Been Too Long

Haven't blogged in quite awhile.  I will still write from time to time here and perhaps another book.  But what I will not do is spend a considerable amount of time on advertising.  I am not very good at it an it is therefore not profitable for me.  It is stressful and embarrassing, so I am choosing not to pursue these methods any longer. I will instead revert back to public appearances with my books and be happy once again with the results from that pursuit.

Bittersweet Reunions - Chapter One

Chapter One

THE REUNION

   

Lucinda and Josie paused for a moment to take in the image before their eyes, neither being able to move.  After what seemed like hours when in reality it was only seconds, the women unfroze and reached out for each other.  Just as their fingertips touched, Josie fainted into Lucinda’s waiting arms and she began falling, tumbling, whirling, landing hard and was in so much pain, deep, horrible, excruciating pain.  Afflicting her whole body with what felt like a knife stabbing her over and over in her lower back.   Everything went black, Josie couldn’t understand what was taking place and she cried out for Robert.  “Robert, Robert, where are you?  I need you.”

“I’m right here Josie,” Robert said in a very quiet voice, almost inaudible to her.  “Why are you so far away?  Please come to me,” was her feeble reply.  “I am right here holding your hand and cooling your forehead with a wet cloth.”  Robert answered.

“Oh, Robert, here comes that piercing pain again, please help me; it is intensifying.  What is wrong with me?  Am I injured?   Did I take a fall of my horse, Josie’s Girl, again?”  Josie pleaded for an answer from Robert.

Another distant voice said to her, “Josie, you’re doing fine, just keep concentrating on talking to Robert.”  Doing fine, what is it that I am doing fine, and whose voice is that?  I do not recognize it.”

 “Oh, my god, something’s happening to me, the lower half of my body is breaking off from the rest of me,” Josie screamed.  And then it happened; the pain stopped, it was gone, completely gone, washed away in one moment.  And then she heard it; a most beautiful angelic sound; the unmistakable cry of a newborn baby wailing its way in to the world.

 And Robert, a proud father at the top of his voice now excitedly proclaiming, “It’s a girl! Josie, we have a baby girl!”

 A girl, a girl, now it all made sense to me; I had been in the throws of childbirth labor pains. “Our Lucinda Lee is here, she’s here!”  Robert exclaimed.

 I looked at him and said, “Let me hold her and touch her and see what she looks like.”  The other voice in the room that I had not recognized was the midwife helping me to deliver this tiny creature.  She handed me a bundle of blankets with our baby snuggled tightly within.  There was just a tiny little head peeking out toward the top with eyes wide open and a mouth with one little turned up corner into a crooked half smile.

Josie searched herself for just the right words to express what she was feeling.  At this very moment with so many emotions rushing forth at once, she could not speak.  She could not process the thoughts scrambling around in her head, was this true?  Had she given birth to this extraordinary creature she was clutching onto?  Yes, she had just experienced the painful cramping of labor and the joy of childbirth only moments ago. 

“Josie, Josie,” she heard.  It was Robert’s voice again, this time it was very different, it was much older sounding that it had been earlier.  And I feel much older too, why is that?

 ”Come back to us,” a woman’s voice demanded.  “Please mother, look at me.”

            “Mother, yes, I am a mother, I just brought a baby girl into the world.”  Josie mumbled.

“No, Mother, you were dreaming just now but it sounded like you were having a baby.” the woman’s voice said.

 “Yes, I did, Robert and I have a baby girl.” Josie reiterated.

 “Well, you did, but it was a very long time ago Josie,” Robert added. 

But when she opened her eyes, who she saw was not one of the children she expected to see.  It was not Anna or Maye, but a lovely woman who had some of the same refined Native American features as Robert.   The evenly tanned and smooth skin without a flaw or blemish on it, with just a hint of reddish tint to it; and a slightly elongated face with high cheekbones for a very feminine look.   Oh my, she looks like me too!  Josie thought.  But she has long eyelashes and dark eyes, unlike me.   Ah, she is my daughter, my first born child! 

”Lucinda, I remember; I remember giving birth to you now; when I blacked out, it was all replayed for me.   Each and every beautiful moment was clearly defined and I heard you call out your first cry into your new world.”  Josie stammered with a cracked voice.   “I remember, I remember.” she added softly.

Josie was crying now from the absolute joy of a rediscovered event buried deep within her subconscious for more than thirty years.  And the loss; now the horrific loss of time, thirty years, three decades, had been non-existent to her.  Squelched and buried deeply within her someplace with only brief stabs of feeling that there was more to her life that last year in Riggins.  Thirty long years, only to resurface now because of the touching encounter resulting from being reunited with her daughter, Lucinda.

