The Uncharted Series Omnibus

by Keely Brooke Keith

  Bethany smiled. “No—he’s had their blessing for years.”

  Everett shook the trader’s hand then turned and walked through the crowd toward Bethany. Roseanna said something about going to look at cloth and walked away. Bethany glanced at her and mumbled a goodbye, then she looked back at Everett. His lips were pursed like he was whistling, but she couldn’t hear the tune over the sound of the villagers and the merchants and the children. A gust of wind blew a cloud of loose white petals from a nearby fruit tree through the market. The breeze mixed with the gray leaf’s scent and the salty ocean air, producing the sweet fragrance of springtime in the Land. A group of children ran in front of Everett. He smiled at them and continued walking with his gaze fixed on Bethany as he approached the pottery booth.

  She finally heard the notes he was whistling as she stepped around the table to meet him. He stopped his song and drew her into his arms. She pulled back, excited to tell him about her morning, but he held her against his chest for one more heartbeat before he released her. Bethany smiled and looked up at him. “What is that tune you were whistling?”

  Everett flipped his hair off his forehead. “Just a song I’ve been working on these past few months.”

  “Is it ready?”

  “Almost.” He held her hand in his and glanced at her finger. “How about you? Are you ready?”

  Bethany grinned. “Almost.”

  Everett looked behind him when Roseanna’s cackle of a laugh rang from across the market. She had both hands clasped to her face as she chatted with a group of women near the cloth trader’s booth. Everett turned back to Bethany. “It’s good to see her being herself again.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  Everett rubbed his thumb over Bethany’s knuckles as he held her hand. “She is afraid we won’t need her.”

  Bethany nodded. “I know. I assured her we would.”

  “Thank you.” He kissed her hand then released it and motioned to the merchandise behind her table. “I see you’ve been busy this morning.”

  She glanced at the pile: leather items, buckets of nails, bolts of cloth, baskets of food, and a shovel. “I’m taking it to Mark Cotter for the horse after I trade these last three pieces.”

  Everett picked up the bowl in the center of the table. “I’ll trade you one arthritic herding dog for this.”

  She lowered her chin and affected her voice with a masculine tone. “I’m sorry, sir, I have no use for an arthritic herding dog.”

  “Very well,” His face drew into a serious expression then a smile threatened his affectation. “I see you are a shrewd negotiator. How about four hundred ewes and a highly domestic mother?”

  “All that for a bowl?” She snorted.

  “Never mind, I don’t want the bowl after all.” They both laughed. When their chuckles died out, Everett rocked back on his heels. He was quiet for a moment and glanced around the marketplace. Then he looked back at her and pointed to the trade stacked behind her. “If you insist on buying your own horse, will you at least let me handle the trade for you?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “Will you let me accompany you then?”

  “Fine. You may go with me.” Bethany held up a finger. “But you’d better let me do the talking.”

  Everett grinned. “It’s a deal.”

  * * *

  Bethany nestled her bare feet in the powdery white sand, then she leaned down and traced their outline with her finger. As Everett fed the bonfire with a fresh load of dried branches, a log popped, sending sparks high above the flames. Bethany coolly looked up, brushed the sand from her fingertips, and smiled at him. Everett grinned and resumed his kindling.

  “Am I too late?” Lydia called as she stepped out of the darkened forest path and onto the beach.

  “We were just getting started,” Connor answered from the end of the log bench. “How is Mr. Roberts?”

  Lydia’s fire-lit face looked exhausted. “He will be fine. Thirty-two stiches. I wouldn’t normally divulge a patient’s details, but he was so proud to live through being gored in the shoulder by a bull that he wanted you men to know the stitch count as if it were some sign of masculinity.” She lowered herself to the log and sat beside Connor. Then she leaned forward to look past Bethany and Mandy at Levi. “Oh, and Mrs. Roberts said to tell you she is waiting for you to build the new cabinetry in her kitchen.”

  Levi shrugged. “I’ve already told her twice: I will get to it as soon as I’ve finished the addition on our house.” Mandy smiled and reclined against him. He put his palm across her abdomen. His splayed hand covered most of her pregnant belly.

  Bethany watched Levi’s hand on Mandy’s stomach. Something happened inside the enigmatic bump and Mandy and Levi both laughed.

  “She kicked!” Mandy said.

