Daring to Start Again: An Inspirational Historical Romance Book Read online

  Daring to Start Again

  AN INSPIRATIONAL ROMANCE NOVEL

  GRACE CLEMENS

  Copyright © 2020 by Grace Clemens

  All Rights Reserved.

  This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher.

  Table of Contents

  Daring to Start Again

  Table of Contents

  Daring to Start Again

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  The Scars of a Pure Heart

  Introduction

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Daring to Start Again

  Introduction

  Desperate to escape from her criminal father and the life awaiting her, Sarah Donner decides to answer a mail-order bride ad. Despite her misgivings about marrying a stranger, Sarah braves her way halfway across the country to begin a new life. A new challenge appears shortly after her arrival, since Bobby, her husband-to-be, has a little daughter whom she has to win over. At the same time, she can’t ignore the fear of her father discovering her. Will her only chance of happiness be destroyed by the very man who brought her to life?

  Bobby Huggins is striving to both run his ranch and raise his only child ever since his wife passed away. Deeply worried about his daughter, Samantha, who has been behaving unusually since the sorrowful event, he is looking for a new wife who will soften her grief. Even though he had never truly fallen in love before, Bobby’s heart skips a beat for Sarah, while Samantha finds the rock she so much needs. When Sarah’s past threatens to tear everything apart, will Bobby forgive her for leaving out a secret that could hurt his loved ones?

  Bobby and Sarah have been brought together by fate but they will have to stay strong in order to face the frightening challenges coming next. Treacherous people will appear out of nowhere, putting their relationship in danger. Will Sarah manage to make amends to Bobby, after proving herself, or is it too late? Will Bobby give love a second chance by trusting Sarah again?

  Chapter 1

  Sarah smiled and took the letter from the clerk, her heart fluttering in her chest. It was another letter from Bobby, and she was more than excited to open it. From the feel of the envelope, something a little stiffer than paper was enclosed.

  Her breath became short and quick.

  Sarah and Bobby had been corresponding for three months. She’d answered his ad specifically because he was not nearby, and she had seen so many books with pictures and drawings of Oklahoma. She’d been wanting to go there for a long time. Just seeing the address the ad was sent from had drawn her attention right away.

  Of course, that was not to mention that she was desperate to get away from the life she was currently living.

  Sarah hurried back toward her father’s house, eagerly unfolding the envelope and sliding out the letter. She wanted to read it before she got back. If Bart and Danny saw her, they would likely take it and her secret would be exposed.

  She spread it open and read the words Bobby had written.

  It wasn’t like she was smitten completely. She’d never seen Bobby—he had no photograph to send her, nor did she have one to send him. But he was adamant that he wanted her to come and had sent the train ticket with his letter, just as she’d suspected he would.

  Her smile was genuine, and a little bit afraid. She was unhappy. She had done something she probably shouldn’t have done out of desperation and misery.

  She’d told Bobby she was an orphan with no brothers or sisters.

  It was a justified lie, in her mind. She’d had enough of their abuse and the way her father took advantage of her. Her father and brothers could be brutal. They didn’t care about anyone else, that was a fact. They cared about money and getting as many women in their beds as possible, sometimes joking about how many partners they’d had.

  She’d decided that fateful day three months ago that she couldn’t bear another moment. It was time to find a way out. She needed someone to rescue her, and who better than a stranger looking for a bride by placing an ad in the newspaper? That seemed pretty desperate to Sarah. She figured if a man was going to resort to that, he must be as miserable as she was.

  They could share the misery together. Maybe bring each other out of it. Maybe find love.

  Sarah could only hope.

  She tucked the letter inside her light coat as she walked, pinching the front together so it wouldn’t blow back and reveal what she had hidden there.

  He was losing his meal ticket and didn’t know it yet. Her brothers’ friends wouldn’t have someone to leer and howl at when they came over to discuss their next big heist.

  She wouldn’t be living in fear.

  Sarah hesitated before going up the steps to her father’s house. She hadn’t called it home in a long time. She wouldn’t have a home until she was in a place she could call her own.

