by Linda Ellen
*
Louise and Lilly finished putting two extremely wound up little boys to bed after the former had related the day’s exciting events.
“I think I’ll go on to bed, too,” Lilly murmured as she paused at the door to the bathroom, her gown and robe in her hands. “Those two kept me running all day,” she added, although the complaint was tempered with a small loving smile.
“Alright. Goodnight, Mama. I’m going to wait up for Vic and Tommy to get home.”
With that, Louise wandered into the front room of their little house on Thirty-Eighth to curl up in the big armchair in the corner and try to read a detective novel she had started a week before. But reading proved difficult, as she was too keyed up to rest.
Putting aside her book, she stared through the lace of the front room curtains and wondered again how the rest of the day had gone for her husband and son. Did they have many more customers? Did they run out of gasoline, as Vic had begun to predict they might just before she had left? Did Tommy remember to give away the chances for a free lube and free oil change if Vic got busy with another customer?
Also, she wondered about her husband. Too antsy to eat more than a few bites of food all day, not to mention the steady stream of customers coming and going, Vic had resorted to sustaining himself on Cokes from the soda machine, and had even indulged in his long abandoned habit of smoking to try and calm his nerves. That concerned her, as he hadn’t felt the need to indulge in years. Well…once he gets this opening day behind him, things will smooth out and he won’t be under such pressure of the unknown. He’ll know what to expect and he’ll be able to adjust.
Crossing her arms over her stomach and raising one hand to her mouth, she absentmindedly chewed on her thumbnail as doubts and worries ran through her head. Have we bitten off more than we can chew? Can Vic really do this? Can he really handle all of the responsibility of his own Phillips 66 station? Immediately, Louise rebuked her thoughts, reminding herself that she had seen her husband under pressure many times and he had always kept a cool head. She had never seen him fly off the handle. His anger was more the smoldering type, and she could always gauge his level of aggravation by the clenching of his jaw, or the occasional off-color word that would slip from his lips. Not only did she love and adore Vic as the love of her life, she also admired him, respected him, and truly thought there was very little that her husband wasn’t capable of accomplishing – when he set his mind on something.
As she sat there waiting for him to return home on that first night, she couldn’t help but smile with pride that her Vic had stepped out and reached for that longed-for brass ring…went after his very own Bold Venture. Since the War had ended, most other men seemed to be stuck in dead-end jobs going nowhere. Not so her husband! He had taken the bull by the horns and sought out a way to pursue his dream.
Thinking back, she had even seen when he was only twenty-one that he had the intelligence and the wherewithal to accomplish big things if given the chance. Over the years, they’d had many late night talks about where he hoped to be five or ten years down the road. But unlike most people, he had actually made it. A rush of overwhelming love washed over her as she thought about him, so handsome, so strong and commanding, so in charge. She knew he would move heaven and earth to make his service station succeed.
“With God’s help…” reminded Irene’s voice in her head. “Yes, with God’s help. Thank You, Lord…” Louise whispered, taking a few minutes to pray a prayer of thanks and future safety and help.
Finally, she could see the headlights of Vic’s Oldsmobile as it made its way down the street. She watched as it pulled up out front and went dark.
With a smile, she rose to meet her husband and son – her exhausted twosome.
They were on their way. Their Bold Venture had begun.
‡
EPILOGUE
Present Day…
“No thank you, honey. I can’t eat another bite,” Ninety-year-old Louise murmured, one hand up to indicate she meant business as her daughter-in-law offered the bowl of mashed potatoes. In truth, everyone was quite full and satisfied as they sat around the table during their first holiday meal at Louise’s new house.
Somehow, during the discourse she’d been relating regarding her dear Vic’s first monumental day operating his service station, she had managed to eat her meal.
Seventeen-year-old Maria, Louise’s great-granddaughter, asked with interest, “So, is that the end of the story, Grandma Louise? Whatever happened to Floyd?”
The matriarch of the family, still as sharp as ever, the wavy brown hair now worn short and long since having turned to gray, and those hazel eyes still full of intelligence and sass, fixed them now on the girl and chuckled, shaking her head.
