A book in the Protectors series, 2003

Grace watched Dean bouncing their baby daughter on his knee. Emma Lynn's soft blond curls peeked out from beneath her pale pink bonnet and her big blue eyes sparkled with laughter. Emma Lynn loved her daddy. Grace's heart swelled with pride. She had given this precious gift to the man she loved, and in the years to come, perhaps a brother and a sister would join their perfect family. Life was so incredibly wonderful, so rich and full and delicious. Grace thanked the good Lord every day for her many blessings.

When Dean set his daughter on her feet, she toddled precariously across the green lawn, moving directly toward the tall, elegant, silver-haired man who held his arms open for her.

"Pa…aa," Emma Lynn said as her grandfather swept her up into his big, strong arms, the same masterful arms that had held and protected Grace all her life.

"How's my big girl, my little moonbeam?" Byram Sheffield planted a kiss on his granddaughter's forehead.

Emma Lynn began jabbering, some of her words quite distinct while others only mimicked the English language.

Grace lifted a glass of lemonade from the wicker table beside her ornate white wicker rocker. She loved this time of day, early evening on the back veranda. The day's hot, humid swelter had faded into a warm, moist twilight. She'd been born and raised in this old Louisiana mansion that had once ruled a thousand acres of the Belle Foret plantation. Six generations of her family had lived and died in La Durantaye parish and she and both her parents had been born right here in St. Camille. Her roots ran deep in this rich, fertile earth. Dean and she would raise Emma Lynn to cherish her heritage, yet teach her to become her own woman, with a vision for the future.