Mr. Rosewater—one of the longest-standing board members in her father’s company—tucked his thumbs into the tiny pockets of his waistcoat. “You’re returning to the Grand Canyon, then, I take it?”
She looked up into Ray’s eyes. “Yes. The manager was gracious enough to give me a few weeks off to take care of things here, but I’m anxious to get back.”
One of the other board members shook his head and chuckled. “It’s hard to imagine a woman of your status as a Harvey Girl.”
She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at him. With a smile, she used the sweetest voice she had. “One of the best, I might add.”
“I just might have to take a trip out to this Grand Canyon to see it for myself.” The man smiled.
After a round of good-byes, Ray offered his arm, and they walked out of the building with Mr. Scott.
The older gentleman leaned on his cane at the top of the steps. “I guess now it is my turn to say good-bye, my dear.”
Emma Grace stepped toward him and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you. For everything.”
“I hope you enjoy your life out west.” The man nodded to Ray. “Take care of her, Mr. Watkins.”
“Oh, I intend to.”
She watched the man walk away and turned her eyes back to Ray. “I have an idea of what I’d like to do first.”
“What is that?”
“Let’s go see your father.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“I’d like to see if he’s lucid today . . . and if he is, I want to tell him that we are going to pay back all the men he owes. Everyone he swindled or stole from. Perhaps that will help his mind to heal.” After the sheriff back in Williams had sorted through the facts surrounding her kidnapping and all the appropriate authorities were notified, Mr. Ray Watkins Senior had been escorted back to Boston to face the charge of murder of Emma Grace’s father. It had been clear to the judge and jury that the man wasn’t in his right mind but it had taken some work to get him moved out of the jail. On the days when he was lucid, he lived in guilt and shame. She wanted to give him some peace if she could.
Ray pulled her into his arms. “You have shown him so much mercy. You amaze me every day.”
“Isn’t that what Jesus did for us?” Content to stay in his arms, she allowed her thoughts to travel back to the first time they’d visited the senior Mr. Watkins in jail. He’d been convicted of murdering her father after his confession, but even so, she’d offered her forgiveness. For everything. The change that God had done in her was truly amazing. She didn’t feel an ounce of anger toward Ray’s dad. In fact, she loved him.
It had lifted her heart more than she’d ever thought possible. No longer did she feel weighed down. Soon after, she’d asked to have Ray’s father moved to a mental hospital where, hopefully, he could get some help. When clarity of mind was his, he cried over what he’d asked his employees to do. He was horrified that he’d turned to hiring men who didn’t mind stealing and breaking the law. Five of his men had been jailed over thefts across the country and eventually Emma Grace’s kidnapping. The art and jewels had been returned—including the priceless Harvey collection—but so much damage had been done.
But then, he’d drift back into the place only dementia could take him, and a different sort of agony began. The man had been tortured by his own thoughts for too long. Perhaps that would change with their visit today. Whether he was lucid or not, Emma Grace was determined to share with Mr. Watkins about how Jesus changed her life. He bridged the deep divide and paid the price for anyone who believed. He did that for her. She wanted to tell that to everyone she met.
“And after we see Dad?” Ray’s chest rumbled with his words.
The possibilities they’d discussed the past few weeks were almost endless. Both of them had the chance at a complete fresh start. And they’d chosen to do that back at the canyon. While Watkins Enterprises would be caught up in legalities for some time, Ray had already told her that he wanted to sell it and do philanthropic work. And perhaps learn how to properly weave a basket.
She lifted her head and looked deep into his eyes. “Let’s go home. Mr. Owens has agreed to keep me on as a head waitress until we are married. After that, I can help out a couple of days a week, as needed. He’s already sent in the request to Mr. Harvey’s son to allow a married woman to work at a Harvey House.”
“Married. I like the sound of that.” He rubbed tiny circles on her back.
