waite-gracie

As she neared her 18th birthday, Maggie Ashberry thought life on the farm was all there was for her. She was partly correct in her assumption, yet she was about to encounter a week of new and delightful experiences that would stay with her for 25 years and offer a glimpse into her future. Graciously and lovingly being exactly what everyone wanted her to be, Maggie couldn’t help but feel like there was more to life than she’d always known. She just never believed herself worthy of such freedom or happiness.

Maggie spent most of her time taking care of the farm with her family, doing daily chores with her brothers, riding her horse as often as she could, and helping her mom with the homemaking duties. She began dating Peter Baker, the young man her family had decided was her perfect match, and postponed giving him an answer to his proposal for as long as she could.

As she and her friends set out on a weeklong adventure at a cabin in the snowy mountains, Maggie built new friendships, enjoyed some rebellious encounters, and added to a lifetime of joyful memories, finally getting to feel the freedom she’d never experienced before and would sadly not enjoy again, for a very long time. Meeting the man of her dreams, falling head over heels, jumping into a list of ＂firsts,＂ and feeling the terrible pain of her breaking heart as she left him, Maggie became a new person. Still, when she arrived back home, life was exactly how she left it, and although she had changed, everything else had stayed the same. She managed to fit back into the old way of life, being the Maggie everyone expected her to be and making the most of it.

A young woman, a new endeavor as a nurse, a soon-to-be short, broken marriage, taking care of her ailing parents, too many demanding responsibilities, and a sadness that made her retreat into numbness left her spiraling into a fog she couldn’t escape from. What would become of Maggie? How would life ever be worth smiling for again?

Join Maggie and Billy in their first days together and enjoy the beginning of their deep connection, budding love, and steamy romance that kept them going for almost three decades apart.