The Hawthorne Heritage — Teresa Crane

Recovering from the death of her brother and the loss of her first love, Jessica Redmond marries Robert FitzBolton and they flee to Italy, but she must return to England to claim her inheritance and her child's future

Jessica Hawthorne's parents, ambitious and wealthy, fled their native Bristol in order to escape the stigma of a fortune acquired in the newly outlawed slave trade. At gracious Melbury New Hall in Suffolk, Jessica grows up surrounded by all the grandeur and respect money can buy -- but without the furnishings of affection. For these she turns to her best friend, young Robert FitzBolton -- and as events in her family take a tragic turn, it is Robert who will help Jessica change the course of her life.