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Happy New Year from New Parish!

I hope everyone has lots of great goals, dreams, and happiness planned for this next year! I always say, you never know what’s just around the corner… So I have high hopes for 2020. I just finished another chapter in my next book in the New Parish series. From Sarah’s journey, to Hannah’s journey, things were very different, now for big sister Brenda things are completely different too… I’m so excited to share their stories with you all, this next year.

I hope everyone notices the unique bond between Sarah and her sisters, it play out with each sister and in each book of the series. Below is a little sister talk from Sarah and Hannah.

Excerpt from Return to New Parish:

Chapter 3 – Palominos

“Once inside the house Hannah felt the need to talk to Sarah, so she headed up to her room – she knocked and waited. She didn’t want to walk in on something, so the old tap and enter from when they were kids was not an option.

            She heard Sarah say, “Come in.” So she opened the door and seeing the mess and disorder shook her head and laughed.

            “Hey,” she said, looking around the room. “Did you get more stuff or is this just the other stuff shifted around again?” she teased her sister.

            “I got more stuff,” Sarah said defensively. Then she chuckled as she looked over the mess of her sitting room that was going to be her nursery.

            “So, there was a thing while I was out riding,” Hannah tentatively began her exposition.

            “What thing?” Sarah asked with eyebrows raised as she reached for her chiming cell phone. After quickly reading the text she looked at Hannah with worry in her expression, “Okay, what happened? Max just text me wanting to know if you’re okay and if you got home okay.”

            Hannah could see Sarah replying to Max’s text and insisted, “I’m fine, I’m fine,” it was her turn to be defensive.

            “He’s saying that you almost rode into the sinkhole! And that Uncle Alex caught you just in time to stop you,” Sarah looked at Hannah accusingly.

            “Okay,” Hannah said, trying to play the events of her ride down, “So, this is what happened.” She plopped down on part of a sofa that wasn’t full of baby stuff, sighed, and continued. “I was riding near the stream and heard a tapping sound coming from the fence line that was just beyond the creek.” She waved her hands to show the direction of the fence, “I looked to see what it was and saw a big beautiful palomino standing on the other side of the fence, like a statue, then that guy came around the horse to put stuff in his saddle bags,” Hannah paused to make a face of disapproval and blow out a big sigh then continued. “I didn’t want to talk to him so I took off in the opposite direction and before I knew what was happening, he was jumping on his horse, jumping the fence, and chasing after me!” Hannah threw her hands in the air for effect and gave Sarah a “what the heck” look. “So I go faster not knowing what he was up to, he catches me and grabs my reins!”

            Sarah interrupted her with, “You didn’t punch him did you?” there was a pleading sort of begging tone to Sarah’s voice.

            “I tried!” Hannah defended her actions. “But he’s pretty quick for an old guy. Sheesh!”

            “Hannah!” Sarah shouted at her in exasperation.

            “I missed!” Hannah shouted back still trying to defend herself.

            “Hannah! He was saving your life!” Sarah shouted back.

            “I didn’t know that’s what he wanted to do!” Hannah shouted, “For all I knew he was going to do something else out there, with no one else around,” her voice trailed off. Quickly thinking of a way to refocus the conversation she asked, “Besides, if he’s so rich why is he out mending fences anyways? Can’t he afford to hire people for that?”

            “He’s a cowboy,” Sarah answered, with exasperation in her voice. “He’s always doing cowboy things. Yeah, he’s rich, but he’s very hands on.”

            “He’s very annoying,” Hannah shared her opinion of the old cowboy.

            Sighing out a long groaning sigh, Sarah said, “He’s a really great guy! He married Max’s mom and raised him as his son. He helps people all the time. You don’t know him, yet.”

            “I know enough to know I don’t want to know any more about him,” Hannah replied holding her hands up dismissively.

            “He saved your life!” Sarah reminded her.

            “He wouldn’t have had too, if he hadn’t chased after me,” Hannah replied, again trying to defend herself.

            “Please try and be nice to him tomorrow,” Sarah begged. “We’re going to be over there almost all day helping out with the party prep.”

            “I’ll do my best,” Hannah promised, with a shrug and a smile. “He’s really annoying, I don’t know why he gets under my skin so much, but he really does.”

Sarah plopped down on the other sofa looking tired, “He likes to joke around, the first time I met him, he looked me up and down and said something about me being a pretty filly. That’s just the way he is. So I looked him up and down and told him he wasn’t too bad himself. We hit it off, he’s a lot of fun, really.”

            “I guess I’m just not up for his kind of fun,” Hannah acceded.

            “I do understand,” Sarah gave Hannah a look of “You know what I mean. Just because Nathanial was low enough to do what he did, doesn’t mean every other guy is like that,” Sarah tried to explain Hannah to Hannah. 

            “I know,” Hannah sighed, “I’ll try to do better tomorrow, promise.””

 

Find Return to New Parish, New Parish, and Brigham Tea Magazine on Amazon.com at the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/Julie-Worthington/e/B00E6622QO?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&qid=1569181539&sr=1-3