Spring Flowers, Summer Love

Spring Flowers, Summer Love
Lois Richer

Desperate to save her father's tree nursery, Rowena Davis came home to Serenity Bay to negotiate a deal with the new owner, Connor Wingate. But who was this stern businessman who asked her to landscape Wingate Manor in exchange for the deed to Davis Nursery? Rowena hoped that beneath Connor's gruff exterior he was a man of faith and honor. Could God's plan for her future somehow include this man?

“You’re going to bawl me out, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” she assured him.

“Don’t bother. I shouldn’t have questioned your authority. I won’t do it again.”

“Until tomorrow, anyway. I’m not kidding, Connor. These men work for me. If I went to your staff without talking to you, you wouldn’t like it.”

“No, I wouldn’t. I’ve already apologized, Rowena.”

“Yes, you have.”

“You want me to repeat it?”

She almost smiled at the thought of Connor Wingate apologizing twice for the same misstep. “No… What is it about me that’s so hard for you to trust? Do I look like a crook or something?”

“Hardly. You look like a beautiful woman.”

Beautiful? With mud and dirt oozing from every pore? “Now you’re just being mean.”

“Mean?” Confusion darkened his eyes.

She so was not going to argue about her un-beautiful self.

LOIS RICHER

Sneaking a flashlight under the blankets, hiding in a thicket of Caragana bushes where no one could see, pushing books into socks to take to camp—those are just some of the things Lois Richer freely admits to in her pursuit of the written word. “I’m a book-a-holic. I can’t do without stories,” she confesses. “It’s always been that way.” Her love of language evolved into writing her own stories. Today her passion is to create tales of personal struggle that lead to triumph over life’s rocky road. For Lois, a happy ending is essential. “In my stories, as in my own life, God has a way of making all things beautiful. Writing a love story is my way of reinforcing my faith in His ultimate goodness toward us—His precious children.”

Spring Flowers, Summer Love

Lois Richer

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of

God, and in his good time he will honor you.

Give all your worries and cares to God,

for he cares about what happens to you.

—1 Peter 5:6-7

For Josh. With love.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Letter to Reader

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Prologue

“A toast, girls.”

Piper Franklin lifted her iced tea high in the air.

“To what?” Rowena Davis frowned, certain neither of her best friends knew her secret yet.

“To the Bayside Trio, of course.” Piper giggled. “It seems like only yesterday that we left Serenity Bay. Here’s to coming home.”

“Hear, hear.” Ashley Masters clinked her glass against Piper’s.