Courting Carolina (39 page)

I’ll hold this picture in my heart

When I’m once more alone

And cherish every moment

’Til the day that I’m called home.

Then at last the evening is ended

And we’ve exchanged a good night kiss

One day may we all meet in heaven

And not one of our numbers be missed.

Alethea

Alethea is a beautiful maiden

With a heart as pure as the snow

She fell in love with a handsome Marine

Many long years ago.

Now she wears his engagement ring

And her heart is full of joy

She counts the months ’til she graduates

Then she’ll marry her Marine boy.

With a bit of sadness

Dad looks at his little girl

He has given her to another

And together they’ll face the world.

The wedding feast has been eaten

And the guests have all gone home

Alethea and Steven run to their car

And the honeymoon has begun.

Mom and Dad wave their good-byes

With a touch of sadness in their hearts

Their little girl has grown so quickly

And from her it’s hard to part.

They head across the USA

To their little home in the west

Where we all pray they’ll live happily

Like two turtledoves in a nest.

Red School House

The little red school house

Where I went years ago

Brings back fond memories

Of the days of old.

We walked to school in winter

Although it was windy as well

Then huddled round the heater

Until teacher rang the bell.

The Lord’s Prayer was always recited

Then Pledge of Allegiance too

Then out came our reading books

To show what we could do.

When the bell rang for recess

We’d all rush out of the room

The girls all played on one side

And recess was over too soon.

Beauty

The sun shone with an unearthly beauty

On the glistering trees below

One stood in awe at their majesty

And to think that God made it so.

If God makes such beauty here below

What splendor must be up above

Why are we reluctant to leave this place

And dwell with God above.

The snow will soon be melting

Then spring will once more be here

A time to get out and enjoy the sun

And see the stars so clear.

The birds will soon be singing their song

The grass will be turning green

God has given us so much beauty

Let us open our eyes and see.

Read on for a special preview of
Janet Chapman’s next
Spellbound Falls romance

The Heart of a Hero

Available March 2013 from Jove Books

Watching through the windshield of his truck, Nicholas studied the three young men getting out of the late-model pickup on the far side of the employee parking lot at the base of Whisper Mountain. But the more the man sitting beside him explained why he’d asked him to come down here today, the more confused Nicholas became. Rowan was second in command of Nova Mare’s small security force and quite capable of dealing with this sort of problem on his own.

“And the reason you simply didn’t intervene?” Nicholas asked, darting an impatient look across the cab. He looked back at the three young men to see one of them lift a bicycle out of the of the pickup and lean it against a tree in front of the older, mud-splattered truck they’d pulled up beside. “They’re on resort property, Julia Campbell is an employee, and last time I checked, keeping our staff safe was in your job description.”

Apparently not the least bit intimidated by the growl in his boss’s voice, Rowan shook his head on a soft snort. “If I’ve learned anything living in Spellbound Falls this past
year, it’s that Mainers don’t particularly care to have strangers butting into their business—especially family business. Her brother’s the one with the peach-fuzz beard.” Rowan scowled at the young men lighting up cigarettes as they leaned against the shiny red truck they’d arrived in. “And I didn’t intervene last week because I was afraid it would make things worse for Julia when she got home. Here she comes,” he said when the bus shuttling employees down from the mountaintop resort halted in the middle of the parking lot.

Nicholas reached over and stopped Rowan from getting out. “Let’s sit and watch for a while. You say he’s here every Friday waiting for her to get off work, and that it’s obvious he’s hitting her up for money?”

Rowan nodded. “She usually has it in her pocket and just hands him some folded bills. Only last week he apparently wanted more than she was offering and grabbed her purse. They got in a small tussle, she lost, and he dug out her wallet, pulled out a fistful of money, and tossed the wallet and purse on the ground, then got in his truck and left.” He snorted again. “The punk couldn’t even be bothered to take her home, but left her to ride her bicycle in the rain. There, that’s her in the red wool jacket and black pants, carrying those empty feed sacks,” Rowan said, nodding at the workers stepping off the shuttle bus.

Nicholas saw the woman in red hesitate when she spotted the three young men leaning against the pickup, then watched her square her shoulders and head toward them—her brother straightening away when he saw her.

Julia Campbell was slightly taller than average for a woman and somewhat on the thin side, with a thick braid of light brown hair hanging halfway down her back that Nicholas suspected would spring into a riot of curls when let loose. It was dusk and starting to snow, so he couldn’t make out the color of her large eyes set in an oval face on top of a gracefully long neck. Her posture was intrinsically feminine, her stride filled with purposeful energy despite it being the end of her workday. “She’s older than I was expecting,”
he said, assuming she’d barely be out of her teens, judging by the age of her brother.

“I asked the shuttle driver her name after that little tussle,” Rowan said, “then went back up to your office and checked her employee file. She turned thirty a few months ago, has been married but is divorced. And even though I’ve since learned her mother’s dead and that she lives with her father between here and town, she listed a sister as next of kin to notify in an emergency. The empty sacks she’s carrying were full this morning. Her family owns a cedar mill, and Julia supplies the resort with kindling and pine cones for the fireplaces to supplement her wages and tips. She works housekeeping Tuesday through Saturday, and from what I’ve gathered from quietly checking around, she asked to always be assigned the same eight cottages.”