Beyond the Gates of Heaven — Expedito A. Ibarbia

A young maverick upstart crafts his way into the hearts of a hostile and possessive farming tycoon and his enigmatic daughter who are at odds with each other over a mysterious old woman and a young impostor. Dramatic twists and turns unfold in Beyond the Gates of Heaven, showcasing agricultural scenes in the lush Salinas Valley of Monterey county in California, as the mongrel Adonis navigates his way into the farming empire caught up in the brewing conflict between the tycoon's daughter, bent on adopting the mysterious woman, and the tycoon, desperate to foil imagined intrusions into his crumbling family and the farming empire. The tycoon suspects the mysterious woman and the impostor who goes to court claiming to be his long lost son present a threat. Pulse-pounding events unravel a poignant story of rejection, betrayal, and redemption in the lives of the characters drawn into the web of conflicting emotions as both the tycoon and the upstart struggle to forget, but not to forgive, family members involved in their past abandonment. As the maverick upstart marries the tycoon's daughter on one foregone condition, the tycoon's son pulls a surprise during the wedding ceremony, granting the tycoon's wish to take the family name with him to his grave. Thereafter, the mysterious woman shares a secret with the upstart's wife, who is left in a quandary whether or not to share it with her husband. As the young couple adopts the old woman, the young wife obtains a surrogate mother and her husband settles for it not knowing that the woman is truly his own mother he had villified.