Saul's Second Chance

By Verna Clay

Five years after the woman Saul had expected to spend his life with rejected him and married a wealthy Santa Fe businessman, he meets the spinster who just opened a bookstore in his town. Undeniably, the lady is not his type, but something about her keeps drawing him back to her shop. Could it be their common enjoyment of dime novels filled with action and adventure, or something more? Saul's life is about to become complicated when the woman who rejected him, now a widow, moves back to town and sets her sights on him.

Moving to Cielo Azul is a dream come true for Grace Hillsdale. After searching for the perfect town to open a bookstore, but also quench her loneliness, she believes she's finally achieved her goal. The town, now connected via shortline railroad to Santa Fe, has transformed from a stagecoach stop into a thriving population of businesses, ranchers, farmers, and most importantly, families. During her initial visit she spied a cowboy who embodied the essence of the "Wild West" of New Mexico Territory, and is thrilled when he begins visiting her bookstore. Soon they become friends. Only in her thoughts, however, does she affectionately dub him as "her cowboy." She's convinced he could never see her as anyone other than a friend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Verna Clay
• Release date: Aug 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005970123

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.

Book preview

Saul's

Second Chance

Historical Romance Novelette

Journeys of the Heart

Book Four

Verna Clay

"Whatever our souls are made of,

His and mine are the same…"

—Emily Bronte

Saul's Second Chance

Historical Romance Novelette

Journeys of the Heart Book Four

Copyright © 2020 by Verna Clay

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

[e-mail]

www.vernaclay.com

Publisher: Verna Clay

Cover Design: Verna Clay

Picture: Pixabay

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

After completing the third story in this family tale, I knew a fourth had to be written. I knew Saul's story had to be told. In the third book, Samuel's Sacrifice, Saul Johansson, the brother of Samuel, seemed to be somewhat callous and self-serving. In my heart, however, I knew that was not the case and I couldn't leave readers believing it to be so. And thus, Saul's Second Chance is the story of his redemption.

As I listened to my inner voice, another character began sharing her heart, and her name is Grace. Within a very short time I knew Grace was the woman for Saul, and grace was what he longed for. Loneliness is a terrible companion, but could the unconditional love of a spinster become the antidote to Saul's solitary existence?

Verna Clay

Table of Contents

Preface

1: Books

2: Eyes

3: Amiss

4: Advice

5: Surprise

6: Interruption

7: Invitation

8: Introductions

9: Invite

10: Mary

11: Delilah

12: Exposed

13: Business Arrangement

14: Change

15: Library Ladies

16: Bookshelf

17: Random Drawing

18: Plan

19: Rescue

20: Journey of the Heart

Epilogue

Healing Woman of the Red Rocks (excerpt)

Red Rocks Trilogy

Novels and Novellas by Verna Clay

1: Books

Staring at the crate of books that had been delivered the day before, via the shortline railroad from Santa Fe to Cielo Azul, Grace Hillsdale felt like it was Christmas morning. The crate had required two men to lift from the buckboard into her shop—Grace's Bookstore. She had thought about naming the store something more exotic, like Book Bonanza, or more conventional, like Main Street Books, but decided she needed to stay in character with her personality—simple and to the point.

Scanning the newly built shelves crafted by a local carpenter with a large family, whom she'd hired after hearing he was having a rough year, she mentally envisioned the arrangement of her current shipment of precious books.

Since her store had only been open two weeks, she hadn't sold much. In fact, most of the townspeople who perused her bookstore were wary of a newcomer, but polite. Some had told her that since the arrival of the railroad, the town had begun to explode with new residents and businesses, which had many of the old-timers up-in-arms. They didn't want their way of life to change. They despised modernization of their once sleepy community.

Walking behind her counter, Grace retrieved the crowbar she used to open her crates. It took some strength, but she soon had the top of the wooden box loosened and then removed. Setting it on the floor, she stood, stretched, and glanced toward the window. Across the street she could see the cowboy that always took her breath away. He was standing on the boardwalk under the awning of Chadwick's General Store and talking to Mr. Chadwick. The men laughed and then the cowboy patted the storekeeper on the back in a parting gesture.

Grace had first seen the cowboy during her initial trip to Cielo Azul. The train had just pulled into the small station when she'd spotted him leaning against the railing. Her heart had jumped at such a stunning man. He was exactly as portrayed in dime novels about the Wild West that she secretly devoured. The serialized stories had been forbidden by her English Professor father because he considered them to be drivel. Of course, she had read all the usual classics her father taught his students, but cowboy tales packed with adventure had gripped her soul. And seeing a cowboy who could have walked out of a dime novel, made her heart lurch.

Rather than immediately exiting the train, she'd continued watching him. He was probably in his thirties, tall and broad shouldered, with black hair on the longish side and what looked like a day's growth of whiskers. But what impressed her most was his air of assuredness. He seemed comfortable about his place in the world. He was probably a rancher who could handle a horse, as well as his whiskey. He could also handle women, she decided. Mentally, she had disappeared into one of her novels.

As she'd watched the cowboy, a woman with two adolescent girls had approached and he'd stepped away from the railing. Grace had decided he was meeting his wife and children, and for the blink of an eye, felt a twinge of jealousy when he kissed the pretty lady on the cheek, and then hugged each girl. Such a lovely family, she'd thought before gathering her reticule and overnight case. When she'd exited the train she'd seen the cowboy helping his family onto a buckboard near the baggage car. After that, all of her attention had been directed toward engaging one of the local buggies outside the station to drive her to the best hotel in town—the town she'd hoped was the one to open her bookstore in.

2: Eyes

From inside her bookstore Grace continued watching the cowboy until he walked down the boardwalk and out of sight. She sighed and returned to the task of unloading and shelving her latest shipment of books. Lovingly, she retrieved and inspected each one. She had just placed the last book in its place in the children's section when the bell to her shop tinkled. Hopefully, this would be her first paying customer of the day.

Turning and smiling widely she prepared to greet the newcomer, a lovely woman with two girls that Grace immediately recognized as the family she'd seen at the train station three months earlier.

Hello and welcome, said Grace, her gaze straying beyond the woman and girls. Is their