I am illegitimate. But this was never a problem for me—it was just me and my mother against the world. Mother never told me much about her past, and after a couple of unanswered questions in childhood, I stopped asking. Now, Mother is sick, and she's decided to revisit the past—literally—by taking an unexpected trip to the mountains where she was born. I was worried; I was scared. I followed her. And my mother's journey became my journey, too. I discovered that I have a father—and my parents are still in love. Their life together just took a detour that lasted over forty years. Their relationship was like a blackberry winter…the colder the weather, the sweeter the berries in spring. And now that I've found the truth, will I have the strength to make it through my own blackberry winter?
Author
AKA Cinda Richards Former public health nurse, now award-winning romance novelist, Cheryl Reavis, describes herself as a "late bloomer." Her Silhouette Special Edition™, A CRIME OF THE HEART, reached millions of readers in Good Housekeeping magazine and won the Romance Writers of America's coveted RITA award the year it was published. She has also won the RITA award for her Harlequin-Silhouette novels, PATRICK GALLAGHER'S WIDOW, THE PRISONER, and THE BRIDE FAIR. BLACKBERRY WINTER, THE BARTERED BRIDE and a Berkley novel, PROMISE ME A RAINBOW, have been RITA award finalists. She has received numerous awards from Romantic Times magazine. Her award-winning literary short stories have appeared in The Crescent Review, The Bad Apple, The Mosaic, The Sanskrit, Laurels, The Emrys Journal and Writer's Choice. Publishers Weekly described her Berkley single-title novel, PROMISE ME A RAINBOW, as "...an example of delicately crafted, eminently satisfying romantic fiction."
