NOW AVAILABLE
- Legacy
Through Time is a story portraying such a love so strong that it
carried through the Kinsman family from the mid-1860s through
generations leading to modern times. A Legacy Through Time takes
Emma through three early battles of the American Civil War up to
one of the bloodiest days in American history when Royal rescues
her at Antietam.
Emma fingered the name on the inside cover of the battered leather journal.
"Samanda, Manda, is, or was, my oldest sister. You carry her name
Emma – Emma Samanda Sorenson."
"You have a sister named Manda?" Emma's heart flipped with regret
that her mother had kept such a secret from her. "What happened to
her, Mom?"
"The Kinsman house is what happened to her, and the family who lived
there. She was in love with one of the Kinsman boys. Father warned her
to stay away from Henry Kinsman, but her heart defied any sense of our
family pride. Our Manda had never done anything against Daddy before. Not
until she met Henry and his family anyway.
"Henry had this look about him like he was looking for something he
knew in his heart he'd never find. Then one day word came he'd disappeared
without a trace, leaving all his things behind. Manda was frantic with
grief and loneliness when she came home that night, but father turned her
away.”
Emma waited in silence as a tear slid down her mother's softly, wrinkled
cheek. She tried to remember the last time she'd seen her mother cry, but
couldn't.
“She fell in love with one of the boys living there. Father warned
her to stay away from Henry, but her heart defied any sense of our family
pride."
"Manda actually went against Granddad’s word?" Emma said,
trying to picture anyone strong willed enough to defy him.
"Yes. Our Manda had never done anything against Daddy before. Not
until she met Henry and his crazy family anyway," Mabel continued,
settling down slightly.
"Crazy, as in 'One Flew Over the Coo-coo's Nest'? Or just different
from everyone else?" Emma asked, handing her mother yet another tissue.
"Just different, I suppose. Anyway, she seemed to always be with Henry's
family for everything. Father told her since she liked the Kinsmans so
well, she'd best go live with them because as far as he was concerned she
was dead. So, she left. The need to be with Henry cost her quite a lot,
but she loved him regardless.
"Manda's been gone ever since; up until this journal, a word has never
been spoken or written about her. Papa wouldn’t allow it. A slight
hesitation to defy the growing need to find out what happened to her missing
aunt didn't mix well with her mother's scared reaction. Emma believed more
with each passing second that there was a message of how to find her Aunt
Manda in that journal, and she had a strong feeling her mother knew what
it was. . . .
