Penelope

• Title Page
  
• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• Chapter Twelve
  
• Chapter Thirteen
  
• Chapter Fourteen
  
• Chapter Fifteen
  
• Chapter Sixteen
  
• Chapter Seventeen
  
• Chapter Eighteen
  
• Chapter Nineteen
  
• Chapter Twenty
  
• Chapter Twenty-One
  
• Chapter Twenty-Two
  
• Chapter Twenty-Three
  
• Chapter One
  

The Three Mrs. Monroes Trilogy

book two

by

Bernadette Marie

Bernadette Marie and 5 Prince Publishing

copyright 2014

This is a fictional work. The names, characters, incidents, places, and locations are solely the concepts and products of the author’s imagination or are used to create a fictitious story and should not be construed as real.

5 PRINCE PUBLISHING AND BOOKS, LLC

PO Box 16507

Denver, CO 80216

www.5PrinceBooks.com

ISBN 13: 978-1-63112-040-4 ISBN 10: 1631120409

PENELOPE

Bernadette Marie

Copyright Bernadette Marie 2014

Published by 5 Prince Publishing

Front Cover Viola Estrella

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations, reviews, and articles. For any other permission please contact 5 Prince Publishing and Books, LLC.

First Edition/First Printing August 2014 Printed U.S.A.

5 PRINCE PUBLISHING AND BOOKS, LLC.

Other books by Bernadette Marie

The Keller Family Series

The Executive’s Decision

A Second Chance

Opposite Attraction

Center Stage

Lost and Found

Love Songs

Home Run

The Acceptance

The Merger (Fall 2014)

The Escape Clause (Winter 2015)

Aspen Creek Series

First Kiss

Unexpected Admirer

On Thin Ice

Indomitable Spirit

The Matchmaker Series

Matchmakers

Encore

Finding Hope

The Three Mrs. Monroes

Amelia

Penelope

Vivian (October 2015)

Single Titles

Cart Before the Horse

Candy Kisses

COMING SOON

THE WALKERS SERIES

To Stan,

You’ve been with me through every crisis, bad day, and horrible experience and you’re still here. What more can I say? I love you.

To Stan and our boys you are the light in my life that makes me shake any darkness.

To Mom, Dad, and Sissy, you are always my foundation on which I forever build my dreams.

To Connie, Clare, Marie, and Grace, you are my clarity when my dream world becomes cloudy. You’re my umbrella when it begins to rain.

To June and Sara, you are my knights in shinning amour! You do the impossible and are gracious to accept more.

To my Street Team and Beta Readers, you are the light in the window when I think I can’t go on and finish the story I’m working on. You give me that power to create and continue. Thank you.

Dear Reader,

As an author I am always afraid of the second book. Suddenly you begin to wonder if you know all of the characters enough to continue on with them.

The Three Mrs. Monroes has been such a delight to write. Each woman brings so much depth to the story.

In PENELOPE we begin to move on and develop this friendship the three wives have started to create. In this second book, we meet Brock Romero, the man Adam Monroe sent to find his Penelope Monroe. The joy in writing this man was his positive feelings for Adam Monroe, for one, and introducing the reader to his family. Sometimes I enjoy the side characters just as much as the main ones. You’ll find he comes from a tight knit family where his mother loves to cook—but can’t.

Penelope, Vivian, and Amelia are still building their daycare center and also building a family among themselves. Sometimes relationships aren’t always romantic. Sometimes they are built between friends—even if they should all be enemies.

I hope you enjoy PENELOPE and look at the end for a sample of the final book VIVIAN.

Happy Reading,

Bernadette Marie

God she was miserable.

Heat waves rose off the pavement and the air was thick and still. Penelope Monroe sat on the front porch in one kitchen chair with her feet up on another. With gentle strokes, she rubbed her pregnant belly. She simply couldn’t believe how uncomfortable she was.

The smell of paint from inside the house wafted out and she tried not to let it make her stomach churn. She’d been appointed to oversee the two men putting in the new front window. That wasn’t much fun at all.

Both of their butt cracks stuck out of their pants and every time they talked they cursed then looked at her and apologized. She wasn’t a prude—well not really. She’d heard those words before, even if she didn’t use them.

Penelope closed her eyes and wished for a slight breeze. Her head was buzzing with paint fumes, curse words, and the events of the past few months.

It had all started when she’d married Adam Monroe.

His image formed in her head and she let out a small sigh.

Those blue eyes and that blonde hair, he was like a god, she thought. One she’d read about in books. He was a soldier, so his body was chiseled hard and he carried himself—well, like a god.

He’d been a player. She’d known that. The night she’d first laid eyes on him, he’d taken her friend home from the bar. At least he’d had the sense to offer her a ride home before he drove off with Christina—her
ex-friend.
There were explicit details from Christina she could do with forgetting.

That should have been her clue to never even talk to the man again. Easy sex from women you picked up in bars wasn’t her style. She’d been a virgin, after all. She’d been saving herself for her husband. It had been Christina who thought differently of that. Christina liked the loud music, the dancing, the beer, and the men. Usually she was considerate of Penelope’s feelings when they went out. But that night Christina had gotten caught up in Adam’s blue eyes, his hair, his body, and his voice delivering all the right lines.

Penelope figured she was most mad about the evening because she’d been having feelings she’d never had before. She thought, briefly, that had she been given the chance to go home with Adam she’d have done it. She knew she’d have chickened out, but he’d had a way with turning her heart to mush.

But it had been Christina he’d taken back to his place and—well, again, she’d just like to forget that she knew every detail of that night.

She couldn’t have imagined that a few nights later, when Christina had abandoned her at the bar for another one night stand, that Adam would walk in and change her life.

The words he used were different than the ones he’d used on Christina. His moves were gentle and that hadn’t been a word Christina had used when she’d given Penelope all of her details.

He was a gentleman.

They talked, walked, and dated a few nights. He was sweet when she told him she was a virgin and she was saving herself for her husband. Not once did he make a move or cross a line. Then he said he loved her and that had changed everything.

When he’d asked her to marry him, there had been no hesitation. They’d gotten married and, that night, she gave herself to him.

Penelope let out a breath and opened her eyes. Everything changed in that one night.

She ran her hand over her growing stomach. A small part of Adam grew inside of her, even though he was gone.

The day she’d come to Parson’s Gulch was the day they’d buried Adam—the day she’d met one of his other wives and seen the other with his children. She was only one of three Mrs. Monroes. One of three Adam had lied to. One of three who now fought to move past him.

The very thought of Adam’s lies still made her sick.

But just because she now detested her husband of only a few months, she couldn’t hate the life that grew inside of her. This child was hers and in a few days she’d see the baby for the first time. Adam’s other wives would be there too.

She let out a small chuckle which had the window installers looking over at her. Kindly, she gave them a smile and closed her eyes again.

Amelia Monroe, Adam’s second wife, had taken her in. She was kind though Penelope was sure she wasn’t used to being such. But she’d given her a place to stay and had just friended her when she’d needed someone to care.

Vivian, on the other hand, had taken a little longer to warm up to. But when she had, they’d bonded. Though Vivian wasn’t more than ten years older than Penelope, she thought of her as a mother figure, where Amelia was more of a big sister.

Adam’s lies had entangled them.

Adam’s death had brought them together.

Adam’s life grew inside of her.

Penelope opened her eyes and rubbed her aching side.

In just the past week, her stomach had grown so much bigger. It stretched and Vivian was relentless with the cocoa butter routine. She had stretch marks from Adam’s other two children and she was going to make sure Penelope didn’t suffer the same fate.