“Me too.” The fire in his eyes warmed her all the way to her toes. “In the meantime, you can have fun learning all you can about photography from Emery and Ellsworth. Then we can discuss all the ways we want to help people. But first I want to help Caroline’s brother get the surgery he needs. They’ve waited far too long.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.”
“I’m glad you think so, Mr. Watkins.”
“How soon can we get married?” The corners of his mouth hiked up in a mischievous grin.
Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. “Hmmm, good question. How about as soon as we can get the minister to come to the El Tovar?”
“Perfect.” He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her with such passion that her knees went weak.
Everything inside her came to life. She reached up and ran her hands through his hair.
A whistle from below reminded her they were in a very public place. As she pulled back, heat filled her cheeks, along with a smile she couldn’t resist.
He released her and took her hand as they walked down the steps to the street below. “Shall I build you a house on the edge of the canyon, like the Kolbs’?”
“Maybe not that close. But one with a view would be nice.”
Note from the Author
“You cannot see the Grand Canyon in one view, as if it were a changeless spectacle from which a curtain might be lifted, but to see it you have to toil from month to month through its labyrinths.”—John Wesley Powell
You are precious to me.
Yes, you.
Reader.
Lover of story.
I’ve said it hundreds of times and will say it again, I couldn’t do what I do without you. Thank you.
This story is my twenty-seventh release and my twenty-third fiction release. I thank God for His amazing grace to me and for the gift of story.
In A Deep Divide, we journeyed to the Grand Canyon, in a time when it was much less accessible than it is now. The El Tovar Hotel was—and still is—a glorious oasis on the edge of one of the most magnificent wonders of the world. The original layout had more rooms for guests and a great many fewer of the bathrooms that it boasts today. But the historic hotel is a sight to behold and a place you’ll want to make reservations well in advance if you want to stay there. Sitting in the dining room, I could envision the Harvey Girls serving in that very space. Other than the tables being square now rather than round, there’s not much visible difference in the main room, and it’s easy to think back to the more than 115 years of history that have played out in there. If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend the beef stroganoff.
Even though I visited the hotel and did a good deal of research with a resident expert—Mr. Edward Small, who started working there back in 1973—we couldn’t ascertain exactly where the Harvey Girls’ quarters were in the first few years. I found some floor plans in a neat little booklet from a collection of the University of California Libraries. It was the reprint of an advertisement brochure called, El Tovar—a new hotel at Grand Canyon of Arizona. In it, it shows the original 103 rooms that Ed told me about. But the twenty that are shown in the south basement wing are much smaller than any rooms offered on the other floors, so I admit to taking some artistic license with my imagination about the Harvey Girls’ quarters as I placed them there. The only other mention I found was in Michael Anderson’s Living at the Edge, which states, “Although the single young women shared abysmal living conditions with other village residents during their first two decades . . .” bu
t there was nothing to show where the Harvey Girls actually resided. And since Mr. Fred Harvey was always so good to his “Girls,” I made the executive decision to put them in the basement. What I do know is that Colter Hall was constructed in 1937. It became the Harvey Girls’ residence and eventually a female dormitory, of which it remains to this day.
Another fun historical fact is that I used the real Kolb brothers throughout the story. Their home/studio still sits on the very knife’s-edge of the canyon and is a place I highly recommend visiting. While there was a great deal of conflict between the Kolb Brothers and the Harvey Company/AT&SF Railroad the first few years, I decided not to get into the particulars here. But Emery and Ellsworth Kolb were fascinating pioneers and explorers of their time, and you will see more from them in the rest of this series. To see a couple of their crazy and adventurous photos, just do a search on the Kolb brothers and their famous set of pictures titled View Hunters. Along with several other professional photos of the Grand Canyon and a few of my own, I actually have one of the View Hunters hanging in my office. For more information about them, you can visit truewestmagazine.com/knuckleheads/.
