The Secrets of Paper and Ink - Softcover

Harrel, Lindsay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0718075722 ISBN 13: 9780718075729

Publisher: Thomas Nelson, 2019

Synopsis

Brought together across time by a love of story, three women in England fight to defy expectations, dream new dreams, and welcome love into their lives.  

As a counselor, Sophia Barrett is trained to help people cope with their burdens. But when she meets a new patient whose troubles mirror her own, she realizes she hasn’t dealt with the pain of her recent past. After making a snap decision to get away for the summer, Sophia moves overseas to an apartment above a charming bookstore in Cornwall, England. She is hopeful she will find peace there surrounded by her favorite thing: great literature. 

Bookstore owner Ginny Rose is desperate to save her business without asking for help from a husband who’s decided to take a break from their marriage. Ginny never imagined she’d be solely responsible for keeping afloat her husband’s dream, but the unexpected friendship with her new renter has her feeling more optimistic. Between the two of them—and Ginny’s brother-in-law, William—the bookstore might stand a chance. 

Then Sophia finds a notebook in the bookstore that contains journal entries from Emily Fairfax, a governess who lived in Cornwall more than 150 years ago. Sophia learns that Emily harbored a secret passion for becoming an authoress—as well as a deep love for her childhood friend, Edward, whose station she dared not dream to touch. 

Eager to know more of Emily’s story, Sophia goes on a quest—dragging Ginny and William with her—to discover the heart of the woman behind the beautiful entries. Soon Ginny’s need to save the bookstore becomes more than a way to save her marriage, and Sophia finds new purpose of her own. Together they find that sometimes both heartache and hope can reach across the centuries.  

"A historical mystery and sweet modern day story entwine to offer a message of healing, hope and second chances set in charming Cornwall." —Rachel Linden, author of The Enlightenment of Bees

“In a delightful weaving of past and present, Lindsay Harrel creates authentic characters around a moving story that both inspires and encourages. The Secrets of Paper and Ink is about broken people, second chances, hope, and—my personal favorite—the incredible power of story.” —Heidi Chiavaroli, Carol award-winning author of Freedom’s Ring and The Hidden Side

“In The Secrets of Paper and Ink, Lindsay Harrel explores the power of love—and how it influences us to make choices that bless others, as well as ourselves. Or sometimes, we can do just the opposite and make choices that harm us and others—all the while calling it love. Harrel pens an honest, true-to-life novel that’s woven through with the Truth that offers hope when our decisions—or the decisions of the ones we love—wreck our dreams for happily ever after.” —Beth K. Vogt, Christy-award winning author

About this title

About the Author

Lindsay Harrel is a lifelong book nerd who lives in Arizona with her young family and two golden retrievers in serious need of training. She’s held a variety of writing and editing jobs over the years and now juggles stay-at-home mommyhood with writing novels. When she’s not writing or chasing after her children, Lindsay enjoys making a fool of herself at Zumba, curling up with anything by Jane Austen, and savoring sour candy one piece at a time. Connect with her at LindsayHarrel.com.

 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Secrets of Paper and Ink

By Lindsay Harrel

Thomas Nelson

Copyright © 2019 Lindsay Harrel
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7180-7572-9

CHAPTER 1

SOPHIA

When life was busy, three months had a way of flurrying by.

But Sophia Barrett's last ninety-two days had passed in a drizzle of constant monotony. She'd spent them curled up napping on her leather couch, reading well-worn novels, and sitting in a slew of therapy sessions.

Thank goodness today was day ninety-three and she was finally standing in front of her office. She straightened her freshly pressed blazer, adjusted the strap of her laptop bag across her shoulder, and blew out a breath. At long last, a return to normalcy. Her trembling hand pulled on the large black door to Suite 608 and swung it open.

Sophia walked through the door and did her best to pretend like she was still the strong, confident woman whose mission in life was to help others through their pain.

The waiting room smelled like lavender as always, the view of downtown Phoenix from the window behind the secretary's desk remained unchanged, and the wall fountain to her right still had a way of soothing her nerves.

But something about being here felt different. Maybe it was simply Sophia who had changed.

Kristin's head popped up from the large, oak secretary desk. "You're back!" The intern unhooked her headset and rushed from behind the desk, throwing her arms around Sophia. "We've all missed you."

"I've missed being here." Sophia released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"You chopped your hair!" Kristin tilted her head and chewed her gum as she studied Sophia. "I love it."

