Highlighting Historical Romance: Becky Lower visits today.
What makes Dance With Destiny so special to me is that it’s a branch off my family tree.
When I became a teenager, my dad told me the dirty little secret about his grandmother. She was half-Indian, and until the day she died, she had the strong, chiseled features that bespoke of her heritage, and long coal black hair that fell to her knees.
Rather than being appalled by this knowledge, I was thrilled. Times were changing, and being a part of the culture that was America before the Europeans came to our shores was exciting. I began to wear feathers in my hair, and to this day I wear moccasins around the house. So imagine my surprise when I began doing research on the family tree some twenty years ago, with the help of the internet and could find no link to my Indian past. I contacted the Myers branch of the family, some of them unknown to me until then, and they graciously shared what information they had. They, too, had heard the rumor, and how my great-grandmother and her siblings had been harassed in school because of their tainted blood line, but could never figure out how an Indian came into the family.
When it became possible, I underwent the Ancestry.com DNA test. Imagine my disappointment when the DNA test disproved a blood connection! But since multiple branches of the family had been told the same story for years, there had to be a grain of truth in it. And being a writer of historical fiction, 
I decided to dive into the story with both moccasins. I’d already done the research on the family, but I did need to do some additional legwork to find out Ohio’s involvement in the early days of the Civil War.
Susannah Myers was my great-great grandmother, and Missouria Belle was my great-grandmother. William Myers did indeed go off to fight the Civil War, leaving Susannah alone on a mountaintop in southern Ohio with her children. This is my version of what may have happened. I hope you enjoy it.
About the Book
William Myers feels it’s his duty to answer the call to fight for the Union Army—but his wife, Susannah, doesn’t agree. How does he expect her to survive with four small children in the cold Ohio winter during the three-month enlistment period? Angry and abandoned, Susannah learns soon after William leaves that she is also pregnant again.
Raoul Lafontaine is a half-Ojibwa, half-French-Canadian drifter who is more Indian than white. Also known as Lone Wolf, he has recently left the Ojibwa village in search of a fair-haired woman both he and his grandfather have seen in visions. She is important to him—but how? He will never allow himself to care for another—not after losing the wife he loved so much.
But Raoul could not have planned for the sizzling emotions that surface when he comes near Susannah, nor the love he feels for her children. When he realizes that Susannah returns his feelings, he knows he must leave—for how can he stay close by knowing she can never be his? William will return to his homestead, and they’ll once again be a family. One in which Raoul has no place. Or does he?
Will Fate relent and grant the love between Susannah and Raoul in this Dance With Destiny ?
About the Author
Amazon best-selling author Becky Lower has traveled the country looking for great settings for her novels. She loves to write about two people finding each other and falling in love, amid the backdrop of a great setting, be it on a covered wagon headed west or in present day small town America. Historical and contemporary romances are her specialty. Becky is a PAN member of RWA and is a member of the Historic, Beau Monde and Contemporary RWA chapters. She has a degree in English and Journalism from Bowling Green State University, and lives in an eclectic college town in Ohio with her puppy-mill rescue dog, Mary. She loves to hear from her readers at beckylowerauthor@gmail.com. Visit her website at www.beckylowerauthor.com
Thank you, Caroline, for inviting me to your blog today. My one remaining uncle on my Dad’s side of the family and I discussed for years where the Indian connection could be found. I shared my take on the story with him and he enjoyed it. I hope everyone who picks it up will enjoy it as well.
Family history is always a challenge. I have found our family legends generally have a grain of truth in them, even if they aren’t precisely accurate.
Interesting story! A family friend of ours has some Native American ancestors, but she discovered when she began to explore her roots that the records showed generation upon generation of half-Native American parents. This didn’t seem likely, so she researched further. She learned that in the past, full-blooded Native Americans were not permitted to own land, but they needed the land to survive. So apparently not all the official records are accurate.
Thanks for sharing.
I love your story, Saralee! Native Americans were horribly treated by Americans, as were the African slaves, and even women. We’ve all had to fight for our rightful place.