The most difficult part of reading this book was dreading coming to the end of a wonderful story that had you wishing you were actually a member of the group of people that comprised this unique family. There's no one way to define the word family as is clearly illustrated in A SUMMER REUNION.
Kasey Michaels, Sarah Mayberry and Theresa Southwick have collaborated extraordinarily well in meshing three stories into one unique book where each story flows effortlessly into the next -- starting from yesterday -- moving into today -- and culminating in tomorrow. The message is clear no matter how daunting your past it is possible to have a sunny future.
The central characters are the survivors of the Haswick family. Three young orphaned children, Margaret Mary (aka Peggy, 8 years old), Victoria (aka Tory, 3 years old) and Stephen (an infant) were thrown into the child welfare system, at a time when keeping families together wasn't a priority, and each life took a very different path. After being separated for over fifty years it looks like there will be a long awaited reunion.
We begin with Tory and Sam. two people who should be excellent candidates for a second chance at love and maybe a much delayed life together. Brought together by their adult daughter, Allie, this impromptu reunion is sure to change all their lives -- hopefully for the better. Once Allie started her internet research she was able to piece together parts of her mother's life which opened many doors and provide some answers for Sam concerning where Tory has been all these years and what made her flee from him. Did she doubt his love or was she convinced she was doing what was best for them all when she ran alone and pregnant with a really uncertain future ahead of her and her unborn child? But Sam wasn't about to stay in the background and lose any more time with his only child -- if a person gets a second chance he better take it and run with it.
Second chances don't just mean going back over old territory, you can also explore new ones. The next steps to the reunion are meeting Peggy's family and learning where her life has taken her. Through Allie's search we now learn more about the baby through his best friend Adam. Adam was skeptical and weary about the reason why Stephens's siblings were so interested in meeting him and finding out about their brother's life. So he was understandably guarded even though he was undeniably attracted to Laurie -- Peggy's daughter. Laurie had her hands full planning the family reunion which had taken on a new meaning with not only the discovery of family but also with the Peggy's declining health. Her life was already pretty complicated and she was reluctant to admit to feelings for Adam. Imagine living your entire life believing your parents abandoned you -- that you were less then worthy of being loved and then picture your surprise at discovering all you believed was a lie.
ONE BEACH HOUSE.
TWO SISTERS REUNITED.
THREE
STORIES OF FAMILY, OLD FLAMES
AND SUMMER LOVE!
Itโs a family celebration youโll never forgetโฆ
FOR TODAY...
Now that sheโs reunited with her sister, Tori Fuller doesnโt
regret a moment of her life. But sheโs never forgotten
the guy who got away. Heart surgeon Sam McCormack is as sexy
and irresistible as he was back in collegeโฆand ready to
prove to the woman heโs always loved that itโs never too
late to start over.โฆ
TOMORROW...
Lauren Sutcliffe never expected her motherโs sixtieth
birthday bash to lead to romance. But gorgeous Aussie
builder Adam Hunter wants to stake his claim on the bossy,
burned-by-love caterer. He wants to share all her tomorrows,
if Lauren will just say yes!
AND ALWAYS!
David Longwood isnโt looking for loveโฆuntil a family reunion
throws him in the path of free spirit Kinsey McKeever.
Suddenly the buttoned-down lawyer is rediscovering his
passionate inner self and dreaming about forever afterโฆ with
Kinsey.
EXCERPT
Prologue
The little boy on the television screen was busily
getting into trouble with his next door neighbor, something
he seemed to do during every show, and Margaret Mary Haswick
held a flowered pillow to her face so that her giggles did
not wake her baby sister, Victoria, who had fallen asleep
beside her on the couch.
Ruthie Baxter, their own next door neighbor and sometimes
babysitter, had been having trouble getting baby Stephen to
sleep, which was why three-year-old Victoria had been
allowed to remain downstairs past the magic hour of eight
oโclock, much to Margaret Maryโs disdain.
After all, she was eight whole years old, and even she
had a strict bedtime of eight-thirty. It wasnโt fair that
Victoria got to break the rules, just because stupid Stephen
had colic, or whatever it was called. He sure did cry a
lot, that much Margaret Mary knew. She hadnโt asked for a
brother, and she still wasnโt so sure that her mother was
right, and one day sheโd be glad to have a big strong
brother to watch over her and protect her.
