Heart Healer Read online

  Table of Contents

  Excerpt

  Praise for Leslie Bowes

  Heart Healer

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Epilogue

  A word from the author…

  Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

  Also available from The Wild Rose Press, Inc. and other major retailers

  “That’s true, but I don’t need a servant.

  I need a wife.”

  Catherine dropped the spoon as her whole body shook. What was her father planning to do? Hard work? A wife? What was going on? She was not her father’s slave to trade as he wished. She was his daughter. Too nervous to turn around, Catherine prayed that she heard wrong.

  “What did you say?” her father asked, shocked.

  “You heard me.” Mr. Von-Clyer laughed. “You had no problem selling her to me as a servant Mr. Andrews, but now that I want her for my wife your conscience haunts you. What’s the difference? Either way your debt to me is paid.”

  “Catherine, get over here now!” her father yelled drunkenly. The longer she stared at the vein in her father’s neck; she realized that she was making him angrier than Catherine had ever seen before.

  She slowly walked over to the table and stood in front of her father. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she watched him drink his last bit of wine.

  “You will be Mr. Von-Clyer’s wife to pay off my debt.”

  Praise for Leslie Bowes

  “This novel is intended for the young adult audience with its teen romance plot line, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. The characters are likeable and engaging. Christopher is loyal, tactful, affectionate, caring and cautious—the real dream of the modern woman. Catherine is a wonderful, brave, very emotional, but so amazing lady. The more I read about the characters, the more I wanted “watching” them grow from the produce of love to finding their own true love. It’s very difficult to speculate where the story is going to go from here without spoiling the plot, and I’d better stop before I spoil it.

  It’s another wonderful time travel romantic journey that can keep the reader’s attention.”

  Heart Healer

  by

  Leslie Bowes

  The Heart Healer Series, Book 1

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Heart Healer

  COPYRIGHT © 2018 by Leslie Bowes

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Cover Art by Kim Mendoza

  The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

  PO Box 708

  Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

  Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

  Publishing History

  First Vintage Rose Edition, 2018

  Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-2100-4

  The Heart Healer Series, Book 1

  Published in the United States of America

  Chapter One

  Early December 1860

  Catherine

  Ever since her mother died, Catherine’s father could not stand to look at her. She looked so much like her mother, with her long dark hair and brown eyes. Catherine walked past a store window. It had a beautiful Christmas display with candles burning in the middle, giving her two reflections as though she were split into two halves of the person she used to be. What was worse, she did not know if those halves could ever be put back together.

  There had been a time when Catherine thought that she was happy. Her mother and father had been married for twenty-six years, and she was engaged to Ethan Sheldon. They came from two different worlds. She was simply a shopkeeper’s daughter and Ethan was a duke whose family held seats on boards of various corporations and installed policies that served to exclude those they regarded as inferior. Ethan’s family thought Catherine was inferior to them, but Ethan rejected his family’s views. That night at the ball when Ethan walked across the room to ask Catherine to dance, she knew that her life would never be the same. Ethan was kind and smart, everything she should ask for; she would get her fairytale ending, as her parents did.

  When her grandfather died, her father inherited the store and he became obsessed with having a son. Catherine’s mother had such a terrible pregnancy and an even more difficult time giving birth to her, that the doctor told her mother not to have any more children. It would kill her if she did so. But her mother would do anything to make Catherine’s father happy. On December 24, 1851 Catherine’s mother died giving birth to her brother James. On the day of her mother’s funeral her father fled England and went to Charleston, South Carolina to buy a boat from a plantation owner so he could sell cotton all over the world. It was also the day Ethan showed his true colors. She went to his house to find him marrying another woman. When she demanded answers he simply laughed and told her the only reason he’d wanted to marry her was because she had blue blood. Now that he knew her bloodline was so weak she could not give him sons without dying, he would never have married her. No man would. Ethan had Catherine thrown out of his house. She did her best to push the painful memories away, especially now that her father was coming home. His letter burned her hand like an iron skillet, sending fear throughout the rest of her body. She took in a shaky breath as she looked down at James. He was the image of her father and the man her father used to be before he lost everything, including his soul. She took James’s hand and began walking down the streets of London.

  The cold cut through Catherine like a knife, and her breath came out in little white puffs. She pulled James closer to her, trying to keep him warm as the mist came off the water as she and James walked past the port. She breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped up to her house but as she opened the door, she was shocked to see her father had already arrived. She could smell alcohol coming off him from where she was standing. For the first time since her mother died, her father looked up at her and smiled.

