Stolen (A Prairie Heritage, Book 5) Read online

  Stolen

  by Vikki Kestell

  Also Available in Print Format

  Denver, 1910: Stolen continues to chronicle the lives of Rose Thoresen, her daughter, Joy Thoresen Michaels, and those who live at Palmer House—a most extraordinary refuge for young women rescued from prostitution. The opening of Stolen finds young Mei-Xing safely returned to her friends and family at Palmer House. However, after six harrowing months of captivity, Mei-Xing stuns those who love her when she returns to Palmer House with child.

  If Su-Chong’s mother, Fang-Hua Chen, discovers that her son, now dead, has left behind a child, will she allow Mei-Xing to keep him—or will she set in motion plans to steal him away? Will O’Dell, Martha Palmer, Minister Liáng, and others concerned for the safety of Mei-Xing and her child be forced to face off with those who would see Mei-Xing and the work of Palmer House destroyed?

  Look for Book 6, the conclusion of this inspiring saga, Lost Are Found, November 2014!

  Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.

  A Rose Blooms Twice

  by Vikki Kestell

  Also Available in Print Format

  Rose Brownlee has suffered more loss than most people can endure. Now she must find new purpose and a way to move on with her life. Will she bow to conventional wisdom or will she, like Abraham, choose to follow where God leads her . . . even to a country she does not know?

  Set in the American prairie of the late 1800s, this story of loss, disillusionment, rebirth, and love will inspire, challenge, and encourage you.

  Read the exciting sequel to A Rose Blooms Twice, Joy on This Mountain.

  Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.

  Joy on This Mountain

  by Vikki Kestell

  Also Available in Print Format

  Finalist in the 2014 Selah Christian Book Awards for Historical Fiction!

  The little town of Corinth, Colorado, lies in the gateway to the majestic Rocky Mountains just west of Denver . . . just far enough from the city to avoid close scrutiny, but close enough to be accessible. Few know of the wickedness hidden in the small town, so picturesquely set in the foothills of the mighty mountains.

  Joy on This Mountain is the blazing sequel to A Rose Blooms Twice. The legacy of Jan and Rose has far-reaching and unexpected consequences.

  A Prairie Heritage, Book 2. Spoiler alert! You may not want to read this book until you have read its prequel, A Rose Blooms Twice.

  Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.

  The Captive Within

  by Vikki Kestell

  Also Available in Print Format

  The Captive Within opens the day after Joy on This Mountain ends. The two infamous houses of Corinth, Colorado, are closed and the young women who had been imprisoned there have been released. Soon after, Rose and Joy leave Corinth to establish a home and a haven for “their” girls in Denver.

  Before long, Rose and Joy face a heartrending challenge: What does it take to unlock and free the soul of a defiled woman? And as they wrestle for a foothold in Denver, Rose discovers that the long-abandoned house given to them hides a dark secret of its own.

  The Captive Within is Book 3 in the series, A Prairie Heritage. Read the beginning of this saga, A Rose Blooms Twice, and its moving sequel, Joy on This Mountain. The saga continues in Book 5, Stolen, and will conclude in Book 6, Lost Are Found, November 2014.

  Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.

  Wild Heart on the Prairie

  by Vikki Kestell

  Also Available in Print Format

  Jan Thoresen and his brother Karl have left their native land of Norway to bring their families to America—the land of freedom and hope. Like thousands of others, Jan and his wife Elli long for the opportunity of a better life and a future for their children.

  After braving an ocean crossing and the arduous journey west, they encounter a land so vast and wide that it defies mastery. Jan finds that his struggles are not only with the land, but with a restless and unmanageable heart. Will Jan find a way to overcome this wild land or will the prairie master him?

  Wild Heart on the Prairie, while designated Book 4 in the series, A Prairie Heritage, is chronologically the prequel and companion to A Rose Blooms Twice, Book 1 of the same series.

  Read the beginning of this beautiful saga, A Rose Blooms Twice, its exciting sequel, Joy on This Mountain, followed by the third book in the series, The Captive Within. The saga continues in Book 5, Stolen, and will conclude in Book 6, Lost Are Found, November 2014.

  Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Postscript

  About the Author

  Stolen

  © 2014 Vikki Kestell

  All Rights Reserved

  Scripture quotations taken from

  The King James Version (KJV)

  Public Domain.

  New Living Translation (NLT)

  Scripture quotations marked NLT

  are taken from the Holy Bible,

  New Living Translation,

  copyright 1996, 2004.

  Used by permission of

  Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,

  Wheaton, Illinois 60189

  Faith-Filled Fiction

  A Division of Growing Up in God

  www.faith-filledfiction.com/ | www.vikkikestell.com/

  Read all the books of A Prairie Heritage as they become available:

  Book 1: A Rose Blooms Twice

  Book 2: Joy on This Mountain

  Book 3: The Captive Within

  Book 4: Wild Heart on the Prairie

  Book 5: Stolen

  Book 6: Lost Are Found, November 2014

  Many thanks

  to my esteemed proofreaders,

  Cheryl Adkins, Greg McCann,

  and Jan England,

  who share in the work

  of this ministry

  and who will share

  in its eternal rewards.

