Switched Hearts: A Western Historical Romance Novel Read online

  Switched Hearts

  STAND-ALONE NOVEL

  A Western Historical Romance Novel

  by

  Ava Winters

  Copyright© 2019 by Ava Winters

  All Rights Reserved.

  This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher

  Table of Contents

  Switched Hearts

  Table of Contents

  Let’s connect!

  Letter from Ava Winters

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Ready for your next Romance story?

  The Rancher’s Unexpected Love

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Also by Ava Winters

  Let’s connect!

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  Letter from Ava Winters

  “Here is a lifelong bookworm, a devoted teacher and a mother of two boys. I also make mean sandwiches.”

  If someone wanted to describe me in one sentence, that would be it. There has never been a greater joy in my life than spending time with children and seeing them grow up - all of my children, including the 23 little 9-year-olds that I currently teach. And I have not known such bliss than that of reading a good book.

  As a Western Historical Romance writer, my passion has always been reading and writing romance novels. The historical part came after my studies as a teacher - I was mesmerized by the stories I heard, so much that I wanted to visit every place I learned about. And so I did, finding the love of my life along the way as I walked the paths of my characters.

  Now, I’m a full-time elementary school teacher, a full-time mother of two wonderful boys and a full-time writer. Wondering how I manage all of them? I did too, at first, but then I realized it’s because everything I do I love and I have the chance to share it with all of you.

  And I would love to see you again in this small adventure of mine!

  Until next time,

  Prologue

  “I don’t understand why I have to go to this dumb funeral,” Amanda Wright said crossly. She refused to look at her father but gazed at the passing scenery as their buggy rolled towards the family cemetery. She could see the oak tree she had tried to climb the day before, until her nanny, Hannah, had put a stop to it. Her arms were crossed tightly; another way she was trying to let her father know she wasn’t happy.

  “I’ve already explained reason multiple times. I don’t think I need to do it again,” her father said firmly. “Besides, you are ten years old, and are old enough to start going with me to some of these events that are important in our community.”

  Amanda shrugged, a pout still on her face. She knew exactly what her father would say if he did give her the reasons. A man who worked for her father had just lost his wife.

  The man was one of her father’s best trainers for the Thoroughbred racehorses they raised on their ranch, and he had a daughter about her age. This man didn’t have any other family nearby and Amanda’s father felt that she should attend the funeral in support of the daughter. Amanda didn’t understand why. She hadn’t even talked to the girl before.

  Why did her father think that she could be of some help to her?

  The man’s family had just moved into their Texas town, Albertson, a few months ago. Amanda didn’t know the man’s name or his daughter’s name. She was sure that her father had told her, but Amanda hadn’t cared, so she couldn’t remember what they were.

  The family cemetery wasn’t very far away and soon the buggy stopped in front of the fenced plot. Amanda also didn’t understand why her father had agreed to let the man bury his wife in their family cemetery, but she was smart enough to not ask that question. Her father always did things for a reason, even if she didn’t understand it.

  Her father helped her out of the buggy and then kept her hand in his as they walked towards the small crowd gathered around a hole in the ground. Amanda kept wishing that they were walking in the opposite direction.

  This was the first funeral she had ever attended, and she already knew that she hated them. Everyone was dressed in black. Even her father had insisted that she wear a dark colored dress, one that she knew she would never wear again. She didn’t want to wear a dress that would remind her about this awful day and that she was being forced to attend this funeral.

  Amanda had read in a book once that it always seemed to rain on the day of funerals, and this day was no different. A light misty rain, rare for this part of Texas, fell from dark clouds. Was the rain really angels crying in heaven like it had said in the book? She didn’t know, but she filed the question in her mind to think about later.

  Amanda stood silently beside her father as the preacher began the service. Everyone moved closer to him. That was when Amanda saw a wooden casket that had been set beside a very large hole. She instinctively took a few steps away from it. What if she accidentally fell in it?

  At first, she ignored what the preacher was saying to the other mourners. She began to think about what she would do when the funeral was finally over and her father let her leave.

  She had heard that a new yearling had been purchased and she wanted to go to the horse barn and see him. She loved it when her father bought new horses for the ranch. After she visited the new colt, she would see if their cook had made cookies that morning, like she had promised.

  She heard some soft crying and her attention turned towards the sound. The man’s daughter was crying into a lacy handkerchief. For the first time, Amanda’s heart clenched at the girl’s obvious grief that her mother was gone.

  Amanda didn’t have a mother of her own. Her mother had died when she was a baby and she had never really thought about what it would be like to have a mother. Her father had hired Hannah to be her nanny right after her mother died.

  Hannah had stepped into the role of a mother figure for Amanda, who was very close to the older woman. She had never cried for her mother’s loss like this girl was doing.

&n
bsp; She heard the preacher start to quote a scripture.

  For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

  a time to be born, and a time to die;

  a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

  a time to kill, and a time to heal;

  a time to break down, and a time to build up;

  a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

  a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

  Amanda tried to figure out what that scripture meant. She shook her head to clear her mind of the confusing words. The preacher said a few more words and then ended his short sermon.

  Amanda watched as people put different colored roses on top of the closed wooden casket.

  The girl’s father gave her a red rose and nudged her, encouraging her to put the flower on top of the casket with the other flowers. Amanda watched as the girl stared at the rose for a long moment before turning and running away from her mother’s casket. Amanda could see the tears streaming down the girl’s cheeks, the rose still clutched in her hand.