 It had been swept completely from her memory by the fever of smallpox and that had caused her to lose the things that were the most important to her from that time in the seventeenth year of her life.  And sharing in her child’s life; that experience she had been deprived of by a cruel act of selfishness, not on her part, but on the part of others.  Others who decided what was best for her life and she had had no say in it whatsoever. The only facts being relayed on to her were their facts that they had concocted and told the way they wanted to tell them.  And the way that they wanted her to remember them. Her heart would snap into miniscule pieces each time she brought it up to them.  Then they would tell her their tale that led them away from home and family.

Josie spoke again now, “I remember now that I was severely ill and incapacitated when I was dragged away from the two of you.  Torn from my little family; my family that we fought so desperately to keep a secret.  A secret from those people who wanted my life to go in a different direction and finally succeeded in taking it all away from me.”  She paused to take a breath and continued, “Oh, Lucinda, my precious daughter, my life has sometimes spun me around in circles believing that there were untold truths in my past.   That there were things only told to me a certain way and secrets being kept from me.  And what a delightful secret you are!” 

 Lucinda chimed in, “And what a shock for me to hear that my mother is alive, when you have thought otherwise your entire life.  I have told my children the story of Robert and Josie and I over and over.  And now here you are, walking back into our lives like this.  I have always wondered what it would be like if you were alive and in our lives.  But I had to accept the fact that you had passed away shortly after I was born as I was told,” she said.   

“When I ran away from home, your father had met Edward and arranged for us to live there with him and his children, Paul and Mary.  As his wife was deceased, I became a new mother of sorts to them and they were so excited to be getting a new brother or sister.  You were born on a peaceful Sunday afternoon,” Josie began.  “Your father and the midwife were in the bedroom at Edward’s house with me.  Edward kept Paul and Mary busy outside as they were very anxious for you to arrive; you were like a little sister to them.    You entered your new world with just a single loud cry to let us know your presence and then you were just content, a very contented baby.  When the children heard that cry they bolted for the house and hopped up on the bed for a closer look.  When your father said that it was a girl, Mary said, “Yay, someone to play babies with me!”  And Paul said somewhat downheartedly, “Oh, I could have really used a boy baby.” “But, he changed his mind after he got to hold you and decided a girl was okay too.”  Josie added.

“When you were about a month old, it was time for us to grant you your Nez Perce Native American Title and spiritual welcoming in to the world.”  Josie remembered.  “We took you to Wildhorse Butte where your father and I had our joining ceremony.  It was a spectacular evening, the stars were particularly cooperative that night and the sky held a light show for us.  We pointed out the constellations and the stars to you and there was even a falling star to top our special event off.  We knelt down beside the stream with a calming bubbling spring; first we sprinkled dirt on your little feet so that you would always be one with the earth and that it would guide you wherever you chose to travel.  And then we scooped water over your feet to wash it off, so that water in any form would wash away anything harmful to you.  Next, we laid my families precious prayer stones in a circle on the spot that your father and I proclaimed our commitment to each other.  We wrapped you in the mantilla that I wore and laid the headband that your father wore for our wedding ceremony across your forehead.  We believed that signified our joining with you; our newborn child and we placed you within that circle.”  Josie continued.

Now Robert spoke, “Your mother and I felt that you were born out of the purest love.  It was the strongest, most sincere feeling to have and we wanted you to share that beautiful expression with us.  We chose your spiritual title to represent both of the tribes that have been intertwined by our marriage.  My mother was Lucy Spirit Horse and Josie’s mother was Isadora Blue Dove.  We thought about it very carefully and donned you ‘Spirit Dove,’ and welcomed you into the world and the Nez Perce Tribal Community.”

 “And to us, ‘Spirit Dove’ would convey that on to you as a soft, gentle dove with a light spirit that would be able to commune with the spirit world like no other. We knew there was a strong chance that you would possess the power of healing as your mother and grandmother before you did.  You would need to be an exceptionally loving person with an open heart and open arms, like your mother and I were to each other and then to you.”   Robert concluded with tears free flowing and his face showing true heartfelt emotion.  It was truly apparent that he idolized his two women.

Josie picked up where Robert had left off and said, “Lucinda, are you a healer of the people?  Have you used prayer stones for rituals to help the sick and injured?  Or did you not inherit that trait from me, my Spirit Dove?”  Josie grinned and then pondered a moment with an expression of pride and puzzlement and asked Robert the next question.  “Robert, my prayer stones were left behind at Edward’s house when I was taken away, weren’t they?”

 “Yes, they were Josie.” Robert said.  “And I have used them every year to celebrate the short time we had together and my memories of you.  Then when I felt that Lucinda was old enough to tell her the story of us and her life, I passed them over to her.   I explained their significance in our history of the Nez Perce peoples and the different ways that they were used by others as well as our families did.” 

