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Legacy
A skittish packhorse stood over his fallen rider
"Hello, sweet Carolyn," sighed the delirious man she found. He not only knew her name, he had the photograph she'd thought lost with her husband in a South-East Asian prisoner-of-war camp.
But as soon as she read the label on the pills tucked inside his saddlebags, she knew. He was Big Mike Flemming, the man her son was named after, the stranger her husband had willed his half of their Rocky Mountain retreat to.
Yet after the initial shock Carolyn found she did not mind sharing the peaceful mountain air with this man. Somehow, it seemed so right - as if it were meant to be...
"Hello, sweet Carolyn," sighed the delirious man she found. He not only knew her name, he had the photograph she'd thought lost with her husband in a South-East Asian prisoner-of-war camp.
But as soon as she read the label on the pills tucked inside his saddlebags, she knew. He was Big Mike Flemming, the man her son was named after, the stranger her husband had willed his half of their Rocky Mountain retreat to.
Yet after the initial shock Carolyn found she did not mind sharing the peaceful mountain air with this man. Somehow, it seemed so right - as if it were meant to be...
189 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 18, 2012
This is the first time I can remember where I honestly thought the hero of a romance novel was truely off his rocker. It was written in 1985 and the hero had been a POW in Vietnam. It is 10 years after he managed to escape and he meets up with the widow of his best friend who had died while in the prison camp. The heroine's dead husband, David, had left half of their mountain cabin to Mike Flemming, his best buddy in the army and the man who David and Carolyn's son was named after. They had both vacationed at the cabin but this was the first time they were both there at the same time. The 10 year old son Michael was there too. She falls in love with Mike very fast stretching my willing suspension of disbelief but it was explained that as she and David had been so alike that it was natural that she would love anyone he had loved.
Mike on the other hand was all over the place. He was hot for her, he pushed her away, he was gentle, he was chauvanistic, he accused her of cheating on David. He had picked up some exotic bug in Vietnam and became delirious if he skipped his meds which he did. He had PTSD so bad he couldn't remember half the time that David was dead.
She had recovered from her husband's death and was a very patient and kind and wise woman. She dealt the best she could with Mike's inconsistencies. A little at a time she helped him get his head on straight and accept that it wasn't a betrayal of David to love his wife which he had done for years since David had spoken of her so often while they were at war together.
A very fulfilling read. And an interesting take on PTSD before we were all so aware of it. Odd how these older HPs seemd to have so much more meat to them than the more modern ones.
Mike on the other hand was all over the place. He was hot for her, he pushed her away, he was gentle, he was chauvanistic, he accused her of cheating on David. He had picked up some exotic bug in Vietnam and became delirious if he skipped his meds which he did. He had PTSD so bad he couldn't remember half the time that David was dead.
She had recovered from her husband's death and was a very patient and kind and wise woman. She dealt the best she could with Mike's inconsistencies. A little at a time she helped him get his head on straight and accept that it wasn't a betrayal of David to love his wife which he had done for years since David had spoken of her so often while they were at war together.
A very fulfilling read. And an interesting take on PTSD before we were all so aware of it. Odd how these older HPs seemd to have so much more meat to them than the more modern ones.
March 6, 2016
RE Legacy - DR doesn't write very much, but she does write a very nice story. This book is nice, and pretty relaxing if you like remote mountain cabins and an h who is getting a doctorate in Eastern Asian Philosophy. There aren't any little zenny quotes though, the h has been a widow with a son for 10 years and they are having a spring break holiday in the cabin that she and her husband built when they received the land as a wedding gift,
It is very obvious that the h had a very good marriage, she was very much in love with her husband and she grieved terribly when he disappeared on a military op in SE Asia, yet she has made a good recovery and refuses to let the loss of her love ruin her life. She is a good mum and was also once engaged, she broke it off because she did not have the spark with the new guy but they are still good friends.
The h and her son are doing their cabin thing when the h gets a feeling they are in for a spring blizzard. The h's husband used to tease her about her weather sense, but she is never wrong. They are getting things ready for the storm, the cabin is very basic with no electricity but they do have a water pump in the cabin and a bathroom - they just need to feed the horses in the barn and bring in a lot of wood for their central heating fireplace.
