Lauraine Snelling - Amethyst

Amethyst

Books by Lauraine Snelling

A Secret Refuge (3 in 1)

Ruby Pearl
Opal Amethyst

A Promise for Ellie
Sophies Dilemma
A Touch of Grace
Rebeccas Reward

An Untamed Land The Reapers Song
A New Day Rising Tender Mercies
A Land to Call Home Blessing in Disguise

A Dream to Follow
Believing the Dream
More Than a Dream

Amethyst
Copyright 2005
Lauraine Snelling

Cover design by Dan Thornberg

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

E-book edition created 2011

ISBN 978-1-4412-0303-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Dedication

To Jeanne and Bill, Mona and Eileen,
who gave me space and a place to write
faster than I ever have before.
What blessings you all are.

LAURAINE SNELLING is an award-winning author of over fifty books, fiction and nonfiction, for adults and young adults. Besides writing books and articles, she teaches at writers conferences across the country. She and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, a basset named Chewy, and a cockatiel watch bird named Bidley. They make their home in California.

Acknowledgments

This book wasnt planned as part of the D AKOTAH T REASURES series in the beginning, but when I ran out of book for Opal before I ran out of story, I asked my friends at Bethany House if we could add one more book. I danced for joy when they said yes, so thanks, Carol Johnson, David Horton, and all others involved in that decision. I wanted to find out what happened next as much as our readers did.

Kathleen, Chelley, Mona, Eileen, Woodeene, Nanci, thanks for brainstorming, for asking questions, reading again and again, helping me figure out these characters and get enough conflict. Sharon Asmus, you are always a delight to work with, the speed with which you get back to me is amazing. Do you read in your sleep? Deidre, agent and friend, what a journey we are on. Thanks for your wisdom and encouragement.

My perpetual thanks to all the readers who write and ask for more. I am so blessed. Im glad these books mean so much to you and that you take time out of your busy schedules to let me know your thoughts.

To God be the glory, great things He has done.

Contents

Eastern Pennsylvania, Fall 1886

Her fathers words itched worse than a bur in her camisole.

Go find Joel. Hed said those words more than once or even twice. Every time he got to feeling poorly, hed point his bony finger at her and utter those same words. What did he think she wasa gypsy who could look in tea leaves or a crystal ball and find out where the boy had disappeared to? What possibly irked her the most was that feeling poorly meant hed had oneor manytoo many drinks and would come home feeling right sorry for himself. And convinced he was dying.

More than once Amethyst Colleen OShaunasy, called Colleen because her father had thought her mothers naming her after a pinky-purple rock was the height of stupidity, wished she could join the temperance movement. If there were some way she could destroy the local tavern, she would. Or at least shut it down. But there was far too much work to be done on the farm if she wished to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table to go gallivanting off to join a womens movement. Not that all the hard work would help her any.

Did you hear me, girl?

Aye, Pa, I heard you. But no one knows

Thats what ya allus say. Ya aint got the brains God gave a goose. Find im before I die, or you wont even have this house to live in. Ya know a woman cant inherit land. Im just lookin out for yer own good.

Like you have all these years chasing away any beau who came calling? Her father didnt think she knew of his perfidy, but shed found out, thanks to the local gossip. He wanted her home to take care of her ailing mother and him. Not that he worried much about any ailing female, unless she collapsed in the field, as her mother had. An affront to his dignity that was.

If you have any suggestions as to how I should go about finding Joel, Id be most grateful if you would share them with me. Of all the five siblings, only her brother Patrick had managed to live long enough to sire any children, and then only one son, Joel, who was seven the last time they saw him, more than five months earlier. After his fathers death in an accident, his mother, whod been suffering from consumption, took the boy off, and they both disappeared. Eventually theyd heard that Melodys body was found in a river to the west, but there was no sign of the boy.

Write to her kin and ask if they know where the boy might be. Maybe he is with them.

Do you know their names?

Surely your ma wrote that down in the Bible. Daft woman was at least good about keeping records like that.

Colleen narrowed her eyes. Never did he have a good word to say about her mother. Not that he ever had a good word to say about anyone, but still, shed borne his children and his ire and worked herself to death.

If her father had worked as hard as he drove his wife, the farm most likely would have supported them quite well, but hed always found something to be ailing about that needed a drink or two to alleviate.

Ive looked in her Bible. There are no records within its pages.

Theres the big one, the family one whats been passed down the generations. Where did it get to? He reared up in his chair and stared around the room as if the book might come leaping out of a corner or off a shelf.

Didnt you give it to Patrick when Mother passed on? Colleen moved the coffeepot to the hotter part of the stove. Shed have a cup of coffee before heading out to do the evening chores. After milking in the morning, shed finished digging the potatoes and stored them away in the cellar, along with the other root crops, all in their bins and covered, some with straw and others, like the carrots, with sand.

Do I got to do all yer thinkin fer ya? Didja ask those folks what took over his farm?

Why, no. I never thought of that. She glared at him. Of course I asked them. But perhaps I will do so again . The Bible was too large for easy travel.

The next afternoon she took time out from banking the house for the winter with used straw from the cow barn, made sure her skirt wore no traces of her morning activities, that her russet hair was corralled in a topknot, and strode down the road. Across the field would have been a mite faster, but the road seemed more proper. She took along a jar of her special raspberry syrup as a calling gift.