My Outcast Heart

Tabetha Small is a subsistence farmer in 1720 Bedford, New York. She loves her home and wants the life her grandparents had--a loving marriage and fruitful farm. This is shattered when her grandfather, Josiah, dies. Under colonial law, a single woman cannot live alone. Tabetha has two choices; leave her home or trust the strange man who comes down from the mountain. Christian Dalby is a man with a duty. Framed as a thief and branded on the hand with a telltale "T," Dalby has lived a hermit's existence on the mountain behind the farm. Dalby had promised Josiah, his only link to civilization, that he would look after Tabetha if the need ever arose. Now he must fulfill that promise, sacrificing his solitude.