  “He kicked,” Levi corrected, grinning.

  “There is no way to know until the big day—not in the Land anyway,” Connor interjected. “Except with Andrew—I knew he was a boy.”

  “After he was born,” Lydia laughed. “I think most men hope there firstborn is a boy.”

  “Not me.” Everett sat on the empty slice of log beside Bethany then wrapped his arm around her. “I don’t care either way.”

  Bethany glanced at the thin silver band around her finger—a promise ring, he had called it when he gave it to her—a custom Connor encouraged due to their lengthy courtship. The newness of the silver reflected the firelight. She turned her face into Everett’s neck. “You don’t care if your first child is a boy or a girl?” she asked in a near whisper, but it still drew curious glances.

  Everett moved his hand to the small of her back and looked at the others. “I have two hundred fourteen lambs in the flock right now… I’ll be happy to have anything born without cloven hooves.”

  Mandy laughed again; it sounded like music. Then she flinched. “That was a big one! Feel it, Bethany.”

  Levi removed his hand and Bethany laid hers across Mandy’s middle. She felt the stirring of the child beneath the thin cotton fabric of Mandy’s summer dress and it made her wish for the same—someday. She imagined what it must be like to feel a child growing inside and wondered if she would sense her own child’s emotions from the womb.

  Mandy smiled at her. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

  Levi leaned forward and looked at Connor. “Tell us a story.”

  Connor chuckled while Lydia and Mandy groaned about not wanting to be frightened. Levi encouraged Connor to make the story shocking, but Mandy complained gory stories made her nauseated. Everett traced his finger across Bethany’s back, spelling out letters no one else could see: I-L-O-V-E. She stared at the fire and the sounds of her siblings and their spouses dissipated as she focused on Everett’s furtive message: Y-O-U. Even in the middle of the group, he found a private way to make a connection. She pulled her hand away from Mandy’s belly and leaned into Everett’s side. He pressed his lips against the top of her head as he drew more letters on her back. She felt safe with him, cherished and settled.

  Connor patted the air with his hand, quieting Mandy and Lydia. “Okay, have you heard the one about the guy…”

  Epilogue

  Justin Mercer tucked in his shirt and fastened his belt, then began packing his few personal possessions into an oversized duffle bag. After spending his nights alone in the musty, eight-man stateroom, and his days attempting sundry maintenance procedures aboard the eerily understaffed aircraft carrier, he was ready to disembark as soon as they were harbored at Norfolk. He gave the room one last glance, then double-checked the duffle bag for the only item he cared about—a sock filled with a dozen seeds from the gray leaf tree. As he untied the sock and looked inside at the marble-sized seeds, he wondered how and where he would plant them so the miraculous trees would grow safely in America while he returned to duty. He remembered the greenhouse planters his mother used during winter months and considered building something similar.

  A knock echoed through his door, jarring him fr
om his thoughts. “On my way,” Mercer blurted as he retied the sock and buried it in the duffle bag. After a glance at his wristwatch, Mercer lifted the bag to his shoulder. He left the room, walked the narrow corridor to a flight of stairs then through another corridor, and entered the ready room where a commander awaited him.

  “Your reenlistment has been approved,” the commander said before Mercer could close the door.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “It’s not without complications.” The commander motioned to a chair at the conference table. “You will have to put in a few weeks sim training before you’re allowed back in flight.” As Mercer lowered his bag to the floor and sat, the commander continued. “The paperwork will be a slow process. All of the service branches are reorganizing while the Unified States focuses on rebuilding infrastructure, but we need pilots. You were declared M.I.A. after the incident at McMurdo Station and now you are being hailed a hero for capturing one of our nation’s biggest enemies.”

  Mercer shook his head. “I didn’t exactly capture Volt, sir.”

  “Well, it was the signal you sent from the icebreaker that led us to him. How you survived on a dinghy for a month while you waited for help is beyond me, and the look of that storm behind you when they pulled you from the water!” The commander shivered. “It’s a sight I won’t soon forget. But the important thing is, you kept yourself off the boat while Volt and his men died of that awful disease.”

