Thanksgiving Day & “Sweet” Romance

Melinda and the Wild West: A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho

Awards: Finalist for Reader Views “Reviewers Choice Award 2007”

In 1896 Melinda Gamble—a very elegant, naïve young woman from Boston—decides to give up her life of monotonous comfort for the turbulent uncertainty of the still untamed Wild West. Driven by her intense desire to make a difference in the world, Melinda takes a job as a schoolteacher in the small town of Paris, Idaho, where she comes face-to-face with Butch Cassidy, a vicious grizzly bear, and a terrible blizzard that leaves her clinging to her life. But it’s a rugged rancher who challenges Melinda with the one thing for which she was least prepared—love.

Page One Literary Book Review: “Linda Weaver Clarke displays an easy and excellent style of writing, blending adventure/romance/history/humor and courage. Melinda and the Wild West is an instant classic and should put this author on the literary map all over the world.”

Debra Gaynor, Reader Views: “From the first page I was captivated by this book. I had to continue reading, rushing to turn the page, I had to see what next adventure would catch up with Melinda. The plot is interesting: mixing history with fiction, adventure with romance. Melinda is an endearing character and you can’t help but see things through her eyes. This is good Christian fiction. It is a great honor to highly recommend this book to readers of historical fictions and romance. Ms Clarke, this is a piece to be proud of, well done!”

Melinda and the Wild West: A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho

THANKSGIVING DAY

Melinda set the table with a lacy tablecloth and as she got the plates out of the cupboard, Aunt Martha said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Put on two extra plates today. We’re having company over.”

Melinda smiled. Her aunt and uncle always seemed to find someone to invite over and they enjoyed sharing their food and charity with others.

“We’ve invited that nice young man and his daughter, Gilbert and Jenny.”

Melinda froze. Her heart beat rapidly. She looked over at her aunt with widened eyes and asked, “Mr. Roberts and Jenny?”

Aunt Martha nodded. “I know they don’t have kin close around here and I always like to invite them over whenever we have a special celebration.”

Melinda quickly exited the room and ran upstairs to fix her hair. As she looked into the mirror and primped, she thought, “Why do I care what I look like? He’s just Jenny’s father. He’s nothing to me.”

She tried to ignore the fact that just recently her heart had seemed to flutter whenever Gilbert’s name was mentioned at the table.

As she descended the stairs, she saw Gilbert already sitting on the sofa with Jenny. He stood politely as she walked into the room and he smiled with his hat in his hand.

Melinda nodded to them. “Mr. Roberts. Jenny.”

“Please call me Gilbert. Mr. Roberts sounds so formal. May I call you Melinda?”

She smiled and nodded her assent.

“Melinda, how are you doing?” Gilbert asked with concern. “I haven’t talked to you since the bear incident in October. I’ve seen you in town off and on, but we both seem to be in a hurry and don’t take the time to visit. Are you doing all right?”

“Yes. It took a couple weeks to get over it. I would have nightmares each night and wake up in a cold sweat. I had to take the medicine the doctor gave me just before I went to bed so I could sleep. But I’m all right now. I’m sleeping much better. I have a lot to learn here in the West, don’t I?” She smiled and gave a nervous sigh. “Thanks for asking.”

Gilbert’s heart felt heavy as he listened and knew that it must have been very difficult to overcome such a tremendous fright. He was surprised that she still acted positive about the West, though, and this made his admiration for her grow.

Jenny looked at her father and excitedly announced, “Did you know that the Pilgrims didn’t eat what we’re eating today, Pa?”

“No, I didn’t, little darlin’.”

Jenny blushed furiously and quickly leaned over to her father and whispered, “Pa! Don’t call me that in front of company.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Jen,” Gilbert said quietly while trying very hard to suppress a chuckle. “So, what did they eat?”

“Well, first, you have to know their celebration lasted for three days. At the feast they had dried fruit, berries, plums, ducks, fish, lob— lob— lob…” She looked up to her teacher with questioning eyes.

