All for Family (The Rawley Family Romances Book 3)

by Olivia Hardin

  They have come to assist you through a difficulty;

  to provide you with guidance and support;

  to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.

  They may seem like a godsend, and they are.

  They are there for the reason you need them to be.

  Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,

  this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.

  Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.

  Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

  What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.

  The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

  Some people come into your life for a SEASON,

  because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.

  They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.

  They may teach you something you have never done.

  They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.

  Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.

  LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;

  things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.

  Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,

  and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.

  It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

  — Unknown

  “Language of Stamps”

  Many lovers in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries used stamps to convey secret messages. The language of the stamp became a fantastic game in which people would define certain meanings to the angle and position of the stamp on an envelope. Whether a stamp was upside down, diagonal or in a certain corner had different meanings.

  Eventually the problem of where to put postmarks became a great dilemma and so postal authorities the world over began to develop strict rules about the placement of stamps.

  I first learned about the stamp language when I was a teenager. My sisters and I were toying with one of my dad’s tape cassettes with music by David Allen Coe. His song “X's and O's (Kisses and Hugs)” makes mention of upside down stamps and their meaning. Olivia had to learn more. I was really excited to make mention of it in this book.

  “Strawberry Epistles”

  Well, if you’re planning to search for the mysterious Durman flowers called Strawberry Epistles, you’ll be sadly disappointed. There is no such plant by that name. About six years ago when hubby and I moved to our lake home, we were thrilled by the beautiful array of wildflowers that turned up in the field just across from our house. We were walking hand-in-hand, and I pointed to a particular flower and asked what it was. Hubby looked at me in all seriousness and said, “Those are Strawberry Epistles.” And naive gal that I am, I believed him for some time.

  Even after I discovered he’d made the name up, I still like calling the little fuzzy red flowers by that moniker. In reality, I believe the flowers I know as Strawberry Epistles are in fact red clover blossoms.

  When Olivia Hardin started having movie-like dreams in her teens, she had no choice but to begin putting them to paper. Before long, the writing bug had bitten her, and she knew she wanted to be a published author. Several rejections plus a little bit of life later, she was temporarily “cured” of the urge to write. That is, until she met a group of talented and fabulous writers who gave her the direction and encouragement she needed to get lost in the words again.

  Olivia has attended three different universities over the years and toyed with majors in Computer Technology, English, History and Geology. Then one day she heard the term “road scholar,”' and she knew that was what she wanted to be. Now she “studies” anything and everything just for the joy of learning. She's also an insatiable crafter who only completes about 1 out of 5 projects, a jogger who hates to run, and she’s sometimes accused of being artistic.

  A native Texas girl, Olivia lives in the beautiful Lone Star state with her husband, Danny and their puppy, Bonnie.

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  Read more about the Rawley Family in All for Hope and Justice for All