Chapter 1 The boy came in at 1:23 in the morning, which was not unusual for the ER waiting room at Chicago Memorial. What was unusual was that he was alone, unhurt, and completely dry despite the rain outside, which meant he had come from somewhere inside the building rather than the street. Nadia Osei…
Chapter 1 Cash Valley, Utah Territory. July 1877. If my size offends you, sir, don’t taste my food. The knife hit the table hard enough to make the cups jump. Wood dust lifted into the July air, mixed with sweat, smoke, and the heavy smell of meat simmering too long under a hot Utah sun….
Chapter 1 Frost Creek, Wyoming Territory. December 1879. Caleb Thorne had come down from the Wind River Range six weeks before he intended to. He told himself it was because winter had arrived early. The snow had sealed the high passes before Thanksgiving, and a man alone above timberline with one mule, two rifles, a…
Chapter 1 Ridgewood Territory. Autumn 1881. Norah Ashford hadn’t planned on being a mail-order bride. She hadn’t planned on much of anything, lately. Plans were a luxury that required a future. Norah had arrived at the Ridgewood station with nothing but a worn carpet bag, a train ticket purchased by a mother who couldn’t be…
Chapter 1 Red Hollow, Colorado Territory. January 1883. In winter, the mountains above Red Hollow had a way of deciding who belonged to them and who did not. They did not decide kindly. Snow came sideways for three days without mercy, driving into pine trunks, swallowing wagon tracks, burying fences and roofs and common sense…
Chapter 1 Pahrump, Nevada Territory. September 1878. Kellen Parker had written forty-three letters before she said yes. He had read her last reply so many times the paper had gone soft at the folds. I am 18, healthy, and willing to make a good life. That was all. Eight words he had built a future…
Chapter 1 Frost bit through the thin, rotted leather of Norah’s boots. But the heavy, intoxicating smell of burnt sugar, roasted pecans, and fresh yeast pulling from Omali’s bakery felt like a physical hand dragging her forward. She didn’t want to be a thief. She just wanted the wet, rattling cough in her little sister’s…
Chapter 1 The air in Cobb’s Saloon tasted of stale beer and unwashed bodies. Norah kept her head down, wiping a cracked glass until her raw knuckles ached. The water in the tin bucket was gray, filled with a greasy slick of spilled whiskey and tobacco ash. She plunged her hands into it anyway. The…
Chapter 1 Bozeman, Montana Territory. Late autumn, 1883. Dust settled around a lonely wooden crate where a woman in a faded gingham dress sat clutching a worthless marriage contract. She thought she was a forgotten bride, left to freeze in the Montana wind. She had no idea the fiercest man in the territory was already…
Chapter 1 Frost clung to the iron gates of Langley Manor like powdered glass. Snow had fallen since dusk, burying the carriage tracks and muffling the usual nighttime sounds of the estate. Gideon Roth hadn’t come here for vengeance tonight. He came to collect a debt. But what he found huddled against the stone pillar…
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