If you are interested in learning more about the canyon and the Harvey Girls, here’s a list of further reading:
Fred Harvey Houses of the Southwest by Richard Melzer
The Harvey Girls: Women Who Opened the West by Lesley Poling-Kempes
Harvey Houses of Arizona by Rosa Walston Latimer
The Harvey House Cookbook by George H. Foster and Peter C. Weiglin
The Amazing Kolb Brothers of Grand Canyon by Roger Naylor
Living at the Edge by Michael F. Anderson
Appetite for America by Stephen Fried
Hopi House: Celebrating 100 Years by Christine Barnes
Fred Harvey: Creator of Western Hospitality by William Patrick Armstrong
Mary Colter: Builder Upon the Red Earth by Virginia L. Grattan
The Story of the Grand Canyon Railway: Cowboys, Miners, Presidents and Kings by Al Richmond
I can’t wait to share with you the second book in the SECRETS OF THE CANYON series, coming October 2022.
Until then,
Enjoy the journey,
Kimberley Woodhouse
Acknowledgments
If you aren’t aware, it takes a boatload of people to get this book into your hands. I’d like to thank a few of them here.
My amazing Crit group: Kayla Woodhouse Whitham, Darcie Gudger, Jana Riediger, and Becca Whitham. Where would I be without you? I love you all.
All the Bethany House team. You are amazing. Seriously. I adore each one of you and am beyond grateful: Jessica Sharpe, Jennifer Veilleux, Amy Lokkesmoe, Brooke Vikla, Rachael Wing, Noelle Chew, and the rest of the crew.
I also need to shout out to my advisory board for my writing ministry: Karen Ball, Sheryl Farnsworth, Jeni Koch, Jackie Hale, Christi Campbell, Amanda Schmitt, Martha Ilgenfritz, Kayla Whitham, and Tracie Peterson. Thank you for praying with me for this.
Becca “the short” and Kailey Bechtel need huge rounds of applause for being willing to read and read and read . . . (with very short deadlines, mind you). Thank you.
The amazing Jaime Jo Wright and my daughter, Kayla Whitham, helped to save the day in the final crunch of this story when I had too much going on and had to figure out a way to consolidate threads. I don’t know what I would have done without you two. I love you both.
A huge thank you goes out to John J. Devinne Jr., reference librarian and government information research specialist at the Boston Public Library, for helping me to find the exact law about presumption of death back in 1905. It wasn’t an easy time period as the law changed that year, but his research was exactly what I needed.
I had the privilege of meeting Grand Canyon historian Edward Small when I traveled to the El Tovar. Ed is a fascinating man who has put together tons of research in the almost fifty years that he has worked at the hotel and/or canyon. Thank you, Ed.
Thomas Ratz was also our server one evening in the spectacular El Tovar dining room. What a wonderful guy. He has worked at the restaurant for forty years. He was the best.
To my husband of thirty years this year: you get better and better at brainstorming, encouraging, and cheering me on. Thank you for all you do. You really are Superman. I love you.
My kids: Josh married to Ruth, and Kayla married to Steven. What an absolute hoot it is to be your mom. I love you all so very much. Thanks for all you do to keep me going in the right direction.
Special kudos to my first grandchild, who was born as I was working on the final page proofs of this book. It took me a little bit longer than usual, but I wouldn’t trade baby snuggles with my little man for anything. Your editorial coos and comments were priceless and oh so helpful to Nana.
And to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: I am nothing without You. Thank You.
Kimberley Woodhouse is the best-selling author of more than twenty-five fiction and non-fiction books, which have earned her many accolades and awards including the Carol Award, the Holt Medallion, the Reader’s Choice Award, and others. A lover of history and research, she often gets sucked into the past and her husband has to lure her out with chocolate. Married to her best friend and very own Superman for three decades, she lives and writes full-time in the Poconos.
kimberleywoodhouse.com
Instagram: Bethany House Fiction
Resources: bethanyhouse.com/AnOpenBook
Newsletter: www.bethanyhouse.com/newsletter
Facebook: Bethany House
Table of Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
Books by Kimberley Woodhouse
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Dear Reader
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Note from the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
A Deep Divide Page 27