Author: admin

And screamed silently on the inside. Stephen. Stephen. His free-spirited brother with the unflappable zest for life and laughter. With so much yet to do and discover, his life had ended…leaving so many things between them unsettled. Would this gaping void of pain and loss ever heal? The time had arrived for the mourners to…

A trapped sensation gripped Alessia. What had she done? Doubt and shame clawed their way to the surface, and she was forced to admit to her part in this deception. She hadn’t told Nicholas the truth. She hadn’t told his mother the truth. Too much time had passed for them to understand now. And she…

Leda Halliday, garbed in black, her eyelids swollen, greeted Alessia with welcoming arms. And Alessia knew, in some deep recess of her heart as she pulled herself to stand on her good leg and let the sobbing woman embrace her, that this was the worst thing that could have happened. The small-statured woman smelled of…

A knock sounded at the door. Minna glanced toward it, but her hands were occupied. “Who’s there?” Alessia called. “Nicholas.” “Come in.” He appeared in the doorway, wearing a fresh shirt beneath his dark jacket. He glanced from Alessia to the girl and back. “Would you care to join me downstairs for dinner, or shall…

“I’m sure they’ll like you anyway,” Alessia said, placing more hope than certitude into the thought. She knew exactly what the upper crust thought of those they considered lower class. She knew how important social strictures and appearances were to well-to-do men and women like her father. Stephen, however, didn’t seem like Morris Thornton or…

Your husband was killed in the accident…Mrs. Halliday. ” Alessia thought of the kind, red-haired woman and her handsome husband who had so generously taken her in and shared their room and brought her food. They thought she was Claire Halliday. How on earth could she explain what had happened? Every time she tried to…

Heart hammering, Alessia carried her son close. Whatever the future held, her own welfare was not the concern. Her baby was all that mattered now. And she would do what she had to do to take care of him. Unlike her father, she meant to take her responsibility seriously and love her child, no matter…

Prologue Wet and weary travelers, eager to return to their seats in the passenger cars, crowded together in the moonlight on the small wooden platform beside the station. Each time the train stopped for coal and water, Alessia Thornton feared she wouldn’t have time to find the primitive facilities, wait in a line and return…