Chapter 30
MINGO SPILLED into the cabin and lay shivering on the floor. His teeth chattering together like castanets on the fingers of a flamingo dancer and his breathing came in short labored bursts. Continue reading
Author Archives: elizabooks
Jared Anderson – Chapter 29
Chapter 29
A FEARFUL RUBY stood in the front door of Mingo’s cabin starring out into the snow filled night. How much more of this dreadful white stuff was going to fall from the sky, she wondered. There was no seeming end to it. In fact, it was snowing heavier now than it had been earlier in the day.
When it first started she had not worried much since the day had been a warm sun filled one and she had expected the sun to melt most of the white stuff away. But then the gray clouds had come covering the sky as far as the eye could see, blotting out all traces of blue. And now, the cold had descended like a shroud.
Four months pregnant, and alone, she knew she had better get the outside chores done while there had still been light to see. So, she had rushed, as best she could without over tiring herself, getting all the animals inside the barn and making sure they had extra feed and water before locking the barn door. By the time she’d finished corralling the animals, the snow that had been a light dusting on the ground was covering the tops of her shoes completely. A nagging worry set in. What if the snow is so deep that Jared can’t make it back through the pass?”
With the growing child inside her, she could carry only light bundles. She pushed the fear down and while the snow fell like great puffy balls of cotton she carried firewood into the house, two or three logs at a time. When she’d carried in enough wood for two or three days she took a moment to catch her breath by sitting in Mingo’s rocker that still held its spot by the fireplace. By the time she’d recovered enough to start hauling water, the snow was up over her ankles. The old pair of boots that Jared had given her from Miss Penelope’s wardrobe trunk were sopping wet by the time she’d finished carrying in the water so she had taken them off and sat them by the fire to dry.
She was standing in the doorway with Mattie’s treasured blanket wrapped about her wearing a pair of Jared’s socks hoping to see some sign of him before pushing the heavy three inch thick plank across the door that would secure it for the night. She had already shuttered the windows and set out enough candles for the long night. In her heart she knew that if Jared were coming back tonight, he’d already be home by now. Still, she hoped. She had brewed a little coffee to warm him and a pot of chicken and dumplings sat bubbling on the stove.
A big yellow moon lit the night and even with the falling snow she could see a good distance. She was about to give up her vigil when she caught sight of something rising from Mingo’s grave. Jared would not come from that direction, she told herself. Besides, the thing was not on horseback as Jared would have been. It was big but even so, it seemed to struggle as if its legs were unsteady. It was silhouetted black against the night horizon and had what looked, to her, like wings fluttering in the wind.
A powerful wave of fear went through Ruby as if a giant hand had wrapped itself around her heart and squeezed. Stifling the scream rising in her throat, she closed her eyes and prayed, “Please God, when I open my eyes, please God let it be gone.” Slowly, she opened her eyes and shifted her full attention to the spot. To her horror the thing she’d seen was still there and it was moving towards her. She guessed that it had seen the light from the open door. The thing raised one wing and waved it in her direction.
“Oh Lord,” screamed Ruby. “Mingo’s ghost has come for me. Oh Lord, the Devil has told Mingo the terrible thing that me and Jared done the night he died. Now he knows I’m here alone with no one to protect me and nowhere to run. Oh Lord, she screamed again. Mingo’s ghost has come for me.”
Hurriedly, she slammed the door shut and in her haste fumbled a few times trying to place the heavy three inch thick plank through the iron brackets on either side of the door.
Just as the first knock hit the door the plank slide through the second iron bracket and Ruby fell backwards into the room.
A second knock slammed against the door and Ruby wrapped her hands across her mouth to keep from screaming.
“Ruby!” shouted the ghost. Ruby! Ruby let me in!”
“Nooooo! Go away!” Ruby screamed, trembling from head to foot.
“Ruby. It’s me, Mingo. Let me in.”
“Mingo’s dead. You his ghost. Go away.”
“Ruby, I’m not a ghost. Let me in.”
Ruby scrambled to her feet and ran over to the fireplace where she kept the man-stopper, the gun that Jared had given her.
“Ruby, Please. I’m dying out here. Ruby, ghost or no, I’d never hurt you. You know that. I saved your life on the ferry, remember. Ruby, please, save mine now. I’m freezing to death out here Ruby.”
Ruby leveled the gun at the door and her finger began pulling back on the trigger when the ghost started making a weird sound. Ruby lowered the gun and walked slowly over to the door. She pressed her ear against it and listened. It sounded as though the ghost was crying. She thought for a moment. She’d never heard of a ghost that cried. She put the gun down and eased the three inch thick plank out of the brackets and opened the door.