  “Catherine, sweetheart, you’re home and you brought me my pride and joy. James, come sit next to me while your sister makes all of us dinner,” her father slurred.

  All of us?

  Out of the corner of her eye Catherine saw a man move out from the shadows. He had dark hair and dark eyes. She could tell there was something not right about him. A shiver ran down her back.

  “Catherine, this is Mr. Blake Von-Clyer, the owner of the ship the Elizabeth.”

  “Mr. Von-Clyer,” Catherine whispered while curtsying.

  He smiled an evil smile at her and turned back to her father.

  “No
w, Catherine, make us some dinner.”

  She shook her head no, taking a step toward the door utterly afraid of what was about to happen.

  “Catherine, do not make me tell you again!” her father yelled.

  With hands shaking, Catherine ran over to the fire as James went to the table and sat down next to his father. As she stirred the stew, she could feel eyes burning through the back of her head. She turned around and saw Mr. Von-Clyer watching her intently. She quickly turned back around feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. She hated being watched like she was a prize to be won.

  “So, what do you think, Mr. Von-Clyer?” her father whispered.

  “You’re right; she is a hard worker, but I don’t know about a white woman working in my household. It is just not done in the South. That’s why we have slaves,” Mr. Von-Clyer replied.

  “Yes, that’s true, but didn’t you say that because of the abolitionists a lot of your slaves have run off?”

  “That’s true, but I don’t need a servant. I need a wife.”

  Catherine dropped the spoon as her whole body shook. What was her father planning to do? Hard work? A wife? What was going on? She was not her father’s slave to trade as he wished. She was his daughter. Too nervous to turn around, Catherine prayed that she heard wrong.

  “What did you say?” her father asked, shocked.

  “You heard me.” Mr. Von-Clyer laughed. “You had no problem selling her to me as a servant Mr. Andrews, but now that I want her for my wife your conscience haunts you. What’s the difference? Either way your debt to me is paid.”

  “Catherine, get over here now!” her father yelled drunkenly. The longer she stared at the vein in her father’s neck; she realized that she was making him angrier than Catherine had ever seen before.

  She slowly walked over to the table and stood in front of her father. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she watched him drink his last bit of wine.

  “You will be Mr. Von-Clyer’s wife to pay off my debt.”

  “What debt?” Catherine asked angrily.

  “Catherine, do not speak unless you are spoken to,” her father snarled.

  “What debt?” Catherine yelled.

  Her father jumped up from his chair with an angry shout, bumping the table, but James jumped in front of him.

  “You cannot treat Catherine like that, Father. She is your daughter and my sister, not your slave!” James yelled.

  Catherine’s father was having none of that. He lunged for James, but Catherine got in between them before her father could do anything. She knelt in front of James and wiped his tears. All the while she prayed for strength.

  “Thank you, James, but I need you to go to your room.”

  “But, Catherine—”

  “No buts. Go to your room and stay there until I come for you.”

  As soon as James was in his room, Catherine’s father grabbed her arms and shook her hard.

  “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again, Catherine! Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, sir,” Catherine whispered, scared for her life.

  “Good. Now go with Mr. Von-Clyer and pay off your debt.”

  “Father, I beg of you. Tell me what my debt is?”

  Her father sighed and sat back down at the table, poured more wine, and threw it down his throat. “I can’t pay the balance of what I owe to Mr. Von-Clyer for the Elizabeth.”

  Catherine bent down in front of her father as the tears began to burn her eyes.

  “Father, please don’t do this. What about James?”

  “The ship Amokura is looking for crew members. He can get a job there.”

  “Father, no! Please, there has to be another way!” Catherine cried.

  “I’m sorry, Catherine. If only you did not look like your mother, if only you had been a boy, none of this would be happening. Now go, I cannot stand to look at you anymore.”

  She felt arms come around as someone pulled her up onto her feet. She turned her head and saw Mr. Von-Clyer. She tried to get out of his grip, but he just held tighter.

  “Get your hands off me!” Catherine screamed.

  “Now, now. Be a good girl and come with me,” Mr. Von-Clyer whispered in her ear.

  “No, please, Father, don’t do this! Please!” Catherine reached out and grabbed at his hand, but he just pushed her away as Mr. Von-Clyer dragged her out of the house.

  “Father, please don’t do this!”

  Mr. Von-Clyer walked them toward a black carriage waiting outside when James came running out of the house.

  “Catherine!” James yelled, running after them, but their father came out and held James back.

  “James…Father…please, he needs me…please!”

  Mr. Von-Clyer opened the carriage door and threw Catherine in, and then jumped in and pinned her against the seat as she fought him off.

