BookQW = RIDE

 HANNAH’S DISCOVERY

(book 16, Reclusive Man Collection)

Some secrets are buried like pecans—waiting for the right season to be uncovered.

“I instructed her on how to remove the stain,” Jake remarked inching his way toward the back door. “As long as her husband doesn’t come to my door all will be as it should be.”

“Husband? What makes you think Hannah Warren is married?” Jo exclaimed.

“Aren’t most women her age?” Jake instantly realized his mistake. Josephine Johnson wasn’t married, but once had been having lost her husband at Shiloh. “Jo, I didn’t mean--”

Jo waved his apology away. “Miss Hannah Warren is far too busy working for Martin than to be bothered with a husband.”

“She works for Marty at the Gazette?” Jake’s heart hammered with fear.

“Yes, she’s his first lady reporter, and he’s rather proud of it.” Jo declared beaming with pride.

“Reporter?” Jake asked feeling the blood drain from his body. “I must be going, Jo.”

Jake hurried out the back door, down the alley, and across the street to where his wagon stood between Harper’s General Store and the Ridgecrest Gazette.

 ~ ~ ~ ~

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Reclusive Man Collection: https://tinyurl.com/jx98vwfv

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Add to Want to Read List: Goodreads / BookBub 

BookQW = CHANGE

HANNAH’S DISCOVERY

(book 16, Reclusive Man Collection)

Some secrets are buried like pecans—waiting for the right season to be uncovered.

 

The image of his mother, Amelia, finding him working in the streets still played upon his mind. Dressed in a plain day dress with her hair pulled back, she’d told him her plans to leave his father behind to serve his time alone in prison and how she was going back to Watertown to live with her widowed sister.

That very day Jake had made the decision to leave Boston and change his name. Like his mother, he wanted to be as far from his father’s reputation as possible. Even though his mother didn’t know where he was, Jake took solace in knowing that she was safe and with family who would look after her.

That was four years ago.

Jake wandered the country looking for himself, not really knowing who that might be. He’d spent some of that time as a day laborer, a factory worker, and a farm hand. The latter being the foundation for becoming a pecan farmer. He liked that his hands were callused, that his mind and body had grown strong with manual labor, and of having made something of himself honestly.

Jake Morris was far from the man his father had wanted him to be – Maurie Jacobson.

~ ~ ~ ~

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Reclusive Man Collection: https://tinyurl.com/jx98vwfv

Audible: https://adbl.co/4b8nafK

Available on all #Amazon sites

Add to Want to Read List: Goodreads / BookBub 

  

BookQW = SIMPLE

HANNAH’S DISCOVERY

(book 16, Reclusive Man Collection)

Some secrets are buried like pecans—waiting for the right season to be uncovered.

 

Locking the door behind her, Hannah strolled back to the newspaper office. Marty’s words “do you know who that is” found their way back to the front of her mind.

In the short trek back to the newspaper, Hannah focused on the man’s face. Although quite handsome, there wasn’t anything familiar about him. Nothing that would have made her remember if she’d ever met the man before today.

Except for his eyes which were quite remarkable. Dark, somber, and guarded were the words that came to mind. Yet nothing about them sparked even the faintest of memories. Hannah didn’t know the man; she would have remembered his eyes if she had.

She was only imagining Marty’s question to mean that she should know the man. It was obvious that he only wanted to know if she did know him, and that Marty didn’t. A simple question with no meaning.

At least not to her.

~ ~ ~ ~

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UK: https://amzn.to/3OGhKgo

Reclusive Man Collection: https://tinyurl.com/jx98vwfv

Audible: https://adbl.co/4b8nafK  

BookQW = AFTER

HANNAH’S DISCOVERY

(book 16, Reclusive Man Collection)

Some secrets are buried like pecans—waiting for the right season to be uncovered.

A large figure filled the open door, blocking out most of the morning sun.

Jake Morris surveyed the room until his gaze fell upon two baskets. One marked for the general store, and the other smaller one for the café in Ridgecrest. Unfolding the note in his hand, he double-checked the quantity requested. Harper’s General Store ordered a bushel of pecans in their shells, while Jo’s Café requested a bushel of pecans that were shelled when delivered. The cafe’s order would fit nicely in the burlap sacks dangling from his back pocket.

Jake was thankful for the past two years’ crop. The weather had been perfect, and for someone who hadn’t had any idea of how to keep pecans, he thanked God every day. For more than he may rightfully deserve he imagined.

His life could have been much different if he’d stayed and followed in his father’s footsteps. Jake had wandered after the war trying to purge the death and carnage from his memory. When he finally returned home, his father had done his best to convince Jake to go into the banking business with him. But Jake didn’t have the heart or desire to be trapped in an office every day of his life, and that had caused tension between his father and himself.

Instead, he turned to manual labor working in the streets of Boston. It was a dirty, sweaty position, but he hadn’t found anything more fulfilling at the time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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UK: https://amzn.to/3OGhKgo

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Audible: https://adbl.co/4b8nafK

Available on all #Amazon sites