Prologue

Fort Scott, Kansas: 1876

Lena Moore held the brown envelope up to her eyes. Her heart was pounding, and a lump had formed in her throat.

This was it.

Henry, the postmaster who was standing across from her, peered up from sorting the town’s mail and raised his eyebrows at her.

“Is something wrong with the letter, Miss Moore?” He asked curiously, and concern flashed in his dark brown eyes as he scratched at the back of his head, tousling his dark hair in the process.

Lena’s large brown eyes flitted up from her perusal of the letter. That was one trait that she had always been complimented on ever since she was very young—her large eyes that gave her a look of innocence. As she got older, they served to mask the fierce spirit within her. No matter what the contents of this envelope held, it was that fearless determination that instigated its arrival.

“Nothing is wrong at all. Quite the opposite, in fact,” she said, unable to hide the grin that spread across her face or the tinge of pink that blossomed on her cheeks. “I have just received a letter that I have been hoping to receive for a long time, and I find that I am just thrilled is all—if not a touch anxious.”

Perhaps more than a touch, Lena thought, tucking a strand of her auburn hair behind one ear. The letter she held in her hands could be an answer to her prayers—an opportunity that had the potential to change her life.

Henry offered her a warm smile. “The letter holds good news, I hope.”

Placing a hand over her bosom, Lena replied, “Oh, I hope so, too.”

Bidding Henry farewell, Lena stepped out of the post office into the bright sunlight. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the change in lighting, the rays of morning sun gilded the town in soft shades of amber and violets, providing a stark contrast to the dimly lit post office. A cool breeze whipped Lena’s long hair across her dainty shoulders and tossed her red skirt and bustle about her legs.

She walked quickly, hurrying along the dusty main road of Fort Scott, Kansas—her hometown, and the only place she had ever known. She skirted around cowboys on horseback and horse-drawn wagons as she headed to the outskirts of town.

Lena recognized a few friendly faces as people milled about the town square and the various sidewalks. They flowed in and out of the general store, bakery, and other establishments essential to the residents of Fort Scott. Her skin tingled as she glanced back at the letter grasped in her hand.

The long-awaited letter came from Washington University School of Law. She dared not open the letter in public, choosing to wait until she arrived home in case the letter bore unwelcome news. It would not bode well for Lena to give way to tears in public should her application have been denied. She hated the idea of showing any sign of weakness, especially when she already appeared dainty. All the more reason to hurry home as fast as her legs could carry her.

Lena passed by outcroppings of farms and properties, the fresh perfume of summer grass and wildflowers wafting into her nose. A frown etched over her brow as her thoughts turned to the reason why she wanted so deeply to be accepted into this university.

Ever since she was a young child, Lena had yearned for the opportunity to study law. And when she had heard the news that the first woman had been accepted into the Washington University School of Law, Lena longed to follow in that woman’s footsteps. It was important to her to mark her place in the history of women in law, but that was not the only reason.

No, her biggest motivating force behind her dream was rooted in the memory of her beloved parents, Laura and James Moore, who had been killed in a stagecoach robbery when she was only ten years old. Tears pricked around Lena’s lashes as she recalled her mother’s adoring smile and her father’s boisterous laughter when Lena amused her parents with her childhood antics. She swallowed thickly, rolling her shoulders back. With this potential opportunity, she would be able to do justice to her parent’s memory.

The gang who had murdered her parents had escaped, and therefore had never been brought to justice, but Lena vowed after her papa and mama’s burial to dedicate her future to fighting on behalf of good and ensuring that those who mean others harm serve time for their crimes.

Never did she want another family to suffer what she had endured, for the worst part was the lack of closure, knowing that the men who took her parents’ lives were still out there somewhere. They never had to pay for what they did or what they took from her.

After her parents’ deaths, Lena was raised by her grandparents. During this time, Lena found an escape in literature, pouring over books. She especially loved reading novels where the villain paid for his crimes and the rangers ensured justice was met.

And when she entered adolescence and fiction no longer quite quenched her thirst for justice, at around twelve years of age, Lena had stepped into the kitchen where her grandmother, Flora, was cooking and announced, “When I grow up, I am going to be a lawyer!” Her eyes had grown wet with tears as she recalled her loving parents. “I want to put bad men behind bars, so they can never hurt people like—” her voice had cut off as she choked on a sob. Her chin trembling with restraint, she continued. “Like they hurt Ma and Pa.” She sniffled and squared her shoulders. “I am going to bring justice to the world.”

