When Robins Weep: The Christmas Tree Lady, 104,694 words, 392 pages (paperback)

A happenstance encounter between an Appalachian mountain girl and a Florida developer embarks them on a romantic relationship.

An excerpt from Chapter 6:
He hadn’t expected to see the old, white ford truck pulled over on the side of the road. He saw the rear left tire was flat and had no intention of stopping to help, until he saw a girl pulling a jack from the back of the truck. As he passed her up, it felt like something had jerked him by the neck. He pulled into a wide spot, turned around, and went back.
He got out and walked to the truck where she was squatting on the ground trying to fit the screw jack under the axle. He opened his mouth to ask if he could be of assistance. When she looked up, the words stuck in his throat. She was the girl in his dreams. The one he had waited on forever. Her eyes were full of something that wouldn’t let him look away. He just stood there and stared down at her without saying a word.
“I’ve never changed a flat before,” she said.
“I have, several years back,” he told her.
“You’re the only one that’s stopped to help me.”
“I’m glad.”
He bent down and took the jack from her hand and his finger touched her skin. His body felt it, and he silently cursed himself as reality hit. This girl was a child, hardly older than his own daughter. He had no business feeling what he just felt. Still, the feeling thrilled him, for it had been a long time absent.
He fitted the jack under the axle. She remained beside him. He smelled her perfume. It was delicate and reminded him of soap. Another whiff and he realized it wasn’t perfume at all. It was soap. His eyes went to her left hand. She was wearing a plain, cheap looking ring, but he wasn’t sure if it was a wedding band. It could have come from a cracker-jack box.
“You married?” He tried to sound off handed in his question.
She looked at his left hand and shrugged her shoulders. “Kinda.”
“How can you be kinda married?”
“I had a husband for twenty-four hours.”
“Divorced?”
“Nope.”
“Widowed?”
“Not that I’ve been told.”
He remembered the war and came up with the right conclusion. “War bride?”
“Yeah.”
“Married him the day before he shipped out?”
“Yeah.”
“Did it make you happy?”
She shrugged her shoulders again, looking at the lug nut he was trying to loosen. “Reckon it made him happy.”
He didn’t stop the small laugh. He had intended to, but hadn’t caught it in time.

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