Desert Rose , livre ebook

363

pages

English

Ebooks

2003

Écrit par
Linda Chaikin

Publié par
Harvest House Publishers

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363

pages

English

Ebooks

2003

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Harvest House Publishers

Date de parution

01 avril 2003

EAN13

9780736945882

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

18 Mo

Jack Halliday struck it rich in the 1860 silver boom in Virginia City! As Annalee and her mother travel to join him in Nevada, their joy turns to ashes. They're unprepared for the savage mountain winter that traps them in a desperate struggle for survival.At this critical moment, lawman Brett Wilder arrives in town. He's looking for the gunslinger who crippled his fatherand he suspects Jack.When Annalee and Brett meet as they each search for Jack, they must face what they believe about the sovereignty of God, justice, and mercy. They also must discover whether their growing love for one another will melt like snow into an icy mountain stream or bloom like a rose in the desert.

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Publié par

Harvest House Publishers

Date de parution

01 avril 2003

EAN13

9780736945882

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

18 Mo

De˙erº o˙e R L I N D A C H A I K I N

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Portions of this book previously published asNevada Jade.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chaikin, L. L. Desert Rose / Linda Chaikin. p. m. ISBN 978-0-7369-1234-1 (pbk.) 1. Silver mines and mining—Fiction. 2. Fathers and daughters—Fiction. 3. Women pioneers—Fiction. 4. Nevada—Fiction. I. Title. PS3553.H2427D47 2003 813’ .54—dc21

2002155508

All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior per-mission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Linda Chaikin is an award-winning writer of more than 20 books, including the popular A Day to Remember series. Linda and her husband, Steve, make their home in California. ;

Part One ;

SACRAMENTO 1858–1859

For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. —PSALM66:10

One ;

San Francisco, 1858

nnalee hurried down the narrow dark alleyways of San A Francisco’s notorious Barbary Coast district with the hem of her black cloak ﬂoating behind her. Several times she ducked out of sight between tall wooden shops and narrowly constructed houses near the wharves and ware-houses. Although most of the gambling dens, saloons, and theaters were a few streets farther north, even here she could hear boisterous male voices and the shrill foolish laughter of women. In another hour, with nightfall, the rowdiness would increase. Her mother had spoken about gangs called the “Sydney Ducks” or “Hounds.” These merciless ruffians would set ﬁres in order to steal and murder. Large areas of San Francisco had several times before been burned amid looting and loss of life. A clammy mist clung to her face and throat as though it were drizzling. Odors from barrels of ﬁsh destined for the wharf markets satiated the briny air. Footsteps staggered toward her, echoing on the wooden walk-way. Annalee quickly ducked into a small alcove by one of the shops. She hid in the shadows beside steps leading to a door, her breathing loud in her ears. She drew the hood of her damp cloak snuggly around her cheeks, making certain her auburn curls were tucked well out of view. Annalee knew her mother carried a small .44 derringer in her handbag when she was out alone performing in the theaters, called melodeons. She’d done so since playing the mining camps and “boom towns” of the 1840s and ’50s, where gunﬁghts and trouble were usually close at hand. Little had changed in a decade.

8.Linda Chaikin

Law and order had yet to be established in many of the camps of the western Territories. “A savage land,” her mother often said, “without deputy mar-shals.” Miners and businessmen alike often participated in vigi-lante justice to maintain a level of order. The footsteps stumbled past her, fading into the fog. She waited a moment longer before stepping out from the shadows and hurrying on her way. The fog was thickening with the onset of darkness as she neared the theater where her mother was performing in a melo-drama. Piano music rang out from taverns across the street, and someone shot off a pistol. Vigilant, Annalee kept close to fog-bound buildings. The bois-terous voices grew louder. With her heart beating in her throat, she ran alongside the theater toward the entrance. For a horrible moment she heard footsteps chasing her. Whirling, she waited, but the only thing to emerge from the mist was an echobe such. Don’t a coward. If Mother comes here twice a week to play the theater, so can you. It’s only right to bring her this good news from Pa! “Never take foolish risks, expecting God to deliver you,” her mother often warned. “He expects us to be prudent. But when we do ﬁnd ourselves in danger, we should always call upon Him to rescue us.” It was her mother’s custom to gather them all together and pray for their safety before she left the Sacramento farm where they were living with an aunt, Weda. Annalee breathed a prayer of thanks for her safe arrival at the theater. Inside, the lamps were few and dim. If she was disappointed at its shabbiness, she tried to deny it. She reminded herself that this was not typical of the theaters her mother had performed in during her heyday. The crowds here would shout to one another across the room, even interrupting the actors as they delivered their lines or sang popular songs. Female customers were not per-mitted in most of these local theaters. But when someone like the rising child star, Lotta Crabtree, came to sing, dance, and mimic, the town ﬁremen, known as the Knickerbocker Hook and Ladder Company, would show up to keep things orderly and respectable.

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