Deborah Smith

Proud and powerful, the Hardigree family was an unyielding as the California marble that had made them rich. Ruled by her grandmother, ten-year-old Darl learned that privilege demanded distance from others. Yet nothing could keep her from Eli Wade, an untamed stonecutter's son from the wrong side of the tracks. Amid the pink stone flowers in her family's garden, their forbidden friendship blossomed. Then came the terrible day when violance ripped the town apart and sent the Wades packing. Darl knew the truth behind the crime but she could never tell it without destroying more lives. But a secret buried is a secret that will one day be unearthed. And twenty-five-years later Darl's silence is tested - when Eli walks back into her life.