Phyllis Langford is pregnant from a wonderful one-night stand…and she is scared to death. Phyllis teaches at the local college, and is a psychologist by trade. She is a giver…those special people who give of themselves but never seem to take from anyone. Scarred by previous relationships, including one failed marriage, Phyllis hides her needs behind her giving.

Matt Sheffield, a Fine Arts Technical Director at the college, is the father of her baby. He has a past that keeps him from wanting any relationship with anyone. Matt was wrongly accused of statutory rape of a student and spent two years in jail. Once the child that prompted the charge against him became old enough, a paternity test determined that Matt could not have fathered the child. A jury was convinced to reverse the earlier conviction with that evidence along with other information showing that the mother had slept with other men at the time of the accusation.

Four years have past since that reversal and Matt is just starting to get his life back together. He has been an acquaintance of Phyllis’ for over a year. While working closely on a project, their lust for each other erupts and the condom they use doesn’t work.

Phyllis assures herself she can have this child and Matt can go his merry way. Matt, however, feels responsible and wants to help. After Phyllis has some medical complications, Matt convinces Phyllis to allow him to help her out by cleaning her house, doing her grocery shopping and fixing up the room for the baby.

As they spend more and more time together, both discover how truly lonely they are and how much they enjoy each other’s company. Their relationship develops slowly, with realistic dialogue, uncomfortable discoveries about themselves and each other and a common sense of rightness about their growing feelings.

Matt and Phyllis weather their own inadequacies, a complicated situation with one of Matt’s students and the added bombshell that they are having twins. Quinn accomplishes these developments through a great use of discussion, self-questioning and situations that they handle together. It is this growth as both individuals and as a couple that endears these two characters to the reader and makes them such a strong leading man and woman.

The delight and shellshock felt by Matt and Phyllis is palpable, as is the feeling of warmth and contentment when Phyllis helps Matt experience his first real Christmas. When they work together to assist Matt's student through her crisis, the understanding and caring they show her also shows the reader just how far this couple has come. Their ultimate realization that they love each other is the icing on this heartwarming cake.

Characters from other Shelter Valley stories are reintroduced and add flavor to the story, connecting Phyllis to the tiny town but in no way detracting from this book as a stand-alone.

There is only one piece of this story I found distracting and it may be because of my background as a social worker. Phyllis is a caring person who has a tendency to get more than professionally involved in some of her cases. It is alluded to in this story that she was helping someone professionally and now they are best friends. Phyllis gets very involved with the student who she is counseling. This habit causes me to feel a little uncomfortable due to professional ethics, but the author walks that fine line and never crosses it completely.

This is a book to read when you want to cuddle up in front of the fire knowing that something good is coming Just Around the Corner.

--Shirley Lyons