Prodigal Daughter

Prodigal Daughter
Patricia Davids

THE DAVIS LANDING OBSERVER THE GOSSIP GURU…hears Hamilton daughter Melissa, who'd disappeared not long after her father's first medical crisis, has finally come home - pregnant! This news certainly won't help her father, Wallace, as he once again recuperates in the hospital.Word is she's been staying at Hamilton Media attorney Richard McNeil's home, along with his sister, her husband and their kids. With all those people in the McNeil household, is there time for romance between prodigal Melissa and newly rededicated Christian heartthrob Richard?Keep checking Page 5 for updates!

“If I can help, you know I will,”

Richard said gently.

He sounded sincere. Melissa was tempted to confide in him, to share her troubles, but she held back. “Thanks, Mr. McNeil.”

“You used to call me Richard.”

“And you used to call me brat.”

He chuckled. “Not to your face.”

She smiled for the first time in days. “No, not to my face, but I knew you disapproved of me.”

Turning in his seat to face her, he said, “I never disapproved of you, Melissa, but sometimes I disapproved of the things you did.”

She couldn’t meet his gaze. “The wildest Hamilton kid has a news flash for you, Richard. Recently I’ve done a lot of things you wouldn’t approve of. Making mistakes seems to have become my forte.”

“People can change, Melissa. It’s not too late.”

“I hope you’re right.”

DAVIS LANDING:

Nothing is stronger than a family’s love

PATRICIA DAVIDS

was born and raised in the farm and ranch country of central Kansas. As a tomboy with four brothers, Pat spent an idyllic childhood where horses, softball, church activities and books formed the foundations of her rich imagination. Today Pat works as an R.N. in the NICU, spoils her grandkids and tries to find time to write down the stories roaming around in her head. She is president of her local RWA chapter and believes that helping new writers learn the craft is the best way to repay the people who helped her. After seven years of writing, she sold her first book to Steeple Hill in June of 2004. Dreams do come true—as long as you chase after them with hard work, determination and faith.

Prodigal Daughter

Patricia Davids

To my daughter, Kathy, with all my love.

Thank you for the precious gifts of Joshua and Shantel and for being my best friend.

“There is hope for your future,” declares the Lord,

“and your children will return to their own territory.”

—Jeremiah 31:17

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Letter to Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

“Y’all be careful up there, sugar.” The elderly woman’s rich Tennessee drawl slid off each word the way warm honey slips off a spoon.

Richard McNeil glanced down at his great-aunt. At eighty-eight, Lettie was still a spry lady who faced life with wit, humor and an abiding love for her family. Today, she wore her favorite pale blue cotton print dress and a thin blue sweater tied over her slightly stooped shoulders. Her snow-white hair was styled into old-fashioned waves, and she had a death grip on the side of the rickety folding ladder he stood on.

“I’ll be fine, Aunt Lettie, but maybe you should move away…just in case.”

She scurried to the other side of the camel back sofa with amazing speed for a woman her age.