Amidst a Snowstorm of Love (Preview)

Chapter One

Abby gripped the edges of the wagon. The boards beneath her creaked as they went over little bumps and uneven ground. Everyone back in New York thought traveling out West was something adventurous and even fun, but Abby hadn’t found any of that to be true. Instead, there were long days of walking or riding and never stopping.

There were constant worries about bandits, sicknesses, and other things that could stop them. When it rained, everything got soaked, and staying warm and dry was a challenge. Abby rubbed her finger across the rough canvas that covered the wagon and the few belongings they had brought from the city. They had sold nearly everything. The heavy crates and barrels were mostly supplies, dried foods, and other provisions for the journey. Abby had only brought one small chest of things, including two dresses, a couple of personal items, and some other clothing. She had to say goodbye to everything else.

The wagon pulled to a stop, and her mother poked her head into the back where Abby was. “We’re stopping for a bit if you want to get down and walk for a while, or maybe just to stretch your legs.”

Abby nodded. “I’ll be there in a minute.” The smile on her face couldn’t have been further from how she was feeling, but she kept it in place. She didn’t want to be going West at all. She didn’t care about the adventure or the opportunities. Instead, she cared that they were leaving behind Naomi, the twins, and everyone else that they cared about in New York. She didn’t know what was so great in Montana that her parents thought it was worth leaving everything behind.

She had been faced with an impossible choice of either saying goodbye to her parents or the sister she loved. Of course, it hadn’t really been a choice in the end. Her father had made it clear that he expected her to come along. Her mother begged her to come, telling her that it just wouldn’t be the same without her, and she couldn’t bear to leave both of her daughters behind halfway across the world.

Abby was pretty confident that Montana wasn’t halfway across the world from New York, but she agreed to go. She crawled out of the wagon over the front seat and hopped down onto the uneven ground. She had to admit to being in awe of their surroundings. Despite the other challenges of traveling, the view was breathtaking. There was a small river at the end of a sloped hill where they were. Green grass covered the plains and moved in waves like water, and the sides of the road were dotted with trees. The closer they got to Montana, the more trees there were. Her father said they would be arriving in the next day or two. Abby was more than ready for it all to be over and to start settling down in the new home she had never wanted.

The sun was shining, casting bright light over everything, even though it was late afternoon. Abby’s mother was leaning against the wagon, looking tired. Her parents were already considered somewhat older, and she wasn’t sure that this trip was the best decision for them. But then again, there was no talking to her father when it came to these sorts of things.

“I’m so tired,” her mother said, tilting her face toward the sun and closing her eyes. “But this sunshine is nice after the rain we had for the past couple of days.”

“I agree. It will be nice when we finally get there. I still don’t understand what was so wrong about living in New York.” Abby sighed. She knew that both of her parents were tired of hearing her complain about leaving New York. She tried to keep her thoughts and complaints to herself, but they sometimes slipped out.

“I will miss some things about New York too, but I am hopeful that there will also be good times in Montana. Sometimes we have to move forward in life, even when it is difficult.”

Abby nodded. “I know. Do you think that Naomi and her family will ever come here to Montana? Or will we have any way to visit her?”

“I don’t know. There is talk of a train track that might come to Montana soon enough. On a train, your sister could easily visit, or we could visit her. I am confident we will see her again. It might take some time, but it may happen.” Her mother smiled softly, opening her eyes. “You should look at this positively. I’ve heard that there are a lot of ranchers and businessmen out in Montana looking for wives. Perhaps this will be when you find the love of your life and settle down.”

Abby laughed at the idea. “I’m only eighteen, Ma. I don’t have to get married yet.”

“Lots of girls get married at eighteen or even younger. You don’t want to wait too long, you know. You don’t want to be an old maid.” Her mother looked worried. Abby didn’t really blame her for feeling nervous. Most of her friends back in New York had already married or found someone to start a relationship with. Abby wasn’t sure she actually wanted to get married, though. Naomi seemed happy enough with her husband and her two little ones, but she wasn’t sure that was the life she wanted just yet.

She hadn’t met any man who had made her consider settling down or giving up everything she had in her life. She loved being independent, exploring on her own, and doing other things that weren’t exactly considered proper for a young lady, like singing. Her father’s favorite saying was that singing was for church. Abby loved to sing, and she would do it anywhere that she could, well, anywhere that others couldn’t hear her.

