Introduction

Keeping a family promise can be the beginning of a whole new life for everyone in town

Danielle “Dani” Gilford eagerly accepts her share of the gift of a cottage on the property of the Lilac Lake Inn in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Her grandmother, Gigi, has decided to sell the inn after realizing it’s too difficult to run as she ages and with rising taxes. Dani and her two sisters, Whitney and Taylor, must renovate and maintain the cottage and live there at least six months of each year, as a means of helping Gigi keep a vow to hold onto as much of the family property as possible.

The first person that Dani meets when she returns to the lake is Brad Collister, who, with his brother, has been hired to renovate the inn for the new owners. His brother, Aaron, is as attractive as Brad, but life with the brothers is complicated. Brad is still grieving for his wife, who died two years ago from cancer and Aaron’s interest lies with the business. And after working in Boston at an architectural design firm where the men in the office do everything they can to keep her from getting recognition for the work she does, the last thing Dani is looking for is a man. But the little town of Lilac Lake is full of interesting people, and surprises await Dani as she and her sisters work together to keep a promise to their grandmother, and Dani discovers new possibilities for herself about life and love. Another of Judith Keim’s series books celebrating love and families, strong women meeting challenges, and clean women’s fiction with a touch of romance—beach reads for all ages with a touch of humor, satisfying twists, and happy endings

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Excerpt

PROLOGUE

GG

Eugenia Wittner had always hated her name until the day her doting father said, “Well, then, why don’t we call you Genie?”

“Like the magical character in the bottle who grants wishes?” she’d said, feeling a thrill go through her five-year-old body. She loved the idea of magic.

“I don’t see why not?” A known philanthropist who adored her, her father hugged her to his broad chest. “You’ll see how gratifying it is.”

From that moment on, Genie’s life took on a special kind of purpose.

At eighty-two, she still loved to fulfill the wishes of others. She’d had the money to do so until recently when her financial advisor in Boston took off with most of her funds and those of others too. She’d panicked until her usual, sharp financial instincts took over, and she did the best she could to come up with a way to meet her father’s wishes to save the family property in the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire.

For generations, the Wittner family had owned just over ten acres on the shore of Lilac Lake, the house that stood on it that had been expanded into a lovely inn, and the little cottage at the southern-most tip of their land where a large sun-bathing rock nearby emerged from the lake water like a gift from the rocky shore.

Genie, or GG as her granddaughters called her, knew she couldn’t continue maintaining the property, paying the taxes, and running the inn. In addition, she needed a place to live for the rest of her life.

She found buyers for the inn and most of the land surrounding it, reserving a section of the acreage and the cottage for her family. But there was a catch. If after the cottage was renovated, it was unoccupied for more than six months of any year, it and the land would be sold to the new owners for a fair price. Genie understood. The cottage and the land were too valuable to go unused or to be unappreciated. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a plan that might work if her granddaughters were willing to help her keep her promise to her father to hold onto the family property. Their mother had never had any interest in it. Genie hoped this plan would work because it was probably the last opportunity that she’d have to bestow such a generous gift.

Now, Genie was about to make a request of those beloved granddaughters—three strong, independent women. She hoped her request would fulfill a wish of theirs always to be able to come to the lake and be the impetus to make some changes in their lives, that more than the property would be her gift to them. How she loved each one!

Whitney, a real beauty with blond hair and blue eyes, was the oldest of the three at thirty-two and was adored by everyone who followed the television series in which she starred. The show, called The Hopefuls, was about a young woman named Hope and other young people trying to break into the movie business. It gave Whitney a chance to showcase her ability to sing and dance, something she’d loved to do since she was a small child. Viewers were all cheering for her. Of all her granddaughters, Whitney was the one least like her, which may be why GG adored her.

Danielle, or Dani as she liked to be called, was the most outgoing of the three girls with a pleasant nature that people welcomed. With honey-colored hair and bright-blue eyes, she wasn’t the least bit musical like Whitney. But she was talented when it came to drawing. That, and helping her adoptive father build a playhouse when she was young had led her to the field of architecture. Dani’s independence and determination matched GG’s own. Both Whitney and Dani had been adopted by her mother’s second husband, Taylor’s father, whom they all adored.

Taylor was the youngest at twenty-five and the quietest. Pretty, with long black hair and dark eyes, she sometimes felt left out by her older half-sisters who looked nothing like her, making her feel different because they had different birth fathers. Books were her way of coping from a young age. Taylor wrote romance novels under the pen name Taylor Castle and was very good at it. GG had read and loved every page of them, delighted Taylor shared a romantic streak with her.

Regardless of what they were doing, GG hoped the girls would honor her wishes and help keep a promise to her father to hold onto the family land—something she herself wasn’t able to do as she’d wanted. She’d never considered aging a problem. But now, suffering from congestive heart failure, she was forced to acknowledge that life, indeed, was one big circle.

