Whispers on the Water — Audrey Howard

The first time Grace Tooley meets Rupert Bradley she is the tomboylsh only girl in a happy, noisy family of six boys. He comes back into her life when her eldest brother's sudden death has forced her to take on burdens beyond her years. From that moment, Grace gives her heart and soul to her brother's kind, handsome, rich friend, even though he sees her as a mere girl and goes on to marry a young woman from his own station in life.

They meet again when the Great War has changed them both. Grace has suffered loss and pain and emerged as a strong, passionate woman. Rupert, nearly broken by the horrors he has endured, has been humiliated by the bride who once seemed so right for him, and he rejects Grace's love and any hope of future happiness. But Grace is determined to rediscover the spirit of the only boy she ever loved in the man who is ready to die.