Harris Wimberly is widowed. It has been three years since the loss of Ruth, and the loneliness and the grieving remain. Now he is at an emotional crossroad. For him to remain solo will not bring his wife back. Nor would picking up his life and trying to move forward into new love bring her back.
He would love to find love again. But even the thought of being with another woman feels like committing adultery. And he cannot bear to take on that guilt, all the while knowing that he would be innocent of any wrong against his departed wife. Still, somehow, down inside him, it feels wrong.
Now new friends are encouraging him to consider learning to love again. Perhaps there is hope. But how would he go about meeting someone new? It is a different dating world from the time when he dated Ruth.
Anna Forth is raising her thirteen-year-old son by herself. She is doing her best to balance motherhood and a medical practice. She has no time to find love again. It has been four years since the death of her husband. But that time has not eased the pain of loneliness she feels. Besides, her son needs a father figure in his life.
Well meaning, but misguided friends tell her that she would be acting selfishly to bring a man into her life now. It would be unfair to her son, they tell her. She should simply focus her energy on raising him. That all sounds right for her son is her priority. But yet... That path offers no cure for her loneliness. Besides, her son does need a father figure in his life. And even at thirteen, her son is keenly aware of his need. And his mum's need.
Josias Lancaster had a dream. A wonderful woman who he loved and who loved him. Together they shared a dream of visiting far away places in the fantastic flying machine he built. The dream ended when she died suddenly and unexpectedly
Now he has a second chance. New love can be found after loss. But will this new woman in his life be willing to pick up the old dream with him? Especially if the flying machine has been named after his lost love.
Josias and Ann embark on what was to be a simple flight to Paris. They never reach Paris. Instead, a terrific and unusual storm over the Atlantic carries them far off their course. There they find a strange world among people unlike themselves. But from among that people, Ann gains a son. And a crew member gains a wife.
The story contains important subplots – the story of an orphan named Matthew and the love between Harold and Hannah. The author weaves biblical themes such as adoption, love, second changes, and answered prayer throughout the book. The values and expressions are from another era that are desperately needed in today's dark world. Still, the Christian themes enhance the story.
(An excerpt from the book)
------
Ann Lancaster awoke in a fright. Something was wrong. She felt herself about to be tossed from the bed. Laying on her back, with her right hand, she punched Josias who was sleeping next to her. The tossing from the bed did not happen, but the fear of it remained.
Shocked out of a deep sleep, he awoke and instantly sat up in bed. Then he almost fell over, and would have, had he not thrown out both hands against the mattress to steady himself.
The ship was rolling. Rolling severely from side to side. Against the closed window panes behind them, the whistle of angry winds buffeted the glass. They were flying above the ocean through the midst of a storm. And it was no meek storm.
The ship was swinging from side to side, and now a hard bump jolted it, and sent Ann's heart pounding with fear. "What's happening, Honey?" she asked, in a hoarse whisper.
"A storm," he answered, in the low whispery quality which was his voice. "It seems to be a big one."
When one is fortunate enough to find a mysterious lamp, rubbing the lamp will free the genie who has been imprisoned within that lamp for a thousand years. Out of gratitude, the genie is empowered to grant you your desires in the form of wishes. Usually three wishes.
But what happen if the genie has a whole different idea about gratitude for his release and your wishes are turned upside down? Instead of good fortune, you receive the opposite. And the genie seems more interested in playing tricks on you than on granting your wishes.
That's what Elijah Weatherspoon found, to his dismay. Seeming all misfortune contrary to the wishes he asks for. He asks for riches. He asked for good health and a long life. He asked for prestige and influence within the circle of important men.
What comes his way seems to be the very opposite. Now his world is turned topsy turvy. And he wishes he had never bought that cursed clock.
(An excerpt from the book)
---------
“You never answered my question. How long was I trapped in my prison?” he asked.
“Aye. I did answer. I said I din’t ken how long ye’re in there. That’s an answer,” Elijah answered, with irritation in his voice.
“Ah, I suppose that was an answer,” the other one sighed. “I will not tell you exactly, but it was for many years. Do you know how old that clock is?” Elijah did not know.
“More than your lifetime. Years more. I was imprisoned in its first year.”
