As Doves Fly in the Wind
Jessica Boudreaux Hays, a retired music professor, has recently moved to Rousseauville to open a bed and breakfast in her grandparents’ house. An attractive and talented fifty-five-year-old widow, Jessica loves to cook, entertain, and play the piano. Her life is filled with problems. Emmie, her younger sister who lives with her, cannot be left alone. The sisters recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. The residents of the village are charitable but superstitious. For some mysterious reason, they refuse to go near her or the bed and breakfast. Another frustration in Jessica’s life is her cyber romance with a mysterious stranger.
Dale Bonnier, a fifty-five-year-old widower, pastors two small churches in rural south Louisiana. He inspires the people in Rousseauville with his compelling sermons. He is considerate and approachable but at times disorganized and impetuous. His parishioners, especially Jessica, find his preaching inspiring.
Dale has a recurring problem with his past. In the 1980s, when he was an intense young man, he destroyed his home and family as he sought to satisfy his cravings for illicit drugs. Thirty years have passed. God has forgiven him, but the past has left indelible scars. Can Dale forgive himself? He cannot turn his past around, but he hopes it will be used to influence and inspire others.
Jessica tries to start over in Rousseauville, but she encounters unpredicted stormy times. Can she find acceptance? Will she ever find a man she can love and trust?
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Secret Promise is included in the Lighthouse Recognition Program.
Secret Promise
It is 1907 as Caroline Clemons watches her town’s newest bachelor, Jake MacGregor, tie his horses to a post outside her window. Moments later as he enters her home to meet her eligible sisters, he mistakenly believes Caroline is a servant instead of one of Senator Chad Clemons’ daughters. Immediately mesmerized by Caroline’s beauty, Jake has no idea she is committed to fulfilling a promise she made years ago, even if it means living a Cinderella existence.
Caroline, who derives her only satisfaction in life from her teaching job in Taylorsburg, Mississippi, cannot help but be attracted to Jake who just inherited a store in town. As an internal battle rages within her, Caroline busies herself with serving her family and the Lord, even as Jake haunts her dreams and she fastidiously guards her family’s secrets. But as fate intervenes, a romance develops that leads both Caroline and Jake to rely on prayer and laughter to survive. Will they ever be able to overcome their obstacles to find their happily ever after?
A young woman must rely on faith as she struggles between honoring a long-held promise to her family or following her heart.
Review
As Doves Fly in the Wind is a profoundly moving tale that explores the depths of human failure and the incredible possibility of redemption. The story of Dale Bonnier is both devastating and ultimately hopeful—a man who, in the darkness of addiction in the 1980s, lost everything when his kitchen meth lab consumed his home in flames, taking his wife and baby with it. Cheatham handles this heavy subject matter with incredible sensitivity and literary grace, refusing to let Dale’s past define his entire narrative while simultaneously honoring the tragedy that shaped his journey. The contrast between the man Dale once was and the minister he has become at fifty-five creates a compelling arc that speaks to the transformative power of faith, accountability, and genuine repentance.
What makes this book so powerful is its unflinching yet compassionate examination of addiction, loss, and the complicated path toward healing. Cheatham doesn’t romanticize Dale’s past or offer easy answers—instead, she presents a raw, honest portrayal of a man who was “too far gone to know what he was doing,” yet found his way back to purpose and meaning. The title itself, “As Doves Fly in the Wind,” suggests freedom, peace, and the ability to rise above one’s darkest moments—a beautiful metaphor for Dale’s journey from destruction to ministry. This is a story about second chances and the belief that no one is beyond redemption, no matter how tragic their history. As Doves Fly in the Wind is a testament to the human spirit’s capacity for profound change and the hope that awaits on the other side of even the most devastating mistakes.
The Author
Mary Lou Cheatham spent her childhood on a farm in south Mississippi between Taylorsville and Hot
Coffee. Now she lives in Ransom Canyon, Texas. She has had careers as a teacher and registered nurse.
Her most recent novel, a romantic comedy, Love and Laughter in Ransom Canyon. is co-authored with
her daughter, Christie Marie Underwood.
Buy the Book
Widowed professor Jessica opens a Louisiana bed-and-breakfast, confronting superstition, grief, and a mysterious cyber romance — while a troubled pastor’s past resurfaces to challenge faith, love, and forgiveness.
