Who are You...Do you know?

 Beyond working crossword puzzles and occasionally trying new recipes I don’t have hobbies because working on the next new novel fills the major portion of my time. However, I am an avid genealogist. Much to my regret interest in researching my family history came to me late in life.

Marcus Garvey said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

Knowing, recording, and preserving your family history directly impact you, your family, and even future generations of people you may never know. 

Human beings desire attachment, belonging, and connection. The relationships we form with other people can be incredibly durable, not only with people in our present, but also with people in our past and future.

Knowing our cultural background and where we came from can help us develop a strong sense of who we really are. 

In my new novel Christmas at Hope Ranch, the heroine, Addison James, doesn’t have that core of identity. Although she is a successful model and dubbed the most beautiful woman in the world, Addison is lacking that connection with family and has no inkling of her family history. You see, she was abandoned in a bus station with no note of identification, and not yet old enough to talk, she doesn’t know her name. The people at Child Protective Services named her after two streets that intersected the bus station: Addison Avenue and James Street.

Addison lived her entire life at Hope Ranch, a foster home for children who were deemed unadoptable. At the age of eighteen, she packed her meager belongings and left Hope Ranch and the small town of Meadow Creek, Idaho, never to look. A horrific accident and catching her fiance and maid of honor in a not so honorable position leaves Addison scarred, both physically and mentally. Needing comfort she returns to the only home she ever knew and to Nellie Hopewell, her foster mother.

Enjoy this excerpt from Christmas at Hope Ranch, a contemporary romance with a thread of paranormal, and an ending guaranteed to make you smile.

After a moment of silence, Addison gazed at Nell. “Who am I?” She waved her good hand. “Oh, I know my name and how I got it. I know I was found in a bus station and no one ever came forward to claim me. All my life I’ve wondered—who am I? Who was my mother, and why didn’t she want me?” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “I’ve held people at bay for fear of letting them get too close…for fear of not being good enough to be loved. I’m not even sure I truly loved Rowan.” Her voice trailed off.

Nell clasped Addison’s hand. “I wish I had to the answers about your mother. The box with the news articles about you is in the attic. You poured over those clippings a million times when you were growing up. I’ve kept them in case you wanted them. And, just so you know, that Rowan guy is a real bastard. Be glad you found out about him before you were married—saved yourself more heartbreak and probably a costly divorce.”

Addison squeezed Nell’s hand. “You are so endearingly practical.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Nell stood. She pierced Addison with a stern frown. “You are Addison James—smart, successful, beautiful, and a woman with a lot of love to give. And don’t you forget it.” She yawned and said goodnight.

Addison stood at the base of the attic stairs. Why not let the ghosts of her past remain inside a box? The lure of what secrets might lie inside led her one step at a time until she stood at the door and opened it.

As a bonus, in the back of the book, I’ve included recipes handed down from two of my grandmothers.

So dear readers, I leave you with a quote from Christmas at Hope Ranch: “It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters. It’s who is gathered around ~ Anonymous 

www.lorettacrogersnovels.com

  https://amzn.to/2GBb0iI

https://www.facebook.com/loretta.rogers.35912/

https://www.facebook.com/LorettaCRogersAuthor