THE EMPTY CHAIR AT HER SISTER’S WEDDING WAS SUPPOSED TO PROVE HER FIANCÉ HAD LEFT HER—BUT WHEN A QUIET STRANGER SAT BESIDE HER, KORA NEVER IMAGINED HE OWNED THE HOTEL, OR THAT HIS FAMILY WAS ALREADY PLANNING THE MARRIAGE THAT COULD DESTROY THEM BOTH

high school music teacher from a town two hours north, had played at every wedding Kora could remember from childhood. He used to say any wedding worth attending should open its slow set with something a child could fall asleep to.

Tessa had been three when their father first taught her to sit on his knee for that lullaby and pretend to fall asleep continue reading …