Hello all! It’s been a long while since I posted anything, so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon that booksteaandtoomuchtv started this morning. Calling it Teaser Thursday instead of Things I’m Typing Thursday (TIT Thursday) because while I am currently working on a new fic, I haven’t had time to work on it all week, so I can’t say I’m currently TYPING anything… anyhoo, I do have 3 fics waiting in the wings to post this fall and holiday season, and hopefully this new project will post sometime this fall as well, we’ll see… so I thought y’all would like some sneak peeks…
Orphan Girl is waiting on a beta read and was inspired by a song of the same name my local chorale group sang last spring as part of our concert featuring Songs from the Enchanted Isle, Folks Songs of Ireland, England, and Scotland. The song was originally written by Brendan Graham for the Annual Great Famine Commemoration in Sydney in 2012. The ceremony commemorates the relocation of about 4k female orphans to Australia after the potato famine took its toll.
Welcome to Drogheda Station, Miss Nolan,” he began. “My name is Killian Jones, and I am in need of a governess for my young daughter. She lost her mother closing in on a year ago now, and I just want to meet you myself before introducing you to my Alice and make sure you’d be a good fit with our family.” Emma nodded, but remained silent. His crystal blue eyes remained on hers as he spoke and she had to give herself an internal shake to keep herself from getting lost in them.
“So, tell me about yourself.” He looked down at a small stack of papers on his desk for a moment before looking back at her again. “I have quite a lot of information about you from your file provided to me from Granny, but I’d like to hear some of it in your own words.” He smiled and Emma instantly relaxed as she returned it.
“Ah,” Emma began, “the name… of the station? Drogheda? That’s Irish isn’t it?”
His smile lit up his face and Emma thought she would swoon at the pleasure she saw in his beautiful eyes.
“It is,” he affirmed. “My father was from Drogheda in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland. He immigrated here when he was a teenager. He died when I was small, but when I bought this land, I wanted to honor him and the roots he left behind by naming the station after his hometown.”
“I see.” She smiled back at him. “That’s a lovely tribute to your family. Thank you for sharing it with me. I’d never been to County Louth, but I had heard of it. I’m from County Mayo on the west coast.”
Killian smiled softly at her statement and nodded for her to continue. He watched the young woman in front of him intently as she continued speaking. Her manners were impeccable and her appearance was most pleasing. Her long golden hair was gathered at the nape of her neck in a ponytail against the summer heat, but it positively glowed in the sun shining through the windows of his office. There was a sadness in her green eyes that Killian found himself responding to. It was the look that he himself saw in the mirror every day. The look of an orphan. Given her circumstances, and where she came from, he wasn’t at all surprised.
What did surprise him, however, was how strongly he was responding to it. He wanted nothing more than to care for and shelter this lovely young lady. Her education and decorum were obvious in her comportment and Killian was sure she’d be a perfect fit for the position. He rarely had trouble discerning the character of a person upon their first meeting, and after just this brief introduction to Emma Nolan, he had no compunction whatsoever in bringing her on as Alice’s governess.
Our next sneak peek is from the Family Affair universe! After the response I got to the fics in the series, I wanted to share the couples Happy Beginnings, as well. And what better way is there then to gather the entire extended clan for Christmas? This fic picks up one year after Robin and Regina’s wedding, when David finally came home, and will post on Christmas Day.
Christmas was just a couple of days away. Emma, Killian, and Henry were feverishly getting everything ready to host the entire extended Swan and Jones families. They were expecting a total of sixteen extra guests for the holiday and excitement was running very high.
They didn’t usually have much snow in December, but this year, they were predicting around three inches on Christmas Eve. Henry had never seen a white Christmas, and with all his aunts, uncles, and cousins, in addition to his grandparents coming, this was sure to be the best Christmas ever!
Henry peeked into his baby sister’s bedroom, not surprised to see her awake and standing in her crib. Henry grinned and came in, followed closely by Shep.
“Eny, Eny,” Hope babbled as her big brother approached.
“Do you know what today is, Hope?” Henry asked his sister. “Everyone’s coming today! Mimi and Papaw, Aunt Ruby, Uncle Graham and Poppa, and you’ll get to meet your baby cousins in person, Aunt Regina and Uncle Robin, Aunt M’s and Uncle David, Aunt Elsa and Uncle Liam, Aaron and Dale, and Grandpa Nemo!”
Henry lowered the side of the crib and lifted Hope out, setting her on her feet on the floor. She wasn’t walking independently yet, but she was close and Henry just knew that she’d do it sometime in the next few days while everyone was here. He stood behind her and held onto her hands raised in the air as she started toward the door of her bedroom.
He followed along behind her as they toddled the short distance to their parents’ room. Once they reached the door, Henry knocked.
“Mom? Dad?” he asked, opening the door slightly. Shep pushed the door open the rest of the way with his nose.
“Mamamamamamamama,” Hope babbled. “Dadadadadadadada.”
The lights were still off, but the sun was poking through the blinds. Their dad sat up, his mouth opening on a huge yawn and swung his legs off the side of the bed, motioning for them to be quiet.
“Mom’s still asleep,” he whispered. “Let’s let her sleep just a little more. Go downstairs with Hope, Henry, and I’ll be down in just a minute to get breakfast started.”
Henry nodded and turned Hope around, back toward the door of the bedroom. As soon as they were gone, Killian leaned over to Emma, pressing a kiss to her brow and whispering in her ear.
