Coral, whom Margaret had asked to attend her while she received arriving guests, fully aware Madame was due that day, had almost collapsed from shock when they were introduced. Her eyes had bugged out so far Margaret had feared they’d fall onto the brick walkway. To her immense relief, Coral’s eyes stayed put, and Madame was taken with a few of her design ideas. And with her. She’d offered to mentor her, which meant Coral would soon have a difficult choice to make: the rigours of building a fashion empire, the equally rigorous role of wife and mother, or the substantially and doubly demanding duality of both—should Kearns live up to his promise of supporting her and her aspirations if they eventually married.
That prospect was yet a ways off. Or so Coral had assured her when she’d confided Kearns’s expressed interest in her. She returned it but had no wish to risk her or his employment. After Margaret reassured her that their jobs were secure provided they kept any romance they started up discreet and above board until they were married, Coral had asked her advice on what she should do.
“Follow your heart,” she’d advised. “But lead with your mind. It’s all any of us can do.”
And she was glad she’d followed her own advice, acquiescing to her mind’s insistence she move to Sugar Hill, if only to keep a roof over her head. For it was under the manse’s roof with Joe and Maisie, and everyone else at Sugar Hill, that her heart had found where it belonged.
Kearns completed his round of the table to refill empty glasses with her glass, and pausing, murmured in her ear, “Miss Alma wonders if you want lunch served out here or in the dining room.”
“Here will be lovely, Kearns. Thank you.”
“What’s wrong?” Tonia demanded as she and Eleanor Douglas joined the group.
Kearns retreated to the house with the empty pitcher, and Daniel Banner tipped his jaw towards Margaret.
“Just listen.”
“You tell them, Joe,” Margaret whispered.
Joe nodded, and cleared his throat. “Margaret and I...” He cleared his throat again. “What I mean is...Maisie’s going to be a big sister, sometime next spring.”
“What?” Tonia stared. Beside her, Aunt Eleanor smiled approvingly.
She was as fair as Tonia was dark. Yet seen side by side, their similar height and confident bearing lent them a familial familiarity. And they were family, in a roundabout way.
Aunt Eleanor had already informed Joe he was to call her Aunt Eleanor, not Mrs. Douglas.
“Joe and I...Our baby”—Margaret squeezed gently his and Maisie’s shoulders—“is due in April.”
There was a collective gasp of mixed delight and disbelief.
“But I thought—” Dianna touched her fingers to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right,” Margaret said. “I didn’t think it possible, either. In fact, when I started waking up ill...” She glanced at the younger girls. “I mean, Miss Alma’s helped many babies into the world here at Sugar Hill over the years, and she recognised the signs immediately.”
“She helped me be born,” Maisie chimed in. “She’s going to help my little brother or sister be born, too.”
“Maisie,” Joe cautioned.
“Your dad’s right,” Amelia muttered. “Don’t get excited. Little brothers and little sisters are a big pain in the—”
“Amelia.” Jake’s voice was low with warning.
“Come on.” Amelia grasped Maisie’s hand. “Let’s go somewhere big ears can’t hear us.”
As the two girls raced off, Margaret, swiftly followed by all the women, burst into laughter, while Joe shook his head, Daniel grinned, and Jake smothered a smile whilst trying to look stern for the benefit of his other two children.
“Should I go after them, Mama?” Katie asked.
“No, dear.” Dianna looked at her. “Not unless you want to. And then yes, by all means, you should.”
Katie glanced after her sister and Maisie, who were now seated on the grass in shade near the pond, and then at JJ.
“Don’t worry about your brother,” Jake said. “I’ve got him.”
“And I’ve got May.” Dianna offered her daughter a tender smile. “Go, Katie dear. We’ve got this.”
With a grin, Katie ran off, her dark braids flying.
Margaret stared at Dianna and then Tonia. “I don’t know how you do it—or did it. Four children, and no nanny—”
“Soon to be five,” Jake cut in.
“And definitely a nanny,” Dianna added.
“What?” Margaret stared. “Five? A nanny? You mean...”
Dianna glanced over her shoulder, but Katie was already seated on the grass with Maisie and Amelia, well out of earshot. Still, she angled around May on her lap to lean forward and whisper, “Due in March. But we haven’t told the children yet.”
“March?” Margaret murmured. “So we’re both...” Her tears made it difficult to navigate her way around to hug her friend as Eleanor took little May from Dianna, freeing her to stand and hold on to Margaret. Over their combined happy sobs, Margaret heard Tonia murmur, “Oh, dear,” while Jake asked, “You don’t happen to have a rowboat, Joe, do you?”
“No,” Joe replied, sounding a little alarmed. “But maybe you and Da, and little JJ, can help me build one?”
NOTE FROM DEBORAH SMALL: Thank you so much for reading My One True Love. I hope you found it as deeply moving to read, as I found it to write. If you did, please tell your family and friends about it, and consider leaving a review of the story on Goodreads and or the retailer website where you purchased your copy. Reviews help readers like you discover their next favourite read.
Fourth in the Dear One series, and still a work in progress at the time of this writing, My One for Always features Elaina, Dianna’s sister from books 1 & 2, who as newly widowed duchess could have her pick of eligible nobles or American nouveau rich, yet she finds herself falling for a man who’s neither noble nor rich, and therefore completely wrong for her—and exactly the kind of man she needs.
If you’ve not read the first two books in the series, they’re available online as a convenient ebook: A Dear One Duo. The individual books are also available:
My Dear One
My Own
Three Wishes, A Dear One Christmas Novella is supplementary to the series, and shares the Christmas season of 1912 at the Douglas Ranch.
