Clover Creek Caravan Series

When Mary Mitchell agrees to go on the Oregon Trail with her family, she certainly has ulterior motives. Believing that married women are no more than servants to men and children, she wants to get her own homestead, and Oregon is the place she can do just that. Her father discovers her plans, and he tells her she must marry one of the single men who are on the Trail with them, and she only has a week to decide who it will be. Bob Hastings is enamored of boyish Mary from the moment he meets her, and he continually asks her to dance with him when they have music nights on the trail. One night he even got up the courage to kiss her. He knows Mary's predicament and offers himself as her husband, though he knows she doesn't want a husband or children. Will the two of them be able to see past their differences and find happiness? Or will the hardships of the Trail be too much for them to withstand?

After the loss of her father two years before, Hannah Moseby has endured resentment from her step-father in order to help her mother get through her new marriage. When her step-father tells her he's arranged a marriage for her with a preacher going west, and she can either marry the preacher or she can find somewhere else to live, she agrees to meet the man. She's not a natural fit as a preacher's wife, and she's not sure the Oregon Trail is something she can survive. Jedediah Scott is surprised when a stranger he meets at the general store in Independence offers him his daughter—more than offers, in fact. The man agrees to give Jed the amount of money it would cost to take her west, if he would consent to marry her. Jed agrees to meet the girl, because as a minister, he strongly believes in providence. Upon seeing Hannah, he feels drawn to her and wants her as his wife. God must surely have a hand in their meeting. Will the two of them be able to see past the circumstances in which their marriage began? Or will life on the Oregon Trail break the fragile connection Jed is sure could blossom into love?

With only two young girls, Margaret Bolling, a widow, has been left with nothing. Desperate to survive, she takes her girls from their home in Kentucky to Independence, Missouri—the starting place of the two-thousand-mile trek to Oregon Territory. She only has herself to rely upon, and with her finances in dire straits, she sells baths and meals on the trail after driving her wagon all day. Everyone is so friendly—but one man always seems to be there when she needs help. After falling in love with Margaret the moment he saw her at the general store in Independence, Jamie Prewitt is determined to help her and the girls during the journey—but do it without her realizing it. He takes her meat he kills and sneaks some of his own food storage into hers while she sleeps. But after a month of watching her struggle on the trail, he asks her to marry him—only, their marriage will be platonic until she's ready for a real one. Margaret likes Jamie, but is she betraying her beloved Tom by marrying him? And can she ever learn to rely on someone other than herself again?

Betty Meeks likes nothing more than to hide from the world with her nose in a good book, but on the Trail that's a little harder than usual. No longer wanting to be a burden on her sister and her family, Betty begins taking her meals with a friend who cooks for the bachelors in camp. When one of the men asks her to walk after supper, she decides to do so, no matter how difficult her shyness makes it for her. Dr. Malcolm Bentley is attracted to Betty as soon as he realizes she is part of the company going west with him. When she tells him how difficult having her along makes things for her sister, he immediately asks her to marry him. When their wedding night is interrupted by a medical emergency, they take in a little girl who has been conditioned to believe she needs to earn her keep. Will their marriage be the idyllic romance the two of them have in mind? Or will they just keep encountering hardships on the Trail?

Penelope Brainerd left the antebellum south for a new adventure on the Oregon Trail against the advice of everyone who knew her. After her best friend—a slave—was sold to another family to keep the girls from being so close, she knew that she could never abide living with slavery. Determined to make it on her own, she is one of two unmarried women in her wagon train from Independence, Missouri to Oregon Territory. From their first day on the trail, Herbert Jensen has his eye on the beautiful Miss Brainerd. He watches her as she manages to weather the hardships of life on the trail after being a privileged debutante from the South. Helping where he can, he hopes she'll eventually see him as more than just a fellow traveler. When he changes her broken wagon wheel, he sees an opportunity to speak to her and get to know her. Will he be able to convince her that she is meant to be his wife? Or will they both continue their journey alone?

