Emilie Richards

 
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Meet Helen, the expert quilt maker and family curmudgeon, who pieced a wedding ring quilt top for her hope chest, only to put it away without quilting it after her marriage ended abruptly.

Meet steel magnolia Nancy, Helen’s daughter, who found the top and quilted it in the early, unhappy days of her own marriage as she struggled to uphold and strengthen the vows she had made.

Meet Tessa, Nancy’s daughter, whose happy marriage, like the wedding ring quilt, is now in tatters. Can Tessa restore the quilt and her marriage, or are both efforts futile?

Three women, three generations, forced together during one brutally hot summer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Which will break first, the heat wave that has sucked the life from the rich valley soil or the bonds tentatively uniting one small family?

Or will the lessons the women learn from each other save them all?

 
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Sam Kinkade is finally feeling reasonably content with his work as a minister in rural Toms Brook, Virginia. But when his plans to welcome the area’s growing Hispanic community to the church are met with resistance, a woman arrives to take a job as the church sexton and help build bridges.

Elisa Martinez is an enigma, and Sam is certain she is not who she seems. Despite his own lengthy engagement, he is intrigued with this Latina stranger who makes him only too aware of the real intimacy missing in his life.

As Elisa hides in Toms Brook and prays for a reunion that may set her free, she uncovers a generations-old love story that serves as a warning. Will she and Sam repeat the tragic past, or can they find the love and freedom they seek?

 
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In a cave in the Shenandoah National Park, two bodies are discovered, wrapped in the tattered remains of a lover's knot quilt.

In Washington, DC, Isaac Taylor inherits a nearly identical quilt from a grandmother whose name he never even knew.

After narrowly escaping death, newspaper journalist Kendra Taylor retreats to a cabin nestled in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley to heal and sort out her feelings about her troubled marriage. The land was bequeathed to her husband by a maternal grandmother he never knew, and the cabin has been abandoned for years.

As she is welcomed into the rural community of Toms Brook, Kendra becomes curious about an heirloom lover's knot quilt that is another piece of Isaac's unexplored past. The unusual quilt clearly has a story to tell, and Kendra is convinced that helping her husband connect with his roots might help him reconnect with her, as well.

As a passionate story of strength, loss and desperation unfolds, will the secrets of two quilts be revealed? And will the threads of an unraveling marriage be secured?

 
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Gayle Fortman has built a good life for herself and her three sons in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Divorced from charismatic broadcast journalist Eric Fortman, Gayle has made a success of Daughter of the Stars, a popular bed-and-breakfast inn. She has even maintained a cordial relationship with Eric, covering with the boys for his absences and broken promises. Family was never a priority for her ex-husband, even when they were still married. Luckily Travis Allen, her closest neighbor, has been a loving surrogate father to the boys and her own best friend.

Then, on the eve of oldest son Jared’s graduation, Eric returns, but not for the celebration. He nearly lost his life in Afghanistan. Worse, he has lost his way and his courage, and needs a place to recover. Gayle realizes this might be the last chance for her sons to establish a real bond with their father, and offers him a summer at the inn and a chance to put things right. Gayle and Eric are all too aware that the love and attraction they once shared are still there. Can the pieces of their broken lives be mended, or are they better laid to rest?

 
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Kendra and Jamie were never storybook sisters. But after a long estrangement, Jamie has offered Kendra and her husband their ultimate dream, a child of their own.  Despite some lingering misgivings about her once-wayward younger sister, Kendra agrees, and Jamie, a promising architect and single mother, becomes a gestational surrogate for Kendra and Isaac.

In addition to this amazing gift of life, Jamie designs a house for the couple on Isaac's ancestral property along the Shenandoah River. She hopes Kendra will finally see the woman she has become. But when a medical crisis threatens Jamie's health and her budding relationship with Kendra's builder, the enigmatic Cash Rosslyn, Jamie learns that the most difficult choice in her life is still ahead, and its cost may be beyond calculation.

 
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Steps to the Altar
What does a young couple do with their wedding quilt when the wedding is cancelled? Rebecca Patterson and Connor O'Keefe do their best to return an exquisite Steps to the Altar quilt lovingly made by the bee just for them, but the quilters are too wise to accept it. Can the young couple find a way to solve their problems so they can sleep under their special quilt at last?

Woven Paths
When Kate Brogan's mother dies unexpectedly, Kate becomes the guardian of her intellectually-challenged twin sister, Bejoy. At night on the endless trip from Florida to Virginia, Kate teaches Bejoy to applique while she works on her own Woven Paths quilt. The journey opens new possibilities for both twins, but will their paths diverge once Bejoy's future is decided? Or will their lives be woven together forever?

Contrary Wife
Cathy Adams, bee president, is dismayed when her husband announces he’s taking a high-powered job in the city. When she refuses to leave their country home, Alf goes anyway. Despite pleas to join him, Cathy's decision is firm, so firm that she invites a young couple, Molly and Zach, to live in an old house on the Adams's property to help with chores. When another quilter suggests that Cathy create a Contrary Wife quilt, Cathy tackles the project with enthusiasm. Marriage isn't just about compromise, something newlywed Molly is learning, too. Is the key to marital happiness remaining contrary whenever necessary?