Story Excerpt: Beautiful Wilderness

“Why is my accent something worth mocking? Everyone has an accent.”

“Yeah, but yours just sounds funny.”

Jane's jaw twitched at Joe's bluntness, but then she impressed Adam by holding her head up. “I come from a family that's been in this country since before the revolution, so if anything, your accent is the one that sounds out of place.”

“Maybe, but you sound like a Yankee trying to be royal. We ain’t part of England no more.”

“And you sound like your McGuffey primer had been thrown into a lake.”

Adam snorted out a laugh into his root beer, she reminded him of Sarah with that reprimand.

“You give back as good as you get Missy,” Joe laughed. “So what made you pick Millard of all people to marry?”

“I don’t see how my business is any of yours.”

“Just wondering,” Joe shrugged and took another swig of his drink and then shouted towards the kitchen. “I’m gonna need another ginger!”

“It's not proper to shout at people, Mister Davies.”