When I first moved to the Smoky Mountains for our summer retreat, I knew the setting would be the perfect place to write. I didn’t know that the setting would become the setting for a new series of books. But it did and since moving here last summer, I’ve written four books in the Smoky Mountain Series – all sweet contemporary romances. Today, I release the third book, Mountain Miracles. Book #4 will be released in October, as an individual title, A Merry Mountain Christmas, and as a part of Christmas Pets & Kisses 2 box set.
Grab your copy today. Only $0.99 for a limited time or read for free in Kindle Unlimited. Click here: Kindle and paperback.
Some of the same characters return to the small mountain town, but they are joined by David and Cecelia. Although strangers when they first come to the mountains, they don’t remain that way for long once Fran makes sure the single, attractive, and enterprising young adults are brought together for social gatherings. Both of them discover that family and community are truly possible through the miracle of love.
Here’s the first chapter of Mountain Miracles for your enjoyment.
CHAPTER ONE
SISSY JONES LEARNED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY that sheâd been duped into moving to the small North Carolina town in the Smoky Mountains.
âYouâll love the place where I grew up,â Becca Cole had said. âAnd a friend of mine has an adorable house heâs dying to sell.â
Sissyâs first mistake. She had trusted Becca when she should have known better.
Now here she was in the small town where the nearest city was a two-hour drive. She came to forget the breakup with her boyfriend and to escape her motherâs grip. Instead of escaping, sheâd landed right smack in the middle of a place filled with lovers and happy families. It only reminded her that she had neither of those things. It was bad enough when Stu decided his career as a rising country singer was more important than their two-year relationship, but when her mother started harping about Sissyâs inability to keep a man, she knew it was time to leave. Beccaâs offer appeared as the perfect solution.
Sheâd left a good, although boring, job in Nashville. But at least that job had put her MBA degree to good use as the general manager of the Radisson. But here in Murphy, North Carolina, sheâd had to revert to something sheâd done during her college years at the University of Memphis. She was dealing cards at the new casino on the outskirts of town.
No, she never should have believed Becca when she said, âMove to the mountains with me. Weâll have a blast.â
Sissy had barely signed the mortgage papers on the house when Becca bailed and headed to New Orleans with her new boyfriend. Fortunately, the few people she did know in town, such as Beccaâs ex-husband George, sympathized. But Sissy would survive. She hoped Beccaâs son Jed understood why sheâd left him in the care of his father. It was probably for the best. George was an excellent dad, but still the kid must wonder why his mother had left him so abruptly.
As Sissy dressed for the wedding she was attending later in the day, she smiled to think of her new friends. Sheâd known George back in Nashville when heâd been Stuâs agent. When Becca and he divorced, he moved back to his hometown and ran the music scene at a local bar. Now he was engaged to Lacy, the woman who had been evicted when Sissy bought the house. The previous owner, Lacyâs landlord, didnât know he wanted to sell the house until Becca convinced him to kick his loyal and long-time renter out into the street. But Beccaâs plan to break up George and Lacy backfired, and now Sissy was making a new life for herself.
Sheâd only met the groom and bride, Nick and Molly, once, but theyâd welcomed her into their circle, simply because of her connection to George. When Lacy and the others realized sheâd been tricked by Becca, they immediately opened their hearts to her, which came as a relief even though she didnât quite believe her good fortune. When Becca fled town she hadnât even bothered saying good-bye, which made Sissy very happy.
Her phone beeped. Weâre on our way, Lacy texted. Sissy found her sandals under the couch and slipped into them. She felt a little weird about Lacy picking her up at her former home, but Lacy had assured her, it had all worked out for the best. She moved to the cabin the new bride was vacating, and Lacy seemed very happy about the whole thing. Lacy had assured Sissy that Becca had arranged the whole thing out of jealousy. Sissy questioned her own gullibility in believing that Becca had once been a friend.
She ran outside when George and Lacy pulled into the driveway.
âItâs such a beautiful day for a wedding,â she gushed when she settled in the backseat, next to Georgeâs son Jed. âSomebody must have ordered this day.â
âIâm betting on Fran,â Lacy said, speaking of the mother of the groom. âSheâs a mighty powerful woman who likes to have her way.â
âI like Fran,â Sissy said.