"Thanks." Sophia reached up to tug at the shorter strands, which now barely reached her shoulders. David had always liked her hair long. "It was time for a change."

Kristin's smile turned sympathetic. She squeezed Sophia's shoulder. "Good to have you back. I know Dr. Beckman has been going crazy without you."

"I'm sure Joy has survived just fine."

"No, Joy has not. But that's beside the point."

Sophia turned to find her best friend standing in the hallway, hands on her hips. Joy Beckman stood at barely five feet tall, but what she lacked in height, she made up for in personality. From her blonde pixie haircut to her outlandish jewelry and bright-colored clothing, no one could accuse Joy of not being her own person. Sophia, on the other hand, was much more comfortable in her black pants and cream-colored blouse, perfectly content to not stand out.

But despite their differences and the nearly ten-year age gap between them, Joy was more friend and pseudo big sister to Sophia than a boss.

"Hey." Sophia leaned down to hug Joy. "It's not like it was my idea to sit at home for the last three months. You're the one who banished me."

Joy rolled her eyes. "Come on. I'll brief you on your schedule for today." The phone rang. "Kristin, can you get that, please?"

"Of course." Kristin scrambled back behind the desk and slid her headset on. "LifeSong Women's Counseling. How can I help you?"

Sophia followed Joy down the short hallway into her friend's office. She picked a photo off Joy's cluttered desk. "You got new pictures done." In the photo, a jubilant Joy sat surrounded by five dogs.

"I couldn't very well have a photo without Lion. He'd be offended." Joy took the photo from Sophia's hands and glanced at it briefly, a small smirk playing at the corner of her lips.

"Lion is a tiny, nine-year-old dog with one eye that you rescued in his old age. I think it would take a lot to offend him." Sophia plopped into the seat opposite Joy, who slid into the office chair behind her desk. "So, do you have any appointments scheduled for me today? I wasn't sure whether you decided to transition my former clients back to me or keep them with Veronica." Though she'd seen her outside the office several times a week, Joy had always refused to discuss work, believing it would only stress Sophia out more to know what she was missing.

Joy searched the piles of paper on her desk and finally pulled a piece loose. "Here. I sent this via e-mail but thought we could chat briefly before you got all settled in."

Sophia took the paper from Joy's hand and studied it. She raised an eyebrow. "There's only one name on this list."

"You should start slow." Her friend worried her bottom lip. "I'm still not sure you should be here. Three months isn't that long."

"Three months is plenty long. I was wasting away on that couch and you know it." Sophia tried hard to keep the accusation from her tone, but it slipped in anyway.

"Nobody said you had to spend the three months twiddling your thumbs."

"I didn't." At Joy's pointed look, Sophia huffed. "Okay, fine. I guess I did. A little." At first, it'd been so hard to deal with the fact that she'd had a mental breakdown — in the grocery store of all places — on the first anniversary of David's death. Somehow she'd managed to hold it together for a year — denial was a many-faceted beast — and seeing the expensive brand of protein powder he had liked on the clearance shelf had just set her off.

How embarrassing to think back to the way she had taken every single container, unscrewed the lids, and dumped the contents onto the floor, not stopping until she was sobbing in a pile of powder and empty tubs.

Needless to say, she hadn't been back to that particular grocery store, even though she'd apologized profusely and paid for the mess she'd created.

After that, facing anyone other than Mom, Joy, and Cindy — the therapist who had walked Sophia through the worst of it — had been too difficult. It had seemed easiest to bury her nose in her favorite books and just grin and bear her sentence as quickly as possible: three months' paid leave from work.

Most people would find that sentence glorious. But most weren't trying to forget a dead fiancé and all the complicated feelings his death still raised in her, now more than a year after a car accident had taken him from this life into the next.

"I'm not judging you. I'm just concerned. You know that. David did a number on you. And when he died, you stuffed all your feelings away and tried your best to pretend his death didn't affect you."

Right. The very opposite of what she'd learned in six years of school for counseling and countless practicum hours. "I know all of that. But going to therapy with Cindy was just the thing I needed to get past it all. I'm better now."

Well, she would be, once she relearned how to stand on her own two feet.

And part of that meant facing the world again. "I need this." Sophia gestured around the room. "To return to something familiar. To keep busy." To help other people. Mom always said that was the best way to get out of your own head — and Sophia was so tired of being in hers.

