BRYNNA IS being particularly Brynna this morning. I try to remind myself that she doesn’t intend to be annoying, but…she’s twenty-five now.
I’ve had twenty-five years to get used to it. So far I haven’t.
Still, she looks seriously cute today. She’ll make me an aunt again in less than fourteen weeks. She’s wearing one of the hats I knitted her (ok, so it was meant for the baby, but I did something wrong and it fits Brynna and looks like it’s supposed to, but…I’m going to make the baby a better one soon) and she waddles. So cute.
Now if she’d just get out of my hair and back to her own office…
I have a book to write. Houghton’s found the Barratt family journals and I’m reading my way through them. The history is so rich it’s amazing. And I don’t mean money.
The Barratts seriously believed in documenting everything. As far back as settlement in the area.
Finley Creek, Value, and Barrattville are named for Houghton’s family and their connections.
Finley Creek…well, it’s definitely an ironic story, that’s for sure.
Just after the Civil War a family named Finley had relocated to the Barrattville area to escape a horrible neighbor who wanted to hurt a widow. She and her brother and their combined children (twelve girls!) settled on a small ranch right in the middle of the current Barratt’s property. Unfortunately, the Finleys had bought it illegally.
The Barratt at the time had six marriage-aged sons. Four of them rode over to the Finley’s ranch and basically took four of the older daughters. They married them that night and they all literally lived happily ever after. (Trying to wrap my head around that one, but…well, after what Houghton did, how can I say that it can’t work?)
The story doesn’t end there, though. The older Barratt man was also a widower, and he decided he wanted the girls’ aunt!
I have to say that I’m truly enjoying reading both their journals. Jude, the girls’ aunt, was wounded before coming to Finley Creek and struggled to walk and faced daily pain. I have to say I’m definitely identifying with her. (Physical therapy did not go well today!)
I want to explore who she was. By the time she was a year older than I am now, she was widowed with four daughters. I can’t imagine how frightening life must have been for her back then.
I can’t help but look around at what her family has built since then.
Houghton wants me to rewrite the journals into a novel form. Just to see what happens.
Even if I never publish it, I think it will be fun. A good way to practice writing romances–I used to write horror when I was younger–and I think it’ll be something fun for him. Fitting that my first romance be about his family, right?
And I’m a Barratt now, too.
Anyway, I’m putting the chapters up here on my blog. Take a look and tell me what you think. I’m really trying to capture a historical voice.
Brynna’s over in her office, finally. She should stay there for a while. We both have a lot of work to do.
Gabby may come over later. I need to call her and confirm. If she is, I may call Dad and get the girls over here.
We can have dinner out by the pool. It’s unseasonally warm today (not that that matters, the pool is heated and enclosed!) and I want to celebrate.
Carrie is supposed to call soon, too. Something about coming down for Dad’s birthday next week. Though I don’t think she should.
She’s weeks away from delivering, after all.
Not that I can talk any sense into her. She’s as stubborn as Brynna sometimes.
Seems like stubbornness is a real Beck trait, after all.
