Fulfilling a promise to her dying mother, Elise Wright watches over her father as cook on his Great Lakes schooner. But the behavior of a new sailor unsettles her and first mate Nick Clark, who secretly begins investigating. When tragedy strikes, Nick and Elise must rely on their faith and each other as they confront their greatest fears.

She's made big promises. It'll take everything she's got to keep them.

Crisscrossing the Great Lakes onboard her father's freighter ship, the Mary Elise, Elise Wright has grown up cooking and caring for the crew. It is a life she loves. Unlike her estranged sister, Elise has turned down numerous opportunities for a "respectable life" with their wealthy relatives. And now, because of promises she made to her dying mother, she's bound to the ship and her deeply grieving father more than ever.

Nick Clark is grateful to be hired on as the Mary Elise's first mate as he works to overcome his own guilt and others' censure for a fatal decision he made captaining another ship. He feels protective of the Wrights and their generous natures, especially when a rough new sailor seems intent on causing serious trouble.

As the sailor's misdeeds grow, tragedy swells up from another corner. Left to pick up the pieces of the commitments they've made to themselves and to each other, Nick and Elise will have to rely on their faith to see them through.

"In the pleasing third installment of the Ladies of the Lake series, a couple more at home on a ship than on land must navigate their romance. . . . Peterson enlists a few unsavory characters, the uncertainty of the seas, and the underlying class separation between those who work on ships and those who serve them to add depth to this sweet romantic tale. Peterson's fans will love this." --Publishers Weekly