Sunset, Missouri, 1954. As hope flourishes in postwar America, a young
widow dares to dream of a second chance at a forever love . . .
Clara Sinclair has learned to live one lonely day at a time. It was the only
way she managed to survive her husband's death in World War II and raise
their young son alone. But now she's at a loss as to how to handle the
defiant teenager he has become, even as she struggles to keep her family
financially afloat. She's fresh out of ways to turn her luck around-until a
daring stranger's unexpected kindness sparks hope she hasn't felt in a long
time...
Drake McCoy lives for risk, speed, and putting his incredible drag racing
skills to the test. One night in this quiet rural town is all he needs to
win a big score and be on his way . . . until he meets Clara. Drawn in by
her quiet strength and her beauty, Drake is tempted to become someone he
never imagined-a family man.
But a vicious and unseen enemy is closing in fast, throwing Drake and
Clara's fragile future into a dangerous tailspin. Can their love survive?
Read an Ecerpt of TWICE IN A LIFETIME
Over and over, he had written that he loved her.
“Private Sinclair died in service to his country,” the military man
continued. “It was a sacrifice that will never be forgotten.”
But Clara was no longer listening. Her thoughts reeled, assaulted by
memories: the moment she had first noticed Joe standing outside Bob
Herring’s grocery store; how nervous she’d been when he asked her to go with
him to the movies; the way his lips felt against hers when he kissed her
later that night. From those early, magical days, their life had spooled out
just like the spools of film they’d watched, giving her a marriage, a home,
and a child, all of it bound by love.
It had been perfect, a dream come true, but then the Japanese had bombed
Pearl Harbor and everything had changed.
Like the other young men in Sunset, Joe had enlisted and gone off to war;
after training, he’d sailed across the Pacific to fight against Hirohito and
his army. At first, Clara had been bursting with pride; her husband was
fighting for freedom, to say nothing of how handsome he looked in his
uniform. But as time passed, the constant fear and worry threatened to
overwhelm her. Many nights, she cried herself to sleep. Still, she managed
to keep up a strong front, mostly for Tommy’s sake. She clung tightly to the
hope she found in her husband’s letters and tried to share in his
unshakeable belief that he would soon be home.
But now Joe was dead and Clara felt it in her heart, a sudden emptiness, as
if it was her own life that had ended.
“Mrs. Sinclair?”
Clara blinked; both men were looking at her. “I’m . . . I’m sorry . . .” she
managed, her head spinning.
“That’s quite all right. I was just offering my condolences,”Captain Coulson
explained; he appeared uncomfortable, his eyes flickering away, as if he was
still ill at ease with the responsibility that he had been given. “In times
like this, it’s been my experience that some measure of comfort can be found
from a higher source.” He looked
toward his companion.
“My child,” the chaplain began, “I know this is hard, but you must remember
that the Lord works in mysterious ways. No matter what pain he would leave
behind, the time had come for Joseph to return to His Kingdom, to make the
journey home.”
His voice was soft and comforting; maybe under different circumstances, it
might have been able to provide Clara with the solace she so desperately
needed. “Let us read His words.” Opening his Bible, the chaplain began to
flip through the pages, looking for a particular line of scripture.
But Clara had already begun to walk away. Her rejection of the chaplain
wasn’t because she had no place in her heart for God, but rather because her
pain was too great to fix. She was like a wounded animal, slowly but surely
dying; all she wanted was to get away, to be alone.
Dorothy Garlock has more than 20 million books in print world wide. The
author of 47 published books is a native Texan, but considers Clear Lake,
Iowa her home. The mother of two and grandmother of two started her book-
writing career twenty-three years ago after working for 14 years as
bookkeeper/columnist/reporter for the local newspaper. Always an avid reader
and history buff, her success as a novelist came as a complete surprise to
her.
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