Blowing on Dandelions: A Novel (Love Blossoms in Oregon Series)

by Miralee Ferrell

  Wilma Roberts crossed her arms over her ample bosom. “Why are you tiptoeing?”

  Beth tried not to roll her eyes. Aunt Wilma never had a problem with subtlety. Maybe a change of topic would deter the dear woman from further prying. “Did you have a good visit with Mrs. Cooper? I hope she’s not feeling poorly again.”

  “Frances is as strong as a horse. As long as her gout doesn’t kick up, that is.” Aunt Wilma narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I’m going to my room to rest, Auntie. It’s been a long day.”

  “What are you hiding?” The older woman took a step closer, and her eyes shifted to the handbag clutched against Beth’s chest. “Did you get a letter?”

  Beth glanced down. The corner of the envelope peeked out of her reticule. “It’s nothing to worry about.” She stepped onto the bottom stair.

  Aunt Wilma raised her chin and glared. “Did that good-for-nothing rapscallion from Topeka have the gall to contact you after I told him to stay out of your life?”

  “What?” Beth’s thoughts spun, trying to keep up with the sudden shift in direction. “Brent Wentworth?”

  “I’d prefer not to have his name spoken, but yes, that’s the scoundrel I meant.”

  Fresh pain knifed Beth’s heart. She’d worked so hard to forget the man who’d won her love a year ago. “I haven’t heard from him since we left Kansas City.” She waved a dismissive hand at her bag. “It’s nothing to worry you, truly. Now I want to go upstairs, if you don’t mind.” She touched the small locket hanging on a chain around her neck, finding comfort in the contact.

  It wasn’t often Beth spoke to anyone in that tone, but she didn’t care to linger. She trooped up the steps, thankful beyond measure that Aunt Wilma had secured two rooms when they’d arrived in Baker City earlier this summer. As much as she loved the woman who’d taken her in as a toddler, she could be quite overbearing at times.

  Sinking onto the brocade-covered chair near the window, Beth pulled out the envelope. What if they no longer wanted her work? This might be the last check she’d ever receive. But even if it was, did the money they paid her really matter?

  No. She had not spent a dollar of it since the first one arrived. Getting that initial contract for her illustrations had boosted her confidence, but only in a minuscule way. After all, every drawing was published under the name of Elizabeth Corwin rather than Beth Roberts.

  The skin on her arm prickled again. How timely. The scars on her neck, arms, and legs were a constant reminder of the shadows that had dogged her from the age of three. What made her think an important magazine would see her worth if they knew her real identity? So far they appreciated her drawings, but let them catch a whiff of the mystery surrounding her childhood, and that would end. She’d decided early on that hiding her identity would serve her purposes the best.

  Time to quit ignoring the inevitable. If her editor decided he no longer needed her work, she wanted to know. With trembling fingers she withdrew the letter and spread it on her lap, not yet daring to look closely at the check.

  Dear Miss Corwin,

  Please accept this draft as compensation for the recent illustration you presented, along with an advance payment against your future contract. Our periodical has experienced an expanding readership demanding more depictions of the Oregon Trail as well as life in the West. We’re contracting to purchase a series of four illustrations of your choice capturing the westward movement and living in a town out West. Possibly something with a boardinghouse or cabin theme would be appropriate.

  Our readers are quite taken with your art, and we trust you to provide us with more exceptional work. Please sign and return the agreement, and submit your first drawing no more than thirty days hence.

  Yours most respectfully,

  Byron Stearns, Editor, The Women’s Eastern Magazine

  Beth slumped against the chair, shock and excitement coursing through her body. Four illustrations of her choice, with a portion advanced. She’d assumed the check to be for the most recent drawing she’d submitted and hadn’t noticed the amount. Her insides quivered so hard she almost felt sick. This couldn’t be real.

  Snatching up the letter, she read it again, savoring each word. They trusted her and liked her work. Their readers wanted more. Shivers of delight danced up her spine, chasing away the unease.

  She grasped the check and held it to the light. One hundred dollars. “Oh my!” She placed her fingers over her lips to keep from shouting. This would keep her and Aunt Wilma in comfort for a couple of months. Then, as she scanned the document again, her heart plummeted, leaving her cold and shaken. Elizabeth Corwin. The check was made out to Elizabeth Corwin. How had she forgotten that detail?

  It hadn’t been a problem picking up her mail, as it came in care of Aunt Wilma. And there’d been no difficulty cashing the three smaller amounts when she’d lived in Kansas City, with a childhood friend and confidant as her bank teller. If he still worked there, she’d simply sign and send it to him. Opening an account here in Baker City without proof of her identity—or, rather, confirmation of her alias—could prove difficult. Of course, Aunt Wilma could vouch for her, but would anyone really believe her to be an upcoming illustrator for one of the largest magazines in the East? People in this town knew her as Beth Roberts, the quiet, shy young woman who lived with her aunt on the edge of town, and she’d prefer it remained that way.

