Revealed
Authors: Tamera Alexander
Praise for
Rekindled,
the first book of the
F
OUNTAIN
C
REEK
C
HRONICLES
Alexander has written a charming historical romance that features well-drawn characters and smooth, compelling storytelling that will have readers anxiously awaiting the second installment of the F
OUNTAIN
C
REEK
C
HRONICLES.
Highly recommended. . . .
—Tamara Butler,
Library Journal
(Starred Review)
It’s a pleasure to read this debut book. Rich prose, a realistic setting and characters, and a compassionate story of love will keep you turning the pages long into the night. . . .
—
Romantic Times
TOP PICK (4½ stars)
[A] tenderhearted story of redemption. . . . Rarely does a debut novel combine such a masterful blend of captivating story and technical excellence. Alexander has introduced a delightful cast of winsome characters, and there’s a promise of more stories yet to be told.
—Kristine Wilson,
Aspiring Retail
Tamera Alexander has penned an
outstanding
debut lyrically rich in life’s lessons and faith in God’s love, featuring two very likeable protagonists. It is generously peopled with memorable secondary characters this reader will be anxious to see in the future books of this series. This is a novel that should easily find its way into your hearts and onto your keeper shelves!
—
Inspirational Romance Writers.com
A beautifully written and anything-but-old-school inspirational romance.
Rekindled
. . . is an examination of faith. Not only leaps of spiritual fidelity, but also the faith in self individuals choose when challenged to live their love, as well as their beliefs.
—Michelle Buonfiglio, Romance:
B(u)y the Book,
WNBC.com/romance
Books by
Tamera Alexander
FROM BETHANY HOUSE PUBLISHERS
F
OUNTAIN
C
REEK
C
HRONICLES
Rekindled
Revealed
Remembered
Fountain Creek Chronicles
(3 in 1)
T
IMBER
R
IDGE
R
EFLECTIONS
From a Distance
Beyond This Moment
Within My Heart
TAMERA
ALEXANDER
F
OUNTAIN
C
REEK
C
HRONICLES
| B
OOK
T
WO
REVEALED
Revealed
Copyright © 2006
Tamera Alexander
Cover design by Studio Gearbox
Cover photograph by Steve Gardner, Pixel Works Studio
Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations identified NLT are from the
Holy Bible
, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
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, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception in brief quotations in printed reviews.
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alexander, Tamera.
Revealed / Tamera Alexander.
p. cm. — (Fountain Creek chronicles ; 2)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7642-0109-7 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-7642-0109-3 (pbk.)
1. Ex-prostitutes—Fiction. 2. Widows—Fiction. 3. Fugitives from justice—Fiction. 4. Voyages and travels—Fiction. 5. Frontier and pioneer life—West (U.S.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3601.L3563R48 2006
813'.6—dc22
2006019415
DEDICATION
To Deborah Ackey,
my 7th grade teacher at Idlewood Elementary School
in Tucker, Georgia.
Like a proverbial message in a bottle, this dedication is being cast
on the waters in hopes that it one day finds you. Years ago you
read a young girl’s poems and stories, and you gave her hope and
encouragement, though her work was
far
from deserving.
I’ve thought of you often through the years and pray that God has
blessed you for all you gave to me, and to so many others.
CONTENT
Then Jesus told this story to some who had great selfconfidence and scorned everyone else: ‘‘Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a dishonest tax collector. The proud Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else, especially like that tax collector over there! For I never cheat, I don’t sin, I don’t commit adultery, I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
‘‘But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored.’’
LUKE 18:9–14
NLT
Colorado Territory, May 14, 1870
In the shadow of the Rockies
A
NNABELLE
G
RAYSON
M
C
C
UTCHENS
stared at the dying man beside her and wished, as she had the day she married him, that she loved her husband more. Loved him with the same desire he felt for her. Given all the men she’d known in her past, how was it that now, after meeting a truly good man who loved her despite what she had done and been, her whole heart wouldn’t open fully to him? No matter how she tried.
Jonathan tried to pull in a deep breath. Sitting beside him, Annabelle cringed as she heard the air thread its way down his throat, barely lifting his barrel chest. The shallow movement of air rattled dull against the fluid in his lungs.
An ache started deep inside her. How could this solid mountain of a man have been brought low so swiftly? The chest pains had started without warning. But the fatigue and coughing fits Jonathan had experienced in recent weeks had taken on a deeper, more ominous meaning in past days. How could the heart of a man beat so strong and steady in one sense and yet be fading so quickly in another?
A breeze whipped the wagon canopy and drew Annabelle’s focus upward toward a languid summer sun, hanging half masked behind the highest Rocky Mountain peaks. A burnt-orange glow bathed the vast eastern plains in promise of the coming twilight. The group they’d set out with from Denver nearly a week ago had waited with them a day, as was the agreement from the outset in such circumstances, in order to see if Jonathan would gain strength. But when Jonathan’s pain worsened and the prospect of recovery dimmed of all hope, Jack Brennan reluctantly explained the group had to push on. They needed to make up for a late departure due to unaccustomed spring rains in order to reach the Idaho Territory before the first snowfall.
After several minutes Jonathan’s breathing evened. His eyes were closed, and Annabelle wondered if he’d slipped back into sleep.
‘‘You’re as pretty as I’ve ever imagined a woman could be, Annabelle.’’ His voice came gentle. He lifted a hand and brushed his fingers across her brow and down her cheek.
She gave a bleak laugh and shook her head at his foolishness.
‘‘Yes, I’m quite the catch. I’m glad you got me when you did, ’cause I had others waiting in line, you know.’’ Seeing his mouth tip on one side, Annabelle smiled.
She’d been pretty when younger, but beauty was a trait that time—and choices she’d made—had erased from her features, and she knew it. A thin, puckered scar marred the top of her right cheekbone, etching its jagged flesh-colored path up her temple and into her hairline. She’d lived with it for the past fifteen years, and it served as a tangible memory of her first lesson in what some men who had visited the brothel termed pleasure.
‘‘What do you think you’re doin’, Annie girl?’’
Only then did Annabelle become aware of how she was tugging her hair down on that side of her face. Quickly dropping her hand, she laughed in hopes of covering her self-consciousness. The sound came out flat and unconvincing. ‘‘I’m just thinking about how you must find scars attractive, Jonathan McCutchens.’’
With accustomed gentleness, he caressed her cheek. ‘‘I find
you
attractive, Mrs. McCutchens. Only you.’’