Love for All Seasons

by Stacy Henrie

  Cover

  Love for All Seasons

  A Long Winter Kiss

  As Samantha and Rex’s childhood friendship matured into young love, they promised their hearts to one another, even as Rex headed off to war. But their hope for a bright future was shattered when Rex succumbed to his belief that the horrors of war had made him a man no woman could love. Now he has returned, and Samantha must help Rex see that he still has much to give—and much more to gain—by replacing fear with faith and opening himself to love.

  An Unlikely Spring Courtship

  Tempest worked hard to secure her independence as a woman running her own mercantile, so when Bram has the audacity to open a competing shop in a town with only enough room for one, Tempest is driven to despair. And then to retaliation. But when tragedy strikes their community and threatens everything they both hold dear, will they be able to recognize that what they share is far more important than what separates them?

  A Summer for Love

  Loralee’s life has changed dramatically in the eight years since she’s last seen the resort town of Bayocean, but one thing that has never changed is her feelings for Wyatt, a man she promised to meet at the resort on a specific day if they were both still unattached. When Wyatt appears on that date, as hopeful and uncertain as Loralee, the two must see if an old and abiding love has outlasted the changes wrought by time—and begin to build a new life together.

  Romance in Autumn

  Phoebe and James grew up together but apart in the same beautiful mansion, he as the son of the owners, she as the daughter of a servant. In the years since, Phoebe’s fortunes have changed dramatically, and she carries the dream of one day owning the mansion that is still close to her heart. Until James—now a deeply compelling man—delivers the bad news that securing the purchase will be all but impossible. As Phoebe reluctantly relinquishes her dream, she will also look deep into her soul to learn that a true home might exist in her budding love for James.

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Beyond the Page Books

  are published by

  Beyond the Page Publishing

  www.beyondthepagepub.com

  Copyright © 2016 by Stacy Henrie

  Cover design and illustration by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs

  ISBN: 978-1-946069-05-4

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of both the copyright holder and the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Contents

  A Long Winter Kiss

  An Unlikely Spring Courtship

  A Summer for Love

  Romance in Autumn

  Author’s Notes

  Books by Stacy Henrie

  About the Author

  Epigraph

  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”

  —Ecclesiastes 3:1

  Winter

  “. . . a time of war, and a time of peace”

  —Ecclesiastes 3:8

  A Long Winter Kiss

  Chapter 1

  Michigan, May 1861

  The barn doors had been thrown open, allowing the night air to cool the overly warm structure and the eager crowd of dancers. Samantha Whitefield fanned her flushed cheeks as she maneuvered through the onlookers toward the barn’s opening. She’d danced every song so far, and while she happily planned to continue until the farewell party was over, she hoped for a moment to catch her breath.

  The need for fresh air drew her all the way outside, where a pleasant breeze pushed the heat from her cheeks and played with strands of her dark blond hair. The nearby budded trees were silver in the bright moon. The beauty of the evening contrasted so sharply with the knowledge that somewhere far away men had begun fighting—and dying—a fight that the young men of the town would soon join. Including Rexford Montgomery. A tremor of misgiving, the first she’d felt all evening, rocked through her and hardened in her stomach.

  “There you are.”

  Samantha knew the voice without turning. It was Rex. Her best friend. Her longtime neighbor. And the boy she’d bested as many times as she’d lost to during their shared years at the one-room schoolhouse up the road. Their competitive dares hadn’t ended, either, when Rex, two years her senior, had graduated. Though Samantha had enjoyed being the shining star of the classroom for those two years.

  Except now that she was eighteen, she’d noticed things about Rex that she hadn’t before. Like the way his jaw bristled with tiny dark hairs in the late afternoon. Or the way his blue eyes matched the sky when he was happy. Or the way his arms muscled beneath his shirt when he worked around his family’s farm.

  “What are doing out here?” He came to a stop beside her and nudged her shoulder with his broad one. “Thought you’d dance till dawn.”

  Samantha shot him a haughty look, if only to cover the rapid footfalls of her pulse. When had the beat of her heart become tied to his nearness? “I will, soon as I rest my feet a moment.”

  He folded his arms loosely across his chest and stared up at the moon. “Sure is pretty. I hope the moon looks the same down South.” He threw her a grin. “Can’t wait to find out.”

  His arrogant tone jerked a frown from her lips. “You sound happy to go.”

  “Of course I am.” Rex turned to face her. “I want to see more of the world than just our tiny corner. Remember all those places Miss Rogers taught us about? New York? New Orleans? Paris? London?”

  “But you aren’t headed South to travel, Rex. You’re going to be a soldier.”

