Prologue
Virginia City, Montana
“Your pa’s bringin’ a friend for supper,” Margaret Carter said, wiping her hands on her apron. “So, mind your manners and keep your hair out of your face.”
Abby moved through the small kitchen with the easy manner of someone who’d been helping her mother since she was old enough to reach the tabletop. The room was warm from the oven, the air thick with the smell of onions, roast, and cornbread baking.
Margaret worked beside her daughter. She had her sleeves rolled up and her hair pinned back, revealing the tired wrinkles around her eyes.
She’d spent nearly the entire day cleaning Mrs. Fleming’s house, and her hands were red and swollen from doing the woman’s laundry.
Abby tried not to notice it as she did most days, but it hurt her heart to see.
Abby tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Who’s coming? Do I know him?”
Margaret shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s someone he met through the supply wagons, I think. A merchant of some sort.”
A merchant. That sounded important. Abby imagined a short man with a tidy coat, spectacles, and polished boots who spoke clearly and didn’t smell of horses.
She wondered why such a man would want to eat supper with them.
She glanced around their little kitchen, with its cracked floorboards and mismatched chairs.
But Pa had friends from all sorts of places, so she didn’t question it.
She stirred the beans, listening to the soft bubbling.
The house was quiet except for the stove and the wind brushing against the outside walls.
It was a peaceful kind of quiet, the kind that made her feel safe and comfortable.
Life on their little farm was hard, but it made her more grateful for every blessing she received.
When she’d finished setting the table, the door finally opened. Her pa stepped inside first, stomping the dirt off his boots. He looked tired and out of sorts. Abby couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something was wrong. He seemed apprehensive. Guilty maybe.
Behind Pa came a man that she’d never seen before. Pa walked over and gave Ma a soft kiss on the cheek. Then, he turned to the man.
“Margaret, this is Edmund Ashford, the man I told you about,” he said.
Abby blinked, her forehead creasing. Edmund Ashford? What had Pa told her about him? She couldn’t recall any mention of him.
“Good evening,” Edmund said to her mother. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
Her Ma returned the greeting, then it seemed like all eyes turned to Abby. “And this must be the beautiful Abby,” he said, walking over, taking her hand, and bringing it to his lips. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
She blushed, frozen with surprise that this stranger would come over and try to kiss her. And in front of her parents, too. Who was this man?
He was handsome in a way that didn’t sit right with her, but she couldn’t say exactly why.
He was the kind of smooth that felt a little too rehearsed to be genuine.
His blond hair was styled too neatly for a man who claimed to spend his days on the road.
And his coat—fine wool, trimmed and pressed—looked like it belonged in a banker’s office, not a dusty Montana farm.
Even his boots were too shiny. He smiled as he stepped back, a bright, easy grin meant to charm, but something in it struck her as hollow.
His icy blue eyes swept the room, sharp and measuring, lingering on every corner before settling on her again.
The longer he looked at her, the more her stomach tightened.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that beneath all that polish and gentleness, something was very wrong. He reminded her of a wolf dressed up in Sunday clothes.
“Abby, this is Edmund,” Pa said, giving her a shaky smile. “Edmund is a merchant from Bozeman.”
Edmund smiled and bowed his head politely. “Mrs. Carter. Abby. Thank you for having me.”
“It’s no trouble,” her ma said, smiling in that polite way she used when she wasn’t sure what to make of someone. “Supper’s nearly ready.”
Edmund’s eyes lingered on Abby a moment longer before he turned to hang his coat. She busied herself by helping her ma, pretending not to notice.
All through supper, Edmund spoke easily, filling the room with stories of mining towns and mountain passes, trading posts, and bustling streets.
He talked about how the world was changing and how that meant more opportunities for men like him.
He told them how these days, education and refinement could lift a person higher than their birth ever could.
As the meal went on, she found herself shrinking inside, wishing she could slip out the back and get away. Edmund’s gaze kept drifting toward her, sly and assessing. She didn’t know what he wanted, but she knew she didn’t like being looked at that way.
During dessert, Edmund looked at her pa and said, “You’ve a fine daughter, Thomas. She seems quiet and gentle. A rare combination these days for a woman so beautiful.”
Abby felt her stomach twist. While the words seemed complimentary, she didn’t like the way he said it, as though he was appraising a horse he meant to buy. She kept her eyes on her plate, hoping no one noticed that she wasn’t eating.
Pa smiled, pride softening his features. “Abby’s a good girl. She’s thoughtful and hardworking and helps her ma with everything around here.”
Edmund smiled at her again, and Abby forced herself to return it, even though it felt stiff and forced.
When the plates were cleared, and her ma had made coffee for them, Edmund folded his hands on the table and spoke with a calm certainty that made Abby’s stomach churn.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about our discussion, Thomas, and you’re right,” he said, taking a long sip from his cup. “A girl like Abby deserves more than a small life on a tiny farm like this. She deserves schooling and a proper home. A future with comfort and security.”
Pa nodded slowly, as though he’d been waiting for Edmund to say it.
“I can give her those things,” Edmund continued.
