For
Your Love
Blessings # 6
Blessings # 6
By: Beverly Jenkins
Releasing April 28th, 2015
William Morrow
ABOUT THE BOOK~
NAACP
nominee and bestselling author Beverly Jenkins returns to Henry Adams,
Kansas-an unforgettable place that anyone would want to call home-with a story
of family, friends, and the powerful forces from our past that can irrevocably
shape our future.
Mayor Trent July and his wife Lily
are enjoying life as newlyweds and embracing the challenges and joys that come
with being adoptive parents to two wonderful boys. But being a father has
inevitably forced him to think about his own birth mother. Raised by his
grandmother Tamar—and in many ways the good people of Henry Adams—Trent was
blessed with a childhood full of love.
But now he can’t help wondering what
happened to the scared teenage girl who gave birth to him. And questions that
he’s never voiced are now begging to be answered: Who was she? Is she still
alive? Why didn’t she want him?
Trent has always believed no good
comes from dwelling on the past, especially when you have a loving family, a
strong community, and folks who depend on him. But when the past comes to Henry
Adams, Trent has no choice but to face it—and the woman who left him behind.
The truth will shake his very being and everything he thought he knew about
life, love, and the bonds that hold families together…yet can also tear them
apart.
LINKS~
Goodreads
Goodreads Series
ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Ms. Jenkins is the nation's premier
writer of African American historical romance fiction and specializes in 19th
century African American life. She has over thirty published novels to date.
She has received numerous awards,
including: five Waldenbooks/Borders Group Best Sellers Awards; two Career
Achievement Awards and a Pioneer Award from Romantic Times Magazine; a Golden
Pen Award from the Black Writer's Guild, and in 1999 was named one of the Top
Fifty Favorite African-American writers of the 20th Century by AABLC, the
nation's largest on-line African-American book club.
She has also been featured in many
national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, People Magazine,
Dallas Morning News and Vibe Magazine. She has lectured and given talks at such
prestigious universities as Oberlin University, the University of Illinois, and
Princeton. She speaks widely on both romance and 19th century African-American
history and was the 2014 featured speaker for the W.W. Law Lecture Series
sponsored by the Savannah Black Heritage Festival.
Prologue
Rita Lynn
Babcock had a good life. At the age of sixty two she had no health issues, her
husband Paul, a cardiac surgeon, still loved her madly, and their daughter, Val
was founding partner of an eponymous law firm. Rita was thankful for her
blessings but at the moment, her heart was heavy. Two days ago, she’d buried
her mother, Ida Merchant. Except for an
indiscretion Rita committed at the age of seventeen, they’d never shared a
cross word. Now, Rita Lynn and Paul were meeting with their lawyer in his
office to discuss Ida’s will.
“Please,
have a seat.”
The lawyer,
Dexter West was an old college friend of Paul’s and he took a moment to look
through the stack of papers before him as if to make sure all was in order. The
estate wasn’t large. Ida hadn’t been wealthy by any means but she’d been well
loved and until her stroke eighteen months ago,
maintained her own home and finances.
With
Dexter’s guidance, Rita and Paul made the final arrangements for Ida’s earthly
possessions, from her house to the ten year old, sky blue Toyota she’d lovingly
called Gladys. Her extensive cache of African American history books was
donated to the local library, and all the money left in her bank account after
her bills were paid would be going to True Saints AME, the church she’d
worshipped in and loved for over a half –century. As executrix, Rita affixed
her signature to each document Dexter slid her way, and when they were all
done, she put her finger tips to the corners of her teary eyes to staunch the
flow.
Paul gave
her shoulder a tender squeeze and said softly, “It’s okay, babe.” Five years
ago, they’d buried his beloved mom, so he understood her grief.
“There’s
one more thing,” Dexter said gently. He handed her a sealed envelope. “Your
mother gave this to me a few years back.
She asked me to hold onto it until her passing.”
Rita
paused. “What is it?”
“You should
read it.”
His face
told her nothing but she had a strong sense of foreboding. She looked to Paul
and received a reassuring nod. The letter was one page and penned in her
mother’s strong handwriting. She read
the beginning silently but by the mid –point her eyes widened and she whispered
in a shocked and broken voice, “No!” The further she read the louder her, “No!”
echoed until she was screaming the denial again and again from the depths of
her broken heart.
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