A Life For Verity – Lyn Cote

Again, something barely moved at the edge of her vision. “Josiah, ma’am.” “Since he has been freed, has he added a second name to that?” “I guess it’s Ransford. He used to belong to Mr. Ransford. But my mama, she lived on the Ellington plantation.” “Then thee is Thaddeus Ellington Ransford.” Verity finished writing his name while trying to glimpse who was moving in the surrounding oaks. The raised voices of the men who were now sawing wood floated over to the makeshift school.

When she looked up she found the little boy beaming at her. “Thank you, ma’am. I like that name. It’s big.” “Then thee will have to live up to thy name, won’t thee?” Verity smiled at Thaddeus. “Now please go and sit at the end of the line.” Thaddeus puffed up his chest and strutted to the rear of the line to sit down. After Thaddeus’s example, each child presented himself and gave his name and who his parents had belonged to.

They were thrilled when each of them was given a new “big” name. Verity had nearly finished enrolling students when the talkative little girl, Sassy Ellington Ransford, hailed her. “Ma’am, ma’am, why is that white boy sittin’ in the tree watchin’ us? Can he do that?” Verity looked where the girl was pointing and glimpsed fair hair amidst the oak leaves. So that’s what she’d been seeing.

Alec. Was he spying on her or the men building the school? Or did he just want to learn? Verity looked at Sassy. “There is no law against sitting in a tree. Now we will begin to learn the alphabet. At first I will teach you to say the sounds in order and then we will begin learning to write each one.” “What’s an alphabet?” Thaddeus asked out of turn. “What did I say about raising thy hand and waiting for permission to speak?”

Verity was secretly enjoying the freshness of her eager students, but she had to instill the discipline that was so important to learning. Thaddeus’s hand shot into the air.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was originally published as Her Captain’s Heart by Harlequin in 2007. 1kitap1.com/en CONTENTS 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 Epilogue 1kitap1.com/en G CHAPTER 1 Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

Matthew 5:9 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:13 ettysburg, Pennsylvania September 1866 Verity Hardy loathed the man, God forgive her. She stood looking down at her late husband’s cousin, she on the top step of her wide porch, he on the bottom. The unusually hot autumn sun burned just beyond the scant shade of the roof.

Her black mourning dress soaked up the heat that buffeted her in waves, suffocating and singeing her skin. The man had been haranguing her for nearly a quarter of an hour and she didn’t know how much more she could take. “I can’t believe you’re going through with this insane plan.” Urriah Hardy wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and glared at her, his jowly face reddening.

He held the reins of his handsome gelding, fidgeting just behind him. Pressing a hankie to her upper lip, she looked past him to the golden fields beyond. Memories of wounded soldiers—their agonized screams and soul-deep moans—shuddered through Verity. She’d never forget those bloody July days three years ago. She couldn’t let them count for naught. Still, her deep uncertainty made her hands tremble. She clasped them together so he wouldn’t see this sign of weakness. “Thee knows,” she said in a final attempt at politeness, “I’ve packed everything, and we leave at dawn.”

“You’re a fool, woman. That renter you’ve found won’t make a go of it. He lost his own farm.” Yes, because he was drafted into the Union Army and thy younger brother, the banker, wouldn’t give him more time to pay the mortgage. “That’s really none of thy business,” she murmured, adding a warning note to her tone.

“You should have rented to me. I’m family.” His reference to family stung her like rock salt.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 576a4feebdc6779a
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 4,209,831 bytes (4.015 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 179
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 313.08 minutes
• Total Words: 62,617
• Total Characters: 347,632
• Average Words per Page: 349.82
• Average Characters per Page: 1942.08

Most Frequent Words

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