by Lori Benton
Praise for Lori Benton
“Lori Benton’s latest is a rich tapestry of lost love and betrayal, of heartache and compassion—and ultimately, of redemption and restoration. The courage and resilience of the human spirit is woven through every page of this highly enjoyable novel.”
TAMERA ALEXANDER, USA Today bestselling author of Colors of Truth
“An absolute triumph! With nuance and sensitivity, this tale explores the complexities of life after freedom from bondage. It’s a landscape of hope, fear, choices, love, surrender, and ultimately victory over that which ensnares. The writing is as lush as the frontier world it portrays. Shiloh is so powerful, and the characters so richly drawn, it could only have come from master storyteller Lori Benton’s pen.”
JOCELYN GREEN, Christy Award–winning author of Between Two Shores and Shadows of the White City
“A sumptuous tale, so true to life you will hope and yearn and dare to dream along with Ian and Seona as they wrestle with what reconciliation and second chances really mean. Lori Benton delivers another impeccably researched historical that kept me up late turning pages and haunted my thoughts when I reached the end.”
LAURA FRANTZ, Christy Award–winning author of A Heart Adrift
“Lori Benton dares to write characters whose lives are nuanced, complex, even cracked in tender wounds . . . and through those cracks, within the pages of Shiloh, something beautiful shines: the light of hope. Healing. And the binding of lives in friendship, love, and family. The depth of research and deftly developed characters and voicing are paralleled only by the depth of heart in this transporting tale. . . . A tale not to be missed!”
AMANDA DYKES, Christy Award–winning author of Yours Is the Night, Set the Stars Alight, and Whose Waves These Are
“Readers who enjoyed Lori Benton’s wonderful novel Mountain Laurel will be thrilled to read more about Seona and Ian’s frontier adventures and remarkable love story. Lori has a unique gift to bring a historical era and setting to life and then weave those story elements together in a way that captures your heart and soul. Overcoming past hurts and forging strong family ties are two important themes in this captivating story. Well-written and highly recommended!”
CARRIE TURANSKY, award-winning author of No Ocean Too Wide and No Journey Too Far
“With every book Lori Benton writes, I’m reminded again of why she’s one of my very favorite authors. Her characters are refreshingly layered and wonderfully complex—to the point that I find myself thinking about them long after the end. Through a rich tapestry of detailed history, she weaves a story that’s as thought-provoking as it is emotional and romantic. With vivid writing and an intriguing plot, this story of redemption and second chances will stay with me for a long time.”
MELISSA TAGG, Christy Award–winning author of Now and Then and Always
“Lori Benton masterfully weaves fine strands from her haunting debut novel, Burning Sky, into Shiloh, the gripping conclusion of the Kindred duology that began with Mountain Laurel. The result is a powerful saga that reaches from the bitter aftermath of the American Revolution into the very beginnings of slavery’s agonizing unraveling.”
J. M. HOCHSTETLER, author of the American Patriot series and coauthor of the Northkill Amish series
“Mountain Laurel is the sort of book where you really hope there will be a sequel because you want to spend more time with the characters. It’s a fascinating story, rich in emotion and a sense of the time and cultures in which it takes place.”
DIANA GABALDON, New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series
“Lori Benton’s epic family saga Mountain Laurel thoroughly immersed me in plantation life in the 1790s and in the moral dilemmas created by the evil of slavery. Her lush, descriptive writing made every scene vivid and real. This engrossing tale of love and sorrow and redemption kept me turning pages!”
LYNN AUSTIN, Christy Award–winning author of If I Were You and Chasing Shadows
“Love forbidden, sacrificed, redeemed. Mountain Laurel casts long shadows of kinship through generations of a society that breeds slaves and secrets. . . . Exquisitely penned, with all the beauty of a highland song, Lori Benton throws wide the door of a culture born in Scotland and wedded to the American South in years before that region dreamt of abolition. Stunning portrait of a past made real.”
CATHY GOHLKE, Christy Award–winning author of The Medallion and Night Bird Calling
“Lori Benton is an extraordinary storyteller. . . . Every page delivers a unique, satisfying, and enriching read, where faith and family exposes and nurtures the journey of the human heart. I loved Mountain Laurel!”
JANE KIRKPATRICK, New York Times bestselling author of Something Worth Doing
“Poignant. Impeccably researched. Tender and romantic but with a powerful message of clinging to faith over fear, Mountain Laurel is Lori Benton at her finest. . . . This is a stellar series debut!”
KRISTY CAMBRON, bestselling author of The Butterfly and the Violin and The Lost Castle
“Vivid and complex, Lori Benton’s newest offering is penned within the backdrop of yet another stunning setting that touches the senses. In the truest threads of Lori’s fiction, Mountain Laurel is an intricately woven tale of love and heartache, wrapped up in a sweeping family saga.”
JOANNE BISCHOF, Christy Award–winning author of Sons of Blackbird Mountain
“With a masterful pen, Lori Benton creates a poignant story that will have readers flipping pages late into the night. . . . I finished Mountain Laurel with both a sigh of satisfaction and a longing of expectation for what comes next for these characters. I highly recommend this novel!”
