Heâs more than a manâheâs a fabulous father!
AVAILABLE JUNE 2009
1) Anything for Danny by Carla Cassidy
2) Father in the Making by Marie Ferrarella
3) Most Wanted Dad by Arlene James
4) The Nine-Month Bride by Judy Christenberry
AVAILABLE AUGUST 2009
5) Instant Father by Lucy Gordon
6) Daddy Lessons by Stella Bagwell
7) Most Eligible Dad by Karen Rose Smith
8) First Time, Forever by Cara Colter
AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 2009
9) A Fatherâs Promise by Helen R. Myers
10) The Women in Joe Sullivanâs Life by Marie Ferrarella
11) Falling for a Father of Four by Arlene James
12) Calebâs Son by Laurie Paige
AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2009
13) Waiting for the Wedding by Carla Cassidy
14) Danielâs Daddy by Stella Bagwell
15) Always Daddy by Karen Rose Smith
16) The Billionaireâs Baby Chase by Valerie Parv
Dear Reader,
One of the reasons I enjoyed writing First Time, Forever so much is that the hero is younger than the heroine. The age difference between Evan and Kathleen is seven years, which, coincidentally, is the age difference between my real-life hero and me! What our incredible time together has taught me is that when you say yes to the song of your heartânever mind all those rulesâit keeps you forever young. Oh, the hair still has silver threads in it, and the wrinkles appear, but the feeling in your heart of being aliveâon fireâgets stronger, rather than diminishing.
When I wrote First Time, Forever I wanted it to be a book that honors the fire in each of us, while at the same time honoring our longing for the traditions that have carried us safely this farâmarriage and family.
My greatest hope is that this book will bring you to a place of laughter and tenderness, tears and triumph.
With my sincerest best wishes,
Cara Colter
Evan Atkins had the book hidden behind a copy of Sports Illustrated. He drank his coffee and frowned at the words, trying to concentrate, but finding it difficult with all the commotion at the Hopkins Gulch Café this morning.
The café had six tables, two booths and a lunch counter. There were coffee cups half filled, and bacon and eggs half eaten at nearly all those tables, but the seats, save for the one Evan inhabited at a booth, were empty, abandoned.
The guys were three deep at the window, trying to get a look at the Outpost, the townâs general store, across the street. A strange car was parked out front, a U-haul trailer behind it. The car had caused this great stirring of interest when a pair of strangers had emerged from it. Both of them had looked around briefly, and then disappeared into the Outpost.
âIf they were just askinâ for directions,â Sookie Peters said wisely, âthey would have left the engine running.â
âDid you see her?â Jack Marty asked for about the sixtieth annoying time. âShe looked just like Julia Roberts. I swear. Well, maybe a little older. And not scrawny like Julia.â He said this with easy familiarity, as if Julia were his second cousin.
âNah, she dint,â Sookie said. âMore like the other one. The one from the movie about the bus. Thatâs who she looked like.â
âSandra Bullock?â Cal, Sookieâs brother, hooted. âShe did not!â
âOh, what do you know?â
The banter went back and forth, Evan furrowing his brow and trying to ignore the nonsense as best he could. All those guys at the window should take a lesson from him. Good things did not necessarily come in pretty packages.
Millie came and refilled his coffee cup. He didnât quite get the Sports Illustrated up fast enough or high enough, and she caught sight of the book hidden behind it, crooked her head, read the title, and smiled.
If she told the guys he was never going to live it down.
Potty-Training for the Hopelessly Confused.
But she just smiled, in that way he was never going to get used to, as if being a single dad made him adorable to the female populace, like a teddy bear.
âWhere is Jesse this morning?â she asked.
âI dropped him off at Bethâs Day Care for a while.â
âThatâs good. He needs to be with other kids sometimes.â
âSo Iâve been told.â Evan scowled at the book. Step Five: Pray.
He thought that was a mighty strange step to include in a book on potty-training, not scientific at all. On the other hand, when his son had gone missing and he had done everything he knew how to do, applied all his intellect and strength and devotion, everything, to getting Jesse back, and nothing had worked, isnât that what his days had become?