After a grizzly bear kills Antonia Valleau’s trapper husband, she packs her few worldly possessions, leaves her home in the mountains of Montana, and treks to nearby Sweetwater Springs, seeking work to provide for her two young sons.Reeling from the loss of his wife during childbirth, Erik Muth must find a nursing mother for his newborn daughter to survive. For their children’s sake, Erik and … Erik and Antonia wed, starting a new life together on his farm on the prairie. But it’s no easy union. Antonia misunderstands Erik’s quiet personality. He finds her independence disconcerting. Both hide secrets that challenge their growing intimacy.
When Indians steal livestock from farms around Sweetwater Springs to feed their starving tribe, the outraged townsfolk demand retaliation. Erik and Antonia must work together to prevent a massacre. Will a marriage forged in loss blossom into love?
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I am enjoying reading this series of books. There is so much that keeps me reading. The characters are very appealing because they are not all perfect. Although there are the good looking rich ones too!!
I love the historical aspect. Reading of the circumstances of travelling at that time and the homes they lived in. They did without so many comforts that we think we can not do without!
The mores of that time are also interesting. The restrictions that women lived with such as their clothing, corsets and layers of underdressings! Relationships between the men and women were very guarded.
It is interesting to read about all these things knowing that the author has researched it out.
D. Holland knows how to spin an interesting tale. Having read several of the books in this series, It is fun to get little updates about past characters who live near the town too.
What’s a young recent widow to do when her husband suddenly dies? She gathers her 6 year old and months old sons and everything of value, leading her mules many miles over Mountain paths to a far away town. She fears she’ll become a beggar or worse with a saloon job.
But, when she arrives, she finds unexpected kindness in the pastor, doctor, and their wives. When, by chance, she meets a new father, who by unexpected tragedy, is desperate for a nursing woman to save the life of his newborn child. Can these two aching hearts depend on each other to save a babies life, and give her little family shelter and some small security?
The story seemed completely authentic to frontier times. I was spellbound, and kept bringing my husband up to date on the events. Two good people steamrolled by common tragedies to the old west gradually find healing by a “business arrangement.”
This is a heart-warming book about an unlikely couple who bring heartbreak into a relationship forged on the needs of an innocent baby. As they pull together on a relatively isolated farm, they build trust, respect and, eventually, love. You’ll be moved by a glimpse into an earlier time when necessity made unseemly demands, but those willing to meet the demands through faith and sacrifice built strong bonds with each other and created a new life of joy and love.