Rain
Rain already knows how hard life can be. But she is about to discover a shattering secret from the past that will change her future forever....
Growing up in the ghettos of Washington, D.C., the cards are stacked against a hardworking dreamer like Rain Arnold. Rain has fought to be the best daughter she can: she studies hard and gets good grades; she helps her mother cook and clean. And unlike her defiant younger sister, she avoids the dangers of the city streets as if her life depends on it... and it does. But Rain can't suppress the feeling that she has never truly fit in, that she is a stranger in her own world.
Then one fateful night, Rain overhears something she shouldn't: a heartbreaking revelation from the past, a long-buried secret that is about to change her life in ways she never could have imagined. In the blink of an eye, everything Rain has ever known -- the family she has loved and the familiar place she has called home -- is left behind, and Rain is sent to live with total strangers, the wealthy Hudson family. But just as she did not belong to the troubled world she was raised in, Rain is also out of place in this realm of luxury and privilege. With nowhere to turn, Rain finds an escape in the theater, inside the walls of an exclusive private school. But will it be enough to fulfill her heart's deepest wish -- and give her a place to call home?
"Stop asking so many questions, Rain," Mama snapped at me.
"You always tell us it's a bigger sin to lie to each other, Mama. you always say that."
"Oh, Lord, help me." She raised her eyes to the ceiling. I knew she was praying. "This isn't the way I wanted you to find out, Rain. This isn't right."
"Please, just tell me Mama."
My heart pounded. I held my hands against my stomach. Tears clouded my eyes.
Mama took a deep breath. She seemed to reach down into her very soul for the strength.
"He's going to try to get your real Mama to give him more money," she said.
And it was as if the ceiling of our apartment had come crashing down around me.
Without saying a word, I turned and ran out of the living room and then out the front door.
"Rain!" Mama shouted, but I let the door shut off her voice and I charged down the stairs, my whole body thumping with every step.
Lighting Strikes
Rain has searched for a place to call home. But there's no where to hide when the night sky lights up with terror...
Torn from the embrace of her poor but loving family, Rain Arnold now lives surrounded by opulent riches but feels more like an outsider than ever before. Her heart's true passion -- the theater -- may prove to be her salvation, as she embarks on a journey to unmask a legacy of long-buried family secrets.
Enrolled in one of England's most prestigious drama schools, Rain is sent to London to live with her great-aunt, Lenora, of the renowned Endfield family. Their estate is breathtakingly austere, filled with antiques and a long, storied history. But something isn't right. Rain hears footsteps at night, and the high-pitched laughter of a little girl. She sees strange lights in rooms that are supposed to be closed off. And everything about the place -- the air, the silence, even the somber household staff -- is as cold and soulless as a museum. Behind the icy sheen of wealth and privilege lies something unspeakable. Something that could turn Rain's most precious dreams into an inescapable nightmare....
I started up the stairs...
When I drew close to the bedroom door, I heard what sounded like someone humming a children's song.... I stood there a moment longer and knocked.
"Mrs. Endfield? Mrs. Endfield, it's Rain. May I speak with you a moment, please?" I asked through the door.
The humming stopped. I waited and then I knocked softly again. "Mrs. Endfield?"
The silence was confusing. I knew I had heard a voice on the other side of the door. I waited, and then I decided to knock once more, a little harder. When I did, the door opened a few inches. "Mrs. Endfield?"
Again I was greeted with silence. I leaned forward and peered into the room. My great-aunt was sitting in a rocking chair with her back to me. Her head was down, and she was holding something in her arms.
I was about to call out her name when I felt a large, strong hand grab my shoulder and spin me around....
Eye Of The Storm
In the wake of a terrible loss, Rain is left alone to bear the Hudson family secrets -- as dark and forbidding as storm clouds on the horizon....
After the death of her beloved Grandmother Hudson, Rain found herself caught in a battle for the vast Hudson family wealth. Marked to inherit millions, Rain faced the fury of her unaccepting mother, her manipulative stepfather, and her cold, vicious Aunt Victoria. But no amount of money can keep Rain's world from crashing down when sudden tragedy strikes.
Left helpless after a devastating blow, Rain sinks into despair as her precious dreams are washed away... dreams that cannot be bought with the Hudson fortune. Her only hope for rebuilding her life rests in trusting a stranger who had come into her world -- a man whose generosity and kindness does not appear to come with strings attached, much to Rain's amazement. But just as she opens her heart to a promising new future, her past comes back to haunt her... and Rain is pulled into a furious whirlpool of bitterness and heartache....
"So here I am, Grandmother," I said to her headstone.
"Right where you put me. I know you had your reasons for this. You know they all hate me because of what you have given me. Was it meant to be some sort of test?"
The wind grew more brisk. Clouds looked like they were galloping across the sky. I zipped up my jacket further.
