Shenandoah Neighbors

A grief-stricken young Confederate widow, Ella Ruth Owen only wants to hide at home and wait to die. Her parents need her to make a pretty appearance in Yankee social circles so her father can recover his business interests. They pressure her to abandon black mourning clothing and make conciliatory visits with her mother to Yankee woman newly arrived in Charlottesville with their carpet-bagger husbands.Physician and surgeon Alexander Marshall carries deep guilt that he was away at war tending wounded soldiers when his fiancée died of a fever. Lacking a future, it doesn't matter to him that the army sends him to the hinterlands of Virginia to work at a new hospital.Ella Ruth's arguments with her parents bring on debilitating headaches. Momma arranges for her to be seen by a physician at the new hospital--dismissing the fact that it's a convalescence facility for Union soldiers.The appearance in his office of a haunted young woman banishes Alex's lethargy. Her claim of surgical experience shocks and intrigues him. How best can he cure her headaches? Can he figure out a way to use her skills? Will Ella Ruth's resistance to a growing attraction to the doctor ever soften? That cannot happen until she is Mended by Moonlight.Mended by Moonlight is best enjoyed if read after the Owen Family Saga novel, Gone for a Soldier. Marsha Ward was born in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up with chickens, citrus trees, and lots of room to roam. She began telling stories at a very early age, regaling neighborhood chums with her tales over homemade sugar cookies and milk. Her love of 19th Century Western history was reinforced by visits to her cousins on their ranch and listening to her father's stories of homesteading in Old Mexico and in the Tucson area.Over the years, Marsha became an award-winning poet, writer and editor, with over 900 pieces of published work. She is the founder of American Night Writers Association and a member of Western Writers of America, Indie Author Hub, and Arizona Professional Writers. She makes her home in a tiny forest hamlet in Arizona. When she is not writing, she loves to give talks, meet readers, and sign books. Historical, romantic companion adventures to The Owen Family Saga.

Ned Heizer has just released his betrothed from her promise to marry him. He knows she's in good hands that are not his own.But if he carries out his intention to backtrack their trail, to ride toward Raton Pass where he last saw the Mormon wagon party, he'll be leaving behind his brother and his friends to go in search of an unknown future.Is he mistaken in his belief that Maggie Julander is the girl for him? If the feeling like lightning that passed between them is any indication, he's on the right road, unless she didn't have the same experience.A Shenandoah Neighbors Story that puts Ned in a situation where he must make an informed choice and take risks for his hope of happiness.*Mormon religious beliefs play a large part in this story.* Marsha Ward was born in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up with chickens, citrus trees, and lots of room to roam. She began telling stories at a very early age, regaling neighborhood chums with her tales over homemade sugar cookies and milk. Her love of 19th Century Western history was reinforced by visits to her cousins on their ranch and listening to her father's stories of homesteading in Old Mexico and in the Tucson area.Over the years, Marsha became an award-winning poet, writer and editor, with over 900 pieces of published work. She is the founder of American Night Writers Association and a member of Western Writers of America, Indie Author Hub, and Arizona Professional Writers. She makes her home in a tiny forest hamlet in Arizona. When she is not writing, she loves to give talks, meet readers, and sign books. Historical, romantic companion adventures to The Owen Family Saga.

August 1867: Civil War widow Charity Bingham has turned her back on the past in Virginia, and now she bakes and oversees the meals in the Albuquerque House Hotel in the town she has adopted. Her daughters are married, and she looks forward to a quiet life of doing her job and playing with her growing brood of grandchildren.Pedro Chaves drowns in grief due to his wife's death. The only solace he finds is in prayer. Then the ghost of an Anglo soldier repeatedly interrupts his prayers with an outrageous demand. Pedro's priest says God must want him to make a sacrifice, and sends him, against his will, to beg la señora Bingham to marry him. If God and the ghost of the widow's husband want Pedro to give the woman his name and his protection, perhaps he can learn to live with the situation.Charity's heart reacts when Pedro rides into town. She knows he's a married man; she should have no interest in him. They only met because his family gave her family shelter from a blizzard. Then he proposes a marriage of convenience, telling her about his loss and the pesky ghost. Not thinking too much about the risks, Charity agrees to marry him.Trouble begins on the journey to Pedro's rancho when Charity yearns for him to honor his vows. All of them. Soon, he desires to do so, but they aren't alone. Charity's teenage son travels with them.A sensual story of two mature people whose wedding takes place in a hurry, but whose romancing will take a bit longer.Can be read anytime, or after Trail of Storms. Marsha Ward was born in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up with chickens, citrus trees, and lots of room to roam. She began telling stories at a very early age, regaling neighborhood chums with her tales over homemade sugar cookies and milk. Her love of 19th Century Western history was reinforced by visits to her cousins on their ranch and listening to her father's stories of homesteading in Old Mexico and in the Tucson area.Over the years, Marsha became an award-winning poet, writer and editor, with over 900 pieces of published work. She is the founder of American Night Writers Association and a member of Western Writers of America, Indie Author Hub, and Arizona Professional Writers. She makes her home in a tiny forest hamlet in Arizona. When she is not writing, she loves to give talks, meet readers, and sign books. Historical, romantic companion adventures to The Owen Family Saga.

Rida Owen didn't know married life on the Colorado frontier could be so difficult. Nothing in her Catholic upbringing prepared her for long, lonely nights when her husband, Bert, goes drinking. And womanizing. And then comes home to beat her.Her mother-in-law thinks she's stuck up when she doesn't participate in homestead washday. Rida only wants to hide her bruises and preserve her marriage.Then a neighbor from her past stops to say hello and reveals a secret of his own.A Shenandoah Neighbors story that reveals a dark corner of the Owen Family universe. Marsha Ward was born in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up with chickens, citrus trees, and lots of room to roam. She began telling stories at a very early age, regaling neighborhood chums with her tales over homemade sugar cookies and milk. Her love of 19th Century Western history was reinforced by visits to her cousins on their ranch and listening to her father's stories of homesteading in Old Mexico and in the Tucson area.Over the years, Marsha became an award-winning poet, writer and editor, with over 900 pieces of published work. She is the founder of American Night Writers Association and a member of Western Writers of America, Indie Author Hub, and Arizona Professional Writers. She makes her home in a tiny forest hamlet in Arizona. When she is not writing, she loves to give talks, meet readers, and sign books. Historical, romantic companion adventures to The Owen Family Saga.

Isabelle Gilbert chafes against the restrictions that Victorian life puts on a young lady.Forced to accept a betrothal to Percival Egmont, an English ex-patriot like her father, she is disturbed by his passion for prize-fighting-and other pursuits. And what if Mama spots the bruise on her cheek?Then shared secrets perplex Isabelle even more.A "Shenandoah Neighbors" story that extends the Owen Family universe, Bloodied Leather opens a new era for this popular family saga. Marsha Ward was born in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up with chickens, citrus trees, and lots of room to roam. She began telling stories at a very early age, regaling neighborhood chums with her tales over homemade sugar cookies and milk. Her love of 19th Century Western history was reinforced by visits to her cousins on their ranch and listening to her father's stories of homesteading in Old Mexico and in the Tucson area.Over the years, Marsha became an award-winning poet, writer and editor, with over 900 pieces of published work. She is the founder of American Night Writers Association and a member of Western Writers of America, Indie Author Hub, and Arizona Professional Writers. She makes her home in a tiny forest hamlet in Arizona. When she is not writing, she loves to give talks, meet readers, and sign books. Historical, romantic companion adventures to The Owen Family Saga.