âJoin the Fran Fan Club,â George said. âSheâs nearly adopted Jed as her grandson.â
âShe said I could call her Franma,â Jed said. âThatâs what Gracie and me are going to call her. You know instead of Grandma.â
âThatâs a very good name,â Sissy said, smiling at the young boy dressed in a white shirt and pressed jeans. âYou look very handsome today, Jed.â
He blushed and smiled slightly. Jed was a good kid whoâd been hurt too much in his short life. Sissy had babysat for him often back in Nashville after George left Becca, whoâd taken to the single life quickly. Sissy sat up a little straighter when the realization hit her that Becca resembled her mother. It was a good thing for Jed that George had full custody.
âAre you ready to meet the rest of Murphy?â Lacy asked, turning around slightly. âI bet there will be one hundred folks at the wedding today.â
âI wonât remember names, but Iâm ready.â Maybe sheâd meet some other single folks so she didnât feel like an extra at these group gatherings. Sheâd been invited to a couple of events, and everyone was paired off, or so it seemed to Sissy.
âWeâre going to Gracieâs new house,â Jed said. âSheâs my best friend.â
Sissy tried to remember how Gracie, who Jed had already mentioned twice, fit into the picture with the others. âIâm sorry, but my head is swimming with all the new names and faces. Whoâs Gracie again?â
Lacy laughed. âIâm sure itâs like putting together a puzzle. Donât worry, it will all fit together soon enough. Gracie is Mollyâs daughter. Sheâs a year older than Jed, but theyâve become very close since Jed moved here.â
âI almost forgot,â George said. âDid either of you hear that weâre going to get a newspaper right here in town? Some guy from Atlanta wants to make it a paper for the town, not the surrounding counties.â
âWhereâd you hear that?â Lacy asked.
âWho else? Don and Kathy Sampson, Murphyâs town criers.â
They all laughed. Even Sissy knew the couple was notorious for knowing everyoneâs business in townâpersonal and otherwise. She sat with them at the bar at Misty Mountain one night, and she learned everyoneâs business, not that it mattered. No way could she put all the names with faces, most sheâd never even met.
âThey might be nosy, but theyâre usually accurate,â Lacy said. âNow, Sissy, have you given any more thought to opening the coffee shop?â
âI have. Iâve made thinking about it a full-time job. Actually, I started drawing up a business plan last night. And I gave the casino notice. Tomorrow will be my last day dealing cards.â
âA business plan?â Lacy asked. âThat sounds very serious and professional. Have you started a business before?â
âSissy has an MBA,â George said. âBut she doesnât like to flaunt her brains.â
âI didnât know that,â Lacy said. âI mean about the degree and all.â
âI havenât started a business because Iâve always worked for others. Starting my own business brings everything Iâve done so far all together.â
âHow did you end up dealing at the casino?â Lacy asked.
âI worked as a dealer when I was getting my MBA, so I decided Iâd get a job at the casino here, until I figured out what I really wanted to do.â
âYou donât like the job?â George asked. âI always thought it might be a hoot to work at the casino.â
âI donât like the hours or the smoke. And a lot of the time, I donât like the customers. So I guess Iâd have to say on the whole that, no, I donât like it very much at all.â
âThey offered me a job booking music for the bar in the hotel,â George said. âBut I wonât have to go there very often, if I take it on.â
âThat sounds infinitely better than dealing,â Sissy said. âI canât wait to be done with it and own my own business, something Iâve wanted since I was a kid.â
It was true. As a kid, she played grocery store with all the neighbor kids, but she wasnât the housewife shopping for groceries. She always managed the store and made the other kids play the role of housewife.
âDid you ever think of opening something in Nashville?â Lacy asked.
