He thought he was rescuing her from the Comanche. Now the Civil War soldier must prove he isn't the villain she thinks he is.

Driven by the looming expectation of becoming a suffocatingly proper lady, Morning Fawn is determined to escape the confines of her uncle’s plantation and return to her adoptive Comanche tribe. But with each failed attempt, her hopes dwindle, and she wonders if she'll ever find her way back home or if that world is forever lost to her.

Devon Reynolds, disillusioned by the price of affluence and the horrors of war, leaves his privileged life to join the Texas Rangers and later the cavalry. In the military service, he finds purpose . . . until he loses his wife during childbirth while he is away. In an attempt to redeem himself, he takes one last fateful mission to rescue Morning Fawn from the Comanche. But the results force him to question the righteousness of his actions and the cause he serves.

When Devon returns to Texas as a Yankee spy, his path crosses with Morning Fawn once more. Determined to save her from the prison of her uncle's house and to recover Texas from the Confederacy, Devon is drawn to her fierce spirit and unwavering resolve. But can two wounded souls, each fighting their own battles, find solace and love amidst the chaos of war?

In preparation for this book and the one to follow, my husband and I decided to go on a Wild West adventure. We traveled to Oklahoma and Texas for spring break 2024. The first stop was the National Cowboy Museum. The museum is home to rooms of beautiful Western art, a collection of John Wayne’s guns from all of his movies, exhibits on cowboys, the frontier West, and Native American art. The most practical part for me was a life-size Western town. I saw a fully-stocked general store, a bank, a livery stable, a hotel, a doctor’s office, a saloon, and much more.

In Texas, I visited the Plains-Panhandle Historical Museum, where I learned about Comanche culture, ranching, and the frontier. I also had the pleasure of walking through another model of a Western frontier town. (These buildings were a great help when it came to describing places that my characters visit in Texas Divided.)

We eventually made our way to San Angelo, Texas, where we toured Fort Concho, a stone fort built in 1867 (contrary to popular opinion, most frontier forts of the era didn’t have walls around them).

We drove by the area where Camp Cooper once stood, the setting for much of Texas Forsaken, and by Fort Belknap, another fort that plays a role in Texas Forsaken and Texas Divided.

From there, we traveled to Lawton, Oklahoma and toured the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center where I received advice from a native-language speaker regarding the Comanche words in my novels. Finally, I visited Fort Sill and the grave sites of Cynthia Ann Parker (the inspiration for my character, Eyes-Like-Sky, in Texas Forsaken), her daughter Prairie Flower, and her son, Quanah Parker, one of the greatest Comanche chiefs ever. 

However, the most adventuresome part of the trip was our time spent at the Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle. It’s the second-largest canyon in the U.S. and is lined with colorful mesas, said to resemble Spanish skirts. It was a favorite haunt of the Comanche. My husband and I stayed in stone cabins built in the 1930’s by the CCC at the bottom of the canyon. The stars at night were phenomenal. 

During the daytime, we went hiking. The first day was a long trail, so we asked the clerk in the park office to recommend an easier hike for the second day. Wow! Was she mistaken! The “short” trail that she directed us to take was steep, filled with rocks, and washed-out patches that sloped toward the edge of the canyon. I was ready to give up in the first five minutes, but my husband encouraged me to go on to the top of the mesa. (I should also mention that I'm afraid of heights.)

Several times during the hike, I wanted to turn around and go back, but as I looked at what lay behind me, it looked almost scarier than what lay ahead. I trudged along wondering how I would be able to deal with my fear on the return trip.

But my husband helped me navigate through the challenge. He told me to keep my eyes on my feet, stay close to the side of the mesa not the edge, and follow him.

And that's what I did. I didn't look at the steep pathway with its serious descents and occasional gaps with no stable ground for a solid step, and I didn't dare glance any where near the edge. My feet, one step at a time, were my focus, following behind my husband, walking where he walked, and holding onto him in the gaps.

My tension eased. I could do this!

You'd better believe I breathed a sigh of relief when we reached flat ground. But I was thankful I hadn't given up and that my husband had encouraged me to go on. The journey had been worth it once I'd put my fear behind me.

And I realized God had a message for me in this hike. My vacation half spent, I'd already begun to feel the weight of the workload and writing tasks (I was behind schedule in writing Texas Divided, and I was preparing to launch Texas Forsaken) that awaited me upon my return home. I'd been wondering how I was going to navigate all of the responsibilities of the next few weeks, the busiest time of my year, this year busier than ever before.

Suddenly, I knew. I could do it one step at a time, focusing on the next task, instead of worrying about a dozen others that lay ahead, trusting the Lord to see me through the maze and realizing I don't have to carry the burden alone.

Our seven days in Texas and Oklahoma were awesome. I’m still benefiting from the rich research I gathered, but as I look back on this trip, I realize that a year later, the lessons from the hike of taking it one step at time and trusting the Lord to see me through are still as pertinent and needed today as they were last March, except this year, I’m launching Texas Divided and writing Texas Reclaimed.