In 1947, Ray Petriani flees Texas with a wife and young family. He takes a job in California and is sent to inland China on a business venture. An exchange with a local potentate provides him with two gifts he doesn’t want, cannot reject, and must protect. The first, a gilded antique music box said to have belonged to a Chinese Emperor, uncovers additional doubts which raise further problems. Ray believes its significance lies in how it was given. But the second gift, a beautiful female slave, rocks his world.

In 1886, Ida Lapp, a plucky Pennsylvania woman, secretly loves an Englisher, something strictly forbidden by the Amish Ordnung. When discovered by her parents, her penalty forever changes her life and sends her on a journey to face persecution, at the same time she desires the impossible—to return home to a family who despises her. On an Iowa farm, Anna dies and leaves Joseph Melroy with the daunting task of raising two small children.

I was raised on a family farm near central Iowa, where Corn, Beans, Dairy, Beef, Chickens, Pigs, and a Horse were part of my upbringing. The rural area and the Christian community stamped me as an outdoor person. Hunting rabbits was as much a part of me as was plowing, making hay, and caring for livestock. Part of my life was spent raising the lovable animals as pets and for the dinner table.

Mr. Johansen, a successful businessman, connives a circus-style job fair to find a replacement for his executive assistant. Things don’t proceed well, especially when his partner chooses to step in and create trouble.

COMPLETE Short-Story: In 1940 a woman and her boyfriend visit her family in Tennessee following their extended trip to the western US. When her brother asks them a single question, it changes their plans and futures.

COMPLETE Short-Story: In 1764 a Widower with two children marries a young woman. They quarrel and he escapes from the cabin before they come to blows.