Nell Ruthven thought she'd missed her chance to be a mom when, at age nineteen, she was forced to give up her baby for adoption. Now Nell's discovered she has a tiny grandson in need of care. And her teenage sweetheart, cattleman Jacob Tucker, is in town…. At thirty-nine, this couple never thought they'd be parents, let alone grandparents! They never even thought they'd see each other again. But taking care of baby Sam gives them a second chance—maybe even a second chance to fall in love….

Brock Sullivan is a navy SEAL—he lives by his own code of honor and he won't see Jesse, pregnant and alone, struggle. He doesn't have to help her, but he knows he can offer her security while he's away fighting for his country. The proposal is convenient and the marriage— paper only! Jesse would do anything for her baby, even if it means signing away her own dreams of happily ever after and becoming Brock's convenient bride. But, injured in battle, Brock is suddenly home, and what was a simple marriage of convenience is now becoming a whole lot more complicated.

Penniless, pregnant and alone, Iona Lockwood wants to settle and put down roots. Life's delivered her a few hard knocks lately.… When wealthy architect Daniel Hamilton finds Iona living in the empty building he's bought, he knows he should be asking her to leave. But Daniel can't turn his back on a pregnant woman, and offers her a job as his housekeeper. Stepping into his beautiful home, Iona feels like Cinderella. But she knows dreams don't come true. She's there to keep house, not to fall in love with the millionaire who saved her.

Nanny Holly O'Mara has formed a close bond with her late cousin's little twins. When their estranged father, rough, rugged Australian cattleman Gray Kidman, arrives to take them home to the outback, Holly senses that he is out of his depth. Holly soon falls for mysterious Gray. Seeing him light up his children's world makes her spirits leap and even begins to heal her own emotional bruises. Yet something is making Gray push her away….With her help, will he find the courage to love again?

Beginning with infertility and one couple’s struggle with building their family, Stretch-mark My Heart dives headlong into the fragmented world of the US foster care system. Following the adoption journey of Matt and Niki Tschirgi (pronounced Sure-Gee), this book lays the groundwork from start to finish regarding what it takes to have a child permanently placed in your home for adoption. Through fostering, private adoption, open adoption, and foster-to-adopt, Niki recounts the lonely and grievous road of infertility, her and her husband’s decision-making process to choose adoption, the hard work and perseverance to get licensed to be foster parents, and the finalization of six adoptions. Discover how the Tschirgis became a blended family over the course of six years and doubled their family size while moving from Washington to Texas. Stretch-mark My Heart will immerse you in the complicated process of accepting and loving into your home children who were born out of trauma, abuse, and neglect. See how each child was uniquely meant to be a part of this family. Travel along this bumpy yet inspiring road and explore many facets of adoption, including sibling-group, multiracial, infant, and older-child adoption. Although heartbreak, trials, and the unknown are present throughout this book, triumph, miracles, unconditional love, and belonging overshadow the pain and loss of infertility, as well as the brokenness inherent in being a child in foster care. Stretch-mark My Heart will help you understand the intricate and detailed plan that God had for a family to be built together by the power of choice… the choice of adoption.

As untamed as the Outback land he masters, cattlemanJake Connors is a mystery to Laila. Something hiddeninside him calls to the woman in her, in a way no otherman ever has.… In the heart of the Outback, Laila Robbins discoversthe heady power of a brooding man. Jake doesn''t wantLaila''s wealth or her family name, but before he cangive her his heart he has to stop running from the darkdemons of his past. Is Laila''s pregnancy surprise the miracle they both need?

From the 1940s through the 1960s, young pregnant women entered the front door of a clinic in a small North Georgia town. Sometimes their babies exited out the back, sold to northern couples who were desperate to hold a newborn in their arms. But these weren't adoptions--they were transactions. And one unethical doctor was exploiting other people's tragedies. Jane Blasio was one of those babies. At six, she learned she was adopted. At fourteen, she first saw her birth certificate, which led her to begin piecing together details of her past. Jane undertook a decades-long personal investigation to not only discover her own origins but identify and reunite other victims of the Hicks Clinic human trafficking scheme. Along the way she became an expert in illicit adoptions, serving as an investigator and telling her story on every major news network. Taken at Birth is the remarkable account of her tireless quest for truth, justice, and resolution. Perfect for book clubs, as well as those interested in inspirational stories of adoption, human trafficking, and true crime.