For this post of Friday Friends, I'd like to introduce you to Emma Prescott, the heroine in Welcome Home. She appears in the first book in the Pike's Run Series, a historical romance set in Texas.
We're going to ask her some questions.
Where do you live and why?
I live in Pike's Run, Texas. I chose to settle here so I could be near the man I love. When I first arrived, he wasn't pleased to see me.
What is your profession? Do you enjoy it?
I'm a mother now, and it is absolutely the most important work I've ever done. I have six children, and I love every second with them. (Well, not every second.) I had two other jobs before I married Kyle, though. I had to work as a waitress in Denver and when I got to Pike's Run, I had to support myself. I bought land and farmed forty acres of cotton. I did NOT like either of these positions, but when I managed to turn a run-down farm into a pretty piece of property, I was quite proud of myself.
How would others describe you? Are they accurate?
Happy, cheerful, hardworking and a bit impulsive. I've heard those descriptors the most and agree. Especially with the impulsive part. I don't always think things through. It gets me what I want, but sometimes with a lot more trouble than was necessary.
When you met Kyle, was it love at first sight?
In a way. I was seven, and he was twelve. I didn't have any siblings, and my mother had passed away when I was two. My father was too busy making money, so I had no playmates until Kyle came along. He was the son of our overseer for our cotton crops. His mother took me under her wing, and I started spending time with the Lonnigan family everyday. Kyle was patient with me. He let me follow him around a lot. He gave me things, played Hide-And-Seek. He was my whole world, and as we got older, my feelings deepened into attraction and love.
Was it love at first sight for him?
This made me laugh. No. It was "tolerate at first sight".
What do you like most about Kyle?
His loyalty to his family. His sense of honor and duty, and while he's often pig-headed about things, I appreciate how protective he is.
What does he like most about you?
How carefree I can be. He tells me I'm the light in his life. He likes it best when I help him remember good times from our childhood. He has a hard time recalling those days.
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
I'd like to return to California. I'd like to visit my mother's grave and show my children where I grew up.
What's one thing you learned from you own personal love story?
That it's never too late to fight for love. You don't know where you stand unless you fight. Even if you don't get what you want, at least you know you tried.
We're going to ask her some questions.
Where do you live and why?
I live in Pike's Run, Texas. I chose to settle here so I could be near the man I love. When I first arrived, he wasn't pleased to see me.
What is your profession? Do you enjoy it?
I'm a mother now, and it is absolutely the most important work I've ever done. I have six children, and I love every second with them. (Well, not every second.) I had two other jobs before I married Kyle, though. I had to work as a waitress in Denver and when I got to Pike's Run, I had to support myself. I bought land and farmed forty acres of cotton. I did NOT like either of these positions, but when I managed to turn a run-down farm into a pretty piece of property, I was quite proud of myself.
How would others describe you? Are they accurate?
Happy, cheerful, hardworking and a bit impulsive. I've heard those descriptors the most and agree. Especially with the impulsive part. I don't always think things through. It gets me what I want, but sometimes with a lot more trouble than was necessary.
When you met Kyle, was it love at first sight?
In a way. I was seven, and he was twelve. I didn't have any siblings, and my mother had passed away when I was two. My father was too busy making money, so I had no playmates until Kyle came along. He was the son of our overseer for our cotton crops. His mother took me under her wing, and I started spending time with the Lonnigan family everyday. Kyle was patient with me. He let me follow him around a lot. He gave me things, played Hide-And-Seek. He was my whole world, and as we got older, my feelings deepened into attraction and love.
Was it love at first sight for him?
This made me laugh. No. It was "tolerate at first sight".
What do you like most about Kyle?
His loyalty to his family. His sense of honor and duty, and while he's often pig-headed about things, I appreciate how protective he is.
What does he like most about you?
How carefree I can be. He tells me I'm the light in his life. He likes it best when I help him remember good times from our childhood. He has a hard time recalling those days.
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
I'd like to return to California. I'd like to visit my mother's grave and show my children where I grew up.
What's one thing you learned from you own personal love story?
That it's never too late to fight for love. You don't know where you stand unless you fight. Even if you don't get what you want, at least you know you tried.
An excerpt from Welcome Home:
She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me. I’ve desperately wanted to tell you what happened for so long, and I never thought I’d get the chance.” She looked at him, and he saw the torture she’d gone through by having to keep the truth from him.
Sweat gathered at his temples.
She began slowly, stumbling over her words. “H-he made threats to me,” she rasped.
Kyle straightened. “Threats?” he growled.
She took a deep breath and put a hand over her heart.
He knew it was pounding as hard as his.
“He t-told me that if I told the sheriff what Michael had said…he’d k-kill you.”
Kyle stared at her, shocked and horrified. His breathing was fast and shallow, his heart pounding in his ears. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and his hate for Owen Prescott was made stronger for the hell he’d caused his daughter.
“I didn’t know what to do,” she cried. “I couldn’t let him do to you what he’d done to Michael. I couldn’t have borne it if you’d d-died.” She swallowed and choked on a sob. “So, yes, I lied to Sheriff Cummings. I helped my father go free because I would’ve died if anything happened to you.” She cried in earnest now, looking at him, the expression in her eyes conveying her hate for her weakness. She laid her arms on the table and placed her forehead on her wrists, her shoulders shaking in grief.
Kyle’s head swam; his gut churned with emotion. How could he have been so blind?
She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me. I’ve desperately wanted to tell you what happened for so long, and I never thought I’d get the chance.” She looked at him, and he saw the torture she’d gone through by having to keep the truth from him.
Sweat gathered at his temples.
She began slowly, stumbling over her words. “H-he made threats to me,” she rasped.
Kyle straightened. “Threats?” he growled.
She took a deep breath and put a hand over her heart.
He knew it was pounding as hard as his.
“He t-told me that if I told the sheriff what Michael had said…he’d k-kill you.”
Kyle stared at her, shocked and horrified. His breathing was fast and shallow, his heart pounding in his ears. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and his hate for Owen Prescott was made stronger for the hell he’d caused his daughter.
“I didn’t know what to do,” she cried. “I couldn’t let him do to you what he’d done to Michael. I couldn’t have borne it if you’d d-died.” She swallowed and choked on a sob. “So, yes, I lied to Sheriff Cummings. I helped my father go free because I would’ve died if anything happened to you.” She cried in earnest now, looking at him, the expression in her eyes conveying her hate for her weakness. She laid her arms on the table and placed her forehead on her wrists, her shoulders shaking in grief.
Kyle’s head swam; his gut churned with emotion. How could he have been so blind?
 | Emma Prescott, determined and selfless, flees from wealth and her murderous father, seeking the love and forgiveness of poor cotton farmer, Kyle Lonnigan. Although Kyle refuses to forgive her for her part in his father’s death, Emma stays and works her own farm. Over the next several months, Emma proves to Kyle she is not the spoiled girl he remembers. Emma’s sudden re-entrance into Kyle’s life only conjures long-buried painful memories. Kyle does his best to avoid her, needing to keep the pain at bay, and stopping her from reminding him of their last moments together before bullets shattered their world. But, he is unsuccessful. The love he denies is too strong, and soon Emma and Kyle are tumbling headlong into the past and passion. Buying Welcome Home: Book Bub Amazon Barnes and Noble Kobo Google Play iTunes |
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