Marian Charles, 28, is a beautiful but tragic young war widow. Richard Moyer, 30, is a hard-working young millionaire with a rocky background and a brilliant future. Each is between loves-alone in life, and quietly sailing toward the unknown. After her husband Tommy Charles dies in a far-away war, Marian finds refuge as a small-town New England librarian. She is far from her home and parents in Oklahoma, now alone in Tommy's home state of Connecticut where they settled to build a life together. That is all gone now. Her specialty at the library is reading fairy tales to K-2 children from the grammar school next door to the little Emery Township Library. We find her innocently telling the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and the handsome Prince who comes to waken her from her deep sleep. The story of Rick and Marian becomes a mirror of this classic fairy tale, with a mix of humor and tragic undertones. She may be a Sleeping Beauty, and Rick may be her Prince, but they have a thorny path filled with surprises before they come to their happy ending. The day before they met, Marian was actually going to end it all by driving into Lake Emery near her house. Blinded by tears, she thought the ghost sitting beside her was that of Tommy. But it wasn't. The ghost of a person she had never met persuaded her - wordlessly, with haunting looks - to go back home and pick up her life again, because surely a wonderful new man would soon enter her life. Her mission was to pick up the pieces and move on. Strangely, the very next day, Rick Moyer stopped into the libary on a blistering hot summer day to get some relief in the air conditioning while his broken-down car was being fixed down the street. He'd driven through this little valley many times and never stopped here until today. When Rick and Marian came face to face for the first time in their lives, each was gripped by emotions so powerful it takes a novel just to brush the surface. She was still deeply shaken from her brush with mortality. Beautiful in so many ways, the tragic young goddess swept Rick Moyer off his feet. Rick's life these days consisted of racing races between New York City and other financial centers, closing pricey business deals. He had a bitter, cruel divorce behind him, which shattered his trust in women. Handsome and wealthy, smart and decisive in business, he can have any woman he wants. As he dates glamorous New York City socialites, he thinks of them as 'elevator music'. Something is seriously missing in his life, and he knows it--but what? He doesn't believe in romance any longer, having been badly burned. As Rick and Marian confront one other for the first time, their exchange of looks pierces each other's hearts. Time stands still, and the earth turns to jelly under their feet. Marian is still grieving, but the handsome young stranger starts coming by to court her, and sweeps her off her feet. There is HEA-ven at this end of this rainbow, but a secret villain is working to destroy their Happy Ever After, which makes for a rather dark background mystery. They can have happiness together--but each must find a new life's start for a star-crossed future together. Stop By is a human drama told in an old-fashioned, sentimental mode, proving that a good story will always work without those egregious what-nots that were really new and shocking nearly a hundred years ago, but today are little more than yawn-fodder. Stop By is built on strong characters and believable situations, with considerable moments of humor to lighten the read. Like, for example, you'll die laughing when Rick is in a Manhattan business conference, realizes he has an overdue library book. Seeing a great excuse to ditch the meeting and visit Marian, he charters a corporate helicopter to special freight the book to an emergency air field near Emery - supposedly to save a twenty cent fine. Rick is not always subtle, though Marian is often too much so... all part of the fun.