Clementine McQueen
<img src="http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc456/JoannaWyndham/Hang%20Em%20High/b3552710-cfd1-4467-853a-72577981210c_zpsca53af58.jpg "align="right">All her life Clementine Carter has been filled with restless longing. Born and raised to be a proper lady, she yearned to escape the chafing authoritarian rule of her rigid, oppressive, unforgiving father; and since she had been old enough to read she had daydreamed of adventure in the American West.
At 24 Clementine was not old, but by societys standard she was beyond the age when most young ladies entered into marriage; yet she was lovely. She exuded a baffling combination of innocence and inducement best explained as temptation out of reach; it was a vulnerable look which women envied and men felt compelled to protect. And so she was, prisoner of her discontent, when possibility came into Clementine's life.
Ramsey McQueen was unlike any man whom Clementine had ever met. He was older, dashing and accomplished, a doctor and surgeon who had seen too much of life; and he was vulnerable in a way that touched her heart. That he desired her with a daring that would confront her righteous father for her hand in marriage made Clementine believe that Ramsey was all she had ever dreamed; and Clementine marveled at him, that he could speak of dreams in one breath and certainties in the next.
Perhaps it was her zest for life that made Clementine cast caution to the wind for within two weeks she had become affianced, and within two weeks more she had become a doctors wife. In after months when she thought off those last days of April, 1873, Clementine could never quite remember details. Time and events were telescoped, jumbled together like a reverie that had no reality or reason. Especially vague were her recollections of the time between her acceptance of Ramsey McQueen and her wedding. Two weeks! So short an engagement would have been impossible in ordinary time, but time had been of the essence. Her mother had wrung her hands and counseled delay, in order that Clementine might think the matter over at greater length; and her father had forbid the match outright. But to her mothers exhortation and to her fathers dictate Clementine turned a deaf ear. Marry she would, and quickly, too. Within two weeks Clementines die was cast.
Believing herself in love and thinking that Ramsey was her last chance to escape from her gilded-cage existence, Clementine was charmed and enticed by the prospect of life with a man whom she believed would release her inhibitions, free her from proper Boston's constriction, and show her the world. Clementine married in haste but in good faith, yet too late she discovered that the bold and certain hero who tempted her West was plagued by demons left over from the war. Bound by duty, obligation, and affection; Clementine was determined to make a blessing of her marriage. But the upbringing that had suited her to Boston drawing rooms did nothing to prepare Clementine for the harsh realities and responsibilities that she would face as a frontier wife. Yet Clementine is possessed of a rare spirit and courage. She is determined that the frontier will not defeat her as she strives for happiness and fulfillment within her fragile marriage.
After short stays in Baltimore, Lexington (KY), and St. Louis, in early 1875 Dr. Ramsey and Clementine finally arrived at the dusty border town of Escondido, Texas where they hope to start a permanent new life.