Introduction

By 1849, Jessamine Brady has been in the Shaker Village for half her life, but in spite of how she loves her sisters there, she struggles to conform to the strict rules. Instead she entertains dreams of the world outside. When Tristan Cooper seems to step out of those dreams to entice her into the forbidden realm beyond the Shaker Village, her life turns upside down. Will Jessamine be able to survive the storms of the world? Or will she retreat back to the peace of Harmony Hill?

The thousands of loyal fans of Gabhart's Shaker novels will love this entrancing story of learning to trust the gifts God gives us and let him guide us through life.

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Excerpt

“Sister Jessamine, where on earth are you taking us?” Sister

Annie asked as she held on to her cap while ducking under

a low-hanging branch.

Jessamine didn’t slow her walk as she glanced back at

Sister Annie. She liked Sister Annie. She really did. But oh,

to be alone in the woods and not always encumbered with

a sister to slow her down. She wanted to run free. To swing

on a vine if she took the notion. To sit and lean back against

a tree trunk and dream up stories about the birds above her

head. None of that would be considered proper behavior

for a Shaker sister, and Sister Annie did so want to be a

proper Shaker. She’d be sure to confess anything she thought

improper to Sister Sophrena, no matter which of them committed

the supposed sin.

“The best berries are up ahead,” Jessamine said. “I can

smell them.”

“You’re not smelling raspberries. That isn’t possible,” Sister

Annie said even as she stopped and lifted her nose a bit

to sniff the air.

Jessamine bit the inside of her lip to hide her smile. “My

granny could smell squirrels in the trees.”

Sister Annie’s groan plainly carried up to Jessamine in spite

of the rustle of last fall’s leaves underfoot. “Is there anything

your granny could not do?”

“Stay alive.” Jessamine muttered the words under her

breath. She didn’t want Sister Annie to be reporting them.

After all, it had been almost ten years since her granny

failed to keep breathing and the old preacher carried Jessamine

to the Shaker village. Not bad years. She wouldn’t want

her Shaker family to think she was ungrateful for the food

and shelter they’d given her. Given her druthers, she would

have stayed in the cabin in the woods, but a child of ten is

rarely given her druthers. Or a girl of near twenty either for

that matter. Duties and responsibilities went along with that

food on the table and roof over her head.

There were no perfect places this side of heaven. That was

something her granny used to tell her, although in Jessamine’s

mind their cabin in the middle of the woods seemed perfect

enough. Of course her granny never said the first thing about

the Shakers. She might not have heard about how they aimed

to make a perfect place on earth to match the perfection of

heaven. A place with no sin of any kind. A place where all

lived as brothers and sisters. A place where a girl couldn’t run

off to the woods on her own to pick a handful of raspberries

and pop them every one in her mouth. At least not without

feeling a little guilty about how she might be depriving her

sisters and brothers back at the village of a tasty pie.

So far she hadn’t found that first handful of raspberries to

eat or to put in her pail. And she wasn’t being exactly truthful

saying she could smell raspberries. She only said that so

Sister Annie would keep walking deeper into the woods. The

girl’s flushed face gave every indication she was ready to turn

back. A frown was thundering across her forehead and her

mouth was screwed up into a knot not much bigger than an

acorn. Any minute now she was going to plant her feet on

the path and refuse to go a step farther. And they had to be

close to White Oak Springs. They had to be. All Jessamine

wanted was a glimpse of the place.

One of the new sisters had built such a word picture inside

Jessamine’s head of the hotel at White Oak Springs that Jessamine

thought it must be a palace set down in the middle

of a flower-filled oasis. This sister claimed that in the heat of

the day beautiful girls walked across grassy yards with fine

parasols to keep the sun off their faces while young men from

all around the country sought their favor.

The new sister, who was going on seventeen, sighed with

longing as she whispered these stories to Jessamine in the dead

of the night with no other ears listening. When Jessamine told

her it sounded like the fairy tales her granny used to tell her,

Sister Abigail insisted these fairy tales were true. Her stories

brought up such fanciful images to Jessamine that she had

been overcome with the desire to witness this sight herself.