HEIDI CHIAVAROLI, Carol Award–winning author of Freedom’s Ring and The Orchard House
“Lori Benton’s Mountain Laurel is a compelling masterpiece, a stunning dance of romance, sacrifice, yearning, betrayal, and redemption. Benton weaves an exquisite tale that delves into the world of slavery while unearthing the treasure of what it truly means to be free. Seona and Ian’s story continues to captivate me long after the pages have closed.”
TARA JOHNSON, author of All Through the Night and Where Dandelions Bloom
Visit Tyndale online at tyndale.com.
Visit Lori Benton’s website at loribenton.com.
Tyndale and Tyndale’s quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Ministries.
Shiloh
Copyright © 2021 by Lori Benton. All rights reserved.
Cover illustration of flower copyright © by Nicoolay/iStockphoto. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph of calendula haze texture copyright © by Flypaper Textures. All rights reserved.
Author photograph taken by E.A.H. Creative Photography, copyright © 2019. All rights reserved.
Designed by Libby Dykstra
Edited by Sarah Mason Rische
Published in association with the literary agency of Books & Such Literary Management, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version.
Shiloh is a work of fiction. Where real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales appear, they are used fictitiously. All other elements of the novel are drawn from the author’s imagination.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Tyndale House Publishers at [email protected], or call 1-855-277-9400.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4964-4436-3 (HC)
ISBN 978-1-4964-4437-0 (SC)
ISBN 978-1-4964-4439-4 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4964-4438-7 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4964-4440-0 (Apple)
Buil
d: 2021-08-17 16:29:02 EPUB 3.0
For Nancy and Gary Jensen—
you have so often cheered me on
Contents
List of Characters
Prelude
Part I: Winter 1795–Summer 1796 Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Part II: Summer 1796–Spring 1797 Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Part III: Spring 1797–Summer 1797 Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Part IV: Summer 1797–Autumn 1797 Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
A Note from the Author
About the Author
Discussion Questions
Cast of Characters
NORTH CAROLINA
Ian Cameron, planter, owner of Mountain Laurel; Judith, his wife; Miranda (Mandy), their daughter
Malcolm, Mountain Laurel’s oldest slave; Naomi, his daughter; Ally, his grandson
John Reynold, friend and neighbor to the Camerons; Cecily, his wife; Robin, their son
Charlie Spencer, friend and neighbor to the Camerons
Lucinda Cameron, Judith’s mother, Ian’s widowed aunt, now living at Chesterfield Plantation
Rosalyn Pryce, Ian’s sister-by-law; Gideon Pryce, her husband and master of Chesterfield
Esther, former slave at Mountain Laurel, now living at Chesterfield; Maisy and Jubal, her parents
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Seona Cameron, freewoman; Gabriel, her son with Ian Cameron
Lily Cameron, sempstress, midwife, freewoman, Seona’s mother
Robert Cameron, bookbinder, Ian’s father; Margaret, Ian’s mother
Catriona Cameron, Ian’s sister
Ned Cameron, Ian’s brother; Penny, Ned’s wife; Robbie and Eddie, their sons
Morgan Shelby, New York City merchant
Thomas Ross, Ian’s boyhood friend
SHILOH, NEW YORK
Neil MacGregor, Shiloh’s physician, Ian’s neighbor on Black Kettle Creek; Willa MacGregor, his wife; Jamie and Liam, their sons
Matthew MacGregor (called Owl by the Kanien’kehá:ka), adopted son of Neil and Willa MacGregor
Maggie MacGregor (called Pine Bird by the Kanien’kehá:ka), adopted daughter of Neil and Willa MacGregor
Joseph Tames-His-Horse, Kanien’kehá:ka warrior, Wolf Clan brother of Willa MacGregor
Colonel Elias Waring, magistrate, former militia colonel; Goodenough, his common-law wife; Lemuel Waring, their son
Anni Keppler, Elias Waring’s daughter; Charles Keppler, her husband, Shiloh’s miller
Francis Waring, Elias Waring’s son, Anni’s younger brother
Jack Keagan, owner of Shiloh’s tavern and trade store
Hector Lacey, squatter and recluse
COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK
William Cooper, judge, congressman, land speculator, founder of Cooperstown; Mrs. Cooper, his wife; James, his youngest son
Moss Kent, lawyer, William Cooper’s assistant
Aram Crane, frontier troublemaker with a history of violence
Mr. Hansen, storekeeper
Is it fitting for a body to miss a place she once walked in fear? A place that broke her heart and bruised her soul? Still I dream at night of Mountain Laurel.
