Mark

By Becca Fanning

Adelaide- Spencer has always had a natural talent for songwriting. She find herself humming a tune, then running around the house like a chicken with it's head cut off looking for a pen and scrap of paper. Receipts, index cards and magazines: nothing was safe from her scribbles. But these were songs she wrote for herself, not for anyone else. So when her Grandma sent her song to the Konstantine Talent Agency without her knowledge, Addison flipped her lid. Would these strangers even accept her, given her family secret?
Mark Saint knows talent when he sees it. His Grandfather used to say "There ain't no fakin' talent,". On stage he plays the same bass fiddle his grandfather did and is always looking for the best songs for he and his brothers to record. So he drove across the state to the dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere to meet the woman who wrote this special song. When he first laid eyes on her, he knew she'd be his mate.
This 12,000+ word novella has Hot Bear Shifter action, a Happily Ever After, no cheating and no cliffhangers!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gizmo Media
• Release date: May 24, 2021

Book preview

Fanning

Chapter 1

Addy Spencer stared at the neatly typed letter and felt her stomach drop to her toes.

…The members of one of the bands we represent, The Four Saints, are very much interested in recording and performing the song you sent—or any other material you might have—and would like to begin negotiations for the rights to do so, if that would be agreeable to you. I can be reached at the address and telephone above, or, if you prefer, we could set up a face-to-face meeting, either here in Nashville or at a place of your choosing.

Thank you for submitting your song to us. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Melinda Darling

Konstantine Talent Agency

Nashville, Tennessee

I can’t believe you sent them my song, Granny, Addy said, fighting to keep her voice calm, though she could not stop the tremor in it. Why would you do that?

Because you’ve been hiding your God-given talent under a bushel for far too many years, darlin,’ and it’s time for you to come out and sing to the world.

Addy turned abruptly to face her grandmother, who stood at the kitchen table, steadily kneading a mound of fragrant bread dough with her small, strong hands.

But…

I’m not gettin’ any younger, Addy, and I can’t stand the thought of you holed up here in the hills all by yourself for the rest of your life.

Don’t talk like that, Addy said. It’ll be a long time before I’m havin’ to live alone up here. And anyhow, I like bein’ alone.

Granny Spencer sighed, because she knew the latter to be true. "I’m almost eighty-four years old, Adelaide Ann, and you know as well as I do that the only guarantee we have in this life is it’s gonna end, sooner or later. And bein’ alone ain’t the way we’re meant to live, girl.

You know that, too, she added for good measure as she patted the mound of dough and turned it back into a greased bowl for its second rising. Granny then draped a clean towel over the bowl and set it on top of the warm stove.

I can’t do this, Granny, Addy said, tears in her voice now, as she held the scrunched letter up in her fisted hand. You know I can’t.

Granny sighed, wiped her hands on another towel then crossed the small room to reach out and take hold of Addy’s shoulders.

I know you think you cain’t, the old lady said, her voice kind but firm. But Addy, darlin’, how you gonna ever know for certain, iffen you don’t at least try?

Addy dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s waist, hugging her close as she had since she was a little girl. Addy had shot up to be a good head taller than her elderly grandmother during her teen years, and she’d been bigger and stronger than the old lady for the past decade, but she felt small at this moment, and her beloved granny hugged her back.

I know you’re scared, darlin’, she murmured, petting Addy’s thick, soft, sandy-blond hair. Addy had cut it herself again, and it was a shaggy mess, but she couldn’t make herself sit still long enough for Granny to cut it for her.

When Granny pulled back and lifted Addy’s face to hers, her light green eyes met Addy’s deep golden ones, and Addy felt her grandmother’s frustration.

Fate wasn’t kind when it took your ma and daddy away, she whispered. "You weren’t even old enough for them to know what you’d become, and your