To know if such a fairy-tale place could be true. Parasols

instead of caps. Hair curled and held up with jeweled combs

instead of stuck forever out of sight.

Jessamine touched her cap and had the errant thought to

yank it off and fling it up in a tree for a squirrel to line his

nest. But she did not. Instead she carefully tucked a loose

strand of her honey blonde hair out of sight. She didn’t really

want to be wayward. She merely wanted to see with her own

eyes what Sister Abigail had described. Surely there was no

sin in simply looking.

White Oak Springs was real. She knew that. The Shakers

sold their products to the people there. Springs of water were

reputed to bubble up out of the ground with a foul odor, but

those who came to the springs held to the notion that taking the

water cured a myriad of ailments and revived the health. Sister

Sophrena waved that off as ridiculous when Jessamine asked

her if such was actually possible. But Jessamine’s curiosity was

aroused. She had carried many buckets of water from a spring

to her granny’s cabin, but the water had been naught but water.

Cool and pleasant for a truth with a joyful song as it trickled

out of the rocks, but all it had ever seemed to cure was thirst.

Sister Abigail claimed the Springs were to the west or

maybe the south. Then she had pointed due north. The sister

completely lacked a sense of direction, but Jessamine

had teased a few bits of information from other sisters as

they fashioned hats and neckerchiefs that might be taken to

the Springs to sell. She was sure she and Sister Annie were

going in the right direction, but she had no clue as to how far

away it might be. Perhaps too far for Sister Annie’s patience.

Especially with no berries to show for their long walk.

“You’re going to get us so lost not even Elder Joseph will be

able to find us, Sister Jessamine.” Sister Annie stopped walking.

“We’re not lost, Sister Annie. I promise.” Jessamine looked

back at her. “I have a keen sense of direction and will have no

problem at all finding our way back to the village.”

“I guess you can smell your way.” Sister Annie jerked her

handkerchief out of her apron pocket to wipe the sweat from

her broad forehead. The poor girl’s hair was straggling down

out of her cap and her face was red, and not all from the

heat, as she glared at Jessamine. “I don’t know why Sister

Sophrena insisted I come with you. She knows I hate traipsing

after you in the woods.”

“She knows you’ll come back.” Jessamine reluctantly

turned to walk back to Annie.

“Yea, where else would we go? The village is our home,

and I think we should begin in that direction right away. It’s

obvious you have no more idea where a berry patch is than

I do.” Annie held up her empty pail. “We have yet to pick

the first berry. Sister Sophrena will not be pleased to see us

return with empty buckets after being gone so many hours.”

“A good patch is just up ahead.” Jessamine looked back at

the faint trace of a path she’d been following. Through the

trees she thought she could catch sight of more light. That

had to mean a road or some kind of clearing. Perhaps the

grounds of the Springs itself. She imagined the colors of the

parasols spinning overtop the pretty girls’ heads. Or perhaps

they would be bright white just like the caps she and Sister

Annie wore. “Only a little farther.”

Sister Annie grabbed Jessamine’s arm as she started to

turn away. “I’m not going another step away from the village.

Not one step.”

“Then perhaps you can rest here while I go find the berries.”

Jessamine flashed her best smile at Sister Annie, but it

did nothing to make the other girl’s frown fade or to get her

to loosen her grip on Jessamine’s sleeve.

“Nay, we are both turning back. We can find a different

path back through the woods and perhaps find a few cups

of berries to prove we were using our time wisely instead of

doing no more than ruining our dresses.”

Jessamine looked behind her. The light through the trees

seemed even brighter and more inviting. She could be that

close to seeing those parasols and ruffled dresses, to gazing

out on a real, live fairy tale. She wasn’t exactly yearning to

be part of it. She just wanted to see it. The thought of the

parasols pulled at her like an invisible thread.

The very word entranced her. Parasols. She thought of telling

Sister Annie that. Letting the word roll off her tongue and

then making up a story about a frog making his home under

a parasol caught by the wind and blown into the woods. A

beautiful princess would discover the parasol and find the

frog. One kiss and they’d live happily ever after. And the princess

would love parasols and the frog-turned-prince would

nearly croak every time he saw one.

