Lady in Disguise
Though the secret behind Uley Kirlandâs cap and mining togs is unsuspected in 1880s Tin Cup, Colorado, she longs to shed the clothing of deceptionâ¦especially when handsome stranger Aaron Brown awakens her heart. But while Uley dreams of being fitted for a wedding gown, the man she loves is being fitted for a hangmanâs noose, and sheâs the inadvertent cause of his troubles. The truth will set him free, and Uley will do whatever it takes to save Aaronâs lifeâeven risk her own.
Praise for Deborah Bedford
âBlessing is a delightful historical romance
from the pen of the talented Deborah Bedford. Come meet the colorful characters of Tin Cup, Colorado, and lose yourself in the sweet love story of Uley and Aaron. Youâll be glad you did.â âBestselling author Robin Lee Hatcher
âDeborah Bedford breathes the breath of life into her characters, giving them the power to
walk right off the page into our hearts.â âChristy Award-winning author Hannah Alexander
âYouâll LOVE Deborah Bedfordâs Blessing! Wonderful writing, a unique cast of characters
and a lively story altogether emphasize a deep truth: Man judges on outward appearance, but God searches the heart.â âLyn Cote
DEBORAH BEDFORD
enjoyed a successful career as a mainstream novelist before heeding the call to set aside other priorities in her life and write books that would glorify God. She is now the author of several bestselling titles, including The Penny and Any Minute, which she co-wrote with Joyce Meyer, as well as His Other Wife, A Rose by the Door and Remember Me. Blessing is one of her favorite books because it is one of Bedfordâs few historical novels, and is set in Tin Cup, Colorado, a secluded mountain town not far from where her grandparents spent their honeymoon in the late 1920s.
Since working with Joyce Meyer, Bedford has traveled to several areas in Mexico, as well as several squattersâ camps near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, to participate in medical missions. She divides her time between her home in Jackson Hole and her position as a multi-trauma nurse in Colorado. She and her husband, Jack, have two children, Jeff and Avery.
Lord, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known... The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
âHabakkuk 3:2â19
To my adventurous, beautiful daughter, Avery.
Tin Cup is the place where I learned that I didnât have to be in the mountains to be happy, but that wherever I went, the mountains could be inside me.
And now look at you and what you are doing!
You are going to touch young peopleâs lives in ways youâve never imagined. I am awestruck by your spirit, and so proud of you. Mom
Chapter One
Gunnison County, Coloradoâ1882
âI donât want this town to be called Virginia City anymore!â Alex Parent hollered, banging his cup on the podium. âEvery town this side of the Mississippi is called Virginia City. The confounded postal service is dropping off mail from back home everywhere else but here.â
All 103 people in the audience agreed with him at the top of their lungs.
âYouâre right, Parent,â someone bellowed. âThereâs a Virginia City in Nevada and another one in Alder Gulch, Montana, and another one...â
âSo...we arenât Virginia City anymore,â Parent hollered at them as he pounded the podium. âWho are we gonna be? Weâve got to discuss this and make a motion and get it down in the town records right.â
For a minute, nobody said anything.
One hand rose in the crowd. The hand belonged to Uley, a youngster whoâd come from Ohio four years before to work in the Gold Cup Mine.
âYep, Uley? What is it, son?â
âI think,â Uley said, in a timid voice that, if anyone had thought about it, sounded a touch too high-pitched for a boy of his age, âwe ought to select a name that tells people something about this place. Remember last month, when that fellow from New York got off the stage on Alpine Pass? While the driver stopped to change horses?â
Of course everyone remembered. Theyâd been talking about it in town for weeks.
âThe fellow went to the spring to get a drink,â Uley said, telling the story over again, just in case somebody hadnât heard it. âBut he wouldnât drink out of that rusty tin cup they keep up there. So, George Willis pulled out his Winchester and shot off that fellowâs derby, then made him drink six cups of water.â
Hollis Andersen took up the story. âAnd when the newcomer tried to get back on the stage, Willis said, âYouâre too good to drink out of a cup that was good enough for hundreds of thirsty men. That cupâs been sitting on that rock for five years, and youâre the first skunk to pick it up, refuse to drink out of it and throw it into the bushes. If I ever see you in these parts God made for menâand not your kindâIâll shoot lower and put a hole in that thick head of yours. Savvy?ââ