Inspirational

A vegan alpaca farmer, a ranch hand, and an accidental pregnancy.

I never questioned my decision to marry Faith the day she turned eighteen.

She needed to get out of her situation at home and, at nineteen, I already knew everything about everything, so in my mind it made perfect sense. We’d been pals for years.

I loved her.

She had no idea.

But she was desperate for somebody to rescue her, and a marriage of convenience with me was a better—safer—choice than anything else she could find.

Since I lived away at college, no one even had to know. It worked great until the end of the semester.

And then she walked out.

And I let her.

I occasionally do some digging, just to check that she’s okay. And every now and then I think about the divorce papers I drew up but never sent.

Now she’s here. Literally on my doorstep. Begging me, once again, for help.

And I hate that I still love her.

Even after fourteen years.

Past hurts and insecurity mean they both prefer the background, but a chance at love shines a light too bright to escape.

He needs a wife. She wants to belong. Nobody has to fall in love.

At the end of summer, sixteen years ago, we promised we’d keep in touch. And I did.

She didn’t.

I spent a year reaching out to her in every way imaginable, desperately clinging to the future we’d planned while we walked hand-in-hand on the beach. When July rolled around again, I waited eagerly, for her family’s return.

They never came.

She never came.

I blamed her. I blamed myself. I blamed my big, involved family who are basically royalty on this island our ancestors found. After a while, I forgave her and moved on.

Of course I did.

Carrying a torch for sixteen years would be ridiculous.

So the fact that she’s come back to the island, apparently to stay? Doesn’t matter to me at all.

Maybe I’ve been asking God why, but I figure He’s got some kind of plan.

I can probably learn to accept her as a member of our little town, but that’s where it has to end.

My heart’s still too shattered to risk breaking it again.

What will it take for an everyday Joe to find love with a former starlet?

A widow, a widower, and some matchmaking daughters.

I never figured that I’d be someone who fell for a damsel in distress.

I see my share of hurting and wounded people in my job at the island health clinic. Wanting to help and heal is why I went into medicine.

So why is Teresa different?

No idea.

All I know, is that she’s come into my clinic twice now with injuries that can’t possibly have been accidental, no matter what she said at the time.

I want to protect her.

I’ll do whatever it takes.

Even if what she needs most is a marriage of convenience.

She renovates old houses. Can he restore her heart?

A heart attack reunites him with the one who got away. But is he too married to his job to invest in a second chance at love?

He lost everything. She never stays anywhere long.

Three years after losing his wife, Danny Granger is still holding his world together one careful piece at a time—for himself, and for his young son. Returning to music might be possible. Trusting someone else with his child is not.
Until Allison.

Free-spirited and fiercely independent, Allison Walker lives life one mile at a time, never staying long enough to put down roots. When a dangerous situation leaves her needing a safe place to land, Danny offers her a temporary job—and a place to stay.

It was only supposed to be for a week.

But Allison’s light begins to reach places in Danny’s heart he thought were lost forever. And for the first time in years, hope starts to feel possible again.

The problem? Allison doesn’t stay.

And Danny isn’t sure he can survive losing someone he loves… twice.

Could God be writing a story neither of them expected?

Two landscape architects and former college rivals work together to restore the grounds at Peacock Hill. Will the garden they plant blossom into love?