April's Awakening

Heather Hobbs Steadman finds lies of omission hurt as sharply as deliberate falsehoods when her family tree is shaken to the roots Best friend forever Grace Mayfield and husband Walt buttress Heather while her parents best friends Police Chief and Nora Hansen hear an appalling truth Heather s father never knew Norwell Vermont the whispering village of historic clapboarded homes and ancient red brick churches with clocks chiming the hour is surrounded by a sugar maple forest and towering pine trees Her inhabitants rely on the snow turning the meadows brilliant lime green then the cornfields being planted and chopped preceding the climax of blazing foliage as dreary November gray inches closer sheathing the county This cycle is about to repeat when Heather s car eludes a slip off the culvert at the end of her driveway Chief Hansen wants Heather s happiness he encourages her to date the established deputy or the high school biology teacher He believes a good man needs a good woman and Heather needs a good man The more Bruce has heard about her scoundrel husband the more certain he when Steadman quits running around he could dispose of him personally Full time police chief part time match maker Bruce can t fathom why his suggestions go unheeded Brian Tibbetts is no stranger to Hansen His arrival in the New England settlement was by design and his mission was ordained The Chief asks Brian to get close to Heather The young deputy hadn t planned what Bruce couldn t have foreseen Quickly the Hansen s ward Lydia stakes a claim on the blue eyed dark haired stranger Heather recalls Aunt P s having said Every pot has a cover She pushes past her blush with Brian as she investigates whether Fletcher holds the happiness Bruce Hansen believes awaits her