I’m very happy to host my next guest blogger, Sandy Wickersham-McWhorter, a fellow Wild Rose Press author. Today she has posted an excerpt for her book, Cottonwood Place (available now!). She will back next month to tell us a little more about herself and her work.

Megan sighed loudly to keep them awake. What do you want, Orion and Cassie MacCloud? What will it take for you to give us the keys?”

A ringing cell phone broke the silence. “Thank you Lord God that they can’t turn off ringers!” Ian said. “Meg, keep grilling them,” he pointed to the girls then ran to the sound’s source. He rummaged through the sand until he found the phone. “Hello?”

It was Rose, wondering where they were because she’d had a feeling they were in trouble. Ian told her what the girls had done. Rose said she’d have Merle call the other phone and let it ring.

Ian heard ringing in the tamarisk and got several painful cuts before he found it. “I found it, Rose.”

“Do you want us to come after you?”

“No way. The girls hid they keys, and until we find them, they’ll suffer out here in the heat with us!”

Rose laughed heartily. “Good luck. You are right, those two have a good reason for everything they do that they aren’t told to do. They’ve also learned practical joking from the best, so be careful.”

Back with Megan, he said, “That was your mom checking up on us. She knew we were in trouble.” He pointed to the two sleepy pets. “She said they don’t do anything without a good reason. We have to find out what their reason is for stranding us before they’ll cooperate.”

“We should settle down away from rocks but by the car. Scorpions and other dangerous animals hang around them.”

Megan talked to her pets all the way to the car, trying to cajole them into revealing the keys’ location. She failed as miserably as Ian had.

Megan spread out the blanket and she and Ian used clothes for pillows. She put Cassie and Orion between her and Ian to keep them out of trouble.

As they relaxed, Ian said, “Grandma had said after you were kidnapped that I’d have to face my worst fear to find you. She was right, but she meant to find you as my love, not physically find you after you were kidnapped. I didn’t know it was my worst fear until just now. I hated God for ruining my life, so I think I was also afraid He wouldn’t take me back because I’d sinned too much.”

“So that once you came back to Him, he allowed us to love each other and find the real us. That’s what’s happened today when I called you honey.”

They settled down to sleep with rested minds.

Sometime later, Orion crawled with her belly on the ground until she came behind Megan, and began pushing her toward Ian. Orion even swished her bushy tail on Megan’s face to make her move in her sleep. Meanwhile, Cassie did the same thing to Ian, pushing him toward Megan. They woke up quickly.

“Orion what are you doing?!” Megan asked.

“Cassie, stop that!” Ian said.

The humans tried to move the animals back to the middle.

Dog looked at cat, and cat looked at dog. Orion latched onto Megan’s hand with her teeth as Cassie latched onto Ian’s hand. Orion pulled on Megan’s arm as Cassie pulled on Ian’s arm.

            “Ian, neither of them have ever acted this way. Don’t make any sudden moves. Maybe they’ll let go of us soon. Orion’s bite isn’t painful–yet.”

“Neither is Cassie’s, but it wouldn’t take much to puncture my skin. I think they’re trying to make us do something. Let them do it.”

Megan and Ian eventually felt their hands touch in the dark. When their people didn’t move further, the girls bit and pulled harder and began growling.

“Ian, take my hand in yours.”

The girls let go when he did, and they stopped growling. “Now, let go and back away.” she whispered. Cat and dog growls grew quickly into snarls and bared teeth.

Ian took her hand again and the snarls stopped. When he pulled Megan to him and kissed her, Cassie purred and Orion softly said, “Uh roo roo, uh roo roo.” Both curled against their owners in satisfaction.

Megan had never felt so much love and safety from a man’s kiss before. Ian’s closeness in the dark made wild feelings run rampant through her. She’d never had those feelings with Dallas. She couldn’t wait to marry Ian. She held him tightly and whispered in his ear, “I love you.”

“I think they need to hear that. Separate again.”

The growling started again.

“They want us together and they won’t take no for an answer.”

“Neither will I for much longer. You said you love me. Can’t you trust me when I say I won’t drink anymore and trust God that he’s given you a good man?”

She looked in his eyes and murmured, “Yes, Ian, I can. Because I think my greatest fear was that God wouldn’t ever give me a good man. I decided you were that good man several days ago; and that I’d have to marry you. I don’t think we need to wait two years.”

“Did you tell anyone?”

“My mom and grandma, who probably told everyone else. Why?”

“There are two who don’t know.” He pointed to the girls who were watching their every move with hooded eyes.

“I didn’t think of them!” She pulled her pets close. “Orion, Cassie, Ian and I love each other and we’re getting married. He’s staying with us forever. Do you understand?” She kissed Ian then the girls. “I love Ian like I love you.”

Orion howled, “Uh roo roo.”

“Megan! She said I love you! She’s been saying it a long time! She wants us to say it each other.”

“I love you, Ian Hunter.”

As soon as he said ,“I love you, Megan MacCloud,” Cassie and Orion got up and started walking away from the car.

“Maybe they’ll show us where the keys are now.” Megan said hopefully.

*****

A Muncie, Indiana, native, Sandy’s lived in north-central Ohio since 1973 and has been an LPN since 1980. Her husband, two sons, a daughter-in-law, two granddaughters, two dogs, and an odd number of goldfish in her outdoor pond all live with her in an 1890s Victorian home that once was a general store\post office. Fortunately, only her dog has commandeered her writer’s cave. She began writing in third grade, when she started turning her dreams and nightmares into short stories (she still has that notebook). Science fiction and comic books were her reading mainstay; as an adult, she added romances in the ‘80s. The adult writing bug bit her in 1990. After realizing she needed cheap nursing CEUs, and the degree most writers seem to have, Ohio State University beckoned. While earning a bachelor’s in English, she sold an essay to Country, wrote for three newspapers and was a feature writer for Choice, a Christian magazine. While writing romance, science fiction, inspirational romance, women’s fiction and a mix of them, Sandy substitutes in local schools, teaches college English 101 in local prisons, gardens, and does many types of artwork. Her second book with The Wild Rose Press, The Winds of Fall, will be released in August.