For I know the plans I have for you,

       declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to

       harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

       Then you will call upon Me and come and

       pray to Me and I will listen to you. You will seek

       Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your

       heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord,

       and will bring you back from captivity.

      —Jeremiah 29:11–14

      To Judy Pelfrey

       Thank you for twenty-five years of friendship

       and for your guidance and grace. May you reside

       in God’s loving arms always.

      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

      Letter to Reader

      Epilogue

      Chapter One

      Peace at last.

      With a deep sigh Jesse Bradshaw sank into the chair at her kitchen table. After the hectic past hour getting her son off to visit his friend Sean O’Brien, she now had time to read her daily verses from the Bible and collect herself before starting her day.

      Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to make it through—

      Honk! Honk!

      Jesse bolted from her chair, nearly toppling it to the tile floor, and raced for the door. Not again. Stepping outside, she scanned her backyard and found that her geese had a large man who was holding a crying little girl, trapped by the edge of the lake. As Jesse hurried toward her pet geese, the one overriding impression was the anger carved into the stranger’s face. He tried to shield the child from the irate birds that flapped their wings, hissing and honking their displeasure at their space being invaded.

      “Step away from the nest,” Jesse shouted across her yard that sloped to the lake behind her house.

      “What do you think I’ve been trying to do?”

      The man’s anger was momentarily directed at her as she neared him. His dark gaze drilled into her while Fred darted at him and nipped his leg. The stranger winced and held the little girl up higher to keep the geese from attacking her.

      “I’ll get their attention. You run.”

      “My pleasure,” he agreed between clenched teeth at the same time Ethel took her turn at his other leg.

      “Daddy, Daddy, make them go away! I’m scared!” The child hugged her father tighter and curled her legs around him so they weren’t a dangling target for the geese.

      “Everything’s okay, Cindy.” He awkwardly patted the child’s back while glaring at Jesse, clearly conveying his own displeasure.

      “Fred! Ethel!” Jesse put herself between the geese and the man with the little girl. She waved her arms like a windmill and jumped up and down, yelling the pair’s names in her sternest voice, hoping none of her neighbors saw this undignified display.

      Thankfully Ethel calmed down and waddled toward her nest. Fred, however, would have nothing to do with her. He focused on the stranger, who was trying to back away. Flying around Jesse, Fred went for the man’s leg again. Jesse threw herself in front of the goose. She got nipped on the thigh.

      “Get out of here,” she whispered loudly. Pain spread from the sore place on her leg as she continued to come between Fred and the intruders.

      Carrying his daughter, the man hurried across the yard, a limp to his gait. At the edge of her property, he threw a glance over his shoulder, an ashen cast to his dark features. Jesse shivered in the warm spring air. This man was definitely not happy with her geese—or her.

      Fred settled down as the two people moved farther away. After giving one final loud honk, he toddled back to Ethel and stood guard, his beady black eyes watching the pair disappear inside the house next door.

      So those were her new neighbors, staying in the Millers’ summer home.

      Jesse headed for her back door, rubbing the reddened area on her thigh. Everyone in Sweetwater knew to stay away from her backyard while Ethel and Fred were guarding their nest. They could be so fierce when their home was invaded.

      With all the activity at her own house, she’d forgotten about her new neighbors who’d moved in two days ago. She supposed she should bake them some cookies and welcome them to Sweetwater—oh, and warn them about her geese.

      Shaking her head, she stepped into her bright kitchen and came to a stop just inside the door. Her grandfather sat at the table, his gray hair sticking up at odd angles, a scowl on his face.

      “Those geese could wake the dead,” he muttered into his cup of coffee while taking some sips.

      “I’m sorry. I know you went to bed late last night. But someone was in our backyard. You know how they get with strangers.”

      Her grandfather’s head snapped up, and he regarded