The Truest Part of Her Heart (Preview)

Chapter One

Autumn 1881 in Belmont, Vermont

Adeline Embree cautiously stepped foot into the butcher’s shop, trying not to breathe in too deeply. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself for comfort. For the hundredth time, she wished that she didn’t have to do this.

But what other choice did she have?

It had only been two days across the scattered streets in her small town of Belmont as she searched for work. Her fingernails were still dirty from working her last job. The Johnson farm had been a pleasant enough place to work. But they’d had to sell the land after not turning a profit for the third year in a row.

While Adeline understood this––since everyone was struggling––she just wished that she had other options.

“Mr. Rourke?” she called to the shop owner who stood in the doorway for the back. The closer she moved, the stronger the smell. It was a struggle to put on her smile as she continued. “I’m Adeline Embree. I believe you know my father. I wanted to see if you’re looking for any–”

The large man with red cheeks and hair so light it was nearly invisible waved a meat hammer in the air. “I don’t have any work available, no.” She stopped, staring. “I know you’re going around, Miss. Everyone is looking for more work. It’s either the mine or something like this. I just don’t have the money. Move along now or buy something.”

His words were blunt, but he didn’t sound like he was purposefully being rude.

Still, Adeline felt her heart drop. She bowed her head and hurried out. Her breath was shallow until she was back in the fresh air again. Would she have been able to work in a place that smelled so bad? She wasn’t certain about the answer.

Not finding anything there meant that she had exhausted all of her options in the shops around town. Walking to the corner, Adeline squinted in the sun while she considered her options about what to do next.

If there was no one willing to hire her in a shop, then she would have to look into odd jobs that someone could pay her a dime or a nickel for. Even a quarter would be a dream.

Belmont survived with its silver mine and that was about it. Her father had worked there for as long as she could remember. If they would have been willing to take women, she probably would be working right alongside him.

She needed money. Her family needed money. Sighing, Adeline started down the next street to knock on each door about odd jobs. Most people didn’t answer. She couldn’t blame them just like she couldn’t blame anyone for her troubles.

This was just her life.

Adeline finally turned for home as the sun started to set over the nearby mountains. There was a bitter taste in her mouth as she walked there, knowing the conversation she was about to have with her parents.

“There you are,” her mother called from the kitchen when she stepped inside. Her mother, Mary, always had a way of knowing who had entered the home. There was a small clatter in the kitchen before Adeline heard her say, “Were you late because you found a job? Did you start already?”

Sighing, Adeline set her jacket down. “No, Mother. Not yet. I was out asking around the neighborhood.”

“The neighborhood?” her mother repeated. “Wasn’t there a single shop that needed help?”

“No, I’m afraid not. I asked at every place there was.” Adeline made it into the kitchen and started to set the table.

“Are you sure? Did you actually ask everyone who managed the business? Did you ask the right people?”

Adeline swallowed. She had already answered these questions in her mind, but that wasn’t enough. Now she had to actually talk about this out loud. “Yes, yes, and yes. I told you, I’m trying as hard as I can. But no one has any work available right now.”

Her mother grumbled under her breath for a minute before letting out a heavy sigh. She swirled her ladle around the bowl over the fire. It looked like they would be eating turnip soup once again. 

And this time it looked more watery than usual.

Just as she mentally prepared herself to continue this repetitive conversation, the front door opened once again. Adeline peeked through the doorway to find her father and George. He was seventeen, the next oldest and five years younger than herself, and had just started working the mines with their father. The two of them looked like they had attempted to clean themselves up only to end up scrubbing the dirt deeper into their skin.

“Hey,” George spotted her first. He grinned, proudly showing off his stubble that did nothing to hide his chipmunk cheeks. Though Adeline thought they were adorable, he was wanting to look like a man now and less of a rosy-cheeked baby. “Did you find any work?”

She swallowed. “No.”

Their father set his jacket down before looking at her. “Where did you look today? Are you sure that you’re asking everyone? And the right people at each store? Because some people…”

“I know,” Adeline said quickly, not wanting to run through this conversation all over again. “I know, Papa. I went to every store owner like you said. I have talked to everyone I could. I had to start going into the neighborhood to ask about odd jobs.”

The older man paused. He seemed to be thinking, considering her words and what to say next. Adeline worried the conversation would continue just like the one she’d had with her mother only a few minutes ago. She tried to mentally prepare herself for the inevitable.

