Annie's Promise Mail-order Romance, Book 1 In 1890, desperate and destitute, Annie Byrne, an Irish immigrant to New York City, signs up to be a mail-order bride in faraway California to a man whose wife had died leaving him with 8-month-old twins. Annie leaves for California by train but promises to find a husband and home for her best friend, young unwed Maisie and her baby Emma. Annie's new husband Jake Parker, strikingly handsome but consumed with shame and guilt, both terrifies and attracts her but makes clear this is a marriage of convenience. While Annie loves the children fiercely and longs for a real marriage, Jake keeps a cold distance despite his growing passion for Annie. Consumed with desire and jealousy, he hurts Annie deeply. Can Annie forgive him and build a loving relationship? To make amends, Jake vows to help Annie keep the promise she made to find a husband for Maisie before Maisie ends up on the streets and loses Emma. But, first, they must convince his shy bookish cousin and best friend Adam Johnson to agree to marry Maisie.