When financier Penny Ruskin returns to Walhalla, South Carolina, she has one purpose—to settle her grandmother's estate and sell the Victorian house she grew up in. Not an easy task with the downturned economy. When she loses her job in the state capital, what other choice does she have but to stay in Walhalla until she finds work? She can only hope it won't take long. Walhalla is Tommy McAllister's life. Between his family's feed-and-seed store and the bank he's vice president of, he's stretched thin trying to survive the recession. But when a girl he hasn't seen since high school breezes back into town, he's ready to push himself even further to help her feel at home and convince her to stay. He reaches out to Penny, but the last thing she wants is to be trapped in a small town that holds painful memories—one dark secret in particular. The town matchmaker and bank manager, Miss Betty, a motherless teen Emma who lives down the lane from Penny, and the church ladies of Walhalla's First Baptist add both heartwarming and challenging moments to Penny's life. With the past dogging Penny's steps, dredging up painful memories she's tried to outrun, relatives threaten the future she has begun to hope for...But somewhere deep inside her, a spark of hope remains. Tommy isn't the only one praying for a miracle. Return to Walhalla by Laura Hodges Poole