  The uneasy knot inside her tightened at her own words. She couldn’t imagine her life without him. They might be too old for their dares, as her older sisters were constantly reminding her, but their competitive friendship had been something Samantha could always count on, something that would always be there.

  “I’m going to come back, Sammie.” His hands came to rest on her shoulders, firm yet comforting. Only he and her father still called her by her childhood nickname. In the moonlight, his eyes were oddly serious. “Which is why I’ve been meaning to ask you something all night.”

  Her heart picked up a quick tempo again. “What is it?”

  Rex glanced around, then taking her hand in his, he led her around the side of the barn. “This is better.”

  “Better for what?” Samantha moistened her lips. She expected him to release her at any moment and restore order to her pulse. But instead he placed her hand against his chest and covered it with his own.

  “For what I have to say.” Though the shadows obscured most of his face, his intense gaze was hard to miss. “I’ve wanted to ask you this for a month. Ever since I decided to volunteer.” He emitted a half growl, half cough, the telltale sign he was
nervous. “I want you to be my girl. I have for a long time.”

  Samantha blinked. Surely this was all a lovely dream, not unlike the ones she’d had over the last six months. “Wh-what do you mean? Be your girl?”

  “You know, wait for me. Promise your heart to me, and no one else. Until I get back.” He placed a gentle kiss on the pad of her index finger, causing shivers up her arm despite the temperate night. What would it be like for her lips to meet his?

  Her muddled brain finally began to work and her first thoughts were of incredulity. “Why me?” He could have his pick of any girl in town, any girl in the county. He had for years.

  “Is it so hard to believe,” he answered in a low voice, “that all this time I’ve been trying to win our dares, I’d already lost my heart to you?”

  The words rang through her, as inspiring and appealing as church bells. Had their longtime friendship turned into something more, for both of them?

  Before she could decide, Rex leaned toward her and brushed his lips over hers. It was as if she were dancing again, her heartbeat thumping as fast now as her feet had earlier. Samantha sucked in a sharp breath of surprise, but she didn’t move, afraid she’d break the hypnotic spell of the moonlight and Rex’s entreaty.

  Her patience was rewarded. Rex tugged her closer, and this time when his mouth met hers, it was with greater confidence. A thrill traveled the length of her, from her bare head to her pinched toes inside her too-small shoes. She lifted her free hand to rest it lightly against the back of his neck, where his hair curled slightly. This was her first real kiss and she wanted it to last forever.

  Too soon he eased back with a chuckle. “Didn’t know you knew how to kiss.”

  Samantha shot him a halfhearted glare. “You don’t know everything about me, Rexford Josiah Montgomery.” He cringed, as she knew he would, at the use of his full name.

  “So what do you say?” His thumb caressed her cheek. “Will you wait?” His eyes shone as bright as the moon as he added in a husky whisper, “I dare you, Sammie. I dare you to wait and be mine the moment I return.”

  How many times had those words prompted her to act in the past, with no real thought to the consequences? But this dare wasn’t about racing to the creek or hurdling a fence or getting a better mark in spelling than him. This dare involved their hearts and their longtime friendship. If she accepted, there would be no going back to the way things had been.

  Another niggling fear made her hesitate. What if Rex didn’t return? Nearly everyone else dear to her had left—her mother and baby sister in death and her older sisters in marriage and setting up their own homes. The pain of never seeing Rex again would surely leave her gutted and empty.

  Or what if he lived but met and fell in love with some Southern belle instead? Samantha didn’t want him returning to her out of obligation.

  “Are you afraid?” he asked softly when she continued to stand there silent.

  Tears blurred his face for a moment. “Yes,” she whispered. “What if . . .”

  He cut off her question with another lingering kiss. “We’ll make it through, together, Sammie. I’m not going to forsake you.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “But more importantly, God isn’t going to forsake you either.”

  How many times had he reminded her of that through the years? She wanted so much to believe it, but didn’t that require effort on her part?

  Hiding her smile, she pretended to eye him thoughtfully. “Will you write me every day?”

  A full grin brightened his face. “Every chance I get.” He took her other hand in his. “Does that mean you’ll wait for me?”

  Please keep him safe, Lord. Help me take this leap of faith.

  She pushed out a soft sigh and nodded. “Yes, Rex. I’ll wait for you.”

  He let out a whoop that surely the dancers inside the barn could hear before he clasped her close and swung her around. Samantha laughed. The worry in her middle diminished some.

  “I’m the luckiest man around,” he said, setting her on her feet again. “And I promise to let you know that every day. In letters now but in person later. I promise.”