Her grandmother had set down the wooden spoon she was stirring the soup with and approached Lena. She bent forward and pulled Lena into her arms, nuzzling her auburn hair. “That sounds like a wonderful life goal,” she breathed, her voice choked with emotion. She had drawn back slightly and cupped Lena’s cheek. “I know you can do it.” She had nodded. “I believe in you. And I believe the Lord will help you become a lawyer since this is what you desire to do to serve Him.”

“Do you really think so?” Lena asked. She thought about how some people in the community might react to the idea of a woman pursuing ambitions beyond becoming a wife and mother. There had been unfavorable editorials written in the newspapers about Arabella Mansfield, who had been admitted to the Iowa state bar exam. Dissenters had argued that allowing women to practice law would lead to women eventually being made governors, judges, and even sheriffs.

But Flora Moore was never one to give into such outrage associated with the changing of the times.

“I do believe He will help you. Don’t you remember what Psalm 121:1-2 says? ‘I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.’ Believe the Lord will help you, Lena, and you will succeed.”

Peace had washed over Lena as her grandmother recited that familiar Scripture, and fresh determination filled her veins. “You’re right, Grandma. And I will pray every single night before bed and ask Him to help me succeed.”

“That’s my girl,” her grandmother had said, offering a warm smile to her granddaughter. “If you put in the hard work and determination, then God will meet you the rest of the way.”

Lena blinked and smiled, her memories dissipating, her mind returning to the present as she arrived back to the ranch where she lived with her grandmother.

Her grandmother’s home was a lovely two-story log cabin with a gable roof, two dormer windows, and a full-length porch that outfitted the front of the house. Racing up the porch steps, Lena burst through the front door.

“Grandma?” Lena called, unlacing her ankle boots. “Grandma, it came! The letter from Washington University.”

Footsteps sounded in the kitchen off to the right of the foyer as Flora stepped into the room. Though the corners of her eyes were crinkled with the lines of age, and her hair held more wisps of gray than they did the maple brown of her youth, Flora’s face brightened with excitement to mirror her granddaughter’s. Her grey eyes snagged on the letter Lena extended.

“Well? Did you get accepted?” Flora asked eagerly.

Lena shrugged. Wincing, she thrust the letter into her grandmother’s hands. “I haven’t even opened it yet. I can’t.”

Flora raised a brow. “Since when has my granddaughter not been able to do anything?” She gave her a knowing look. “Why, the day you can’t accomplish what you set your mind to, is the day I regain my youth.”

“Grandma!” Lena cried, huffing in exasperation. “This is no time for your teasing.” She shifted her feet. “Please open it. I can’t. If I read it and I learn they denied my admittance…”

Lena’s voice drew off, and she bit her lower lip. Her palms grew clammy, and she found her heart was beating so hard against her ribcage that she could hear her pulse in her ears.

Flora sighed. “All right, all right.”

She tore the envelope along its side and opened the letter. Lena’s breath stilled as she watched her grandmother’s every movement.

Flora’s eyes perused the letter, her gaze flitting across the penned words as she mumbled beneath her breath. Lena licked her lips.

“W-what does it say?” Lena asked. Her heart pounded against her ribcage with such might that it rivaled a hummingbird’s flittering wings.

Flora’s gaze flicked upward to connect with Lena’s. “You said to open it, and I did. Shall I read it to you as well?”

“Grandma!”

“Oh, fine,” Flora laughed. “Don’t let your skirt get all in a flutter.” Flora read the letter.

Flora read the letter, but it took Lena a second to process what she had said. After her ears caught on the words ‘you have been accepted,’ she let out a gasp, her hands flying to her mouth.

“I got in,” Lena breathed, her eyes widened. She fastened a disbelieving glance at her grandmother. “I actually got in!”

Her grandmother nodded knowingly. “Well, of course, you did, dear! I never doubted you would for a minute.”

A jubilant shout tore from Lena’s throat, and she wrapped her arms around her grandmother in a tight embrace. Flora returned the hug. It was finally happening. All of Lena’s dreams were coming true. She would become a law student—study law in St. Louis!

St. Louis. The word deadpanned in the pit of Lena’s stomach, leveling her excitement.

St. Louis, Missouri was hundreds of miles away from her home in Kansas. Away from her dear grandma.

Lena was not a fool. She had realized that should she be accepted, she would have to leave her grandmother behind, yet the idea of being accepted to such a prestigious university had seemed so far out of reach at the time—a ludicrous ambition. The chances of getting in seemed so slim to Lena that she had not given it much thought.