“I see,” her father said at last. “Well, I am sure that you will find something soon. I believe in you, dear.”

Adeline felt a knot form in her stomach. This was somehow worse. She could hear the worry in his voice though he had tried to hide it.

“Dinner’s ready,” her mother called. “Adeline? Go get your sisters, please.”

That gave her a moment’s distraction. Grateful for it, she started down the hall. It was a two-bedroom home with a small loft where her two brothers slept. She shared the bedroom on the left with both of her sisters.

Penelope and Ida were right there on the bed, curled up with a book between them. The two of them looked up at Adeline there. Ida was fifteen with light hair and an attitude that she only spared Penelope, who was the youngest at eight years old. She was a sickly girl who rarely talked and spent most of her time in bed. On the days the young girl was well enough for school, Ida would join their mother who was a housekeeper for the mayor’s family.

“What do you want?” Ida asked with a roll of her eyes. “I heard you still don’t have a job.”

Shrugging, Adeline sighed. “Not yet, no. It’s supper time. Turnip soup, in case that gets you excited,” she added miserably.

Her sisters made faces before grudgingly getting up to accompany her back out into the kitchen. Everyone gathered around to take their seats. Her father blessed the food, and they all began to work their way through the meal. Halfway through, the final sibling arrived. Ollie, fourteen and a tender-hearted boy, was still attending school. The mines wouldn’t take anyone until they were seventeen, so it seemed best that he focused on his learning until he could get hired on.

Studying her family, Adeline swirled the soup with her spoon. Everyone was looking thin. Winter was ahead of them and she realized they would fare worse than usual if she didn’t have money to help bring in more food. Her family had no savings and what they were making collectively now was hardly going to be enough.

“Mama? I don’t feel…” Penelope leaned over the side of the table to vomit before she could finish her words.

Adeline and her mother jumped into action to clean up the mess and take care of the young girl. Though Penelope had a sensitive stomach, there was little they could afford to help her with that.

The rest of the evening was spent cleaning and helping Penelope to bed. Adeline finally curled up on the big bed with her, trying to think about what they were going to do. Her parents hadn’t said anything, but she knew how worried they must be. 

If only she could do something to help them. She just needed someone willing to hire her. Or, Adeline thought with frank amusement, someone could marry her.

She’d kissed Daniel when she was thirteen and Parker when she was seventeen. But Daniel had moved out West with his family and Parker had died in a mining accident a year later. There had been no one else who bothered looking her way.

This was still on Adeline’s mind the next day as she wandered through the streets. She had no time to feel sorry for herself while looking for work. 

After spending the morning milling through a few streets, she took a break and wandered back toward the general store. It was always busy there. Maybe she could find someone she had yet to talk to and convince them she was capable of helping with work.

Unfortunately, everyone had the same thing to say.

“I’m sorry, but no.”

“We might have to close up shop ourselves, sorry.”

“No, we can’t spare a dime.”

Adeline watched the people come and go. She moved slowly through the aisles in the hopes that the shopkeeper wouldn’t mind her loitering around without buying anything. On occasion, she would pick something up and fiddle with it as though she were about to buy it.

One of the items she picked up was a newspaper. Biding her time for another customer to stop through, Adeline idly browsed through a couple of pages. Not much caught her attention. She was about to put it away when the last page drew her interest.

“Mail-order bride,” she murmured to herself. “What is that?”

Adeline carefully read through the ad among the personals once, twice, and then a third time. Her heart hammered loudly in her chest as though it were trying to tell her something.

A man out West was in want of a wife. He would take someone he had not seen before, and just wanted someone to write to him. 

Thinking about the spare scraps of paper tucked away in a corner of the kitchen back home, Adeline started imagining what she would write to this man. Soon she had an entire letter in her head. 

It was a crazy idea, she told herself. But what if it worked? She bit the inside of her cheek. Marrying a stranger hardly sounded like a good idea. Except she didn’t feel she had any other options available to her at this point, not with her family. Not having her there would be of great help to them.

Maybe this really was the best course of action for her. Adeline noted the address and then hurried off. She had a letter to write.

Chapter Two

Spring 1882 in Boston, Massachusetts 

Walking down the hall, Christian Cohl glanced at the closed doors.

His bosses sat behind there most of the day in the hospital, sometimes seeing patients and otherwise dealing with loads of paperwork. They were busy men who rarely had the time for him.