“Whatever are you smiling about, Sister Jessamine? This

is no time for smiles and frivolity. We are lost in the woods.”

“Nay, Sister Annie. We’re not lost.” Jessamine swallowed

her smile.

“Well, perhaps not, but we aren’t where we should be. It

could be we have strayed off our Shaker property.”

“That could be,” Jessamine agreed. The Shakers owned

many acres, but they had been walking a good way. “Why

don’t we go on a little ways? I think there may be a road up

ahead where walking will be easier.”

“A road!” Sister Annie’s eyes flew open wide as she glanced

around. “You think we are that near those of the world? Oh,

my heavenly days, Sister Jessamine. What possessed you to

lead us into the world? What will we do if we meet some

worldly man intent on sin?”

“Men in the world can’t be that different from the brothers

we see each day.” Jessamine tried to make her words sound

sure. In fact she had no idea what men were like in the world.

Before coming to the Shakers, the only man she’d spoken one

word to was the old preacher who had shown up now and

again at her granny’s cabin toting provisions. Sugar, flour,

some pieces of cloth and thread, a tin of coffee beans.

“You live in a storybook land, my sister,” Sister Annie said.

“Men of the world have not the love our brethren back at

the village have. Or the peaceful hearts. They see something

they want. They take it. You have been long with the Believers

and so have an innocent mind, but I have only been here

in the peace of the village a short while. I know what those

of the world are like. I am not long from their sinful ways.”

“Surely not all men are thus,” Jessamine said.

“Not all, but who can know which sort of man we might

stumble upon here in this wild place with no recourse but

flight.” Sister Annie’s eyes narrowed on Jessamine. “You truly

have no idea of how a girl with your looks might tempt the

devil to rise in a man. Eyes the blue of cornflowers and strawcolored

hair. ”

Sister Annie’s words put warmth in Jessamine’s cheeks

that the walk had not. “It is not the beauty on the outside

that matters, but that on the inside.” Even her granny had

told her that before she came to live with the Shakers. Now

Sister Sophrena told her the same over and over.

“True enough,” Sister Annie agreed. “But the outside

beauty is what tempts men to sin often as not.”

“How do you know so much about men and what makes

them sin?”

“I am not the innocent you are, my sister. My father ran a

tavern before he passed last year and my mother and I came

to join the Believers. Trust me, I know.” Sister Annie’s mouth

tightened. “More than you might want to imagine.”

“But I just want a peek out at the world. Sister Abigail told

me about this place called White Oak Springs. Have you ever

seen a parasol, Sister Annie?”

“A parasol?” The other girl twisted her mouth to the side

as her frown was edged off her face by the beginnings of a

smile. She shook her head in disbelief. “You have led us on

this wild-goose chase for berries because you want to see a

parasol? Sister Sophrena will never believe this.”

Jessamine smiled a bit hesitantly. “They sound so pretty.

Parasols.” She let the word roll off her tongue. “Don’t you

think so?”

Sister Annie laughed out loud as she stepped closer to

Jessamine and put her arm around her waist. “Come, my

sister. I will draw a picture of one for you when we get back

to the village.”

“But we aren’t allowed to draw pictures unless a spirit

directs our hands.” Jessamine began walking back down the

path. She was so sure the Springs might be just on the other

side of those trees, and a picture of a parasol wouldn’t be

the same as seeing one twirling in the hands of a girl who

might be a princess.

“For information purposes, I’m sure Sister Sophrena will

allow it.”

Jessamine sighed and surrendered her feet to the will of

Sister Annie. Her guardian appointed by Sister Sophrena. She

peered back over her shoulders. “Is White Oak Springs close?”

“I couldn’t say, since I have almost no idea of where we are,

but I think it is much farther away. At least another hour’s

walk. And we are not going there no matter how many raspberries

you might smell.”

“But the raspberries would make a delicious pie.”

“Then smell some back this way. I will not be swayed.

We are not going one step farther away from the village and

certainly not one step nearer that den of iniquity.” Sister Annie’s

frown returned. “I have heard plenty of stories about

that place. Men and women of leisure with nothing to do

but court trouble. Worse even than a tavern where men are

often intent on wrongdoing. Such is not our way, Sister Jessamine.

