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There was no funeral at which to say good-bye. No obituary in the paper to comment on the life of such a young woman, not even twenty, and her demise. After Susanna’s disappearance, the Andersons moved to California, leaving no forwarding address. Their exit from the city was quiet and quick, leaving tongues wagging for months about what had happened.

Meanwhile Terrance Deveraux was engaged to Martha Hamilton with a summer wedding planned as the social event of the year. The entire matter of Susanna and the baby had been quietly swept under the rug.

Leah seethed. She raged at God, having no idea who else to blame. She vowed to never be victim to some romantic-notioned ninny. She would never fall for words of love and romance. Instead, she would put up a wall of defense around her heart. She would trust no man who wasn’t a member of her own family. She would never allow herself to be caught up in such foolishness. Never.

1

November 1916

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Leah sat at her bedroom desk and stared out at the snowy lawn. She’d just turned twenty-one on the first of the month and now had a sizable inheritance from which she could draw for the future. For months—no, really it had been years—she had been planning on opening a home for unwed mothers. She had trained with her grandmother to learn nursing and birthing skills and felt competent to run a place of her own. Something elegant and refined, different from Bethany Home, which catered to the very lowest women of society who were ill-used and forgotten. Though Leah knew from working there that they offered a wonderful facility with all the needed amenities, she wanted something for women who didn’t fit into the world of prostitution and abject poverty. Bethany Home expected its residents to work to help see to their needs. The women Leah had in mind had never so much as dusted a shelf.

Ever since losing Susanna, Leah had wondered what might have happened had there been a place available for women of high society who found themselves in a family way. Susanna had been without hope, without funds of her own, and without the support of her family. It had ended in death for her and her child, and Leah held a grudge against all who had a part in her demise.

Mother admonished Leah to forgive and give the matter over to God to handle. But God, too, could have handled things better. Leah held a grudge against Him as well. If God had only interceded on Susanna’s behalf, she and her child might be alive today. But instead, it was as if everyone, including God, had turned their backs on Susanna Anderson.

Leah was determined that no other young woman of high society should have to face such treatment. She had given a great deal of thought to what she might do, and now that she’d come of age, it was time to act.

To get things going, she needed to speak to her grandparents and parents. They had a long history of setting up charities. Her grandparents sat on the boards of over a dozen different charitable organizations, her parents were helping with eight or so themselves, and the family always gave to a variety of community relief organizations. Even now with the war raging on in Europe, they gave faithfully to the Commission for Relief in Belgium, an organization created two years earlier to provide food and aid to civilians in German-occupied Belgium and France.

Leah loved her family’s attitude toward giving. She had grown up seeing the importance of helping those who had nothing. Her mother and father had encouraged not only the giving of money, but also of time and effort. From her earliest days, Leah remembered being taken to help in community centers. She was encouraged to roll bandages, serve bread, and do other menial tasks. As she grew older and volunteered at Bethany Home, she learned nursing skills from her grandmother and the nurses who worked there. She’d considered formally training as a nurse, but like her mother, she found dealing with wounds and surgeries to be quite distasteful. Still, with a desire to change the fate of women like Susanna, Leah had done all she could to stay active in charitable work for unwed mothers. Now, she felt it was time for her to set up her own charity.

She looked at the list on her desk. The list was her reminder of what needed to be done. At the top, after speaking to her parents and grandparents, was locating a house that could be used for her ministry. She would need something large with multiple bedrooms and space for gatherings and meals. The palatial estates around town offered examples. Even her own home and those of various family members came to mind. Most of her aunts and uncles were settled there in Minneapolis, some closer and others a bit farther away. Uncle Evan had a grand estate on the far west side of the city, and Uncle Jared lived twenty or so miles from the city on an expansive farm where he bred and raised horses for a living. Each of the Turner children lived in beautiful homes similar to what she wanted for her unwed mothers’ house.

“I can count on my family to help me locate a place,” she murmured, then considered the next item—household furnishings. She would need many beds and linens, and staff to keep the house and cook for residents. Given the nature of the women she planned to care for, none of them would know how to cook and clean.

Leah thought again of Susanna. This would all be done in her memory. She might even call the place Susanna’s Hope. Then again, very few people knew what had happened to Susanna, and Leah didn’t wish to see her memory besmirched even if the family had moved to California.

She contemplated the Deveraux family. They had returned from Europe at the end of summer, acting as if they knew nothing of the scandal. Leah’s family had been invited to Terrance’s wedding but had graciously declined, citing other obligations. Leah had wanted to storm the church and declare she knew a reason why they shouldn’t be joined together, but she held her tongue and remained at home, seething at the thought that Terrance Deveraux should be so happy when Susanna was dead and buried.

She sighed and gazed again on the snowy ground below. She loved winter, loved the snowy weather and ice that formed on the lakes and ponds. She had always enjoyed ice skating and sleigh rides. Uncle Evan had even taught her and Father to ice fish. What fun that had been. When her brothers Micah and Clayton were old enough to join her, they, too, had enjoyed the winter sports.

Leah had acted like one of the boys, teaching her brothers to make snow fortresses. She was no fair-haired damsel to be rescued, but a knight equal to her brothers in great snowball battles. The memory made her smile. Now the boys were off to college, and Leah had remained behind to continue helping with the charities. The house was strangely silent without them. She missed her brothers. They always had such great stories to tell, and they listened to her when she offered advice and direction. As they grew older and interested in girls, she lost no time in giving them a lengthy lecture on how to treat young women. She couldn’t save Susanna, but she would see that her brothers never made the same cruel decisions as Terrance Deveraux.

She glanced at the calendar on her wall. The boys would be home for winter break soon. It would be so wonderful to have them back. She’d ask them to escort her to movies and concerts. They would readily agree if she paid the way, so she had been carefully saving up money for their escapades. Although, now that she had her inheritance, she didn’t have to worry about any of that. She had enough money to take them around the world if she so chose.

“I thought I heard you in here, miss. May I speak to you for a moment?”

Leah turned to see Brigette, her maid, standing in the open doorway. “Of course. You needn’t ask. Goodness, you probably spend more time here than I do.”

Brigette glanced over her shoulder, then entered the room, closing the door behind her. Leah could see she was more than a little uncomfortable. She gripped her hands together and then loosened them over and over.

“Stop wringing your hands and come tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t even know where to start, but I felt if anyone could help me, it would be you. I know how you feel about such things, given your friend and . . . well, I need—that is to say . . .” Brigette’s voice trailed off, and her eyes teared up.

“Goodness, Brigette, come sit down and tell me what’s wrong.” Leah led the blond-haired woman to the desk chair she’d just vacated.

Brigette settled and shook her head. “I’m so sorry, miss. I know I was wrong to do what I did. It seemed natural at the time, but it’s turned into terrible trouble.”

“I don’t understand.” Leah drew another chair up and sat opposite Brigette. “What terrible trouble?”

She looked over her shoulder once again, then softened her tone. “I’m in a bad way. I’m going to have a baby, Miss Leah.”

The look on Brigette’s face took Leah back in time to Susanna’s declaration. “I see. And does the father know?”

“He knows, but he wants nothing to do with the baby or me. He said we were just having a bit of fun.” Brigette’s face was pale, and her expression bore the pain she no doubt felt.