For Lillian Keim, instructing children in her one-room schoolhouse is as close to being a mother as she will ever get. Lillian has a calling to be a teacher, and she won't give it up to marry. But her plans--and her heart--are at risk when she begins to feel more than friendship for lifelong pal Timothy Bowman. When Tim rescues Lillian and her class from a fire, the volunteer firefighter suddenly sees what he has been blind to all his life he wants his friend as his wife. But something beyond her professional goals is holding Lillian back. He has got to unlock her secret before he loses his friend--and his forever love.