Back home, there had been rather large woods about a ten-minute walk from their home. Abby would often spend her afternoons wandering through the trees, singing and searching for plants and mushrooms. She loved plants, and she loved nature. The town midwife had taught her a lot about both back home, another thing she was giving up. Her parents were usually pretty understanding of her wanderings, but Abby knew that eventually, their patience would run out, and they would want her to get married.

“The only thing I’m not particularly excited about is the Indians. It is a shame that they have to be everywhere out here,” her father said with a frown.

“What’s wrong with the Indians?” Abby had read and heard about the Indians. She had thought about the topic a lot. However, she had never met one, and therefore she didn’t exactly feel as if she could make a judgment about them.

“Everything! They don’t believe the same that we do. They don’t do the same things we do, and they are dangerous. Have you heard of the massacres in other places out in the West? Sometimes they kill entire families and take their children.”

Abby frowned. “I know that those stories sound pretty awful, but there are also stories of our soldiers killing them, taking their children away, and taking their lands too. I mean, if we weren’t taking over their land, perhaps they would be more friendly. Maybe we just haven’t gotten to know any of the good Indians just yet.”

Her mother shook her head, a concerned look filling her eyes. “I worry about you, Abby. You read too many books and let too many fantasies swirl around in that head of yours. Indians can not be tamed with kindness and good wishes. Sometimes, people are just bad, and we need to find a way to deal with them or avoid them. There is nothing more to it.”

“I don’t believe that, Ma. What if we were just protecting what was ours and others assumed that we were violent, terrible people? Don’t the Indians deserve the benefit of the doubt too?”

Her mother’s jaw tensed. “I am sure that you don’t understand, but you will. Before you know it, we will run into some Indians, and you will see what everyone is talking about. Hopefully, we will survive the encounter.”

Abby kept the rest of her thoughts to herself because she could see that her words were upsetting her mother, and her father had one of his stern frowns painted across his face. She didn’t mean to be difficult or unreasonable, but the truth was she didn’t think that they knew everything there was to know about the Indians. There had to be good ones or a part of their story that they didn’t understand.

Abby couldn’t make herself believe that an entire group of people were inherently evil just because of the color of their skin or their background. She would not be convinced of such a thing until she met the Indians herself and figured out exactly what they were about. Of course, the stories were scary. She didn’t want to see one of the grizzly scenes she’d read about in the newspaper. She had no idea how to answer those accusations. If she ever had a chance to talk with an Indian, perhaps she would ask them why they attacked those ranches or farms, killed the families, and took their children.

Her father looked over each of the horses’ hooves in turn and climbed back up into the wagon seat.

“It looks like your father is getting ready to go again. So is everyone else. Are you going to ride?” her mother asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

“No. I think I will take a break and walk for a while.” Abby’s legs were hurting worse from the cramping of sitting for so long than they would if she walked. The wagon train moved slowly enough that it was possible to walk beside it and keep up. If you fell behind, there were still plenty of wagons to walk by, and if you ran a little, it was easy enough to catch up again. As long as she stayed near the train, she would be all right.

“Okay then, I’ll let your father know. Don’t let your daydreams get ahead of you, all right, Abby?” Her mother still looked troubled, so Abby nodded, but she in no way intended to let her hope for friendly Indians fade. One of the only things that had made her curious about their trip out West was the possibility of meeting the elusive Indians that everyone seemed to have an opinion about.

The wagon train started to move slowly, with the first wagons setting the pace. Her parents’ wagon was the second one on the train right now, but it would be their turn to go at the back tomorrow. Every day, the two front wagons went to the back of the wagon train. That way, everyone took a turn bringing up the rear, the more precarious place of the train. People in the back had to pay more attention to what was going on around them and make sure not to fall behind, or they could easily be left behind.

The wagon train did try to keep an eye out for everyone traveling with them, but because there were so many people and so many wagons, that could be difficult sometimes. Abby remembered hearing instances where a wagon or a family had wandered away from the trail, and the wagon train had no choice but to leave them behind. Sometimes they caught up a few weeks later at the destined town. Sometimes no one ever heard from them again. It was yet another thing that had Abby uneasy about this entire trip. She hoped they didn’t ever have to find out what it was like to be left behind. The wagon train started moving steadily down the soft slope and over the little river.

Abby walked alongside the wagon train easily, not having to walk much faster than she would if she was walking down the streets of New York. She wondered what Naomi would think of all of this and how the trip would have been with her sister’s young twins. Having two babies on the journey probably wouldn’t have been the best idea, but Abby couldn’t help but wish her sister was there with them.

