High Desert Haven (The Shepherd's Heart)

by Lynnette Bonner

  “ChristyAnne!” Miss Nickerson jerked her hand in a motion to indicate she should pay attention and hurry-up all at the same time. The rest of the children were already in the single-file line headed for a small platform she could see just inside the depot doors.

  Giving Mera’s jacket one last dusting, ChristyAnne bent and kissed her little sister’s arm, then captured her attention with a touch to her chin. “’Member to smile, ’kay?”

  Mera nodded. “An’ fold my hands.” She mimicked the gesture ChristyAnne had taught her in hopes that their good behavior would win them a place to live. Together.

  “Good. Now,” ChristyAnne hefted both their cases, “come on.”

  Inside, the children all set their bags in a corner and climbed up onto the platform to stand in two rows facing a gathering crowd. ChristyAnne made sure she was standing directly behind Mera. Miss Nickerson began her remarks. She always said what wonderful hardworking children they were and that none of them would be any trouble, and if they were the Children’s Aid Society would take them back, so ChristyAnne didn’t pay attention to what she said. Instead, she scanned the crowd. Was there a new family waiting for her and Mera here? Off to one side of the crowd was a tall man in overalls. His wife stood beside him with a small frown on her face. They looked nice enough, but as soon as Miss Nickerson stopped talking they turned around and headed for the outside doors.

  ChristyAnne sighed. That was the way of it. A lot of people just came out of curiosity to see what the orphan train was all about. Two men stepped forward. They looked like brothers. One bent and smiled at Jasper, one of the twins, while the other focused his attention on Jason. ChristyAnne swallowed. It looked like the twins were gonna be split up. But as Miss Nickerson gestured them over to the corner where her assistant would fill out the paperwork, ChristyAnne heard one of the men say, “We live on neighboring farms, so they’ll be able to see each other often.” She sighed. That brought some relief. At least the brothers wouldn’t lose track of each other. She turned to scan the crowd once more and blinked. The fat, mean man with the mustache was talking to Miss Nickerson!

  “Sure, a fine dairy ve haf as you know. I vas talking to your father, yust the other day, and he told me a yob you had taken vith the Children’s Aid Society. Yes, my vife vould for some company be happy. Yust come out once you are done here. Ve vill look forward to haf you to dinner, ya!”

  “Why thank you, Mr. Vandenvort.” Miss Nickerson patted the hair at the back of her head and adjusted her flowery hat. “It has been an honor to help these children find homes, but I have to say it is very nice to be home! And I would be happy to come to dinner tonight.”

  ChristyAnne suppressed an eye-roll at her simpering tone.

  The man nodded. “Good. The vife I will let know. Now, I need to vork in my dairy a strong young gal. Yust one.” He blew a ring of smoke towards the ceiling and turned to scan them all with watery blue eyes.

  “Well! I have just the one!”

  Miss Nickerson turned and looked directly at her, and ChristyAnne’s heart dropped with the speed of a stone.

  To purchase Fair Valley Refuge click here.

  Also Coming Soon…

  He broke her heart.

  Now he’s back to ask for a second chance.

  Heart pounding in shock, Sharyah Jordan gapes at the outlaw staring down the barrel of his gun at her. Cascade Bennett shattered her dreams only last summer, and now he plans to kidnap her and haul her into the wilderness with a bunch of outlaws…for her own protection? She’d rather be locked in her classroom for a whole week with Brandon McBride and his arsenal of tricks, and that was saying something.

  Cade Bennett’s heart nearly drops to his toes when he sees Sharyah standing by the desk. Sharyah Jordan was not supposed to be here. Blast if he didn’t hate complications, and Sharyah with her alluring brown eyes and silky blond hair was a walking, talking personification of complication.

  Now was probably not the time to tell her he’d made a huge mistake last summer….

  Two broken hearts. Dangerous Outlaws. One last chance at love.

  Step into a day when outlaws ran free, the land was wild, and guns blazed at the drop of a hat.

  www.lynnettebonner.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Born and raised in Malawi, Africa. Lynnette Bonner spent the first years of her life reveling in warm equatorial sunshine and the late evening duets of cicadas and hyenas. The year she turned eight she was off to Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school in Kenya where she spent many joy-filled years, and graduated in 1990.

  That fall, she traded to a new duet—one of traffic and rain—when she moved to Kirkland, Washington to attend Northwest University. It was there that she met her husband and a few years later they moved to the small town of Pierce, Idaho.

  During the time they lived in Idaho, while studying the history of their little town, Lynnette was inspired to begin the Shepherd’s Heart Series with Rocky Mountain Oasis.

  Marty and Lynnette have four children, and currently live in Washington where they pastor a church.