That struck Elijah’s curiosity, and he wondered how the being he was speaking with came to be imprisoned inside. “What fell fortune caused ye t’ be locked inside? If I may ask.” And he did ask.
“I am not free to tell you,” the other one answered. “But I am now grateful to be free. I owe you a gratitude for my release.”
For a space of some seconds, he looked straight at Elijah while saying nothing. Then a strange grin began, and it grew on his round face. Then he spoke.
“I know. You believe that I owe you three wishes in return for your setting me free. Well? Is that not the law of the genie? Pray tell, your three wishes, Sir.”
Elijah briefly opened his mouth to speak, but no thoughts came to him to speak. Surely the old fables and stories were not true.
Genies were the product of the story tellers, and nothing more. The thing he held on his lap was a clock. It was not a magic lamp.
It was not even a lamp. Surely it was not magic. It was merely a clock. A clock in the shape of a castle. And it was not made of precious materials. Rather it was simply brass. And common brass at that.
Penny was murdered by the man she was about to marry. Just before her wedding day. She never got to wear that wedding dress she so looked forward to wearing.
Now the dress remains close by her. Everywhere the dress goes, there she is, lamenting in piteous sorry what will never be.
Now she loves again. Could this time see her in the dress? The problem is, the one she now loves does not want her. After all, he’s among the living. She is not.
(An excerpt from the book)
-------
So far the evening had been quiet. No voices or other strangeness came to him. “Jonathan,” he said to himself, but aloud, “I wonder if it all really is something in your own mind.”
“Jonathan?” It was the voice of a woman. His heart jumped within his chest.
Then the question was repeated. “Jonathan? Where?” The tone of the inquiry was frantic.
He sat up, his heart frozen and seemingly, in mid beat. But now the beating pounded in his ears.
He fumbled for the lamp, and with a match found by his fingers on the table, even as his hands trembled, he managed to light the lamp. In the light he searched the room with his eyes racing from corner to corner. There was nothing to be seen.
“Who’s here?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
“Who?” from the voice again. “Jonathan?”
“He’s not here,” Robert answered, his voice trembling. Jonathan was right. Now he knew it. Jonathan was not mad. Nor was he suffering from delusions.
Then the wailing began. Piteous, it was to hear. It was very much the sound of someone in great sorrow.
“Stop!” Robert shouted. “Be gone with you, whatever you are!”
“Whatever I am?” the voice asked.
“Whatever, or whoever you are,” Robert answered.
“Whoever I am?” the voice asked.
The feeling of fingers brushed on his face, rubbing up and down his cheeks and pressing fingertips against his eyelids. The feeling drove him to flay his hands before his face. But he touched nothing, and the movement of the fingers continued.
God Gave Me You
Published Books by Dan Dooley
Steampunk Romance Books
God's Design For Your Marriage
A guide for the soon to be married, or the newly married. If you are either, or you know someone who is, this book will make a great and useful gift, and will be a valuable resource when the tough questions within marriage come along.
The book is not only for couples soon to be married, or just newly married, but for pastors and other marriage ministers, this book can be a source of material for pre-marriage counseling, or as we might as well say, pre-marriage preparation.
(An excerpt from the book)
------
Mistakes can be made right, and God is more than willing to forgive and allow for fresh starts. He takes us from where we are right now. It is the rest of your life that counts both for Him and for the one God has given us as helpmate.
Some couples, or individual partners within a couple we engage with in marriage mentoring or counseling are on their second or perhaps marriage.
Mistakes almost always result in shame, doubt, and even damage to an individual’s sense of self-worth. And, they can create doubts about the hope of success of a new marriage.
“I failed at marriage before. What makes me think this one will fare any better?”
Now how would you answer this question? “Suppose I meet someone and fall in love, and we marry. Then later I meet someone who I find myself loving and I’m convinced that this one was really the right one for me.
“Did I make a mistake with the first one? Perhaps he (or she) was not the right one for me.”
------
The book is not only for couples soon to be married, or just newly married, but for pastors and other marriage ministers, this book can be a source of material for pre-marriage counseling, or as we might as well say, pre-marriage preparation.
