He returned a changed man, with a son she knew nothing about. Will his new life mean the end to what they'd once shared? Cole Santori faces each day with three goals: be a good father to his adopted son, excel at his job as a Splendor deputy, and do everything possible to convince one woman to give him another chance. He worries little about the first two. The third seems to slip further away with each passing day. Martha van Plew pursues her passion of helping orphaned children while shoving thoughts of the man she loves aside. Each day is a constant reminder of how he spurned her after returning to Splendor with a son he'd never mentioned. When a terrible threat faces the children Cole is sworn to protect, they must put their personal issues aside and work together. The danger escalates until the entire town is on alert for enemies that threaten not just the orphaned children, but also boys and girls living in Splendor. To protect the children, Martha and Cole must use all their resources to eliminate the terror sweeping through the orphanage and their quiet frontier town. Will their shared danger push Martha to set aside past hurt and open her heart to the man she still loves? Or will a threat as potent as the men hiding in the dark ruin her chance to grasp the future she longs to embrace? Whisper Lake, book twenty-two in the Redemption Mountain historical western romance series, is a full-length, clean and wholesome novel with an HEA and no cliffhanger.