They find a man being drug by his horse on the ground by the barn and they manage to get him inside. The h feels like she knows him and wonders at the sense of connection, as she has never seen him before in her life. When he gets into the cabin, he suddenly wakes up but it soon becomes clear that he has no idear where he is. He is barking out orders like an army sergeant and the h realizes he is seriously ill.
They get him into the cabin's only bed and the h proceeds with the sponging, (this was not PJ sponging though the h was having some thoughts - she hasn't been close to a naked manly chest for quite awhile and the man has a good one.) The h and her son get some aspirin and liquids down him, but the h is getting worried - the cabin has no phone, is only accessible by horseback or hiking and help is a very long way away. The h and her son wind up sleeping in the bed with the man to share body heat when he starts having serious chills.
They get him through the night and his fever comes down. The man woke up once, looked at her and called her by her name. The h is shocked he knew her. The h still has no clue who he is, so she goes through his wallet. All she finds is money and a picture of her and her newborn son she sent to her husband on their first day home from the hospital. The H is now awake and over breakfast, the h finds out he has medication for his illness. She gets it out of his saddlebag and realizes that this was the man her husband wrote to her about as being his best friend and that he left the man half of their cabin and land on the mountain.
The h did not understand why her husband did that, but she respected his wishes. She does spend a bit of time wondering at the relationship because her husband was not really close to anybody in his unit, and his leaving the land was really out of character for him, but she thinks the husband must have had the same kind of connection to the man that she felt when she first saw him and for some reason she instinctively trusts him.
The trust is pretty odd, because the man is pretty snide to her when he is not delirious. Now that the h knows who the man is, she introduces her son to him as the man the boy is named after at his father's request. The H says he never meant to meet them, he thought she wouldn't want the memories, but he does describe the last bits of the husband's life and it was really, really sad. He also gave the h the message the husband wanted passed on to her before he died, "Tell her it is alright."
Neither the h nor the H can make any sense out of it, but the h reflects that maybe the husband meant that he was at peace with his life and the end of it and that she was to accept it too. She also thinks of how her husband had always planned for every eventuality and feels reassured that she loved a good man. The H seems to act like she betrayed her husband and the h doesn't understand that, but works hard at establishing a friendship with the H, and he and the son really bond.
Over the course of the next few weeks, the H and h and son seem to form almost a family of sorts. They also notice bear tracks getting closer and closer to the cabin and the h falls in love with the H. Then one day the bear gets IN the cabin and tears it up. The h is panicked because smoke is pouring out of the cabin and her son was inside. (Bears look pretty cute, but they will rip your face off.) The H runs in to save the son, he doesn't find the son, but he does find and remove a sleeping bag that the bear knocked into the fire. The bear has run off and the son went out the bathroom window, so everyone is safe and the h flings her arms around the H and tells him she loves him.
He berates her and rejects her pretty firmly. The h and son leave the next day and the h is getting on with life, when the son mentions that the H is coming to take him fishing in a few hours. He forgot to tell his mum before and the h and her former fiance are working on her old car. The H shows up and he and the ex-fiance give each other a few looks but wind up getting along great.
The H and son take off, the ex asks the out to a rock concert and the h dresses up and has a good time. When she gets home, the H is there. The son got a stomach virus, so he brought him home. The H is mad she was out with the ex and angry passion turns to plain ole' passion and they wind up in bed. After which the H remarks that the ex missed out and the h kicks him out of her home and her life. She and the ex really are just friends and the H is the first man she has wanted to sleep with since her husband died.
The weeks go by and the son is getting sadder and sadder, he is missing the H and when he writes to the H via the H's lawyer, he gets no response. The H was a big oil rig equipment provider and suddenly sold all his holdings. He is really rich but doesn't have a permanent address. The h is pregnant from that one night and needs to find the H. Her son gives her the address he has and she promises she will contact the H and get him to call. The h feels bad for kicking the H out of her son's life too.
