The Story of Freelan — Dealing with Life’s Thorns

With a name like “Rose,” life has to be thorny—and so does love!

Note: The photos used here were found online and are used merely as representations to help me keep the characters’ appearance in mind. They are in no way connected with my writings.

See also: How a Simple Romance Grew

The Freelan series has been like kudzu, ever expanding and growing—in my mind and in the files on my laptop. As I go back and reread where it all began in January, 2019, I find myself doing major edits but also seeing some things in a new light.

A manuscript that started out as a romance soon turned into a quest for living a truly free life, but the romance elements remain. Here’s a small taste.

Rose Wilson, newly widowed, has a problem:

“Jim O’Connell’s not going to buy me out!”

And Rose is dealing with the first signs of her attraction to Jim, shoving them away:

Rose looked up at Jim standing across from her, taking in his ruggedly handsome appearance enhanced by the jacket and tie. He held a coffee cup in one hand and his cowboy hat in the other, his dark curly hair in need of a good haircut. She quickly looked back down, feeling her face flush, and continued sipping her tea.

Jim is “the man who owns most of Hammil Valley” in eastern California. And he wants to buy the Wilson Ranch now that Carl Wilson, Rose’s husband, is dead. He lets her know at the gathering following the memorial service for Carl:

Jim looked Rose squarely in the eye across the table, and said, “I’m sorry for your loss, Rose, and I don’t mean to intrude, but I only wish to say that my offer still stands. That ranch is a handful.”

Uh oh! Jim just made a big error:

“How dare you say that right after my husband’s memorial service!” she shot back, rising from her seat and storming away.

All this is witnessed by their mutual friends, Henry and Katherine Baum, and Henry tells Jim:

“Don’t worry about Rose. She’s just rather defensive right now. I think she got a few surprises today. The truth can really leave a big knot in the pit of one’s stomach. Be patient. Let her learn what she needs to know.”

And some of what Rose needs to know is that she has been told a lot of lies about Jim. Sooner or later, she has to sort fact from fiction.

It’s a thorny road to true love—or not? And there are a lot of bumps in that road in addition to those thorns!

Hope you enjoyed this peek into the world of my Freelan series which I hope will be published some day.

Thanks for reading here. And thanks,

Kathrine Elaine

, for Thorny Thursdays!

Keep being inspired! Keep writing! Don’t let the naysayers get you down.

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Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of short stories (a couple are actually novelette length), newly published by Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the cover.)

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