?
Philip Jenkins has been running his printing press for years. It’s a job he loves but like everything in his world, it comes with a problem; in this case, it’s the mayor, who controls the whole town. Philip is having a hard time making the right decisions as he can’t risk losing everything. When Mary enters his life, a new, completely different perspective opens before his eyes. Will he collapse under the mayor’s pressure, disappointing Mary in the worst way possible?
Mary and Philip will go through many ups and downs. Making this relationship work is much more difficult than they could ever predict, especially due to the challenges lying ahead. Will they put their strong opinions aside and cooperate for the greater good? Could love thrive when threatening troubles wait around the corner to destroy what has been built with hard work?
Prologue
Sarah flipped the paper in frustration, grumbling to herself. Her friend, Mary, sat near her behind her teacher’s desk, flipping through several magazines and books.
Mary’s green eyes darted up to her friend. Sarah was practically a sister to her, and anyone who saw them walking together would think they were real sisters. They were both blonde and slender, with smooth, pale skin and defined features. Sarah’s eyes were more hazel than green, but both women sported long eyelashes for frames.
“You are frustrated?” she asked, gently. She could see the answer written on Sarah’s face.
Sarah folded the paper and set it on the desk in front of her. She was seated in the first row at the longest table in one of the bigger chairs, which was meant for the teens who attended the schoolhouse. Mary was the teacher of the higher grades while Mrs. Edwards, who was upstairs preparing her own classes, taught the younger children, who were aged 4-11.
Sarah sat back in the chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “Maybe a little. I’m just so bored!”
Mary lifted her eyebrows. Of course Sarah was bored. She was one of the only single, wealthy socialites in their town of Glenwood, South Dakota. She was a beautiful young woman of eighteen, two years younger than Mary, and they had been close since attending that very school themselves, with Mrs. Edwards as their teacher.
Sarah didn’t have any charming young men on her arm, which anyone would have thought she should have, since she was actually a very charming young woman. But she was also headstrong and looking for a specific kind of love, a love that would sweep her off her feet but that still let her have a sensible side.
So far, she’d met only – in her words – “spineless or weak, feeble-minded or boring” men. Money was very important to her, as well, so it didn’t look like she would settle down anytime soon. She seemed to prefer spending her time with Mary, anyway, which her friend didn’t mind at all.
It was a warm spring day and as the end of the school year approached, Mary liked to let the young people out early so they could either enjoy their days or help their families around the house or farm.
Mary stood up, pushing the books she was going through away from her, and came around the desk to pick up the paper. When she stood up, so did Sarah.
Mary scanned through the paper, shaking her head. “Of course you can’t find anything interesting in here. There’s nothing but drivel, the same old news about the same old thing.”
She folded it back together and dropped it on the table between them.
“Let’s go get some ice cream at the parlor. I feel like enjoying a walk through the park.”
“I’d like that.” Sarah smiled, showing her white teeth that Mary knew for a fact she tried to keep as clean as possible. “And you can tell me all about your plans for the coming school year. Will you be having summer school?”
Mary raised her eyebrows. “I know some of the students would definitely benefit from that,” she said. “But I don’t know. We need new books. I don’t think we can go another year on the ones we have.” She glanced over her shoulder at the ones she’d been going through, trying to formulate a new curriculum for the remaining semester of school.
Sarah tilted her head to the side. “Would some of the most recent publications in science and geography help? Maybe some mathematics and English books?”
Mary chuckled, wondering where her friend was going with this.
“Of course they would. You know they would.”
Sarah nodded. “Well, then, you’ll get some new books. I think I can even get some student manuals for you.”
Mary tilted her head to the side. “How on earth do you plan to do that?”
“Papa knows I always need books,” Sarah replied with a wave of her hand. “I’ll just tell him the bill from the bookstore is for that. He need never know.”
Mary was surprised Sarah would do that for her. She also wondered if Sarah’s father, Franklin, would be bothered if he knew where the books were really going. But if Sarah said she could get books without burdening the man, then that was just as good. All she knew was that the books were for the children.
“Okay, if you think you can get so
me books and manuals for the children, please do that. I know they need it.”
“If you can’t use them this year, you can use them next year. I’ll tell you what; you write down whatever books you need and I’ll get them ordered for you. It might take a few weeks to get them, though.”
“That’s fine, dear. Thank you so much! I know the children will benefit greatly from them.”
“It’s my pleasure. I like doing things for you and your little children. Makes me feel like I’m actually accomplishing something, instead of just being here on this planet merely existing.”
Mary laughed, turning away from the desk and picking up her purse. She rounded the desk again and pulled the light blue sweater from the back of the chair. She slung it over her arm.
“You ready yet?” Sarah joked, coming out from behind the table.
As the two women left the schoolhouse, Mary looked back at the folded newspaper on the desk. It was, indeed, filled with boring articles and old news. And it never had anything to read in it that interested her. There were so many things they could have been talking about, things that might interest the women in town. But it all seemed geared toward the men. There were no women’s interest articles, nothing about women’s rights.
It was all boring men stuff.
Mary walked to the parlor with Sarah, and had a cup of ice cream with caramel on top.
Chapter 1
It was another bright, sunny day when the books arrived. Sarah gleefully carted a wagon full of them to the schoolhouse to present to Mary.
Mary saw her coming from down the street and went out to her, hurrying down the dirt sidewalk next to the road with her skirts bundled in her hands.