  “Luisa,” the man called after her. He took a few steps as if he was going to follow her, but another man put his hand on the man’s shoulder and then said something to him that Amanda couldn’t hear.

  “You can go back to the house now, if you’d like,” Amanda’s father said, making her jerk her attention away from the running girl. “Thank you for attending at my insistence. I will come back to the house in the buggy after I make sure Mr. Lopez is okay.”

  Amanda only nodded, but her gaze was on Luisa. “Can I go talk to her?” she asked her father.

  For a moment he looked at her with confusion. “Do you mean Luisa?”

  Amanda nodded.

  He gave her a pleased smile. “I think that is a fine idea. Luisa needs a friend.”

  She gathered her skirts and sprinted off. The girl ran fast, and it took Amanda awhile to catch up to with her. Luisa had stopped running and was sitting under a willow tree. The low branches almost hid Luisa from view, but it was dry underneath the tree. Amanda ducked under the branches and crawled to where Luisa sat, her back against the trunk.

  Luisa looked at her with surprise in her almost-black eyes but then turned away. She was no longer crying, but the sadness Amanda could see on her face made her suddenly want to reach out in comfort.

  “I’m sorry about your mother.” Amanda repeated the words she’d heard other people say to Luisa and her father at the funeral. She hoped that they were the right ones to say.

  Luisa shrugged. “Why are you here?” she asked quietly.

  Amanda had to think about it for a moment. Why did she follow Luisa? She didn’t know the girl at all. Why did she suddenly care so much and want to help her?

  “I guess I want to know what having a mom is like,” Amanda found herself saying.

  Luisa looked at her with confusion. “What do you mean?”

  “My mother died when I was a baby. I don’t know what it’s like to have a mother. What did your mother do with you?”

  Luisa didn’t say anything for a long time. Amanda had just about decided to get up and leave, figuring that Luisa didn’t want to talk and wanted to be left alone, but then she spoke.

  “Ma loved me. She taught me how to sew and knit. She listened to me talk. She spent time with me. She was a good mom.”

  “She sounds nice,” Amanda said quietly.

  For the first time in her young life, she wished that she had known her own mother.

  Would her mother have liked to spend time with her and teach her things such as sewing and knitting? Would she have been different than Hannah was? Her nanny did all those things Luisa had just mentioned. She listened to Amanda talk and was with her almost all the time when she wasn’t in school or visiting the horses.

  Hannah also had tried to teach Amanda to sew and knit, although those lessons had been doomed to failure, mainly because she hated to sit still long enough to learn anything.

  Words began to spill out of Luisa. “I don’t understand why she died. She complained of a really bad stomachache. It got so bad that she was crying. I’ve never seen her cry before and it scared me. She was in a lot of pain for two days. The doctor came but said he couldn’t do anything. Then the pain stopped. I was so glad. I didn’t like seeing her in so much pain. But then she died.”

  Luisa told d that her mother had been an excellent seamstress and had made dresses for many of the women in Albertson. She liked to help people when she could. If she heard that someone was sick in town or had just had a baby, she would make a meal for them.

  “She sounds like she was a nice lady,” Amanda said after Luisa stopped talking.

  “She was,” Luisa said softly.

  Amanda watched as she twirled the rose in her hands.

  “Do you want to go to my house? The cook said she’d make my favorite sugar cookies this morning. I bet she’s done baking them,” Amanda invited her.

  Luisa looked at her and then nodded. “Pa said that some people were going to come to our house after the funeral and talk to us, but I don’t want to be there. I’ll probably start crying again.”

  Amanda thought for a minute about what Luisa said. “I think it’s okay to cry when someone you love dies. I think people will understand.”

  “Maybe, but crying makes my head hurt and it won’t bring my mother back,” Luisa retorted angrily as she wiped tears from her face with her the palm of her hand.

  “Then let’s go eat some cookies.”

  Amanda crawled out from under the willow and Luisa followed her. They walked towards her house and Amanda suddenly noticed that Luisa looked very similar to her. They each had black hair that was held away from their faces in braids that hung down their backs. Luisa was just as tall as she was. Amanda was glad that she ran after her.

  As they walked towards her house, Amanda suddenly realized that she had maybe made a new friend. She could only hope that Luisa liked sugar cookies as much as she did.

  Chapter 1

  July, 1884

  On a hot humid Texas evening, a six man-band in the corner of the barn started a new western song and Luisa Lopez tapped her right foot to the fun beat. Multiple couples walked on the dance floor and took their places for a square dance. She could see the anticipation the couples had as they began to follow the directions that the caller yelled out.

  As Luisa watched from the edge of the dance floor, she recognized each couple as they clapped their hands to the beat. She too clapped to the upbeat music, enjoying the sounds of the banjos, guitars, and a drum. One man even used a thick stick and ran it along the metal rungs of a washing board, making a unique sound.

  She wasn’t surprised to see that her best and closest friend, Amanda Wright, was among the dancers on the floor. Amanda had participated in every dance that evening while Luisa had only danced a few.

  Amanda was one of the most popular girls in their town of Albertson, Texas. She was outgoing, energetic, and fun to be around. Luisa knew that she was known as Amanda’s quiet and shy friend who seemed to like to watch the dance from the sidelines rather than participate.

  It had been this way for years, although Luisa was starting to not enjoy the quiet role she usually played for Amanda. She wished that she could also be out on the dance floor, letting a young man twirl her around.

  Luisa watched as Amanda gave her current partner, a local man named Nick, a huge flirtatious smile. He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe his good luck that the most beautiful and richest woman in town swished her skirts in front of him and dazzled him with her smile.