  To My Readers

  This book is a work of fiction,

  what I term Faith-Filled Fiction™.

  While the characters and events are fiction,

  they are situated within the historical record.

  To God be the glory.

  Chapter 1

  These all died in faith,

  not having received the promises,

  but having seen them afar off,

  and were persuaded of them,

  and embraced them,

  and confessed that they were

  strangers and pilgrims

  on the earth.

  (Hebrews 11:13)

  The God who made us is concerned with all that happens in this life—but his purposes span eternity, and his purpos
es are great. When we live without God’s infinite perspective, the disappointments and losses we encounter in this life will defeat us; but when our hearts steadfastly focus on God’s eternal purposes, every transient pain or sorrow glows with the sure promises of tomorrow. —Vikki Kestell

  (Journal Entry, May 10, 1910)

  O Father, Mei-Xing is safe! How I thank you! Through great struggles, Mr. O’Dell found where Su-Chong Chen had kept her a prisoner since November and brought her home to us at Palmer House. We are so grateful, Lord, for you guiding him.

  I shudder when I think of Mei-Xing locked inside an airless, windowless room for six months. I grieve to think of the hardships and fear she experienced—and yet you sustained her, Lord. Thank you.

  With all that has happened these past four days, I have had scarce time or energy to chronicle in my journal, so I must begin now or I shall soon be too far behind. We are still celebrating Mei-Xing’s return and making adjustments—chief of which is preparing for a new baby in the house.

  Doctor Murphy has been to see Mei-Xing. Her dry, cracked lips, so painful to her, are healing, and he declares her to be in relatively good health. This is remarkable given the great ordeal she suffered.

  After speaking to her and examining her, the doctor believes her baby will arrive in the fall, likely late September or early October. Mei-Xing is such a tiny thing; I would have judged her pregnancy to be near term if the doctor had not said differently!

  Mei-Xing requires clothing for her pregnancy. Her only dress at present is the great, oversized thing she arrived in—stolen, she says, by Su-Chong. She tells us that he often burgled homes and stores in the night, stealing food and whatever else they needed.

  Of course, her clothing and other possessions from before her disappearance are in her room here at Palmer House, but none of those clothes fit her—she must have maternity garments until the baby is born. Mrs. Palmer pressed a more-than-generous gift on us to address this need.

  Because Mei-Xing was confined indoors for so many months, the doctor has advised a regimen of regular exercise: careful walking out-of-doors in the fresh air and sunshine and plenty of wholesome food. He speaks of her bodily well-being, but I must also consider her emotional well-being.

  Mei-Xing declined to attend church Sunday. She is, understandably, still weak from her ordeal, but it is likely that she fears censure. Perhaps Pastor Carmichael can encourage her on that point.

  Breona confides to me a related matter: Mei-Xing is often terrified. Breona stays close by her, for although Mei-Xing knows that Su-Chong is dead and can no longer harm her, she suffers from nervousness during the day and bad dreams and wakefulness at night.

  Breona believes Mei-Xing worries that Su-Chong’s mother, if she were to ever have knowledge of her son’s baby, would come for him. It is of grave concern to Mei-Xing and, I confess, to me also.

  Lord, please give us your wisdom.

  Four days after Mei-Xing’s return, Palmer House—a most extraordinary refuge for young women rescued from prostitution—remained in a happy uproar.

  I cannot stop smiling, Rose mused. Thank you forever, Lord, for bringing Mei-Xing, the daughter of my heart, safely home! She looked around the breakfast table. And thank you for our girls, who are content and growing in you, Lord.

  Tabitha and Breona, once at sharp odds with each other, had their heads together, discussing household duties and plans. Sara and Mei-Xing were speaking in low voices with Corrine listening and nodding.

  Jenny, who was relatively new to the house, sat between Flora and Maria, spellbound as Mr. Wheatley regaled them with yet another tall tale. Across from Mr. Wheatley, Alice and Marion—who had only arrived at Palmer House that week—scarcely touched their food as the old gent spun his tale.

  Marit and Nancy shuttled between the kitchen and dining room, bringing out platters and pitchers and depositing them on the table. Marit and Billy’s young son, Will, bounced on Billy’s knee. Spying his mother and the steaming platters of food, Will shrieked his joyous readiness for the morning meal.

  When all were seated, they thanked God for his bounty. Will hollered an unabashed “Amen” and the meal began. Rose glanced around the table, a bit disappointed that Joy and Grant, her daughter and son-in-law, were absent. They now took their breakfasts in their cottage behind Palmer House.

  Since the day Grant had been diagnosed with a heart condition, Joy had been safeguarding Grant’s energy, sparing him from situations or tasks that overtaxed his body. Grant had reduced his work schedule at their fine furnishings store to two days a week—and for a mere two hours those days. It was the walk to and from the trolley that was most fatiguing for him.