She writes and in response gets a letter that indicates something is seriously wrong with the H and the deed to the cabin dated for transfer five days from the letter. The h thinks maybe the medication isn't working on his long term fever illness and figures out the H is at the cabin. She rushes up and finds the H laying on the ground. She thinks he is dead, but he was just getting water from the stream. The h is pretty mad and questions him, he admits the letter was a ruse to test how much she really cared.
The H then confesses that the stories the dead hubby told him during their interment made him fall in love with her. The husband had left his picture on the H's bed when he was being carried off to die and the H felt tremendous guilt cause he used those stories to survive being a POW, but he felt like he was having an affair on his best friend with his wife. It took him a long time to figure out that she did not even know him, it was all on his side. So when the h confessed she loved him, he reacted badly cause he figured they were betraying the dead husband.
The h knows he is wrong, but doesn't know how to explain it. She then figures out the message the husband gave the H meant that he was hoping the H and h would get together after his death. He tried to fix it by leaving half the cabin and that message was to let her know he approved of her moving on with the H. The H finally believes he isn't being disloyal and is now going to become a wood carver and he and the h and the son and the new baby are all going to live HEA in the cabin, after he puts a few more rooms on.
This is a just-visiting-HPlandia couple, they were really too nice to make a home there and a remote cabin with no electricity isn't exactly an HPLandia style HEA. The H is getting a generator though and I guess the kids will do home schooling or something. Anyhows it was a nice, sweet story and the H wasn't really a jerk or overly obnoxious.
The h was pure class and a really sweet but strong person and it was nice to read a romance where the dead husband was given due respect and love instead of being a jerk or rotten. The H was suitably tormented and the love was pretty believable, all in all this is an interesting little break from the usual and DR does write a nice story with a sweet ending.
It is very obvious that the h had a very good marriage, she was very much in love with her husband and she grieved terribly when he disappeared on a military op in SE Asia, yet she has made a good recovery and refuses to let the loss of her love ruin her life. She is a good mum and was also once engaged, she broke it off because she did not have the spark with the new guy but they are still good friends.
The h and her son are doing their cabin thing when the h gets a feeling they are in for a spring blizzard. The h's husband used to tease her about her weather sense, but she is never wrong. They are getting things ready for the storm, the cabin is very basic with no electricity but they do have a water pump in the cabin and a bathroom - they just need to feed the horses in the barn and bring in a lot of wood for their central heating fireplace.
They find a man being drug by his horse on the ground by the barn and they manage to get him inside. The h feels like she knows him and wonders at the sense of connection, as she has never seen him before in her life. When he gets into the cabin, he suddenly wakes up but it soon becomes clear that he has no idear where he is. He is barking out orders like an army sergeant and the h realizes he is seriously ill.
They get him into the cabin's only bed and the h proceeds with the sponging, (this was not PJ sponging though the h was having some thoughts - she hasn't been close to a naked manly chest for quite awhile and the man has a good one.) The h and her son get some aspirin and liquids down him, but the h is getting worried - the cabin has no phone, is only accessible by horseback or hiking and help is a very long way away. The h and her son wind up sleeping in the bed with the man to share body heat when he starts having serious chills.
They get him through the night and his fever comes down. The man woke up once, looked at her and called her by her name. The h is shocked he knew her. The h still has no clue who he is, so she goes through his wallet. All she finds is money and a picture of her and her newborn son she sent to her husband on their first day home from the hospital. The H is now awake and over breakfast, the h finds out he has medication for his illness. She gets it out of his saddlebag and realizes that this was the man her husband wrote to her about as being his best friend and that he left the man half of their cabin and land on the mountain.
The h did not understand why her husband did that, but she respected his wishes. She does spend a bit of time wondering at the relationship because her husband was not really close to anybody in his unit, and his leaving the land was really out of character for him, but she thinks the husband must have had the same kind of connection to the man that she felt when she first saw him and for some reason she instinctively trusts him.