“You can sleep for a little while longer, babe. I’ll send Henry up to get you once breakfast is ready.”
All he got was a muffled Mmmph in reply. Killian chuckled and made his way to the bathroom.
Our next fic is a continuation of A Christmas Surprise. Told mostly in Killian’s pov this time, it begins with Killian and Alice’s reunion and goes all the way to Killian and Emma’s wedding day! This is a long one and so will have two parts. Part One will post on Dec 8, and Part Two on Dec 15.
Killian Jones sat in the darkness of the giant present in which he was hiding, waiting for his daughter’s Christmas program to begin. He couldn’t wait to see his starfish when he surprised her after she sang her solo this evening. He was proud to serve his country, but the long deployments made things especially difficult. Having Liam and Elsa so close by and willing to care for Alice when he was gone was a blessing he didn’t take for granted in the least, but he was so thankful that he was home for good now and was eligible to retire in just a few more months.
Which made him think about what would come next. What the future might hold and how the lovely Emma Swan might fit into it. He’d been thoroughly gobsmacked when he laid eyes on the golden haired beauty who was Alice’s teacher when he arrived at the school earlier. And then the revelation that she was single sent his heart rate ratcheting up like he hadn’t experienced since he’d met his late wife. It had been six years since he’d lost his beloved Milah, and the thought of re-entering the dating scene hadn’t crossed his mind once in all that time. He was still relatively young and handsome, but with his very young daughter and Navy career, he didn’t have the time or inclination to put himself back out there.
But Emma Swan might just change his mind on that front.
He knew his countenance sported a goofy, thoroughly besotted smile when he heard movement on the outside of the present in which he sat. Bright light from the auditorium flooded the dark space as the box’s small door opened, helping him immensely in the schooling of his features before being confronted with the object of his thoughts as she handed him his dinner.
“Do you have enough light to see to eat in here?” Emma asked, looking around.
Killian grimaced. He hadn’t really thought of that. “Perhaps not.”
“I can stay for a bit while you eat, turn the flashlight on on my phone. So you can see to eat,” she stammered. The blush on her cheeks was adorable, and Killian’s heart rate picked up yet again.
“That would be great. Thank you, Emma.”
She smiled as she moved into the space with him. It was a bit cramped with them both sitting on the floor, but he didn’t mind it at all. He tucked into his Christmas meal of roast turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberry salad as Emma told him about some of the antics Henry, Alice, and her cousins had gotten up to this semester.
She told him about Liam Jr and Colin hiding Alice’s pencil box on the first day of school. Meant as an initiation of sorts, it had made Elsa’s morning that much more hectic and stressful trying to find it and make it to school on time. Emma related how she’d had trouble containing her giggles when the twins confessed what they’d done, handed over the pencil box, and got exactly what was coming to them from their mother. Later on the same day, in retaliation, Alice and Henry had hidden away the twins’ lunch boxes. Killian had to stifle his laughter at the story.
Then Emma told him about the time just a few weeks ago when Alice was delayed coming back from the restroom. When Emma went to look for her, she found the child peeking into the auditorium where her cousins were engaged in a basketball game with another school in the area. Colin had just made a shot, and Alice was cheering loudly for her cousin from the hallway when Emma found her. Killian’s heart swelled.
And finally, the new fic I’ve been working on is inspired by Francesca Bridgerton’s story. I wrote the entire first ch of the fic, almost 8400 words, in five days, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to finish it next month and post it sometime in November. No promises, but that is the hope…
There is a moment in every man’s life in which his future becomes clear. A turning point of sorts. The moment when he becomes a man, when he leaves the irresponsibility and temerity of youth behind and turns his eyes to the future. A future that he’d never allowed himself to think about before. Unfortunately, that moment came for Killian Jones when he first laid eyes on Emma Nolan, at a supper celebrating the imminent marriage between herself and Killian’s brother Earl Liam Jones.
After years of chasing anything in a skirt, Killian grimaced at the irony. In all that time, he’d never allowed his heart to become entangled with his many, many romantic exploits. Allowing himself to be chased until he conquered, his reputation as a rake and a scoundrel was well deserved. He’d even stopped attending church, although he assuaged the pricking of his conscience by telling himself the derelict stones of Kilmartin Abbey on the Kilmartin estate up in Scotland couldn’t withstand a direct strike of lightning, which would surely happen if Killian Jones ever showed his face inside. No originality among his ancestors there, when it came to naming. They were so proud of the title when it was newly bestowed about 300 years ago, that they attached it to everything they possibly could.
He would have had it printed on calling cards if he didn’t think it would actually kill his mother. He may never have seduced a virgin or slept with a married woman… Oh very well, if he couldn’t be honest in his own head, then what was the purpose? He’d slept with plenty of married women. But only those whose husbands were tossers, and only when they’d already produced at least two male offspring, three if one of others was sickly. He may have a modicum of honor left in his blackened soul… because this was the one thing that truly did it. Blackened his soul beyond all redemption.
He coveted his brother’s wife.
And had since that fateful moment two years ago. The day he met Emma Nolan. Emma Nolan Jones now. Lady Kilmartin. Countess Kilmartin. Wife of his brother. The Earl of Kilmartin.
He could torture himself for days thinking of every iteration of Emma Nolan Jones, but it would never change the simple fact. He couldn’t have her. She’d never be his.
I hope this whets y’all’s appetite!!
Tagging the usual crew. Please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed.
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