The Haunting of Autumn Lake (27 page)

Ryan called me one last time before he “shipped out.” It was then that I told him about Kevin—and that we were getting married. And do you know what Ryan’s reaction was? He congratulated me. He sincerely congratulated me. He asked to talk to Kevin, telling him what a special person he was marrying and that he was truly happy for us, again proving himself to be a man above men—a hero of my heart.

I still miss Ryan—I always will. And I hope for a day when I can thank him for his friendship and for what he taught me about people—to look beyond the shell to the pearl inside, to worry less about “me” and more about “you.” He’s a piece of the puzzle of my heart. One of the clearest pictures that still lingers in my mind is Ryan Clems’s friendly face and that mischievous, roguish grin I adored.

So you see, though I don’t know who taught Vaden Valmont this particular lesson (I think it was just a gift she was born with), I’m akin to her in this way too—in my endeavor to see a person’s soul—who they really, truly are—and not just what they may appear to be.

See? See how many reasons there are for me not wanting to write anything close to a sequel of
The Visions of Ransom Lake
? And that’s just scratching the surface! I could go on for days, listing the reasons my knees would begin to knock with terror anytime someone suggested the idea.

I mean, just the other day when I was at lunch with some friends (it was at Red Lobster, and I ate too many shrimp with butter and alfredo and gained two pounds) and was telling them about the sequel I was writing and how nervous I was about it, my friend said, “Well, yeah! Ransom Lake? That’s a hard man to follow!”

Cha-ching! Exactly! Handsome Ransom? Who wants to try and measure up to that man, right?

So why did I do it? Why did I go ahead and write a sequel-ish story? Well, I’ll tell you—one part desperation and two parts inspiration! And I’m not kidding.

Autumn was coming up. I was working on a different book—one that had been picking at my brain for over a year and was kind of driving me batty. But I felt I was forcing it. And most importantly, I wasn’t enjoying it at all. Not at all! I would literally sit at my desk for hours at a time, trying and trying and trying to write and just resenting it the whole time. Yes, sometimes authors do get in those bad funks. And I was definitely in one.

After thinking about it for a while, wondering why I was just hating writing, it finally occurred to me that it was because I was afraid I wasn’t going to enjoy autumn! Summer had been very, very, very stressful. I wasn’t feeling very well, and my son had gotten married, and although that was a wonderful, beautiful blessing, it was very stressful. There were concerns about some of our family members struggling with different trials, and
The Trove of the Passion Room
presented a myriad of challenges and was very, very late being released. (That in itself nearly sent me to the loony bin!) And then, there was a tragedy in the life of a family we are very close to. My children were born and grew up with the kids in this family, and the parents are dear, dear, close friends of mine and Kevin’s. A baby was born prematurely and died three weeks later. It was devastating to the family and the young couple who had lost their first child. There was a viewing and funeral, and to say it as quickly as I can, I was a mess! I couldn’t think, I couldn’t concentrate, and when I finally did get back to work, I was not enjoying it.

Well, one night, as I was lying in bed resenting the fact that autumn was nearly upon me and I was going to miss it because I’d gotten so behind with everything after such a stressful summer, I began to pray. (I often do that when I’m a wreck. Don’t you?) I began to explain that I just needed some help, something to spur me on, and…WHAM! It hit me, all at once. The whole, entire story, all at once! It was so quick and fast and furious that I had to hop out of bed at eleven o’clock at night and outline
The Haunting of Autumn Lake
.

I’m not exaggerating! I was up for hours outlining and jotting down scenes ideas, character qualities, and—most important to me in that moment—descriptions of all the things I love about autumn!

I truly believe that if I’d had the stamina, I could’ve pounded out the entire book in one 72-hour writing marathon. It was that clear in my mind. In fact, the story was clearer in those moments than it was the further and further I got into writing it over the next few weeks.

Now, the stress of worrying about how a sequel to
The Visions of Ransom Lake
would be received by friends and readers was still eating at me. But somehow I just kept telling myself, “Well, as long as it’s not as bad as
Rocky V
…as long as it’s as good as
Back to the Future III
…then I’ll be okay. As long as the reader enjoys the romance and beauty of autumn, I can live with it.” That’s how I kept myself from freaking out about writing this little sequel.

