Amazon Customer

Rita and Rosie Stevens are only nine and five years old when their widowed mother marries a violent bully called Jimmy Randall and has a baby boy by him. Under pressure from her new husband, she is persuaded to send the girls to an orphanage, not knowing that the papers she has signed will entitle them to do what they like with the children. And it is not long before the powers that be decide to send a consignment of orphans to their sister institution in Australia. Among them - without their family's consent or knowledge - are Rita and Rosie.

Just a few short weeks into her yearlong nurse training assignment at the Blessing Hospital, Miriam Antonio is called home to Chicago, where her mother is gravely ill. With siblings to care for, Miriam pleads to be allowed to finish her training in Chicago. Her nursing supervisor grants her a brief reprieve but extracts a promise that Miriam will soon return to Blessing and fulfill her commitment. While in Chicago Miriam has tried to get Trygve Knutson and Blessing out of her mind, but his letters make that impossible.

Veronica Fisher is devastated when her fiancé, Seth, is killed in an accident at work. Seth's friend, Jason Huyard, was with him and blames himself for Seth's death. Although Jason has never met Veronica, he feels as if he knows her because Seth talked about her constantly. After the accident, he can't seem to get Veronica out of his mind. Two months later, Veronica is cleaning the attic and comes across her mother's old hope chest.