To stay up to date on all my books, and to receive pre-order alerts of upcoming releases, please sign up for my newsletter at www.deborahsmall.com. After your subscription is confirmed, you’ll receive a link to exclusive material related to the Dear One series, including a prequel featuring Jake before he meets Dianna, and My One True Love’s original Chapter One. Thank you so much for reading. Take care. ~Deborah
Join me:
BookBub: @debsmallauthor
Facebook: @debsmallauthor
Goodreads: AuthorDeborahSmall
Instagram: @deborahsmall.author
Twitter: @debwriteromance
Pinterest: @deborahsmallauthor
www.deborahsmall.com
Author’s Note
IT IS A RARE AUTHOR THAT KNOWS exactly what the final result will be when they sit down to write a book. I am not that rare author. In fact, when I wrote My Dear One, the first book in the Dear One series, I had no intention of writing a series—or of giving Margaret a story of her own. It wasn’t until I had written My Dear One, and people who’d read it expressed a real interest in a continuation of Dianna and Jake’s story, that I contemplated writing a sequel, which became My Own. And as I neared the end of writing My Own, I envisioned Margaret sitting at table on an outdoor patio with George, discussing her need for a life outside of being his wife—of her need for something to call her own and nurture her soul and heart through fulfilment of her interests. Of course, I couldn’t find anywhere reasonable to fit that scene into My Own, but I wrote it; and it eventually grew into something much larger, deeper, and more thematic than I could have envisioned if I’d tried to plot it
out before writing it (I didn’t—I’m a panster, meaning I write one word, one sentence, one paragraph, one scene to the next, without clear vision of What Happens Next, until I reach The End).
Well, what happened next, was a poignant story steeped in dark history and riddled with themes.
One of the story’s themes is education—its criticalness in helping lift people out of poverty and dependence on others. Another is the need for every person, not just women, for self-fulfilment, and love—and a safe place to call home.
Dreams are also a theme—the necessity for opportunity to actualize them; the gratitude found in not realizing some; and the mental pain of acknowledging that you’ve lived someone else’s dream for so long you’ve forgotten what your dream was, never mind found a way to fulfill it.
Martin Luther had a dream in 1963. And here in 2020—fifty-seven years later—as I prepare to publish this book, his dream is still being fought for through the Black Lives Matter movement. A movement that’s been ongoing if unnamed in the US and other countries around the world for centuries owing to pervasive and institutionalized white privilege.
I acknowledge my white privilege, even as I understand my awareness of it barely scratches the surface of my consciousness.
Prejudice has deep roots. I can’t confidently say that having been raised in a predominantly white middle class neighbourhood with predominately white middle class ideals that I am immune to its insidious toxicity. I can only say that I did my best in the research and writing of this story to convey—at least partially—the horrific realities faced by African Americans as slaves, and in the years succeeding emancipation through to the turn-of-the-20th Century when this story takes place, and to, hopefully, portray their incredible resilience, strength, and grace to continue to not only survive, but to thrive, despite their abominable treatment.
My dream is that one day this world will no longer need movements like Black Lives Matter, because we’ll have grown as a people in heart, mind, and soul, to a point where the humans of this world live in harmony respecting groups and individuals regardless of skin colour, sexual orientation, and or gender identity. Until then, I will continue to write stories of resilience, love, hope, and self-actualization.
Thank you for reading My One True Love. For more information on the resources used in the writing of it, please view my website: www.deborahsmall.com.
If you’re looking for the scene of Margaret and George on a patio discussing her desire to teach that prompted the writing of this story, you’ll not find it in this book. It didn’t make the editor’s final cut. It is, however, available as a special read for newsletter subscribers. Sign up at www.deborahsmall.com and once your subscription is confirmed, you’ll receive a link to the bonus scene as well as other Dear One series related extras.
Take care,
Deborah
Acknowledgements
BOOKS EXIST IN PHYSICAL AND ONLINE libraries as tangible proof of an author, or authors’, existence—they’re lasting testaments to our interests, as writers rarely write about things that don’t interest them. We also don’t write, or at least publish, without the help, and expertise, of others. I owe a world of gratitude to:
My husband, Darwin, whose grounded support keeps me centred when the stress of flying by the seat of my pants as a creative threatens to knock me off course. Thank you, honey. I could not do this without you.
Brenda Chin, whose editorial skill and knowledge, combined with her innate kindness, wisdom, and patience helped me get this book from rough to ready during one of the most difficult years I’ve faced in a long time, pandemic aside.
Amanda Bidnall, who finetuned the manuscript so that it might sing in readers’ ears. Any skipped beats, or missing notes, are on me.
Kathleen Ladislaus, and Brittany Coulson, who proofread the final copy to weed out mistakes missed by Brenda, Amanda, and I. Any errors that survived through to publication are my responsibility. I’m the one who made them, after all.
A special thank you as well to Alexia Adams – you know what for – and to Susie H., for commenting on an early draft. Thank you also to Celia L. and Kathy K. – your kindness makes all the difference. Then there’s you, dear Reader, thank you for keeping my spirit alive. ~D.S.
About the Author
DEBORAH started her professional writing career with nonfiction articles published in Canadian Living Magazine and The Vancouver Province. She launched into fiction with Edwardian-set, My Dear One, shortlisted for Kobo’s Emerging Writer Award recognizing Canada’s best debut books of 2018.
Married, Deborah lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest.
Join Deborah on:
BookBub: @debsmallauthor
Facebook: @debsmallauthor
Goodreads: AuthorDeborahSmall
Instagram: @deborahsmall.author
Twitter: @debwriteromance
Pinterest: @deborahsmallauthor
www.deborahsmall.com
My One True Love Page 39