Rosanne Bittner - Walk By Faith

WALK BY FAITH

“This standout novel is truly in a class of its own.”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews

“Bittner shines with this new inspirational historical!”

—Literary Journal

WHERE HEAVEN BEGINS

“Bittner brings to life the dangerous and beautiful Alaskan wilderness of the gold rush days. Clint is a hero who’ll pull at your heartstrings.”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews

“Rosanne has written a truly inspiring high adventure that will invigorate your senses and reaffirm your faith in God’s wisdom.”

—Affaire de Coeur

FOLLOW YOUR HEART

“Bittner’s characters spring to life…extraordinary for the depth of emotion with which they are portrayed.”

—Publishers Weekly

“True-to-life characters who stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page!”

—Los Angeles Daily News

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Dedicated to my mother-in-law,

Florence Irene Umphrey Bittner, better known

to the whole family as “Grandma Bittner,”

who lived to the ripe old age of 101. Until she

had to go into a nursing home in her late nineties,

Florence attended Midway Baptist Church in

Watervliet, Michigan, faithfully every Sunday

morning, as well as often attending Sunday evening

services, Wednesday evening services and most other

church functions, in spite of bouts with breast

cancer, colon cancer, two broken hips and arthritis

that finally put her in a wheelchair. Even when using

walkers and a wheelchair, she still attended church.

Though a host encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear;

Though war arise against me,

Even then, in this will I be confident.

For in the day of trouble

He will hide me in His shelter;

In the secret place of His tent will He hide me;

He will set me high upon a rock.

—Psalms 27:3, 5

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Epilogue

March 16, 1862, St. Louis, Missouri

Clarissa was not sure where she’d found the strength to get dressed and open Seaforth’s Dry Goods this morning. She felt numb with worry, not for her husband’s safety, but for where he might be…and what he might be doing. She set items on the counter to fill the last of a customer’s order.

“There you are, Mrs. Shelby. I think that’s everything. That’s two dollars.”

“Oh, my!” The older woman put a wrinkled hand to her chin. “Put it on my bill, Clare dear, will you? My husband will be by to pay it. And can you wrap it for me?”

“Certainly.” Clarissa wrote the woman’s name on the tab and added “Owed.” Like her father had always done, she extended credit to most hometown customers. Until his sudden death three years ago, Henry Seaforth ran this store most of his life. Then Clarissa married Chad Graham, who took over the store and had run it ever since so that she could stay home with their precious little girl, Sophie.

She pulled a length of brown paper from its roll and tore it off to wrap Mrs. Shelby’s items, resentment toward Chad growing as she silently packed the order. It was because Chad was her baby’s father that Clarissa had struggled to ignore rumors of her husband’s infidelity over the past two years. Now, this morning, the reality of those rumors was burrowing deeply into her mind and heart. Apparently she could no longer avoid the awful truth, though she still did not want to believe it.

Chad was gone. So were all his clothes. Where was the man to whom she’d given all her love, her faith, her trust, her virginity, her heart? Where was the man who was now the legal owner of Seaforth’s? That’s how much she’d trusted him. This business that was her father’s life now belonged to the man her father warned her before he died not to marry. Now that man was missing.

She’d even given up a nursing career for Chad. Getting into Washington University here in St. Louis had not been an easy task for a woman. She’d had to settle for nursing rather than becoming a doctor, but at least she’d made it that far. Then she gave up her nursing job at St. Louis City Hospital when she learned she was expecting Sophie.

The terrible unrest and sometimes-violent street fighting that occurred almost daily now over the war between North and South was enough to worry about. How could Chad disappear at such a dangerous time, with Federal troops swarming the streets and guarding the St. Louis Arsenal, and with Missouri Confederate militia still hiding in the southern part of the state and attacking northern sympathizers at every opportunity? St. Louis was filling up with families who’d fled battlegrounds or who’d been routed out by rebel raiders. And the hospital was becoming crowded with wounded men, from both North and South. She wished sometimes that she could help them out with her nursing experience, but Chad wanted her to stay home with Sophie.

A lot that helps now, she thought. She tied string around Mrs. Shelby’s wrapped items, yanking on them with secret anger. With Chad gone and this store their only means of income, she had to handle things alone until she found out what had happened to her husband.

She handed her customer the package. “Thank you, Mrs. Shelby.”

“And where is that precious little girl of yours?” the woman asked. “Chad is usually the one who waits on me, you know.” She put a hand to her chest. “My, what a handsome man you married! It’s a good thing you are so exceptionally beautiful, young lady, or half the women in this town would be trying to steal that man from you,” she teased. The aging woman chuckled. “If I’d been younger, I certainly would have tried for him myself before he up and married you.”

Her heart aching inside, Clarissa managed a smile. “Thank you. Chad is on a business trip,” she lied.

“Well, you shouldn’t have to watch this store. That young man should have found someone else to do it. You’re a mother now. Little Sophie needs you more than this store does. And with those Home Guardsmen prancing around out there, threatening any person who dares to talk of secession, who knows what will happen next in this city. It’s no longer safe for woman or child.”

“We’re fine, Mrs. Shelby. Sophie is with the Harveys. Carolyn Harvey agreed to watch her so I could work today. Sophie likes to play with their little girl, Lena. And I’m not about to let this senseless war force me to close down and lose business, especially now that it belongs to me and my husband.”