by Mara Purl
Last fall, when Miranda’d nearly finished the fourth of her oversized sumi-e paintings, she added a final flourish near its bottom edge, not quite sure why she had. At the time, she’d thought it resembled a small cat.
Now, she watched the tiny feline staring up at her. She really does look like that little brush stroke. Talk about fore-shadowing. Laughing at the serendipity of the joke, Miranda stood, then bent over to scoop her pet up to her shoulder, where baby-claws sank into her fleece jacket.
“Hungry?” Miranda asked.
“Pew!”
“Okay, let’s go get breakfast.”
Moments later, the kitty was contentedly munching kibble, oatmeal was heating, and the kettle was on for tea. Miranda glanced past the kitchen toward the sliding doors that faced the ocean. The new miniature will have the same tonalities as the first one . . . a theme for the series. Cobalt teal for the water, chromium oxide green for the topographic hills. She was beginning to paint the new postcard in her head.
Cast of Characters
Joseph Calvin: mid-60s, 6’1, gray eyes, steel-gray hair, clean-shaven, lean, handsome; CEO of Santa Barbara’s Calvin Oil; eligible widower; dates several women including Christine Christian.
Zackery Calvin: mid-30s, 6’2, blue eyes, dark blond hair, handsome, lean, athletic; Vice President of Calvin Oil, works with his father; popular bachelor; dates Cynthia Radcliffe; becomes smitten with Miranda Jones.
Nicole Champagne: mid-20s, 5’5, brown eyes, brunette, chic dresser; runs Milford-Haven’s Finders Gallery; sells Miranda Jones’s and other artists’ work with skill; originally from Montreal, Quebec and speaks with a French-Canadian accent.
Stacey Chernak: late 40s, 5’6, blue eyes, blond hair, kind, submissive, speaks with a Swiss-German accent; married to abusive Wilhelm Chernak; works full time as Clarke Shipping secretary, and works part-time for Chernak Agency.
Wilhelm Chernak: mid-60s, 6’, deepset black eyes, salt-and-pepper hair, low resonant voice, a Swiss citizen who still carries an accent from his native Germany; capable of fierce and sudden anger; started the Chernak Agency, a service for locating adopted children; abuses his wife Stacey.
Christine Christian: early-40s, 5’6, aqua eyes, blonde, vivacious, beautiful, intense; special investigative reporter for Satellite-News TV station KOST-SATV; lives in Santa Maria; frequent international traveler; dates Joseph Calvin.
Russell Clarke: early 60s, 6’3, coal black eyes, dazzling white teeth, dusky skin, deceptively strong, by turns charming and stern, adopted with unknown mixed lineage; owner of Clarke Shipping; Stacey Chernak’s employer; business associate of Joseph Calvin; commissions Jack Sawyer to build him Milford-Haven’s most magnificent seaside mansion.
Ralph Hargraves: late 70s, 6’, blue eyes, gray hair, a face seamed with smile-lines, pleasant disposition; a fixture in Milford-Haven, owner of Hargraves Hardware.
James Hughes: early 60s, 5’11, brown eyes, thinning gray hair, soft-spoken with a mid-Atlantic accent; the fiercely loyal Butler at the Calvin Estate, Calma.
Samantha Hugo: early 50s, 5’9, cognac-brown eyes, redhead, statuesque, sharp dresser; Director of Milford-Haven’s Environmental Planning Commission; Miranda’s friend; Jack Sawyer’s former wife; a journal writer.
Deputy Delmar Johnson: early 30s, 6’2, brown eyes, black hair, handsome, muscular, African-American; with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department, assigned to the Special Problems Unit; originally from South Central Los Angeles.
Meredith Jones: early 30s, 5’8, teal eyes, medium-length brunet hair, beautiful, shapely, athletic; San Francisco financial advisor; Miranda’s sister.
Miranda Jones: early 30s***, 5’9, green eyes, long brunet hair, beautiful, lean, athletic; fine artist specializing in watercolors, acrylics and murals; a staunch environmentalist whose paintings often depict endangered species; has escaped her wealthy Bay-Area family to create a new life in Milford-Haven.
Michelle “Shelly” Larrup: mid-40s, 5’6, hazel eyes, bobbed burgundy hair, well-toned dancer’s body, flamboyant dresser; originally from Australia and speaks with the accent; owner of Shell Shock in Milford-Haven.
June Magliati: mid 40s, 5’2, brown eyes, dark brown curly hair, no-nonsense expression that goes well with her thick Brooklyn accent; Sally O’Mally’s trusted friend and employee at the restaurant.
Mr. Man: age unknown, dark eyes and hair, medium height, medium build; one of reporter Chris Christian’s anonymous sources.
Will Marks: mid-30s, 6’, dark eyes and hair, athletic build; VP at Clarke Shipping; contact of Zack Calvin’s at Calvin Oil.
Zelda McIntyre: early-50s, 5’1, violet eyes, wavy black hair, voluptuous, dramatic and striking; owner of private firm Artist Representations in Santa Barbara; Miranda’s artist’s rep; corporate art buyer; has designs on Joseph Calvin.
