Abigail (Abby) Hadley was ready for a change. She considered herself an old-maid. She started teaching at fifteen and had been teaching for eighteen years. Therefore, she decided to accept a new teaching assignment in Ridgeway, Missouri. She would be boarding with the Collins family on a farm.
The Collins’ family consisted of Alice Collins, her son Charlie and his three daughters, and her two other sons, Cameron and Christopher. Charlie put his heart and soul into trying to keep the family farm going. It was a real challenge, so he wasn’t looking forward to having an old-maid teacher in their house for the coming year. He had enough on his shoulders already. Unfortunately, his brother Cameron wasn’t able to help much. He was an active doctor until he returned from the Civil War a broken man. He hadn’t talked much in recent years. He lived in his own mental cage.
Charlie’s other brother, Chris, was a U.S. Marshal and he only came back each year to help plant and then later to harvest the crops. Without his help the farm would be lost. He thought that the last thing they needed was another mouth to feed.
And then came Abigail with her contagious smile and laughter. Charlie’s daughters loved her. The family couldn’t believe her willingness to pitch in around the farm. She helped lift the gloom that had been hanging over the family for several years. After a while, all three brothers began to look at life from a different perspective. Abby had grown on everyone, and the three brothers all looked at Abby with hunger in their eyes. Here was a woman they could all love. The only question, however, was with which one would Abigail fall in love?
