Abigail Dawson is a little red-haired mountain girl who has been so traumatized by incidents in her life that she changes from a bright, sunny two-year-old to a very serious and timid young woman. Her mother plays a very important role in keeping this trauma in the forefront of her mind, although unintentionally. Abigail is taken to the hospital, where she remains for therapy, but Lucas Sutherland appears in her life and helps to break down the barriers holding her in torment. He and his prayers are the source of Abigail's redemption.

Abigail's breath came in gasps and pain ripped through her chest, but she kept running. "He's drunk or crazy like that . . ." She shivered and wouldn't let her mind go there. Her current situation was scary enough.
She strained to listen to the roar of the truck motor or the taunting voice of its driver. the battered blue truck had come barreling around the curve as she approached the crest of the hill above the cemetery.
When Abigail jumped to the side of the road the truck screeched to a halt and a dark bearded face protruded through the window. "Scared you to death, didn't I? It's all right, little girl. Just come get in with me and I'll take you home."
Abigail's frightened green eyes had grown large in her ashen face. She stammered, "No, thank you."
The beard parted and white teeth showed through in a wide grin as the driver revved the engine. "It's a long way to the hardtop. I've an errant on down the road a ways, but I'll be right back to get you," he yelled as he went speeding down the rutted dusty road.
"To get you" was like a pointed gun. There were no houses in sight and Abigail knew she couldn't outrun a truck, but she had to try. "Jesus, please help me," she prayed as she ran. She heard the truck go lurching down the rutted road, much too fast, as it descended the hill she had just mounted.
"He's coming back to get me," she thought frantically as her mind leapt back to that awful day three years before.

Adda Leah Davis is a retired elementary school teacher and counselor as well as author of nine books. She is the youngest of ten children reared in McDowell County, West Virginia but now resides in Russell County, Virginia.

Davis's life has been dedicated to writing and she now serves on the board of the Appalachian Authors Guild, the Planning Committee for the yearly Appalachian Heritage Writers Symposium, and is a member of the Reminiscent Writers Group of Southwest Virginia Community College at Richlands.