Poor Lester and $15 Amazon Gifr Card

Fully awake now, Lester swung his feet to the dock. When he could get a word in edgewise, he needed to deflate Agnes’s high-flying hopes in a hurry, because in her vivid imagination, she was already standing before the bishop with him, repeating her wedding vows. As he opened his mouth to speak, however, another urgent female voice hailed him.

“Lester! Lester Lehman, it’s me—your Elverta! I read about Gloria’s wedding in the paper, so it seemed like the perfect reason to come and see you!”

Lester moaned. His sense of freedom, peace, and unencumbered living had just hit another serious snag.

As the national newspaper for Plain communities, the Budget was a wonderful way to keep track of far-flung friends and kin, but he suddenly wished that Gloria—and Rosetta Wickey, their community’s original scribe—hadn’t been quite so descriptive in detailing the Lehman family’s relocation. The tiny town of Promise, Missouri was out in the middle of nowhere, yet Agnes and Elverta had apparently followed every line of the newspaper’s weekly reports right to his doorstep.

As Elverta Horst, dressed in deep green, strode toward his dock, her tall, skinny, ramrod-straight body reminded Lester of a string bean. He knew better than to express that opinion, of course, because the woman he’d broken up with to begin courting his Delores had never been known for her sense of humor.

“Wh-who’s this?” Agnes asked him under her breath.

Never one to beat around the bush, Elverta stopped a few yards from the dock. She glanced at Lester before focusing on the flustered woman beside him. “And who might you be?” she demanded with a raised eyebrow.

Lester answered as indirectly as possible, because he knew these women would soon find out every little thing about one another. “Elverta, this is Delores’s best friend, Agnes Plank. She lives down the road from our former home in Sugarcreek,” he explained hastily. “And Agnes, this is Elverta Horst—”

“And I was engaged to Lester before he took up with Delores,” Elverta put in purposefully. “First loves are often the strongest, ain’t so? The flame may flicker through the years, but it never really goes out.”

My Thoughts

It is always a pleasure to return to Promise Lodge. This is one place you can be sure to fine compassion, acceptance and love. I hope Promise Lodge continues with many more stories. Make sure you read about Lester and his story. I promise you it doesn’t disappoint.

About Charlotte Hubbard Author

Many moons ago—like, in 1983 while I was still a school librarian—I sold my first story to True Storymagazine. This launched me into writing about seventy of those “true confessions” stories over the years, and I’ve been a slave to my overactive imagination ever since.

The next big step was selling my first historical romance in 1990, a Zebra Heartfire called Colorado Captive. I quickly sold five more in that genre. They’re all out of print now, but available from used bookstores or at Amazon.com and BN.com. I’ve brought them back in digital format with beautiful new covers, which you can see on my Historical Romances page.

After a long dry spell that entailed major changes in the publishing industry, I resurfaced in a new genre, with a new publisher, editor, and agent who were so excited about my Angels of Mercy series! These four faith-and-family stories are also out of print now, but available at Amazon as Kindle e-books. With Law of Attraction (The Love Secret), I moved into new territory once again—and once again the setting is a place I love to spend time: the Oregon Coast.

Being an author is great fun when you’re selling, but it’s best to have a hide like a rhinoceros and a spouse who gets a regular paycheck! Patience, persistence and just flat-out luck have given me this opportunity to reinvent myself yet again. Those angels I write about keep pulling me through, and are often my friends and family—but I owe a lot to the heavenly beings who bear me up on their wings, as well!

My stories invariably take on a life of their own, different from the way I’ve proposed them: I love it when unforeseen characters and plot twists come along, because they keep me guessing right along with my readers!

I often present workshops at conferences. I belong to Novelists, Inc. and American Christian Fiction Writers.

I love touring historic homes, trying new recipes, crocheting, and playing with my Border collie, Vera—although it’s humbling, having a dog smarter than I am! I’m an ordained Presbyterian deacon, and I devote a lot of time to singing in my church choir, ringing in bell choir, and being a substitute organist. I’m celebrating more than forty-two years with my husband, who—bless him—has never once suggested I get a real job!