A new beginningâ¦from this day on
Jakob Nilsson has tried to keep his distance from Amy. Like a forbidden temptation, heâs always known his weakness where sheâs concerned. Then an unexpected weekend brings them together. Despite the torture of being so close to her, Jakob is glad heâs thereâ¦especially when the opening of a time capsule reveals a confession that upends Amyâs world. Nothing is the way it was.
But that revelation also means the barriers between Jakob and Amy are gone. Finally heâs free to pursue the woman who has always fascinated him. The challenge now is to convince her to look beyond their past. And to consider a future that includes him.
âIâm staying.â
Jakob reined in the thoughts that reared up at the image of sleeping under the same roof as Amy. She didnât need that now. What she needed right now was a friend. That might be all sheâd ever want from him.
âYou really donât have to stay, you know.â She looked at him, her eyes dark, the gold highlights subdued. âYouâve done what you came to do. Iâve crawled out of my depression. Iâll call Mom tonight and confront her. I promise.â
âAnd Iâm going to be here when you do.â He wasnât going to let her drive him away. âIf you donât want me to listen in, I wonât. Thatâs your choice. But when the call is over, you shouldnât have to be alone.â
The chin came up again. The defiance was back in her eyes. âIâm used to doing things alone.â
âMaybe so.â He held out a hand. âBut this time you donât have to.â
Her stare fell to his hand as if it was the snake in the Garden of Eden. Tempting, but also terrifying.
Theyâd touched so rarely. He waited to see what choice she would make.
Dear Reader,
I was actually a history major in college. And, yes, Iâve written a few historical novels along the way, but whatâs come to intrigue me most is the more recent past. Iâm always fascinated by what moves people to act the way they do. Iâve come increasingly to believe that most of our behavior, not to mention those extremely influential little voices we all have in our heads, has roots in our childhood. If, say, youâre getting out of a bad marriage but grew up in a stable, happy home, do you quit trusting all men? Not usually. Turn it around, though, so that Dad was unreliable, cheated on your mom, failed you when you needed himâthen probably you never did really trust men.
The logical corollary is that our parents are the people they are because of their childhoods. And so often, we donât know our parents as well as we think we do. Heck, itâs not like any of us tell our kids everything, either! Even when no one is trying to hide anything in particular, a lot goes unmentioned. Sometimes those mysteries would help us understand a parent better, and by extention ourselves.
My own father is gone now, and my motherâs memory is failing, which means thereâs a lot Iâll never know about them. Itâs gotten me thinking more than ever about the questions I never asked.
The time capsule was the perfect story idea for me. Lots of innocent stuff went in it, but also a few real secrets. In the case of my heroine, the mysteries of her past and her motherâs have kept her from being able to imagine sharing her life with anyone. But hereâs a secret her mother never wanted her to know, one that shatters their already difficult relationship and remakes it into something that might be betterâ¦or might not. This particular secret also produces a shocking change in Amy Nilssonâs relationship with a man she had never imagined herself loving...
Hope you enjoy the book and come to care about these people as much as I did!
Janice Kay Johnson
P.S. I enjoy hearing from readers! Please contact me through my publisher, Harlequin Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, ON M3B 3K9, Canada.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author of more than seventy books for children and adults, Janice Kay Johnson is especially well-known for her Harlequin Superromance novels about love and familyâabout the way generations connect and the power our earliest experiences have on us throughout life. Her 2007 novel Snowbound won a RITA® Award from Romance Writers of America for Best Contemporary Series Romance. A former librarian, Janice raised two daughters in a small rural town north of Seattle, Washington. She loves to read and is an active volunteer and board member for Purrfect Pals, a no-kill cat shelter.
CHAPTER ONE
WELL, THAT WAS WEIRD.
At first only puzzled, Amy Nilsson flipped the crisp white envelope over, as if the backside would offer any illumination. As sheâd expected, the only printed information was on the front: a return address of Wakefield College in Washington State, and her motherâs name and address. Her motherâs full name, Michelle Cooper Doyle, followed by Class of 1980.