The Shaker way is to give our hands to work and

our hearts to God.”

At times, Jessamine was amazed at Sister Annie’s acceptance

of the Shaker way. She had a much tighter grip on how

to be a proper Shaker after only a few months at the village

than Jessamine did after years.

“Yea, it is true,” Jessamine agreed quietly. “It was foolish

of me to want to glimpse such a place of the world. I will

confess my wrong thinking to Sister Sophrena.”

“Trust me, Sister. The world is not a place for the likes

of an innocent lamb like you. We are safe with our sisters

and brethren.” Sister Annie grasped Jessamine’s hand with

affection. “Come, let us leave this place of possible dire consequence

and go home.”

Disappointment welled up inside Jessamine and a tear

slid out of the corner of her eye. Thankfully Sister Annie

had turned away and didn’t note her foolishness. But what

dire consequences could possibly come from seeing a parasol

bright against the sunshine?

A sudden boom made Jessamine jump. The color drained

from Sister Annie’s face as she spun around to clutch Jessamine’s

arm.

“Gunfire! Oh, dear Mother Ann in heaven, keep us safe,”

Sister Annie cried as something came crashing through the

trees. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

1. The Shakers celebrated gifts of all types. One of the most desired gifts among their community of believers was the gift to be simple. What do you think they meant by that?

2. Jessamine Brady loved her Shaker sisters and brothers, but she struggled with the Shaker rules. Why do you think that was so? Do you think she could have ever learned to control her curiosity about the world and become a proper Shaker sister?

3. Sister Sophrena often asked, “Whatever will we do with Sister Jessamine?” Why do you think Jessamine posed such a challenge for Sister Sophrena? Was it because she loved her too much?

4. Tristan Cooper agrees to court Laura Cleveland to please his mother and to shore up their dire financial situation. His mother says romantic love is not necessary for a happy and satisfying marriage. Do you agree? Do you think Tristan and Laura would have had any chance at happiness if they had ended up marrying?

5. Tristan pretended his loss of memory lasted longer than it did, and then he gave Brother Benjamin a fake name. Why do you think he did that? Do you think things might have turned out differently if Tristan hadn’t lied and had instead returned to White Oak Springs right away? Or do you believe he and Jessamine were fated to meet and would have met sooner or later either way?

6. Sister Sophrena had no regrets about joining with the Shakers. Yet she had sympathy for Jessamine and her struggles of wondering about the world. Why do you think that was?

7. Jessamine had long carried a romanticized idea in her mind of “the prince who loved her mother,” that is, her father. Do you think that made it harder to accept the man her father was when he came to get her, or do you think it made it easier?

8. Jessamine is such a complete innocent since she has had such limited exposure to the world. She is, at turns, fascinated and repelled by the actions of the people at White Oak Springs. Which things do you think she might have the most difficult time learning to accept in the world outside the Shaker village?

9. Sheldon Brady gave his infant daughter to his grandmother to raise. Do you think he was right to so completely desert Jessamine there and not plan to go back to see her until she was twelve? Do you think he was considering what was best for Jessamine or what was best for him? What do you think would have been best for Jessamine?


10. White Oak Springs, a spa for the well-to-do, and Harmony Hill, the Shaker village, existed in the same county. Both thrived with very different lifestyles for many years and then declined and disappeared from the scene. Why do you think that happened? What do you feel were the most dramatic differences between the two places?

11. Partly because of his experiences in the Mexican War, Tristan doubts the existence of God. Do you understand why he felt that way? Or do you feel being in a war might be an even greater reason to seek a closer relationship with God? What did make Tristan finally reach for belief?

12. Jessamine had a gift of words and a love of stories, but she seemed unable to channel those gifts into anything the Shakers could accept as good. They believed the beauty in anything, whether a chair, a rose, or words, was in its usefulness to the community of Believers and not in how it might be pleasing to the eye or mind. Do you believe Jessamine’s gift of words was from the Lord? Does he open up ways for us to use our diverse gifts for him?

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»	Author Ann Gabhart's web site
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