By
Eliza D. Ankum
Author of
Flight 404 – A Novel of Aviation Disaster
Ruby Sanders (The Ruby and Jared Saga Book 1)
Jared Anderson (The Ruby and Jared Saga Book 2)
Ruby and Jared (The Ruby and Jared saga Book 3)
OneThreeThirteen – A Presidential Agent Novel Series Book 1
The Hunt For Red November A Presidential Agent Novel Series Book 2
Dancing With The Fat Woman
Thou Shalt Eat Dust – A Second Chance Love Story
Eleanor Grunsback – An Ugly Woman’s Love Story
https://mrpresident2016.wordpress.com
A Woman’s Voice: A Little Book of Poems
STALKED! By Voices
A Tiny Kitten With A Big Mouth
https://mystalkingblog.wordpress.com
Ruby and Jared (The Ruby and Jared Saga Book 3)
‘Till death do us part’
Jared Anderson, born the only son of a wealthy slave-holding plantation owner and Ruby Sanders the daughter of a slave fell in love against the turbulent backdrop of the Civil War and never got to speak those words to one another.
But what happens when a true an everlasting love is denied?
In the third novel of the series, ‘The Ruby and Jared Saga’, that question is answered.
Ruby Sanders Williams is an out of work financial reporter who thinks that by scoring the most coveted story of the year she can redeem herself and get her job back after a very public and disastrous breakup with her boyfriend, Derek, who also happened to be her boss.
Ruby is determined to find out why Jared Anderson, a multi-millionaire married to one of the most celebrated beauties in the world, walked away from the company built by his great, great, great, great grandfather, Jared Anderson, on land stolen from Ruby’s family. Can Ruby find out why Jared walked away from Crawford and Anderson Mining while solving the mystery of her family’s stolen land?
A grieving husband, Jared Anderson is finally on the road to recovery after suffering the bitterest of betrayals by two people he thought he knew and could trust.
Living a lonely guarded life, with his son, Lucas, can Jared learn to love and trust again? Will he allow Ruby into his inner circle? And what, after all these years, has he planned for the man who betrayed him?
Will these two star-crossed lovers, resurrected from a time long ago, finally find a true and lasting love with each other?
To Buy, Click Below:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Eliza+Ankum?_requestid=300012
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Query=Eliza+Ankum
https://www.amazon.com/Eliza-D.-Ankum/e/B00I33MKPO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1494203217&sr=1-1
To Matthew Mcconaughey
Dear Mr. Mcconaughey,
I was thrilled when you decided to do The Free State Of Jones as were, I’m sure, millions of your loyal fans.
But now that that’s done, I have another project in mind that will show off a more modern Matthew Mcconaughey. No more beards or heavy costumes.
One of my other ebooks is, ‘Dancing With The Fat Woman,’ which I originally wrote for .Morris Chestnut and Tamela Mann. But with a little tweaking, I think it would be the perfect summer romance comedy for you and …….. Melissa Mccarthy.
Please think it over.
Sincerely,
Liz
Matthew Mconaughey’s Doppleganger
This is not Matthew McConaughey. The last name of the gentleman in the picture is Sanders, (as in Ruby Sanders and Jared Anderson).
I know people thought I was silly, using Matthew McConaughey as my inspiration for both books, but as you can clearly see, I was right.
And as any good writer will tell you, most of the time, the story comes and talks to you and what you do as a writer is write it down and spruce it up a bit.
Thank you Matthew for serving so well as my inspiration and I’m looking forward to your new movies, ‘The Free State Of Jones.’
Eliza D. Ankum
Author of
Flight 404
Ruby Sanders
Jared Anderson
OneThreeThirteen – Master Of The Day Of Judgment
Dancing With The Fat Woman
STALKED! By Voices
The Free State Of Jones
In the name of full disclosure, I’d like to let my audience know that there is a book out there, and available on Amazon.com, entitled, ‘The Free State of Jones.’ It is not a work of fiction, however. It is more a written documentary.
Now, let me say right off the bat, that if I had told that story as it happened, as a work of fiction, I would have heard, loudly, from a lot of Amazon readers. Things like,
“The plot is ridiculous!”
“Miss Ankum needs to learn what constitutes a believable plot.”
Such things as that. So, I tweeked the story to make it a little more believable. But I did want you to know about that
other book just in case you want to read it. Click here.
https:rubysjared.wordpress.com
BY Eliza D. Ankum
Author of
Flight 404
Ruby Sanders
Jared Anderson, A Novel
OneThreeThirteen
Dancing With The Fat Woman
Jared Anderson A Novel
Great news, great news Jared Anderson A Novel (the continuing story of Ruby Sanders) is for sale, exclusively, on Amazon.com/books.
