Darcy over the threshold, set her feet down on the smooth oak floor, and helped her walk inside. Darcy’s gait was unsteady, but her heart was finally home.
This is my rest forever: here will I dwell;
for I have desired it.
—Psalm 132:14 KJV
Discussion Questions
1. Who do you feel Darcy turned out to be most like, her father, Hayward, or her mother, Eliza, and why?
2. What was Darcy searching for?
3. What were Darcy’s strong points?
4. What were her weaknesses?
5. What kind of impact did it have on Darcy when she was told her mother was dead and that her father had abandoned her?
6. Name three things about Ethan Brennan you admired the most.
7. Do you feel Darcy was able to accept the past and forgive others?
8. Which character did you most closely identify with?
9. Who was your favorite character in the book, and why?
10. What was your favorite scene in the story, and why?
11. Why is it admirable that Hayward made the journey to England in order to find Eliza and ask for her forgiveness?
12. Why is it important that we forgive each other?
Apple Tansey
Take three pippins, slice them round in thin slices,
and fry them with butter; then beat four eggs,
with six spoonfuls of cream, a little rosewater,
nutmeg, and sugar; stir them together, and pour over
the apples; let it fry a little, and turn it with a pye-plate.
Garnish with lemon and sugar strew’d over it.
from The Compleat Housewife by Eliza Smith, 1727
Bonus Chapter from Book 3 of The Daughters of
the Potomac Series
Beyond the Valley
Cornwall, England
Autumn 1778
Sarah Carr would never look at the sea the same way again, or listen the same way to the waves sweeping across the shore. And never would she embrace her first love again. Drawing in the briny air, feeling the wind rush through her unbound hair, now spoke of danger and loss. Basking in blue moonlight under the stars and having Jamie point out the constellations had now become a thing of the past that could never, in her mind, be repeated.
Tonight a hunter’s moon stood behind bands of dark purple clouds as if it were the milky eye of evil. Along the bronze sand, deep green seaweed entwined with rotted gray driftwood. The scent of salt blew heavy in the air, deepening the sting of tears in her eyes, and tasting bitter on her tongue.
She had pleaded with Jamie not to go down to the shore with the others when they beat on the door and called out that a ship had wrecked in the harbor. But an empty pocket and a growling stomach influenced him to go. For over an hour, she waited for him to return and then she could bear the anxiety no longer. Sarah slipped on her worn leather boots and hurried down to the beach, working through the tangle of frenzied scavengers in hopes she would find him.
People rushed about her, some with torches, others carrying glowing tin lanterns. There were calls and shouts over the howl of the wind and the noise of the sea. They carried sacks, barrels, and crates, tossed in the surf and washed ashore, others taken perilously from the sinking vessel. The groan of its timbers caused Sarah to shiver, as she thought of the poor souls trapped aboard. She could make out its black hulk in the moonlight, its main mast shooting up through the boil of waves like a spear.
“Have mercy on those left behind, O Lord.” She shoved back her tangle of hair and watched the hapless ship go down into the dark depths of an angry sea.
A bonfire threw sparks over the sand. The foamy edge along the surf seemed a ribbon of gold near her feet. The few sailors who had survived looked on wide-eyed and drenched to the bone. They shivered in the cold, with no weapons to fend off the looting.
A firm hand moved Sarah back, and she gasped. “Come on, girl. This is no place for ye to be.” She turned to a man in untidy clothes. His wet hair corkscrewed around his ears and hung over his forehead. He turned up his collar against the drizzle and wind. She recognized him as one of the villagers, a fisherman by trade, but did not know his name.
“You must leave this place before it gets too rough, Sarah. We’ll take Jamie to the chapel with the others. Come with me.”
She shook her head at his meaning. “Jamie? Where is he?” she shouted over the blast of wind as she