Ariana

From the author of "The Lottery Winner," the story continues...

Some said Ariana was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, as the only child of Corey and Damaris Gardner, who, four years before Ariana's birth, won the $960 million Missouri lottery. Ariana grew up in an environment of inherited wealth, her mother teaching her that this gift should always be used wisely, as her mother did by donating half her winnings to international charities and to her small, rural hometown of Linn, Missouri. Ariana's uncle Bryan's built the state-of-the-art Exodus Recording Studio with his sister's winnings. The well-equipped recording studio drew aspiring and established musicians from across the United States, and it was here that Ariana spent most of her growing years immersed in music, honing her skills as a talented young singer. Damaris also built the Gardner Center for the Performing Arts near the recording studio, which, over the years, gained a reputation for rivaling the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Kauffman Center in Kansas City. Here in this lush facility, Ariana first experienced the staging and performance of live opera. When the performance ended, Ariana envisioned herself singing an aria before a well-dressed audience enthusiastically applauding her, and that was when her future began.

Years later, critics admiringly called Ariana "the Grace Kelly of opera" for her extraordinary beauty. But it was her powerful and dramatic voice that already set her apart from others.

Promising herself she would never marry so she could effectively channel her singing and acting energies into her profession, that decision melted away when she met a handsome Kansas City doctor as she sat in a dark back-stage corner of the Starlight Theater. Theirs was love at first sight, but neither could predict or prevent the unforeseen, tragic events that lay ahead, testing their love and faith and almost destroying any hope for a future together!