“Oh, they came, oh, Sarah!”
Sarah stopped with the books, looking proud as punch, waiting for Mary to get to her. When she did, the school teacher squatted by the wagon, scanning the books. Her delight was obvious on her face. She would never have imagined having these brand-new books, their spines not even cracked yet, the insides clean with no writing in them. Manuals with good printing, recent information, geography books with the newest maps and latest railroad extensions.
She giggled when she saw the books on gardening. Her students would benefit most from those. She would have to start a gardening class and concentrate just on that. Many of her students might be able to teach her a thing or two.
She stood back up after touching nearly all the books, running her fingers lovingly over the covers, the embedded titles in gold and red.
Mary couldn’t help throwing her arms around her friend. “Oh, you are the best! The absolute best! Thank you so much.”
Sarah shrugged as if it was nothing, but Mary could tell how happy her friend was too.
“You’re welcome, Mary. I’m glad I could do it for you. You want the handle?” She presented the wagon handle to Mary as if it were a trophy.
Mary clapped her hands together like a little girl and hopped in place. “Oh, can I?”
They both laughed as she took the handle from Sarah and began to pull it back to the schoolhouse. The wheels were big and round so they went easily over the rocks and dirt. She pulled it all the way to the front doors, and Sarah helped her by taking hold of one of the doors while she pulled open the other.
Mary took the wagon of books into the small foyer/mud room, where the children left their coats, jackets and lunch bags. She maneuvered it around the wall that separated the foyer from the school room, going past the set of stairs that took the smaller children up to their work area.
They were unloading the books when they heard two sets of feet coming down the stairs and they both looked up. They glanced at each other, both wondering who could be with Mrs. Edwards then.
Mary watched as Mrs. Edwards came down. She could first see her legs, which were wrapped in high socks, ending in sensible shoes, her thick brown skirt barely moving as she made her way down. When she got to the bottom, she straightened her matching jacket and looked sternly at Mary.
Her brown eyes slid to Sarah and she seemed to instinctively lift one hand and pat her firm hair, which was pulled back in a tight bun.
“Good morning, ladies. What have you got there?”
“We’ve had a donation of new books, Mrs. Edwards,” Mary replied in a happy voice, hoping the good news would ease some of Mrs. Edwards’ sourness. “They are all recent publications so they have the very latest information in them.”
As she was talking, a man stepped off the steps behind Mrs. Edwards. It was the Mayor of Glenwood, Rory Hanover. He had an equally sour look on his face. Mary’s heart sank. He was probably there to take more funding and resources away from them.
When his eyes dropped to the books, his nose curled in a sneer.
“A donation, eh?” he said. Mary heard him grumble something under his breath that apparently only Mrs. Edwards heard, because without even turning around to look at him, her cheeks flushed with anger.
Mary had a hard time not asking what exactly the man had said. Ever since he had become Mayor, he had alienated nearly everyone in town, not just Mrs. Edwards, and every single parent in Glenwood. He provided limited resources for the school and it now relied mostly on donations and whatever Mary and Mrs. Edwards could afford to provide.
“Mr. Hanover has kindly come by to tell us that we are over our budget for the schooling and will need to look for other ways to heat the room on the cold days because there is no more coal for our stoves.”
Mary’s chest tightened with anger and anxiety. She didn’t have the money to buy coal. She felt bad constantly asking the families of the children to provide but didn’t know what else to do. Mrs. Edwards certainly couldn’t provide anything extra.
She would just have to pray for a lot of warm days. “Don’t fret, Mrs. Edwards,” she said in the calmest voice she could muster. “We will use the fireplaces when it is cold out. They will provide the heat we need. I know that there are”-
“You don’t have money for firewood in the budget, either,” Mr. Hanover said bluntly. “I don’t know what you expect. Are you planning to send out your children to chop wood? Perhaps that would be better for them than sitting in here reading books that will never benefit them in any way?”
Mary narrowed her eyes at the man. A dead silence fell over the room before she said in a cold voice, “As I was going to say, there are plenty of parents who will provide wood for us. And some of our bigger boys would probably be happy to go out and chop some for us.”
The big man snorted, clamping his thick, hair covered hands around the lapels of his long, black jacket. “I suppose that is what you will have to do then,” he said. “I will speak with you again, Mrs. Edwards, if something opens up in the budget for you.”
Mrs. Edwards spun around. Mary was shocked to hear her say, “I will not be holding my breath, Mayor.”
Mayor Hanover gave her a disdainful look before turning on his heel and walking around the wall to the front door. They heard it open and then close behind him.
“What a hateful man,” Sarah said, her voice in a rare disgusted tone. “I don’t understand people like him or how he ever became mayor of our little town. We will need to elect someone new. He is not doing a good job for any of us.”
Mary thought it was kind of Sarah to lump herself in with the rest of the commoners in the city. Her father had a lot of influence and had the courage to stand up to the mayor, which he did on a frequent basis. That’s why she thought he would have given his permission to buy the books for the schoolhouse.
“I think we should look for someone new,” Mary agreed, nodding.
“In the meantime,” Mrs. Edwards said in an angry voice. “I will need you to go through the books that we have upstairs as well, if you’re going to go about replacing things without asking me. You can also write up some new curriculums from the new books you’ve acquired.”
Mary felt resentment slide through her, making her chest tight once again.
“How can you say tha
t?” she asked. “These books aren’t just for my students. They are for the schoolhouse.”
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