Joy rubbed her forehead. Clearly she wasn't finished, despite all the protests she'd already laid in the weeks leading up to today. "I'm just afraid that being here will trigger —"

"I do appreciate your concern, Joy. I do. But please. Just trust me." Sophia stood and straightened her shoulders. "Now, it looks like my client will be here at nine, so I need to get to my office and prep." She walked toward the door and turned. "Goodness knows I wouldn't have survived without you. But I'm ready. I can do this."

Joy's smile appeared forced. "Okay."

Sophia stepped across the hall and rummaged through her bag for her keys. She unlocked the door and flicked on the fluorescent lights. The air smelled stale, tinged with disuse and the remnants in her apple-and-spice diffuser. Someone had cleared her desktop of any paper. Sophia slid into her chair and fired up her computer for the first time in months.

Her eyes roamed the office as she waited for her e-mail program to load. In the corner sat the most comfortable couch she'd ever had. Pride pricked her chest as she studied her master's degree and the certification that named her Sophia Barrett, Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Arizona. No matter what happened, no one could take that away from her.

Finally, Sophia reached across her desk and snatched the photo frame that had sat there ever since she'd started working here half a decade ago. At first, the picture inside the frame was a family photo — just her and Mom. Then a few years ago, she'd traded it for an engagement photo — only four months after she'd met David.

The picture in the frame showed Sophia on his back, her long, black hair flowing down her shoulders, pale blue eyes trusting and full of love, her arms wrapped around his neck with his grasped under her knees, a tangle of love and obsession that had grown since that first time she'd seen him at the coffee shop and he'd actually noticed her somehow.

His brown eyes stared at her from the photo. They'd always called to her as if he was a Siren and she Odysseus. His easy smile and thick hair had given him a Patrick Dempsey air, and his impeccable taste in clothing had spoken of the wealth he'd grown up knowing.

She'd fallen head over black Payless flats. Plain-Jane Sophia Barrett had landed a prince, a man all the women wanted.

A prince on the outside, anyway. The inside was another matter entirely.

Sophia opened a desk drawer and stuffed the photo inside. There. Progress.

She worked through a slew of e-mails until Kristin buzzed her office, informing Sophia of her client's arrival.

Ugh, she hated the first-day jitters that flew through her whole being. But surely they'd go away once she set aside her own emotions and focused on someone else.

With a deep breath, Sophia rose and headed to the waiting room. "Patty Smith?"

A mousy woman who looked to be in her late thirties stood, her shoulders stooped and brown hair hanging limp in her face. "Here." Her voice squeaked.

Sophia extended her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sophia Barrett."

The woman avoided her gaze, but shook her hand and murmured a return greeting.

Sophia led her back to her office and gestured to the couch. "Please, have a seat."

Patty did as she asked, sitting on the very edge of the couch. Her build was difficult to determine thanks to the oversized sweater she wore. In Phoenix. In late May. Her sneakered feet tapped against the carpeted floor in quick succession.

Sophia's heart squeezed. "Patty, I like to record my sessions so I can take fewer notes when I'm with you." She made sure her voice was soft, as if soothing a child, but without patronization. "Would that be all right?"

Patty's eyes darted upward. "I don't want anyone knowing I was here."

The way she said "anyone" sent a chill up Sophia's spine. And suddenly, her behavior made sense. Why she was here made sense.

Had Joy known when she'd given Sophia this client? Her friend wasn't that cruel, was she? But perhaps she was testing Sophia, making sure she was really as ready as she'd claimed.

"No one but me will ever listen to these tapes. I promise." The words stuck in her throat.

Patty tugged at one of her long sleeves. "I guess so."

"Great." Sophia clicked Record on her device. "Now, why don't we start by simply getting to know each other? I'm Sophia and I've been a licensed professional counselor for eight years, working here at LifeSong for the last five. I have a cat named Gigi, I love taking walks in the park when it's not a thousand degrees outside, and I simply adore British literature. How about you?"

The woman blew out a breath. A series of emotions flew across her features, finally settling on determination. "I'm Patty. I've been married to Jack for eleven years. We have two young children, Turner and Sabrina. I stay home with the kids, and Jack works construction."

"And what do you like to do for fun?"

"Fun?" Patty looked completely bewildered, as if nobody had ever asked her that. "I ..." She stifled a sob. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. This is a safe space." Sophia snatched a tissue from a box next to her chair, leaning to hand it to Patty.

