Elowen Merrick, bullied and blacklisted, saved a boy, Serenus Kaelen, who introduced her to his uncle Ronan Kaelen—her college crush. Reunited, she learned Ronan was a single father. In a tipsy impulse, she proposed. They married, their bond deepening, yet Elowen hid both the marriage and her role as stepmother from her family, feigning singlehood at New Year's.
