“Truly?” he asked excitedly.
“Truly. Sometime in the spring I’m guessing.”
He hugged her closer. “That’s grand news!”
“All those doctor visits, I’m thinking.”
“You’re probably right.”
“The day we met, did you think we’d wind up this way?”
“The day you shot me?”
She poked him gently with her elbow.
“No, I didn’t. I just wanted you for Anna. I didn’t know I’d come to want you for myself so very much.”
She turned to him, moved by the emotion in his tone. “I’m glad we went forward. Had we not, we would have missed this.”
“I know.”
She whispered, “I love you so.”
“I love you, too.”
As she resettled herself in the comfort of his arms, she admitted her mail-order bride adventure may not have begun well, but it was ending just fine.
Dear Reader
Dear Reader,
Tempestbrings us to the end of the Old West/Rhine Fontaine series, and I hope you enjoyed this final installment. Many of you were concerned about Regan heading off to Wyoming alone, and how she’d fare as a mail-order bride. I was, too, but she found love with Dr. Colt Lee and his daughter, Anna, and now, all is well.
Tempesttouched on more than a few historical notes. For me, one of the most compelling and heartbreaking was the incident at Rock Springs. The events told through Colt’s participation are true. In the end, the Chinese did return to work but it took an act of Congress to award them their back pay. The U.S. Army built Camp Pilot Butte in Rock Springs to keep the peace, and stationed soldiers there for the next thirteen years.
Another interesting aspect was my brief mention of Dr. Alexander Augusta. Born free in Virginia in 1825, he was the highest ranking Black officer in the Union Army, and went on to become the first African-American professor of medicine. Every African-American physician in the nation owes him tribute for his perseverance and determination. It is my hope that by highlighting him inTempest, he and his accomplishments will no longer be unsung.
So, for further study, your homework: please research and share
Rock Springs Massacre.
Dr. Alexander T. Augusta.
Dr. Joseph Lister.
In closing, my thanks to my editor, agent, and the Avon production team members for their patience and care. Readers, you can thank my editor for the Fontaine reunion at the end ofTempest. The first draft didn’t contain one, much to her disappointment.
And as always, a huge Bevy thanks to you, my readers, for your love ofForbidden,Breathless, and nowTempest. This series has been fun. I’ve no idea where we’ll travel next or who we’ll meet, but I hope you’ll come along.
You’re the best!
B
Announcement
We hope you enjoyed Regan’s story in TEMPEST. If you’ve missed where it all began, turn the page for a peek at FORBIDDEN (Eddy’s story) and BREATHLESS (Portia’s story).
Forbidden