The journey begins with Ben Stephenson and Lucy Swearingen in 1799, Western Virginia frontier along the Ohio River. Ben dreams of building his fortune along the trade routes of America’s western rivers. But first, he must keep a promise to a dying friend whose younger sister has fallen prey to their unscrupulous stepfather’s greed and cruelty. When the little girl starts exhibiting strange behavior, Ben is forced to dredge up demons from his past he thought long buried, in order to keep his promise and ensure her safety.

Lucy is bright, inquisitive, independent—and haunted by strange images and words she can’t comprehend. When her favorite older brother dies, it sets off a chain of events that leave her not knowing who to trust or what unknown reality lurks beneath the twists and turns of her family’s saga. Running away to a distant uncle’s home seems the only option. But will she find the truth in time to save herself and her family’s legacy.

In spring 1802 Lucy Swearingen is abruptly dismissed from the Quaker school she has spent the past three years in peace and contentment, receiving a fine education. Returning home to her fractured family on the Western Ohio River is not an option. Her guardian, Ben Stephenson, navigates the Western waters after promising her safety and security and a future of her own making one day. But this is not that day, and all she knows is Ben’s letters have stopped coming and no one is guiding her path.
Ben Stephenson navigates the river routes along the Ohio and Mississippi until the fateful day his keelboat meets with a devastating accident and he must turn to the unscrupulous General James Wilkinson, whose reputation for dabbling in freebooting, smuggling and possible treason, has been rumored since the Revolutionary War. Ben is soon caught up in an eddy of international espionage, piracy, and treason, on the heels of the Jefferson’s plan for national expansion via the Louisiana Purchase. With war looming on the horizon, his ward now at loose ends and entering Virginia society, Ben’s hands are full beyond measure. Should he answer the call to join the Corps of Discovery? Or remain back east to manage his reckless and stubborn ward? With time running out, along with his options, he chooses the only path that seems most expedient, one that will change the destinies of more than two people and lay the foundation for a growing nation.
This second novel in the Stephenson House Chronicles, furthers the adventures of Ben Stephenson and Lucy Swearingen during the tumultuous days of the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis & Clark’s Expedition. As a sequel to Across Unstill Waters, it can be enjoyed either as a follow up or on its own without prior reading. Either way, the journey awaits, at whatever stage the reader joins in!