Except they had invited him for a meeting the next day for lunch.

He had hardly slept the night before. There was too much on his mind, too much potential, and too many possibilities. Even now, he was having a hard time concentrating on his own paperwork as he tried to imagine sitting down with the employers.

It had to be about a promotion. 

What else could they want to speak with him about? Though at twenty-seven, he had had the least years of experience compared to other doctors for someone his age, it was the number of people he helped that mattered most. Christian had gone over that himself just the other week. 

They were good numbers. He had helped hundreds of patients during his time there. Though he spent a little more time with each person compared to other doctors, he was able to find solutions and that had helped everyone to feel better. People even referred their friends and family to them. Something like that had to get noticed in a Boston hospital.

Could he get a promotion? A raise? His heart skipped a beat at the very thought.

He made his way to his own office. It was neat and organized, just like he had left it. He had been given a room to himself since the last man who used the other desk in the room had retired over the winter. Taking a seat, Christian glanced down at his notebook. 

“It’s going to be good,” he told himself. Getting himself excited, he drummed his hands on the table. “It’s going to be really good. I can feel it in my bones.”

Getting to this point in his career had been incredibly difficult for him. Complicated, too. He supposed most folks took a direct approach to life and their work. But that had never worked out for him.

He had intended to go into law, spending over two years with his nose buried in a book and discussing court cases in his classes. He wanted to do something important with his life and help people. But as he sorted through the justice code, some of the court cases had begun to bother him. 

It was too nuanced for his liking. The good guy didn’t win as much as he should. Seeing so many malpractice cases, Christian had been compelled to change his direction. So, he left law school and went to medical school.

Everyone was younger, more committed. They all had family and friends rooting them on. He had felt lonely and tired and worn out more every day.

But he did it. He had become a doctor. Boston Hospital had hired him quickly a year after his graduation. The last year had been even harder with real patients and real complications. It had been challenging, and he had enjoyed every minute of it.

Christian set his notebook aside and considered the piles placed around the desk. He had his open files of the patients he would be seeing that week, closed files he needed to finish making his notes in and send them down to the administrative office, a pile of prescriptions to sort through, and a pile of notes that he was hoping to turn into a book.

“It’s a mad idea,” he muttered to himself.

He could work hard but writing a book was a different type of hard that he wasn’t sure he could conquer. 

The idea had struck him quickly upon entering the workforce, how patients needed better support and representation. They needed someone like an advocate they could talk to like people had lawyers when it came to dealing with the court system. Yes, there were doctors, but doctors focused more on the problem than the human behind the problem. If there was a comparison, a doctor was more like a judge than a lawyer.

Sorting through his notes thoughtfully, Christian couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling. He had sent off a few papers to be published about this topic. Only one journal had accepted to do so while the others rejected him.

It didn’t exactly prompt the inspiration to keep writing like he had hoped that it might.

Drumming his fingers on the table, Christian knew that he would have to find a way to keep writing. This needed to be said. Maybe people wouldn’t believe him now, but someday this would matter more to someone. This had a lot of potential to change and improve the medical field. They wouldn’t be laughing at him for long. Then they would see he had been right all along.

He sighed with this reassurance in mind.

Everything was working out for him. He had a good job with a promotion in store, certainly, and he had started to write a book. People all around town respected him. It may have taken him the last eight years to build a life for himself here in Boston, but it was all coming together nicely now.

This was still on his mind as he sorted through his papers. Soon an assistant stopped by with mail, putting two envelopes on his desk. 

Christian recognized one for it was large and thick, clearly his subscription to a medical journal. He glanced through it eagerly before turning to the second piece. It was small and thin, a personal letter.

His mother’s handwriting was on it.

He inhaled deeply. A rush of emotions swept over him as he thought about the family he had left behind eight years ago. Had he known he would be gone for so long?

The letter was sent too early, Christian realized. Though his mother had started out writing to him every month when he first left home, they had slowly dwindled over the last couple of years. Usually, it was just one for his birthday in the summer and one in winter for the holidays.

Wondering why she was writing to him in the middle of spring, he carefully opened the letter and began to read. 

The first paragraph made his stomach drop. He swallowed hard, learning that his father’s health was drastically failing. The man had had a tough time with pneumonia two years back, Christian recalled, but his mother had spoken hopefully of his recovery.

That was not the case in the letter.

