A Family For Polly by Jacquie Rogers #AHAgrp #MFRWauthor

Today I have Jacquie Rogers featured on my blog with her story, A Home For Polly, a art of the Under A Mulberry Moon Anthology. Please welcome Jacquie!

---

Hi Connie, thanks so much for hosting UNDER A MULBERRY MOON, Western Romance Anthology. All nine authors appreciate your generosity. Today, we're featuring two companion novellas from our western romance anthology. We hope your readers/followers love both stories! A Family for Polly by Jacquie Rogers and A Family for Merry by Caroline Clemmons.
​
About Under A Mulberry Moon:
Adventure! Mystery! Romance! Nine award-winning and bestselling authors present sweet western historical stories to ignite your imagination and feed your passion for reading. Let us sweep you away from your daily cares and entertain you with our sigh-worthy novellas set between 1865 and 1900. What a line-up we have for you! UNDER A MULBERRY MOON is a bargain! Preorder at only 99 cents before price goes up to $2.99 sometime after release!

---

A family for polly

Polly and Ford have arranged a secret marriage of convenience—she needs to be married to keep her adopted children, and he has to have a wife before his grandfather will deed the ranch to him.  This excerpt is when she’s going to her very private wedding.
 
"Are you ready, Polly?" Elvira called through the door. "Bea’s here!"
Polly was dressed in her finest, but did that mean she was ready? She’d never be ready, but she had to soldier on for the children’s sake.  "I’ll be out in a minute."
Polly gave her skirts one last tug, pinned on her bonnet, and checked the mirror to make sure she was presentable, then opened the door.

Bea looked quite pretty in her green Sunday dress."Well, Polly, you certainly got ready in a hurry and you look absolutely ravishing. Ford’s eyes will pop plumb out the sockets when he sees his beautiful bride."
"I don’t know about that, but we’d better get going lest we be late." Polly led the way down the three flights of stairs.

"I sent Steve and Ford to the florist shop," Bea said as they walked down the path that lead to the street. "There won’t be much of a selection but at least you’ll have a bridal bouquet."
"Thanks, flowers are nice—but not really necessary. We’ll be saying our vows in private, signing the papers, and that’s that.  No one will know other than Mr. Ecclestone and Ford’s grandfather.  Once my children are truly mine, and Ford’s grandfather signs the deed over, then we’ll get an annulment and we’ll both be free to marry whomever we please."

They turned onto Main Street.  As they walked in front of the mercantile, Jane Dorchester greeted them.
"Shopping today?" she asked.
"No," Bea said. "Polly’s getting married."
Polly could’ve stuffed her reticule in Bea’s mouth.
Jane put down the tools she’d been arranging and smiled. "Married? Oh my, this is quite sudden." She gazed at Polly’s midriff. 
Lavinia Zimmerman, wife of the bank teller, and her son came out of the mercantile, each holding a parcel. "Polly, did I hear right? You’re getting married?"
"Yes, but…"
"How wonderful—congratulations!"  Lavinia grabbed her newly adopted son’s hand. "I can hardly wait to tell Dennis. We’ll see you at the church."
"But…"  There was no use for Polly to say anything else because Lavinia had already headed down the street toward the bank.

"Looks like you’ll be having a few guests," Bea said.
Polly groaned and picked up the pace. "We have to get to the church before they do. I don’t want Ford thinking I invited half the town to a wedding that unites us in name only."
"Four people isn’t half the town. But then you know how it is in Mockingbird Flats—any excuse for a party."
 "We’re not having a party." 

As they passed by the fire station, Fiona Bushnell, the fire chief’s wife followed behind them saying, "I was in the florist shop a while ago and heard that you’re getting married so I was on my way to the church. With such short notice, I didn’t have a chance to make you a nice gift, but I ordered some apple turnovers from the bakery to be delivered."

Polly stopped and Bea had to take a few steps back to stay with her. Her throat tightened but she managed to say, "Thank you, Fiona. That was a lovely thing to do."
"Oh, and I invited Jessica. I hope you don’t mind."

Polly certainly did mind but since Polly hadn’t invited Fiona either, she could hardly say that she objected to Fiona inviting her sister-in-law, the town doctor’s wife. "Of course not. That was very neighborly of you." 

Jessica Bushnell hailed them with a wave. "I’m so happy for you, Polly!" She held up a basket. "Baby things. I’ve been saving them for our town’s next wedding. First baby can come anytime—the other ones take nine months." She giggled. "We won’t mention how many first babies in this town were premature."

---

about the author....