If only her sister had come with them, perhaps then she would have been excited about this journey. There was so much to explore, enjoy, and learn. But unfortunately, all of that was tainted by the fact that she was moving further away from a person she loved more than life itself with every step. She and her sister had been so close growing up. They were each other’s best friends, and Abby felt as if she’d left a piece of her heart behind in New York. She hoped that Montana was as great as her parents thought it was and that it would be worth all of this trouble.

Her father had made sure to tell her and her mother that it would take time for them to set things up and to start their life there. It all started with arriving. Hopefully, that would be in the next day or so, just like her father promised. Abby spotted a small group of young women and girls up ahead, talking and laughing. They looked so happy and carefree. Abby was tempted to join them. They had invited her to walk with them before. Most of the girls were cousins whose families were traveling together out West together.

Abby had walked with them a couple of times before, but she just wanted to be alone right now. Being around groups of young women and girls like them made her realize more than ever how alone she was now. She’d left her friends, Maddie and Lily, back in New York. They were good friends, but Abby knew better than to expect them to write or remember her for long. It was unlikely they would ever see each other again, and it was useless to try to hold on to that bond. They would move on and make friends again soon enough.

Abby was only half as sad about her friends as she was about Naomi. She used to go to Naomi’s house nearly every day, sometimes sleeping over. She loved helping with the twins and talking with her sister as they did daily tasks. It had seemed too good to be true when she’d found a husband in New York who only lived a few blocks from them. Abby would never have guessed that it would be her that was moving away. She hoped that her mother was right and a visit in the future was possible.

She wasn’t sure that she would ever be able to get through this move if she didn’t have a future with Naomi to look forward to. When she started thinking about never seeing Naomi’s children as they grew and the fact that they would probably not remember her, it made her want to cry. Her whole life, they had never been far from each other. Now they were separated by weeks and weeks of travel and hardship. It was hard to imagine that there was a way to fix that.

Chapter Two

Abby slipped through the trees. They were one day away from their destination. Tomorrow, they would be arriving in Montana, their ‘new forever home,’ as her parents put it. Abby hoped that it was going to be a good forever home. If her parents were right, today would be the last evening they camped out with the wagon train.

There was a large wooded area surrounding the road now. The wagon train had parked their wagons along the little spaces at the edges of the trees. It had been a long time since they’d eaten any fresh berries or mushrooms or anything of that sort as they were hard to come by on the trail. So, when she’d spotted the large woods by the night’s camping area, she had grabbed a basket and told her mother to expect her back soon. She’d promised not to go far, but she kept finding better things the further she went. She had picked some berries and plants and found a good number of mushrooms so far, nearly filling half of her basket. She moved from patch to patch of green area, searching for edible plants, humming the whole time she worked.

She loved this, alone in the woods, with only nature surrounding her. There was no one to judge her singing or ask her what she was doing. It was just her, alone with her thoughts and the plants. She smiled at the thought. It almost made her forget how unhappy she was about leaving New York.

A particularly large patch of mushrooms just ahead of her made her quicken her pace. She was much deeper in the woods than she had originally intended to go, but she wasn’t afraid. She knew the way back. Because she had spent so much time in the woods back home, she’d learned to memorize specific landmarks to retrace her steps. She had never gotten lost in the woods before, and it had been a much larger wood than this. She knelt down beside the mushrooms and began to gather the edible ones. Her mother was going to be delighted with what she brought back. There might even be enough to share with their neighboring wagons.

Abby gently tucked the mushrooms into her basket, careful not to break them. She still needed to wash and cook them. Then, a strange feeling washed over her, and she paused. She felt as if someone was nearby, watching her. It was the most bizarre thing. She’d never been one to be overly worried or afraid of being in the woods all alone, and while she wasn’t scared now, she did feel cautious.

She paused for the longest moment, listening as intently as she could, but heard nothing. There was no sign of anyone nearby. Abby went back to gathering the mushrooms, figuring that she had probably imagined the sounds. Then, as she placed another mushroom into her basket, she froze. There was that noise again. It was just barely there as if someone was breathing just a bit too loudly. She stood up and looked around her. For a moment, she thought it had all been a trick of her imagination.

The two blurs of motion moved forward so quickly she didn’t have time to scream, run, or even process what was happening. Two men were grabbing her by the arms. They weren’t ordinary men. They were Indians! Despite her previous brave words about Indians, she felt a bolt of fear. She didn’t know what kind of Indians these were. Were they the friendly ones that she imagined existed? Or were they the terrible kind who attacked and killed people?

