There had to be some kind of mistake
The Mac Edwards Rachel knew would have become a great father. He would have loved and supported his child. He would have kept her safe from harm. He wouldnât have become the man portrayed in the Child Services case file before her.
With shaking hands that betrayed her lack of emotional detachment, Rachel dived deeper into the case file.
Amanda is an angry young girl, and it is my opinion that there is probably some underlying abuse between Mr. Edwards and his daughter. In light of this and Amandaâs growing criminal record, she needs to be removed from the home.
Rachel had to read the words five times before they sank in. There was no way her former best friend could be abusing his daughter!
Rachel knew she should not take this case. It was a conflict of interest if there ever was one. What she should have done was march up to her boss and say, âI know this guy. Loved him, actually. I definitely broke his heart. So I shouldnât be their social worker.â
She should have done that.
But she didnât.
Dear Reader,
I am so thrilled about my Harlequin Superromance debut, Family at Stake! Superromance novels started my love affair with romance, so I am tickled to be a part of such an enduring facet of romance fiction. I actually had a box of Harlequin Superromance novels under my bed at a very early age (I am sure most of you did, too). And many of those booksâhaving been packed up and moved dozens of times over the yearsâare still on my keeper shelf at home. The things we do for good books!
With Family at Stake I tried my own twist on some of my favorite romantic themesâreunited lovers, at-risk children, single fathers, betrayal and, of course, forgiveness. Mac is easily my favorite hero to dateâI love a man who struggles to keep his world together even as it unravels around him. And cracking Rachelâs icy protective shell was one of the most challenging conflicts Iâve tried to solve. Even as I tried to change herâor compromise with her characterâshe wouldnât let me.
I hope you enjoy my take on Harlequin Superromance books. Please feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you think at www.molly-okeefe.com.
Happy reading!
Molly OâKeefe
Molly OâKeefe grew up in a small town outside Chicago. How she ended up in Toronto, Canada, sheâs not quite sure. She sold her first romance to Harlequin at age twenty-five and hasnât looked back! She lives in Toronto with her husband, son, cat and the largest heap of dirty laundry in North America.
May 20, 1992
âGOODBYE, NEW SPRINGS!â Rachel Filmore ripped off her purple nylon graduation gown and tossed it up in the air. It unfurled in the breeze and drifted into the rock quarry like a shadow against the twilight sky.
âGoodbye, Mom!â She ripped off the cap, ignoring the pull of the bobby pins that tore at her curly hair and flung that into the air, too.
âAnd last but not least, goodbye, Dad, may you rot in hell.â She dug her fake high school diplomaâwhich said her real diploma would be mailed to herâout of her backpack and sent it sailing into the abyss at her feet.
It had been handed to her a few hours ago at the graduation ceremony.
âYour name is on that,â Rachelâs best friend, Mac Edwards, pointed out with a laugh. âSomeone might find it.â
âLike anyone is going to care.â She looked over the edge, but in the darkness she couldnât see the bottom of the quarry, much less her graduation gown spread out among the rocks. âMaybe theyâll think I jumped,â she muttered, feeling the gravitational pull of all that space between her and the bottom. Sometimes when she stood really still on the ledge like this it seemed like the ground reached up for her.
âTheyâll think I jumped just to get out of this dumb town. I swear, Mac. New Springs is like a noose around our necks.â
âThatâs not funny,â Mac murmured, and Rachel turned to face him. He sat on the hard-packed earth, his own graduation gown in a heap beside him. He still wore the cap, though. He had tilted it at what he called a ârakish angle.â He was always trying to be like Humphrey Bogart or some other old actor. Mac said they had class. Rachel didnât know one way or another; she never stayed awake during those boring old movies.
But Mac looked cute with his hat like that.
Something weird was going on with Mac these days. Weirder than normal. His face was changing. He suddenly had cheekbones and a jawline and his eyesâ¦well. Rachel found herself unable to look too long into those eyes.
He seemed older, like a man.
His body had changed last year. Almost overnight, itâd gotten bigger. Where heâd been skinny heâd developed muscle. He must have grown five inches in the span of two months.