Series
n/a; standalone
n/a; standalone
Genre
Adult
Women’s Fiction
Adult
Women’s Fiction
Publisher
William Morrow
William Morrow
Publication Date
June 16, 2020
June 16, 2020
If you love Jill Shalvis and Susan Mallery, then you
won’t want to miss this newest novel by New York Times bestselling author
Jennifer Ryan.
There’s nothing more complicated than the relationship
among family…Especially when the Silva Sisters are keeping secrets.
For Sierra it means returning home with her two little
boys after a devastating Napa wildfire takes her home, her job, and even the
last mementos of her late husband, David. Determined to start over, how can she
ever reveal the truth—that her husband may have led a double life?
To the world, Amy’s world is perfect: handsome husband,
delightful children, an Instagram-worthy home. But behind this facade lies an
awful truth: her marriage is rocky, her children resentful, her home on the
verge of breaking up.
Heather, impulsive, free-spirited, and single mom to an
adorable little girl, lives for the moment wearing a carefree smile. But she
refuses to reveal the truth about her daughter’s father, and his identity
remains a mystery even to her family.
As the Silva Sisters secrets are revealed, each realizes
that there is more to their family than meets the eyes…and forgiveness may be
the only way to move forward and reclaim true happiness at last.
Sisters and Secrets is a moving novel of sisterhood,
second chances, and the secrets that have the power to break or bond
families—and alter destinies.
SISTERS AND SECRETS
A Standalone Novel
A Standalone Novel
© 2020 Jennifer Ryan
CHAPTER ONE
Flames burned bright orange and red on both sides of the
two-lane road as they consumed and destroyed everything in their path. Homes,
businesses, multimillion-dollar vineyards. Nothing was spared as the fire
climbed over the Napa Valley hills, unrelenting in its destruction. Sierra
prayed it spared everyone on the road leading out, especially her sons.
She drove, heart pounding, fear amped to infinity, with her
clammy palms locked on the steering wheel. Bumper to bumper, traffic moved at a
snail’s pace. Like her, the other residents had been notified too late to
gradually evacuate. The sheer number of people trying to escape all at once
down a single lane prevented them from racing away from the flames. The other
lane was left open to emergency vehicles that occasionally sped into the belly
of the beast. Everyone had to feel exactly like her: desperate to flee before
this dark and dangerous road became their grave.
She loved watching the flames dance in her woodburning
stove, but driving through a wildfire made her feel like she was inside an
inferno. Trapped. A wave of terror shot through her, cold fear dancing down her
spine. She wanted out. Now.
Sierra glanced at her two small sons in the back seat, danger
inches away outside. Helpless to eradicate it, she sucked in a breath to calm
the fear and focus on getting them out of here as safely as possible. Every
instinct told her to stomp on the gas, jump in the other lane, speed past
everyone, and get them to safety no matter what. But like everyone else, she
tried to stay orderly and calm.
Noxious fumes, unbelievable heat, and fire surrounded them.
Nothing and no one was a match for Mother Nature’s firestorm. Ash, smoke, and
sparks blew all around them while the satellite radio cut in and out, the
signal blocked by the thick smoke obliterating their view of the night sky.
Fear knotted her gut and rising panic sped up her heartbeat. Every second
trapped within the blaze raging on both sides of them made it harder to keep it
together for her two little boys.
She thought about their lives, how they’d already suffered a
great loss when their father died, and all they had ahead of them. She didn’t
want it to end this way. She wanted to see them grown, happy, healthy, living
the life they chose and thriving.
“Mom.” Danny’s voice shook. “The window is hot.”
“Don’t touch it.” She’d flipped the vent system to
recirculate, but the smoky stench permeated the car along with the immense
heat. The acrid scent turned her stomach and left a sour taste in her mouth.
Oliver held his favorite blanket over his mouth and nose.
His eyes held a world of worry, too great for one five-year-old to face and
understand beyond the fact that the scene outside was scary as hell and he
wanted to be far away.
So do I.
Frustration got the better of the guy in the pickup truck
behind her and he laid on the horn. Where did he expect her to go? The line of
cars had only moved ten feet in the last two minutes. At this rate, they
wouldn’t get out of the fire zone before dawn.
At least, it felt that way.
A rush of adrenaline shot through her again, signaling the
flight-or-fight response she’d felt when she’d seen the smoke and fire headed
toward their home. She could neither fight it nor flee from it when it
literally surrounded her. And so she tried her best to stay alert, remain calm,
and pray this all worked out.
Three more fire engines sped past in the opposite lane.
Reinforcements for the dozens she’d passed on the tedious and exceedingly
dangerous trip out of here.
We’ll make it out. We have to.
She’d worked too hard the last eleven months to keep her
head above water after her husband’s tragic car accident to have it all end
like this . . . in a car, on a dark road, consumed by fire.
It felt too eerily close to how they lost David.
Sierra gripped the steering wheel even tighter to stop her
hands from shaking and focused on the car in front of her, following it around
another curve, not getting her hopes up when their speed increased even
marginally, but telling herself steady as she goes was good enough, so long as
they got out of this alive.
The thought of anything happening to her
babies . . . She couldn’t go there. It stopped her heart. But
that fear drove her to keep her head and do everything possible to get them out
of this situation even as thoughts of their home, her job, and the future
swamped her mind. She’d barely made it by these last many months. If she lost
everything . . . What then?
How would she support herself and the boys?
More flashing red and white lights glowed against the thick
smoke ahead. She inched her way toward the emergency vehicles, the cars slowing
ahead of her as they approached what must be an intersection. Fire trucks and
police cars blocked the cross street, drawing everyone’s attention and slowing
them down as everyone stared to the side to see if the fire had destroyed
everything down that road. Ahead, cars shot forward as if they were racehorses
released from the starting gates as they passed the commotion and the open road
broke free of the fire border.
Relief hit like a crashing wave.
We made it.
Now what?
She didn’t really have a plan for where to go. She ran out
of her house with the clothes on her back, her purse, an armful of personal
files, and her two sons in tow with the stench of smoke heavy in the air and
flames devouring the houses only six streets away. By now, for all she knew,
her house and all those on her block were gone.
Bile rose to the back of her throat, the thought so terribly
upsetting, their future left uncertain.
Right now, though, she’d take the thirty-five-mile-an-hour
speeds, the open land and road ahead of her as she outran the fire and smoke
and spotted the sign for Yountville and the acclaimed restaurant the French
Laundry.
“Is the fire gone?” Oliver asked.
She wished. “We’re getting farther and farther away from
it.”
“Where are we going?” Danny leaned toward his brother so he
could see through the windshield.
Now that the flames weren’t licking at the sides of the car
and bearing down on them, Sierra took a moment to think about her next move.
She needed a place to put the boys down to bed tonight. In the morning, there’d
be news of the firefighters’ efforts to stop the massive blaze and whether or
not her home had been spared. She hoped, but her heart sank with the
realization it didn’t seem likely and they’d lost everything.
About the author:
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NY Times & USA Today bestselling author JENNIFER
RYAN writes suspenseful contemporary romances about everyday people who
do extraordinary things. Her deeply emotional love stories are filled with
high stakes and higher drama, love, family, friendship, and the
happily-ever-after we all hope to find. Jennifer lives in the San Francisco
Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she finally leaves those
fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and
daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on
paper. For information about her upcoming releases, sign up for her
newsletter: www.jennifer-ryan.com/newsletter.
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