  She leaned back in her chair and a sigh escaped. If she didn’t cash the check, would the magazine editor think she didn’t want the contract? Surely not. She’d sign the agreement and get it in tomorrow’s mail before they changed their minds. It would be legally binding whether she spent the money or not. After all, Auntie had plenty of money of her own and certainly didn’t need her help. She’d tuck it away for now and quit worrying.

  And while payment was nice, it wasn’t the reason she sketched. When her pencil flew over the paper, creating new worlds and half-forgotten scenes, she knew what it was to truly be alive. Something inside cried to be released and nothing satisfied so completely as her work.

  No one could understand the depths of insecurity she’d lived with all her life—the bottomless pit of fear and anguish that struck her every time the shadowy memories surfaced. The scars on her limbs … she had only vague recollections of where they’d come from, but a definite knowledge of what they represented. But all of that disappeared when she escaped into her chosen field.

  Art. It drew her, calmed her, healed her, in a manner little else had ever done.

  Somewhere along the way, a voice had started to whisper in the early morning hours while lying in bed. Often she thought it must be her own mind playing tricks, hoping to convince her the past didn’t matter. She’d pushed it away at first, but it had persisted, pulling her into the warmth of its embrace. Trying to persuade her to accept—something.

  Rising to her feet with new resolve, she neatly tucked the letter and check into the envelope. Tomorrow she’d sign the contract and place it in the outgoing mail. Right now she must make her way downstairs to supper and put on an unassuming face. How would she avoid Aunt Wilma’s badgering questions? It didn’t bother her to tell Auntie about the contract offer, but the world, including Aunt Wilma, must never see her uncertainty.

  She touched a spot on her arm where the scars were prominent. Not knowing what exactly had happened in the past—or more precisely, why—had caused her so much pain.

  And her early childhood was only a portion of what she’d had to endure. Beth’s thoughts flashed to Brent Wentworth, the reason she and Aunt Wilma had left Topeka, Kansas. After years of guarding her heart, Beth had finally chosen to open herself to love. She’d been so certain she’d found a man who would love and accept her without conditions. She lifted her chin. Never would she make that mistake again.

  About the Author

  Miralee and her husband, Allen, live on eleven acres in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge in southern Washington State, where
they love to garden, play with their dogs, take walks, and go sailing. She is also able to combine two other passions—horseback riding and spending time with her grown children—since her married daughter lives nearby, and they often ride together on the wooded trails near their home.

  Ironically, Miralee, now the author of eight books with many more on the way, never had a burning desire to write—at least more than her own memoirs for her children. So she was shocked when God called her to start writing after she turned fifty. To Miralee, writing is a ministry that she hopes will impact hearts, and she anticipates how God will use each of her books to bless and change lives.

  An avid reader, Miralee has a large collection of first-edition Zane Grey books that she started collecting as a young teen. Her love for his storytelling ability inspired her desire to write fiction set in the Old West.

  “But I started writing historical fiction without even meaning to,” Miralee says, laughing.

  She’d always planned on writing contemporary women’s fiction, but God had other ideas. After signing her first contract for the novel Love Finds You in Last Chance, California, she decided to research the town and area. To her dismay, she discovered the town no longer existed and hadn’t since the 1960s. Though it had been a booming town in the late 1880s, it had pretty much died out in the 1930s. So her editor suggested switching to a historical version, and Miralee agreed, although she’d never even considered that era.

  It didn’t take long to discover she had a natural flair for that time period, having read and watched so many western stories while growing up. From that point on she was hooked. Her 1880s stories continue to grow in acclaim each year. Her novel Love Finds You in Sundance, Wyoming, won the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction, and Universal Studios requested a copy of her debut novel, The Other Daughter, for a potential family movie.

  Aside from writing and her outdoor activities, Miralee has lived a varied life. She and her husband have been deeply involved in building two of their own homes over the years, as well as doing a full remodel on a one-hundred-year-old Craftsman style home they owned and loved for four years. They also owned a sawmill at the time and were able to provide much of the interior wood products. Miralee has done everything from driving a forklift, to stoking the huge, 120-year-old boiler, to off-bearing lumber, to running a small planer and stacking boards in the dry kiln.

  Besides their horse friends, Miralee and her husband have owned cats, dogs (a six-pound, long-haired Chihuahua named Lacey was often curled up on her lap as she wrote this book), rabbits, and yes, even two cougars, Spunky and Sierra, rescued from breeders who didn’t have the ability or means to care for them properly.

  Miralee and Allen spent just under a year in the San Juan Islands and lived in Alaska for a year, where she was actively involved in women’s ministry. Later, she took a counseling course and earned her accreditation with the American Association of Christian Counselors, as well as becoming a licensed minister (not a pastor) through her denomination. She spends time each month in her office at church praying with and ministering to women, as well as occasionally speaking and filling the pulpit.

