A Place Called Home - Book 3 of The Dandelions Series -

A Place Called Home: Book 3 of The Dandelions Series - An 8 book Epic Romantic Adventure

by McCartney Green

Back cover blurb -

Stunned and betrayed by those closest to her, Lisa Lewis begins a mad dash across the country searching for a home she's never known. She brazenly walks right into the middle of Chaz Stewart's cattle crossing and tips his world upside down. Lisa experiences the wonders of home and family for the first time in her life, but somebody in the small town of Pine Forest wants her gone. What begins as dangerous pranks turns quickly into life and death struggles and Lisa learns that real families stick together through thick and thin.

(Prologue and first three chapters. Remainder available upon request.)

“Out of the dreariness,

Into its cheeriness,

Come we in weariness,

Home.”

             ~ Stephen Chalmers~

Prologue

    “Pregnant? Oh, my. Pregnant.”

    Louise Lewis watched her mother as the news she’d just delivered  registered. It took her mother only a few seconds to launch into her “perfect mom” routine.  A routine Louise hated.

    “Oh, dear, Louise hon,” her mother reached for her, took her by the shoulders, smiled kindly. “Everything’s going to be alright, dear, just you wait and see. Oh, sweetheart, how are you feeling? Do you know how far along you are? Goodness, that’s okay, we’ll figure it all out.” Madeline Lewis put her arms around her only child. “Don’t you worry about a thing now, my little LuLu. Your father and I, we’re here for you. We’ll all get through this together.”

    Louise shook her head. Her mother’s sweetness grated on her nerves. Always had. Now she was finally gonna do something about it. She was gonna get the hell out of Dodge. She pulled away from her mother’s hug. “No, Mom. We won’t all get through this together. I’m the one that’s pregnant.”

    “Who’s the father? Does he know what he’s done?”

    The question came from her father and Louise rolled her eyes before she answered. “What we did, Dad. We. It’s not like he forced himself on me.”

    “Well, does he know?”

    “Yes, Dad. He knows. He wants to marry me and spend the rest of his life trying to make me and his child happy,” Louise said, her voice laced with sarcasm.

    “Oh, thank goodness,” her mother sighed.

    Louise glared at her. “I’m not going to marry him, Mom. I’m not going to marry anyone.”

    “But Louise, don’t you think it would be the best for you and the baby?”

    “No, I don’t. Look at the two of you. Do you think I want to live your life?”

    “There’s nothing wrong with our lives, Lulu. Nothing wrong with being honest, hard-working folks,” her father argued.

    “Yeah, honest, hard-working people who live in an old, rickety house, in an old, hick town and have nothing more to do on a Friday night but sit on the porch and shell peas. God, I hate this place.”

    “You’re only sixteen, Louise. You don’t know what you want yet,” her father put in.

    “That’s where you’re wrong, Dad. I do know what I want. I want to get away from here. Away from this house, from this town, from this whole freakin’ state.”