Praise for
ROSANNE BITTNER
and her novels
WALK BY FAITH
âThis standout novel is truly in a class of its own.â
âRomantic Times BOOKreviews
âBittner shines with this new inspirational historical!â
âLiterary Journal
WHERE HEAVEN BEGINS
âBittner brings to life the dangerous and beautiful Alaskan wilderness of the gold rush days. Clint is a hero whoâll pull at your heartstrings.â
âRomantic Times BOOKreviews
âRosanne has written a truly inspiring high adventure that will invigorate your senses and reaffirm your faith in Godâs wisdom.â
âAffaire de Coeur
FOLLOW YOUR HEART
âBittnerâs characters spring to lifeâ¦extraordinary for the depth of emotion with which they are portrayed.â
âPublishers Weekly
âTrue-to-life characters who stay with you long after youâve turned the last page!â
âLos Angeles Daily News
Dedicated to my mother-in-law,
Florence Irene Umphrey Bittner, better known to the whole family as âGrandma Bittner,â who lived to the ripe old age of 101. Until she had to go into a nursing home in her late nineties, Florence attended Midway Baptist Church in Watervliet, Michigan, faithfully every Sunday morning, as well as often attending Sunday evening services, Wednesday evening services and most other church functions, in spite of bouts with breast cancer, colon cancer, two broken hips and arthritis that finally put her in a wheelchair. Even when using walkers and a wheelchair, she still attended church.
Though a host encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war arise against me,
Even then, in this will I be confident.
For in the day of trouble
He will hide me in His shelter;
In the secret place of His tent will He hide me;
He will set me high upon a rock.
âPsalms 27:3, 5
March 16, 1862, St. Louis, Missouri
Clarissa was not sure where sheâd found the strength to get dressed and open Seaforthâs Dry Goods this morning. She felt numb with worry, not for her husbandâs safety, but for where he might beâ¦and what he might be doing. She set items on the counter to fill the last of a customerâs order.
âThere you are, Mrs. Shelby. I think thatâs everything. Thatâs two dollars.â
âOh, my!â The older woman put a wrinkled hand to her chin. âPut it on my bill, Clare dear, will you? My husband will be by to pay it. And can you wrap it for me?â
âCertainly.â Clarissa wrote the womanâs name on the tab and added âOwed.â Like her father had always done, she extended credit to most hometown customers. Until his sudden death three years ago, Henry Seaforth ran this store most of his life. Then Clarissa married Chad Graham, who took over the store and had run it ever since so that she could stay home with their precious little girl, Sophie.
She pulled a length of brown paper from its roll and tore it off to wrap Mrs. Shelbyâs items, resentment toward Chad growing as she silently packed the order. It was because Chad was her babyâs father that Clarissa had struggled to ignore rumors of her husbandâs infidelity over the past two years. Now, this morning, the reality of those rumors was burrowing deeply into her mind and heart. Apparently she could no longer avoid the awful truth, though she still did not want to believe it.
Chad was gone. So were all his clothes. Where was the man to whom sheâd given all her love, her faith, her trust, her virginity, her heart? Where was the man who was now the legal owner of Seaforthâs? Thatâs how much sheâd trusted him. This business that was her fatherâs life now belonged to the man her father warned her before he died not to marry. Now that man was missing.
Sheâd even given up a nursing career for Chad. Getting into Washington University here in St. Louis had not been an easy task for a woman. Sheâd had to settle for nursing rather than becoming a doctor, but at least sheâd made it that far. Then she gave up her nursing job at St. Louis City Hospital when she learned she was expecting Sophie.
The terrible unrest and sometimes-violent street fighting that occurred almost daily now over the war between North and South was enough to worry about. How could Chad disappear at such a dangerous time, with Federal troops swarming the streets and guarding the St. Louis Arsenal, and with Missouri Confederate militia still hiding in the southern part of the state and attacking northern sympathizers at every opportunity? St. Louis was filling up with families whoâd fled battlegrounds or whoâd been routed out by rebel raiders. And the hospital was becoming crowded with wounded men, from both North and South. She wished sometimes that she could help them out with her nursing experience, but Chad wanted her to stay home with Sophie.