Mary Meeks: late 50s, 5’2, warm brown eyes, mousy brown hair perfectly coiffed, trim figure, conservative dresser; loyal secretary at Calvin Oil, remembers every detail of Calvin business.
Sally O’Mally: early 40s, 5’3, blue eyes, blond curly hair, perfectly proportioned; owner of Sally’s Restaurant; owner of Burn-It-Off; born and reared in Arkansas; Miranda’s friend; dislikes Samantha; secretly involved with Jack Sawyer.
Burt Ostwald: age unknown, 6’2, dark eyes, close-cropped blond hair, quarter-sized mole on left cheek, burly; taciturn loner; freelance construction worker; temporary-hire at Sawyer Construction—work nickname behind his back “Mole Guy”; has another primary employer.
Michael Owen: mid-40s, 5’9, blue eyes, black hair, slightly rotund; owner of Lighthouse Tavern.
Cynthia Radcliffe: early 30s, 5’8, amber-brown eyes, blond, shapely, gorgeous; passionate, petulant, persuasive; Santa Barbara social climber; Zackery Calvin’s girlfriend.
Randi Raines: early 30s, 5’5, black eyes, frosted hair, cute, athletic; demanding, impatient; a talk-show host in Los Angeles; dates Will Marks.
Kevin Ransom: late-20s, 6’8, hazel eyes, sandy hair, strong jaw-line, lean, muscular without effort; Foreman at Sawyer Construction; innocent, naive, kind; tuned in to animals; technologically adept; highly intuitive; has longings for Susan Winslow.
Jack Sawyer: mid-50s, 6’, blue eyes, salt-and-pepper hair and mustache, barrel-chested, solidly muscular, ruggedly handsome; Milford-Haven contractor-builder; Samantha Hugo’s former husband; secretly involved with Sally O’Mally.
Lucy Seecor: mid-30s, 5’6’, blackeyes, shiny black hair worn in a long braid; trim figure; photographic memory; manager of Rosencrantz Café & Guildenstern Garden.
Cornelius Smith: early 40s, 6’3, indigo-blue eyes, black hair, handsome, lean; grew up in Milford-Haven where his parents still live; a professional astronomer who works part time at NASA Ames and plans to build an observatory in Milford-Haven; a loner, an eccentric.
Susan Winslow: mid-20s, 5’4, brown eyes, long black hair, rail-thin, attractive but sullen, Native American; Samantha’s assistant at the EPC; avid rock-star fan; victim of traumatic childhood; feels trapped in Milford-Haven; defensive about her heritage; toys with Kevin Ransom.
COLOPHON
The print version of this book is set in the Cambria font, released in 2004 by Microsoft, as a formal, solid font to be equally readable in print and on screens. It was designed by Jelle Bosma, Steve Matteson, and Robin Nicholas.
The name Cambria is the classical name for Wales, the Latin form of the Welsh name for Wales, Cymru. The etymology of Cynru is combrog, meaning “compatriot.”
The California town of Cambria is named for its resemblance to the south-western coast of Wales, where the town of Milford Haven has existed since before ancient Roman times, and is mentioned in William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.
The dingbat is the Mussel Shell, drawn by artist Mary Helsaple, and rendered graphically by cover designer Kevin Meyer. The mussel is a bivalve marine creature that lives on exposed shores in the intertidal zones in California, Florida, the U.K., Japan, and on other beaches throughout
the world. The shells, which are longer than they are wide, often with dark blue exteriors and silvery interiors, when open, resemble a pair of wings.
Mara Purl, author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed Milford-Haven Novels and Milford-Haven Stories, pioneered small-town fiction for women.
Mara’s beloved fictitious town has been delighting international audiences since 1992, when it first appeared as Milford-Haven, U.S.A.©— the first American radio drama ever licensed and broadcast by the BBC. The show reached an audience of 4.5 million listeners in the U.K. In the U.S., it was the 1994 Finalist for the New York Festivals World’s Best Radio Programs.
When Whales Watch is the prequel to Where the Heart Lives, Book Two of the novel series. What the Heart Knows (Book One) is an Amazon best-seller (ranked #5), won the Indie Excellence Award and was Finalist for the Book Of the Year Award. When Hummers Dream (Amazon best-selling prequel short story to Book One) was nominated for the Global E-Book award. In addition, early editions of Mara’s novels have won fifteen finalist and gold literary awards.
Mara’s other writing credits include plays, screenplays, scripts for Guiding Light, cover stories for Rolling Stone, staff writing with the Financial Times (of London), and the Associated Press. She is the co-author (with Erin Gray) of Act Right: A Manual for the On-Camera Actor.
As an actress, Mara was “Darla Cook” on Days Of Our Lives. For the one-woman show Mary Shelley: In Her Own Words, which Mara performs and co-wrote (with Sydney Swire), she earned a Peak Award. She was named one of twelve Women of the Year by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women.
Mara is married to Dr. Larry Norfleet and lives in Los Angeles, and in Colorado Springs.
Visit her website at www.MaraPurl.com to subscribe to her newsletter and blog or follow her on social media. She welcomes e-mail from readers at [email protected].
