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Inspiring Voices - Cote Single Irene

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119 pages

English

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Odile Jalbert never dreamed, at age fifteen, that her father would arrange a marriage for her and that her future would hold so many challenges and changes. As her family grows, so does her faith and strength as she embarks on her lifes journey. After a tragedy strikes her family, she finds herself in a new country, learning a new language and reuniting with other family members.Her eldest daughter, Alice, learns to adjust to her new life in a strange land. When she falls in love and begins her own family, her faith becomes tested amid hard work and unbelievable losses. These two women find perseverance and endurance to withstand lifes hardships and learn unconditional love in the process.

Sujets

Historical fiction

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Publié par	Inspiring Voices
Date de parution	14 août 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781462410255
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0240€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Copyright © 2014 Irene Cote Single.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1 (866) 697-5313

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-1024-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-1025-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014912892

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 8/11/2014
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Prologue

Chapter One The Beginning
Chapter Two The Baby
Chapter Three The Storm
Chapter Four The Search
Chapter Five The Return
Chapter Six A New Country
Chapter Seven Alice Begins Work
Chapter Eight Newcomer
Chapter Nine Birthday
Chapter Ten Alice And Napoleon
Chapter Eleven Family Gatherings
Chapter Twelve Winter In Maine
Chapter Thirteen Alice’s Wedding Day
Chapter Fourteen Her Firstborn
Chapter Fifteen Odile Visits: 1927
Chapter Sixteen Edgar Is Born: 1927
Chapter Seventeen Canning
Chapter Eighteen School Days
Chapter Nineteen Alice’s Illness
Chapter Twenty Edgar: 1931
Chapter Twenty-One Summer Of 1933
Chapter Twenty-Two Potatoes: 1938
Chapter Twenty-Three Young Roland: 1939
Chapter Twenty-Four 1940
Chapter Twenty-Five War: 1941–1943
Chapter Twenty-Six Christmas: 1943
Chapter Twenty-Seven 1944: One Last Pregnancy
Chapter Twenty-Eight Fire Of 1947
Chapter Twenty-Nine Petu, The Neighbor: 1948
Chapter Thirty Spring 1949

