Prologue

Summer 1873, Community Church, Clear Creek, Kansas

“And…?” Rania Wilerson whispered to Cora as her new–sister–in–law slid into the pew beside her. Cora Elison had wed Rania’s brother, Dagmar Hamner the previous week after Sunday’s church service. Today they were now attending the wedding of Sarah, little sister to Jacob, Rania’s husband.

Rania and Cora looked to Cate before continuing their conversation. As the mother of the bride, Cate Wilerson sat in the second row on the left side of the church, smiling, glancing to the right, then nodding to the Paulsons, the parents of the groom, where they sat in the second pew on the other side of the church.

Their son Ethan, a handsome man with his fair blond looks, stood in front of the church altar, confident his bride, Sarah Wilerson, would be walking down the aisle toward him and Pastor Reagan in a few moments. Everyone knew Ethan had been relieved after months of postponements, when his fiancée finally set today as their wedding day.

Clara Johnston had her hands poised above the piano keyboard, ready to start the wedding march as soon as she saw Adam, the bride’s oldest brother, ready to escort Sarah down the aisle.

Sarah’s third brother, Noah, and his wife Hilda already stood in front, as they were the witnesses to this marriage. Neither one was smiling.

Cora leaned close to Rania, “I handed her my reticule, told her there was $100 in it in case she changed her mind. And Nutcracker, Hilda’s racing horse, was tied out front—and it didn’t matter whether she left him at the Ellsworth train station—or rode him in whatever direction she decided to go.”

Rania’s smile grew wider as she patted Cora’s hand. “Thank you so much for doing this, Cora. Did she say what she was going to do?”

“No, I told her not to tell me…she should just listen to what her heart says is the right thing for her to do,” Cora whispered back. “But she knows her brothers, sisters–in–law and friends will all be ‘shocked’ and won’t know a thing if she disappears today…”