(cover photo found on Google Images)
The woman was sitting in her rocking chair, her hair as white as freshly-fallen snow. She hummed an old tone as she cradled a crocheted blanket around herself. The wrinkles adorning her body and the way her kindred eyes would shine, gave way to her age.
This was Elizabeth Schuyler-Hamilton, aged 97. The year was 1854, she's seen practically all.
Things she lived to see: Birth of America, political parties, the French Revolution, War of 1812, the French control of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clarke Expedition, Joseph Smith's vision(Mormons), Braille, the Trail of Tears, rising tensions between the North and South(beginnings of the Civil War), slavery, cotton gin, hydraulic press, plywood, smallpox vaccination, air compressor, the invention of the battery, the invention of the steam locomotive, Bailey & Barnum's Circus, the tin can, kerosene lamps, the stethoscope, the microphone, the typewriter, sewing machine, photography, telegraph, postage stamp, Morse Code, stapler, antisceptics, dental chair, anesthesia, dishwasher, the Oregon Trail(pioneers), etc.
Just when she's decided to leave the Town, Lady Cressida Belverst is forced to marry Lord Calan Haverston, the man who coincidentally knows a way out. Agreeing to marry for all the wrong reasons, can Cressida and Calan find out where their hearts truly belong?
***
It is impossible to leave the Town, but one woman is determined to escape with the help of her betrothed.
Lady Cressida Belverst has always been judged as a walking scandal. Oh, how she tries (on some rare occasions) to be proper! When her parents arrange for her to marry a rich lord, Cressida has had enough. She has to leave the Town because she will not be forced to live with a man she doesn't love. But what happens if the very man she's betrothed to is the only one who can help her get out?
Calan Haverston, the Lord of Easton, takes the risk and helps his betrothed by using his knowledge of the Town's secrets because he is as willing as she to stay free of marriage for reasons completely different. He has dark secrets he cannot share with her, and his life is not one he can likewise open to anyone. But what happens when she leaves after awakening desires he thought he has under control? And what happens when he finds himself longing for her?
Cressida goes to a completely different place, one she has only heard in stories and read in books, with hopes of finding what her heart has always longed for. But love, mystery and secrets will chase her and it will only be a matter of time before she realizes what her heart truly desires.
*This story is a standalone title in the Haverston Family series.