Dusk had just fallen, and in the last crimson-gold rays of the setting sun, the row of identical pastel ranch houses which jutted up from the flat Indiana prairie seemed to be bursting into flames. In spite of the rosy glow, the air grew chill, almost forbidding, as the thin September sun sank beyond the horizon. High above the level plain a clamorous flock of blackbirds hovered for an instant in the darkening sky, then suddenly turned and vanished toward the south.

"Winter's coming at last…" the slender blonde girl murmured to herself, shivering and drawing her lightweight red cardigan tightly around her scantily clad body as a chill breeze rustled through the meadow. With a dispirited sigh, she turned away from the bubbling creek and started trudging back toward the subdivision houses silhouetted against the evening skyline.

Indian Summer had stretched on for so long that Sandi Smith had almost dared to hope that the cold and snow would never really arrive. This would be the first time the Florida born and raised young wife had ever spent in the north, and although she'd not let her husband know how she felt, she'd been dreading the winter ever since he'd told her they were settling permanently in the Midwest.

I know Verne says that northern Indiana's the only place in the country where his darned old Cycle Circus can really get off the ground, she thought rebelliously, but what does he expect me to do all winter long while he's away on his stupid tours? I just wish he'd let me come with him like I used to or get a normal job where he wouldn't have to leave me by myself all the time…

Kicking angrily at a pebble as she stepped from the overgrown field onto the concrete sidewalk of the brand new subdivision which bore the optimistic name of Lakeview Estates, the long-legged blonde tried to prevent herself from falling into a state of morbid depression.