Well, Miranda gets her happily-ever-after, after all! ♥

This story opens with Miranda being approached by across-the-street neighbor Nathan Whitney, one of the wealthiest men in town (albeit a seemingly emotionless one), who solemnly asks for her hand in marriage. Miranda laughs at him, and continues to laugh for the next five years as he approaches her annually to repeat his proposal. He does not love Miranda, or even particularly like her, but he has seen what she's done as the Spaffords' housekeeper and considers that she could take over his house in the same mien, and bring up the youngest of his seven kids running about.

Whitney finally gives up and tries on with the local schoolteacher instead, who happily takes him up on his offer, much to the collective horror of his children. No one knew of Whitney's annual sojourns to Miranda's doorstep except for the Spaffords, so she alone gets to enjoy the wedding knowing what a bullet she dodged by saying no. Later that day, she finds ten-year-old Nathan Jr crying in the pieplants behind the Spafford house, and takes pity on him. Nathan Jr has a terrible reputation already as a horrible little boy; Nathan Sr has already given up on him and no one in town expects anything decent of him.

Miranda sympathizes, understanding all too well what its like to be ostracized by their village society. She herself was given to her grandmother as a baby after her mother died and her father took off. Grandmother Heath disliked her immensely and treated her coldly her entire life, obviously favoring her beautiful cousin Hannah. Miranda didn't let the lack of empathy get her down. She trudged through life and made her own way, escaping to the Spaffords in Book #1 of the trilogy and continuing to forge her own path in Book #2. The only people who know what a kind and loyal person she is is basically the Spafford family, but she could give two hoots that the rest of town thought her among the lowest of the low.

Turns out Miranda kept turning down Nathan Whitney's proposals for more than the obvious reasons - she'd once helped his eldest son, Allan, escape from jail after he was arrested for murder! This is detailed in the first couple of chapters, and it's easy to understand why a misfit like Miranda became enamored of the town Bad Boy (and why she empathized with Nathan Jr so much). Allan was one of the few who was kind to her, and they had something of a kinship as outsiders. Allan was sixteen when he was accused of murder; Grandpa Heath was the local constable and would keep prisoners in his old, unused smokehouse overnight. 13-year-old Miranda snuck out of the house and let Allan go, as she knew that he was not malicious or evil. Allan was so grateful to her that he kissed her, and memories of these events are something Miranda holds close to her heart. It was very sweet to read about this softer side of our plucky Mirandy.

Miranda keeps on believing in Allan's innocence and eventually tricks the real killer into confessing. She crosses paths with Dr. Marcus Whitman (a real life historical figure) and learns that Allan is probably living in Oregon Country. She writes a letter to him letting him know that his name has been cleared; a couple of years later, he shows up, dressed to the nines in the latest cut of fashion from New York, and tells her that he loves her and wants to marry her.

Allan reconciles with his family (sort of), but he and Miranda agree to keep their relationship a secret from most of the town, due to the way both were treated as children. When their engagement is announced in church one Sunday, it makes quite the splash around town! The two are married and travel along the Oregon Trail, only to return after the Whitman massacre. By the end of the novel, Nathan Sr is dead, Allan has inherited the big house across the street from the Spaffords, and Miranda is queen of her castle, a place she never thought she'd be after turning down Whitney Sr's proposals all those years ago.

This is a very sweet story, unfortunately bogged down by a lot of hokum-cum-history about the Oregon territory. It was so obvious to me that Marcus Whitman was either a real person or was supposed to represent a real person that I did a bit of research. Turns out that, after his death, his story became legendary, and he's credited with all of the political work that Jason Lee actually did to get the US to take over the Oregon territory (instead of the British). Turns out the Methodists of the day had a strong presence in Oregon territory with their various missions, which was an interesting intersection for me.

Of course, this also raises the specter of white settlers encroaching on Indian lands, and the author of course considers this to have been a good thing, with every white American who went West doing so out of the love of their own hearts and a desire to convert the native heathens to Christianity. According to this novel, it was their own ignorance that caused the savages to murder Whitman and his family; little credence is given to the fact that the white settlers brought deadly disease to the Indian people and wiped out most of them. Marcus Whitman is considered a martyr to his cause, and that was just completely gross to read about.

All of this nonsense was known in 1915 when this novel was first written, so it's also kinda gross that the author decided to perpetuate historical lies and set her otherwise-unrelated story among them.

All in all, though, this novel represents a great ending for the character of Miranda, who gets the happily-ever-after she scarcely dreamed was possible. The romance is pretty much plowed under by the history in the second half, but it's easily skippable if you want to concentrate on the characters. This is definitely the best book of the bunch, and if I was going to purchase one, it'd be this one. Miranda is such a great character, and so different from the author's other heroines. ( )

You first get to know Miranda in the book "Phoebe Deane" and in this book you discover even more about her. Miranda is a lady now who has had an offer of marriage; but she turns him down. She would much rather stay with the Spaffords and be their housekeeper. No one knows of her love for Allen Whitney, the young boy she helped escape town many years ago. She hasn't heard from him for over 10 years, but has always loved him. You discover him in Oregon, living in the wilderness in a cabin. How and why they meet again is a good ending to the story of Miranda. ( )

I do so love this one. Miranda is a no-nonsense red-haired hired girl with a great deal of common sense, and a tendancy to get involved in other people's problems. But under her sensible exterior she hides a secret love for a "bad boy" she knew as a school girl. She helped Alan escape from jail when he was falsely accused of a murder and remembered him ever after. In the end, she finds out who really committed the murder, and helps Alan return to his rightful place.

The author tends to be "preachy" of course, but much less so in this book than usual. ( )