Heart of Mercy (Tennessee Dreams)
Read Heart of Mercy (Tennessee Dreams) Online
Authors: Sharlene MacLaren
What Others Are Saying About Sharlene MacLaren and Heart of Mercy
A Preview of Threads of Joy - Book 2
What Others Are Saying About
Sharlene MacLaren and
Heart of Mercy
Mercy me, what a love story! Sharlene MacLaren has done it again—swept me away with a tender tale that has stolen both my breath and my sleep. Rich with historical detail, small-town magic, and the wonder of hearth and home,
Heart of Mercy
will coax tears from your eyes and hope from your soul.
—Julie Lessman
Author, The Daughters of Boston and the Winds of Change series
This Tennessee mountain Romeo and Juliet story is a roller coaster ride of a tale—and it’s MacLaren’s best yet. Of course, I think that about each of her books!
—Lena Nelson Dooley
Author,
Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico
,
and the McKenna’s Daughters series
Three words come to mind when I think of Sharlene MacLaren’s amazing novel,
Heart of Mercy
: Lovely, lovely, lovely! Truly, one of the best inspirational historicals I’ve read in ages, with the ideal mix of romance and intrigue. Highly recommended!
—
Janice Thompson
Author,
Queen of the Waves
Feuding families. Forbidden romance. A first real kiss that leaves you breathless. With nail-biting excitement, a heart-tugging marriage of convenience, and a powerful message of faith and forgiveness,
Heart of Mercy
is Shar MacLaren’s best book to date. I loved it!
—
Vickie McDonough
Author,
Whispers on the Prairie
and
Call of the Prairie
Heart of Mercy
grabs you from the first page, and by the time you look up, you care about the characters so much, you don’t want to look away.
—
Mary Connealy
Author of “romantic comedy with cowboys”
If you’ve read Sharlene MacLaren before, you already know she’s a masterful storyteller. If you haven’t, you’d better clear some space on your “keepers” shelf, because after reading
Heart of Mercy
, you’ll want to devour every Sharlene story you can get your hands on! Once again, she delivers a poignant tale that features people just like us—flawed, wounded, and struggling to hold fast to faith…and the belief that true forgiveness and lasting love really exist.
—
Loree Lough
Author of 100 award-winning books
Publisher’s Note:
This novel is a work of fiction. References to real events, organizations, or places are used in a fictional context. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
All Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Version of the Holy Bible.
Heart of Mercy
Tennessee Dreams ~ Book 1
Sharlene MacLaren
www.sharlenemaclaren.com
[email protected]
ISBN: 978-1-60374-963-3
eBook ISBN: 978-1-60374-987-9
Printed in the United States of America
© 2014 by Sharlene MacLaren
Whitaker House
1030 Hunt Valley Circle
New Kensington, PA 15068
www.whitakerhouse.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (Pending)
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical—including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system—without permission in writing from the publisher. Please direct your inquiries to [email protected].
This book has been digitally produced in a standard specification in order to ensure its availability.
Dedication
To Charity, my wonderful sister-in-law and forever friend. I am so thankful and blessed that Dick chose
you
. When I think how
tirelessly you cared for our mother, my heart fills to overflowing. Thank you for being the generous, caring, fun, and loving individual that you are. You have lived up to your name many times over.
I love you.
Evans Family Tree
Connors Family Tree
1
1890 • Paris, Tennessee
F
ire!”
The single word had the power to force a body to drop to his knees and call out to his Maker for leniency. But most took time for neither, instead racing to the scene of terror with the bucket they kept stored close to the door, and joining the contingent of citizens determined to battle the flames of death and destruction. Such was the case tonight, when, washing the dinner dishes in the kitchen sink, Mercy Evans heard the dreaded screams coming from all directions, even began to smell the sickening fumes of blazing timber seeping through her open windows. She ran through her house and burst through the screen door onto the front porch.
“Where’s the fire?” she shouted at the people running up Wood Street carrying buckets of water.
Without so much as a glance at her, one man hollered on the run, “Looks to be the Watson place over on Caldwell.”
Her heart thudded to a shattering halt.
God, no!
“Surely, you don’t mean Herb and Millie Watson!”
Mercy Evans and Millie Watson, formerly Gifford, had been fast friends at school and had stuck together like glue in the dimmest of circumstances, as well as the brightest. Millie had walked with Mercy through the loss of both her parents, and Mercy had watched Millie fall wildly in love with Herb Watson in the twelfth grade. She’d been the maid of honor in their wedding the following summer. And she’d rejoiced with the couple at the birth of each of their sons, now ages five and six.
But her voice was lost to the footsteps thundering past. Whirling on her heel, she ran back inside, hurried to extinguish all but one kerosene lamp, snatched her wrap from its hook by the door, and darted back outside and up the rutted street toward her best friends’ home, dodging horses and a stampede of citizens. “Lord, please don’t let it be,” she pleaded aloud. “Oh, God, keep them safe. Jesus, Jesus….” But her cries vanished in the scramble of bodies crowding her off the street as they made the turn onto Caldwell in their quest to reach the flaming house, which already looked beyond saving.
Tongues of fire shot like dragons’ breath out windows and up through a hole in the roof. Like hungry serpents, flames lapped up the sides of the house, eating walls and shattering panes, while men heaved their pathetic little buckets of water at the volcanic monster.
“Back off, everybody. Step back!” ordered Sheriff Phil Marshall. He and a couple of deputies on horseback spread their arms wide at the crowd, trying to push them to safety.
