The Premise
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Tess Hartley, seventeen, found herself orphaned in January of 1875. Living above a dry goods store in New York with her parents, Tess was educated throughout high school. Her parents died within two days of typhoid fever. She left her home to attempt to find a friend of her father who could help her. Instead, she was kidnapped by Leroy Buckley. He knocked her unconscious and took her to his bar where he intended to force her into prostitution. She was saved by Georgia Randall, one of the prostitutes. Together, they escaped from the bar, taking two thousand dollars of Leroy's money with them. They travelled together as far as Salt Lake City, where they split the money and went their separate ways—Georgie to her grandmother's home in San Francisco and Tess to a new life in Idaho. While in Salt Lake City, Tess found an ad in a newspaper advertising a teaching position in a small town in Idaho Terriory called Liberty Creek. She sent a telegraph, and received a response within a few days. An escort reached her within two weeks, and that is how she met John Henry Marshall. John Henry, the head of the largest and most prestigious family in Liberty Creek, had been on business elsewhere at the time. He was the primary contributor to the school, and was eager to get a teacher. On their way to Liberty Creek, they made fast friends. Tess told John Henry the truth behind her past, but made him promise not to tell another soul.
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