Her injuries from escaping a
serial killer
healed, Karen Williams-Schmidt becomes a
war hero
's
widow
. Dealing with not only
PTSD
but debilitating
guilt
for cheating on her husband while he was still alive, she tries to provide a stable life for her children. Moving her family to the Washington state
Palouse
region, she takes over a
medical clinic
with her best friend.
Just when the clouds begin to part, demons both recent and from a far distant past arrive to haunt her. Will her past mistakes endanger her friends and family? Does Detective Thompson think she was a co-conspirator in the Pressure Washer serial killings? Speaking of the Pressure Washer Killer, where
is
Lamont? Will Karen ever be able to provide a happy future for her family?
Believing he died violently in 1574
Antwerp
, will a confused Pieter be able to cope in the modern American Pacific Northwest? Can he overcome his shortcomings within present-day society and find his way to reunification with a long-lost love? Sometimes, a circuitous path leads to the desired destination - sometimes.
"The truck wouldn't start. She tried and tried, but it just wouldn't fire. Pausing for a moment to let the starter cool, Karen looked around inside the truck. Sitting on its tailgate was where she and Peter had their first lunch. The front seat was where they shared their first kiss. He drove this truck when she took him to her hometown to share Easter with her family, again to tell her parents she was pregnant, and to get married. He taught her how to drive a stick shift in this truck before he left for basic training. This truck brought their firstborn child home from the hospital.
Desperately trying to start Old Blue again, she pounded the steering wheel out of frustration. The battery was dead. Karen came back to reality-so was Peter. She broke. For the first time since the funeral, she cried. All the pent-up tears poured out at once. Unable to restrain her grief and remorse, she flung her head back against the rifle rack and let out a loud wail. Her wailing, sobbing convulsions were so violent, the whole truck shook."
"The mare trusted him, but he knew asking her to be ridden into flames exceeded that trust. He removed the light denim jacket he always wore to keep brush and brambles from taking too much of a toll on his clothes and skin when riding. Leaning over the nervous Morgan's neck, he tied the coat in front of the mare's eyes just as he had witnessed in battle. What a horse can't see, it can't be scared of.
With the noise of the wind, roaring of the inferno, and desiccated bushes exploding into flames around him, Charlie couldn't hear the DNR spotter plane and news crew helicopter above him. He paused, looking at the flames. Whirlwinds of fire twisted toward the sky.
He'd died in battle, avenging the burning of his lost love, and thought he was in hell when he first woke up in this strange land. When he re-found his love, her rejection devastated him. Now, she was with another man. The only thing holding him in this place was the family who took him in and showed him such kindness. To them, he felt he owed his life. The herd of cattle on the other side of the wall of flames was all the kind family owned.
Thinking back to how Mariken had died with such grace and strength tied to that stake, he remembered her maintaining loving eye contact with him as the flames burned the flesh from her beautiful body. If Mariken could endure the inferno with such bravery, so could he. Facing the flames, Charlie became Pieter again. Pieter sucked in a deep breath and spurred the Morgan into the fire."