Into the Wilderness. Laura Abbot

      

      WOUNDED BY LOVE AND WAR

      He survived a battlefield massacre and, before that, his fiancée’s betrayal. Cavalry officer Caleb Montgomery is unable to trust in anything now, especially himself. But then he’s stationed in Fort Larned, Kansas, where Lily Kellogg, the lovely army surgeon’s daughter, begins to rekindle his faith—and his hope.

      Caleb is the kind of gallant, surprisingly sensitive man Lily never expected to find on the Western frontier. Since childhood, she has longed for the stability and culture only the big city can offer, and her most cherished wish is suddenly within reach. Still, putting both their dreams to the test is the one way she and Caleb can find their road home…to each other.

      “Is there still hope for us, Lily?”

      “Honestly? I don’t know.” She turned away then. “St. Louis is everything I thought I wanted. Until you.”

      Caleb knelt in front of Lily, hoping against hope that she would hear and respond to the urgent call of his heart. He picked up her hands and held them in his, seeking in her astonishing blue eyes the response he longed for. “Dearest Lily, I ask you before God to become my wife. I pledge you my undying love.”

      Her eyes filled with tears, Lily shook her head back and forth, gripping his hand tightly. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came. Adrift, Caleb could only stand, draw her to her feet and enfold her in his arms. Her slight body trembled in his embrace and muffled sobs gave evidence of her distress. Finally she stepped away and gazed at him with such love he feared ever forgetting this moment. A glimmer of hope. That was all he needed….

      LAURA ABBOT

      Growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, Laura Abbot was deeply influenced by her favorite literary character, Jo from Little Women. If only, Laura thought, I could write stories, too. Many years later, after a twenty-five-year career as a high-school En-glish teacher and independent school administrator, Laura’s ambition was unexpectedly realized. When she and her husband took early retirement and built their dream home on Beaver Lake outside of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, he bought her a new computer and uttered these life-changing words: “You always said you wanted to write. Now sit down and do it!” Happily, she sold her first attempt to Harlequin Superromance, a success followed by more sales to the same line.

      Other professional credentials include serving as an educational consultant and speaker. Active in her church, Laura is a licensed lay preacher. Her great blessing, however, is her children—all productive, caring adults and parents—who have given her eleven remarkable, resilient (but who’s prejudiced?) grandchildren, including at least three who show talent in writing and may pursue it as a career. Jo March, look what you started!

      Laura enjoys corresponding with readers. Please write her at [email protected].

      Into the Wilderness

      Laura Abbot

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

      —Isaiah 43:19

      To Paula Eykelhof, editor extraordinaire,

       with gratitude for her encouragement,

      guidance and enduring belief in me.

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Chapter Eighteen

       Dear Reader

       Discussion Questions

      Chapter One

      Fort Larned, Kansas

      March, 1869

      Lily Kellogg stood before her mother’s small grave marker, oblivious to the raw spring chill. Mathilda Louise Kellogg, b. 1820, d. 1868. Beloved wife and mother. From these few words, who would discern the bravery and compassion of the woman buried there? Or how quickly she had succumbed to the influenza that swept through the fort a few short months ago, despite the heroic efforts of Lily’s father, the post surgeon.

      Once again Lily asked the familiar questions. Is this ultimately what we amount to? A few facts etched in cold stone? Do we rest for eternity beneath a blanket of grass battered by wind, sleet and snow, subject to infestation by creatures both crawling and flying? Standing there motherless, she struggled to believe in a merciful God.

      Too late she thought of the questions she should have asked her mother, but hadn’t, and the family stories she should remember, but couldn’t. Yet she knew her mother had loved