Greer Calaway knew he was going to marry Lillian Ambrose the day he met her. He was ten at the time, knee-deep in dirty pond water, and only wearing his skivvies.

The Calaways had been in the valley since gold was first discovered in 1860 in the creek beds of a triangular shaped bit of land between the Southfork River and the Sugar Pine mountains. Although he was a bit of a scoundrel, the first mayor was a Calaway.

So Greer came from hardy stock. His grandfather bought land while the rest of the citizens were still digging for the dwindling gold. The Antelope Valley Ranch was the biggest ranch in the valley and Greer raised cattle with his father and two brothers.

Lillian’s father owned the Ambrose Tavern and Boarding house. And on that fateful day that found Greer in the pond and Lillian scowling at him from shore, Remington Ambrose had come to Toby Calaway to strike a deal for beef to stock his restaurant.

It took another six years for Greer to ask Lillian out. And another six months for her to accept. Which set the course for the two prominent families in Calaway Crossing to join. It wasn’t an easy course, though.

Greer was a rough cowboy, who barely made it through high school. Lillian was raised by strict parents who wanted more for their daughter than a cowboy. She was set to take over the restaurant someday. But Lillian had other ideas. It was the 1960s, after all, and she liked her rough and tough cowboy. She’d much rather spend time with him than go off to culinary school and learn the restaurant business.

Greer and Lillian will need to navigate a path through disapproving parents and societal expectations in order to find their happily ever after.

Lillybird is a prequel story in the Calaway Crossing Series taking you back to how it all began.