Darke Valley
January 2027
Prologue
July 1815
It was late afternoon when he drew his bay mare to a halt at the verge of the high, rocky bluff. Pulling off his battered hat, he took in the stepped, forested foothills of the Appalachians stretching out in front of him. Blue hazed, the ridges undulated westward toward the distant horizon, hollows and hills cleft by winding streams.
Low in the sky the sun cast racing cloud-shadows across the patchwork of woodland and gently rolling fields spreading across the valley directly below. The vista appeared hauntingly peaceful, though more of the land had been cleared, farms dotting it more thickly than he remembered, primeval forest and native inhabitants steadily receding before the inexorable influx of settlers.
Darke Valley.
Named for the man who held its largest land grant, his father, Edmond, it ran northwest, winding Forge Creek scribing its center to pour into the Scioto, the latter a tributary of the great Ohio River lying four leagues to the south.
For some moments longer he sat motionless in the saddle, hair and clothing wind ruffled. Melancholy overcame him as he traced the dirt road edging the tree-fringed creek westward as far as he could see between remaining stands of oak and maple, black locust, ash, and buckeye, where evening’s shadows already pooled. The mansion’s stone walls and tall chimneys lay out of sight beyond them, suspended in memory unchanged though he knew it wouldn’t be so in reality.
His mare shook her head and pawed the ground. Tightening his fingers on the reins, he quieted the animal.
Five long years gone. More than four of which he’d received no word from his family. Not even when he’d at last regained freedom and could write to assure them he still lived.
Years when he’d despaired of life. Followed by years of warfare on the high seas, wreaking vengeance.
All that had kept him from surrender to darkness had been the waning hope that one day he’d make it home. To Mariah.
If she still waited.
And loved.
It was late afternoon when he drew his bay mare to a halt at the verge of the high, rocky bluff. Pulling off his battered hat, he took in the stepped, forested foothills of the Appalachians stretching out in front of him. Blue hazed, the ridges undulated westward toward the distant horizon, hollows and hills cleft by winding streams.
Low in the sky the sun cast racing cloud-shadows across the patchwork of woodland and gently rolling fields spreading across the valley directly below. The vista appeared hauntingly peaceful, though more of the land had been cleared, farms dotting it more thickly than he remembered, primeval forest and native inhabitants steadily receding before the inexorable influx of settlers.
Darke Valley.
Named for the man who held its largest land grant, his father, Edmond, it ran northwest, winding Forge Creek scribing its center to pour into the Scioto, the latter a tributary of the great Ohio River lying four leagues to the south.
For some moments longer he sat motionless in the saddle, hair and clothing wind ruffled. Melancholy overcame him as he traced the dirt road edging the tree-fringed creek westward as far as he could see between remaining stands of oak and maple, black locust, ash, and buckeye, where evening’s shadows already pooled. The mansion’s stone walls and tall chimneys lay out of sight beyond them, suspended in memory unchanged though he knew it wouldn’t be so in reality.
His mare shook her head and pawed the ground. Tightening his fingers on the reins, he quieted the animal.
Five long years gone. More than four of which he’d received no word from his family. Not even when he’d at last regained freedom and could write to assure them he still lived.
Years when he’d despaired of life. Followed by years of warfare on the high seas, wreaking vengeance.
All that had kept him from surrender to darkness had been the waning hope that one day he’d make it home. To Mariah.
If she still waited.
And loved.
Overview
Presumed lost at sea, Alan Darke returns home from the War of 1812 after five years gone, first in brutal forced service aboard British ships, then as an infamous privateer seeking vengeance. Instead of the welcome he expected, he discovers his father in the grave, his inheritance stolen, and his betrothed wed to his brother.
Orphaned in infancy, Sophia Moore was raised as a sister to her guardians’ children. Though always loved and cared for, she longs to find the family she never knew and follow in her father’s footsteps as an artist. But when the man she loved from her first memory and mourned since his presumed death unexpectedly returns, now battle-hardened and impenetrable, she questions whether they can ever regain the intimacy they shared as childhood confidantes.
Can he overcome the devastating shadows of the past and open his heart to a love he believed forever forbidden to him? Will she find her own place in the world—and in the arms of the one who is her dearest earthly desire?
While Alan fights to reclaim what is due him as heir of Darke Hall, Sophie is drawn into the rising tensions between slaveholders and abolitionists that threaten to divide the new nation. And in the secluded Allegheny foothills along the Ohio River, a secret gateway north is beginning to open for those who seek freedom, one that will deeply impact Darke Valley in the years to come.
Orphaned in infancy, Sophia Moore was raised as a sister to her guardians’ children. Though always loved and cared for, she longs to find the family she never knew and follow in her father’s footsteps as an artist. But when the man she loved from her first memory and mourned since his presumed death unexpectedly returns, now battle-hardened and impenetrable, she questions whether they can ever regain the intimacy they shared as childhood confidantes.
Can he overcome the devastating shadows of the past and open his heart to a love he believed forever forbidden to him? Will she find her own place in the world—and in the arms of the one who is her dearest earthly desire?
While Alan fights to reclaim what is due him as heir of Darke Hall, Sophie is drawn into the rising tensions between slaveholders and abolitionists that threaten to divide the new nation. And in the secluded Allegheny foothills along the Ohio River, a secret gateway north is beginning to open for those who seek freedom, one that will deeply impact Darke Valley in the years to come.
