Her Sister's Husband — Elizabeth Fackler

Separated as toddlers in the Catholic orphanage where their mother had left them, Leah Broome has spent her young life craving the love of her twin sister, Lara. When a letter from the convent announces Lara's death and the impending arrival of her daughter, Prairie Rose, Leah prepares to welcome the five-year-old as if she were Lara herself. Arriving in town to meet his daughter on the train, Tom Woden claims to be Prairie's father. The girl, however, is half Wind River Shoshone, restricting Tom's paternity to the dates of his marriage to Lara. When he writes the church where the ceremony occurred, he learns the edifice burned and all records were lost, leaving his claim unproven. Uncomfortable with his intimate knowledge of the sister whose friendship she has coveted, Leah confronts her competitor for her niece's affections. Due to the necessity of her job as a waitress, Leah has scant time to spend with Prairie while Tom, riding the largesse of a winning poker hand, has his days free. Though the solution to their quandary seems obvious to everyone else, Leah's friend Molly fails to see how the principled, naive Miss Broome could happily join with the wickedly streetwise Mr. Woden.