A Lantern in Her Hand

Abbie moves in with Will’s family at the farm. She works hard to keep up with their constant labor, but the others find her lacking. This makes Abbie realize she wants a home of her own.

In 1867, Abbie gives birth to a boy named Mackenzie, whom they nickname Mack. Annoyed by his lack of independence in his family’s home, Will decides that he, Abbie, and Mack will move to Nebraska. Abbie doesn’t want to leave her family and worries that Mack will never know her parents and loved ones, but as a woman, Abbie doesn’t have a choice in the matter. She doesn’t want to leave her family but “in her heart she knew that as much as she cared for her people,—as dear as were her mother and sisters and the old settlement to her,—they did not outweigh her love for [Will]” (70-71). Will packs all their belongings into a covered wagon, and they head west.

Nebraska’s prairie landscape is much more barren than Iowa’s. Abbie and her family break ground on their new camp with two other pioneer families, Oscar and Henry Lutz (two brothers with their families), and Gus Reinmueller with his wife, Christine. At night in the camp, Abbie is unnerved by the silence; she fears for their safety in the isolated, unfamiliar landscape.