A secret rips her new marriage apart. He fears his bride is lost forever. Has hope vanished, or will broken hearts mend?
As Ruby eagerly awaits James to perform the marriage act on their wedding night, she discovers a devastating secret that tears them apart. Ruby thought she knew James’s heart as well as her own, but his betrayal eviscerates her trust in love.
It would be scandalous to leave James, so Ruby agrees to continue their farce of a marriage as they travel across the country to visit James’s ailing father in Manhattan. Stuck in the confines of their tiny train compartment, Ruby’s desire for her husband twists with the repulsion of her discovery and starts a battle inside Ruby she can’t tame.
When they arrive, the holiday season is all around, but Ruby feels nothing of the magic, struggling to come to terms with the truth about her marriage and her unrelenting longing for her husband.
Then James’s father takes a turn for the worst. Ruby puts her hurt and anger aside to support her husband, but James rejects her comfort; it may be too late to mend all that has been broken.