Having said that, I really do hope you enjoyed it! I know it’s not
The Visions of Ransom Lake
—but nothing ever will be, right? I just hope you enjoyed seeing Ransom and Vaden still so in love after so many years. I hope that listening to the sounds of autumn and letting the cool, crisp harvest breeze soothe your anxieties gave you respite. I hope that you have more pumpkins on your porch in October and November—to make you smile and feel Autumn and Vaden’s joy where Jethro is concerned. I hope you could smell the sweet cinnamon and apple aroma of Vaden’s kitchen, that you could almost taste her delicious apple fruit rolls as you sat before a crackling fire. I just hope that
The Haunting of Autumn Lake
was the desperately needed escape for you that it was for me. I needed it! I needed it more than even I knew. And I hope you really did enjoy it.

Now, not to ruin my overuse of the words hope and enjoy—but it was suggested to me that I include some other little ditties in this Author’s Note—a few other things that might help you to bathe in the beauty of my favorite season!

First, how about a couple of Vaden’s recipes? Yep, that’s right! Vaden’s apple fruit rolls are real. And, as with everything Marcia-ish, there
is
a story behind them.

On October 4, 1939, my dad turned six years old. For his birthday that year, his mother (my grandmother) made something a little different for the celebration. She’d found a new recipe in a rural newspaper, and it must’ve sounded good. Actually, why don’t I just paste in my dad’s little ditty about this? I e-mailed him the other day to make sure I had the story right, and he e-mailed this as his response:

Yep, if you do the math, my dad is seventy-eight this year and has had my grandma’s apple fruit rolls nearly every year for his birthday since he was six. That’s seventy-two years!

Naturally, his mom didn’t always make them for him. Once my dad and mom were married, my mom took over the tradition. And I have to tell you that Grandma’s apple fruit rolls (we called them apple dumplings when I was growing up too) have been, and always will be, my favorite apple dessert. They are scrumptious! Delicious! Sublime! (Okay, I don’t want to build them up too much and then have you be disappointed because your expectations were so high.) I love them. My kids love them. I make them every autumn—over and over and over—and we love them at any temperature. They’re really great warm, but I actually love them cold, right out of the fridge for breakfast too.

And so, here’s the apple fruit roll recipe as Vaden made it.

Apple Fruit Rolls
(From my grandmother—Zilpha Maude Hershner Ankrum Reed Hutchens)

Dough:

Apples:

Syrup:

Another recipe mentioned in
The Haunting of Autumn Lake
is fried apples, potatoes, and onions. Now the first time my mom ever suggested I make this recipe, my reaction was, “Are you kidding me?” But you will
love
the combination, even if it does sound a little weird. Fried apples, potatoes, and onions is one of Ransom’s favorite dishes Vaden makes. Maybe your hero will like it too!

Fried Potatoes, Apples, and Onions
(From my mother—Patsy Christine States Reed)

4 large potatoes (peeled and sliced about ¼-inch thickness)

2 large apples (peeled and sliced about ¼-inch thickness)

1 medium onion (finely chopped)

Butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in large electric skillet. Layer potato slices, salt and pepper, apple slices, and onion slices, and then repeat until all ingredients are in skillet. Fry potatoes, apples, and onions together in butter, salt, and pepper, covered—occasionally and
carefully
turning with a pancake turner until tender and potatoes are nicely browning.

The third recipe I’m going to share with you is my mom’s caramel apple recipe. It’s another great one, and though I prefer to use this recipe as an apple dip (less messy than caramel apples), it’s delicious either way. (Once you’ve tasted it, you’ll see why Gentry and Autumn got so caught up in their caramel-apple kisses. Hey, try it on your own man this autumn! Wink, wink!)

I love autumn! It’s the season of my soul—apples, pumpkins, the glorious cottonwoods changing their leaves to deep yellow to create that glowing ribbon of gold along the Rio Grande. I love the scents in the air, the color of the sky, the tiny nip of frost in the early morning. I love Ransom Lake too, and I love his daughter, Autumn. She understands me in so many ways, just the way her mother does. And as for Gentry James? Well, he’s as heroic and handsome as any hero there ever was—truly! And furthermore, you gotta love those dimples!