Lucinda spoke now, “Father and I discussed it at length and how my feelings toward our animals had played a part in my life.  I took very good care of my horse, ‘Josie’s Pride,’ the foul that your horse ‘Josie’s Girl’ had and the many other animals on the ranch.”  Lucinda continued, “I was driven to save even the most hopeless cat or dog that strayed onto the porch looking for a handout, so I believed I would be the healer in my generation in the Blue Dove/Spirit Horse tribe.  So when we began to study the history of our culture in school, I threw myself in to learning everything I could about our ancestry.   There wasn’t a lot of reading material, but our teacher was Nez Perce so she was able to tell us everything that had been taught to her by her relatives. 

It began with learning our many names, beginning with the red man; the Indian; American Indian; and Nez Perce which translates to pierced nose; by the white man anyway.  Even though it is not our custom to have pierced noses; the French people had seen a few Native Americans with rings and assumed that all tribal members did.  And our original name of the Nimi’puu, some say translates to ‘our people; real people or we the people’, depending on the individual tribes.’’  I still do not understand why there are so many and why all the different names for us. 

            But I was also taught that eventually each village chose their separate names for themselves, as my ancestors the Spirit Horse and the Blue Dove’s did.”  Lucinda paused to catch her breath before continuing, “I read what I could on the healers in our history books, it became my obsession to know every detail of what they had done in the past to take care of the sick and the dying.”  Lucinda went on, “And then when I felt I was fairly knowledgeable on the subject I went out to ‘Salvation’ and I asked our relatives about it.  I spoke with Uncle Herman and he told me of the generations of healer’s right down to you and now me.”






Hope that you enjoyed the first chapter of Bittersweet Reunions enough to want to find out more!!  This book is filled with mystery, suspense, human kindness and weaknesses.  When you get further in, you won't be able to put it down until you find out who the villain is.  And you'll never see it coming...

Bittersweet Reunions Book Blurb

Hello there,  I thought I would share the book blurb for my new release with you!!  Here goes:

Josie LeClaire grew up happy as a Nez Perce Native American out on Allison Creek in Riggins, Idaho. Then in 1905 the Army came charging in to round up the tribal members and her life was destroyed and her family was torn apart.  She was just a young girl of seventeen when her parents and grandparents escaped and dragged her off to North Dakota to hide.  Josie was gravely ill when they left and she suffered memory loss and lost a year of her memories. Unfortunately, it turns out that it was the most important year of her young life.

Josie married and had children, but she had flashes in her day dreams and violent nightmares of another life. After her children were grown and had families of their own, Josie traveled back to her birthplace, and was both elated and horrified to learn several truths that were kept secret from her about her family and herself.  She discovered that she had a husband and daughter, neither of whom she remembered.  There had also been the horrible tragedy that had befallen her mother and her uncle.  After three decades have passed she has at last met her first husband, Robert and her first born daughter, Lucinda.

But now that she has surfaced in her homeland, a string of violence has been set in motion. Someone is targeting all of her children and grandchildren, perpetrating terrible acts against them, determined to hurt each and every one of them.  Who is behind these deliberate attacks?  Why would they want to destroy her family?  Can they be stopped before someone is seriously injured or worst yet; killed?

Indeed, it is a Bittersweet Reunion.

Bittersweet Reunions is live on AMZ

Finally, Bittersweet Reunions is available on AMZ.  The mysteries of 'past life have been revealed to her. But now someone is targeting her family and herself for destruction and possibly death.  Who would want to do this to them?  Why would anyone want to destroy their lives and see her children and her die?  The most unlikely person has resurfaced in their lives and is determined that she will suffer horribly at the hands of this monster. 




Debra A. Patrow, Acres of Bitterness, Wisconsin, Idaho, Rocky Mts. Bitteroot Mts. Native Americans, Historical Fiction, Nez Perce, Romance Novel, 1877, 1905,1930, love, loss, birth, death, intrigue, mystery, suspense, history, family secrets, three decades

Bittersweet Reunions is done, done, done!!

My new novel titled 'Bittersweet Reunions' is finished and I ordered a proof copy.  I can't wait to hit the button to finalize it and order copies for sale!!


Bittersweet Reunions follows my first novel, 'Acres of Bitterness' but can still be read as a stand alone.  It contains all of the same characters and continues their stories of their lives.  But the first few chapters reminds readers of what happened in Acres so you can easily enjoy it even if you haven't read it.


It's going to be a Bittersweet Reunion.

Bittersweet Reunions - Book Two

Last proof read for Bittersweet Reunions in the works.  I can't wait for the final steps to be finished.  The book cover has been designed waiting for the pages to be inserted.  Then off to CreateaSpace we go for the finishing process.  Will run a promotion right away to launch it too. Hooray!!

Publishing Book Number Two

Halfway done with proofreading number one.  I am getting excited to see the end of this task and get the book published. No one but another author realizes all the steps this takes and time it uses to see the end result.


If I could just write and not do the grunt work like the pro's do it,  I would write more!!