The most precious thing

the long version

An incident on the eve of her sister's wedding leaves Carrie pregnant and ashamed. When Harry, her new brother-in-law, discovers her plight, he volunteers to marry her and bring up the baby as his own. There is heartache ahead before Carrie can finally be happy and content with the man she loves. Carrie McDarmount is just fifteen when her big sister marries into the Sutton family. By evening Carrie's tipsy on her first taste of home-made sloe gin - but then stolen moments with the boy of her dreams turn sour and change her life for ever. David Sutton can't remember a time when he didn't love Carrie, and he's the first to notice that all is not well with her. When she confides the secret she's concealing, he doesn't hesitate to offer a solution - on one condition: that no one else must know the truth.