  But there was something else . . . something about Joy. Rose’s brow puckered as she tried to put her finger on it.

  “I thank ye for coming to see me, Mr. O’Dell.” Martha Palmer was ensconced in a chair set upon a low dais in the corner of her parlor. The elderly woman’s frail body was bent over, nearly in half. Even seated, she leaned forward upon a cane for support.

  Mrs. Palmer could not lift her head to look up; she was forced to turn her head to the side to see visitors. The inches added by the dais meant that she did not have to twist her neck quite so far.

  Edmund O’Dell, Pinkerton agent, was seated in a chair to the side of the dais, placing him eye-to-eye with his hostess. He, too, used a cane these days. It rested against the arm of his overstuffed chair, near his stylish derby.

  “I came as soon as I received your message.”

  The old woman nodded, her shock of white hair waving a little as she did. “Quite so. Quite so. And I thank ye. Can you guess why I have asked to speak with you?”

  O’Dell cast his mind over the events of the last week. They had not been far from his thoughts. “It must concern Mei-Xing.”

  “Yes. The girl has come to mean a great deal to me. A great deal.”

  She nodded again and her thin hands trembled upon the head of her cane. “You saved her, Mr. O’Dell,” she whispered. “You saved her and brought her home. For that you have my undying gratitude.”

  O’Dell did not respond immediately and the room dropped into quiet. The ticking of the mantel clock and the intermittent drone of a fly in the parlor window were the only sounds for long moments.

  He sighed. “Thank you, but I must give credit where it is due.”

  O’Dell shifted in his seat. His hip was troubling him. The fact was, he was worn, physically. A few months back he’d taken a beating he hoped never to repeat in his lifetime. He had nearly died and still felt the damage deep in his body.

  But inside? In his soul? That was a different story.

  It is well with my soul, O’Dell rejoiced.

  “I would never have found Mei-Xing if God had not intervened,” he admitted. “If he had not directed . . . so many things.”

  “Oh?” Martha leaned toward him a bit. “Would you indulge an old woman and tell me about it?”

  O’Dell shrugged and smiled. “It would take . . . time.”

  “I have nothing else more important, Mr. O’Dell. And I love to hear what God has done.”

  His smile broadened a little. “Perhaps a pot of tea to carry us through?”

  “An excellent idea, Mr. O’Dell!” Mrs. Palmer rang the little bell on the side table. “Sadie will be here with it directly. Why don’t you begin?”

  He did, but his thoughts wandered as he recited the events of the last six months.

  So much evil—and so much more of God’s grace! O’Dell mused. Dean Morgan and Su-Chong Chen’s escape from the justice they were due. Mei-Xing taken and missing for half a year. Both events set in motion by Su-Chong’s vindictive mother, Fang-Hua.

  Long nights in a Seattle hospital and longer nights recovering in a secret house on the outskirts of the city. Minister Liáng . . . telling me of the God of Grace. Bao Shin Xang, Su-Chong’s treacherous cousin—repentant and forgiven. Misdirection from Morgan’s shifty uncle, Freddy Fetch. And ministering
angels dressed in black habits and white wimples.

  When O’Dell finished, his recounting had taken two hours and two pots of tea, with Mrs. Palmer only interrupting to ask clarifying questions. The room was quiet again as Mrs. Palmer mulled over what she had heard.

  “Extraordinary, Mr. O’Dell. Almost unbelievable.” She thought a minute more. “So now we know who Mei-Xing’s parents are—and who is responsible for sending her to that place . . . up the mountain.”

  O’Dell nodded. “I will be leaving for Chicago shortly”—he cracked a wry smile—“to prove to my boss and his superiors that I’m still alive. Then I must return to Seattle and meet with Minister Liáng. He and Bao are anxious to hear the details of Mei-Xing’s rescue.”

  “Will you also meet with Mei-Xing’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Li, now that she has been found? Will you be the one bearing the news to them that she is alive?”

  O’Dell rubbed his chin. “Sadly, no. It is Mei-Xing’s decision. I have stayed in Denver these last few days, hoping I could persuade her to go home or at least allow Minister Liáng to speak to her father and mother but . . .”

  “But?”

  “Her parents have believed their daughter to be dead for more than two years. As much as I have tried to convince Mei-Xing otherwise, she has chosen to let them continue in that belief.”

  “Why ever so?” Mrs. Palmer demanded, growing agitated.

  O’Dell’s laugh was sardonic. “While I was recovering in Seattle, I learned something of the politics of these two powerful clans, the Li and Chen families, Mrs. Palmer. Mei-Xing would rather let sleeping dogs lie—or, perhaps more aptly, let sleeping dragons lie—than to arouse them.”

  He bent a resigned look on the old woman. “Mei-Xing has a child on the way. She will do nothing to jeopardize his safety and future—particularly where it concerns Fang-Hua Chen.”