Bøger af Louise Lenahan Wallace

With the Civil War behind them, Ethan Michaels, a widower with a young daughter, and Larissa Edwards, whose husband was killed in the war, look forward to living out their days on the family farm in Ohio. Fate, however, has other plans. Larissa's daughter survives a deadly illness, but with tragic, far-reaching consequences. Larissa and Ethan have planted their marriage in the rich soil of shared love, but when someone from Larissa's earlier life appears, the roots stretching deep into their separate pasts yield heartbreak that threatens to destroy their new-found happiness.

Larissa and Ethan's marriage has combined their families. Now they must cope with one of the most difficult assignments given a parent: stand aside and allow their rapidly coming-of-age children the freedom to forge their own destinies. Larissa's son Mac, now a full-fledged doctor, plans to marry Amity Terrill and return from Philadelphia to Fairvale to practice medicine in his hometown. Ethan's daughter Charity has loved Mac since she was five years old. Unable to accept his intention to marry Amity, Charity leaves home to teach school in far off Wyoming Territory. Through drought, blizzards, and an encounter with a rattlesnake, Charity learns that, unlike the snake's ability to slough its skin, she cannot shed the pieces of her past, her present ... or her heart.

Zane and Larissa Edwards, rearing their children Mac and Rose on the family farm, foresee the future spinning out as contentedly as their past. Civil War erupts, shattering their lives and dreams. Zane joins the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and is sent to Fort Laramie in Nebraska Territory. His friend Ethan Michaels, a widower with a young daughter, Charity, having promised Zane he will help Larissa with the work, moves to the farm as a hired hand. Ten-year-old Mac begins studying medicine under the town's crusty doctor. Will Zane survive the horrors of war? How will Ethan reconcile his growing love for Larissa, the wife of his best friend, both of whom trust him implicitly? Will Mac return Charity's childish love that becomes deeper and more mature with the passage of time? Will Mac's dreams of becoming a doctor turn to ashes when the war threatens to destroy all he holds dear?