It Happened One Night (38 page)
Lana watched in silence as they walked away, then turned back around to make sure Winter hadn’t wandered. She rested her head
on Eli’s shoulder as Winter talked animatedly at the edge of the lawn. “That Michael’s a good kid,” Lana said.
“He makes Karin happy.”
“And Karin makes him happy too. I think she and Gene finally found their purpose, opening up their house as a foster home
to older children. It does everyone good.”
Lana glanced down. And at her feet, a single irascible dandelion was pushing up through the grass, the first of the army of
dandelions that would soon descend on the fields around the Barn. Already, one single flower had gone to seed—much earlier
than the others—and without thinking, Lana plucked it and stood to blow the seeds into the yard.
“What are you doing?” Winter’s voice startled her. The look in her eyes was totally transparent; she’d seen the tempting white
blow ball in Lana’s hand and she wanted it for her own. “Can I have it?” she asked, bouncing on her tiptoes with excitement.
Lana held up the little white puff, considering. So many generations had flirted with the idea that flowers could tell the
future or divine the truth. Dandelions could predict how many children you would have. Buttercups held under a chin could
predict if a person liked butter. If you could catch a bit of milkweed floss in the air, your wish would come true.
But it was all so silly—to think that flowers could possibly predict an unpredictable future. Lana twirled the white puffball
in her hand. Five years ago, she never would have imagined this moment as a future she could be happy with. And yet she
was
happy. If wildflowers like this one predicted anything, it was only that happiness was entirely graspable, but at the same
time out of her hands.
Lana looked down at her daughter. She gave her sternest frown. “Are you going to blow all these seeds over my newly tilled
field?”
“Yes,” Winter said.
Eli laughed. “The woman knows her mind.”
“That she does.” Lana shared a secret smile with her husband and handed the little round ball to her daughter. “By all means,
Winter. Enjoy.”
Big huge thanks: To my editor Michele Bidelspach. To my agent, Kim Lionetti of Bookends. To those who contributed by sharing
your particular expertise and generosity: Erin Berberian, Diana and Chris Borie of the Vermont Wildflower Farm, Lisa Karakaya,
Kriste Matrisch, Mike Meeker, Dr. Cynthia D. Morgan, Tiana Santasiere, Tia, and Laura Venner. Thanks also to Garth Baxter,
David, Erica, Lee Hyat of Author Sound Relations, Keri Rand, Mom, Deborah Wiseman, Writer’s Relief, and all of you who have
so generously helped me with this oddball dream of being a writer—especially those readers who so kindly tell friends and
family about my books. And finally, thanks to Matt Shauger: love, there just aren’t enough words.
Jack Sanders’s book
The Secrets of Wildflowers
is an absolute treasure that I relied on and enjoyed immeasurably. As for descriptions of Vermont, I’ve taken a fair amount
of artistic license, but I think the most obvious and egregious example is that the Dragonboat Festival is actually in August,
not July. Sorry! There’s no reasoning with muses sometimes.
Dear Reader,
When I was younger, my family and I used to go to my grandparents’ cabin in the hills of Pennsylvania, where we’d go on long
hikes, climb trees, build forts, sing around campfires (yes, we really did that!), make homemade ice cream, and then drop
into our beds—already asleep before our heads hit the pillows.
It’s probably no surprise that the setting for my first book, SIMPLE WISHES, takes place in just such a cabin. After making
a terrible mistake in New York City, my heroine, Adele, must return to the cottage she inherited from her estranged mother.
But it’s not exactly a pleasure trove to her, at first. Memories of a difficult childhood haunt her at every turn.
It’s only through the love and friendship of her new neighbors that she has a chance at making a good life for herself. Her
neighbor Beatrice, an elderly grandmother, challenges her to think differently about her mother and her past. And Jay, the
sexy carpenter who lives next door, teaches her to stop fighting so hard. Love is there for all of us, when we’re open to
it.
It’s a deep, emotional read that—I’m extremely pleased to say—got a favorable reception from critics and readers alike (you
can only imagine how relieved I was, since it was my first book!).
I hope you’ll join Adele on her journey into the deepest secrets of the heart in SIMPLE WISHES. For more information, visit
me on my Web site:
www.lisadalebooks.com
.
Happy reading!
Where authors give you the inside scoop!
From the desk of Lisa Dale
Dear Reader,
Do you believe in love at first sight? I do. The moment I set foot in Burlington, Vermont, two summers ago, I knew I was wildly,
head-over-heels, never-to-recover in love with Vermont.
It was a no-brainer to set IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (on sale now) on the beautiful shores of Lake Champlain. Lana Biel longs
to leave her family’s Vermont wildflower farm so she can travel and see the world. And her sister Karin wants nothing more
than to put down roots and conceive the child she and her husband just can’t seem to have. When a lighthearted fling with
a mountain biker leaves Lana expecting, she finds herself tumbling headlong into motherhood while her sister Karin can only
look on.
For help, Lana turns to Eli Ward, a professional meteorite hunter and her best friend for the last ten years. But Eli’s keeping
secrets that could turn their friendship on its head. As the Vermont seasons change and the flowers in the wildflower meadows
begin to fade, Lana must make some meaningful decisions about her family, her friendships, her love life, and her dreams.
Many of my girlfriends are new moms—and what a lifestyle change motherhood brings! At some point I think all women must wrestle
with the question,
Can
we have it all? The kids, the job, the freedom,
and
the man of our dreams? Lana lives for her future and pins all her hopes on traveling the world. But what happens when fate
has other plans?
I hope you’ll read about Lana, Karin, and Eli’s journey as they discover the courage within. Please check out my website at
www.LisaDaleBooks.com
. I love to hear from readers and hope you’ll be in touch.
Happy reading!
From the desk of Caridad Piñeiro
Dear Reader,
I have a confession to make—I’m a science geek.
I’ve always been fascinated with how things work, and so it was no surprise that I decided to major in science when I went
to Villanova. It was probably more of a surprise that I did a switch after college to pursue a career in law and then decided
to return to my first love—writing.
What wasn’t a surprise with my writing is that over the years my love of science and how things work has always managed to
make it into my various novels. Whether they were paranormals, romance, or suspense, the science geek in me always found a
way to research and try something new in each novel.
Of course, this is more true for SINS OF THE FLESH (on sale now) than for any of my other novels. With SINS OF THE FLESH (and
the rest of the upcoming books in the SINS series), I let the science nerd out of the closet and delved into some of my favorite
subjects in college—genetics, immunology, and biology. I also got to use some of the interesting developments that have been
going on over the years since I graduated.
Interesting things like the GFPs (green fluorescent proteins) that make Caterina glow—the ones whose creators were acknowledged
with the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Did you know that scientists have developed cats that glow in the dark? GFPs let them
trace and mark where genes are going!
There are lots of other factual instances in SINS OF THE FLESH based on new developments in gene therapy as well as my own
musings on where splicing human and nonhuman genes may take us in the future.
Tossed in with all that science are some of the things that I love most when I write—a determined heroine who is not afraid
to fight her own battles and a hero who is strong enough to embrace the love of family and a special woman.