Dear Kit,

I fear the worst, I am afraid. Your father’s coughing has brought up blood on three occasions. The doctor says not to worry, but he could tell me nothing about how your father might improve with time. 

He stays in bed most days now, relegating responsibilities however he can. Last Sunday, he was only awake for a little over four hours.

Taking care of your father as well as the ranch has become a heavy burden. Your siblings are seeing the strain and I cannot help but worry. Please know that I do not write to worry you as well, but I believe you must know. The two of you did not part on kindly terms. 

If you would like to make amends in this lifetime, Kit, please consider coming home. We all miss you dearly.

 

A lump formed in his throat. Hardly able to believe this, Christian had to read through his letter again. He then dropped it on the desk and buried his head in his hands.

His hope for his future here began to crumble.

Eight years had passed since leaving Durango, Colorado. He could still perfectly picture the ranch and the house his father had built with his own two hands. It had been a good home for the most part. Christian remembered thinking he would always live there.

But there had been squabbles with his father. The man had wanted him to go to school for business and then to come home. Having ended on a sour note, Christian had arrived in Boston and immediately changed his career trajectory. He and his father had never exchanged letters. 

There was so much to take in.

He could tell from reading between the lines that his mother didn’t believe her husband would be with her for much longer. If he wanted to see his father alive again, he had to go back there.

After all this time? Christian looked up around his office. There was no way that he could leave right when he was so busy. He had so much going for him. It didn’t seem possible to just walk away. A journey like that would keep him gone for at least a month, something the hospital would not be able to tolerate.

Besides, if his father passed, then someone needed to manage the ranch. His mother did enough and had never wanted to take on that responsibility. The thought of going from helping people here to working with the animals sounded like pure drudgery.

Christian looked over the letter with a groan. He wanted to ignore it but knew that he couldn’t. He had to go. If his father was dying, then they needed to talk. He had not had the courage to send a letter like he had wanted to for the last couple of years and couldn’t picture letting this moment pass him by.

So, he finished up his work in the office. At the end of the day, he started to pack his things.

He felt more resigned to this change of plans more than anything else. Christian returned to the office the next day and started assigning his patients over to other doctors. Wrapped up in his task, he nearly forgot to attend his meeting with the hospital leadership.

“We would like to extend to you an official promotion,” Mr. DeWitt, the hospital owner, announced in their meeting.

It was just what Christian had wanted. A lump formed in his throat when the four people turned to him with expectant smiles, waiting for him to accept the offer. He wished that he could.

“Thank you,” he told them. “I take my work here seriously and I am grateful for the opportunities that have been afforded me here. While I would like very much to accept this promotion, I find that I need to ask for something else instead. A leave of absence for a minimum of one month. My family has requested my presence back in Colorado,” he added.

His leadership team furrowed their brows, looking at one another, before turning back to him.

“That’s not something we can manage,” the chief doctor, Marge, said. “No hospital could offer such an absence. You have patients and a workload that needs to be supported every day. We could understand a week, perhaps, but that is the most. If you want more time away, then we would have no choice but to let you go.”

Christian’s resolve wavered.

He had expected as much, but it still hurt to hear. He swallowed hard, nodding to show that he had heard them. It was tempting to back up and pretend this had never happened. Thinking of his mother, however, kept him grounded there.

“Thank you for your honesty,” Christian said. He exhaled loudly. “I will be in touch. Good day, gentlemen.” 

He nodded and walked out. There was no way for him to know what would happen next. The only problem was that he didn’t have time to wait around. His belongings were packed and ready to go. All he needed to do now was purchase a train ticket.

Chapter Three

Spring 1882 in Belmont, Vermont

Adeline’s hands shook as she carefully folded the letter back to its original shape so that it would fit back in the envelope.

She had never been so nervous in all her life.

Taking a slow, deep breath, she rolled her shoulders back and tried to tell herself to be calm. This is what she had been striving for over the last couple of months, was it not? It was bound to happen.

Reed Yately of Durango, Colorado had just sent her a train ticket to join him out there. He hadn’t used the exact words, but the man had just sent her a marriage proposal.

Adeline felt light-headed. She gulped and sat down on her bed. The edge of the envelope was tucked under her, crinkling loudly. She didn’t bother to move it. There was too much on her mind.

Could she really do this? Could she leave her family with the chance of never returning?

It had made so much sense at the time. And during some of the letters she exchanged with the man from the mail-order bride ad, Adeline thought she could be happy with this Mr. Yately. He seemed nice enough. 

