Violet's Vindication
By Verna Clay
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About this ebook
Violet Hailey, unwed mother of six year old Priscilla, longs to begin life anew after selling her family farm to the Railroad Commission. To that end, under the guise of being a widow, she travels to Independence, Missouri to join up with a wagon train bound for New Mexico Territory, via the Santa Fe Trail. However, a few days into her journey, she realizes she has been duped in the purchase of her wagon when it breaks down and cannot be repaired. Major Mendez, the wagon master, insists that unusual circumstances call for unusual choices, and forces her into a decision--either forego the dictates of society by sharing the wagon of an unmarried man or depart the train in the next town. The sad state of her finances, and her determination to reach Santa Fe, compel her to continue onward with a man she considers uncouth and rude.
Theodore Johansson, TJ for short, isn't averse to helping the widow and her daughter; it's just that her distaste for their situation exacerbates his own frustration when she proves to be doggedly stubborn.
Verna Clay
"2020 Finalist - Readers' Favorite International Contest (Paranormal Romance) for SOMEWHERE by the Sea.""2014 Gold Medal Winner - Readers' Favorite International Contest (Historical Romance) for Abby: Mail Order Bride."My perfect day: coffee shop; laptop; latte; characters demanding their stories be told; a plot that comes together; and hours to live in an alternate reality.Seriously, I have always loved reading, and now I love writing. As a preteen, I devoured Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Mysteries. When I reached my teen years, the romance genre became my favorite and that has never changed. After years of procrastinating, I tried my hand at writing and I've been doing so with a passion ever since. I have written over thirty romance novels and novellas in the genres of contemporary, contemporary western, historical western, fantasy, and paranormal. Because I hate saying goodbye to characters who have lived with me for months, I usually create a series so they can be revisited from book to book. I have also written a Young Adult novella titled "Fragile Hearts" using the pen name of Colleen Clay.
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Violet's Vindication - Verna Clay
Violet's
Vindication
Historical Romance Novelette
Journeys of the Heart
Book One
Verna Clay
"You don’t need scores of suitors.
You need only one…
If he’s the right one."
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)
Violet's Vindication
Historical Romance Novelette
Journeys of the Heart Book One
Copyright © 2018 by Verna Clay
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
vernaclay@vernaclay.com
www.vernaclay.com
Publisher: Verna Clay
Cover Design: Verna Clay
Picture: alenalihacheva (canstock.com)
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Preface
In this novelette, I have highlighted some of the historic stops along the Santa Fe Trail traveled during the years of 1821 to 1880. In 1880, the completion of the railroad forever changed the landscape and era of wagon trains trekking the west. The year I chose for my adventure is 1867.
The beginning of the trail was in Old Franklin, Missouri and the ending in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The five states it traversed were Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Of course, during 1867, Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Mexico were still Territories.
The trail was approximately 900 miles long and had two routes: Mountain Route and Cimarron Cutoff Route. The mountain route, considered safer, took about ten days longer to travel than the Cimarron route through the desert. The shorter distance, however, was often fraught with Indian and outlaw attacks, and water scarcity.
The hero of this story, Theodore Johansson, and heroine, Violet Hailey, are forced into close proximity when Violet's wagon breaks down and is not repairable. The wagon master, Major Mendez, forces her into a decision—either forego the dictates of society by sharing the wagon of an unmarried man or depart the wagon train in the next town. And although she decides to continue to Santa Fe, she finds Mr. Johansson—TJ to his fellow travelers—uncouth and rude.
Table of Contents
Preface
1: Despair
2: Council Grove
3: Fort Zarah
4: Decision
5: Escort
6: Bullseye
7: Fort Larned
8: Confrontation
9: Getting Out of Dodge
10: Indian Mound
11: Bent's New Fort
12: Raton Pass
13: Enough!
14: Not the End of the Trail
Abby: Mail Order Bride (excerpt) Unconventional Series
Novels and Novellas by Verna Clay
1: Despair
Violet Hailey was mortified. Not only had her prairie schooner died a horrible death when the axle split into three pieces—with no resurrection possible—but she'd been forced to sell her oxen to fellow travelers. Of course, she'd kept her old gelding, Barry, who was now tied to the back of the wagon she was walking beside.
After inspection of her schooner by wagon master Major Mendez, who had proclaimed repair was impossible, Violet and her six year old daughter Priscilla, nicknamed Punkin' since birth, had been forced to abandon their schooner on the Santa Fe Trail and forego most of their belongings. And, as if that wasn't horrendous enough, they'd had to accept charity from Mr. Theodore Johansson, a cantankerous cowboy who obviously wasn't happy about sharing his wagon with the widow and her daughter. Conventional wisdom dictated that the Major's order was highly improper, but he had been adamant that under certain circumstances societal rules were irrelevant.
Although Violet knew he was correct, her pride still stung from his curt issuance that she be placed under the care of Mr. Johansson. And Mr. Johansson's obvious distaste of the arrangement exacerbated her mortification. She was not one to accept charity. But the trail boss' edicts were law among the pioneers. Any refusal on her part would have mandated that she be unloaded at the next stop on their journey of nine hundred miles.
Only ten days earlier after leaving Independence, Missouri and posing as a widow, Violet had stoically driven her oxen one hundred miles and, although difficult, managed them rather well. That is, until her schooner began falling apart. And now, thinking back on her purchase of the wagon in Independence, she realized she'd been duped. At the time, she'd marveled at the reasonable price and assurances by a kind-faced, wizened old man that the schooner could withstand several trips to New Mexico Territory with no issues. Ha!
Violet's parents had always insisted that their daughter was too gullible and they'd been proven right yet again. Silently, she berated herself for being such a nitwit. Thinking about her mother and father, though, brought tears to her eyes. Their deaths during an influenza epidemic two years earlier were pains yet to heal.
After their passing, Violet, a tall, large-boned, and robust woman had continued working the small farm she'd grown up on until drought had decimated her savings and put her farm into foreclosure. When the bank refused to extend her yearly payment, she'd had no alternative but to sell and move on with her daughter.
Seven years earlier she'd also had to move on, not physically, but