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Once You'd Gone - Book 3: Margaret
Some secrets become part of the furniture.
Margaret Finch has spent a lifetime being admired for all the wrong things. The beautiful house. The successful husband. The quiet, dependable life she built and maintained for decades.
She has never minded people believing what they wanted.
Until now.
When Margaret discovers there is still undeveloped film inside Rachel Broderick’s old camera, she finds herself pulled back toward a past she has spent years carefully avoiding.
As forgotten memories surface and old loyalties are tested, Margaret begins to question whether the things she buried were ever truly gone.
Because some photographs capture more than a moment.
And some truths wait a lifetime to be heard.
Margaret is the third in the Once You’d Gone collection. Recommended reading order:
Tess, Scott, Margaret, Noah.
Characters
Rachel Broderick
Rachel Broderick never did anything by halves.
Passionate, stubborn, and endlessly curious, she sees the world through the lens of her camera and notices things other people miss. Rachel understands that photographs are not really about capturing a moment. They are about refusing to let it go.
When her young son disappears, Rachel refuses to accept the explanations offered to her. While others learn to live with grief, she continues searching for answers when everyone else believes there are none left to find.
To some people, she seems obsessive.
To the people who love her, she is simply a mother.
Favourite Film: Steel Magnolias
Personal Motto: "Look closer."
Favourite Possession: Her Nikon camera.
Scott Broderick
Scott Broderick has spent most of his life doing whatever needed doing next. He isn't a man given to speeches or grand gestures, but he isaccustomed to endurance.
Scott loved Rachel with a fierce, unwavering loyalty that survived even after her death. The trouble with loving someone for that long is believing you already know the whole story.
People often assume Scott is strong because he rarely falls apart in public. The truth is less impressive and more human. He simply learned long ago that someone still has to take the trash out, mow the lawn, and show up for work.
Love, for Scott, has always been practical.
That doesn't make it any less profound.
Favourite Film: Field of Dreams
Personal Motto: "Don’t put off five-minute jobs."
Favourite Food: Homemade pie, preferably one Margaret has baked.
Margaret Finch
Margaret Finch is the sort of woman people describe as dependable.
For decades she has been known for the beautiful house, the perfect marriage, and the quiet efficiency with which she solves problems before anyone else notices they exist. She remembers birthdays, writes thank-you notes, and bakes several times a week.
Most people have no idea how lonely she is.
Behind the polished life is a woman who spent years choosing duty over desire and practicality over honesty. The older she becomes, the harder it is to ignore the things she never said and the people she never stopped loving.
Margaret believes small acts matter. A meal delivered at the right moment. A lift across town. A hand resting briefly on someone else's shoulder.
Favourite Book: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Personal Motto: "There's no sense making a spectacle of yourself."
Favourite Place: Her summerhouse.
About Serenity Bea
I write emotionally charged, psychologically rich stories about flawed people and their complicated relationships.
My characters are painfully human. They make mistakes, carry secrets, love imperfectly, and wrestle with identity, morality, grief, and the internal wounds that shape their choices.
With a degree in Applied Psychology, I bring compassionate insight to my stories, exploring the hidden fears, longings, and misbeliefs that drive people to hurt, heal, leave, and sometimes find their way home.
When I’m not torturing fictional characters in emotionally complex ways, I’m likely listening to Hans Zimmer and sipping a margarita.
I have incurable insomnia, a cat who thinks he's my co-writer, and a dog who's convinced he should be.