For months Phillip, the Duke in Name Only, lives in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, with the Archers in relative obscurity as “Artie.” His past was bound to catch up with him eventually! It happens while he is away, buying lumber to rebuild Archers’ Roost.
*****
“We should check the lumber yards in Saint Louis. We could build a flatboat and bring it that way,” Jamie said.
Artie jumped at the idea. “Construction will be dead in the water if we don’t do something soon. Let’s go up and buy what we can. If the price is high, we’ll come down to Cahokia or Sainte Genevieve.”
It was agreed, and Jamie and Artie left a few days later, well-armed, and taking most of their money.
Two days there, she reckoned, watching them push Luke’s canoe into the river. A few to build the flatboat and one or more back. A week perhaps. The Roost might be livable in a month. Maybe. She’d convince Artie to stay home this time, just a bit longer.
A week later Nan’s world upended when a vision the like she’d never seen came up from the boat launch: two men, one pulling a sledge with a large trunk and some bags.
“Is this Archers’ Roost?” The taller one, a vision in red regimentals, glanced around their construction, and asked with a curl to his lip. His entire face reflected as much disbelief—and disapproval—as his voice.
Her heart sank. Artie’s past had caught up with him.
Note: excerpts from works in progress may have not yet been edited, will likely undergo change, and may not even make it into the final work!