A Marriage of Convenience — Elizabeth Rossiter

"If you agree to marry me I'll do my best to make you happy. I like and admire you very much. I think we could make a go of it."

In this blunt and unromantic fashion Matthew Neal asks Janey Carter to marry him. It is the second time around for both of them: a matter of convenience. Janey, a young widowed school teacher, is struggling to support and bring up her two small sons and coping courageously with her own sadness and loneliness. When Matthew's brilliant wife, Stella, whose friendship and kindness have done much to make life easier for Janey, dies suddenly, he is left with the responsibility of keeping the home together for his three children.

Janey agrees to marry Matthew for the children's sake, for Stella's sake; but for this gentle and sensitive young woman, the marriage proves to be the greatest test of her life.