  While the commander spoke, Mercer thought of his month—not on the dinghy like he had reported, but in the village of Good Springs in the Land. He had spent the past four months on the carrier thinking of little else: the Land’s beautiful terrain, the pristine fresh water, and the antiquated lifestyle that made him want to leave. When he reminisced about toying with the affections of the cute virgin, Bethany, he considered his time in the Land better than a month drifting at sea, but when he thought of the backbreaking work on Everett’s farm and the cultural restrictions of their society, he recanted his former summation.

  “And you never had any symptoms?” the commander asked.

  Mercer remembered every moment of his experience with the deadly disease from when the fever gripped him to waking up on the shore of the Land. As he thought of the suffocating burn inside his lungs before he drank Lydia’s gray leaf tea, he cleared his throat and looked the commander in the eye. “None, sir.”

  The commander nodded at him and then sat in the chair at the opposite end of the table. “When the plague hit us, the carrier lost half her crew within a month—three thousand men and women dead. It was the single greatest tragedy I witnessed during the war. But it’s behind us now.” The commander leaned back in his chair. “Countries can’t fight when most of their people are sick or dead. The war is over and the Unified States is rebuilding, albeit with a fraction of her former population. And you will be the guest of honor at the admiral’s banquet this Saturday. Your mother is being flown to Norfolk as we speak.”

  Mercer shook his head, believing the commander was mistaken. “It can’t be my mother, sir. None of my family survived the water poisoning.”

  “Your mother did. She was surprised to learn you had survived the war and the plague—not many did.” As Mercer processed the news of his mother’s survival, the commander stood and stepped to the door. “We disembark at zero nine hundred.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Mercer lifted his bag to his shoulder as he rose. “I look forward to it.”

  ###

  If you enjoyed Uncharted Inheritance, please consider leaving a review at your favorite online retailer.

  More books by Keely Brooke Keith

  Christmas with the Colburns: An Uncharted Novella

  Available Now (Edenbrooke Press)

  It’s Christmastime in Good Springs, and Lydia Bradshaw is eager for the light at the end of her year—the Colburn family’s big holiday gathering. When she discovers none of her siblings are coming back to the village this year, she believes Christmas will be ruined. As Lydia faces a gloomy holiday in the Colburn house, an unexpected romance brightens her favorite season. Will it be enough to rekindle the light of Christmas?

  Spend Christmas with the Colburns in this inspirational holiday novella. If you like the traditional setting and sweet romance of Amish Fiction but are looking for something new, buy Christmas with the Colburns today to jump into a fast-paced story of Christmastime in a hidden land.

  Holiday recipe included!

  About Keely Brooke Keith

  Keely Brooke Keith is the author of The Land Uncharted, Uncharted Redemption, and Uncharted Inheritance (Edenbrooke Press) and Aboard Providence (CrossRiver Media, coming 2016).

  Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, Keely grew up in a family that frequently relocated. By graduation, she lived in 8 states and attended 14 schools. When she isn’t writing stories, Keely enjoys playing bass guitar, preparing homeschool lessons, and collecting antique textbooks. Keely resides on a hilltop south of Nashville with her husband and their daughter. She is a member of ACFW.

  Connect with Keely Brooke Keith

  Website: Keely Brooke Keith

  Twitter: @Keely_keith

  Facebook: Author Keely Brooke Keith

  Acknowledgements

  My heartfelt gratitude goes to my patient and supportive family, friends, and encouragers. Some of you bolstered me through this entire journey; some of you simply spoke a word of encouragement that spurred me on in a tough moment. There are so many who’ve encouraged me that I failed to note, and as soon as this goes to press I will probably remember your help and have a big face-palm moment, but here is my best shot...

  A special thanks to: Marty Keith, Rachel Keith, Pam Heckman, Rod Heckman, Karen Lawler, Amber Barron, Christina Yother, Annalise Hulsey, Claribel Ortega, Jennifer Cortez, Megan Easley-Walsh, Vickie Pantle, Brie Graves-Gowen, Brendan Heckman, Abby Vanderford, Ana Klundt, Ron Wilcoxson, Ryiesha Simms, Tamera Alexander, Robin, Cherine, Theola, Melissa, Chad, Sam, Anita, Tamara, Rae, Jared, Nicole, Blake, Lynnette, Kent, Michelle, Joel, Carolyn, Kelly, Margaret, Angela, Jacob, Brenda, Sharon, Kathryn, Frank, Dena, Najla, Fellowship Bible Church worship team friends, Inside Edits, and the Clean Indie Reads tribe.