Secret Refuge

Seeking to fulfill the promise she made to her dying father, eighteen-year-old Jesselynn Highwood determines to take her little brother and the family's remaining Thoroughbreds from the Twin Oaks plantation in Kentucky to her uncle's farm in Missouri, where they will be safe for the remainder of the Civil War. Dodging Confederate and Union troops, they ride at night and hide during the day. Finally, after encountering hunger, sickness, and the devastation of war, they arrive in Missouri only to discover that the situation there puts them in even greater danger. But Jesselynn will stop at nothing to save her family, the horses, and whatever remains of Twin Oaks.

While her sister fights to hold on to the family legacy, Louisa Highwood works tirelessly to save the lives of wounded soldiers. Putting her own safety on the line, she covertly ventures behind enemy lines to procure desperately needed supplies for the army hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Meanwhile, Jesselynn Highwood and her ragtag band of freed slaves and Thoroughbred horses seek refuge along the Oregon Trail, unable to imagine what awaits them.

When a disastrous decision by the trainmaster forces Jesselynn Highwood and her companions to separate from the wagon train, she races back to Fort Laramie to find a guide to take them to Oregon. But the guide has a far different plan, and following her heart, Jesselynn agrees to join him, her ragtag band in tow. Back east, Louisa Highwood and her brother Zachary are captured by Union soldiers for smuggling medical supplies into Richmond. Can Louisa find a way to obtain her brother's freedom before it's too late? The future of the Highwood family-and that of their beloved Twin Oaks-hangs in the balance. Will the war's end bring them together again?