Forbidden Son

Honey Belle Garrett left high school early and has always seen her family as simply poor, never as anything worse. In the summer of 1964, a ride in the convertible of Tripp Hartwell III, a charming and magnetic young man, changes the course of her life. Soon after, threats from Tripp's father drive Honey Belle, her family, and their secrets out of town, and they are forced to stay quiet about what happened.

In a new state, Honey Belle builds a life for herself, and she succeeds in making something of it. Still, she keeps a scrapbook of news clippings about the young man she was made to leave behind. Seventeen years later, Tripp has become a lawyer like his father, a Vietnam War hero, and a United States senator. When a new congressional page bears a striking resemblance to him, Honey Belle must finally tell him the truth before anyone else notices. Tripp then has to face the fact that he has a son with the woman who once captured his heart and then vanished without a trace.