"A Most Inconvenient Marriage" by Regina Jennings

[reviewsbyerin]

The year is 1865 and nurse Abigail Stuart has no home waiting to welcome her after the War Between the States. When a dying man asks her to marry him and care for his mother and sister in the Missouri Ozarks, Abigail is hoping she can find a new place to belong. She arrives as Jeremiah Calhoun's widow and throws herself into rebuilding the farm, using her personal funds to pay for breeding the fine mare Captain Calhoun left behind. She builds relationships with Ma and the cantankerous chronically ill sister Rachel.

When Jeremiah Calhoun arrives home very much alive and not the man she married, he accuses Abigail of trying to steal his property. The dream of returning home and marrying his sweetheart Laurel has kept him alive through years of war and the pain of an awful wound. How is he supposed to resume courting Laurel with a woman who claims to be his wife hanging around? Abigail is adamant that she will not leave until the new foal is born, since that was her personal investment in the farm, and Jeremiah reluctantly agrees because he can see that Abigail has been good for his family.

Abigail offers to help Jeremiah with his continued recovery from his war wound, and her physical therapy completely restores his leg's range of motion. As the months rolls by Abigail comes face to face with parts of her past, and outlaws threaten the community. Meanwhile their inconvenient marriage continues to foil Jeremiah's plans with Laurel, but is he finds he may not be in such a rush to pursue his old flame after all.

I enjoyed this story, but found the development of the relationship between the characters rather unrealistic. The leap between the initial antagonism and supposedly falling madly in love was too fast and unbelievable for me. It is always fun to read stories set around where I live, though, and I am looking forward to the second novel in this series.