<< Go Back

Lucinda's Mountain: Book #1 of the Lucinda Harmon Saga (Volume 1)

By Adda Leah Davis

Order Now!

"What is wrong with you? Are you stupid or just don't know how to drive? You almost ran over me!" shouted Lucinda as she pulled herself up from the mud hole. Still clutching her bag of groceries, she looked down in horror at her new blue dress. It was the prettiest dress she'd ever had. Now it was covered with muddy water and splotches of dirty brown mud.
Lucinda's eyes focused on the once shiny but now mud-speckled Chevrolet car and the tall, glaring, young man standing beside it.
"What the devil were you doing walking in the middle of the road on a curve?" he yelled. "If I had hit you it would serve you right."
She stared in hurt amazement as he suddenly began laughing.
"You look like you've been mud wrestling. Here,let me wipe some of that off your face," he said, starting toward her with a large white handkerchief.
Having difficulty breathing, Lucinda hadn't said a word after recognizing him. This was the man who had offered her a ride two weeks ago and had lived in her daydreams since then. Now he was laughing and making fun of her. Anger took over just as he stretched out his hand with the handkerchief. She slapped his hand away.
"Don't do me any favors, mister! That won't ease your guilty conscience. Just look at my dress. It's ruined!"
She looked down and gasped in red-faced embarrassment because now the dress clung like a wet, muddy sheath. blatantly revealing every curve in her body. Lucinda looked up and in angry humiliation shrieked, "What are you doing on this road anyway?"
"Trying to meet pretty girls," teased the man, while his eyes lingered on her clinging dress. Seeing where his eyes were directed, Lucinda dropped her head. Muddy water ran down her face and dripped from her hair. She tried to control her urge to cry as he now wet grocery bag began to fall apart.
The driver, who had been boldly looking at her body, pulled his attention back to the problem and said, "I'm sorry. I'll get you another dress."
"Get me another dress!" blurted Lucinda raising her head to glare in astonishment, "No, you won't. I don't know you."
"Well, I can fix that. I'm the new doctor for Bradshaw-Jason McCall," he replied with a smile. "Now, can you tell me the young lady's name that needs the new dress?"
Seeing her dream man standing there smiling, she decided that she might as well tell him. She wouldn't have a chance with him anyway, but at least he would know her name. He was a
doctor, probably from some big city, and she was a backward little hillbilly who had just finished high school. Some hidden desire urged her to smile brilliantly from a rosy face, speckled with mud.
"I'm Lucinda Harmon. I'm sorry I was in the road, but everybody walks through the middle when nothing is coming. I just didn't hear your car."
Jason offered the handkerchief again. "Here Lucinda Harmon, wipe your face, doctor's orders. I'm afraid you may get that muck into those beautiful blue eyes."
Lucinda was now standing rigidly, still on the edge of the mud hole, her dress heavy with mud. She reached for the handkerchief at the very moment that the grocery bag finally gave way. In her desperate attempt to snatch some of the items, she lost her balance and fell again. More embarrassed than ever, she began scrambling up from the dirt and lingering muck. As she put her weight on her right foot she immediately crumpled to the ground yelping in pain.
"Sit still, you clumsy girl, before you break something," said the doctor in exasperation. He grimaced in disgust, but stepped into the mud, bent down, and began to work each foot.
When he moved her right foot, Lucinda winced. "Ouch, don't be so rough," she grumbled in an attempt to keep from crying. She gulped and tried to smile as the doctor finished his examination and rose to his feet.
"Well, it isn't broken but badly sprained. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I guess I'll have to carry you to the car."
"No you won't," Lucinda protested as she was scooped up and carried toward the car. "I can't ride in your car."
"Well, I don't see why not. I'm not about to make passionate love to a crippled mud wrestler," he replied, grinning broadly.
Nobody had ever mentioned passion or love to Lucinda before and she didn't know what to say. She decided to ignore it and questioned, "What about my groceries? I can't leave them and I don't have another bag."
"First things first,". After easing her legs around without causing too much pain, the doctor proceeded to gather the groceries and place them in the trunk.
Getting back in the car Jason sat looking at her. "You're a very pretty girl, mud and all. How old are you? I first thought about twelve until I saw all those curves and changed my mind." Not waiting for her to answer, he continued, "You're not very big. Let's see, about five-foot-two, 110 pounds, blue eyes, blonde hair, and dimples." He said all this as his eyes traveled leisurely over her body. "Yes, you are definitely a very pretty girl."
Lucinda sat shocked and staring in amazement. Here was a grown man, a good looking man, talking to her of passion and love plus telling her she was curvy and pretty. "I'd better get out of this car. I'll bet he's the kind of man Mommy warned us about," she thought. She grasped the handle and opened the door.
"What are you doing? You can't walk on that foot. Shut that door so I can take you home. Jason reached across her to close the door, making her quake in terror. When he heard her frightened squeak, he stared in unbelief.
"Don't look at me like I'm an axe murderer. I'm not going to hurt you, you silly girl. I'm just going to take you home." Seeing her visibly relax, he smiled. "All set. I need directions, please. I assume somewhere at the bottom of this hill."
"Go left at the bottom of the hill, the second farm," mumbled a very subdued and embarrassed Lucinda.
Thus, Lucinda arrived home in a car driven by the man who had lived in her dreams for over two weeks, but what a fiasco reality was. A muddy bedraggled girl with a sprained ankle hadn't impressed this big city doctor with his once shiny new car. By the time they pulled up in front of the house, Lucinda had resigned herself to the adage of "all dreams have to end" and this was the end of her dream.
Lucinda's mother, Nancy6 Harmon, came onto the porch to see hwo had arrived. Not many of their guests came in cars. Seeing Lucinda being carried from a fancy car, Nancy hurried out to hold open the gate as the doctor, black bag and all stepped through and strode up the walk. He climbed the steps onto the porch with Lucinda held firmly in his arms. Although Lucinda had protested about being carried, she was secretly thrilled to be carried by this handsome city doctor.

Order Now!

<< Go Back