The Blushing Bride: A Brides of Golden Valley Story (The Book Club 11) by Jaclyn Hardy

Author:Jaclyn Hardy [Hardy, Jaclyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragons & Fairy Tales Press
Published: 2019-07-01T16:00:00+00:00

Joshua brushed aside another branch and smiled. There really were berries up in these hills. He’d worried he was taking Charlotte and their friends on a wild goose chase, but here was a huge bush of chokecherries right in front of them.

“Here we go. Let’s set our supplies down here.” Joshua set his bag down and untied the two buckets he attached to it. “We’ll get what we can from here and then move on. There should be more close by.”

The berries were ripe, so they had to be careful when they picked them, but soon two of the buckets were filled. They’d need another two buckets at least to have enough for jam or pies. While the ladies and Edmond continued on that bush, Joshua went ahead to find another one. Several yards beyond, he found a couple more bushes, along with some boysenberries as well.

He backtracked to where the rest of the group stood laughing about something. They turned to Joshua and Charlotte was revealed to be covered in mud. He rushed over to her. “What happened?”

“I was trying to get to a branch clear up the tree. I climbed up a couple of branches and lost my balance—right into the puddle we’d all been avoiding.” Charlotte laughed and wiped the mud off her face. “I’m okay. I just need to change.”

Joshua grabbed a cloth and his canteen of water to pour over it. “There’s not much we can do about your dress, but you can at least clean your hands and face.”

“It’s just mud.” Charlotte took the cloth anyway and washed what she could.

“There are more berries ahead, but if you’d rather we go home, we can come back later.”

Charlotte shook her head. “I’m fine. Let’s get the berries while we’re up here. There’s not much time before the celebration, and I have to actually learn how to bake pies and make jams before I can sell them.”

Eleanor laughed, and quickly covered her mouth. “I apologize. But I do believe she’s right. Let’s move on.”

“Very well.” Joshua left the full buckets and their things near the first bush and continued on to the next spot. Few people came up into these mountains, and he was fairly sure there were no bears here.

The women picked the boysenberries, while Joshua and Edmond picked the chokecherries. They would have plenty to work with between all of these bushes. When they were finished, Joshua led the way back to their things and pulled out the picnic basket.

Charlotte had made sandwiches from the bread that she and Eleanor baked the day before. It was better than the bread he bought from the store and he hoped she would remember how to make it again. The dried pork wasn’t quite right for the sandwich, but she’d tried, and he loved her for it.

“Have you purchased your wood for the barn yet?” Edmond crumpled up his paper and tossed it into the picnic basket, then picked out another sandwich.

“No, not yet. The order is in, but we have to wait for it to arrive.

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