  Miralee serves as president of the Portland, Oregon, chapter of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and belongs to a number of other writers’ groups. She also speaks at women’s groups, libraries, historical societies, and churches about her writing journey.

  www.miraleeferrell.com

  www.miraleesdesk.blogspot.com

  Photo by Amber Zimmerman

  Books by Miralee Ferrell

  Love Blossoms in Oregon Series

  Blowing on Dandelions

  Love Finds You Series

  Love Finds You in Bridal Veil, Oregon

  Love Finds You in Sundance, Wyoming

  Love Finds You in Last Chance, California

  Love Finds You in Tombstone, Arizona

  (sequel to Love Finds You in Last Chance, California)

  The Other Daughter

  Finding Jeena

  (sequel to The Other Daughter)

  Other Contributions/Compilations

  A Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers

  Love Blossoms in Oregon Series

  Blowing on Dandelions

  Wishing on Buttercups

  Dreaming on Daisies

  BLOWING ON DANDELIONS

  Published by David C Cook

  4050 Lee Vance View

  Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

  David C Cook Distribution Canada

  55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

  David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

  Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

  The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

  All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, scanned, resold, or distributed by or through any print or electronic medium without written permission from the publisher. This ebook is licensed solely for the personal and noncommercial use of the original authorized purchaser, subject to the terms of use under which it was purchased. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

  This story is a work of fiction. All characters and events are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.)

  LCCN 2013934365

  ISBN 978-0-7814-0808-0

  eISBN 978-1-4347-0603-4

  © 2013 Miralee Ferrell

  Published in association with Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency, 5025 N. Central Ave., #635, Phoenix, AZ 85012.

  The Team: Don Pape, Ingrid Beck, Ramona Cramer Tucker, Caitlyn Carlson, Tonya Osterhouse, Karen Athen, and Karen Stoller

  Cover Design: DogEared Design, Kirk DouPonce

  Cover Photo: iStockPhoto

  First Edition 2013

  If you enjoyed this title, visit DCCeBooks.com for more great reads.

  What people are saying about …

  Blowing on Dandelions

  “Blowing on Dandelions is a fun read with a beautiful setting in 1880s Baker City, Oregon. Ferrell has created characters you’ll root for, and the attitudes feel appropriate for the time in this tender romance. The relationships of mothers and daughters in this story speak deeply of the need for acceptance, love, and respect from one’s parents.”

  Susan Page Davis, award-winning author of the Prairie Dreams and Texas Trails series

  “As soft and gentle as the wisps of snowy seeds for which it is named, Blowing on Dandelions is an achingly tender love story that will lift your spirits—and your heart—high on a gentle breeze through the Oregon mountain valleys.”

  Julie Lessman, award-winning author of The Daughters of Boston and Winds of Change series

  “Miralee Ferrell’s writing style is always a delight, even as her stories are captivating. Blowing on Dandelions is no exception. From the opening scene the reader is drawn into Katherine Galloway’s life, and we care about her from that moment on. This is more than a heart-tugging romance—though it is that; it is also a mind-challenging read that will leave us in a different place from when we began.”

  Kathi Macias, multi-award-winning author of forty books, including the Golden Scrolls 2011 Novel of the Year and Carol Award finalist Red Ink

  “In Katherine Galloway, Miralee Ferrell has created a woman who models grace. As the story unfolds, readers see Katherine’s faith lived out in a way that is authentic, challenging, and encouraging. A book you won’t want to put down ... and a story you won’t want to end.”

  Stephanie Grace Whitson, author of The Quilt Chronicles series

  “Blowing
on Dandelions is an amazing, deeply emotional story. Each of the characters is so sympathetic and well drawn that it was impossible to put the book down. Ferrell is a wonderful writer who handles the pain of physical and emotional trauma beautifully. Her characters are appealing, with a touching and believable faith journey, and the romance is lovely. My only regret was reaching the final page! Miralee Ferrell’s future books will be automatic purchases from now on!”

  Roxanne Rustand, author of Duty to Protect

  “In Blowing on Dandelions, Miralee Ferrell gives us an engaging story with strong characters who have hidden depths. The theme of the story is universal and will touch hearts and help heal longtime hurts. As with all of her books, Miralee weaves a satisfying romance through these pages. What else could a reader ask for?”

  Lena Nelson Dooley, speaker and author of the 2012 Selah Award winner Maggie’s Journey, Mary’s Blessing, and the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award winner, Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico

  “In Blowing on Dandelions, Miralee Ferrell has an excellent way of keeping the words flowing, keeping the reader following, and investing in the characters. I particularly love the redemption she shows, where not all offensive people are evil, but merely hurting. Of course, the love story makes for a perfectly satisfying ending. Very well done!”

  Hannah Alexander, award-winning author of the Hideaway Series

  “Miralee Ferrell’s Blowing on Dandelions is a deeply inspiring story about family conflict and the transforming power of rekindled love. A richly written story chock full of nuggets of divine wisdom, this book was, for me, a genuinely satisfying read.”

  Walt Larimore, bestselling author of Hazel Creek and Sugar Fork