Shadows of the Heart

Allison Duncan's short stature and slight frame, along with big eyes in a round face, gives her a child-like appearance, but she has yet to come of age, even though she is now pushing thirty. Her sheltered life and trusting nature has left her naïve of the suffering ways of the world and how evil people can be. Which is why she finds herself alone, again, as she has many times before, she is brooding on how life has betrayed her. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way, but here she was, in a darkened room, afraid of what was coming next to get her. Until one day she decides to stop succumbing to the fear, she makes herself a promise that she will no longer be subject to its whim, but then, she forgets to factor in the unseen presence Maggie.

1889: Maggie McCoy is a bright, sophisticated school teacher, well respected in Boston's high society, but that was her former life, she is now trying to survive in a hostile world in the Oklahoma territory. Her husband had promised he would make them a good life out West, until he dies and leaves her alone on the prairie with four children to raise and a large cattle ranch to run. She carries a longing in her heart to back in Boston, then one day that option came when an all-consuming fire sweeps across the plains. She is left with the momentous decision to either rebuild her husband's dream or make the formidable journey back to Boston.

Through no fault of their own, Allison an Maggie have been fused together across time by an unknown force. It has taken hold of and guided them along until both families are united by a "happenstance" meeting of Maggie's great-great-granddaughter and Allison's oldest son. Their steamy relationship sets off a chain of astonishing events that effect both families in awe-inspiring ways.