“No, honey. Why, I could write a book about all of the things that happened during the years your great-grandfather had his Phillips 66 station. And most of it included Floyd and a dear little old man named Duke.” Pausing for a moment to picture him, she went on, “Old Duke was a preacher. He had a little church way down in the West End. Like a little banty rooster, he was…gracious, he was high strung. Floyd and Duke…they were Vic’s loyal workers,” she added with a fond sigh.
Thinking for a moment as she accepted a refill of Sprite in her glass, she nodded as if to herself. “So many things happened during those years…funny things…scary things…sad times…times when we feared that business had gotten so bad we’d have to close the station…employees stealing from him…oh so many things.” A myriad of emotions crossed her face as memories floated by on the screen of her mind. Everyone at the table wondered what she was remembering. Tom, Buddy, and Jim exchanged glances, each thinking of his own memories of the station over the years.
Then, with a feisty grin, she teased, “No, that wasn’t the end by any means. That was just the beginning of my Vic’s Bold Venture!”
THE END
Coming soon, “Almost as Much”
Book 3 in the saga of Vic and Louise!
The real Vic and Louise on their wedding night – celebrating at the Madrid Ballroom
A message from the author:
I hope you enjoyed reading THE BOLD VENTURE as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was truly a labor of love. As an independent author, getting the word out about my books is vital to their success and mine, so if you liked this book (and if you read and enjoyed its predecessor, Once in a While), please consider recommending them to your friends, family, reader’s group, local library, and discussion boards. And please take a minute to write a review, long or short, on Amazon or Goodreads. The feedback I get from my readers means the world to me. Thank you!
Also by Linda Ellen
The Cherished Memories Series
Book 1 – Once in a While
DEDICATIONS
• Thank you again, Mom, the real Louise, for sharing with me the details of your extraordinary and colorful life with my wonderful father, the real life Vic. Your ability to remember facts, songs, names, and places from seventy-five plus years ago continues to astound me. Without you, there would be no story! Love you Mom.
• Thanks go to Jesus my Savior, my helper and best friend. You always answer prayer and pleas for help, assisting every step of the way every time I got stumped or felt abandoned by those who promised to be there and weren’t. My biggest times of trouble writing were times I forgot to pray!
• To my friend in France, Audrey Caudill. Thank you for your work on the early chapters.
• Thank you to Melinda Reynolds and Kathryn Lockwood for editing and proofreading the manuscript, and for your encouraging comments about the story.
• Thank you to Lori Heretothere, for your amazing restoration work on the photo used on the cover and at the end.
• Thank you to my pre-readers, Mom, Steve, Belinda Ross and Lynn Bailey, for your excitement and interest in the story and always keeping me on track with my plotlines.
• A big thanks goes out to my friends, readers, and fans of my debut novel Onc
e in a While, the prequel to this one. Your wonderful reviews, private messages, emails, and compliments in person, always blessed me and kept me hard at work on the sequel – so you guys can find out what happens with Vic and Louise!
• Once again, thank you so much my dear friend, Indie author H.D’Agostino, for your encouragement, advice, and invaluable help.
• And last, but never least – thank you to my sweet husband, Steve. How did I ever luck out and get such a life partner as you? Thank you for being my number one fan and encourager, my defender, my helpmate, my adviser, my confidant, and my sounding board. You are the best beta, writing partner, and book-signing assistant ever! Love you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda Ellen lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband and youngest son. A lifelong avid reader, after encouragement from her family and friends, she tried her hand at writing in 2009 and never looked back. Prior to the release of her debut novel Once in a While (fashioned from the real-life story of her parents’ romance), she has written 30 well-received Fan Fiction works, including short stories, missing scenes, novellas, and four full length novels, based on the TV show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Linda keeps very busy with her work in her church’s prison ministry and writing every spare moment she gets. Under production is one more book in the Cherished Memories series and a possible novella. To keep up with the latest news on her books, including trailers, cover reveals, release dates, and book signings, visit and ‘like’ her Facebook page, Linda Ellen – Author. Also, if you ‘Follow” her on her Amazon Author Page, you will be notified when she publishes her next book. For a special treat, go to her Pinterest page to see many pictures related to this story:
www.pinterest.com/linda4him59/the-bold-venture
Linda loves to hear from readers. You can contact her in any of these ways:
Email:
[email protected]
Twitter:
@LindaEllen54
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/LindaEllen.Author
Amazon Author Page:
www.amazon.com/Linda-Ellen/e/B00QDAXSSW