He'd only planned to run away from home, but when eight year old David Hampton is almost run over by a speeding car in downtown Sausalito and rescued by a beautiful woman with a man's name, his plans change. The one thing he has always wanted was a mom and decides Michael McCall is the mom he wants. All he has to do is convince his dad, and Mrs. McCall, but David has no way of knowing that Michael is a mom, or she was, until a tragic accident took her son and husband two years ago, or that she has refused to grieve and eventually suffered a physical and mental breakdown. Her best friend, Sarah, has checked her out of the hospital and into a cottage in Sausalito, California, to recuperate.
David thinks it should be easy, but sparks fly when Michael and David's father, Dr. Richard Hampton, meet. The uptight doctor does not want her parenting advice at the time, but changes his mind and offers her a job as David's "companion" the next day.
Yes, it should be easy, but unlike stories with happy endings, this is not a fairy tale; this is real life. It does not take long before Professor Michael McCall and Dr. Richard Hampton are at odds with each other, even as they try to deny the fire that ignites into an immediate desire so intense that it threatens to destroy their path to happy-ever-after, a path that will demand they travel beyond their lust and the heat of their passion, a journey steeped with pain, a constant reminder of love given and lost. A journey where the past must be put away, freeing them to find the courage to reach Beyond Love.
Will Michael recover from her heartbreak and act on her feelings for Richard? And will Richard allow himself to love again after the betrayal of his ex-wife? Could the innocent expectations of David be their guide?
About the Author: Barbara J. Duell is part Cherokee and part Seneca. She has lived by the sea, high in the pine forest, and in a valley near the river's edge. She now calls the southwestern desert home, where she lives with her youngest son and two small dogs, all of which remind her daily how blessed she is.
A nomad at heart, Duell believes that life is a gift from the Great Spirit and love is worthy of our whole selves. Beyond Love is her fictional response to the question: What is love and why do we look for it?
