Forever by Your Side

Peterson continues her Willamette Brides series with this exciting third installment (after Way of Love) set on the American frontier in the 1880s. Constance Browning left Oregon seven years earlier to live and study with her aunt and uncle in Washington, D.C. Now she and her best friend, Tom Lowell, have been hired by the Bureau of Ethnology to catalogue the history and culture of Native Americans, a job they accept for ulterior motives: Connie’s parents, longtime missionaries to natives on a remote reservation in Oregon, have been accused of furnishing whiskey and weapons in order to promote an uprising, a charge Connie aims to dispel. Upon Connie’s return to her childhood home, Clint Singleton reenters her life. Clint, the son of a U.S. senator, is the Indian agent for the area and was Connie’s teenage infatuation. Connie bounces between confusion regarding Clint’s romantic interest in her and speculation that Tom may have feelings for her, too. As tensions rise in the community over their presence, it’s up to Connie and Tom to explain their peaceful intentions and gain the Indians’ trust while vindicating her parents—which proves to be trickier than planned. Peterson’s fans will relish this entrancing story of fortitude, faith, and forgiveness. (Oct.)