“Will he call Uncle Dane Papa?” Molly said suddenly.

Margaret, a little startled by the question, glanced at the little girl’s pensive face. “Well, yes,” she answered. “Uncle Dane is his papa, you know.”

“We don’t have a papa,” Molly responded quietly.

“Yes, we do,” Fanny put in from the sofa. Her blue eyes were round and a little indignant. “We have Uncle Dane!”

Molly stroked Daniel’s back without looking up. “He’s like a papa, but we don’t call him Papa.”

“It doesn’t matter what you call a person,” Aaron spoke up unexpectedly. “Uncle Dane is just as much our father as...as anybody’s father!”

Margaret’s eyes lifted to find Dane standing in the doorway, unobserved by the children. He was listening closely, nothing but love and concern on his face.

New Year's Day, 1892, marks the start of a cozy winter for the house at 25 Harmony Street, where local sheriff Dane Westover and his wife Margaret are raising their big, chaotic family. But while the Westovers are making friends with their charming new neighbors, the recently hired schoolteacher lights flames of controversy throughout the town. When a desperate and needy thief begins to affect the lives of people in both Camden and Bordenville, Dane and his brothers must call up all their courage and skill to keep their family safe and the home fires burning.

326 pages. Paperback.