A hard worker, too. He was a foreman on a large ranch on the outskirts of town. The work was hard but fulfilling. The owners appreciated his hard work and had granted him the opportunity to build his own small cabin on the land. He had just finished building it, he had written in the letter, and wanted her to come out to join him.

This was supposed to be what she had wanted. Adeline knew this but couldn’t shake off her reluctance. She had never been so far away from her family.

Her stomach growled as though to remind her why she had decided to do this in the first place. Though she had found a few odd jobs over the last couple of months, it had been the harshest winter that her family had endured. They had nearly lost Penelope and there was never enough food. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had been full.

It was time.

She licked her lips as she grabbed the piece of paper. The ticket was still in there, now slightly bent. There was no way that she could risk losing this. 

It was her opportunity to go somewhere new. Somewhere far away with strange opportunities. Maybe she could get lucky and have a happy life with this man whom she had never met.

“Adeline!” Ida called out in annoyance. “Come on, we’re all waiting on you! Are you going to eat supper with us or not? I’m going to eat all your cabbage!”

After tucking the letter under her pillow, Adeline grudgingly stood up to go join her family around the table. Both Ida and George threw her pointed looks, but no one else seemed to care that she had taken her time coming over to join them. She took her seat so their father could say grace.

The smell of sour cabbage made her nose itch. It seemed to be all they ate lately, that and their onion soup. Adeline tried to take a few bites hoping that her busy thoughts would keep her distracted enough not to mind the bitter taste.

But it wasn’t.

Seeing Penelope stare at her plate, Adeline sighed and dumped her food onto her little sister’s plate. “Here you go,” she said. “I’m not hungry.”

Ida scoffed beside her, but their mother nudged her quietly not to say anything. Adeline swallowed hard and told herself not to be scared. She had to do something now. Speaking up like that in the first place gave her the strength she needed to glance around the table and open her mouth to tell everyone her news.

“I’m leaving.”

George had his mouth stuffed, making an odd sound as he threw her a look of confusion. Everyone else raised their heads to study her as well. Only Penelope was focusing on her food still.

“What?” Ida said loudly, breaking the silence. “Where do you think you’re going? You better not have been hiding any money from us.”

Leaning forward from across the table, Ollie peered at Adeline. “Why do you want to leave us? Did we do something wrong?”

“You shouldn’t just push this on us,” George objected once he had swallowed his food. “Seriously, Adeline. I hate to say it, but Ida is right. You must be crazy. Where did you get the money to leave?”

She thought her parents would speak up. She saw them exchange a glance with one another, but there was nothing more.

Adeline swallowed hard before shrugging, trying to keep her voice calm and casual. “I found a…well, it’s not a job. No, I haven’t been saving money, you two. How could you think that?” she frowned at Ida and George before venturing a small smile at Ollie. “I found a husband. I found an advertisement in the paper of men looking for a wife out West. There really isn’t room for me here anymore, is there? It’s time that I made a life of my own elsewhere. I have been a burden for long enough.”

“You’re not a burden,” their mother said. But she spoke quietly, almost reluctantly, as though she was only saying it to sound like a better mother. 

But Adeline wasn’t hurt. She had heard the whispers of her parents whenever they thought they were alone, worrying about what to do with her. They had no money, no food, and nothing more to give.

“Thank you,” Adeline told her mother quietly. “But I think we all know that it’s time for me to leave.”

Penelope looked up at her with watery eyes. “When are you leaving? Will you come back, Addy?”

A shaky breath escaped her lips before she managed to calm herself down. She hadn’t thought it would be so hard to tell them. This is what they needed, wasn’t it? They needed her out of the house, and she needed to be somewhere else that would keep her safe and take care of her.

Blinking back tears, she tried to smile at her youngest sister. “I don’t know, Penelope, I’m sorry. I will try to visit if I can, but…I cannot promise that. But I can promise that you will still be just fine. You will have everyone else here, won’t you? And I will write to you. I’ll write to everyone to tell you how I am.”

“Then I will write back to you,” Penelope said gravely.

Adeline nodded before glancing around at the rest of her family. Some of them were watching her, like Ida, and the others seemed to be ignoring her. She didn’t know how to feel about this. She licked her lips and turned back to the little bit of soup she still had.

