Part 27 (1/2)

”The witch,” Sarah observed. The Callahans were spending New Year's with Gabe's family in Texas.

”Happy New Year, my dears,” Celeste called out as she joined them. ”Isn't it a lovely day?”

”It's ten degrees, Celeste,” Sage protested.

”A gorgeous ten. Have you ever seen a more brilliant blue sky?”

As the quartet resumed walking, Sage glanced at the basket Celeste carried. ”What's that?”

”A little restaurant-warming gift for Ali,” Celeste replied. ”You'll want to see this.”

She rustled among the contents and removed a small shadow box. Inside it, hanging from a suns.h.i.+ne-yellow ribbon, was one of the Angel's Rest blazons that Sage had designed and Celeste gifted to those for whom Angel's Rest had worked its healing magic.

”That's so pretty,” Sarah said.

Sage grinned. ”I like how you've used it on a ribbon instead of a necklace. That's for Ali, I a.s.sume?”

”Yes.”

Sarah stared at the angel's wing medal and knew a yearning so deep and so sharp that it bordered on painful. ”It's beautiful, Celeste. I want one of those. Nic and Sage and Ali all have one. When do I get mine?”

Celeste halted in midstep. She turned to face the others and, her arm extended in presentation, turned in a slow circle. ”Look around you, Sarah Reese. See the brilliant blue sky above and the snow-decked mountains around us. Smell the heavenly scents of pine and wood smoke and Italian spices on the air. Listen to the gentle winter wind. Can you hear it?”

Sarah saw and smelled and listened, and a lump formed in her throat. ”It's Mac and Ali and their kids.”

”Joyous laughter of a loving family at peace.” Celeste smiled gently, winked at the Raffertys, then linked her arm with Sarah's. ”You have lived in Eternity Springs all of your life, Sarah Reese. Whether you've been aware of it or not, that is a blessing that those around you envy.”

”I know I'm lucky,” Sarah said.

”Then give thanks for your blessings, my dear friend. Open your heart to all of life's possibilities. It's a new year. A new world. Rest a.s.sured that your turn is coming.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

New beginnings are exciting things. For this one, I'd especially like to thank my awesome, talented, oh-so-keen-eyed editor, Kate Collins, and my agents, Meg Ruley and Christina Hogrebe, for their support and guidance and belief in this series. You ladies rock. Special thanks to Lynn Andreozzi for the spectacular cover designs for the Eternity Springs series. I love this look! Also, tremendous thanks to my dear friends Scott and Christina Ham, who knew just the motivation to give me to find my way to Eternity Springs, and to Mary d.i.c.kerson for being my reader, my red-liner, and most important, my friend.

Read on for an excerpt from

LOVER'S LEAP by EMILY MARCH.

Published by Ballantine Books

ONE.

Near Cairns, Australia ”Mom! Hurry up,” Lori Reese urged, sounding more like a six-year-old than a young woman in college. ”We don't want to be late!”

At the sound of her daughter's voice, Sarah Reese rolled over in bed, buried her face in the thick, downy pillow, and contemplated how many banks she'd have to rob in order to afford a return trip to this resort. She and Lori were nearing the end of their two-week, all-expenses-paid Australian vacation, and the experience had given her a tantalizing taste of traveling in the lap of luxury.

”Ten more minutes,” she mumbled into her pillow. This bed was heaven.

”It's already 6:15.”

The bus to the marina didn't pick them up until 7:00 and getting ready would take fifteen minutes, tops. ”Five more minutes.”

Indulgent frustration laced Lori's voice. ”When exactly did we switch roles? I think it must have been the first day of the trip when you spent half of that interminable plane ride flirting with the man across the aisle.”

Sarah grinned, then lazily rolled her head and looked at her daughter. ”I was just being friendly. He was the one doing all the flirting.”

”Yeah, right.” Lori's eyes gleamed with amus.e.m.e.nt as they made an exaggerated roll. ”Okay, here's the deal. I'm going to head over to the lobby and get two cups of coffee. If you're not out of bed by the time I come back, I'll drink both of them.”

Sarah scowled. ”Obviously, I didn't spank you enough when you were little.”

Laughing, Lori finger-waved good-bye, and a moment later, Sarah heard the door to their suite softly close. She gave a wistful sigh, rolled onto her back, and sat up.

Her reluctance to rise had more to do with the fact that today was the last day of their dream-of-a-lifetime vacation than with fatigue. They'd had an absolutely, positively wonderful trip, seeing enough of the country to give them a taste of it, but not so much that they'd felt rushed. They'd spent the past three nights here at this magnificent resort on the Coral Sea, and today, they would ice their vacation cake with a catamaran trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

Sarah lifted her arms above her head and stretched as she gazed out through gla.s.s-pane French doors, past the verandah with its private spa tub, and across the golden sand beach toward the turquoise sea. Crossing to the doors, she pushed them open and inhaled deeply the fresh morning air as she took a moment to count her blessings. This trip had been the grand prize in a contest sponsored by Angel's Rest, the healing center and spa owned by her friend Celeste Blessing in the little Colorado mountain town where they lived, Eternity Springs. At home, a foot of snow covered the ground, and the thermometer flirted daily with 0. As the warm, seaside breeze softly stirred, Sarah murmured, ”I still can't believe I'm here.”

She'd dreamed of visiting Australia for a long time. Back in high school, she and Cam Murphy had spent hours stretched out on a quilt up at their favorite make-out spot, Lover's Leap, and planned how they would travel the world together. They'd talked of backpacking across Europe, exploring the pyramids of Egypt, and, most exciting of all, diving the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, life had taken a pair of unexpected turns their junior year, and youthful dreams had faded in the face of stark, cold reality.

She wished one of those realities would hurry back with the coffee.

Sarah turned away from the breathtaking view and headed into the bathroom. When she emerged showered and dressed ten minutes later, she spied Lori seated outside on the verandah. Two cups of coffee and two huge cinnamon rolls waited on the small round table in front of her.

”You are both wonderful and wicked, my child,” Sarah told her, taking her seat. ”I'll gain two pounds just looking at that roll.”

”Nah, we have a strenuous day ahead of us. We need the calories. Besides, you need to check out the compet.i.tion. You might want to tweak your recipe for the cinnamon rolls you make for the Mocha Moose.”

Sarah sipped her coffee and lifted her brows in disdain. ”My cinnamon roll recipe doesn't need to be tweaked, thank you very much.”