Lilac Spring. Ruth Morren Axtell

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      CRITICAL PRAISE FOR

      RUTH AXTELL MORREN

      LILAC SPRING

      “Lilac Spring blooms with heartfelt yearning and genuine conflict as Cherish and Silas seek God’s will for their lives. Fascinating details about nineteenth-century shipbuilding are planted here and there, bringing an historical feel to this faith-filled romance.”

      —Liz Curtis Higgs, bestselling author of Whence Came a Prince

      WILD ROSE

      “…the charm of the story lies in Morren’s ability to portray real passion between her characters. Wild Rose is not so much a romance as an old-fashioned love story.”

      —Booklist

      “…a beautiful, believable love relationship…Richly defined characters and settings enhance this meaningful novel.”

      —Romantic Times

      WINTER IS PAST

      “…inspires readers toward a deeper trust in the transforming power of God…. [Readers] will find in Winter Is Past a novel not to be put down and a new favorite author.”

      —Christian Retailing

      “Ruth Axtell Morren writes with skill, sensitivity and great heart about the things that matter most…. Make room on your keeper shelf for a new favorite.”

      —Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author

      “…faith journeys are so realistic all readers can benefit from the story. Highly recommended.”

      —CBA Marketplace

      Lilac Spring

      Ruth Axtell Morren

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      For the town of Cutler,

       from where I drew my inspiration for Lilac Spring.

      My thanks also to the guys at The Boat School of Washington County Technical College in Eastport, who allowed me to ask many questions and observe them as they worked on their wooden boats.

      Contents

      Prologue

      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

      Lilac Spring book club discussion questions

      Prologue

      Haven’s End

       Maine, 1861

      “You’re the new ’prentice, aren’t you?” Cherish asked the boy hunched over one of Papa’s drafting tables.

      He twisted around, a startled look on his thin face, as if she’d caught him doing something wrong.

      Cherish stepped through the doorway of the boat shop and approached the table, her rag doll, Annie, swinging back and forth from one hand.

      The boy swiped the edge of his palm against the corner of his eye, watching her silently as she neared.

      “Aren’t you?”

      Staring at her through disconcertingly gray eyes, he finally answered, “Yes.”

      “Why’re you crying?”

      “I’m not crying!”

      “Yes, you are. I can tell. Your eyes are all red.” It suddenly occurred to her that maybe, being a big boy, he didn’t want to admit to crying. She never minded crying; it usually made her feel better afterward. The only problem was it usually followed a spanking.

      “Whatcha’ doin’?” she asked curiously, peering beyond him to the drafting table.

      “Nothin’. Just looking.”

      “That’s Papa’s model.” She stood on tiptoe at the edge of the table, eyeing the wooden half-hull sliced in sections like a loaf of bread cut lengthwise.

      She dragged another stool over to the table and climbed up on it. “I waited till Papa was down at the yard ’fore I came over this morning. It was a long time! Then I was ’fraid Mama wouldn’t let me walk over.” She smiled. “She thinks I’m outside playing with my kitty-cat.”

      The boy said nothing.

      “I cried yesterday,” she told him, settling Annie on her lap. “Mama sent me to my room.”

      He continued eyeing her as if deciding whether she was friend or foe. He had nice eyes, she decided. Green-tinged gray, like a choppy sea. “What did you do?” he asked.

      “I pulled kitty’s tail. I was trying to tie her to my dolly’s stroller, but she wouldn’t ’bey me.”

      She could see the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, and that made her glad.

      “Kitty scratched me. See?” She pushed up her sleeve and showed him the bright red line running up her forearm.

      “Papa never sends me to my room or spanks me. Mama says I’ll be spoiled if someone don’t spank me. Papa says I’m his little lady and should never be spanked.”

      The two sat quietly for a few moments. The boy’s attention, she could see, had returned to the pieces of carved wood on the table. “Are you from far away?” she asked, shifting on the hard stool.

      “Real far,” he murmured.

      “Where?” she asked, finding it hard to picture anything beyond Haven’s End.

      “Swan’s Island.”

      “Swan’s Island,” she repeated in awe. Her mama had just read her a story about a swan the night before. She imagined a beautiful island full of snowy-white swans.

      “Do you have a mama and papa?” she asked when he said nothing more.

      “Just a mama. Papa was lost at sea,” he added in a fierce tone, as if proud of the fact.

      “That’s too bad.”

      He sniffed, rubbing the back of his hand against his nose. His thick golden hair fell over his forehead as he bent over the smooth pieces of wood that fitted together in descending order.

      “Are you your mama’s little gent’man now your papa’s gone to heaven?”

      He scoffed. “I’m too big to be a little gentleman.”

      “Are you going to be a gent’man when you grow up?” Papa said she was going to marry a gent’man when she grew up.

      “Naw! I’m going to build boats.”

      She smiled. “I am, too!”

      He