Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Coming Home
    Coming Home
    Coming Home
    Ebook97 pages1 hour

    Coming Home

    By Rosie Macdonald

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    ‘So, I’m finally to get your attention then?’ he asked with a gleam in his eye. Anna felt a frisson of something flood through her, but put it down to tiredness, annoyance. It couldn’t possibly be attraction – this man was far too in love with himself, and definitely not what she needed right now.

    Romance can happen in the strangest of places. Sometimes we find it in far-flung locations, and other times it is right under our noses all along! In this, the first story in the Castle Cluny Romance Series, we get to know a few of the locals in this sleepy Suffolk town. But, behind the net curtains, and the smiling faces there are mysteries to be solved and romance to be found. I sincerely hope you will enjoy this series - I know I am enjoying writing it.

    Fed up of being treated by everyone like a china doll to be protected and taken care of - and determined to prove that she can make it on her own - Anna sets off to travel the world. Alone, and unhappy she keeps going, and going, never knowing where, or if, she will find herself.

    We join her, penniless in a tiny Australian town, pursued by the very sexy son of the local bar owner she finds a home and a job. But will she give in to his attentions, or is there a knight in shining armour on his way to whisk her off her feet?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRosie Macdonald
    Release dateOct 7, 2017
    ISBN9781370254750
    Coming Home
    Author

    Rosie Macdonald

    Rosie Macdonald has been a romantic her entire life, and had drawn her wedding dress by the age of 5. She grew up in a small Hertfordshire town with her parents, sister, 4 cats, 3 rabbits, 5 guinea pigs, 1 dog and various fair-won goldfish (not all consecutively), and continued to believe that one day her knight in shining armour would come and rescue her from her boring life. She now lives happily in Essex, where she writes and works as a holistic therapist with her overly spoiled cat, Bob, and her partner of 9 years. She is very grateful that Daniel’s proposal in Second Time Lucky was received in a better manner than she herself managed when her partner proposed on Christmas Eve 2009, when she swears she responded with a shocked grunt. Well, what would you have said when you finally got the proposal you dreamed of from a man who had spent eight years vehemently claiming he didn’t see the point?

    Related to Coming Home

    Related ebooks

    Contemporary Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      With this RING

      Jul 21, 2021

      With this RING
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Perfect Wedding

      Apr 6, 2020

      A Perfect Wedding
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Experts

      Nov 23, 2021

      Q COVID-19 permitting, my newly divorced best friend is staying with us over Christmas. But I’m starting to panic about the whole situation now. My husband’s always liked her and jokes about her being ‘nearly as gorgeous’ as I am. Plus now she’s sing

      4 min read

    • Article

      Karen’s CHOICE

      Jul 7, 2021

      Karen’s CHOICE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Hidden SECRETS

      Sep 15, 2021

      Hidden SECRETS
      9 min read

    • Article

      With this RING

      Aug 8, 2023

      With this RING
      6 min read

    • Article

      JIM & REESE CALL IT QUITS

      Apr 7, 2023

      JIM & REESE CALL IT QUITS
      4 min read

    • Article

      I Married Both Brothers

      Jan 25, 2022

      I Married Both Brothers
      3 min read

    • Article

      Justice

      Mar 15, 2018

      I had been told that the interviewer was waiting for me outside in the hotel garden. The muffled oceanic roar of traffic rose steadily from the nearby road. She was sitting alone on a bench amid the raw planted beds and network of gravel paths, gazin

      22 min read

    • Article

      Orange You Glad

      Jun 1, 2021

      Orange You Glad
      13 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Freedom

      Aug 6, 2020

      Freedom
      7 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Where the HEART IS

      Dec 20, 2022

      Where the HEART IS
      4 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      Love Is All Around

      Jan 16, 2020

      IT’S a leap year, gulp. As if the Valentine’s gush isn’t enough, now the girlfriends and single ladies among us must publicly announce our undying love by proposal. I’ve spent at least two leap years and nearly a decade of Valentine’s Days concentrat

      4 min read

    • Article

      Ice cream DREAMS

      Jul 28, 2021

      Ice cream DREAMS
      8 min read

    • Article

      From ESTRANGEMENT

      May 1, 2022

      From ESTRANGEMENT
      4 min read

    • Article

      Guiding Presence

      May 18, 2020

      Guiding Presence
      7 min read

    • Article

      Saying Goodbye to Sara

      Nov 10, 2021

      — We never really know when it will be the last time we talk to someone, the last time we see them, the last hug. The time was 2:23pm. Or there about. It’s hard to pinpoint the precise time when you’re in that deep sleep state where time seems not to

      6 min read

    • Article

      That Particular Sunday

      Jul 6, 2023

      That Particular Sunday
      26 min read

    • Article

      A Farewell to Summer

      Aug 29, 2019

      A Farewell to Summer
      6 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems by Noah Warren

      Dec 1, 2020

      Some waves came up overnight, though in Norderney, there was no weather.At the commercial wharf, a thin stream of white exhaust rose vertically from the ferry.The first service would depart soon. The puddles lay dark in the stone streetsand in the ga

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Needle

      May 30, 2023

      The Needle
      4 min read

    • Article

      Winning Letter

      Oct 21, 2022

      My BFF and I met in Standard 2 and formed an instant and lifelong bond. Although we haven’t seen one another in almost five decades, after she departed South Africa for foreign shores we were constantly in touch. My husband and I were extremely fortu

      6 min read

    • Article

      Worlds Of Ink And Paper

      Nov 22, 2022

      As a young girl, I still remember my dear mother, smile on her face, curled up with Family Circle magazine in her lap. She was engrossed in an article titled “Butternut Wisdom,” written by Gladys Taber. At my age, it didn’t mean a thing to me. But as

