Yellow Roses
by
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Prologue
Something warm and wet was caressing his cheek. Only half conscious, he swatted it away. He did not want to be aroused from his slumber. He chose to stay oblivious forever. He willed the icy numbness that tingled his hands and feet to freeze his desperate aching heart. The warm insistent licking of the sheltie thwarted his desire. He blinked his bleary eyes, prickled by the artic pristine night. “Leave me!” he growled through thick icy lips to the annoying pup.
He speculated the amount of time he had lain passed out, sprawled face down in the snowy bank; long enough that a layer of fresh white flakes blanketed his coat. The stench from his vomit reeked, permeating the air with the offensive odor despite the cold. “I am no better than a pig,” he muttered.
A memory flickered, bit-by-bit the horror flashed before him. His eyes widened as he scanned the area in a crazed panic. The barn door remained closed. There were no tracks from the buggy in the undisturbed blanket of snow. Laboriously he clambered to his feet. He scrutinized his surroundings for a place to hide. He thrashed his way blindly through the forest. He spied a clearing. Disoriented and inebriated, he was shocked to find himself back at the point from which he started. Panicking, he ran aimlessly again, sloshing through the snow. His toes and fingers began to throb. The frigid night air solidified his tears adhering them to his lashes. He paused, reproaching his incoherent flight. Gradually it dawned on him, the spot where he must retreat. He scurried straight to the pond.
The pond would grant him the solace he sought. In the past, this little piece of paradise often soothed his burning soul. He remembered how he had treasured those lazy summer days now long gone. Never again would he fish or swim in this pond with little Anna Katherine. Once again, he had managed to destroy all that was good and noble in his miserable life. It was fitting that all should end at this very spot. On this site, he would face his demons.
He elected to park himself under the large elm tree that had provided a refreshing spot of shade for him and Katherine during their picnics. Reverently he brushed the snow away from her small swing that he had hung for her from the tree. He squatted patiently on his haunches and swayed back and forth, sniveling. He bided his time, waiting for his just reward. He was killing time, waiting for his executioner.
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About the Book
Anna Katherine Rospert is five years old when Papa makes a decision that changes her life. Johan Rospert, a farmer in Ohio at the turn of the twentieth century, sends a letter to Germany seeking a fourth wife. The arrival of Rosalie Schlosser and her brother, Wilhelm, begins as a blessing and ends as a tragedy.
Yellow Roses is a novel about rural mid-westerners where faith, family and pride in their work are important values.
When a young girl’s innocence is shattered, the Rospert family finds their faith tested. Though tempted to hide from the world, Katherine’s decision to place an ad for a mail order husband is a unique effort to take charge of her life. She is a sweet, trusting strong-spirited character whose memory will linger long after the book is finished.
About the Author
When Mary returned to her father’s home to bury him in 1976, her aunt relayed a story of how her grandparents met. She said her grandmother inherited the farm and placed an ad for a mail order husband. Her grandfather answered that ad. When they met, both were carrying yellow roses. That account was not accurate, however the seed of a story took root. Mary spent the next twenty years perfecting her craft and raising a family. When the youngest child left for college, she decided to pursue her lifelong ambition of writing a novel.
Mary lives with her husband in Shelbyville, Indiana. She is currently working on her second novel, “In Search of Carrie”.