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In book three, Bronwyn travels to Great Britain to find her husband Baldwin in prison. He is released, is introduced to her family, and finds his strength again. An urgent request to see his mother in Wellingshire, England, changes the course of his future.
Bronwyn and Baldwin travel back to America to join their children and make a new life for themselves. They have an opportunity to have their very own plantation, but not without obstacles. False accusations threaten to ruin their happy home. Will they ever have their happily ever after?
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Excerpt from The Beginning Of Forever by Cheryl R. Lane
The ship turned the corner from the North Sea and made its way into the long winding River Thames. Before them was the Port of London. Bronwyn Rowan Wellington stood by the rope railing of the ship, looking over this foreign land of which she had never stepped foot in and never wanted to. Until now.
She was searching for her husband, Baldwin, who had been a soldier in the Continental Army for the United States during the war with Great Britain. A year before the war ended, Baldwin had purportedly been taken prisoner and brought to the Tower of London. Baldwin’s older brother, Willoughby, had vowed that he would petition for Baldwin’s release. He hoped that since the war was over, King George would release its many prisoners.
There was a light rain as the ship pulled into the harbor, and the winds blew hard across the bow of the ship, blowing Bronwyn’s skirt and petticoats. She held onto her hat so it would not blow away. Willoughby and his wife Moira, Bronwyn’s Irish friend, stood beside her. They looked at the gray, dark town with its cobblestoned streets and many pedestrians and peddlers walking past.
Once the ship was tied up, the trio gathered their belongings and disembarked along with the other travelers.
It had been a long two-month journey, and they were all glad to get back on firm ground. Bronwyn was especially eager, as this was her second journey across the Atlantic Ocean, and she was weary of ocean voyages. At least there had been no pirates or storms on this crossing.
Willoughby led Moira into the crowded cobblestone road and hailed a carriage. He paid two young boys to fetch their trunks for them on the ship, where Bronwyn stood waiting. She followed the boys as they hauled the trunks onto the waiting carriage. Willoughby held the door open for her to enter the carriage, where she sat across from Moira, and Willoughby took a seat beside Moira.
The carriage pulled off in the direction of the Tower of London, as directed by Willoughby. Bronwyn admired women with their pretty dresses, capes, and hats. Being the first of December and the days shorter, there were candles lit in all of the shop windows. Tall cressets filled with burning wood were surrounded by peasants looking for a bit of warmth.
They arrived at the enormous Tower of London, and Willoughby got out of the carriage.
“I will return shortly,” he told the women. The horses and driver rested while Bronwyn looked at her surroundings, wondering if Baldwin was behind these walls. She rubbed her cold, gloved hands together nervously, trying to be patient, when all she wanted to do was run through the gates and open every door until she found her love.
“It won’t be long now,” Moira said, trying to reassure her. “We’ll get Baldwin.”
“I thought Willoughby was going to petition the king first. What if he is here, but we cannae get him out?” Bronwyn asked, knowing Moira probably didn’t have the answers she was seeking.
“He wanted to make sure Baldwin was actually here first before he sought out the king.”
“Verra well,” Bronwyn said.
Finally, Willoughby came back to the carriage. His expression was unreadable but Bronwyn feared it was not good news, for he was not smiling. Willoughby talked to the carriage driver briefly and then opened the carriage door.
“He is not here.”
Bronwyn covered her mouth with her hand and gasped. Fresh tears prickled her eyes. “Where is he?”
“He was taken to Edinburgh Castle.”
Meet Cheryl R. Lane
Cheryl R. Lane was born and raised in Johnson City, Tennessee, and went to college at East Tennessee State University before marrying her high school sweetheart and moving to Virginia Beach, Virginia. She started writing as a hobby when she was in college after purchasing a couple of Southern Heritage cookbooks, which were filled with pages of beautiful old plantation homes. She used to sit outside in my backyard and type on a manual typewriter at a picnic table under tall maple trees.
I continued writing after moving to Virginia Beach and visiting beautifully restored homes in Williamsburg as well as plantations on the James River. My day job is a court reporter now, while writing on the side. I self-published my first book in December 2012, Wellington Cross. I enjoy the freedom and creativity of self-publishing. My book, Sunrise Kisses, was a finalist in the 2018 Golden Quill Award Contest sponsored by Golden Box Books Publishing. I love being outside in nature and enjoy visiting historical homes and gardens, reading, traveling, gardening, taking walks, doing yoga, and spending time with family and friends. I am still married to my sweetheart after 33 years, and we have one son. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America’s (RWA) Published Authors Network (PAN).
