"Love in the Great Pine Woods" by Gratiana Lovelace (2015-2016) (Completed)

Ch. 02 (PG-13, S): Tessa's Reclamation Project

"Love in the Great Pine Woods", Ch. 02 (PG-13, S): Tessa's Reclamation Project, November 24, 2015 by Gratiana Lovelace (Post#833)
(An original story copyrighted by Gratiana Lovelace; all rights reserved) [(1) story cover, left]

[From time to time, I will illustrate my story characters with: Richard Armitage as Sam Wakeforest, Marcia Gay Harden as Sam's older sister Tessa Wakeforest Shoop Delaney, and Emily Deschanel as Tessa's sister-in-law Olivia Delaney, and others as noted.]

Authors Content Note: "Love in the Great Pine Woods" is a mature love story with dramatic themes of love and relationships. It will mostly be at the PG and PG-13 movie levels. Specific chapters or passages may have a further rating of: L for language, D for dramatic emotions, and S for sensual themes. And I will rate the chapters accordingly. If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings that I provide for a chapter, then please do not read that chapter. This is my disclaimer. And as is my habit, I will summarize the previous chapter's events at the beginning of the next chapter.

Authors Recap from the Previous Chapter: Sam Wakeforest was having a perfectly lovely Tuesday walk in his woods on Wakeforest Mountain this 1955 week of Thanksgiving when two idiot vacationers interrupted his idyll by their using a chainsaw to cut down a younger 15 foot tree for their XMAS tree in the old growth forest sanctuary. Sam was seriously displeased to have trespassers on his land and killing his tree--as his two rifle shots to alert his brothers of trouble were evidence of. After Kevin, Todd, and William Wakeforest showed up, Sam writes the idiots $100 citation tickets each--in his capacity as a county forestry agent. And Sam confiscated the idiots chainsaws and axes. Then after carefully moving the bird's nest in the compromised tree, the Wakeforest brothers finish felling the now dead tree to take it to the orphanage on Wednesday.They will also see the children for the family friendly activities at the Wakeforest Family XMAS Tree farm when it opens on Friday. Their newly remarried last year sister Tessa Wakeforest Shoop Delaney marshals the refreshments as the doyenne of their family. Sam is the only one yet to be married in their extended family--except for one other--and Tessa is determined to help him out with that.

"Love in the Great Pine Woods", Ch. 2 (PG-13, S): "Tessa's Reclamation Project"

Down in the valley at the town of Wakeforest that same Tuesday afternoon after her morning shift at the Wakeforest Orphanage, Olivia Marie Delaney is minding her own business looking over some new lace edged embroidered linen hankies at the Wakeforest General Store--a kind of grocery, hardware, and clothing emporium for the county--when her musings are interrupted by her sister-in-law Tessa Wakeforest Shoop Delaney who sneaks up on her.

Tessa: "Olivia, if you buy one more linen hankie, I'm going to confiscate them all and make quilts for the poor." She teases.

Olivia: Startled, Oliva flinches. "Tessa, you scared me. Where did you come from?" Olivia holds her hand to her chest just below her neck. Of course, it goes without saying that her chest is completely covered up to her neck--even if it weren't nearly winter.

However, Tessa is stylishly turned out in a taupe colored dressy day frock, her having just come from a county business women's luncheon [(2)]. Tessa has a small dress shop where ladies may purchase stylish clothes rather than having to go to the big city. Tessa established her ladies dress shop, Elle, out of sheer need five years ago when she returned home to Wakeforest to live and found no suitable ladies dress shops within a 60 mile area.

Tessa: "The County Business Women's luncheon at the Grand Hotel." I smile. "And every woman there was wearing an outfit from my store." I preen. Granted, there were only ten ladies at today's luncheon, but we are growing our women owned business numbers through micro loans from the bank and mentoring programs to women who would like to become entrepreneurs.