Trudie Brown has a horrible secret, something that keeps her from being able to make friends along the Oregon Trail. When she starts cooking for a little girl and her widowed father, she has no intentions other than feeding them and helping them get to Oregon. The child, a gregarious social butterfly, believes right away her father should marry the woman cooking for them, but Trudie is certain it will never work, because she can tell no one about her past. Joseph Simmons has to do what he can to move on down the trail after losing his beloved wife. When his daughter, Emily, begs him night after night to marry Miss Brown, he decides to strike a deal with Miss Brown. He will marry her, but neither of them will need to reveal their past, and the marriage will be in name only. Emily will get a mother, and Joseph will have someone to cook his meals and do his laundry for the duration of his time on the trail, and longer if the arrangement works out well. It isn't until they are married that Trudie realizes she's attracted to Joseph. Will the two of them be able to get through their differences to be happily married? Or will they end up alone, even while they are together?

When Sarah Wendt lost both parents on the Oregon Trail and was left with three young siblings to raise, she was angry with God. Only two days from Oregon City, her father had died before getting to the city he'd been talking about for well over a year.   When Elmer King realized that Sarah had lost her father, he did what he'd been trying to find the courage to do since before they'd left Independence; he asked her to marry him. Together, they would raise her siblings and file their claims on land near Clover Creek.   Sarah had no way of knowing the type of man Elmer really was until after they married, when she discovered he was everything he seemed to be. Sarah's anger toward God made her see the whole world differently, and she couldn't seem to get past it.   Will Sarah's feelings toward God and her father change? If they don't, can she and Elmer make it work?

When Katie Gabriel lost her husband, and had to bury him on the Oregon Trail, she thought her life was over, but she knew she had to keep going, if only for her children. After her daughter fell into the North Platte River as they were crossing, and the most unlikely man in the entire company jumped in after her, she knew she had to keep the man alive. It was only natural for her to take care of him while he was ill and start feeding him and his children after he was well because he'd lost his wife on the trail as well. George Bedwell was no longer respected by the people of his wagon train because of his propensity for yelling and losing his temper but spending time with Katie Gabriel made him feel like he should be a better person. It didn't take him long to fall in love with her, and he decided to become a good man because it would please her. When he proposed marriage, she told him he had to prove that he could refrain from yelling at people. Will George manage to learn to control his temper and marry the woman of his dreams? Or will he revert to his old ways as soon as she says, "I do?"

Jane Davies—a new pregnant widow on the Oregon Trail—spends too much of her time thinking about what could have been. To help herself as well as others, she offers to help a family with three young children whose mother has passed by cooking their meals for them. Her only intention is to help the other family. Soon she finds herself falling in love with the three children in the family she helps. Matthew Henderson cannot believe his bad luck. His wife was the first of their company to die on the trek to Oregon, and now he's gotten a bad ankle sprain going down Big Hill. He can barely keep his family alive without being injured, and now he must do it when he can't walk. When Jane Davies offers to cook for his small family, Matthew jumps at the chance, and quickly asks her to be his wife—in name only. Will the two strangers be able to come together and form a real relationship? Or will they spend the rest of their lives together with no love between them?

Finally, the caravan is finishing up their almost nine month journey and going home to Clover Creek. As they get close, Henrietta is filled with excitement. She knows she's going where she needs to be. Her pa and brothers are her responsibility, but she doesn't mind. It makes her feel good to do for others. The one thing in her life that bothers her was that the young man she's had her eye on since Independence, has yet to show any interest in her. After a few words from Henrietta's brother, Roy finally gets the courage up to ask Henrietta's father, the former captain of their company, if he may court his daughter. He's had his eye on Henri since they were still in Missouri. They begin to court quickly, and they marry as soon as he has a shelter built for them to last through the winter. Roy is genuinely surprised at how good a cook he's married, but he sees it causing problems for his mother and sisters, who can manage not to kill people with their meals, but that's about it. Will he be able to reconcile his love for Henri and still be close to his family? Or will they have to live together with no love for the rest of their lives?