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CALICO
CANYON
ISBN
13: 978-59789-938-3
Barbour Publishing
Mary Connealy
Grace Calhoun has been living
a nightmare. First there was the life of hard work and beatings
meted out by her adoptive father and now that she’s a teacher it’s
dealing with five little Reeves boys who she refers to aptly as The
Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And their father, Daniel Reeves, is
no better, ignoring her admonishments about their behavior until the
inevitable happens—the Reeves children are expelled from school and
Grace loses her job for being unable to control them.
Down to her last penny, Grace
doesn’t think things can get any worse when her adoptive father
shows up bent on retribution for sending him to jail. Grace barely
escapes and lands in the back of Daniel Reeves’ wagon where she
hides until she blacks out from cold and exposure, worry and hunger.
Daniel Reeves can’t believe
his eyes when his boys discover the snippety school teacher,
ex-school teacher, near death in the back of his wagon. He does the
Christian thing and brings her inside, bent on saving her. Together
with his boys, they huddle to warm her up through the night in the
cave that serves as their interim home. As a widower with five
energetic young ones, their rough and tumble existence suits him
just fine and he’s not been in a hurry to build a proper cabin.
When the preacher and his wife
show up the next morning as part of the search party looking for
Grace, they are appalled that the pair have slept together with five
little boys in the room and they call on Daniel to do the right
thing. Despite his distaste and distrust for the uppity woman who
got his children kicked out of school, Daniel knows he has to marry
her now. Grace, however, isn’t at all sure since the Reeves children
terrorize her so—but not as much as her adoptive father. Seeing a
means to escape and believing fully in the rules of propriety, Grace
Calhoun becomes Grace Reeves and mother to five out-of-control boys
and wife to a surly father. How this family comes to find their own
talents, respect for each other and ultimately love, takes a lot of
tolerating, understanding and faith, particularly when evil comes
calling.
Ms. Connealy serves up an
inspirational story of strong emotional impact and positive life
lessons written with substantial measures of wit and wisdom. She
demonstrates again her understanding of children—the way they think,
their rationale for action and their motivation for behavior. And it
is the children in this story who provide the biggest punch because
of the undercurrent of child abuse which wheedles its way into
Mosqueros and provides a lesson for the adults. Poignant and moving,
this story will bring both tears and laughter as love and faith grow
from the tiny seeds of hope.
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