Melinda picked up her message immediately and continued, “Lobster, clams, and venison.”

“Really?” Gilbert looked at Melinda with a smile. “I didn’t know that.”

Jenny was excited to tell her father a little more and continued, “Yes. We celebrate Thanksgiving because of President Lincoln. At first, George Washington wanted to make a National Day of Thanksgiving. That was in seventeen…uhm…”

Melinda interjected, “In 1789, but some were opposed to it.”

“Opposed?” Gilbert looked at Melinda. He noticed how beautiful she looked and how her green eyes lit up as she spoke. “Why on earth would anyone oppose such a thing?”

“Well, they had their reasons. President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of having a day of thanksgiving. The idea brought a lot of discord among all the settlers because many felt that the hardships of just a few Pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday.”

Gilbert’s eyes widened. “Just a few Pilgrims? They sound a bit snooty to me.”

“Yes, I think so, too. As Jenny was telling you, it wasn’t until 1863 that President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a National Day of Thanksgiving.”

Jenny’s eyes lit up as she remembered more of what she had learned at school. “And it was all because of perse— perse—” She cleared her throat and blurted out, “Because of religion, Pa.”

Melinda could not hold back and began to laugh softly. Jenny was trying so hard to remember what she had been taught at school. “What she’s trying to say is that it all started because of religious persecution. The Pilgrims were Puritans and had fled their home in England to escape the persecution.”

“Well, I’ll be! A person can never stop learning no matter how old they are.”

That made Jenny burst into laughter. Holding her sides with her hands, she giggled. After getting her breath back, she said, “I thought you knew everything, Pa.”

“Not by a long shot!”

Melinda laughed and then excused herself to help her aunt put the food on the table. Aunt Martha smiled contentedly and said, “Oh, Melinda dear, will you please go into the utility room and fill our large barrel up with plenty of water? I have a couple of buckets sitting beside the sink that you can use and I placed the barrel on the floor. I want us to bob for apples afterwards. It will be so much fun.”

“I’d be glad to, Aunt Martha.” Melinda headed for the door that led into the utility room. It was the place where they did their wash, and dried and bottled fruit.

When Gilbert saw her leave, he hopped up from the sofa. He had been watching her intently from the living room and heard what Aunt Martha had asked of Melinda. He thought he could help, so he nonchalantly walked past Martha and followed Melinda into the utility room.

Melinda looked up and saw him approaching while she was vigorously pumping the water into the first bucket. When she picked it up to move it out of the way, Gilbert appeared beside her and quickly took the full bucket of water from her hand. The sudden movement jolted the bucket and made the water slosh over the edge and onto Melinda’s beautiful pink-flowered dress and upon her shoes, soaking her through from her waist to the floor.

Gilbert quickly jumped back as the water sloshed over the edges, so he would not get wet. Then looking at Melinda’s wet dress and shoes, he began to chuckle. It was quite a humorous situation. He had come out to help her but ended up spilling water all over her instead.

Melinda looked down at her dripping dress and wet shoes in despair and then looked up at Gilbert, who by now was laughing heartily.

With a combination of bewilderment and frustration, she asked, “What are you doing?”

He chuckled, “I thought I would come and help.”

“Help?” The irritation in her voice was obvious. “You’re laughing like a hyena. Look what you’ve done to my dress and shoes.”

“It was an accident.” Gilbert looked her up and down and tried to suppress another chuckle that wanted to burst through. “Did you think I had planned this whole thing so I could make you look silly? I must seem like a very devious person to you.”

His eyes were full of amusement as he grinned at her, trying with all his might to hold back another chuckle.

With an indignant tone, she answered, “No, I didn’t think that at all. I just got impatient because you spilled water all over me and you didn’t even say you were sorry. All you did was just stand there and laugh at me.” She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “How exasperating you are!”

As Gilbert emptied the rest of the water from the bucket into the barrel, Melinda began to fill the second bucket.