      6 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Jan 1, 2020

      In class, I stared because of the blood going blue.The chalk that coated our fingerly teeth.The way we lapped each other (on the shorewhere the flowering). I gave away our location. Smacked my lips in the coat closet.Sucked at her teeth. We, on all e

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Coming Home

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Coming Home - Rosie Macdonald

      Table of Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      About the Author

      Excerpt

      Chapter One

      Anna perched uncomfortably on the back of the Ute. The sun was blisteringly hot, and the dust from the road was sticking to the sweat on her skin. She’d never felt lower in her life. She could hear the men in the front of the truck cracking jokes and laughing raucously and just wished she was back in Castle Cluny, sitting on the bench by the duck pond. She missed the peace and quiet, the moderate climate and especially the people she truly loved. Lost in her daydream, she was jolted harshly back to reality when the Ute screeched to a stop.

      ‘This is us love,’ the driver said cheerfully. ‘Sorry we aren’t going further, but Wallaby Creek’s just about 3 miles up the coast.’

      ‘Thanks for the lift. I appreciate it. Good luck getting the fences sorted,’ Anna said slightly absent-mindedly, not sure if she’d remembered exactly why it was that these men were stopping in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere, but taking an educated guess from the kit that had been her only company for the last 100 miles or so. She hauled her rucksack onto her back as the Ute disappeared into a cloud of dust. She looked dolefully at the long and dusty road, deciding that wandering through the surf, feeling the cool water lapping at her ankles, looked far more pleasant. The beach had the odd plane tree along it, offering shade. She trudged towards the path, wishing that Wallaby Creek was closer. Hopefully there would be a place to stay there, and a job, so she could get the money together to go home.

      A long and weary hour had passed before she saw a few buildings ahead of her. Anna decided to stop, have a quick swim and try to get rid of the dust that seemed to have become caked to her skin, making her look like a golem. She stripped quickly down to her bikini, and glancing around her, she ensured that there was nobody in sight who might steal her belongings. There was not a soul to be seen, so she ran to the sea and threw herself into the water eagerly. The ocean was cool and refreshing, and the gentle waves invigorated her as they beat against her body. She drifted on her back, staring up at the blue sky. She could feel the tension and misery easing from her as she relaxed and let the water support her. Turning onto her belly, she swam a few lazy strokes, parallel to the shore, then reluctantly waded back.

      Her skin glistening with salt water, Anna sat quietly on a towel under one of the plane trees, watching the waves rush up and down the golden sand, her attention a million miles away across the oceans and seas, back home in Castle Cluny. She thought about the ducks on the pond, the village green, the cute parish church, the higgledy-piggeldy main street. If she tried really hard, she could almost imagine that she was back there, standing in front of the pub, about to go in and see Jim. She could feel the butterflies in her tummy, as she anticipated his reaction to her, and then her daydream would come crashing around her ears as she envisioned the response of his no-doubt beautiful girlfriend, the one he hadn’t thought to mention in his letters, but was soon to be his wife. He would be bound to have given up waiting for her by now. She hadn’t known how blessed she was to have his love, until she came here and had to live without it. She couldn’t blame him, and she would always wish him happiness. He was the sweetest, kindest man she had ever known and she missed him more than she could ever have imagined possible.

      As a brisk wind came from out of nowhere, it’s sharp, stinging breath bringing her back down to reality with a bump. She realised, not for the first time, how stupid she could be. Nothing about this worldwide trip had been what she had expected, and she regretted her rash decision to just head off on her own. She had been lonely and miserable within a week, but her stubborn pride had kept her going. In the last three years she had travelled through India, Africa, South America, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand – all funded by a variety of crazy manual jobs - from pie and sausage factories, to courgette-picking. She had even spent time working at a salad nursery, putting those plastic condom-like wrappers on the cucumbers.  Anna had low expectations of work, and did not mind what she tried, but that had been an all time low.

      Now, here she was in Australia with no job, no friends, and no money to buy herself a ticket home. Yet Anna had written letters to her parents, her best friends, Martha and Carrie - and to Jim - that all was well and she was having a ball. She wondered why she felt she had to lie to them, but if she was honest she knew the answer. Because she had always been little, blond and cute, everyone had instinctively treated her as if she was a fragile, breakable child who needed to be protected.

      Her travels had been a way to prove she could do it all alone, that she could look after herself. She had wanted to prove to them that she meant it when she said she was tougher than she looked and to prove that she was a grown woman - to herself as much as to everyone else. The more stubbornly she had persevered with her solo travels, the harder it had become to ask anyone for help. Anna knew that if she called any of them, they would send her the flight money in an instant, but she was too proud to admit she couldn’t hack it in the world without them - that she had failed to prove her own point. She was no woman – she truly was still a child.

      So what should she do next? Sitting on the beach wasn’t going to help. She needed a job, and somewhere to stay. She hoped and prayed that this would, at long last, be her lucky day. The clouds overhead were definitely threatening rain, so sleeping on the beach would be out of the question, though she had done so many times during her travels to save her meagre funds. She picked up her rucksack, struggling to get it onto her back as it wasn’t much smaller than she herself was, and headed up towards the strip of road that would eventually take her to the next town along the coast.

      Her heart sank as she wandered into what she presumed was the town she’d been told to head for. Wallaby Creek was tiny – more of a large hamlet, really – with only about fifty houses, a short row of shops and a small bar/café called ‘Misty’s’. She didn’t hold out much hope that there would be anywhere she could stay, and it was unlikely that there would be any work here. Still, she didn’t have many other options, and her travels had taught Anna that

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1