No man would ever find Hannah beautiful enough to love. After all, her sister who is much prettier than she is was rejected and left at the alter by a man who left for another. Another whom he said was much more beautiful. If that happened to her sister, what hope is there for Hannah?
But, she does not count on the stranger who comes out of the unknown west. A simple cook on a flying ship and who does not look like her people.
She tends to him as his nurse while he is convulsing from an injury. She finds something stirring within her which is new and strange. But surely, he can't love her. She's not pretty enough, she tells herself. He will leave and return to his people and his home.
But he has different thoughts on the matter.
(An excerpt from the book)
-------
"What will our house look like?" she asked as both of her hands were now buried deep in a bowl of newly mixed flour and water, mixing it into bread dough.
"I don't know for sure," he answered. "I know it will be pretty. Both on the inside and on the outside. Maybe it will be painted white. Or maybe not. I don't know."
"Purple, maybe?" she asked. "I like the colour purple. What do you think, my Love?"
"No!" he exclaimed. He did not want to hurt her feelings, if her suggestion had been made in sincerity. "Do you think purple is a good colour for a house?" he asked, hoping her colour suggestion was but in jest.
"I don't know. I have never seen a purple house," she answered.
"Let's decide on the colour later," he suggested.
"It will be pretty," she mused. "Many rooms, perhaps?"
"Not too many. Many rooms means many to clean and to decorate."
"But if we have many babies…" she said, the promise in her words.
"We have to start with one," he said. "How many do you want?"
"With you, many. Many babies." And then she laughed. "But we will start with one."
He leaned across the table and kissed her. "I really do love you," he stated. "I am happy I married you."
"And I too am happy you married me," she answered, kissing him again. "But now we must bake the bread. And I think we need more than bread for dinner today. Aye?"
Imagine you are a mother, and you just found out that your oldest daughter has just been injured in a serious accident. And the doctors tell you that she will never walk again, but will be paralyzed from the waist down. And the daughter sees her hopes of marriage, or any kind of meaningful life destroyed, and she says that she just wants to die.
(An excerpt from the book)
----------
At six o'clock in the evening, the telephone in the parlour of Vandergriff home rang. It rang four times before Rachael could reach it. The voice on the other end of the line was one which she did not recognize.
"Mrs. Vandergriff. My name is Penelope. I'm a friend of Sarah's. Sarah has been injured in an accident. She's in the hospital in Wayfield. She is very bad. Pray. Pray very hard! And come as quickly as you can."
And Rachael did pray. She prayed very hard. As she sat on the train next to her husband, as the steam pushed the engine up ahead, forward at a fast pace, she gripped tight to Martin's hand. And she prayed.
And in other homes, friends joined in the prayer. Anna Wimberly in her home. And Ann Lancaster in her home. Rachael had called them prior to leaving for the railroad station. They too were joining in with Rachael's prayers.
Martin sat silently next to her, but he too prayed. Why couldn't the engine move faster, he asked himself? Of course, the steam was being produced as fast as it could be produced. The pistons in the cylinders were pounding back and forth as fast as they could be pounding. The driver wheels were spinning as fast as they could spin.
But it should be moving faster. It would be hours before they would reach Wayfield. Then the taxi ride from the railroad station to the hospital would take its own time. And would his daughter be alive once they arrived at the hospital?
He gripped his wife's hand tighter. "It's okay, Mother. She's going to be fine. She will be fine. Aye, she will. I know it."
"I'm so frightened," Rachael replied, her voice choking. "I'm so frightened."
"Faith, Mother," he replied. "Remember, faith. God made promises. Remember what…" He struggled to find the next words to say. "God answers prayer, you know. Pray, Mother. Pray. God will answer."
"I am, Dear," she answered. "You are a good man, Martin. A good man. I am so blessed." She squeezed his hand in return. "Do you really believe she will be okay?"
"Mother, I can only trust, or put my trust, my faith you know, in God." The words came awkwardly, but she knew what he meant.
Did you know?
All of the novels are FREE to read on KindleUnlimited
'Abigail, A Short Story Prequel' is the background, and introduction to the novel 'A Ship Called Abigail.' the first in the series titled 'Legacy of Abigail.'
The story is in PDF format, and free to download read and share.
In fact, I hope you will share it.
Read for Free