Gilbert was still chuckling as he said, “No, you are wrong there. I didn’t laugh at you. I was laughing at the situation. I had come to help, and in helping I hadn’t really helped at all, but made everything worse. Don’t you see the humor in it?”

Melinda looked up at him and saw a grin on his face. She thought he had a very twisted sense of humor and all at her expense, too. Quickly she picked up the bucket and walked over to the barrel and poured the water in with a sober and irritated look on her face.

“Melinda, you are so independent. Why don’t you just let me help you with the water? You could have been filling one bucket as I dumped the other. We could have gotten this whole business over with a lot faster if you hadn’t stopped to get angry with me. Where’s your sense of humor?”

Melinda glanced up at him and then turned away. “I have a sense of humor.”

“Well, this situation would have been very funny if you would have stood back and looked at it from a distance.”

She glanced at his cheerful face and ignored him. Then she went back to the sink and began to fill both buckets up once more.

Gilbert grinned at her stubborn attitude and asked, “Now may I help you with the buckets this time?”

After filling both buckets full of water and placing them on the floor, she put her hands on her hips and said in a sober tone, “Help yourself.”

Gilbert could see that she was out of sorts with him and he needed to smooth things over. So he walked toward her, looked into her stubborn green eyes and then took her by the shoulders and said, “I’m sorry for laughing. Will you forgive me? That was rude of me and I should’ve apologized for spilling water all over your beautiful dress. You look real nice this afternoon and I spoiled it all. Please forgive me.” When she didn’t respond, he cleared his throat. “I’m sort of eating humble pie right now.”

Melinda looked into his eyes and saw his pleading look. Then she gave a slight smile. “I do have a sense of humor. You just haven’t seen it yet.”

Gilbert smiled, dropped his hands from her shoulders, reached for the two buckets, and headed for the barrel. Melinda looked down at her soaking wet dress and then turned on her heels and walked toward the door.

“I’ve got to get changed.”

As Gilbert dumped the two buckets of water into the barrel, he watched her leave and thought, “I’ve never met a more independent and stubborn woman! We’re as different as night and day.”

As Melinda passed Aunt Martha, she noticed a questioning look on Martha’s face as she saw her dress. Before Martha could say a word, she said, “Don’t ask, Aunt Martha.”

***

After eating a hearty meal, Aunt Martha announced that everyone was going into the utility room to bob for apples. Jenny laughed excitedly as she knelt on the floor. After several tries, she decided to try a new method. She searched for an apple that was just her size. Then with her teeth, she clamped down on the stem of the apple and pulled it out of the water.

Jenny took the apple out of her mouth and grinned. “That’s how it’s done.” Everyone laughed at her ingenuity. “Miss Gamble, it’s your turn now.”

Melinda shook her head vigorously and said, “I’ve already gotten wet once today. No more!”

Gilbert grinned and said, “I’ll show you how it’s supposed to be done.”

He knelt on the floor beside the barrel. Just before he stuck his face into the water, he smiled at Melinda as if he were a schoolboy getting ready to show off. He eyed the floating bright red apples that bobbed on the water and found one that appealed to him. Then guiding it to the edge of the barrel with his mouth and nose, he pressed the apple firmly against the wooden frame of the barrel. With this maneuver, he was able to sink his teeth into the flesh of the apple. After a short while, his face popped out of the water with the apple in his mouth. Everyone cheered as Martha handed him a towel to dry his dripping face.

While everyone was cheering the difficult feat that he had accomplished, Melinda remembered the twinkle in his eyes and his smile just before he went after the apple and she wondered why he seemed so charming. He had a boyish sort of grin and he seemed so pleased when he came up out of the water with the apple in his mouth. When he grinned at her, it seemed to light up the atmosphere.

(To find out how Gilbert and Melinda met, click on the Melinda and the Wild West book cover on the right side bar.)

For those interested, you may purchase this book for a discount price ($14.95) at Publisher Direct Bookstore.