  “Stop fighting me or I’ll take what I want from you,” Mr. Von-Clyer said through gritted teeth.

  “No!”

  “But I won’t because I don’t want you to have a ruined reputation. So, we will be married and you will be my wife!”

  “I will never marry you!” She struggled to get away from him. He raised his hand and slapped her hard. It burned, hot and red sharp, like a bee sting.

  “If you are going to act like a crazed animal then that’s how you will be treated,” he shouted at her. He gripped her arms tight. The carriage rocked and bumped on the cobblestone streets as it moved, pulled by two black horses. When it stopped, Mr. Von-Clyer dragged her from the carriage to the boat. He threw her in a small room below deck and locked her in.

  “When you are over your hysterics, I will let you out. We will be on this ship for ten days before we reach Charleston, and I expect you to conduct yourself appropriately. You will stay in this room at all times. Your meals will be brought to you. If you wish for some fresh air you may open the porthole window.” Without another word, he turned and walked away.

  Catherine fell into despair. She didn’t know how long she had been in the small room. Had it been days, weeks, or months? All she thought about was James and she prayed that her father was taking care of him. Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching. The door to her room opened and bright sunlight blinded her. After a moment, she saw that it was Mr. Von-Clyer. He walked into the room, towering over her.

  “So, are you over your hysterics?”

  Too afraid to speak, she nodded her head.

  “Good.”

  He led her out of the room and onto the deck. She saw the boat was pulling into the most beautiful city she had ever seen. The houses were close together and painted in more colors than she’d ever imagined—whites, blues, and pinks. The city looked like it came out of a fairytale, but that was just an illusion, because, in reality, this beautiful city was to be her prison.

  ****

  Mr. Von-Clyer took hold of Catherine’s arm and led her to a carriage as though he was her prison guard. They traveled for miles as she felt her freedom dwindle.

  “Welcome to Rose Hill where you will be my mistress.”

  When they reached Rose Hill, she felt a sense of danger as though the devil himself resided in the home and the red brick mansion was the gate to Hell. Mr. Von-Clyer jumped down and once again took her by the arm, leading her into the house and up to a room in the attic. He threw Catherine into the room and she landed on the floor on her stomach, gasping for air.

  “You are to stay in this room until we are married, and do not even think about trying to escape. There will be a guard outside your door at all times. Do you understand me?” he said angrily. The veins in his neck were throbbing as though he were a monster. Mr. Von-Clyer was going to kill her if she did not do exactly what he said.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  Mr. Von-Clyer walked out of the room and locked the door. She ran over to the bed and let her sobs overtake her. She would surely die in this place.

  Chapter Two

  Catherine

  Cat
herine stood in front of the mirror as her maid Jessica put the finishing touches on her wedding dress. She was a vision of loveliness but on the inside, she was screaming.

  “Oh, my goodness, Miss Catherine, you look beautiful,” Jessica said, handing her the wedding bouquet and walking to the door.

  “Thank you, Jessica,” she whispered as her guard opened the door.

  There were hundreds of people watching as she made her way down the aisle, but no one noticed the pleading look she was giving them, begging them to help her. She felt her heart trying to pound its way out of her chest, and she had to gag down a wave of nausea as she faced the reverend who unknowingly would be sealing a horrible fate. She looked for a gap between the pews. If that man’s legs weren’t so long, she might be able to make it through the door. Could she jump over? But there was no place she could run to. She was completely frozen as Blake took her hand.

  “Do you, Blake Von-Clyer, take Catherine Anne Andrews for your lawfully wedded wife promising to love, honor, and cherish her, forsaking all others for as long as you both shall live?” the reverend asked.

  Catherine prayed that he would say no.

  “I do,” he said firmly.

  “And do you, Catherine Anne Andrews, take Blake Von-Clyer for your lawfully wedded husband promising to love, honor, and obey him, forsaking all others for as long as you both shall live?” the reverend asked her.

  She could not form the words, but when Blake gave her hand a tight squeeze she knew she had no choice.

  “I do,” she said feeling the cold chill of forever being Blake’s wife.

  “Then, in the sight of God and this company, I pronounce you man and wife.”

  Blake leaned in and kissed her. She arched her back trying to push him away, but he wrapped his arms around her forcing her to stay put. When they pulled apart, everyone clapped for joy. The only thing Catherine felt was despair.

  ****

  Catherine stood next to her husband, as everyone congratulated them. She could not catch her breath. The room started to spin. She had to get out of there. She leaned over to Blake.

  “Blake, it is very hot in the room. I need some air.”