For the Love of Emma

Everyone loved Emma. Her daughters, Kate and Caroline, learn how beloved she was when they sort through their mother’s belongings after her death. They discover a bundle of old letters and find their father was not their mother’s first love. We learn as the story progresses, shifting into Emma’s point of view, that she was beloved of many. But she remained faithful to one man.

Finding Emma’s love letters, along with a mysterious rose left at her gravesite, turns the two sisters into detectives. They interview older townspeople and visit gravesites to solve the mystery of their mother’s secret love. As the story shifts into the past, the reader learns of Emma’s fateful meeting with Sergeant Noah Anderson at the Rainbow Diner, where she waitressed. Noah is recovering from a service-related back injury and must return home miles away to heal. They keep their love and dreams of marriage alive through their correspondence.

The story has religious undertones, with frequent references to scripture and prayer. Church plays a large role in the social life of the main characters, as is true of many towns in the South. At times, just how loved Emma is strains credulity, but the story makes a bittersweet romance for a lazy, warm Southern day.