When I choose a historical book setting, I usually pick an existing town that boasted a railway station in the 19th century, then create a fictitious town not too far away. That way, my character can travel most of the way West by train as opposed to stage coach, but I can be free with my creativity wherever I plunk them for the story.
It was exciting to find this photo of Durango in the 1880’s,
a year before the first train stopped there in August 1881. Ridgemont is my latest fictitious town an indeterminate
distance away. The name seemed to fit,
given there are mountain ridges all over the area.
The first book to feature Ridgemont takes place when the town is in its infancy, settled there by Shane and Lacey Blackman in A BRIDE FOR SHANE, currently on sale today only for 99cents.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WRNS4P7
Seeking an unusual woman for
matrimony. A helpmate in the serving of
justice. Marriage in name only. Sheriff Holmes, Ridgemont, Colorado.
Talia spent most of the trip West praying she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life. And Lord knew, there’d been plenty of mistakes thus far in her twenty-some years on earth. She took solace from the fact that a group of women she knew and trusted from the church back home were convinced this was the right choice.
To date, the group had matched dozens of destitute, young,
female parishioners with lonely, God-fearing bachelors on the other side of the
country. Two of them even remembered
Sheriff Holmes’s father, a preacher who had, unfortunately, been killed doing
the Lord’s work. They encouraged her to
put her name forward.
“What does marriage in name only mean?” she had asked one
of the older ladies from the church who was helping her pen her response to the
sheriff.
“He means it won’t be necessary for you to share his bed.”
Talia wasn’t sure what kind of helper the sheriff needed,
office work perhaps, but compared to working off her deceased husband’s tavern
debts, this chance to make a fresh start far from the Brooklyn docks and the
tenement where she grew up seemed like the answer to a prayer, and before long
she had a train ticket in her hand.
Her heart rate sped up as the train began to slow. “Next stop, Durango,” yelled the
conductor. Talia rose and wiped her damp
palms on the front of her best skirt. A
dull-colored, serviceable cotton, it had been nothing special to start with,
even before it became wrinkled and dusty from the trip. As she prepared to disembark, she wondered
what kind of woman the sheriff was expecting, and prayed he was a kind man.
As she stared at her surroundings, inhaling the unfamiliar,
dry, desert air, a man approached, dark-hair visible beneath his brown Stetson,
sunlight hitting a silver star pinned to his chest. She smiled tentatively, but he walked right past
her as if she was invisible.
“Sheriff?” she called.
“Sheriff Holmes?”
He turned and his eyes raked over her in an impatient way
that left her feeling wanting. He took a
tentative step toward her, eyes narrowed.
“Mrs. Frank?”
Relief flooded through her as she nodded.
He came right up to her then. Tall and broad-shouldered, he loomed over
her, making her feel insignificant. “You’re
Mrs. Frank?”
Get your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097QF2YZC
A BRIDE FOR WESTON is Book 8 of a 9 book series. See what titles you might have missed here. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097HK95X9
And in case you’re wondering, Ridgemont is growing on me. My hero, Grant Chisholm, in MAIL ORDER NOELLE, which releases November 30th, makes a cameo appearance in A BRIDE FOR Weston. A wealthy cattleman and known womanizer, Chisholm also calls Ridgemont home.
Hi Kathleen: Love that old photo of Durango!! And the excerpt from your upcoming release. Thank you for sharing. Weston and Talia sound like a great couple. Hugs!
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