But now that it was a reality, that the hour of her dream was at last upon her, Lena found her heart clenched with dread at the thought of leaving home.

Lena drew away slightly to look her grandmother in the eye. Her grandmother blinked up at Lena.

“What is it, dear?” Flora asked, placing a gentle hand on Lena’s arm. “Why do you seem so fretful when you should be jumping for joy?”

“I don’t think that I can go,” Lena said, and her shoulders slumped. “I can’t. It was silly of me to think it was practical. I would have to leave you all alone and—”

“Oh, nonsense!” Flora exclaimed, waving her off. “You must go.” Lena tried to argue, but Flora gripped her by the shoulders.

“You must, and you will. I will not have it any other way.” She let go of her shoulders and pulled Lena into an embrace. “This is your dream because God Himself has put it on your heart. It’s His calling. And you will answer the call. I won’t have it any other way.”

Lena pulled away, her eyes downcast. Guilt churned in her belly.

Flora hooked her fingertips beneath Lena’s chin and angled her head toward her. Their gazes collided. “What is it I always say? ‘The Lord has set a path before each one of us, and there comes a time when he lights a way and calls you to embark on that path—to walk by faith, not by sight and trust in Him.’” Flora smiled softly.

Lena offered a hesitant smile in return. “Yes. ‘For we walk by faith, not by sight of the Lord,’” she recounted. The verse was one her grandmother had instilled in her from a young age.

Flora nodded. “One must not turn away from the Lord’s calling when he urges us to walk forward. You must follow your dream.”

Lena sighed in defeat. Her spirits lightened as she peered into her grandmother’s eyes. Her grey eyes shone like silver dollars, they were so alight with pride and love. How could Lena not go, and risk disappointing her grandma?

“Then it’s settled. I will attend the university,” Lena said proudly.

Flora nodded, tears of joy brimming from her eyes. She pulled Lena in for another embrace.

“It’s like you said, Grandma,” Lena told her. “Psalm 121:1-2. ‘The Lord has helped me succeed. After all these years, he has heard my prayer.’”

A contented sigh breezed from Flora’s lips. “Indeed child, He has,” she agreed.

That night, when Lena retired for bed, she kneeled at her bedside and clasped her hands, gazing up at the heavens from her bedroom window.

“Lord,” Lena began. “I want to thank you for the opportunity to go to law school you have presented me with. I will walk by faith, and put my trust in you to guide me along the path that you wish for me.”

Chapter One

Three years later

Lena stepped out of the classroom once the lecture at Central Hall was dismissed. She entered the outer hall, textbooks in hand, with the other students. The male and female students immediately broke off to group together with their closest friends and discussed the lecture and their notes as they returned to their dorms.

“Did you understand that lecture, Lena?”

Lena glanced over her shoulder to find, Abigail, the best friend she had made while away at college, stepping up beside her. Abigail’s dark brown hair was swept up in a tight bun. The violet morning dress she wore complemented her fair complexion, though her facial features were pinched as tightly as her hair.

“I did,” Lena replied, heading toward the main stairwell. She raised a brow. “Did you not understand, Abby?”

“I was all scattered,” Abigail cried. She slapped a palm to her brow. “Lord, I am so addle-headed, I fear I will never graduate.”

Lifting her buttery-yellow skirt, Lena ascended the stairs with Abigail alongside her. The rest of the class followed close behind, their shoes clacking against the wooden steps, which resounded off the pale walls. Once reaching the second floor, the female students split off to their dorm rooms, as the men’s dorms were separated on the third floor.

Offering her friend a reassuring smile, Lena said, “Try not to worry, Abby. I can share my notes with you and help explain the lecture. We’ll go over it together.”

Abigail beamed, her slumped shoulders lifting. “Oh, thank you so much, Lena!”

Lena grinned and linked her arm through Abigail’s. “Women in law school have to look out for each other, right?”

Lena and Abigail passed the long study rooms that were placed between the bedrooms. The girl’s dorm held four sections on the second floor. Each section was divided by eight-foot wooden partitions that housed four smaller rooms comprising the girls’ bedrooms. These rooms were somewhat recent to accommodate the growing number of women attending law school—although the number was still relatively small.

Opening the door, the two slipped inside Lena’s dorm room. Lena’s gaze flew to the lone window on the opposite side. Upon first entering the university and being assigned this space, she soon learned that she was fortunate, as the other bedroom Abigail was assigned was without a window, and the draft from Lena’s the only source of air that Abigail and the other female students acquired.

