9780373534869: Homecoming
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0373534868 ISBN 13: 9780373534869
Verlag: Harlequin Kimani Arabesque, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

Reporter Dana Nichols has come home to Mississippi, determined to uncover the truth behind her parents' long-ago murder-suicide tragedy and finally clear her family name. The last thing she expected was her instant attraction to handsome, dedicated doctor Tyler Cole. Or that her investigation would cause someone to try to destroy Tyler's career and reputation. Now, as they search the past for answers, they must walk a dangerous line between trust and uncertainty that will put their future love at stake.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Hailed by readers and booksellers alike as one of today's most popular African-American authors of women's fiction, Ms. Alers is a regular on bestsellers list, and has been a recipient of numerous awards, including the Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing and a Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award.  Visit her Web site www.rochellealers.com  

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.



The day dawned as it had for the past ten weeks—early morning temperatures in the low eighties, a brilliant, cloudless sky and a continuing drought.

The earth that had been rich Mississippi Delta topsoil was bone-dry; water in small brooks and streams had evaporated, revealing their cracked beds, and the once-green shoots from spring plantings lay on the parched ground in seared repose.

The populace of the region looked to the heavens and prayed. The citizenry of Hillsboro, Mississippi, was no exception. They, too, prayed for rain, but for the first time in more than two months they had Johnnie Mack, the undertaker, who told Reverend Wingate, the pastor of Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, who in turn informed Deacon Enright that Dr. Harry and Alicia Nichols's daughter Dana had returned to Hillsboro to bury her maternal grandmother.

Two decades ago, Georgia Sutton had taken her granddaughter north to live with her sister following the tragic deaths of Dana's parents. Even now, twenty-two years later, longtime residents still whispered about how Harry Nichols had murdered his young beautiful wife, and hours after he'd claimed he'd discovered her lifeless body, had set fire to his home to cover up the evidence of his heinous transgression.

He'd been found guilty of the crime and sentenced to a term of life in prison. Harry's scandalous criminal act was compounded when he subsequently took his own life. His suicide had coincided with his daughter's eleventh birthday.

A stooped-shouldered figure stood off to the side in Hills-boro's colored-only cemetery, waiting. Eugene Payton watched Dana Nichols as she stood at a freshly covered grave, head bowed, hands clasping a single red rose, and her lips moving silently.

He and Dana were not alone in the cemetery. A few of Hillsboro's curious non-believers and gossipmongers had come with the pretense of placing flowers or saying prayers at the graves of their deceased family members.

Eugene was certain many were as shocked as he was when he saw Dana Alicia Nichols for the first time in more than twenty years. Her resemblance to her late mother was uncanny. Only those who had viewed Alicia up close would've noticed the minute difference in the two women: Dana had a tiny mole high on her right cheekbone.

Not only did Dana look exactly like her murdered mother, but she also inherited the woman's sultry voice. The only difference was their speech patterns. Alicia had spoken with the slow cadence that had come from spending all of her life in the Deep South, while Dana had the flatter, more nasal inflection of upstate New York.

Despite his age and declining eyesight, he'd recognized her immediately when she came through the arrival gate at the Greenville Municipal Airport. She hadn't flown to Mississippi with a carry-on and garments bag, but with a large Pullman case and two other smaller pieces of luggage. As soon as he spied her coming toward him, Eugene knew Dana hadn't come back to Hillsboro, Mississippi, to stay a week. She had come to stay a while. She subsequently told him that she planned to remain in Hillsboro as long as it took for her to discover the truth behind her parents' long-ago murder/ suicide and at last clear her family's name.

Dana finished all of the prayers she'd been taught as a child. She opened her eyes behind the lenses of her sunglasses. Her grandmother would've been proud that she hadn't forgotten the prayers she had taught her. It wasn't that Georgia Sutton was an overtly religious woman, because she wasn't. She'd informed her granddaughter, however, that she was a spiritual person.

Georgia had stopped attending services at Hillsboro's Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, because the church elders had debated for two days whether they would grant Georgia permission to have Alicia's funeral at the church, which had prompted the older woman to have a graveside-only observance. Generations of Hillsboro Suttons had attended the historic church, but the tradition had ended with Georgia. She preferred staying home Sunday mornings, listening to church services on her radio, or viewing them on television. No one ever heard her speak a disparaging word about Mt. Nebo or its pastor. It was as if she'd forgotten their existence.

Bending at the knees, Dana placed the single rose on Georgia Rose Sutton's grave. Georgia's name had been carved into a headstone years before, but now a recent date had been added. Arrangements were made before Dana was born that Georgia would be buried in the same plot as her husband.

"Take care, Grandma," she whispered. "Tell Mama, Daddy and Grandpa I said hello."

Three red roses lay on an adjacent plot with the names of Alicia and Harry Nichols carved into a pale pink limestone headstone. Dana had placed one rose for her mother and one for her father on the grave. The third flower had come from a stranger. Every day of every year since the week following Alicia's burial, the cemetery's caretaker had placed a single flower on the grave. Sworn to secrecy, the man had never divulged who had paid him to place the flower on the controversial woman's tombstone. The ritual was halted once—when Harry was buried in the same plot as his murdered wife—but resumed a month later.

Dana turned and smiled at Eugene Payton. The retired attorney had been more than gracious to her since her return. He'd offered the hospitality of his spacious home, but she'd declined, preferring instead to stay at the small house that had belonged to her grandparents.

Closing the distance between them, she curved her arm through his, as much for comfort as to support the older man, accompanying him out of the cemetery to where he'd parked his car.

"I want to thank you for everything, Mr. Payton."

He patted her hand in a comforting gesture. "There's no need to thank me, child. Your grandmother was my friend, and I promised her I would take care of you if anything happened to her."

Dana covered his hand with hers. "And you've kept your promise."

She stole a look at his profile. His once-fair skin now resembled yellow parchment. A profusion of age spots added more color to his angular face. The epitome of an aging Southern black gentleman, Eugene still wore a collar, tie and hat regardless of the temperature. Today it was a light blue seersucker suit, tie, white shirt and a soft Panama straw hat. He had affected the style of turning down the brim on his hat, which afforded him a rakish look that hadn't faded despite his age.

He gave Dana a comforting smile. "I'll give you a few days for yourself, then I'll call and come over to meet with you. There is the matter of your grandmother's last will and testament and a few other legal documents that will require your signature."

Nodding, she smiled. "Thank you."

Lately, it was as if they were the only two words in her vocabulary. She was glad to have a few days to herself. Since the fateful telephone call, she hadn't had more than four hours of uninterrupted sleep. Within hours, she'd informed the owner of the two-family house where she rented an apartment that she had to leave for Mississippi. She'd paid her rent four months in advance, while forwarding her mail and telephone calls to her grandmother's address and number. She'd requested and was granted an emergency leave from her employer at the Carrollton Chronicle, a weekly with a total circulation of less than twelve hundred. The Chronicle had earned a place in publishing annals when it won a Pulitzer for its expose of abuses at a foster home for adolescent girls in nearby Utica.

The abuses...

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Verlag
Harlequin Kimani Arabesque
Erscheinungsdatum
2012
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0373534868
ISBN 13 
9780373534869
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
304
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Purmerul LTD
https://strengholt.nl/en/

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Bulgarien

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