  The train ticket was for the next morning. She’d gotten it just in time. Her father wouldn’t be able to hurt her anymore.

  That alone made her breathe a sigh of relief.

  She pushed open the front door and went inside, looking from left to right, her heart fluttering nervously in her chest. She didn’t want to see him but he always knew when someone came in the front door, even if he was in his back study. She didn’t know how he did it and she hated it.

  True to form, Bruce came storming from the small living room, glaring at her.

  “You got the money from work today?”

  Sarah nodded, looking around for her brothers. They weren’t there, which was a relief. The only thing better would have been if her father wasn’t there, either. She reached in her small handbag and pulled out the five dollars. Bruce scowled at it. She could have given him fifty and he wouldn’t have been satisfied.

  “What’s this? Where’s the rest?”

  “That’s what I made today,” Sarah responded indignantly.

  Bruce snatched the money from her and crumpled it in his large fingers, shaking it in front of her face. For a moment, she thought his fist might make contact with her nose, but it barely brushed her skin before he drew it away.

  “This is nothing! Do you know how much it costs me to keep this family going?”

  Sarah didn’t respond. He wasn’t asking for an answer. He was going to berate her no matter what. Bruce was never complimentary, no matter how much she brought in from working as a seamstress. She’d actually worked her small fingers to the bone to get that five as it was. Lorenville
, New York wasn’t a big city and only a few people had needed repairs. New York City was close enough for her father and brothers to travel to for their gambling and criminal activities. But Sarah didn’t like going there. She hadn’t had a big job since the Argabrights asked her to create a wardrobe for their newborn. Which she had done, and was well paid for.

  Even that job hadn’t brought a compliment from Bruce. He was never satisfied.

  When she didn’t say anything, Bruce narrowed his eyes and went on, spitting in her face as he spoke. She turned her face away to keep it from getting on her, wishing she could run away from him.

  In due time, she thought, comforting herself. In due time.

  She was more glad than ever that her brothers weren’t there.

  The next moment, Bruce suddenly reached out and closed his strong fingers around her chin, jerking her head back. She glared at him furiously.

  “You will look at me when I speak to you, young lady!” he barked, spraying her with his spittle.

  “Don’t spit on me!” Sarah yelled at him, her stomach turning with disgust. She wriggled against his grip, trying to break free but only causing her skin to burn under his grasp. “Let me go!”

  “You’re a nasty little wench!” Bruce let her face go but proceeded to give her an open-handed slap that made her skin burn and tingle. She cried out and covered the heated spot with her hand. “You don’t speak to me that way! You ain’t bringing me enough money. You gotta work harder if you expect to eat.”

  “I make enough to eat,” she protested, thinking that if she was alone, she wouldn’t have to worry about feeding his fat gut. “I’m the only one bringing in any money at all. Why don’t you go get a job?”

  Bruce opened his eyes wide and looked at her, shock covering his features. Sarah knew why. She had courage now. He’d never seen it before.

  With the letter from Bobby, she finally had the confidence to stand up to Bruce. Normally, she would take his abuse because she had no other way out. No one would help her. No one cared.

  But now she was leaving, she knew it was so—her ticket to freedom hidden inside her jacket, where she’d sewn a special pocket so she could hide things from Bruce, Bart, and Danny whenever necessary.

  She felt empowered, knowing the ticket was there, so close to her. Bruce knew nothing about it, so he wouldn’t try to take it away from her.

  She straightened her spine, focusing on him.

  “What did you just say to me?” His voice was cold and dark, implying she was about to be seriously punished for her transgression.

  Sarah wasn’t about to wait around for that. She stepped away from him and moved quickly toward the stairs.

  “You’ll be working in the saloon tomorrow night!” Bruce called after her. She glanced over her shoulder to see him shaking his fist at her, the five dollars still crumpled in his fingers. “This isn’t enough! I want more! You’ll get a lot more working in the saloon. Lots of nice men in there wanting companionship. Tomorrow night! You hear me, girlie!”

  She refused to acknowledge that she’d heard him. She wouldn’t be there tomorrow. She was leaving tonight. She would spend the night in the train station.

