About the Book

In 1849, Monroe County, Missouri, was still the frontier, where preachers and doctors were scarce. With statehood, Mexican grants of thousands of acres dwindled into hundreds of acres for the lucky landowners; unlucky ones received nothing.

The Mexican – American war was over. Men who left their sweethearts to fight with their hero, Doniphan, became heroes themselves, feted, and offered chances they’d never had in Missouri.

And the lure of the far west was beginning to have its pull. Even tragedies like the Donner Party disaster wouldn’t dissuade adventurers for long, especially when the discovery of gold in California became known.

Betsy Sloan, an auburn-haired city beauty, came to the Missouri frontier with a broken heart. But the engaging smile of her employer lured her back to life.

Gerald Termaine, a dashing young corporal in the Mexican-American War loved Betsy since they were children. But he jilted her and left her for an heiress who gave him a hero’s welcome in New Orleans.

Alfred McCutchen, “The Judge,” needs Betsy to care for his motherless children. He’s handsome, and exciting, but does Betsy want to settle for a loveless marriage?

“Like water going over the mill wheel, we can’t stop change but we have a choice about how we handle it.” Mary Barnett McCutchen, 1813-1848

About the Author

The youngest cousin in a large extended family, Helen was born long after her grandfather died. Nevertheless, for as long as she can remember, she wanted to put on paper the stories she’d heard about him. Because she didn’t believe she could write from a man’s point of view, she searched her family genealogy for a likely woman, found Elizabeth Sloan, and thus, “Betsy” was born. Helen took some of her family legends, her family genealogy, and the history of the times, put them together with a good lot of imagination. The result was an historical novel that she hopes you will enjoy although her grandfather, James McCutchen, is only a bit player in this book. Helen now lives with her husband of less than a year, Jim Whitworth, in Arizona, where she is busy writing her next book, The McCutchen Saga. She promises that her grandfather really will be a major character this time.

Excerpts