The late afternoon sunlight slanted through the window basking the room in a soft honeyed glow. Abigail lowered herself to sit on Lena’s bed. On the wall behind Abigail spanned several banners representing the university’s logo, and portraits of Lena’s Ma, Pa, and Grandma Flora that Lena herself had hung on each wall to remind her of home.

Lena’s cheeks creased into a grin at one picture stamping a memory in time of when the family had attended a barn-raising celebration. In the picture, Lena’s grandmother was spritely enough to carry a four-year-old Lena on top of her back—the two smiling at each other broadly in the photo.

“Okay,” Abigail said, opening her textbook. “I am ready to be enlightened.” The serious look in her blue eyes was offset by the smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

Lena laughed. “I find it hard to take you seriously when you have such a devious smile on your face.”

Abigail stuck out her tongue.

“A lady does not stick her tongue out in such a manner, Miss Davis,” a soft, yet stern voice announced from the doorway. “It is quite unbecoming.”

Abigail’s gaze snagged on the figure behind the voice, and her face paled. She gasped and shot to her feet. Lena turned and faced the woman who had entered the room. The matron of Central Hall stood primly, her long navy dress ironed and cascading to the floor. Not a hair was found out of place in her neat bun that was coiffed beneath her bonnet. Lena wondered how her attire always managed to be neat and orderly when the wife of the steward was always out and about, overseeing the students, tending to those that fell ill, and seeing to the wash.

“Sorry, Matron,” Abigail squeaked, ducking her head.

The matron dipped her chin slightly in acknowledgment. She fastened her emerald gaze on Lena. “The mail has been delivered to Central Hall. One was found addressed to you, Miss Moore.” She withdrew an envelope from her skirt’s pocket and extended it toward Lena.

“Thank you, Matron,” Lena said, accepting the letter.

The Matron nodded, and with one last, disapproving glance at Abigail, departed down the hall.

The breath whooshed from Abigail’s lungs as she collapsed into the chair at the small round table in the center of the room. “That woman is frightening enough to send a herd of cows running,” she groused with a shake of her head.

But Lena was no longer paying attention to Abigail. Her eyes were riveted to the letter she held. The handwriting was not in any scrawl she’d recognized, but the envelope was addressed to her. Lena thought it was quite peculiar as she tore open the envelope. A chill snaked down her spine as she read the contents once, and then she had to read them again to make sure to fully absorb the news in the letter.

“What is it, Lena?” Abigail asked, sensing Lena’s unease.

Lena swallowed thickly. “It seems that my grandmother has fallen ill.” She fastened her eyes round with panic on Abigail. “The neighbor, Mrs. Smith, has written to me asking that I come home. She says that it is urgent.”

“Oh, no,” Abigail breathed, her hand flying to her lips. “I am so sorry, Lena. What sickness does she have?”

“Mrs. Smith doesn’t say,” Lena cried. Hands trembling, she lifted the letter and read it aloud to Abigail. “Your grandmother is ill, yet the condition is of such a delicate matter that I am afraid I can’t divulge it through a letter, for fear Flora shall become angry if she found out that I told you in a letter. You must come down and see your grandmother yourself. In her state, I fear she will only pose more harm to herself.”

What illness could possibly be so dreadful that Mrs. Smith cannot even pen it on paper? A slew of possibilities raced through Lena’s mind. Could she have cholera? Or worse, what if she’d contracted yellow fever?

Lena’s lungs seized at that last thought.

The yellow fever outbreak was currently spreading in the eastern states. Thankfully, no known cases had occurred close to the university or the city, but what if an outbreak had occurred in Fort Scott?

If this were the case, and if her grandmother had acquired this dreadful virus, then it might not be long before she succumbed. She knew that the illness progressed more rapidly for people of her grandmother’s age, and a journey back home on train would take several days.

“I must go at once,” Lena told her. “I might not have much time.”

Abigail gave Lena a hug. “Write to me as soon as you know something. I will be praying for you.”

Lena thanked her dear friend and promised to write, then gathered her skirt and raced to the dean’s office. She needed to request a leave from the university. One could not leave the school, nor school grounds, without receiving permission from the dean, and Lena prayed that the gentleman would be accommodating. Much to Lena’s relief, after explaining the situation involving her grandmother’s precarious condition, the dean was more than understanding and wished Lena safe travels and her grandmother’s return to good health.

“There will be a place for you here when you are ready to return, Miss Moore. You are a bright young woman with a promising future ahead of you.”

Lena thanked the dean. While she appreciated his words, right now she could not deign to think of her future. All she could think about was making it home to her dear grandmother.