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       Table of Contents

       Cover

       About the Author

       Title Page

Dear Reader

CHAPTER ONE

       CHAPTER TWO

       CHAPTER THREE

       CHAPTER FOUR

       CHAPTER FIVE

       CHAPTER SIX

       CHAPTER SEVEN

       CHAPTER EIGHT

       Copyright

Dear Reader,

      First love, young love … such an intense, wonderful experience. Is it possible that it can survive the ravages of time and be a ‘for ever’ kind of love?

      Well, the answer to that is maybe. Sometimes it needs to change and mature, to grow into something else before young lovers can reach the fulfilment they long for.

      Life in general—along with a broken romance and a troublesome background of family secrets—manages to get in the way and mess things up for Caitlin and Brodie when they meet up again in the beautiful surroundings of rural Buckinghamshire.

      I hope you enjoy reading about their skirmishes and triumphs as they find one another once more.

      With love

       Joanna

CHAPTER ONE

      ‘WHAT WILL YOU DO?’ Molly stood by the desk at the nursing station, riffling through the papers in a wire tray. ‘Will you go to the wedding?’ She sent Caitlin a sympathetic glance. ‘It must be a really difficult situation for you.’

      Caitlin nodded. ‘Yes, it is, to be honest. These last few weeks have been a nightmare. It’s all come as a complete shock to me and right now I’m not sure how I’m going to deal with it.’ She pulled a face, pushing back a couple of chestnut curls that had strayed on to her forehead. Her shoulder-length hair was a mass of wild, natural curls but for her work at the hospital she usually kept it pinned back out of the way. ‘I don’t want to go but I don’t see how I can avoid it—when all’s said and done, Jenny’s my cousin. My family—my aunt, especially—will want me to be there for the celebrations. I don’t want to be the cause of any breakdown in family relationships by not going. It will cause a huge upset if I stay away.’

      Yet how could she bear to watch her cousin tie the knot with the man who just a short time ago had been the love of her life? She and Matt had even started to talk about getting engaged and then—wham!—Jenny had come along and suddenly everything had changed.

      Her usually mobile mouth flattened into a straight line. When she’d opened the envelope first thing this morning back at the flat and taken out the beautifully embossed invitation card, her spirits had fallen to rock-bottom. She’d had a sick feeling that the day was headed from then on into a downward spiral.

      Sure enough, just a few minutes later as she had opened the fridge door and taken out a carton of milk, her prediction was reinforced. She’d shaken the empty carton in disbelief. One of her flatmates must have drained the last drops of milk and then put it back on the shelf. She’d stared at it. No coffee before starting work? It was unthinkable!

      ‘I can see how awkward it is for you.’ Molly sighed, bringing Caitlin’s thoughts back to the present. ‘Families are everything, aren’t they? Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do in order to keep the peace. I just wish you weren’t leaving us. I know how you feel about working alongside Jenny and Matt but we’ll miss you so much.’

      ‘I’ll miss you too,’ Caitlin said with feeling. Molly was a children’s nurse, brilliant at her job and a good friend, but now, as Caitlin looked around the ward, she felt sadness growing deep inside her. She’d been working at this hospital for several years, specialising as a children’s doctor, making friends and getting to know the inquisitive and endearing children who had come into her care.

      It would be such a wrench to put it all behind her, but she knew she had to make a fresh start. She couldn’t bear to stay while Matt was here. He had betrayed her and hurt her deeply. ‘We’ll keep in touch, won’t we?’ she said, putting on a bright face. ‘I won’t be going too far away—Buckinghamshire’s only about an hour’s drive from here.’

      Molly nodded. She was a pretty girl with hazel eyes and dark, almost black hair cut in a neat, silky bob. ‘Are you going to live at home? Didn’t you say your mother needed to have someone close by her these days?’

      ‘Yes,

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