Vera, Widows of Blessings Valley #2

by Maxine Douglas

Genres: Romance; Clean & Wholesome Romance; Historical Romance; American Romance; Western Romance; Second Chance Romance; American West; widow; sweet romance; american romance; Second Chance Romance; American Historical Romance; Victorian historical romance

Synopsis

Late morning mining accident casts a gloom over the town of Blessings Valley. Over twenty souls were lost in an excavating explosion that has left several widows, friends, and townspeople mourning. The explosion occurred as the miners were coming out for lunch. A rescue force was sent out immediately to recover the bodies. Services are currently being arranged. Pray for these lost souls and their families.

     —Blessings Valley Chronicle

Recently widowed, laundress Vera Baldwin is pregnant and terrified as to how she will provide for her unborn child. Completely alone in the world except for her husband’s estranged family, she vows to make a home for her and her infant.

Assigned to investigate the mining accident that killed several men in Blessings Valley, undercover agent Jack Daniels is torn between duty and family when he learns Vera Baldwin is carrying his estranged brother’s child.

Release date: February 14, 2020

Publisher: Self

Print pages: 192

Sample

“For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you.’” Isaiah 41:13

 

Late Summer 1892 

As she did every day before going to work at the laundry, Vera Baldwin stood over the grave of her late husband, Thomas. Tenderly smoothing her hand over her ever-growing belly, she fought the tears threatening to fall. They came less and less, but on days like today, it was hard to fight them off.

“Soon, Thomas, everyone will know the precious gift you left behind. I had hoped to keep it to myself for as long as I could by hiding my secret under my clothes. I don’t know how much long I will be able to do that as I believe the new year will bring the arrival of our child,” she said, wiping away the tears with the back of her hand. “It is a comfort to know that I’ll always have a piece of you to hold and love every day of my life.

“Thank you, my love.” Kneeling, she placed a kiss on the marker with her hand. “I will love you always.”

Standing, Vera blew one more kiss at her deceased husband’s grave then turned and began walking toward Blessings Valley. Back to Nana’s Laundry that was now her life as a laundress. It wasn’t how she’d imagined it would be when she and Thomas had married only two years earlier.

Pausing at the church, Vera crossed herself and said a prayer for both her baby and for Thomas. She prayed her sometimes gruff husband had found his place with God.

She smiled, thinking of their courtship. Thomas, three years her senior, rode onto her father’s ranch one winter day looking for work. After only a few months as a ranch hand, Vera knew her heart would belong to Thomas. And he felt the same way. So much so that he asked her to marry him after getting her father’s permission.

So, on her twentieth birthday, as they stood on the front porch in front of her family and the local preacher, she became Mrs. Thomas Baldwin. Two years later, influenza took her mother and father, and the bank took the ranch after they’d already set out for the Oklahoma Territory and finally settled in Blessings Valley six months ago. In the space of only a few years, Vera had turned from a rancher’s daughter into a miner’s wife.

Now, she was a widow on her own. But she had more than herself to care for. There was a baby on the way, and before long, she wouldn’t be able to hide her secret under her clothes.