Forlorn Hope

He never imagined he would fall in love with his childhood friend. If only his realization had not come everlastingly too late. As childhood playmates, Geoffrey Mantell and Emily Chandry forge a lifelong bond building a secret world where they can escape their unloving families. Then Geoffrey is sent away to school and goes into the army, and does not see Emily again until they are both grown. The disparity in their situations is then patently clear, and Captain Mantell cannot think of Miss Chandry as anything but a dear friend. He is called back to his regiment with few regrets. Only after the horrors of Waterloo does Geoffrey comprehend all that Emily means to him, and he vows to confess his love at his earliest opportunity. But by the time he is healed enough to write to her, she does not answer. Has his realization come too late, or has something dreadful occurred? Geoffrey cannot rest until he discovers what has become of Emily, but his greatest battle will be for a second chance at love.