âI wanted to when I graduated, but it was too expensive. I had a small inheritance from my grandmother when I turned twenty-one, but it wouldnât have covered much of anything in the city.â
âIt will be a lot less expensive here,â George asked. âDo you have a place in mind?â
âThereâs a storefront for rent downtown. Itâs small and narrow, but it could be perfect for a coffee and maybe some sweets.â
âIâd like a coffee shop close to Misty Mountain,â Lacy said. âOr at least another choice than just going to the same old place.â
âI hope it doesnât upset folks to have two coffee shops downtown,â Sissy said. âI know the other place does different things, and theyâre open in the evenings with music. I plan to only be open through lunch, but open by six in the morning.â
âNow that would be different,â George said. âEven during the season, nothing opens up downtown until after eight, even the coffee shop.â
Sissy noticed that right away, but she surmised it was the difference between living in a small town and a larger city. Sheâd adjust, but she still thought some folks might like coffee first thing. Even if it wasnât busy until later, it would give her time to get organized.
âI guess Iâd better think about advertising, too, now that youâve mentioned the new paper. Most of the world is getting away from print media, but I bet here in Murphy folks still read the papers for the ads.â
âAnd the police blotter,â George said. Lacy playfully hit his arm. The intimacy of it gave Sissy a jolt.
âI wonder if the guy starting the newspaper is single,â Lacy said.
âWhy would you wonder about that?â George asked. âAre you in the market for a new guy?â
âNo, Iâve got my hands full with you. I was thinking about Sissy. We need to fix her up on a date.â
George groaned, and Sissy laughed. Lacy must have been reading her mind.
âHeâs probably married or gay,â Sissy said. âThatâs what they say about all the good ones, and since Stu and I broke up, I can confirm itâs true.â
#####
DAVID BELLWOOD WAS NEITHER MARRIED NOR GAY, but it didnât stop all the wives of his friends from making that assumption after setting him up on dates with their single friends. However, his bachelor status meant he was hounded by his friends to go on blind dates with the divorced, dejected, and demoralized friends of their wives.
Most of the women were nice, but he couldnât talk to them. The more attracted he was to a woman, the worse his shyness became. Most didnât want to go out with him a second time. Heâd been raised by his father after his mother died when he was five. Then his father had sent him to an all boysâ boarding school in upstate New York during the crucial years when boys first start noticing girls as something other than an annoyance. By the time he attended college, his fears of the opposite sex were only reinforced by two stepmothers who treated David as an annoyance. They scared him so much that he tried to be invisible when he came home for school vacations.
âIâve given up on women,â his father had told him after the last divorce a year before. âI canât afford another divorce. Janice just about did me in.â
âI canât believe you let her have the cabin,â David said after his father told him what it cost to divorce her. âItâs been in the family for generations, and Janice hated the place.â
âIt was the easiest way, son. We can build another one someday.â
âShe did it for spite.â
âYou bet she did, but Iâll never let her know it.â His father ended the conversation. David knew any further questions would be rebuked.
It broke Davidâs heart every single time he thought of Janice owning the cabin. Sheâd hated every minute sheâd spent there while they were married. But he couldnât argue with his father. Heâd already battled him on the biggest issue, and he wasnât sure he was ready for another one.
âWhat do you mean you donât want to be a lawyer?â Michael Bellwood had roared to his son when David announced he wanted to change his major in college during his second year of college. âYou come from a family of lawyers, son, not journalists. I built this firm for us.â
âBut thatâs what I want to do.â If females scared him, his father terrified him, especially when David defied him, which hadnât been often. He didnât dare tell his father what he really thought and that heâd never asked him to build the firm up for him. He chose his battles by priority, and being a journalist was Davidâs highest priority.
âI want to own a paper,â David continued.
His father pursed his lips together. David knew that heâd said something the elder Bellwood understood. Owning a paper meant power. Except his father never dreamed David meant a small town paper with very little power at all. But it had silenced him long enough to let him finish his degree through to his masterâs while working at a couple of papers in the Atlanta area as an intern.
