It has been a couple of weeks since I've looked at Regina Jennings, Caught in the Middle, so my recall of the book may be a bit spotty. It's the story of Anne Tillerton, a widow who is eking out a living as a buffalo hunter, and Nick Lovelace, a businessman whose company is connected to building and constructing railway lines. You might say that this novel has a bit of a reverse plot of Beauty and the Beast, where the beast is a rough-and-tumble female who doesn't do dresses and can shoot with a gun better than many of the males surrounding her. Nick is the polished society figure. Although he is acquainted with hard back breaking work connected with railway construction, he has assumed more responsibilities in running the company from an office, which now requires him to dress in a suit these days. Anne and Nick go way back; Nick's sister used to be friends with Anne, and he knows about the unfortunate history that led to Anne's widowhood.
The pair meet up again when the train that they are travelling on get held up by bandits, and Anne saves Nick's life with her sharp shooting skills. To show his gratitude, and also because he feels an obligation to an old family acquaintance, Nick offers his help to Anne, should she need it while she is in town. Anne doesn't really aim to collect on this favour until she finds herself becoming an unwilling foster mother to a baby who had been abandoned by his mother. Because of her own personal past, she cannot allow the baby to be uncared for, so while she tries to track down the father of the child, she accepts Nick's aid in childcare arrangements, and his provision of temporary work in his office so that she can earn money. It is difficult for Anne to receive help; her life experiences have left her ill equipped to trust people and she definitely has difficulty in trusting God.
At first, Nick finds it alarming to be obligated to assist Anne because he fears what the rest of society will think about Anne's appearance and the nature of their relationship, which at this point, is that of family friendship. In fact, throughout the book, the challenge for Nick is whether or not he would choose to do the right thing by the Lord and to his neighbours, in spite of the pressures to not do so. As the plot unfolds, these choices become harder for him; the situation with Anne is just the starting point of circumstances that require him to decide whether to live out his faith or be the type of man who spouts out religious rhetoric, but not carry it out in his life. In a way, both Anne and Nick need to deal with the issue of trusting God. They both need to walk by faith, but obviously in different ways because their situations are different. Nick's background is one of privilege and good fortune, whereas Anne's past is one filled with neglect and abuse.
The one thing that I found a bit whiplash inducing was the suddenness of Nick's realization that he was in love with Anne. Up to that point, it seemed as if he regarded Anne as an inconvenience because of the questions and rudeness that he was bombarded with over the presence of Anne in his office. For me, personally, there weren't enough moments that convinced me of his attraction to her before, although there were enough hints to show that he found her intriguing, but not in a romantic way. The transition from simple friendliness to romantic pursuit was a bit jarring with its suddenness. However, once Nick decided that he loved Anne, he really did go after her in a romantic way. He probably did need all the time that was allotted to this in the plot, though, in order to break down the walls in the heart of a woman who couldn't trust men because of her past.
Nick's circumstance in being challenged to do the right thing regardless of the cost spoke a lot to me and was thought provoking. Likewise, Anne's challenge to trust God in spite of the circumstances was another thought provoking idea. I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to reading more from Regina Jennings.
