Wealthy Alan Ashley, blinded in World War I, returns home to face a challenge to his ability to run the family business. As the case goes to court, he is drawn to the cheerful, ever-optimistic Lenore Seldon, his defense attorney’s secretary. When he wins his case, he offers her employment, but she declines and disappears from his life.
Ten years later, frail and in desperate need of work, Lenore answers his ad for a personal assistant. He hires her with the agreement that she will live in, chaperoned by his housekeeper,
so that she can drive for him, and he can teach her to use the Braille writer. She is the perfect employee, but he senses that she is frightened of something—or someone.
When he finds himself falling in love with her, he must uncover her secrets in order to save their relationship---and to save her from herself.
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Excerpt from Where Is Papa's Shining Star?
On Thursday night, she read aloud from the newspaper, and then they listened to the radio.
Alan leaned forward in his chair, his feet keeping time to the music. “Do you dance, Miss Seldon?”
“Oh, yes, all my friends danced at school parties.”
“I haven’t danced in years. I don’t suppose you’d indulge me?”
“There’s hardly room in here, Mr. Ashley.”
“We could turn up the radio and go into the foyer.”
“I’m not sure I remember how.”
“Neither am I, but I’d like to try, wouldn’t you?”
“Perhaps.”
He stood for a moment in the middle of the foyer to orient himself, then held out his arms and was rewarded with the feel of Lenore Seldon stepping into them. Careful not to
hold her too closely, he said, “All right, on the next beat.” They moved off, not quite intime to the music.
“Is it coming back to you?” he asked.
“I think so.”
“The tempo is nice, but I believe we’re a bit behind. Shall we pick it up?” He quickened his steps as he spoke. “Are you keeping watch for obstacles?”
“Yes...oh, Mr. Ashley, the stairs!” She finished her warning as his heel met the bottom step, and he toppled, pulling her down with him into his lap.
For a long shocked moment they sat still, breathing harder than the exercise warranted. She was lighter than he’d supposed, but her hair, when he reached to touch it, was as silky as he’d imagined. Sliding his hands to her cheeks, he brought her face forward
until their lips touched.
He thought she responded briefly, but, before he could speak, she jumped from his arms and ran up the stairs
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In the dark days of the Great Depression, when
eleven-year-old Bobbie Rycroft becomes Annie
Ashley, cherished daughter of Alan and Lenore,
she leaves behind a life of fear and deprivation. Or so she believes as she grows to womanhood, sheltered in an affluent home with every material possession and opportunity.
Graduating from Vassar just as America gears up for war, she enters into a hasty marriage with David Levinson only ten days before he goes overseas. When he returns, they are strangers.
David loves Annie deeply, but he realizes that she cannot live in the present until she has made peace with her past. When he urges her to find Bobbie, Albert Rycroft's shining star, she insists that Bobbie is dead. But David knows that Bobbie is very much alive and that his own tangled connection to her past could put Annie in danger of losing her life.
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Excerpt from Finding Papa's Shining Star
He stopped and looked away from her, then back. "I wasn't sure you'd wait for me."
She felt her face flame. "I'm your wife, David."
"We didn't have much of a marriage. Ten days, and from what I remember, we spent most of that time in bed. We can't spend the rest of our lives there."
"I always wondered if that's why you married me," she said before she thought. "Because you couldn't get me any other way."
"Is that what you thought?"
"Well, you said. . ."
"I know what I said, but you had a choice, didn't you?"
"I guess so. Yes."
"Well assuming that I married you because I wanted you, why did you marry me?"
Her mind raced frantically for some kind of answer that would be honest but not heartless. David would know if she was lying. Taking a deep breath and expelling it slowly to buy time, she said, "I don't know, David."
"I didn't think you did. Do you want a divorce?"
"You haven't been home but a few hours. I don't think this is the time to discuss anything so. . .so final."
"When do you think it will be time?"
"What do you want, David?"
"You, Annie. Just you. I was in love with you. I still am."
"We hardly knew each other."
"I remember telling you once that love can't be explained. It just happens."
"I think we're both overwhelmed right now."
David shook his head. "I'm not. I spent two years just trying to stay alive, and I made it. The fact doesn't overwhelm me, just gives me a great satisfaction that I beat those monsters. I'm not going to waste a minute of the rest of my life, not after what I've been
through."
Read Chapter 1 FREE here!
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