By
Eliza D. Ankum
Author of
Flight 404 – A Novel of Aviation Disaster
Ruby Sanders (The Ruby and Jared Saga Book 1)
Jared Anderson (The Ruby and Jared Saga Book 2)
Ruby and Jared (The Ruby and Jared saga Book 3)
OneThreeThirteen – A Presidential Agent Novel Series Book 1
The Hunt For Red November – A Presidential Agent Novel Series Book 2
Dancing With The Fat Woman
Thou Shalt Eat Dust – A Second Chance Love Story
Eleanor Grunsback
A Woman’s Voice: A Little Book of Poems
STALKED! By Voices
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Eliza+Ankum?_requestid=300012
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Query=Eliza+Ankum
https://www.amazon.com/Eliza-D.-Ankum/e/B00I33MKPO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1494203217&sr=1-1
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Eliza%20Ankum&hl=en
The Free State Of Jones is Ruby Sanders
Matthew McConaughey in The Free State of Jones
It was a slow day at work and I was toiling away on the ending (one that my readers won’t hate, hopefully) of the new ebook, ‘Jared Anderson,’ and to give myself some inspiration, I decided to look at some Matthew McConaughey photos.
And guess what I came across. Yes, that’s right a picture of Matthew McConaughey dressed as a Confederate soldier for should I say, deserter, in the new film, The Free State of Jones.
Matthew’s character plays a Civil War deserter who marries a black slave girl. I wonder where, Gary Ross, the films director and ‘writer’ got that idea. Could it possibly have been a Best Selling ebook by the name of Ruby Sanders and it’s sequel, Jared Anderson.
Of course, neither that ebook or my name are anywhere on the credits for the films. Just as they were never mention on the film, ‘Flight.’ aka, Flight 404 staring Denzel Washington.
My question is, what does a girl have to do to get credit for her work? Frustrated unpaid writer.
Eliza D. Ankum
Author of
Flight 404
Ruby Sanders
STALKED! By Voices
OneThreeThirteen
Dancing With The Fat Woman
PS I’m sure either OneThreeThirteen or Dancing With The Fat Woman are going into production somewhere in Hollywood under another writer’s name, perhaps John Gatins.
Jared Anderson – Chapter 28
Chapter 28
MINGO KNELT IN PRAYER before setting out on the treacherous journey home. He figured that the normal half hour walk home might take as long as two hours in snow this deep. And then there was the wind and the cold to contend with. The wind was blowing across the river and up over the embankment making it as cold and wet as the snow blanketing the ground. He would have to use every skill he’d learned, living in these hills, to complete the journey without getting lost, freezing to death or at the very least ending up with a severe case of frostbite before he made it back to Ruby.
He took the bottom blanket off his straw mat and cut it into wide strips wrapping them over the thin moccasins he wore to reinforce them. Next, he tore a piece of the blanket long enough to cover his head and ears. And the last part of the blanket he wrapped around his bottom half.
He then took his last remaining possession in the world, a thin wearing blanket, that Powder Face, the Chief of the Southern Arapaho, had given him as a parting gift, and wrapped it close about his body. The thin wearing blanket offered little if any protection against the snowy winds but it was all he had left.
Gone was his prized brown Stetson, which was the first thing he’d bought with the money he’d earned as a free man. It was lost to the flames that night at Old Man Wilkes’s place. And then there had been the loss of Cigar, his horse. One of Powder Face’s warriors had told him that a tall white man with graying whiskers and hair had carried the horse south. He assumed the man with the graying whiskers was Danielson. Or so he hoped. He knew that Danielson would take excellent care of Cigar, treating him as his own. But even Cigar would find snow this deep challenging.
Mingo used the bowl he’d kept by the mat to dig his way out of the teepee. He’d been outside for no more than about ten minutes when he began to feel the cold sweeping into his bones. He must move and move fast, he told himself.
Hobbling through the thick underbrush of the forested embankment, holding his crippled left arm closely to his body, he struggled forward against the wind and the freezing snow. The wearing blanket flapped in the wind behind him.
Strength of will and the love for a woman were the only things that kept him going.
This ends the free preview of the forthcoming ebook, Jared Anderson. The ebook, Jared Anderson, will be available, exclusively, on Amazon.com/Books on Saturday, October 10, 2015
By
Eliza D. Ankum
Author of
Flight 404
Ruby Sanders
STALKED! By Voices
OneThreeThirteen
Dancing With The Fat Woman
Jared Anderson – Chapter 27
Chapter 27
BEHIND HER CLOSED EYES, Lorelei was wide awake. She was afraid to open her eyes. And rightly so. She was afraid that if she opened her eyes, and Jared realized that she wasn’t hurt, he’d leave.
Jared Anderson 