Interview with Cheryl R. Lane
Q: Hi Cheryl. Can you describe the main character, Bronwyn, in three words?
CL: Brave. Determined. Devoted.
Q: If your book was made into a movie, who would play your two main characters?
CL: The stars for my two main characters would be Aidan Turner for Baldwin, and either Eleanor Tomlinson or Niamh Walsh for Bronwyn.
Q: Tell us a little more about your book.
CL: Bronwyn Wellington goes to her homeland of Scotland to rescue her husband from an unjust prison sentence. He meets her family for the first time (they’ve been married nearly ten years), and he regains his strength. He trains with his Scottish in-laws for their annual secret Highland Games. After the Battle of Culloden in Scotland, the British forbade the Scots in all their traditions including wearing their clan tartans, dancing, music, etc., but my characters continue this celebration in secret. My love for Scotland began on a trip with my husband in 2018 for our 30th anniversary, and I had a great time writing about the beloved country.
Q: Tell us about more your heroine.
CL: Bronwyn’s mother is Scottish, and her father was Irish. Bronwyn has strong women in her family including her ma and her granny. She also learned how to be a healer from her pa, something she carries with her to America after his death. She continues to try and help heal people with the use of herbal remedies and tonics. These skills come into question in this book when a former fiancé continues to try and win her back, despite the fact she married someone else ten years earlier. He uses her skills against her, bringing many false accusations against her to try and manipulate her.
Q: Tell us more about the setting. How did you chose it?
CL: Part of the setting is Scotland, which I fell in love with, as stated in a previous question. I love the tartans, the family clans, the music, the games, the accents. I tried to incorporate these in this book, especially as it concerns my heroine, Bronwyn. The other setting in the book is a plantation in Virginia on the James River. This Wellington Patriot series is a back story to a previous series of mine, Wellington Cross series, which takes place in the late 1800s. In this Patriot series, readers will learn how the plantation that is the heart of all the Cross series came to be. I live in nearby Virginia Beach and have toured all over the area. I love the history around the area and many stories fill my head as I visit these places.
Q: What is your favorite food?
CL: I am one of those people who try to eat healthy, having fruits and veggies every day as well as whole grains like steel-cut oats for breakfast, but once a week I splurge on pancakes. Saturday mornings, my husband goes to a breakfast for a group he’s in, so I have the morning to myself. I fix myself pancakes that have whole grains (to make it a little healthy); my favorite is Kodiak buttermilk and honey pancake mix. I like to add fresh fruit from a local farm in there during the summer; favorites include peaches, blackberries and blueberries.
This or That Questions:
Coffee or Tea?
CL: I love both. I have decaf everything – I’m sensitive to caffeine – so I have coffee with just cream in the mornings with breakfast, and then I have herbal or decaf black teas in the afternoon and/or at night after supper. I like to switch it up with seasonal flavors, such as peach or raspberry in the summer, and I also like Constant Comment by Bigelow with cream.
Book or Movie?
CL: I normally read the book first and then critique the movie. Some of my favorite movies that I feel are just as good as the books are the Harry Potter series, Twilight series, and the Jane Austen books/movies.
Morning or Night?
CL: I try to keep on the same sleep schedule as much as possible, but I am definitely more awake in the morning than I am in the evening. My husband relates me to C3PO in the Star War series when I get tired; he says I just “shut down,” which always makes me laugh, because it’s the truth.
Shower or Bath?
CL: I like both but prefer baths. They’re just more relaxing and take less water in the long run; I can linger in there without using up all the hot water.
City or Country?
CL: While I enjoy being able to walk anywhere I need to go, like eating out, in a big city, I prefer the country. I am originally from East Tennessee and now live in Virginia with a farm on the other side of our property. I love going to local farms for fresh produce; we enjoy true farm to table for most of our meals in the summer.
Print or Ebook?
CL: I prefer a real book in my hands, but when I travel for work, I use my Kindle app on my phone exclusively. It’s just easier than carrying around a book in my limited baggage, and it’s always lit up even when the lights go down on a plane.
Summer or Winter?
CL: My favorite seasons are spring and fall, the in-between weather. That’s when the weather is my favorite temperatures of the 50s to the 70s. As for summer or winter, I tolerate both, but probably prefer the winter. It gets very humid where I live in Virginia Beach during the summer, and there are some days when you just can’t go outside even for a minute without sweating, and there are only so many clothes I am comfortable with taking off, especially if I’m working. However, in the wintertime, I can pile on the layers to feel more comfortable.
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