About The Author

This book is dedicated to my mom, Juliette A. Cote; her grandparents, parents, and siblings who inspired me; and to God for giving me life and the desire to write this story.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A great big thank you to my husband, Bill, and daughter, Amber, for your support and encouragement in all the time it took to interview family and to finally pull everything together. I love you both dearly.
Thank you to my sister-in-law Jean who edited parts of my manuscript along the way and supported this venture in many ways.
Thank you to all my teachers, including the on-line and writing conference ones who taught me so much about writing. Eva Shaw and Dale Slongwhite, you are the best and I thank you for your confidence in me.
A special thank you goes to Sr. Helene Cote, PM, my spiritual director and friend, who believes in me and prayed with and for me for more than nine years.
Thank you to all my family and friends. You are too numerous to mention but I want to say I appreciate you all and love you with all my heart. Thanks for being part of my life and encouraging me to finish this project.
Thank you to Inspiring Voices for giving me the chance to publish my first book. You have been a great help in all aspects of publishing.
PREFACE
Dear Reader,
Several years ago I began my research about my mother’s mother and grandmother and their families. I have been intrigued with the story of Mom’s mother and maternal grandmother and wanted to write about them to pass on to the next generation. What I didn’t realize is that it takes many interviews and many hours of research to accomplish this task. Also, in my effort to be as accurate as possible, it has sometimes become more of a burden than enjoyment.
Before I began these interviews, we had lost a few of my aunts and uncles, and since then, we have lost several more and, with them, some of their stories and memories. For this I am deeply saddened. I wish I had begun this task earlier; however, I cannot go back so I will move forward.
In the pages ahead, I have factual information interspersed with my fictional dialogue and scenes, through which I have hope to achieve as close a resemblance to the events as possible. Obviously I was not yet born during this time, so I have had to use “poetic license” to fill in unknown information. Some names were made up as it’s impossible to know the names of all those who were part of my great-grandmother’s and my grandmother’s lives.
I am extremely grateful to my mother and her siblings who willingly shared their memories with me and passed down stories they recalled. I am grateful to the Lord for placing me in a large family with our varied personalities, sense of humor, sense of duty to care for one another, and lessons on forgiveness for our human weaknesses. Life can never be perfect; however, I am thankful for the lessons of faith in a God and His Son, our Savior, who loves all of us in the midst of our sinfulness and wayward lives. We have the ability to rise above our circumstances with grace from our almighty Father.
As a famous, yet anonymous, quote says, “The secret to life is not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you.” As long as we learn from our mistakes, our trials and tribulations, then nothing is ever wasted or in vain. Often in looking back at the trials and triumphs of those who have come before us, we find a source of strength and understanding and even perhaps some answers about our own selves. I thank you for joining me on this journey.
Irene Cote Single, 2014
PROLOGUE
Snow swirled around Octave in the strongest storm he had witnessed in several years. Large flakes landed on his hat and jacket, coating him in white and molding him into the landscape around him. Fear gripped him as he searched his surroundings for something familiar. He had finished cutting as much wood as he could fit on his sled and hadn’t noticed the intensity of the storm building around him. His focus was on getting wood to keep his family warm before that precious wood was buried too deep to access later. Now his eyelashes were covered with icy particles, and the path he had taken with his horse and sled had disappeared from view. It was dark and he couldn’t make out which direction to turn. He hoped his dependable horse, Samson, would instinctively know.
Traveling between the trees, Samson plodded along with the heavy load and his passenger. Another eight inches of snow had fallen since Octave had left, which made the trek exasperatingly slow. His patience was running thin and he yanked on the reins and yelled to Samson above the sound of the howling wind. Octave envisioned his young wife pleading with him not to go out in this storm. Her pretty brown eyes showed fear that he hadn’t seen since their wedding night.
He replayed their last conversation in his mind. Odile fervently pleaded with him, “Octave, it’s too windy and it’s snowing too hard. What if it strengthens? You won’t be able to see two feet in front of you. Please don’t go out in this storm. Wait until morning. We will be fine until then.”
Octave had responded, “The wood will be buried deep and then I won’t be able to get to it. What then, Odile? I must go out so we can keep the house and the children warm. I will be fine.” He patted her cheek with his hand and smiled. His young children had looked at him with sad eyes as he’d bundled up to brace against the cold. …
Suddenly the sled jolted and Octave realized Samson and the sled had picked up speed on the decline of a small hill. His heart quickened as he desperately held on to the reins and hollered to Samson. The poor horse seemed as anxious to get home as Octave was, but the heavy load behind him could barrel into him if he didn’t keep the same pace. Drifts, six feet high in some places, hid the dangers beneath the snow, and Octave felt the right runner catch on something solid as Samson made a turn in the bend—or what looked like a bend. Octave wasn’t sure.
As though in slow motion, Octave felt the sled rise as he slid down the left side and let go of the reins. His body slammed into the snow-covered ground as the load of wood shifted, causing the sled to tip over and land on Octave’s legs, pinning him in place. He felt something else land beside him, and he reached out and touched the fabric. He pulled the wool blanket over him and yelled for help. He knew it was fruitless but he felt better doing it. No one else would be foolish enough to be outside in this storm.
His thoughts raced. It’s so cold. What am I going to do now? Lord, please help me. Send someone out to find me, Lord. How will Odile manage without me? I can’t die out here in the cold. What a foolish man I am. I should have listened to her. She is wiser than I am. I don’t even know where I am, how far away from home. How can anyone find me even if Odile could leave the house and get help? She can’t leave four little children home alone, and she doesn’t know which direction I went. I only told her I would be near the logging road, but then I went further than that and now … I have no idea where I am.
Octave yelled out to Samson and he heard his whinny, just barely. Samson couldn’t move because he was still tied to the sled. Octave tried to dig the snow out from underneath himself with his gloved hands so he could slide out from the weight of the sled. The blizzard continued its fury around him as he struggled to get loose. Sharp pa