Abby pulled against their grasp, but the Indians’ hands were like vises of steel.

“What do you want?” Abby struggled not to let go of her basket of gatherings. If she did make it back to the wagon train alive, she wanted to take her hard work with her. The Indians simply grunted but made no move to show that they knew what she was saying or intended to answer her. As they started leading her through the woods, she struggled to watch for the markers that would take her back to the wagon train while at the same time noticing details about her captors.

They were wearing more clothes than she’d expected from the stories. They had on some sort of pants made from animal skins and a garment that looked like a shirt but was also longer than she would expect a shirt to be. Their hair was done in braids, hanging down their backs. She was so distracted by them and their surroundings she stumbled when they stopped suddenly. She fell to the ground, and her basket tumbled from her grasp, the things she had gathered scattering all over the ground. She hastily started to pick them up, grateful to have something to do with her hands now that they were free.

When she looked up, she realized that the three of them were not alone. The first two Indians had brought her to a third one. He was dressed in a very similar way to the first two, but there was something different about him. He was taller, and he was wearing a headband with feathers. In addition, his braids were longer, and he had a decorative belt made with beads, shells, and feathers.

Abby left her half-recovered basket on the ground and stood up.

“I…um, what do you want with me?” Abby did her best to appear confident and unafraid. The truth was, she was starting to think she had gotten herself in over her head. First, she had said the Indians were probably friendly, and then she’d actually hoped to meet them. It seemed she had gotten her chance, but the real question was, would she live to tell about it?

The two Indians who had grabbed her in the first place had left, leaving her all by herself with this third man. He had chiseled cheekbones and full lips. His hair was perfectly plaited into one single braid. Abby couldn’t help but think he looked majestic like a wild stag. That much she had to admit, no matter what his intentions were. He had his arms crossed and watched her the way a wolf might watch a rabbit.

“I…If these are your woods, I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just trying to gather some things for my family’s dinner. If you’d like, I can leave.” Abby hoped he would tell her that was exactly what they would like.

She thought she saw a slight smirk pull at the Indian’s lips, but she couldn’t be entirely sure. She thought about turning and walking confidently out of the little clearing, but she was a little afraid of showing her back to the Indian’s tomahawk. It was like a small ax looped on the man’s belt.

“You don’t belong here,” the Indian said.

Abby wasn’t sure if she was more surprised by his deep voice or the words he’d spoken in perfect English.

“I’m sorry. My family is traveling with the wagon train. It’s not too far from here. I didn’t know we should stay out of the woods. We came from New York. I didn’t want to come because my sister and her family are still there, but my parents insisted that I come.” She stopped talking, feeling like she was blathering, a nervous happen she had of telling more than necessary.

“You’re not afraid?”

The Indian rose his eyebrows. She wasn’t sure what he had been expecting from her, but it seemed that he hadn’t been expecting her to have a conversation with him. If she were honest, she would admit that it wasn’t what she expected either.

“Should I be?” Abby wasn’t sure if the Indian would tell her if she had a reason to be afraid. She hoped that there was no reason.

“I don’t know.” His response seemed truthful. Abby was unable to tell what he was thinking. His brown eyes were so dark they looked almost black. His expression was stormy, or at least that was how she would describe it if she had to. She didn’t know what he was trying to do. Was he trying to scare her? Or was he trying to have a conversation with her? She had no idea what to do or how she should react, or what she should say. “Where are you going?”

“Montana Territory. Carrington, Montana, to be specific.” Abby was pretty sure they were already in Montana Territory. She thought she had heard the last day of their journey was actually to get to the small town where they would be settling down.

“I see. You said you are coming from New York?”

“Yes.”

“The city?” He seemed interested by that. “What is your name?”

“Abby.” Abby started to think that she had shared too much information with this man. She’d already told him where her family was, why they were there, where they had come from, and now what her name was. She wasn’t sure if her parents would be happy about that if they knew. She didn’t know herself what was safe to share with an Indian. She had a feeling if she asked her parents or anyone else, they would say she shouldn’t share anything with an Indian. “What is your name?” Did she have the right to ask his name? Would it anger him?

To her surprise, she spotted another slight smile.

