The third and final novel in the Faith Chronicles series is SISTERS OF MERCY - The Runaway Scrape. If you ask anyone about Texas history and what one thing stands out in what they were taught, it would be "Remember the Alamo!" "Remember Goliad!" or even "Come and Get It!." There are numerous movies about the same, one directed by Ron Howard and even one for some of us older history fans where John Wayne was the star actor. But, it was not until 2011 I was working on my first creative nonfiction novel, "This Old House" did I come to realize the other less documented part of history, the Runaway Scrape. I made a halt, reset in what I was going to write. Why did I change my mind? I purchased the oldest home in Eagle Lake, Texas, built in 1864. I began a total restoration process on the home. One day, William 'Bill' Kell and his wife Shirley brought to my wife and I a dog-eared, yellow manuscript which still had numerous edit marks throughout the pages. It was a manuscript authored by Dilue Rose Harris in 1898. It was a gift to Bill Kell who in turn gifted it to me for my year-long restoration process. I began reading the manuscript and became intrigued with the bravery shown by women and children as they rushed eastward to save their families from the wrath of General Santa Anna. The more I read, the more I became intrigued with the memoirs of Dr. Pleasant Rose and with Miss Dilue Rose.

Settlers joined Sam Houston as everyone headed eastward to try and cross the Sabine River before Santa Anna reached them and they were all killed. During this migration eastward between March and April of 1836, spring rains for almost two weeks caused all the waterways to come out of their banks. Disease spread like wildfire. And, small children could not take the brunt of the cold weather lingering on in the early spring and died from exposure on the prairies.

The Runaway Scrape was an unpleasant experience, to say the least!

This novel covers the tragic flight of the refugees during the Texas Revolution across the swollen creeks and rivers from torrtential downpours during the spring. Dilue Rose and her mother must present a shotgun in the face of Davy Crockett's brother to keep from stealing her horses. In the meanwhile, Santa Anna has proclaimed that he will kill any Texans who he runs into during his run to the Sabine River.