Waiting for Summer's return (#1) Heart of the Prairie
(Book)

Traveling with her family from Boston to a new life in Oklahoma, Summer Steadman lived a woman's worst nightmare. Fate slammed her dream shut in Gaeddert, Kansas when typhoid fever claimed not only the life of her husband, but all four of her children. Wanting to remain near the graves of her family she sought work-- finding little in the way of employment from the small tightly bound Mennonite community. Hope came in the form of widower Peter Ollenberger, the local gristmill operator whose young son had been injured and needed a tutor to keep from falling behind in his studies. Though Summer was an `outsider' Peter was singularly devoted to providing his son the best education he could provide. Peter would brave the censure from his religious community by offering the Summer room and board for her tutoring services. With little desire to go on living, Peter slowly gave Summer a reason to believe again in the joy of life and by his example, his love of God gave her the inclination to reexamine her relationship with the almighty.