  The only problem was waiting until she could leave. She still had to make supper for Bruce—if she didn’t, she would get a terrible beating. And she needed to eat anyway, so it was best to appease him and ensure she could have a peaceful dinner.

  She stepped into her room and looked around, as if somehow Bruce could see her even in there. She closed the door behind her and leaned back against it.

  If there was one thing Sarah knew, it was that she was safe in her room. Her mother had put on a lock that Bruce had never tried to get through. Bobby wasn’t the kind of man to take advantage of her feminine status, but her father wasn’t afraid to raise a hand or a fist to her. Bruce had given her many bruises.

  But Bruce knew that if he tried to remove the lock from her door, she would leave before he had a chance to say “Cockadoodledoo.”

  Sarah shouldn’t have stayed as long as she had. She was twenty years old, which was a prime age for marriage and starting a family. If she had to do it with a stranger, that was what she had to do. She was trusting that God would take care of her. He usually did. He gave her strength when she had none, which was a lot recently.

  As she’d gotten older, Bruce had become more and more belligerent. Her brothers became her bullies instead of her protector. They were all living on the other side of the law and if she mentioned their ways to anyone outside their group of men, she would get a hiding like she’d never had.

  Sarah went to her bed and got down on her knees to pull out the luggage trunk she’d stored underneath.

  She flipped the lid open and turned to her dresser. The ticket made it real for her. Now it was time to really pack.

  Should she pack light? Should she try to take everything she owned? Sarah didn’t expect to be back in her family home ever again. She had to make sure anything that was precious to her stayed with her. She had no doubt anything she left behind would be burned in the fireplace come nightfall. All Bruce had to do was realize she was gone.

  Life in Oklahoma would be better. Bobby was charming and sometimes funny in his letters. He was also complimentary. He hadn’t seen her, so he could only say she seemed smart, had nice handwriting and things like that, but it was more positivity than Sarah had heard in quite some time.

  And she felt free to compliment him back. When she got to his ranch, she would make sure to confess her lie and hope that he would forgive her. She was sure if she explained herself, he would understand.

  Still, there was a nagging doubt in the back of her mind. Some men would not tolerate a woman who immediately starts out a relationship with a lie. Sarah wasn’t usually a liar. But her father and brothers made her worry that she would end up with a man like him.

  She couldn’t go through life that way. She would have to run away again or just end it all. The men they surrounded her with weren’t any better. She was even beginning to wonder if Bobby could be as nice as he sounded. She believed every man had that behavior somewhere inside, they just kept it hidden.

  She could only hope Bobby was different.

  The thought made her shiver and she pushed it away. Life would be better. She would get married and have children and make new friends in Comstock. She’d learn to do all the things a rancher’s wife was supposed to do.

  She wouldn’t force him to marry her, of course. He’d paid for the ticket based on the fact that she was an orphan, attesting to something that wasn’t true, trying to play on his sympathies. If he turned her away, she would find work and start life on her own, staying hidden from Bruce and the brothers for the rest of her life.

  She swallowed hard, pushing down on the clothes she’d piled in the luggage trunk. Instead of being careful with them, she swept her arm over her dressing table and knocked all the little bottles of perfume and makeup into a small cloth basket, along with her brush, barrettes, hair clips and hairpins.

  She turned and tucked the basket into the trunk.

  She heard a noise outside her door and stiffened. Was Bruce coming up to say something more to her? She didn’t want him seeing her luggage being packed.

  Sarah flipped the lid and snapped the latches in place. She pulled the trunk toward her and dropped it to the ground at her feet. In one hurried motion, she bent over and shoved the luggage under the bed. She pulled the sham down so it would drape to the floor and cover the opening.

  Breathing shakily, Sarah turned and sat on her bed just when there was a knock on her door.

  “What?” she asked, trying to sound the least nervous she could.

  “Let me in,” Bruce said from the other side.

  “I don’t want to see you right now,” Sarah replied loudly, clenching her hands into fists and holding them in her lap.

  “You open this door right now, young lady, or I’ll break it down.”