"Maybe I should just do what they want, take their compromise money and go. I could return to England and never come back here, just like my real father. None of them would miss me, and to tell you the truth I don't believe I'd miss any of them. Somehow I don't think that's what you'd like, but what am I to accomplish here, Grandma? What can I do that you haven't already done?"
I knelt and put my hands on the earth that covered her coffin, and then I closed my eyes and pictured her standing there in that doorway the day I had left for England. She didn't want to go to the airport with me. She said she hated good-byes, but she allowed me to hug her. I could see the hope in her eyes. I had come to be with her to take back my name, a name denied me as soon as I was born.
"Don't let them take it away again, Rain," I could hear her whisper in the wind. "No matter what they do or say, don't let them take your name."
Maybe that was the answer, the only answer.
Maybe that was the reason to stay.
The End Of The Rainbow
Was the Hudson family destined to live in the shadows of the past? Or would luck shine on the newest generation? The answer lies at... The End of the Rainbow
Rain's precious daughter, Summer, is about to turn sixteen. Her future lies wide open before her and she carries her mother's wise advice close to her heart: life is hardship, but above all, life is hope. Like all girls her age, Summer dreams of growing up and making her own life, of falling in love and finding her soul mate
But a devastating tragedy will force Summer to stare into the cold eyes of adulthood long before she is ready. She will learn very quickly about hardship -- but what of hope? Is she as strong as her courageous mother? Or will she crumble?
All of her life, Summer has lived on the Virginia estate where the Hudson family's secrets have lurked among the shadows for generations. Now it is time for her to discover some secrets of her own. Some she will share. Some will force her to flee the only place she has ever called home. And some will haunt her for the rest of her life....
"Happy birthday, Summer. All your birthdays have been special to me because it was truly a miracle for us to have you," Mommy said softly, "but I know how special this one is for you."
"Thank you, Mommy."
"I'll see you downstairs," she said, and wheeled herself out to the chair elevator that would take her down the stairs and to the wheelchair below.
Never in my life had my mother ever stood on her own beside me. Never had we walked side by side or run together. Never had we gone strolling through department stores or down street to window-shop.
When I was old enough to push her, I thought it was fun. After all, I was a little girl moving my mother along. But somewhere along the way, I turned to watch other mothers and daughters walking through malls, and I looked at Mommy's face and saw the longing and the sadness and no longer did I feel exited or amused by it.
Was that what growing older meant? I wondered. Losing all your illusions?
If that was so, why were any of us so happy and so willing to blow out the candles?
Rain already knows how hard life can be. But she is about to discover a shattering secret from the past that will change her future forever....
Growing up in the ghettos of Washington, D.C., the cards are stacked against a hardworking dreamer like Rain Arnold. Rain has fought to be the best daughter she can: she studies hard and gets good grades; she helps her mother cook and clean. And unlike her defiant younger sister, she avoids the dangers of the city streets as if her life depends on it... and it does. But Rain can't suppress the feeling that she has never truly fit in, that she is a stranger in her own world.
Then one fateful night, Rain overhears something she shouldn't: a heartbreaking revelation from the past, a long-buried secret that is about to change her life in ways she never could have imagined. In the blink of an eye, everything Rain has ever known -- the family she has loved and the familiar place she has called home -- is left behind, and Rain is sent to live with total strangers, the wealthy Hudson family. But just as she did not belong to the troubled world she was raised in, Rain is also out of place in this realm of luxury and privilege. With nowhere to turn, Rain finds an escape in the theater, inside the walls of an exclusive private school. But will it be enough to fulfill her heart's deepest wish -- and give her a place to call home?
"Stop asking so many questions, Rain," Mama snapped at me.
"You always tell us it's a bigger sin to lie to each other, Mama. you always say that."
"Oh, Lord, help me." She raised her eyes to the ceiling. I knew she was praying. "This isn't the way I wanted you to find out, Rain. This isn't right."
"Please, just tell me Mama."
My heart pounded. I held my hands against my stomach. Tears clouded my eyes.
Mama took a deep breath. She seemed to reach down into her very soul for the strength.
"He's going to try to get your real Mama to give him more money," she said.
And it was as if the ceiling of our apartment had come crashing down around me.
Without saying a word, I turned and ran out of the living room and then out the front door.
"Rain!" Mama shouted, but I let the door shut off her voice and I charged down the stairs, my whole body thumping with every step.
Lighting Strikes
Rain has searched for a place to call home. But there's no where to hide when the night sky lights up with terror...
Torn from the embrace of her poor but loving family, Rain Arnold now lives surrounded by opulent riches but feels more like an outsider than ever before. Her heart's true passion -- the theater -- may prove to be her salvation, as she embarks on a journey to unmask a legacy of long-buried family secrets.
