Hadley Hope

Elizabeth Spaulding demands to be recognized as more than a pretty face. She runs away from an arranged marriage to an odious wealthy suitor. From the moment she arrives in the frontier town of Mooresville, Indiana, challenges confront her. Forced to live in the loft above the mercantile, Elizabeth discovers its manager is a handsome bachelor who flirts for sport. Elizabeth is determined to resist his advances. She soon discovers opportunities to support herself in the frontier are more limited than in her hometown. How will she survive as an unemployed woman unless she agrees to marry?

Daniel and Elizabeth Hadley, while mourning unexpected deaths, discover a fugitive family hiding on their property. They provide the runaways with food, medical help, and temporary shelter. Their act of compassion leads to unexpected challenges because this encounter changes their understanding of the inhumanity of slavery. The Hadleys must choose between clinging to the safety of past attitudes or embracing a new future full of unknown possibilities. Should they help the Davis family escape to Kansas Territory out of the easy reach of bounty hunters?