Summer of Love by Marie Ferrarella (easy to read books for adults list .TXT) 📕

A knock on the bedroom door heralded the arrival of her aunt. Both her aunt and her uncle had been thrilled when she and Daniel had announced that they were getting married. It appeared that they had known all along how she had felt about Daniel five years ago. Although he would never admit it, Emma suspected that her uncle had been doing a bit of matchmaking when he had asked Daniel to cover for him.

It had been Uncle Jim who had suggested that Daniel should think about becoming a partner in the practice, an offer which Daniel had eagerly accepted, much to Emma’s delight. It had solved the problem of where they should live as once they returned from honeymoon, she would be taking up a new surgical post at the local hospital. She and Daniel would start their married life in Avondale, where they had first met and fallen in love.

‘Your uncle sent me upstairs to check if you were ready,’ her aunt informed her, taking a tissue out of her bag. ‘You look beautiful, Emma, really beautiful.’

‘Thank you.’ Emma gave her aunt a hug then smiled at her. ‘Shall we go? I don’t want to keep Daniel waiting.’

There was quite a crowd gathered outside the local church when they drew up a short time later. Emma smiled when she spotted Alistair Grant, who was acting as one of the ushers. The source of his problems had been traced to the old chemical drums Harold Dawson had used to block access to the wind farm. Environmental services had visited Niths Farm and removed a number of other drums containing hazardous liquids. It was good to know that the community she was going to be a part of once more was no longer at risk.

The organist struck up ‘The Wedding March’ as they stepped inside the porch and her uncle gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. ‘All set, my dear?’

‘Yes.’

Emma took a deep breath as they set off down the aisle but the moment she saw Daniel waiting in front of the altar her nerves disappeared. Here was the man she loved, the man she wanted to spend her life with. From this moment on they would be together for ever.

Daniel felt his heart turn over as he watched Emma walking towards him. It was as though every hope and dream he’d ever had had crystallised into this one moment. She stopped beside him and he saw the love in her eyes when she turned to look at him and knew she could see the same emotion in his. They loved each other. They trusted each other. They were meant to be together.

Taking her hand, he made himself a promise that no matter what happened in the future nothing would spoil what they had. Maybe he had been afraid in the past but he wasn’t afraid any longer. He loved Emma and she loved him. They had everything they needed to guarantee a wonderful life together.

The Soldier She Could Never Forget

Tina Beckett

To my children.

You bring me joy, every single day.

PROLOGUE

Twenty-two years earlier

“JESS. DON’T CRY.”

The low words came from behind her, the slight rasp to his tone giving away his identity immediately.

Jessi stiffened, but she didn’t turn around. Oh, God. He’d followed her. She hadn’t realized anyone had even seen her tearful flight out of the auditorium, much less come after her. But they had. And those low gravely tones didn’t belong to Larry Riley, who’d had a crush on her for ages, or her father—thank God!—but Clinton Marks, the last person she would have expected to care about what she thought or felt.

“I—I’m not.”

One scuffed motorcycle boot appeared on the other side of the log where she was seated, the footwear in stark contrast to the flowing green graduation gowns they both wore—and probably topping the school’s list of banned attire for tonight’s ceremony.

The gown made her smile. Clint, in what amounted to a dress. She hoped someone had gotten a picture of that.

He sat beside her as she hurried to scrub away the evidence of her anguish. Not soon enough, though, because cool fingers touched her chin, turning her head toward him. “You’re a terrible liar, Jessi May.”

Somehow hearing the pet name spoken in something other than his normal mocking tones caused hot tears to wash back into her eyes and spill over, trailing down her cheeks until one of them reached his thumb. He brushed it away, his touch light.

She’d never seen him like this. Maybe the reality of the night had struck him, as well. In a few short hours, her group of friends would all be flying off to start new lives. Larry and Clint would be headed for boot camp. And her best friend would be spending the next year in Spain on a college exchange program.

They were all leaving.

All except Jessi.

She was stuck here in Richmond—with an overly strict father who’d come down hard when he’d heard Larry was gearing up for a career in the army. The papers weren’t signed yet, but they would be in a matter of days. She’d done her best to hide the news, but her dad had been bound to find out sooner or later. He didn’t want her involved with a military man. Kind of unreasonable in a place where those kinds of men were a dime a dozen.

Maybe she should have picked an out-of-state college, rather than choosing to commute from home. But as an only child, she hadn’t quite been able to bring herself to leave her mom alone in that huge house.

“What’s going on, Jess?” Clint’s voice came back to her, pulling her from her pity party.

She shrugged. “My dad, he … He just …” It sounded so stupid to complain about her father to someone who flouted authority every chance he got. If only she could be like that. But she’d always been a people