The rest of their meal was quiet, and so were the next couple of days. Adeline had no other odd jobs that she could pick up, so she took care of Penelope, teaching her from their books, and packed.

And then it was time.

She only had one bag to take with her. Even then it was only partially full. There was only so much that she had; two dresses, an extra skirt, and her winter boots she thought might come in handy. She bundled her letters into an old book that she liked to scribble in. And then she went to the door.

“I would walk with you to the train station,” her mother said haltingly, “but Penelope…”

Adeline glanced around the quiet house before nodding. Everyone was out working. They didn’t have the time to see her off. She hadn’t seen her father or brothers since they left before she woke up. Ida had warned her to be careful before going to cover housekeeping for their mother, and Penelope was sleeping.

It was just the two of them.

“I understand,” Adeline murmured. She struggled to put a smile on her face before grudgingly nodding. “Well, take care of them, won’t you?”

Her mother had never been one for hugs. The older woman hesitated before putting on a smile. She came over and patted Adeline’s cheek before stepping back. “Take care of yourself. Good-bye, my dear.”

So, she left. Adeline made her way down to the train station, every step only building up the emotions within her. It felt as though her chest would explode. She had never left home before and now she was doing so forever.

She wiped away a tear before boarding the train and taking her seat on an empty bench. It was an older train with the only light coming from outside. The floorboards creaked when people walked by.

It was so new to her, being on a train. Everything felt so strange to Adeline as she looked around and tried to calm down her beating heart. She took slow, deep steady breaths. 

Soon the train started moving. A new sensation, it made her stomach queasy for the first few hours. But, with time, Adeline came to enjoy the train ride. The fear slowly slipped away for hope to take its place.

There were stops along the way, taking her through other cities as they started down southward. It was as thrilling as it was nerve-racking. There were new people to see outside her window with strange smells and foods on the carts.

It was in Boston that the train came to a final stop. She needed to move onto another one at the station. Clutching her bag close to her chest, Adeline moved around carefully as she stepped off one train and aimed to get to the next one. Her stop back in Vermont only had one track. But here, there were five.

“Thank you,” Adeline murmured as she was helped by the conductor up the steps onto her new train. 

Her eyes widened in surprise, seeing that this train was nicer. It had candles along the walls, carpeting on the floor, and cushioned benches. This leg of her journey would be much more comfortable.

Adeline found her way to her bench. These ones had seats facing one another. She studied them curiously, wondering if she might end up sitting with new folks. The last train had been extremely sparse with only three other people in her entire car. What would this one be like? A smile came to her face as she considered the possibilities.

She set her bag down but paused to stretch. Surely there would be another minute for her to enjoy standing on her legs. It felt so good to be moving after sitting for so long.

Putting down her hands, Adeline let out a deep breath. Outside it was a beautiful day and she was finally having a good feeling about this journey of hers.

A child on her left started shouting for his mother. The volume caught her off guard. Turning, Adeline started to take a step back, but her foot got stuck on the carpeting. She stumbled back with a yelp and was falling before she knew what was happening.

But she didn’t fall to the ground.

Instead, Adeline opened her eyes wide to find a rather handsome man holding her in his arms.

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With bankruptcy threatening Adeline’s family, she knows that she must move out in order to help her siblings. Without any other options available, she decides that she shall go off to marry a man she has never met. She does not believe in love, so when she boards her train she hopes to build a new life with someone who will at least respect her. Yet she isn’t even halfway to Colorado when she meets a stranger who makes her heart skip a beat. When she finally arrives to marry her husband-to-be, she is shocked to find the man who captured her heart there as well. Will she be able to go through with the wedding that she promised?

Christian ‘Kit’ Cohl didn’t want to go home to Colorado after spending years making a life for himself in Boston. A letter concerning his ailing father forces him to board a train and make his way back west. Everything changes when he meets Adeline, a young woman who steals his breath away. When she winds up engaged to his foreman, he wants to do the right thing and stay out of her way. He has enough concerns on his plate with the ranch and his family. Yet he can’t seem to stay away from Adeline. Will he be able to stand by and watch her marry someone else, even if it’s the wrong decision?

With the connection between Adeline and Kit becoming stronger, they will be forced to confront their feelings for one another before they lose everything. Will Adeline and Kit follow their hearts and pursue their love? Or will they let everyone else make life-changing decisions for them? Who will be the first to confess their feelings, not just to themselves, but to each other?

“The Truest Part of Her Heart” is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

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