DANI

Danielle “Dani” Gilford drove to Lilac Lake from Boston, where she lived in her downtown condo, wondering why her grandmother had insisted that she come there for this specific weekend. It wasn’t a long trip, though, and one she was happy to make in late May before the summer crowds hit the Lakes Region of New Hampshire en masse. She needed this break. She’d fought hard for a degree in Architectural Studies from MIT, and until recently, she’d enjoyed her job with a respected firm in Boston. But lately, she’d begun to realize that she was never going to shake off the unspoken discrimination she endured because she was a woman. Oh, the men were trained enough to be careful of how they said things. Jobs used to be assigned fairly. But that was changing, and she didn’t like it. No doubt they thought she’d be married and gone by now.

As she drove, her thoughts flew to her grandmother. Some people thought GG was eccentric for having kept her maiden name after marriage and becoming a widow after her husband’s death in the Vietnam War years ago. But GG had always been a free spirit. People often said Dani reminded them of GG, something that pleased her. Dani had always considered GG a fairy godmother who somehow knew when she needed to talk or feel loved. Her own mother, Laura, was not a cuddly person, and they often were at odds. Summers spent in New Hampshire either with GG or at summer camp had been a reprieve from the life Dani couldn’t fit into in Atlanta. No matter how much her mother tried, Dani was not interested in a social life there. She’d rather be doing a project or two in a workshop. The feel of a piece of smooth wood under her hand gave her more pleasure than a new dress or, heaven forbid, a hairdo that was way too fussy for her.

GG had told Dani she loved that she was different from many young women her age. She was proud that Dani marched to her own tune. The fact that Dani had earned a master’s degree in architecture was proof she went after what she wanted.

Her mother had worried with all that hard work studying, Dani wouldn’t have time to meet any eligible men. Thinking of that now, Dani chuckled softly. She worked with men all the time. But at thirty, she was growing tired of competing with them to get the same recognition and opportunities. She hoped a visit to Lilac Lake would help put things in perspective. If the time came when she could pull in one last big project at the firm to prove herself, she’d complete the job and leave.

TAYLOR

Taylor Gilford wended her way through the traffic at Boston’s Logan International Airport, into the Sumner Tunnel under Boston Harbor, and onto I-93 to head north to New Hampshire. The trip to Lilac Lake would take a little over two and a half hours—time she intended to use to try and plot a scene in her next book. At twenty-five, she had a growing readership demanding more and more of her sweet romance stories. She’d been surprised when people loved her first book. But then, she’d been a reader and a romantic from the time she was young, turning to books for the companionship she lacked in her life. As the younger half-sister of two beautiful, strong, independent girls, she hadn’t always felt as if she fit in. Whitney, the dramatic one with a ton of friends, and Dani, the tomboy who loved sports, weren’t mean to her; they sometimes simply forgot she was around.

There was nothing worse to Taylor than having her mother prompt others to notice her or ask them to include her in their activities. Rather than irritate them, Taylor chose to lose herself in a book. GG had always understood Taylor’s need to be independent in a different, quiet way and had encouraged her to write from an early age. Taylor would always be grateful. Now if she could only have the courage to go after love like the heroines in her books, she’d be truly happy.

More than that, she needed to believe she could write another book. It wasn’t a case of not knowing what to write; she had plenty of ideas. But she, like some authors experienced, didn’t think she could get through the tedious process required to take another book from beginning to a satisfying end. Caught in this insecure time, she worried that everyone might think her earlier books were just flukes, that she had no talent. She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. Just think of it as one more book with a beginning, a middle, and an end, she scolded herself, feeling the knot in her chest tighten.

WHITNEY

Whitney Gilford couldn’t get to the airport fast enough. The news had broken about her split with her co-star, Zane Blanchard, and she’d be surrounded by screaming paparazzi wanting to know what happened. They adored Zane and were already calling her difficult, disloyal, and spoiled. As confused as she was about her reaction to the breakup after her agent went ahead and broke the news in social media without warning, she knew for certain she’d screwed up by being caught in such a mess. New Hampshire had been a refuge in the past. She prayed it would serve as one now.

Tears formed in her eyes as the Uber driver she’d called made his way through the traffic heading to LAX for her red-eye flight to Boston. GG had always told her to be strong, to ignore the hurtful things others said about her. But now the entire world seemed to be against her with rumors flying about how difficult she was, how Zane had told everyone he couldn’t stand her, and other such tales. And it hurt. But then the public didn’t know the details, and she had no intention of filling them in.

Perhaps it was time to have a normal life away from Hollywood. She’d loved her career and appreciated all she’d been given in a job most others envied. But something was happening to her and those around her; something she didn’t like. What she needed was to get away and think. From there, time would tell if she was right. Lately GG had been more on her mind. She couldn’t wait to relax and do nothing but breathe in the fresh New Hampshire air. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

Have you ever been in a situation where the people around you would not recognize your contribution or talents? Dani knew she was as talented or more so than others in the office.

Do you think women today are being treated fairly in business? Or are we gaining strides? How many women do you see in business and in government. Do you think the time is coming for a female president?

The Hollywood scene has for years blamed the woman in a sexual situation out of control. Do you think the Me-Too movement is really changing that?

Have you ever wanted to run a hotel, an inn, or a bed and breakfast place? If so, where would it be? New England is filled with charming inns.

Would you ever consider living with your siblings? Renovate a property with them?

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