Novel Title: Uncertain
Time Setting: 1876
Genre: Historical Fiction
Minimum Word Goal: 90,000
Timespan: March 1–31
Locations: Cimarron & Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory
Main Characters: Joseph Sheldon, Hazel Chalmers
Background Information:
Born the twelfth of fourteen children and youngest of the eight that made it to adulthood, Joseph lived a quiet and contented childhood as the son of a slave overseer and his wife in central Georgia.
His mother gave him his education, along with doting on him because he was the youngest of the family; his father taught him how to ride and train horses; and aside from them probably the most important person in his life was the Reverend Kittle's daughter Odelia.
In fact, church was a very important part of his family's life, but Joseph found it confusing. In Sunday School he was taught that all men were created in the image of God and, thus, were to be treated nicely, yet his parents — who were very devout and even gave him and his siblings further religious education at home — expressly forbid him from playing with, speaking to, and even looking at the children of the slaves his father oversaw.
To him they seemed perfectly normal children — even if their skin was practically the opposite colour of his own — and seeing as he was told in Sunday School that all men were made in the image of God, he figured that meant the slaves too. Therefore he was completely baffled as to why the slaves were different, but considering how severe his parents were in warning him not to interact with them, he didn't dare ask them what the difference was.
Seeing as he was forbidden to have them as playmates, Joseph eventually took to paying them no mind and instead focused the majority of his energies on Odelia Kittle, with whom he developed a strong relationship that led to her, when they were twelve, promising that she'd marry him as soon as they were old enough.
Before the six years could pass between twelve and eighteen, however, Georgia and several other states seceded from the United States of America and formed a nation they called the Confederate States of America; war between the two nations wasn't long in following.
Immediately Joseph's father and brothers enlisted, and it was made expressly clear to Joseph that once he reached eighteen he was to follow in their footsteps; honestly, though, Joseph didn't see why the cause was worth fighting for.
Even still, he did what was expected of him and, in 1862, enlisted in the Confederate army. Because he had exceptional skill with horses both on the ground and in the saddle he was placed into an elite cavalry unit that was otherwise comprised solely of plantation owners and their sons.
Because he was merely the son of an overseer his comrades initially weren't all that appreciative of his presence, but when he proved himself not only capable with a horse, but better than any of them were at the same, the majority changed their position, but by no means all of them.
After making it safely through the war, Joseph headed home, but only to learn that his mother had starved to death, his father and brothers had all been killed in battle, and — worst of all — Odelia had gone and married a draft-dodger, even though she'd become his fiancée just before he'd left to join his unit.
Realising there was nothing left for him in Georgia, Joseph took up the offer of an old friend to go west to Colorado and prospect for silver and gold.
In Colorado it didn't take long for him to find that panning for precious metals wasn't really his forte, however, the sheriff in town noted that he was skilled with a horse and accurate with a gun, so he offered Joseph a job as the town deputy that Joseph occupied quite happily until two years ago.
Two years ago his superior got word from New Mexico Territory that an old friend of his who'd been in law enforcement down there had been killed and the town he'd presided over was seeking a replacement. His superior wrote up a glowing letter of recommendation and sent Joseph to apply for the job.
Due to the glow of the recommendations given by his superior, Joseph was given the job, but he was given it on his qualifications alone. The town was chock-full of staunch Union supporters and veterans who still harboured resentment toward the South for the war; because Joseph couldn't hide his accent they knew he was from the South, and thus regarded him rather warily.
Even still, he has proved himself worthy of the accolades he came with and has done a good job upholding the law in the town with the help of only a Setter that he named Deputy.
In the two years he's been in New Mexico Territory he's also caught the eye of a young woman in town who's father is a prominent sheep rancher . . . and a former Union Lieutenant. It's taken pretty much the entire time he's been sheriff in town for the two of them to convince her father that he'd make a good husband for her in spite of where he came from, but finally her father has agreed to let them be married and plans are in the works for an autumn wedding.
Born the sixth of ten children in Kingston-upon-Hull, England, Hazel's paternal family operated a large merchant business that her father was a part of. Because the business was a profitable one Hazel and her siblings lived a prestigious childhood that included being sent to elite boarding schools at their grandfather's expense.
When she was twelve it was decided that, for the growth of the business, her father would move to the United States with his family — save the three oldest children, who were all married and starting families of their own — and they settled in New Jersey.
The prestigious education continued and Hazel considered possibly going to college to get a degree of some sort, but she put those ideas aside for the handsome young man who lived next door.
His family was from England, just like her own, and the two families had bonded, so the two saw a lot of each other and it didn't take too long for her to view him as fetchingly handsome, while he viewed her as ravishingly beautiful.
The same year she graduated from school he graduated from medical school, and shortly thereafter the two were married. In similarly swift fashion he took a job as a mortician for the city police of Elizabeth, where they settled.
Immediately they sought to have children, but their efforts proved to be futile in nature to start with, causing her husband to comb through all the medical resources he could find to see if he could possibly diagnose what the problem was.
Finally they were successful in conceiving a child — even though they hadn't figured out why it'd taken so long — and looked forward to the child's birth eagerly. Unfortunately, just a few months before the baby was expected to arrive, Hazel's husband was murdered while working late at the morgue. This news shocked and devastated Hazel into a premature labour and the baby, a girl, arrived stillborn.
Hazel had father and daughter buried together and then shared her home with one of her younger brothers who was attending college in Elizabeth; once his education was complete she moved back into her parents home, where she has since remained.
She is at a loss as to what to do now, as her life had seemed so assured until her husband's demise, so her mother encourages her to visit her widowed older sister — the sister who was her closest childhood companion — living out in New Mexico Territory.
Shortly after the suggestion is made, however, Hazel learns that her sister died of tuberculosis, leaving her two young children orphaned. It is determined that the children should be brought to New Jersey to be cared for by their grandparents and Hazel is sent to fetch them, seeing as she was meaning to head out their way anyways.
Novel Begins: January 1