“Keme. My name is Keme. That is my Indian name. Why aren’t you afraid of my kind? White men, they are afraid of us.” Keme indeed seemed to be confused. Abby wondered if he normally saw white people or settlers running in the other direction, screaming with fear. Or perhaps they just refused to speak and glared at him in anger. She didn’t figure that either of those approaches would work well in this situation, so she’d taken the third, and so far, it seemed to be doing quite well for her.

“I have never met an Indian before. But, of course, I’ve heard of you or your people. I just figured that not all of you are bad or scary. I mean, you have not hurt me yet. It seems I was right.”

Keme frowned. “You don’t know that I am not bad.”

Abby nodded in agreement. “You’re right. I don’t. However, I could assume you are bad or assume you are good. When I see a white man or woman, I usually assume they are good until they act as if they are not. I figure I should do the same with you. Should I not? Do you mean me any harm?” Abby was starting to get nervous. The sun was beginning to set, and her parents would be looking for her soon. She had a feeling that they would have a very different approach to this man, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to see that interaction. Keme never took his eyes off of her.

He was unblinking, and he didn’t appear to have any intention of looking away. Abby waited impatiently for his answer. She was going to ask him again when he opened his mouth.

“You are very brave. Tell me, why do you think that my people might be good?”

Abby felt suddenly uncomfortable. In the circles of people she had known back in New York, no one really wanted to hear her opinion, not men anyway. Her father would say her ideas were silly, and he laughed when she propositioned befriending any Indians near their new home in Montana.

Most people would have the reaction her mother had the day before. She wondered why Keme wanted to hear her opinion, and she questioned if she should actually give it. She took a breath and thought about it a moment. She had a feeling that she had to answer the question correctly, or she would never get the chance to present it again. She had never been in any situation that even remotely resembled this one before, and she had no idea if she was handling it properly.

She felt extreme pressure to make a good impression on these Indians. She wanted to believe that her thoughts about them were right, but if they weren’t, these Indians might get angry with her, and she might never see her family again. She could already imagine her parents waiting for her with it getting dark and then realizing she wasn’t returning. She had to make sure that she impressed this man enough to have no chance of that happening.

Chapter Three

Keme watched the girl with the blonde hair and blue eyes think about what she would say. He didn’t quite know what to think of her. She was tiny, slim, and barely-there compared to the women in his tribe. She was like a rare wildflower, in a sea of unremarkable ones, in more ways than one.

When the scouts had brought her to him, he hadn’t known what to do with her. He’d expected her to cower in fear or stare at him in anger and refuse to answer any of his questions. Instead, she had defied both of those expectations. He could see that she was uncertain. There was a trace of worry and uncertainty in her eyes.

However, she was standing straight and facing him head on. She wasn’t even averting her gaze. He wasn’t sure what to do with her either. If she went back to the wagon train and told them that she’d run into Indians, she would cause a panic and probably a confrontation that he did not want to happen.

It was unusual for him and the others to be this far from their tribe, but they had come searching for food. With more and more settlers coming to the small settlements on their land, finding food nearby was harder. They had disrupted the normal patterns of animals and made plants and other things scarcer.

Because the rising conflict between their people and the white settlers was getting worse, they avoided coming across white settlers at any cost. Keme counted it a blessing whenever he did not see a white man for days or weeks at a time if he managed to avoid them for so long.

“I think that there are good and bad white people. Why wouldn’t it be the same with the Indians? The truth is, I don’t know a lot about Indians, and you are the first one I have ever met. I don’t think I should make up my mind about you or your people until I have a proper way to learn about you and decide what sort of people you are myself.”

Keme was brought back to the moment and out of his wandering thoughts by Abby’s brave answer. Abby, it was a nice name. He had never heard it before like he had not heard a lot of white men’s names. He was sure his name had sounded equally as strange to her, though she had shown no sign of that.

“I see. And what is your impression so far?” Keme leaned back slightly against the tree behind him. Perhaps if he could get to know more about this woman, it would give him an idea of what to do.

“I’m not sure. Your men, they were a bit rough and refused to tell me where they were taking me. I wouldn’t say that is a very polite way to treat someone you just met. You seem kind enough so far, but I should really get back to the wagon train. My parents are going to worry. And the white men in the wagon train would probably not understand me staying out here talking to you.” Abby’s eyes went back to her scattered mushrooms and other findings. Keme had noticed that she’d found quite a few different things. She seemed to know her way around the woods well, which was also surprising and something unexpected.

