When Love Must Wait

She chose a marriage of convenience to quiet her heart—but the return of a long-lost love may awaken it again.

In drought-stricken Marietta, Georgia, Annabelle Bucaloo believes her days of adventure—and love—are behind her. After a heartbreaking loss, she turns away from her calling in missions and agrees to a marriage of convenience with Jarrett MacKaye, the town’s reliable copper supplier. A practical union will keep her safely rooted at home, where she helps her father raise hunting dogs on their rural farm, far from the risks of the unknown.

But everything changes when Luke Cavanaugh, the man who once held her heart, returns home after four years out West. Marked by hardship and carrying secrets of his own, Luke never expected to see Annabelle engaged to someone else. Though he knows she’s no longer his to love, he can’t help but challenge her to rediscover the life—and the calling—she abandoned.

As storms threaten the land and their community, Annabelle must choose between the safety of the life she's built and the stirrings of a heart being called once more—by love, by faith, and by a man who never truly let her go.

Set in the Victorian-era countryside of Georgia, this heartwarming Christian historical romance weaves together themes of second chances, unspoken longing, and the courage to step into God’s plan—even when it leads into the unknown.

Tropes:
*Former Love Returns
*Self-Sacrificing Hero
*Slow-Burn Rekindling
*Calling vs. Comfort
*Spiritual Awakening
*Grief and Healing
*Safety-Seeking Heroine
*Wounded Hero with a Secret
*Post-Civil War Southern Life
*Opposites Attract
*Crisis of Faith
*God’s Calling vs. Human Plans
*The One Who Got Away
*Grieving Heroine