Enrolled in one of England's most prestigious drama schools, Rain is sent to London to live with her great-aunt, Lenora, of the renowned Endfield family. Their estate is breathtakingly austere, filled with antiques and a long, storied history. But something isn't right. Rain hears footsteps at night, and the high-pitched laughter of a little girl. She sees strange lights in rooms that are supposed to be closed off. And everything about the place -- the air, the silence, even the somber household staff -- is as cold and soulless as a museum. Behind the icy sheen of wealth and privilege lies something unspeakable. Something that could turn Rain's most precious dreams into an inescapable nightmare....
I started up the stairs...
When I drew close to the bedroom door, I heard what sounded like someone humming a children's song.... I stood there a moment longer and knocked.
"Mrs. Endfield? Mrs. Endfield, it's Rain. May I speak with you a moment, please?" I asked through the door.
The humming stopped. I waited and then I knocked softly again. "Mrs. Endfield?"
The silence was confusing. I knew I had heard a voice on the other side of the door. I waited, and then I decided to knock once more, a little harder. When I did, the door opened a few inches. "Mrs. Endfield?"
Again I was greeted with silence. I leaned forward and peered into the room. My great-aunt was sitting in a rocking chair with her back to me. Her head was down, and she was holding something in her arms.
I was about to call out her name when I felt a large, strong hand grab my shoulder and spin me around....
Eye Of The Storm
In the wake of a terrible loss, Rain is left alone to bear the Hudson family secrets -- as dark and forbidding as storm clouds on the horizon....
After the death of her beloved Grandmother Hudson, Rain found herself caught in a battle for the vast Hudson family wealth. Marked to inherit millions, Rain faced the fury of her unaccepting mother, her manipulative stepfather, and her cold, vicious Aunt Victoria. But no amount of money can keep Rain's world from crashing down when sudden tragedy strikes.
Left helpless after a devastating blow, Rain sinks into despair as her precious dreams are washed away... dreams that cannot be bought with the Hudson fortune. Her only hope for rebuilding her life rests in trusting a stranger who had come into her world -- a man whose generosity and kindness does not appear to come with strings attached, much to Rain's amazement. But just as she opens her heart to a promising new future, her past comes back to haunt her... and Rain is pulled into a furious whirlpool of bitterness and heartache....
"So here I am, Grandmother," I said to her headstone.
"Right where you put me. I know you had your reasons for this. You know they all hate me because of what you have given me. Was it meant to be some sort of test?"
The wind grew more brisk. Clouds looked like they were galloping across the sky. I zipped up my jacket further.
"Maybe I should just do what they want, take their compromise money and go. I could return to England and never come back here, just like my real father. None of them would miss me, and to tell you the truth I don't believe I'd miss any of them. Somehow I don't think that's what you'd like, but what am I to accomplish here, Grandma? What can I do that you haven't already done?"
I knelt and put my hands on the earth that covered her coffin, and then I closed my eyes and pictured her standing there in that doorway the day I had left for England. She didn't want to go to the airport with me. She said she hated good-byes, but she allowed me to hug her. I could see the hope in her eyes. I had come to be with her to take back my name, a name denied me as soon as I was born.
"Don't let them take it away again, Rain," I could hear her whisper in the wind. "No matter what they do or say, don't let them take your name."
Maybe that was the answer, the only answer.
Maybe that was the reason to stay.
The End Of The Rainbow
Was the Hudson family destined to live in the shadows of the past? Or would luck shine on the newest generation? The answer lies at... The End of the Rainbow
Rain's precious daughter, Summer, is about to turn sixteen. Her future lies wide open before her and she carries her mother's wise advice close to her heart: life is hardship, but above all, life is hope. Like all girls her age, Summer dreams of growing up and making her own life, of falling in love and finding her soul mate
But a devastating tragedy will force Summer to stare into the cold eyes of adulthood long before she is ready. She will learn very quickly about hardship -- but what of hope? Is she as strong as her courageous mother? Or will she crumble?
All of her life, Summer has lived on the Virginia estate where the Hudson family's secrets have lurked among the shadows for generations. Now it is time for her to discover some secrets of her own. Some she will share. Some will force her to flee the only place she has ever called home. And some will haunt her for the rest of her life....
"Happy birthday, Summer. All your birthdays have been special to me because it was truly a miracle for us to have you," Mommy said softly, "but I know how special this one is for you."
"Thank you, Mommy."
"I'll see you downstairs," she said, and wheeled herself out to the chair elevator that would take her down the stairs and to the wheelchair below.
Never in my life had my mother ever stood on her own beside me. Never had we walked side by side or run together. Never had we gone strolling through department stores or down street to window-shop.
When I was old enough to push her, I thought it was fun. After all, I was a little girl moving my mother along. But somewhere along the way, I turned to watch other mothers and daughters walking through malls, and I looked at Mommy's face and saw the longing and the sadness and no longer did I feel exited or amused by it.
Was that what growing older meant? I wondered. Losing all your illusions?
If that was so, why were any of us so happy and so willing to blow out the candles?
