And the woman who pieces this patchwork family together is Mercedes Malloy. 

Mercy embodies the bold energy of the West: she and her husband Judd manage a stagecoaching way station on their farm outside of Abilene. They believe God will help them survive and prosper, despite troubled times and personal tragedy. Mercy must repeatedly look beyond her own self-doubts--especially after Judd dies--and accept her life's challenges as the will of God; a chance to right her world's wrongs, one child at a time. And when it comes to kids, Mercy can't say no. 

It is these "angels" who propel the story across time and the vast, untamed West. When Christine and Billy Bristol are abandoned by their mother, she takes them in. When Solace is born after an Indian massacre claims her husband, Mercy clings to the hope this child represents: a vow that helps her survive the brutal realities of life on the Plains as a woman alone. 

Lily mysteriously arrives in a basket on the following Easter Sunday. And when longtime friend Michael Malloy presents her with a prostitute's son and a marriage proposal, she says yes to life again--yes to her own needs this time. The daughter she has with Michael in Book Two (JOURNEY TO LOVE, July 2006) will complete their family. 

It is her simple, straightforward faith and her own Christian example that imbues these children with the qualities that make them "angels of mercy" for other people as they mature and find lives of their own. Each book stands alone but is linked to Mercy by the letters she writes and receives as her brood leaves the nest. Her children embark on adventures that take them great geographical and emotional distances, but her hold on their heartstrings--her special, all-embracing love--will always keep them close to home in spirit.