Today's Embrace
Authors: Linda Lee Chaikin
Yesterday's Promise
,
Book Two in the East of the Sun Series
“Prepare for adventure, romance, and intrigue in nineteenth-century South Africa. Linda Lee Chaikin has done her homework, exploring the world of diamonds and gold mines in the land that would become Victorian Rhodesia. A page-turner of a story told by a veteran novelist.”
âL
IZ
C
URTIS
H
IGGS
, best-selling author
of
Thorn in My Heart
“Linda Lee Chaikin never fails to deliver a dynamite story! In
Yesterday's Promise
she weaves the complications of love and history into a storyline that is a sheer joy to read. I can't wait for book three of the East of the Sun series!”
âD
IANE
N
OBLE
, award-winning author of
Phoebe
“I love, love,
love
this series by Linda Lee Chaikin! It has everything I'm looking for right now in a good readâmemorable characters, intrigue, believable romance, fascinating history. If the third in the series were out, I wouldn't be writing this â¦Â I'd be squirreled away, reading!”
âL
ISA
T
AWN
B
ERGREN
, best-selling author
of
Christmas Every Morning
Praise for
Tomorrow's Treasure
,
Book One in the East of the Sun Series
“
Tomorrow's Treasure
invites the reader to look closely at God's fatherly care for his orphans and widows, particularly those whose families were martyred on the mission field. An engaging historical novel!”
âC. H
OPE
F
LINCHBAUGH
, author of
Daughter of China
“Absorbing human drama, intriguing mystery, heart-pounding love interests, a dramatic settingâthis novel has it all, including a good message expertly woven into the greater story. I can't wait for book two!”
âL
ISA
T
AWN
B
ERGREN
, bestselling author
of
The Captain's Bride
“Adventure. Intrigue. Romance. Settle back for an enjoyable read.
Tomorrow's Treasure
is as old-world as the setting yet as contemporary as the human heart.”
âK
ATHY
H
ERMAN
, bestselling author
of The Baxter Series
“Linda Chaikin has created a wonderful page-turner with this engaging historical novel. Her sense of time and place is exquisite, her characters so real they seem ready to step right off the page. This is a story rich with conflict, triumph over adversity, and wondrous testimony to God's grace. Your heart will sing as you read.”
âD
IANE
N
OBLE
, award-winning author
of
Heart of Glass
THER
N
OVELS BY
L
INDA
L
EE
C
HAIKIN
E
AST OF THE
S
UN
S
ERIES
Tomorrow's Treasure
Yesterday's Promise
A D
AY TO
R
EMEMBER
S
ERIES
Monday's Child
Tuesday's Child
Wednesday's Child
Thursday's Child
Friday's Child
Desert Rose
Desert Star
T
ODAY'S
E
MBRACE
P
UBLISHED BY
W
ATER
B
ROOK
P
RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO 80921
Scripture quotations are taken from the
New King James Version
. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
eISBN: 978-0-307-56352-1
Copyright © 2005 by Linda Lee Chaikin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
W
ATER
B
ROOK
and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chaikin, L. L., 1943â
   Today's embrace / Linda Lee Chaikin.â 1st ed.
      p. cm. â (East of the sun; 3)
 1. BritishâSouth AfricaâFiction. 2. Mothers and daughtersâFiction. 3. Pregnant womenâFiction. 4. Ocean travelâFiction. 5. South AfricaâFiction. 6. EnglandâFiction. I. Title.
   PS3553.H2427T63 2005
   813â².54âdc22
                        2004021548
v3.1
To my readers
.
Thank you for your encouraging letters
.
May our Lord bless and keep you
.
Jude 24
HAPTER
O
NE
London
Marriage Dinner Ball at Brewster House
June 1900
Evy thought she would not be surprised by the tide of dissension that came rushing toward her after her whirlwind marriage to Rogan Chantry, heir of Rookswood Estate and future squire. Though the brewing storm was not of Rogan's making, inevitably it came, like large swells responding to outside forces.
Rogan had always been a controversial young man who attracted attention and made things happenâsometimes, whether he wished it so or not. Women seemed drawn to his arresting personality, as Evy had noticed from an early age. Evy saw it as both a gift and a distraction. While he was maturing as a young man, surface relationships had sought him out relentlessly enough to press him into his protective armor. Now she was finding that his solitary independence often shut her out, his own wife, causing her no end of frustration.
The storm began blowing into their lives at Lord and Lady Brewster's opulent mansion in London where a dinner ball was under way in celebration of the unexpected marriage. Her biological father, Lord Anthony Brewster, had arranged it in order to introduce his daughter to his grandfather, Lord Brewster.