A MOM OF THE YEAR WITH DARK SECRETS IN HER PAST...
The fifth book of the Halo Legacy Series, CHALLENGING THE LEGACY, will be released November 1, 2012. This book features Tallie O'Shea, the well-respected widow of a policeman killed while on duty. To her eight adopted children and many others, she's like Mom of the Year every day. However, dark secrets from her past are revealed when a former lover comes back into her life.
GENRE: Women's Fiction
HEAT LEVEL: 1
EXCERPT: PG-13
The pressure of Pierce's fingers on hers surprised
Tallie. She knew speculation about the two of them had been raging through town
since Pierce showed up the night Halo exploded. Fitting, it seemed, since his
arrival and the news he was Marly's biological father had rocked the foundation
of her world.
Events continued to unfold at a rapid pace, including
the whirlwind courtship and marriage of her oldest son, Collin, and local café
owner, Beth Boulanger. Tallie already loved Beth like a daughter, though she
had questioned Collin about the haste of their wedding.
However, Beth glowed with innocent love as she walked
down the aisle toward Collin. And Tallie had never seen her oldest son as happy
as when he took Beth's hand and tucked it under his arm, then turned to face
his brother, Patrick, who was performing the ceremony.
"Dearly beloved..."
What a difference the packed church was to the
intimate setting when Tallie had married Bernie. Just the minister, his wife,
and Bernie's uncle, along with Collin and Patrick, who were still wary little
boys not believing they might actually have a loving home of their own.
Collin is so handsome. Just like Bernie was.
Tallie dabbed at her tears with a tissue. Bernie had
worn a navy blue suit and starched white shirt. Tallie wore the new dress he
insisted on buying for her and carried a bouquet of flowers--real ones--from
the florist fifty miles away. The two boys were self-consciously silent in
their borrowed suits and slicked-down hair.
"This will be a real marriage." Bernie had told her
when he proposed a union so the boys would have both an adoptive father and
mother. "You decide when you're ready to be physically intimate. But I'll
always be faithful to you."
Tallie touched the wedding ring still circling the
third finger of her left hand. A ring that had belonged to Bernie's
grandmother.
When they married, Bernie spoke his vows clearly and
looked directly at her. In all their years of marriage, Tallie knew without a
doubt Bernie had indeed been true to her. He never gave her reason to think
anything else.
You would be so proud of your children, Bernie.
As she dabbed at her tears again, Pierce took
Tallie's hand and smiled at her. What would her life have been if she had
married Pierce? She would have missed out on all her children, as well as the
courage that came with being part of Bernie's legacy. She might have become as
bitter as Portia Stratford.
She had loved Pierce with a deep physical passion--in
a different way than she loved Bernie. She and Bernie were partners, with a
love that grew from shared respect and purpose. No matter the past and whatever
the future might hold, Tallie was grateful she had her marriage with Bernie and
the blessings of all her children.
Only time would tell if her relationship with Pierce
would become more than being parents to Marly. Today, Tallie simply cherished
this beautiful time of her oldest son marrying the woman he now gazed at with
total devotion and love.
Excerpt from CHALLENGING THE LEGACY, copyright Genene Valleau, writing as Genie Gabriel
