Emmett Addison discovered that, despite his Christian upbringing, he had the capacity to literally hate another human being. He hated his sister-in-law, Katelyn. When he received word that she and his younger brother had been killed in a car crash, he returned to Addison estate to bury the dead and to become the only parent to their four-year-old daughter, Elsie. He grieved the loss of his brother, but wasted no tears over his sister-in-law, whom he blamed for his brother's death.
The only love he had, he gave completely to his brother's child and she gravitated to him, as if he were her father. Emmett vowed that Elsie would never be made to feel like an orphan, and completely invested himself in caring for her and protecting her. With the grandmotherly support of the Addison family's long-time housekeeper, the grand estate became a safe, loving home for Elsie, until an evening of peace was destroyed by the ringing of the doorbell and the running of little Elsie's feet, as she ignored her uncle's warning to let him answer the door.
The housekeeper heard Elsie's excited voice cry out, "Mommy!" She came rushing into the room, just in time to see a woman, who was surely Katelyn Addison, standing there, with Elsie frantically pulling on her. Emmett Addison ordered the housekeeper to take a sobbing, hysterical child up to her room, and then stepped toward the woman, backing her into the door, and hovering only inches away.
"Who are you?" Emmett demanded, narrowing his eyes. "Explain yourself at once, and don't make me ask you again! What the blazes are you doing here?"
He eyed her with cold suspicion, and his next words were filled with an ominous threat.
"You stay away from Elsie!"
