Unbridled Dreams
U
NBRIDLED
D
REAMS
Books by
Stephanie Grace Whitson
A Garden in Paris
A Hilltop in Tuscany
Jacob’s List
P
INE
R
IDGE
P
ORTRAITS
Secrets on the Wind
Watchers on the Hill
Footprints on the Horizon
P
RAIRIE
W
INDS
Walks the Fire
Soaring Eagle
Red Bird
K
EEPSAKE
L
EGACIES
Sarah’s Patchwork
Karyn’s Memory Box
Nora’s Ribbon of Memories
D
AKOTA
M
OONS
Valley of the Shadow
Edge of the Wilderness
Heart of the Sandhills
N
ONFICTION
How to Help a Grieving Friend
U
NBRIDLED
D
REAMS
STEPHANIE GRACE
WHITSON
Unbridled Dreams
Copyright © 2008
Stephanie Grace Whitson
Cover design and photography by John Hamilton Design
Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations identified NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE,
®
Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. (
www.Lockman.org
)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Whitson, Stephanie Grace.
Unbridled dreams / Stephanie Grace Whitson.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7642-0327-5 (pbk.)
1. Women rodeo performers—Fiction. 2. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show—Fiction.
I. Title.
PS3573.H555U53 2008
813'.54—dc22
2008014286
D
EDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF
G
OD’S EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN
IN EVERY PLACE
IN EVERY TIME
T
HANKS TO
. . .
. . .
MY EDITOR
A
NN
P
ARRISH
,
for working the magic that makes the stories better.
. . .
COPY EDITOR
K
AREN
S
CHURRER
,
and her amazing “eagle eye” for the details.
. . . B
ETHANY
H
OUSE
P
UBLISHERS
,
for the great privilege of working for them.
. . . LINDA HEIN OF THE NEBR ASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
for introducing me to the real woman
who inspired Liberty Belle.
. . . M
ARY
R
OBINSON
, L
IBRARIAN
, M
C
C
RACKEN
R
ESEARCH
L
IBRARY
, B
UFFALO
B
ILL
H
ISTORICAL
C
ENTER
;
AND
L
YNN
H
OUZE
, C
URATORIAL
A
SSISTANT
, B
UFFALO
B
ILL
M
USEUM
,
for sharing their knowledge of the Wild West
.
. . . D
R
. L
INDA
E
RMISCH
,
for sharing her expertise in the field of horse behavior.
. . .
MY WRITING FRIENDS
,
for challenging me to be faithful to the call.
. . .
MY
D
ANIEL
,
for being willing to make the sacrifices that unbridle my
dreams.
A
ND AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU, DEAR READER
,
for honoring me by giving of your time
to go back in time with me. It is my prayer that God
will use the story of Liberty Belle to bless you.
A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR
A native of southern Illinois, Stephanie Grace Whitson has resided in Nebraska since 1975. She began what she calls “playing with imaginary friends” (writing fiction) when, as a result of teaching her four homeschooled children Nebraska history, she was personally encouraged and challenged by the lives of pioneer women in the West. Since her first book,
Walks the Fire,
was published in 1995, Stephanie’s fiction titles have appeared on the ECPA bestseller list and have been finalists for the Christy Award and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award. Her first nonfiction work,
How to Help a Grieving Friend,
was released in 2005. In addition to serving her local church and keeping up with two married children and three college students, Stephanie enjoys volunteering for the International Quilt Study Center and riding motorcycles with her blended family and church friends. Widowed in 2001, Stephanie remarried in 2003 and now pursues full-time writing and a speaking ministry from her studio in Lincoln, Nebraska. Learn more at
www.stephaniewhitson.com
or write stephanie@ stephaniewhitson.com. U.S. mail can be directed to Stephanie Grace Whitson at 3800 Old Cheney Road, #101–178, Lincoln, Nebraska 68516.
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord,
she shall be praised.
P
ROVERBS
31:30
NASB
Contents
YOU are in SO MUCH TROUBLE
.
Seventeen-year-old Irma Friedrich sighed. If only Momma hadn’t shrieked a moment ago, Diamond wouldn’t have startled. And if Diamond hadn’t startled, Irma would have landed the dismount that involved a handspring off the dapple-gray gelding’s withers and a high arc through the air. She would have been standing in the middle of the arena—uh, corral—taking her bow as Liberty Belle, the star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. She would have been waving to the imaginary crowd of thousands and then going over to pat Diamond on the neck and reward him with a few cubes of sugar. But Momma
had
shrieked—at the worst possible moment, when Irma had just put the reins in her teeth and started her handstand on Diamond’s back—and Diamond
had
broken his stride, and so here Irma was, sitting in the dirt trying to catch her breath and wondering why in the world Momma and Daddy had come out to the ranch at this time of day. They weren’t supposed to drive out from town until suppertime, and it was barely past dinner.
As Irma got up and dusted herself off, Daddy stepped down off the back porch and hurried toward the corral. “Are you all right?” he hollered. When Irma nodded and bent down to pick up the hat she’d borrowed from her cousin Monte’s room, Daddy stopped in midstride, put his hands on his hips, and sputtered, “Then get yourself up on the porch and apologize to your mother. You’ve frightened her half to death.” Spinning around, Daddy stomped back across the patch of dirt that served for a backyard and up the unpainted stairs onto the porch of Aunt Laura and Uncle Charlie Mason’s two-story ranch house.