Irene Brand - Autumn's Awakening

Then, he’d been less sure of himself. Now he was strong, assured and capable. His eyes met hers and held for a few brief moments. As if he could read her thoughts, he started toward her, paused and turned away.

To hide her confusion, Autumn got some medication for the injured horse.

“You’ve done a good job on this, Autumn. Having the courage to admit you lack expertise in this situation probably saved the horse for a productive future. You’ve done a great job, in my opinion.”

Dropping her gaze, she said, “Thanks. Your opinion is important to me.”

He ignored the children nearby, who looked on with interest, and drew her into his arms.

This prolific and popular author of both contemporary and historical inspirational fiction is a native of West Virginia, where she has lived all her life. She began writing professionally in 1977, after she completed her master’s degree in history at Marshall University. Irene taught in secondary public schools for twenty-three years, but retired in 1989 to devote herself full-time to her writing.

In 1984, after she had enjoyed a long career of publishing articles and devotional materials, her first novel was published by Thomas Nelson. Since that time, Irene has published twenty-one contemporary and historical novels and three nonfiction titles with publishers such as Zondervan, Fleming Revell and Barbour Books.

Her extensive travels with her husband, Rod, to forty-nine of the United States and thirty-two foreign countries, have inspired much of her writing. Through her writing, Irene believes she has been helpful to others and is grateful to the many readers who have written to say that her truly inspiring stories and compelling portrayals of characters of strong faith have made a positive impression on their lives. You can write to her at P.O. Box 2770, Southside, WV 25187.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the

altar and there remember that your brother has

something against you, leave your gift there in

front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to

your brother; then come and offer your gift.

—Matthew 5:23-24

With special thanks to

Bill Crank, DVM (a former “A” student in my

United States history class), and his staff at the

Animal Hospital, West Virginia, for their help

and

Jim and Jackie Kessinger,

owners of Green Valley Farm, Ohio,

and their Belgian draft horses

that provided the inspiration for this book

Dear Reader,

The underlying theme of this book is forgiveness, and during the writing I gave a lot of thought to the subject. As my characters wrestled with their need to forgive and be forgiven, I considered the wonderful news of God’s grace and how willing He is to forgive our sins. Perhaps the hardest words for anyone to say are “I was wrong,” and/or “I’m sorry.” However, before the cleansing power of forgiveness can transform our lives, we must be sincerely sorry for our sins, whether they’ve been committed against others or against God.

We often seek forgiveness from others by doing things for them—giving them something, as in the case of Landon when he gave Nathan a filly to replace the one he’d lost. The Bible teaches that it is sometimes necessary to make a tangible restitution to those we’ve wronged (Luke 19:1-10). Yet there’s absolutely nothing we can do to receive God’s mercy.

Consider a verse from the writings of the apostle Paul. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). If you have not yet received the grace of God into your heart, I pray that this book will point you to Jesus, and His power to forgive.

My next Love Inspired book will continue the Weaver tradition through Summer Weaver, a sister to the heroine in this book. If you want to contact me, my address is: Irene B. Brand, P.O. Box 2770, Southside, WV 25187.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

When daylight filtered through the open window, Autumn Weaver slipped out of bed, dressed hurriedly and walked quietly down the stairs of her family’s Victorian farm home. She laid a restraining hand on the head of Spots, her border collie, when he rushed to greet her as she stepped out on the back porch. The white barn, housing her father’s prize-winning Belgian horses, was barely visible through the layer of dense fog hovering over Indian Creek Farm in central Ohio.

Autumn hurried into the barn, stroking the long faces of the huge draft horses as she made her way slowly to the tack room. She heard Nathan walking around in his upstairs apartment, and she waited breathlessly until his footsteps came nearer. Nathan picked up a couple of halters before he saw her standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“I wanted to see you.”

He brushed by her into the main passageway of the large barn. She stopped him by placing a hand on his arm.

“After your date with Dr. Lowe last night, I didn’t think you’d want to see me again,” Nathan said harshly.

“I didn’t have a date with him. Mother invited him to dinner. I didn’t even know he was coming.”

He turned to face her. “It doesn’t matter anyway, Autumn. You know there can’t ever be anything between us. If I can work here until the end of the month, I’ll have enough money to enroll for the fall semester at the university. I’ll leave then, and until that time, we’ll have to stay away from each other.”

“I thought you liked me, Nathan?”

He avoided her beseeching eyes. “That has nothing to do with it. Your father has made it plain that his daughters are off-limits to his hired hands. I don’t blame him. In his place, I’d feel the same way.”

“But we’ve had so much fun this summer.”

“Fun we had to steal when your parents were gone. It just won’t work, Autumn. Go ahead and date Dr. Lowe. He’d make a good husband for you.”

“How can I date him when it’s you I want?”

Her quivering lips, and the blue eyes filling with tears melted Nathan’s defenses, and his determination to avoid her disappeared as though it had never been. Even as he prayed for the strength to leave her, Nathan drew Autumn close and covered her shapely mouth with his. Autumn put her arms around his neck and snuggled into his embrace. When he released her lips, she dropped her head to his shoulder with a sigh of contentment.