But Victoria wasnโt so bad, even if sometimes she got
into Margaret Maryโs bedroom and messed up her dollhouse and
stuff. And she was kind of funny, always following her
around and climbing on her lap and calling her Mar-Mar,
because she couldnโt say Margaret Mary.
Her mother said she should be proud that her little
sister so clearly loved her and looked up to her, and that
she, Margaret Mary, should always set a good example.
Whatever that was. She did kind of like it when her mother
teased her and called her Little Mother, just because she
helped Victoria with her buttons and things.
Thoughts of her mother reminded Margaret Mary that her
parents had told her just before they left for dinner that
they would bring home a special dessert she and Victoria
could share tomorrow. She hoped it would be strawberry
shortcake. Strawberry shortcake was her very favorite
dessert in the whole world.
The television show ended, but still Ruthie hadnโt come
back downstairs, so Margaret Mary got up and turned off the
set, because now the grown-up shows would come on, and she
and Victoria werenโt allowed to watch the grown-up shows.
"Come on, Victoria," she said, giving her sisterโs
shoulder a small shake. "Time to go upstairs to bed." Her
sister didnโt respond except for the slight frown that came
and went on her sleep-flushed face, and Margaret Mary
sighed, knowing that her sister could sleep through
thunderstorms and Stephenโs crying, so it would be pointless
to try to wake her with a simple shake on the shoulder.
"Wake up, Victoria! Time for bed! Get up and come
upstairs with me, and Iโll read you a story, okay? You know
you like โ"
Margaret Mary looked toward the door, as if she could see
who had just knocked on it this late at night. The door was
locked, because Mommy and Daddy always reminded Ruthie to
lock the door after they left, and to never open it for
anybody, but just to call her mother if anyone did come to
the door, and Mr. and Mrs. Baxter would be right over to see
who had knocked.
But Stephen was still crying, and Margaret Mary didnโt
think Ruthie could have heard the knock. Margaret Mary
twisted her hands together nervously, wondering what to do.
The knocking came again. This time it was louder.
Margaret Mary ran into the kitchen and pulled over a
chair so that she could climb onto it and reach the phone
that hung on the wall, and on her second try, managed to
push all the correct numbers so that she could tell Mr.
Baxter to please come over right away. And maybe call the
police, or something.
Her heart was pounding so hard. It was dark outside, and
it was snowing, and nobody should be knocking on the door.
Eight-thirty at night was too late for visitors, so it had
to be somebody bad, trying to get in. Mommy wouldnโt have
said to lock the door and not let anyone in if it was all
right for someone to knock so late.
She ran back into the living room and gathered the
sleeping Victoria tightly into her arms as she heard voices
outside on the porch.
And then Mrs. Baxterโs voice got very loud and shrill,
and Margaret Mary could hear every word she said: "Oh, no,
officer! Those poor sweet babies! What will happen to them
now?"
#
The woman in the wheelchair, a bright pink cast reaching
from her left foot to her knee, wasnโt a stranger; she
couldnโt be, as they seemed to have the same face, the one
Tory Fuller had seen in her mirror every day for the past
fifty-five years.
Right down to the distinctive salt-and-pepper hair Tory
would have, if she hadnโt begun taking refuge in hair
coloring at least two decades previously.
Realizing sheโd been standing still in the foyer of the
fantastic beach house, like some human statue or some such
silliness, Tory thanked the severe-looking woman who had
opened the door for her, and began slowly walking across the
expansive marble floor, moving toward the seated Peggy Longwood.
Margaret Mary Longwood.
A smile bright as a thousand suns lit the older womanโs
face as she held out her hands in welcome. "Victoria," she
said quietly. "Itโs you. After all these years โฆ"
Tory nodded, not trusting her voice. Tears were running
down her face now, but she didnโt bother to wipe them away.
She went to her knees beside the wheelchair and took one of
her sisterโs hands in both of hers. "Mar-Mar," she managed
at last. "I called you that, didnโt I? Iโve forgotten so
much, but somehow Iโve always remembered that. Mar-Mar."
And then the sisters were embracing, and the long years
theyโd been torn apart from each other fell away as if
theyโd never happened โฆ
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