The investigator had taken plenty of photos, so Sam recognized Eliza
They shared unusual black eyes. Other than that, he must look like the birth father of whom heâd found no trace. Averting his face from the fifty-six-year-old woman heâd driven six hundred miles to see, he tossed around conversation starters.
âJust wondering why you gave me away when I was hours old.â Or âThought you might have changed your mind about having a son.â Neither would do.
No one knew his feelings about his adoption. His parents would have been upset, and heâd been a little ashamed that his own mother had given him away. As an adult, heâd lost any concern for his past in his focus on his family.
His children remained his first concern, but now that he saw Eliza Calvert dancing up the walkway in her husbandâs arms, Sam longed to know someone else who shared the blood that ran in his veins.
If Eliza accepted them, his daughters would never be alone again.
Another woman climbed out of the car. Taller than Eliza, she was slender but curvy. She must be Molly Calvert.
Sam opened the car door with trepidation. Eliza had adopted Molly when she was fifteen. Would she resent him and the girls if Eliza accepted them?
Dear Reader,
Molly Calvert has one priority: family.
Her first familyâher birth familyâabandoned her, but then the Calverts took her in. Itâs from them that she learned about love and family. And itâs to them that she feels she owes everything. And that sense of debt is what makes her different from her Calvert âcousins.â
When Sam Lockwood comes to town, heâs the last man Molly should fall for. A widower with two daughters, heâs searched for his birth mother so that his children will always have family. But his birth mother is Eliza Calvert, the same woman who adopted Molly and delivered her from danger into a safe life.
Eliza envisions them all together, one big happy family. Molly canât see Sam the way her mother does. Heâs a devoted father, a compassionate man and the lover who makes her believe in a husband and children of her own. Yet accepting him might destroy her motherâs dream.
Thanks for joining me in Bardillâs Ridge. If you enjoyed Mollyâs story, you might want to visit her cousinsâZach in The Secret Father and Sophie in The Bride Ran Away. Let me know what you think of THE CALVERT COUSINS at [email protected].
All the best,
Anna
Thank you for suggesting that the Calverts might make good cousins. But deepest thanks also for your patience, your creativity, your clarity when mine fails andâmost of allâfor making the books better.
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EPILOGUE
IT WAS THE KIND OF DAY Molly Calvert loved best. One filled with family celebration. Her cousin Sophieâs new baby, Chloe, had been christened that morning. Around six the whole family had converged on the Bardillâs Ridge Country Club to celebrate.
Her cousin Zachâs young son, Evan, and daughter, Lily, raced among the knots of relatives catching up. Her grandparents were dancing their feet off. Her widowed Aunt Beth, Zachâs mom, seemed to welcome the romantic intentions of Zachâs father-in-law, James Kendall. Her own parents, who ran a bed-and-breakfast, had taken responsibility for supplying ample food and drink, which theyâd been too busy arranging to eat.
But something was wrong with Molly. Instead of wrapping herself in the cloak of family affection, she felt as if she were hanging around on the edges of love.
Surrounded by everyone who mattered most to her, she peered from baby Chloe in Sophieâs arms to pregnant Olivia, Zachâs wife. A strange emptiness yawned inside her. Sheâd never have a child of her own. Her two cousins, whoâd been more like brother and sister to her, had reached a stage in life that she couldnât share.
An inner voice, refusing to be silenced, whispered that she wasnât even a real Calvert. That she was adopted.
Loneliness prodded her as Sophie passed Chloe to her husband, Ian. Behind him, Zach and Olivia each caught one of their children for a hug. Evan and Lily wriggled away, far too excited to stand still for affection.
Molly watched as if from a far place. She loved her parents, enjoyed her job, couldnât imagine living anywhere except on Bardillâs Ridge in Tennesseeâs Smoky Mountains. But at twenty-five, she envied her cousins and hid a secret longing for a husband and family of her ownâa husband who could love her despite the holes in her soul.
But what kind of man could love her after he heard the truth? Sheâd controlled her self-destructive impulses in the ten years since sheâd survived a catastrophic miscarriage, but no amount of understanding could change the fact that she was damaged goods. Every man in this town knew her past. They didnât come looking for her. She invited none of them into her life.