“Yer gonna have ta calm down, Lillian. Yer scarin’ them kids.” Miss Tilly was beating eggs for the meringue topping on her strawberry pie for supper with Father. She paused only an instant to speak the words quietly, her eyes fixed on Lillian. “Am I? Scaring them?” “Yeah, I think ya are.” “Oh dear.” There’d been so much to worry about. Lillian had momentarily forgotten to try to appear confident for the sake of the children. Her heart had fluttered uncomfortably for much of Saturday afternoon and by now her stomach was churning. Her long-awaited reunion with Father was fast approaching. “I’ll try.” “With as many folks as are lookin’ north just now, I wouldn’t doubt but them kids’ll be home ’fore ya know it.” Lillian groaned. “I do hope you’re right.” In spite of the strain of it all, supper was being prepared. The table had been set. There was no way to know if Grace and Ben would arrive home before Father and Delyth appeared, but there was no way to postpone the meal. Lillian was suddenly aware that the children should have been her most important focus at the moment. “Would you mind, Miss Tilly, if I…

I have had a love affair with American History, especially America’s “Old West” nearly all my life, probably because I grew up on TV westerns like Gunsmoke and old western movies starring Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. But I truly believe there is a part of me who, in another life, lived in the west, either as an Indian or a pioneer woman. My top five reasons for loving the West would be: The magnificent landscapes The phenomenal growth of our frontier The rugged pioneers The fact that men set their own laws, sometimes “on the spot” The respect and admiration most men of the West had for the pioneer women who dared to join them in a savage land And a sixth. . . complete strangers often ended up marrying out of need and loneliness, which is what my book is about. Excerpt: August 1869 Kate ducked into the tall grass as soon as she heard men’s voices. She slowly crawled to get close enough to listen, then parted the dense, yellow blades to see five rough-looking men gathered around a lonely, half-dead cottonwood tree. One of the men raised up in his stirrups and flung a rope over…