The In-Between Hour

The In-Between Hour
Barbara Claypole White

What could be worse than losing your child? Having to pretend he’s still alive…Bestselling author Will Shepard is caught in the twilight of grief, after his young son dies in a car accident. But when his father’s aging mind erases the memory, Will rewrites the truth. The story he spins brings unexpected relief…until he’s forced to return to rural North Carolina, trapping himself in a lie.Holistic veterinarian Hannah Linden is a healer who opens her heart to strays but can only watch, powerless, as her grown son struggles with inner demons. When she rents her guest cottage to Will and his dad, she finds solace in trying to mend their broken world, even while her own shatters.As their lives connect and collide, Will and Hannah become each other’s only hope—if they can find their way into a new story, one that begins with love.“A moving story about the challenges of OCD and grief combined with the power of the human spirit to find love in the most unlikely of places.” —Eye on Romance on The Unfinished Garden

What could be worse than losing your child?

Having to pretend he’s still alive...

Bestselling author Will Shepard is caught in the twilight of grief, after his young son dies in a car accident. But when his father’s aging mind erases the memory, Will rewrites the truth. The story he spins brings unexpected relief…until he’s forced to return to rural North Carolina, trapping himself in a lie.

Holistic veterinarian Hannah Linden is a healer who opens her heart to strays but can only watch, powerless, as her grown son struggles with inner demons. When she rents her guest cottage to Will and his dad, she finds solace in trying to mend their broken world, even while her own shatters.

As their lives connect and collide, Will and Hannah become each other’s only hope—if they can find their way into a new story, one that begins with love.

Praise for Barbara Claypole White’s debut novel,

The Unfinished Garden

“I learned so much about myself from this story—that fear doesn’t have to hold me back, but rather, it can move me forward. The Unfinished Garden is a touching and accomplished debut.”

—Diane Chamberlain, bestselling author of The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

“White…conveys the condition of OCD, and how it creates havoc in one’s life and the lives of loved ones, with style and grace, never underplaying the seriousness of the disorder.”

—RT Book Reviews

“A powerful story of friendship and courage in the midst of frightening circumstances….I highly recommend this wonderful love story.”

—Bergers’ Book Reviews

“A mesmerizing tale of fear, loss, and love. Tilly and James are richly drawn and wonderfully flawed characters who embody the contradictions and imperfections that exist in all of us. Barbara Claypole White has created a novel as beautiful and complex, dark and light, sweet and sensuous as Tilly’s beloved garden.”

—Joanne Rendell, author of The Professors’ Wives’ Club

“Barbara Claypole White has created such a likable, adorable, entertaining main character that I never wanted this book to end.”

—Lydia Netzer, author of Shine Shine Shine

“I found the writing style in The Unfinished Garden reminiscent of Rosamunde and Robin Pilcher. As a fan of both, I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to many more from Barbara Claypole White.”

—Julie Kibler, author of Calling Me Home

The

In-Between

Hour

Barbara Claypole White

www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)

For my sister, Susan Rose

And for my friend Leslie Gildersleeve

Do you know me in the gloaming,

Gaunt and dusty gray with roaming?

—From “Flower-Gathering” by Robert Frost

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

—Helen Keller

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Occoneechee Mountain became a North Carolina State Natural Area in 1999. Rising above the Eno River, the summit is the highest point between the town of Hillsborough, Orange County, and the Atlantic Ocean. Rare plants growing on the mountain and the presence of the brown elfin butterfly suggest the habitat has changed little since the last Ice Age.

The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation is a small Native American community located primarily in Pleasant Grove, Alamance County. In 2002, it won state recognition as North Carolina’s eighth official Indian tribe.

The seventeenth-century Occaneechi village in Hills­borough was excavated between 1983 and 1995. The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation held its first powwow there in 1995, and John Blackfeather blessed the ground in 1997. Reconstruction of the village began shortly afterward and was completed in 2004. The village has been moved to the ancestral lands in Pleasant Grove.

For information on the Occaneechi Homeland Preservation Project, please visit www.obsn.org (http://www.obsn.org).

For information on the Occaneechi Path, also called the Indian Trading Path, please visit tradingpath.org (http://tradingpath.org).

Contents

Chapter One (#ud9271b93-6f89-510a-9e90-38427f6ab106)

Chapter Two (#u0eb24410-41a5-59cf-be56-67a92c6d0bb9)

Chapter Three (#u97f715c7-e93c-5b26-8f40-4bf8a0a53d1d)

Chapter Four (#u55886955-c290-531c-80e5-a1269cf0fed9)

Chapter Five (#u4227522d-c0b4-59a2-a832-6d6b960b8f7c)

Chapter Six (#u785b4d4c-d2aa-5bd0-9c39-c7b75c2771ea)

Chapter Seven (#ue171a07c-678d-53f2-a413-47cef7c8c8ac)

Chapter Eight (#u7cae7c05-1ba7-53ab-b134-da0756f94da2)

Chapter Nine (#u420ec2d3-9f44-53de-a2c1-8c53a42c483e)

Chapter Ten (#u83f1a5f4-f39a-5715-9128-d922f32c0e56)