Broken Limbs, Mended Hearts by Regina Jennings (highly recommended books .txt) 📕

like every other evening in Oak Springs. Perhaps the school board had already made their decision and had headed home?

She stopped and tugged at her ear. If no one was meeting tonight, why bother going to town? But maybe Adam was there somewhere. If he wasn’t working in a field, there was a good chance—

The hairs on her arms tingled. Someone was standing in the corner of her sight. Someone she hadn’t noticed before. He was nearly hidden in the branches of the oak tree, but there he was.

“Adam?”

The sun’s rays hit beneath the boughs and washed him in gold. “It’s me.”

“What are you doing in there?” She didn’t see his horses or machinery. No sign that he was doing anything other than loitering on the road.

“I’m waiting for you. How was the exam?”

“Wonderful. I did wonderful.” She wished he’d come closer, wished he’d take her in his arms, but he seemed rooted to the spot, determined not to step away from the oak of shame.

“I’m proud of you. And you, no doubt, saw the conclusion of the threshing contest?”

“You could’ve beat Pa by a mile, but what you did was even better.”

“And what he did was just as fine.”

What was wrong with him? Why didn’t he offer to walk her home, or walk her to town, or something? “I guess everything worked out satisfactorily.”

“Not yet.” His countenance fell. “Something has been bothering me for a spell, and I won’t rest easy until it’s fixed.”

Bella arched her eyebrows. Had something happened that her parents hadn’t told her about? Had the school board already determined to send for the student teacher?

But instead of allowing her to ask, Adam stepped back, holding one of the low limbs of the oak tree aside. “After you,” he said with a bow.

What was he up to? Another jab at her past? Another reminder of her failures? No, they’d grown past that. It had to be something else.

“I have a school board meeting to attend,” she said.

“There isn’t a meeting, not with them. Just with me.”

“But Pa said . . .” Then, seeing his smile, she said, “You put Pa up to that, didn’t you? Alright. What do you want me to see?”

She stepped past the low-­hanging branches and into the airy shelter beneath, and then Bella caught her breath. Beneath the canopy of green hung dozens of paper hearts suspended on strings. They spun with the leaves, fluttering like butterfly wings. She lifted one in her palm and laughed. It was covered in her penmanship. “Are these my practice tests?”

“I told you I wouldn’t leave them for the students to find.”

“You cut them all?” Her grin was so big her cheeks were getting sore. “And the thread . . .” She ran her fingers up the strand, then looked at the other hearts and the variety of colors that held them aloft. “I’m sorry for refusing your gift. The thread is beautiful, Adam. You created a true fairyland. Better than I could imagine.”

“There’s more.” With his hands clasped behind his back, he leaned forward, his face full of eagerness.

“What? What are you hiding?” She grabbed his arm, thinking he was holding a present behind his back, but he spun around, and she found herself face-­to-­face with the trunk of the old oak.

The marks of three years ago were still there—­the heart with her initials—­but there was an addition. Bella pressed her finger into the first stroke of the A, then traced every inch of the carefully carved message.

“AF & BE,” Adam said. “It took me long enough, but it’s there for good. Nothing is going to erase the message that I love Bella Eden.”

Bella’s heart felt near to bursting. Adam was everything she’d been looking for, but God had waited until just the right time to remove the blinders from her eyes.

“There’s only one thing lacking—­that kiss you were hankering after. Now, I’m no Jimmy Blaggart—”

“Don’t you ever say that name again,” she warned.

“Yes, ma’am.” His eyes held her warm and secure while paper hearts danced around them. “I’ll just say your name, Bella, and I’ll endeavor to have either you or your name on my lips as often as possible.”

His fingers brushed her cheek, making her yearn for more. Before she could turn toward his touch, his mouth captured hers—­sure, joyful, and more intoxicating than she’d imagined.

After a hearty kiss, Bella laid her head on his shoulder and watched the paper hearts spin in the breeze.

“It’s this tree that brought us together,” Adam said, “and I’m going to predict that our love will be as rooted and strong as it is.”

“The oak of shame?” she asked.

“Oh no. That episode is forgotten. As of today, it’ll have a new name.” His gaze darkened as it met hers. “This oak is now known as the Kissing Tree.”

Bella smiled. “Then it had better start living up to its name.”

She didn’t have to ask twice. He bent his head and kissed her again, like he’d never stop. But stop he must, for as fine as his kissing was, they had fields to harvest and a future to plan.

And Bella was already imagining what romantic adventures lay ahead.

Sneak Peek of

Courting Misfortune

by Regina Jennings

one

1898

CHICAGO

“You want me to work for Jinxy Seaton?” Calista York dropped her handbag onto her desk and reached up to remove her hat pin from her heavy swirl of brown curls. “The last I heard, we had scruples against helping criminal gangsters who corrupt Chicago with their nefarious—”

She was interrupted by the clatter of a letter opener skittering across the desk and landing on the floor. Calista froze, hands above her head, gripping her hat pin in case it was needed for defense. One look showed her that her boss, Robert Pinkerton, was the offender, and it wasn’t advisable to poke him with a hat pin, no matter the provocation.

“I’m talking about Mr. Jinxy Seaton,” Mr. Pinkerton said, his voice a growled whisper. “The man who risked his life to double-cross the unions for this agency