Jewel

Chapter One

Grayson Grove
Cass County, Michigan
May 3, 1881

Surrounded by the Eden-like green of the countryside, Eli Grayson drove his horse-drawn wagon down the bumpy road toward town. Towering trees wearing the first fresh leaves of spring lined his passage and drew the eye up to a cloudless blue sky. Birdsongs filled his ears while the warmth of the early May breeze made the harsh raw winds of winter just a memory.

Eventually the road led out of the trees and into the sunlight and the landscape gave way to meadows filled with blooming wildflowers spread out like God's opened paint box. Taking in the beautiful vista, Eli knew of no other place he'd rather be than Grayson Grove. It was established in the 1830s by his grandparents who'd come from Carolina to what was then the Michigan Territory. Armed with their freedom papers and money enough to purchase land, courtesy of their dead master's will, they and the thirty other freed slaves who'd accompanied them founded the settlement Eli's grandmother Dorcas christened Grayson Grove.

Over the years the number of Grove residents had i ... read full excerpt from: Jewel ebook