By day I walk this new world with its smelly cobbled streets teeming with people brusque and busy. With its tolling bells and ropewalks and ships lining wharves that poke into salt-tanged waters like the spokes of the wagon wheels that brought us here. Boston swirls around me like the sea wind, too fast to catch before it shifts again. Face after strange face. Ship after taller ship. Season after passing season. I have learned to trade the coins Mama earns for things we once made ourselves. I know the best time to bargain for fish and fruit, tea and coffee, notions and thread, and I know their fair worth. No one obliges me to go or stay, though there’s plenty needing done and me and Mama do our share. Some things did not change with freedom—like who I am inside where no one sees. That girl with the bruised soul who learned to say, “Yes, sir,” and “No, ma’am,” to white folk smart-quick. That girl who walks now in a waking dream, calling herself free. But she’s not.
The house that shelters us, the room we sleep in—the very bed—all of it was Ian’s. I see him in the faces smiling with his smile. None more so than the son we share.
There is no forgetting. No letting go of who I was. Who I am still? There is only this place in between where I wait, harbored but unanchored, like one of those tall ships with its moorings frayed, set adrift.
What it is will anchor me, I cannot say.
1
CARRAWAY MOUNTAINS, NORTH CAROLINA
December 1795
The crevice in the earth, widened by pick and shovel, permitted a man of average size to hunker comfortably within.
Ian Cameron, taller than average and broad through the shoulders, felt his coat sleeves brush the sides of the tunnel dug into the creek’s steep bank. The creek itself, near its spring-fed source, was narrow enough a man could bestride it. That small distance placed the vein of gold the digging contained on his neighbor John Reynold’s land. Not on Mountain Laurel, Ian’s farm.
John and another neighbor, Charlie Spencer, crouched outside the tunnel, hats dusted with the snow feathering down from laden clouds, as Ian ran a hand over its clammy roof, fingers exploring the stone embedded some three feet back from the entrance. Charlie’s pick had exposed all but one edge of the roughly rectangular mass. No telling how deep the fourth edge went into the bank. A foot or more and it might pose no threat. Inches would be another matter.
Thought of being buried alive sent Ian crab-walking out into the frigid gray.
“Was I right?” Charlie’s breath clouded before his whiskered face. “That rock set to drop and bring half the ridge down after it?”
“Ye’re right to leave off digging.” Ian dipped muddy hands in the ice-rimmed creek, then stood, chafing reddened fingers.
“Can it be shored? Or should we cease the business altogether?” Worry made John Reynold’s voice more crisply English than usual. Nose red-tipped, he cast a dubious glance at the raw cutting in the earth. “I’ll not put Charlie in harm’s way for gold,” he added with such disregard for the substance Ian laughed.
“No doubt that’s why the Almighty saw fit to put it on your land, John. Ye’re the only man in the Carraways who’d cover that vein and put it out of mind if one of us half urged ye to it.”
Wry humor lit John’s brown eyes. “I won’t say it’s more trouble than it’s worth, but it does present its complications.”
The gold had been discovered on the Reynolds’ land by Mountain Laurel’s overseer—a secret taken to his death the previous autumn. Not until Charlie Spencer stumbled upon the abandoned mine had Ian learned of its existence.
After choosing to keep the gold a secret between the three of them—and his wife, Cecily—John had faced a quandary. How was he to make use of the ore without arousing speculation as to its source?
Between the ongoing work of farming, John had
made two trips east over the past year, to Wilmington and New Bern—long-established coastal towns—to exchange the gold for coin, which was more discreetly spendable for the modest improvements to his farm he wished to make. And to portion out wages for Charlie, who swiped off his drooping hat to knock away snow, then snugged it back over his balding head.
“Ain’t more’n a thread in spots, that vein, but looks to keep going. No telling how far, apart from digging.”
“I’m not sure the stone would fall even without support,” Ian said. “But I’d feel better about your chipping away up here if ye let me do a bit of framing first.”
Charlie nodded, fondling the ear of one of his hounds come nosing up along the creek, paws muddying the snow that sugared the ground.
“Right then,” John said. “I’ve some pine down to the barn . . .” He caught Ian’s brief frown. “I don’t intend taking anything needed in your shop.”
“It’s not that.” Ian fetched his neighbor a half smile, tempered by the reminder of his reduced circumstances since last year’s fire claimed his uncle Hugh Cameron’s life and home and marked the desertion of all but one of his uncle’s field hands. “Pine’s too soft. I’ve some hickory curing. Give it a few weeks, be sure the green’s gone out of it, then I’ll get to work up here.”
John grasped his shoulder in thanks, then turned to the smaller man scratching the dog’s ear. “You hear, Charlie? No digging ’til we have that stone supported.”
A grin showed Charlie’s snaggled eyeteeth. “Won’t say I’m not gratified by the share ye’ve staked me, but truth to tell I’m most tickled at keeping the secret from folk got no business poking their noses in it.”
Ian knew who Charlie meant: Lucinda Cameron, his uncle’s widow—and Ian’s mother-by-law. Ian suspected she had been the instigator of his uncle’s erstwhile overseer’s hunt for gold on the ridge. The man hadn’t lived long enough to confirm its existence to Lucinda, and since the night of the house fire she had removed herself to nearby Chesterfield Plantation, her eldest daughter’s home. Still, the woman cast a formidable shadow.