​Jacquie Rogers, winner of four Will Rogers Gold Medallions, the Laramie Grand Prize, and several other awards, is a country girl at heart. She grew up in Owyhee County, Idaho, where the Old West still lives on. Come to her weekend of living history at Silver City, Idaho! It’s July 20-22, 2018.  You can find more information at http://www.jacquierogers.com/silvercityevent.html.
Party online with Jacquie at:
Pickle Barrel Bar and Books on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JacquieRogers/
Facebook Author Page
http://www.facebook.com/JacquieRogersAuthor
Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.com/author/jacquierogers
Jacquie’s Website
http://www.jacquierogers.com
Or contact her at jacquierogers@gmail.com

---

Under a mulberry moon

Titles of Books – Authors
Millwright's Daughter – Zina Abbott
Worth the Wait – Patricia PacJac Carroll
Ada and the Texas Cavalryman, Brides of Texas Code – Carra Copelin
A Family For Merry – Caroline Clemmons
Comes A Specter – Keta Diablo
The Widow Buys A Groom - P.A. Estelle
Matthew's Freedom – Cissie Patterson
A Family For Polly – Jacqueline Rogers
The Lady Lassoes An Outlaw – Charlene Raddon
 

---

---

a family for merry - caroline clemmons

Calvin, a young boy who saw his Pa killed, is having a discussion with an attorney while his mother, Merry, listens.
Calvin shook his head. “But, that’s not right. Guilty people should go to jail. If they killed someone like a man did my pa, they should hang.”
Merry’s breath caught in her throat.
“You know what an oath is, right?”
“Cussin’ like…,” he leaned forward, “Bad words I ain’t allowed to say no more cause Merry’ll wash my mouth out with soap for sure.”
Merry almost gave herself away by laughing.

Mr. Woolf shook his head. “That’s one kind but not in this case. An oath is like a promise you can never break. Ever. When I became a lawyer, I took an oath to defend each person I represent to the best of my ability. A man never goes back on his word.”
Calvin sat on the floor, a thoughtful look on his face. “So if you knew I murdered someone but I said I didn’t and you were my lawyer, you’d have to try to get me to go free?”

“That’s correct. I’d have to look for ways to prove you were innocent. That’s called the defense. Now the person representing the court would be looking for proof you were guilty. That’s called the prosecution.”
“When I grow up, I’m going to track down the man who killed my pa and I’m going to kill him. I’m asking you now to be my lawyer.”
Merry clutched her throat. Poor Calvin.

Mr. Woolf gestured for the boy to come closer. “Calvin, let me tell you why that’s not a good idea. You’re nine, right? So, maybe for the next nine or ten or eleven years you’ll be thinking about this man and in your insides those thoughts will be festering worse than a sore that won’t heal. You know who that will hurt? Not the man who killed your pa.” He pointed at Calvin. “You’ll be the one damaged by your hate.”
Calvin rested his hands on the desk. “You sayin’ I should let him get away with killin’ my pa?”

“That kind of person never just does one thing wrong. Eventually he’ll get caught and go on trial. You don’t have to do anything unless you know he’s on trial somewhere. Then, you could go and tell the prosecution that the man is guilty of killing your father, but you’d have to have proof. Do you?”
Calvin wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “I seen him. I was eight, but I seen it happen. He woulda killed me, too, but I run away and hid. I took care not to be anywhere he might notice me, but one day them Children’s Protection people picked me up and put me in the orphanage. Then I got put on that train.”
Merry had tears in her eyes as well. Finally she knew Calvin’s problem. She wanted to rush to him and cuddle him in her arms but she knew he would never allow that. She remained still and continued eavesdropping.

Mr. Woolf said, “That must have been frightening. You’re a brave boy to act so fast and get away.”
“Y-You think so? I been worried I shoulda stayed and helped my pa.”
“You couldn’t have helped him if you were killed too. Are you certain your father died?”
“Yeah, he’d yelled before the man stabbed him and a neighbor come running. I hid and watched but I knew he was dead from the way he fell and all the blood on him.”

---

contacts

Social media sites for Caroline & Jacquie.
Find Jacquie Rogers on the Net:
Website http://www.jacquierogers.com
Blogs: http://jacquierogers.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/groups/JacquieRogers/ (her Facebook group)
https://www.facebook.com/JacquieRogersAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacquierogers
 
Find Caroline Clemmons on the Net:
Website http://carolineclemmons.com
Facebook http://Facebook.com/CarolineClemmonsRomances
Twitter http://Twitter.com/CarolinClemmons (no E in Caroline)
Blog http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com
Pinterest http://Pinterest.com/CaroClemmons

---

What a great read! I really look forward to reading this anthology. Thank you Jacquie and Caroline, for sharing your books on my blog.

If you're a visitor, please leave us a comment and let us know you stopped by. We love to hear from our readers.

Until next time.
Connie