âI want to start a small weekly newspaper in Murphy,â David had told his father in the final months before he received his masterâs degree. âThereâs a need in that town because theyâre growing into a tourist destination, and they need something besides the weekly county paper thatâs mostly about crime.â
âMurphy?â His father seemed perplexed. âWhy in Murphy? And for Godâs sake, son, donât you know newspapers are a dying breed?â
âNot in small towns like Murphy with a large tourist base, not to mention the folks who have vacation homes there. Itâs a growing community with a need for an intelligent and thoughtful paper that also provides a place for businesses to advertise.â
âThatâs not what I read in The Wall Street Journal. Where are you getting your information?â
âIâve done my research, and The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and all the other big newspapers like to cry about the loss of revenue in the print editions. That has nothing to do with small community papers. Those folks want grocery store flyers and real estate offers they can hold in their hands.â
âIâm still not convinced.â
âDad, I am a little more versed in this than you.â David had never spoken to his father with that tone, but never before had something meant so much to him. âIâve worked at small papers all around the Atlanta area for the past three years. I know whatâs happening, and thereâs a different market depending on the per capita and on the population.â
His father looked at him suspiciously. âWhy Murphy? You know we donât own the cabin any longer.â
âI know, but Iâm going to buy it from Janice. One of my lawyer friends is already negotiating with her.â
âI sure hope you know what youâre doing. I wonât fight you, but I wonât support it either.â
âThatâs all right. I plan on using my own money.â
âYour inheritance from your grandfather?â
âYes.â
His father shook his head, but he stopped arguing with him. Above all else, his father loved him, and David knew he wanted him to be happy, but it was hard for Michael Bellwood to lose an argument.
Michaelâs grandfather had built the cabin near the Cherohala Skyway east of Murphy more than seventy years ago. David grew up spending summers and some holidays there as a kid. He loved both the cabin and the area, but his father always seemed restless when they were there. David begged to go to the cabin because the mountains gave him a sense of peace, and it was there he imagined he could do whatever he wanted. Itâs also the place of his only memories of his mother. And in those memories, the beautiful woman with long dark hair and copper skin, held him and sang him Cherokee songs of hope.
David also longed for something else by moving to a small town. He hoped to overcome his fear of women. So far he hadnât met anyone except the realtor who was old enough to have been his mother. Linda Lewis put him at ease at once with her mountain drawl and friendly manner. And she remembered both his father and mother.
âThey were a handsome couple,â Linda had said when she made the connection with the last name. âBut then they just disappeared from town.â
âMy mother died, and my father didnât like coming up to the cabin much. I usually stayed with my grandfather.â
âI heard something like that. Inola, your mother, was as beautiful as you are handsome, but she stayed up in the mountains most of the time. I hadnât heard she died.â
âIt was a long time ago.â David wanted to hear more, but he didnât think Linda knew much more about his mother. âWhat about a place for me to open an office for the paper? Do you think you have anything?â
âYes, I do,â Linda had said. âI think I have the perfect place. Itâs an empty storefront right downtown. I think it might be charming to have the townâs newspaper right in the middle of things, donât you?â
He agreed.
âI have someone else looking at the small space next door. She wants to open a coffee shop. Isnât that what all you reporters do? Just like cops, drink coffee all day and smoke cigarettes, right?â
He laughed. âI donât smoke, but caffeine is my drink of choice. The movies at least got that part right.â
He rented the spot immediately. There was a room in the back where he could put a futon. Once he owned the cabin, he could stay at the paper some nights instead of driving all the way home. He liked the accessibility so advertisers could just walk over on their lunch break and take out an ad. But first, he needed to hire someone to handle that end of the business. He needed to keep what he wrote separate from the paid part. Even if it was a small paper, he wanted the advertising side separate from the articles. Objectivity and integrity meant as much to him as pleasing his father, which he hoped to do by making a success of the venture.
Smoky Mountain Romances
A Merry Mountain Chrismas –Â Kindle release date in October.
Christmas Pets & Kisses 2Â –Â Preorder now, released October 11.
FREEBIE ALERT – Native Lands may be downloaded for free September 13-15! And it’s always free in Kindle Unlimited. Paperback and Audible also available.
5 responses to “NEW RELEASE – MOUNTAIN MIRACLES”
Best wishes on the new release. I love this series!
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Thanks, Staci!
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Yahoo!!! You go, girl!
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Thank you, Darlene!
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Hi Pat,
Best of luck with the new release. I love the setting of your books.
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