The trust is pretty odd, because the man is pretty snide to her when he is not delirious. Now that the h knows who the man is, she introduces her son to him as the man the boy is named after at his father's request. The H says he never meant to meet them, he thought she wouldn't want the memories, but he does describe the last bits of the husband's life and it was really, really sad. He also gave the h the message the husband wanted passed on to her before he died, "Tell her it is alright."
Neither the h nor the H can make any sense out of it, but the h reflects that maybe the husband meant that he was at peace with his life and the end of it and that she was to accept it too. She also thinks of how her husband had always planned for every eventuality and feels reassured that she loved a good man. The H seems to act like she betrayed her husband and the h doesn't understand that, but works hard at establishing a friendship with the H, and he and the son really bond.
Over the course of the next few weeks, the H and h and son seem to form almost a family of sorts. They also notice bear tracks getting closer and closer to the cabin and the h falls in love with the H. Then one day the bear gets IN the cabin and tears it up. The h is panicked because smoke is pouring out of the cabin and her son was inside. (Bears look pretty cute, but they will rip your face off.) The H runs in to save the son, he doesn't find the son, but he does find and remove a sleeping bag that the bear knocked into the fire. The bear has run off and the son went out the bathroom window, so everyone is safe and the h flings her arms around the H and tells him she loves him.
He berates her and rejects her pretty firmly. The h and son leave the next day and the h is getting on with life, when the son mentions that the H is coming to take him fishing in a few hours. He forgot to tell his mum before and the h and her former fiance are working on her old car. The H shows up and he and the ex-fiance give each other a few looks but wind up getting along great.
The H and son take off, the ex asks the out to a rock concert and the h dresses up and has a good time. When she gets home, the H is there. The son got a stomach virus, so he brought him home. The H is mad she was out with the ex and angry passion turns to plain ole' passion and they wind up in bed. After which the H remarks that the ex missed out and the h kicks him out of her home and her life. She and the ex really are just friends and the H is the first man she has wanted to sleep with since her husband died.
The weeks go by and the son is getting sadder and sadder, he is missing the H and when he writes to the H via the H's lawyer, he gets no response. The H was a big oil rig equipment provider and suddenly sold all his holdings. He is really rich but doesn't have a permanent address. The h is pregnant from that one night and needs to find the H. Her son gives her the address he has and she promises she will contact the H and get him to call. The h feels bad for kicking the H out of her son's life too.
She writes and in response gets a letter that indicates something is seriously wrong with the H and the deed to the cabin dated for transfer five days from the letter. The h thinks maybe the medication isn't working on his long term fever illness and figures out the H is at the cabin. She rushes up and finds the H laying on the ground. She thinks he is dead, but he was just getting water from the stream. The h is pretty mad and questions him, he admits the letter was a ruse to test how much she really cared.
The H then confesses that the stories the dead hubby told him during their interment made him fall in love with her. The husband had left his picture on the H's bed when he was being carried off to die and the H felt tremendous guilt cause he used those stories to survive being a POW, but he felt like he was having an affair on his best friend with his wife. It took him a long time to figure out that she did not even know him, it was all on his side. So when the h confessed she loved him, he reacted badly cause he figured they were betraying the dead husband.
The h knows he is wrong, but doesn't know how to explain it. She then figures out the message the husband gave the H meant that he was hoping the H and h would get together after his death. He tried to fix it by leaving half the cabin and that message was to let her know he approved of her moving on with the H. The H finally believes he isn't being disloyal and is now going to become a wood carver and he and the h and the son and the new baby are all going to live HEA in the cabin, after he puts a few more rooms on.
This is a just-visiting-HPlandia couple, they were really too nice to make a home there and a remote cabin with no electricity isn't exactly an HPLandia style HEA. The H is getting a generator though and I guess the kids will do home schooling or something. Anyhows it was a nice, sweet story and the H wasn't really a jerk or overly obnoxious.
The h was pure class and a really sweet but strong person and it was nice to read a romance where the dead husband was given due respect and love instead of being a jerk or rotten. The H was suitably tormented and the love was pretty believable, all in all this is an interesting little break from the usual and DR does write a nice story with a sweet ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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