“I intend to take her back with me tonight. My sister and cousins will be there to make sure everything is proper and to keep her company until her enrollment in finishing school. She’ll want for nothing.
And as soon as we’re settled, we’ll send for you to visit. ”
Abby froze.
The words didn’t make any sense at first. They hung in the air like a strange smell, impossible to grasp or even identify.
The only thing she understood was that her parents were sending her away.
With him. She looked from Edmund to her parents, expecting them to laugh or shake their heads, to say he was only fooling.
But no one was laughing.
Margaret’s eyes were shining—not with tears, but with hope. Real hope. Like her prayers had finally been answered.
Pa cleared his throat, then looked at Abby. “This is a good offer, Abby. A really good one. Edmund’s got money and connections. He can give you things we never could. And he wants you.”
Abby felt the room tilt. “Pa… I - I don’t even know him.”
“You’ll get to know him,” Margaret said gently as she reached across the table and took Abby’s hand. “It’s normal to be a little scared at first. But he’s a respectable man.”
Respectable. That word felt wrong in her ears. Nothing about Edmund’s oily grin or hungry gaze felt respectable.
Edmund leaned forward slightly, and Abby drew back.
“I understand this is sudden for you,” he said. “But opportunities like this don’t come along very often. They sure don’t come along twice. You’ll have a fine home, new dresses, and new carriages. Everything a young woman like you could want.”
She blinked at him. A young woman like her, he’d said. How would he have any idea what kind of woman she was? They’d only just met.
“And what do you get out of this?” Abby wanted to know.
“Abigail!” her mother gasped. “Mind your manners, girl.”
“No, it’s all right. It’s a fair question,” Edmund said lightly.
He turned to Abby. “I founded Englewood Academy for Young Women back in Boston — a well-regarded finishing school for the daughters of prominent politicians and businessmen. It’s costly to attend, of course.
But each year, I set aside a few places for girls whose families cannot pay the tuition.
Your name was put before me, and I thought you might make good use of the chance.
” Abby swallowed hard. She didn’t want dresses or schooling.
She wanted her small kitchen, her mother’s quiet humming, and her father’s tired smile.
She wanted the life she knew, even if it was hard.
But when she looked at her parents, she saw the truth she’d been trying not to see for years.
The lines etched deep in her pa’s face. The way her ma’s shoulders slumped, like the weight she carried on them was just too much.
The constant worry that lived in their eyes, even on good days.
And she knew it was a struggle for them just to put food on the table.
They were worn down. Worn thin. And she was another mouth to feed—not that they had ever complained.
But she was another responsibility that they’d never asked for.
They’d never complained. and took on the responsibility of raising her willingly, with love and devotion.
Abby had never felt unloved or uncared for.
Her life could have gone so very differently.
Twenty-two years ago, her pa had stepped outside to feed the animals and found a baby bundled on his doorstep instead. He found Abby. He carried Abby inside without a second thought and set her gently in his wife’s arms.
Her ma always said that the moment she laid eyes on the tiny, sweet-faced girl, she knew the Lord had meant her for them.
After six years of marriage with no child of her own, her ma took it as a sign straight from heaven.
She’d told Abby all her life that she was a gift from God, sent to fill a space they’d nearly given up hope of filling.
Her throat tightened, then she looked at her mother. “You… you want me to go with him?”
Pa reached across the table and patted her arm. His calloused fingers were warm and familiar. “We want you to have a better life, Abby. One that we can’t give you.”
Margaret nodded, the tears in her eyes starting to spill down her cheeks. “He’ll take care of you, sweetheart. Give you things that me and your pa could only dream of.”
Abby could feel her soul shriveling up inside. She wanted to refuse. She wanted to stand up and scream right in Edmund’s face, tell him that she would rather eat a shovel full of worms than go with him. But the hope in her parents’ faces left no room for refusal.
“Of course, I’ll do whatever you tell me to do,” she told her pa.
Edmund smiled smugly and rose from his chair, smoothing his coat. “Good. We leave at first light. Best to get an early start.”
Abby’s breath caught. First light. It was already getting late, and now she’d be up half the night packing. But she nodded anyway. It was a small, slight motion, but it sealed her fate.
“Good girl,” Edmund said softly, and the words made her skin crawl.
Her parents smiled, trying to look happy. They were clearly relieved—maybe even proud that they’d found such a fortunate match for Abby. And that, more than anything, kept her from changing her mind.
Abby stood there in the warm kitchen after Edmund left.
Her entire world had just been turned upside down.
She could still smell her ma’s cornbread in the air.
And when she first started making that pan of cornbread, life was normal and good.
Now, in the space of an hour or two, everything felt like it was slipping away, like water through her fingers.
She didn’t know why Edmund’s presence made her so uneasy. But it did. She didn’t know why his smile felt wrong or why his eyes seemed to constantly weigh and measure her. But they did. She just didn’t have the words to describe any of it.
All she knew was that she was leaving at dawn with a man she didn’t know or trust, because her parents believed he was her salvation.
And because she loved them, she would go.
Even if every part of her screamed that she shouldn’t.