Be My Valentine!

You are the first to know!

Don’t you just love this cover? I don’t know how it can scream “VALENTINE” any more than it does. This story will be available in just another week or two and you will surely know because I will plaster it all over just about everywhere.

This new Wild Rose Ridge story, coming up for your reading pleasure, is the last of the Walcott siblings series. But certainly NOT the last of stories from Wild Rose Ridge. But those are a bit later in 2025, from the great Wild Rose Ridge Authors you’ve come to expect equally great stories from.

For now, enjoy the first scene in Karen’s story:

Karen opened the door to a face of flowers.

“Are you Karen Lilly?” A voice spoke through the bouquet.

“Yes.”

“These are for you, Ma’am.” Arms thrust the bow covered vase and the flowers landed in her arms.

“Thank you.” She still couldn’t see a face since the flowers filled her vision.

“My pleasure,” a young man hurried to his van, waving as he went. Karen set the flowers on the side table by the door.

Who would be sending her flower? She shivered in the late January chill and shut the door. She stared at the flowers.

A Valentine bouquet. Red heart sticks poked through the red roses and white carnations tipped in red. Who would know she loved the fragrant carnations? The flower combination held together with baby’s breath and red ribbons was stunning. Karen reached for the card that had been inserted between blooms.

“Wow! Are those for you? Who are they from?” Her seventeen year old daughter, Katie Rose, skipped around the corner of the stairs behind them.

“I don’t know yet.”

“Is there a card?”

“Yes,” Karen waved it before Katie Rose.

“Well, open it!”

Karen laughed. “I will. Give me a chance. And a little space, please.”

Katie Rose nearly had her nose in Karen’s hand, trying to see the card. But at her mother’s words, she backed away. Katie Rose did everything large. Karen loved her zest for living.

“Well?” Katie Rose prompted.

“Okay, okay.” Karen slowly opened the envelope, then yanked the card out dramatically.

“Mom!”

Karen laughed again and held the card in front of her. Hearts lined the card and an unfamiliar script was written across the center.

            Beauty for a Beauty. From a secret admirer.

Her jaw dropped and she blinked.

“What the–?”