“Will you tell your family about meeting me here?” Keme frowned. He didn’t want to deal with more settlers tonight. He knew that the smart thing to do was take Abby or at least detain her until the next day when the wagon train left. That would keep a conflict from taking place. However, looking at this girl with hair that reminded him of corn silk and the eyes lighter than the sky, he didn’t want to do that to her.

She had shown nothing but confidence and security in his presence. He didn’t want to ruin that trust she had placed in him, as illogical as that was. His father would tell him that it was folly to think he could trust her in return. He would say that as soon as she got out of sight, she would start screaming at the top of her lungs and attract all sorts of unwanted attention.

“I don’t know. My family doesn’t exactly like Indians. They are afraid of them. So if I told them about this, they might not believe me because you have been so polite and kind. Also, if I tell them, they certainly wouldn’t let me go into the woods again alone. So I would rather not have them know as it would just worry them.”

Keme almost chuckled at her honesty. She was full of surprises.

“You can go, but don’t tell anyone about this. They won’t understand, and I am afraid it will only cause issues between our people. We don’t mean the wagon train any harm.” Keme watched her face for any signs of how she felt. She looked relieved. Keme had to assume that she had some lingering doubts about whether he really would bring harm to her.

She knelt down and started gathering up her things, putting them into her basket. Keme surprised himself and knelt beside her, picking up a few wilted mushrooms. He passed them to her, and their fingers brushed slightly as she took them. Her bright blue eyes snapped up to meet his.

“Thank you, and it was nice meeting you.”

“You as well.” Keme stood and watched as she slipped confidently through the trees. She didn’t seem to be worried about where she was going. In fact, she seemed quite confident. Keme followed her at a distance. He was careful to stay far enough back so she wouldn’t suspect he was there. She might be skilled in spending time in the woods, but she was not as experienced as he was in keeping quiet or recognizing when she wasn’t alone.

Abby went straight back to the wagon train. Keme watched from the edge of the woods as she approached one of the wagons at the back of the long line of wagons. There was a man taking care of the horses and a woman stirring a pot over the fire. Abby walked up to the woman with a smile and showed her the basket with her mushrooms and berries with a smile. By the way that they spoke, and the woman who he assumed was her mother was scolding her, then laughing, he assumed she had done what he’d asked. So far, she hadn’t said anything about their meeting.

He didn’t know what to think of this young woman. First, she had surprised him in every possible way, and now she was defying everything he thought about white settlers and especially white women. He headed back to the meeting place to find the other two men who had come along with him. They’d managed to catch a few rabbits. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for tonight. Hopefully, some of the other hunting parties would also bring back something.

The good thing about being the chief’s son was that he always led his own hunting party. The bad thing was that he was expected to do well. Most of the tribe always expected him to bring back the largest amount of meat and food. He always did his best, but lately, it wasn’t as easy as it used to be.

They decided not to make camp and ride back to the tribe that same night. Getting to their village was only a few hours away. During the whole ride, Keme couldn’t forget his run-in with Abby. He couldn’t help but wonder if she would end up telling the rest of the wagon train that she’d seen them. He ponders if she would forget their conversation or remember it and play it over in her head like he was doing.

He was so distracted he barely noticed when they arrived at the village. He told the others he would catch up with them later, then went to his family’s teepee. His father was sitting by the fire, smoking a pipe, while his mother stirred a pot over the fire. She looked up and smiled when he walked in.

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“Amidst a Snowstorm of Love” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!

Abby Clayton feels devastated by her parents’ decision to move from Chicago to Montana. Desperate to escape the grim reality of her new life away from everyone she loves, she often finds comfort in wandering the woods. There, she meets a mysterious Native man and from that moment on, Abby is drawn into a forbidden friendship that brings her more joy than she could ever imagine. Yet will she be able to open up her heart to a man who is shunned by the rest of society?

Absurd as she knows it to be, she may have already fallen utterly in love…

Keme struggles with his interest in the white settlers and their fascinating way of life. His people and theirs have not been getting along for quite some time, and lately, tensions are high. So when he crosses paths with an intriguing white woman in the forest, he is more than caught off guard. He can’t stop thinking about her and soon, he is attracted to the white man’s world in a whole new way.

Will Keme be able to find his way to love despite the vast divide between them?

As tensions between their people rise further, it becomes more dangerous than ever for Abby and Keme to be seen together. Will they find the courage to show what lies deep in their hearts? In the end, will they break all the barriers that are keeping them apart, or will internal battles and outside forces overpower them?

“Amidst a Snowstorm of Love” is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

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