  She placed her hand alongside his jaw as she tried to memorize this moment and the beloved features of his face. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  • • •

  Virginia, December 1862

  Another deep cough slashed through Rex’s lungs. He pulled the ends of his blanket closer, but he guessed the temperature inside the tent wasn’t much warmer than that outside. On his knees he balanced pencil and paper to write a reply to Samantha’s recent letter. The page remained blank, though, the words that usually poured out of him as frozen in his mind as the surrounding landscape.

  He would soon commemorate another Christmas as a soldier. Another Christmas away from Samantha and his family. It wasn’t difficult for him to picture the festivities at home. His mother would decorate the house with pine boughs and tie ribbons to the jars of her carefully prepared jam. Those jars would be added to the pile of presents Samantha and her father delivered to their neighbors and friends on Christmas Eve.

  A longing to be there filled him with sharp pain. As deep and visceral as what he’d felt after losing his two closest friends during the regiment’s recent battle at Fredericksburg. His life had become a kaleidoscope of blood and death and battle, broken only here and there by moments of normalcy before twisting out of focus again.

  “You done yet, Rex?” his tentmate asked, glancing up from writing his own letter.

  Covering another cough with his fist, Rex shook his head. “Not yet.”

  “Is it to your family or your girl this time?”

  He cleared his throat, desperately trying to ease the pain in his chest. “My girl.”

  Samantha was still his girl, wasn’t she? He might not hear from her as often as he’d hoped, but he didn’t fault her. The mail didn’t always reach them. More than eighteen months had passed since he’d last seen her, but he’d thought of her every day. Her lovely face and his connection with God had pulled him through what had become the most difficult and gut-wrenching time of his entire life.

  And yet lately he couldn’t shake the feeling that he might not be worthy of either one anymore. He’d experienced things he didn’t want Samantha ever knowing. Things that haunted his dreams and left him gasping for breath and sanity when he woke. Ever since Fredericksburg, though, his nightmares had changed—he was home again, but when he saw Samantha, she hadn’t recognized him. She’d taken one look at him and averted her gaze.

  Running a hand over his beard, he stared hard at his paper, willing the words to come. He didn’t really believe Samantha wouldn’t recognize him when he came home. His physical appearance would still be familiar. But the inside of him . . . Would she recognize that part anymore? Down deep he could feel himself starting to harden, to grow cold, to fester with fear. A fear that he would leave her a grieving sweetheart if he died and a fear that she would reject the man he’d become if he lived.

  Rex tightened his grip on his pencil as an idea formed in his mind. He began writing, the sentences he’d been struggling to conjure up flowing without effort now. A nagging doubt presented itself—he hadn’t sought God’s blessing on his plan. But he easily snuffed the thought. He was doing what he must because he loved Samantha. If there was anything to pray about, it would be that she would ultimately come to accept his decision.

  • • •

  Michigan, One month later

  Samantha drummed her fingers against the windowsill as she watched her father drive the sleigh up the snowy road toward the farm. Was the horse even moving? The animal seemed to be walking slower and slower. It had been three weeks since her last letter from Rex. Was he alive? Was he well? Nervousness and hope filled her, until her entire body was fidgeting. She couldn’t wait any longer. Throwing on a shawl, she slipped out the front door, gasping softly as the cold hit her face.

  “Any word, Papa?” she called out as she entered the b
arn.

  “I believe so, yes,” he said, fishing through his pockets as though searching for a letter. “Lovely day for a sleigh ride, is it not?”

  She groaned. “Papa, please.”

  He smiled at her as he finally extracted a letter from his shirt pocket. “Ah. Here it is. I believe it’s from Rex, but I can’t tell without me spectacles. If you’ll just go get them, daughter . . .”

  With a squeal of joy, she plucked the letter from his hand. “Thank you, Papa.” His laughter followed her out of the barn and back into the house.

  She raced to her bedroom and sat on the bed before tearing open the letter. The tiniest disappointment pricked at her happiness when she saw that he’d only written one page. But he was busy as a soldier. She was grateful for any correspondence from him. It shortened the distance of time and space between them.

  Dearest Sammie,

  I hope this finds you well. You are in my thoughts constantly. Another of your letters came this week and I have read it through several times. Please know that I love you still and I won’t stop praying for you.

  Something cold and panicky crept over Samantha. Why did it sound as if he were saying good-bye all over again? She gripped the letter tighter, the edge of the paper cutting into her fingers, as she read on.

  I don’t think we should write anymore. I’m also freeing you of your promise to wait for me. We can’t know the future, Sammie. I might not make it back to you and I won’t commit you to a half-life as the girl of a fallen solider.