|
Texas rancher Grant Cooper has spent most of his twenty-six years as an orphan. Because he’s made a promise to God and himself to devote his life to helping children who are alone in the world, he has no intention of marrying and having children of his own--not when there are all those needy children out there.
Hannah Cartwright knows first-hand about an adoptive father’s abuse, an experience which left her fearful of men. She has sworn to never have a man in her life.
All of which tends to complicate matters when Hannah and Grant find themselves attracted to each other. In fact, there are no small number of complications in Hannah’s and Grant’s lives, and they all start when the two meet on a cold train platform in Sour Springs, Texas.
Two children have come to the end of the line for The Orphan Train and, as always, Grant is there to take them in. His small home may not have a lot of room, but his heart is huge. Through the years, he’s adopted two dozen children or so and has seen most of them move on to productive lives. He’s accustomed to discrimination against orphans from the townspeople, but he meets a challenge of a different kind--and a formidable one at that--in town’s newest arrival, Hannah Cartwright.
Hannah has no doubt Grant, who looks like an outlaw, intends a life of hard work and hunger for the two children he adopts--one of whom is especially important to her. Determined to save the children from Grant, but with little more than the tattered dress she’s wearing, Hannah finds a job as the town’s school teacher. Now she has a way to keep an eye on the children and even more reason to stay single.
But Hannah’s never taught school before. Grant’s children don’t attend school. And even after she finally manages to get Grant’s children into school, her problems are only beginning.
Grant, in the meantime, has all he can shake a stick at--running a ranch, rearing children, ducking the brazen romantic advances of the town’s seamstress, and trying to resolve his growing, tender feelings for Hannah while he’s determined to honor his pledge to never marry. Little does he know the real reason for the seamstress’s attentions or the danger her plan poses for Grant and his family.
Ms. Connealy weaves engaging children, humor, and an interesting subplot into this western romance. As you turn the pages, Hannah and Grant face new trials, learn to trust, and finally allow themselves to love each other. “Gingham Mountain” is an easy read and-- although there is attention to domestic abuse and the plight of orphans in the late 1800s--a hope-filled story.
|
