Seasons of the Heart — Susan C. Feldhake

On the day Alton and Sue Ellen Wheeler were wed, they stepped into a future fraught with danger and uncertainty. Life on the Illinois frontier was harsh. But their love was strong, as tenacious as the trials they could be called upon to bear.

“I did it for you, Pa!” motherless Katie Wheeler wailed her confession. “It made me feel plumb awful to have Miss Abby angry with me. But I did it, Pa, so you'd have an excuse to go see Miss Abby in private.”

“But why? We see her every week in church! You'd better come up with a better reason than that.”

Alton stared down at his motherless little girl, his expression one of dismay as the ramifications of her logic left him alternately desiring to laugh with irony, bellow with rage, and whoop with joy.

Life on the frontier is harsh, sometimes death comes early. When tragedy occurs, rugged Alton Wheeler realizes he must piece his life back together and search for love anew -- all to fulfill a sacred deathbed promise.