"Safe. What does that mean, really?" Patty wiped underneath her eyes and blew her nose. "I lied about why I made this appointment. I told your secretary I was here for anxiety."

The chill returned to Sophia's spine. "Oh?" It was the only word she could manage.

"I'm here because ..." Patty's hand trembled. She rolled up her sleeve, revealing at least a dozen bruises, all in different stages of healing. "This."

Nausea rolled through Sophia's stomach. "Who —" She cleared her throat. "Who did that to you, Patty?"

"I don't think he means to." Patty let her sleeve fall back into place. "He just gets so angry when he drinks."

I'm sorry, baby. That wasn't me. Not the real me. It was the scotch talking.

No. His voice was not welcome here. Not now. Sophia reached deep inside, pulling from the strength she'd gained in the last few months. She gripped her pen tighter. "Your husband?"

A slight nod. "He's a good father. And a good husband. Most of the time. I just make him mad sometimes. I try not to, but maybe I'm just not grateful enough for what I have, you know?"

I've done nothing but love you, you ungrateful —

"That's called victim blaming, Patty. Tell me, do you believe those things?"

The words burned her tongue. How could she ask that?

After all, she'd let David sweet-talk her into loving him — preying on her vulnerability and the fact that she'd been too focused on school and then work to date much and experience real love — then stayed with him even when he began putting her down, a little at a time, then all the time, until her self-confidence was zilch and her emotions frayed.

And though he'd only hit her once, right before he'd died, how could Sophia sit here and ask this woman if she believed the lies her husband told her?

Because she had believed them, despite everything her textbooks had ever taught her.

Hypocrite.

Patty shrugged with one shoulder. She leaned forward. "All I know is, I can't live like this anymore. The other day, I actually had the thought —" Another sob wrenched from her mouth.

"What thought, Patty?" The words came out tense, strung together of desperation. A physical aching filled Sophia's bones.

"I wished ... I wished he was dead."

A flood of memories rushed in, David's voice at the forefront of them all. Pointing fingers, flying fists, nasty words — all aimed her direction.

The strength she'd imagined holding her in this chair left her body.

She couldn't stay here. She couldn't help this woman. She couldn't even help herself.

"I'm sorry, Patty. I have ... I have to leave."

Sophia rose from her seat and raced out the door.

CHAPTER 2

GINNY

So much of her future hinged on the twitch of an eye.

Ginny Rose folded her hands and placed them in her lap. The small office where she sat across from Reginald Brown felt stuffy despite the cool May temperatures outside. A droplet of sweat ran down the side of her face. Perhaps she should have worn her long, brown hair up in a bun like Mother would have. But these days, she tried to avoid doing anything like Mariah Bentley.

Not that it mattered how professional and grown-up she looked. Though the people of Port Willis had embraced her as one of their own five years ago when she'd trailed Garrett Rose from America to Cornwall, England, it was a small town. Mr. Brown knew her situation, no matter how she'd tried to put a positive spin on it.

He cleared his throat as he studied her application for a loan. "I apologize I didn't have a chance to review this before now. My secretary squeezed you in last minute as a courtesy."

"Oh, I completely understand. And thank you. Again."

His long, bony fingers tapped the edge of the multipage document in front of him. Mr. Brown adjusted his spectacles, and a slight frown overtook the corners of his droopy lips.

Just as long as his eye didn't twitch. According to her brother-in-law William — who had grown up in this town and had known Mr. Brown all his life — if that happened, she was done for.

And she couldn't bear to consider the possibility of that happening. How would Rosebud Books ever survive without this loan?

The better question was, how much of this was her fault — and how much was Garrett's? He'd always been in charge of the money side of things, despite the three years of business courses Ginny had taken before dropping out of Harvard. Numbers had never really been her passion, so she'd been more than happy to let him handle the bookstore's finances. Perhaps that had been a mistake. Or maybe she'd simply spent too much during the six months since he'd been gone.

How embarrassed her parents would be if they knew. Not that she could really do much to "humiliate" them further, according to her mom. She'd already chosen to do things far differently than her older siblings Sarah and Benjamin, who had followed in their parents' footsteps — she a high-powered attorney, he a vice president in a subsidiary of their father's company.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Secrets of Paper and Ink by Lindsay Harrel. Copyright © 2019 Lindsay Harrel. Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0718075722
• ISBN 13: 9780718075729
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336